Posts Tagged ‘google’

So I’ve come out of hiding again! I’ve been silently working on the next site design/engine for DigiMantis.com recently,  to help foster a more collaborative spirit. It’s still got some more work to go, but one day you will see a drastic change in the way our site works!

UPDATED 5/19 1153AM – Read the bottom for the update. Now to the point of my post. I’m breaking my silence to talk about warranty terms. You’ve guessed it by the title by now. Yes, I just got burned by both XFX and TigerDirect.com. I have no remorse or regrets in encouraging people to boycott XFX. (Opinions expressed here are my own and not of my employer, or employer’s employer) Read more for my story. Buyer beware!

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WARNING: Massive wall of text.

It’s about time that I got up and did part 2 of the browser wars right? I’m going to skip the small talk and get to the point. Please note that anything opinionated I say are strictly opinions based on my own experience. Part 3 will be covering the more obscure browsers that not as many people know about.

Let’s start with Apple Safari. While it seems to be okay on Mac OSX, Safari falls flat on its face for Windows. No special features aside from RSS. Dated interface included as well. Only cool thing is the flashy speed dial. A huge problem with Safari is the multiple vulnerabilities that the Windows version possesses. It has local and remote exploits, heat and buffer overflow, if you open up a tab sometimes it parses incorrectly due to faulty coding, multiple errors when handling FTP info, which allows for multiple XSS and XSRF vulnerabilities. For more information about the security issues of Safari, please comment below addressing ‘Viral Dragon’ as he is the guy who specializes in internet security. I will give it points for being fairly fast, though not the fastest by any means. RAM usage doesn’t seem to be terrible either, but other than that, I say Safari is a no-go.

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It seems that there are now such things as browser wars, just like how there are console wars in the video game industry. Then again, everything these days concerning multimedia seems to be about who or what is “better” than the others, right? For the next couple of days, I will be testing and comparing the following browsers: Arora, Avant, Enigma, Chrome, Enigma, Firefox, Flock, Internet Explorer 8, K-Meleon, Maxthon, Opera 10.10, Opera 10.5 alpha, Safari, and Sea Monkey. There are already many of these types of posts (or even videos) online, but none of them really crack down on each browser in detail, and I have yet to see anyone mention the more obscure options, like Avant. I will try to cover the subject to the best of my ability. Users may disagree with a thing or two that I say, but that is just your opinion. Keep this topic civilized.

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First, let’s take a look at Google Wave. Click on the thumbnail below for a full sized image.

So as you can see, it looks similar to a standard emailing system right? You’ve got an inbox, spam box, contacts, and a box for your latest conversations. However, Wave is what I would say to be the next generation of Email, or a “collaboration” application if you will. Combine instant messaging with Email and that’s what Wave is for the most part. Currently, access to Google Wave is only available for users who receive an invite (if you would like an invite, leave a comment below). At this point, there is a big lack of users, and still some bugs that need working out. But in its current condition, what can it actually be used for? Anything productive?

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Well, first of all, the most obvious difference is the theme. I completely redesigned our theme, so that it’s easier to navigate, and easier on the eyes. What do you guys think? I love how it turned out Also, I plan on giving users a drop down menu so they can pick and choose which theme of DigiMantis to view. Having that said, if that plan goes through, I will create yet another theme.

As far as other changes, instead of a live chat based on IRC, we now have a live AJAX shoutbox. Our new shoutbox will refresh itself as messages are received from users, so you don’t have to refresh the page just to check if anyone replied. Good stuff right? Well, I’m not done.

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Let’s take a look at Zoundry Raven. First of all, the purpose of this program is to give users the ability to post and update their blogs through a desktop application. This eliminates the need to log into the website and deal with the default admin cp and things of that nature. Is Zoundry Raven worth a look? well, let’s see.

When you first start the program, you will be greeted with the splash screen. In it’s current state, it is still in the Beta stage, but it is still very functional and has very little wrong with it. So, you start out by importing your account from whatever blog service you use. Wordpress, Blogger, Live Journal, you name it. Zoundry Raven probably already has it. Another nice thing is that the interface functions similar to the very popular Email/RSS client, Mozilla Thunderbird. This means users have the ability to have multiple accounts (or blogs) through this app. No more logging into every site you have anymore! Here are a couple screenshots of the internface. First, being the main and second, being the action of making a post.

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