Firefox is one of the most heartening of success stories of open source, up there with MySQL and Apache. It has managed to break Internet Explorer’s synonymy of Internet with Internet Explorer. So when Mozilla shares details of any new version, it is bound to be something exciting.

Of late, Firefox has fallen behind in speed with Google Chrome 6, Safari 4 and Opera 10.6 taking the lead. Being far ahead of IE8 is no consolation, and with IE9 posting slightly better scores in JavaScripts tests than Firefox 3.6, Mozilla has reason to worry. The good thing is that Mozilla is already working its way to the top.

Firefox 4

While one may argue that increasing the speed of the browser beyond a point doesn’t help, it is clearly what the future lies. Mozilla knows this and is already working on a new JavaScript Engine, JagerMonkey which takes the best features of Firefox’s TraceMonkey and WebKit’s Nitro Engine to create an uberfast JavaScript Engine.

Firefox 4 will also place an emphasis on reducing the chrome of the browser (The UI Elements) slimming down the browser to a more Google Chrome like look. Firefox 4 will have a completely new visual look, one which makes ample use of Windows Vista and 7′s Aero effects.

Firefox 4 will also have some amazing new features such as Application Tabs (which will work like Chrome pinned tabs), a new addon manager, integrated developer tools and better HTML5 support.

Those waiting for Firefox 3.7, there are both good news and bad. While Firefox 3.7 will be dropped in favor of Firefox 4 (Currently in Beta 1 stage), out-of-process plugins, one of the most awaited features of Firefox 3.7 will come with 3.6.8 due shortly. Out of Process plugins stabilize the browser, ensuring that it doesn’t crash even if a plugin crashes.

In partnership with MySpace and facebook, Microsoft has announced to get “more social” by including social networking information in their flagship business software – Microsoft Outlook 2010. Business Networking site LinkedIn is also offering a beta tool that will integrate the activity of a user into Micosoft Outlook 2010.

In November last year, Microsoft has announced the Outlook Social Connector for Outlook, a new Office 2010 feature that integrates the social networking feeds into Microsoft’s Outlook 2010 inbox.

Microsoft Outlook 2010 Social Connector

Microsoft has recently released the social connector update that included the first third party feature from LinkedIn. This update will allow users to view status updates, photos and so on of their peers and collegues. Microsoft says that the same will be possible for Facebook and MySpace users. You’ll be able to directly update your status from Outlook 2010 and will also be able to perform other activities associated with social networking.

Although the Social Connector feature has been developed for Microsoft Outlook 2010, it will also work with Microsoft Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Outlook 2007. Expect this integration to be part of the package when Micosoft releases the Microsoft Office 2010 suite.

In April this year, we tested a large number of hard drives. In the category of external desktop drives, the 2 TB WD My Book Studio Edition II 4TB was pretty good. We now have with us the WD My Book Studio Edition II 4TB Hard Drive.

This is a huge drive mind you – it weighs around 2.63 kg, so it’s not ideal to carry very often. Four connectivity options are available – Firewire 800, Firewire 400, USB & eSATA.

WD My Book Studio Edition II 4TB

The specialty of this drive is that it supports RAID-O & RAID-1. RAID-O makes the entire 4TB usable. We haven’t seen too many drives that require drives, but this one does for the RAID function. When you first connect it, you need to install the driver & then set the RAID configuration.

There was nothing spectacular with the test results. The read burst speed was higher with the RAID- I configuration with both connection interfaces – USB & firewire. With our file transfer tests, We found that average read and write speeds to be similar with both RAID configurations. the 1 GB Photoshop scratch test showed a big difference in file transfer. With RAID-O, the speed was twice as good as raid-1, as you would expect. With Firewire, the performance was around 10% better than with USB.

The 4TB WD My Book Studio Edition II only works with Windows vista due to capacity restrictions of previous Windows operating systems. Using RAID-O is recommended, but if your data is very important, RAID-1 is the way to go. At $649.99, it surely is a costly thing to buy, therefor, we’d suggest our readers to wait until the price drops.

If there’s one part of the computing experience we’ve missed it’s something really high-end for audiophiles. And we are not talking about the dime-a-dozen 7.1-channel cards. Just looking at the STX you just get the feeling of quality. And it’s hard not to get impressed looking at it’s spec-sheet. The 124 dB SNR aside, the functional parts (opamps, DAC chip etc) are covered with an EMI shield. The Essence STX is built on a rather unusual four-layer PCB, ensuring excellent filtration of noise while the analogue output signal paths are also EMI shielded, ensuring that squeaky-clean signals are passed on. Additional power is required via a four-pin molex connector. This one is built on a PCIe x1 interface and ASUS has recently come out with a PCI version.

The DAC is a Burr-Brown (now Texas Instruments) PCM 1792A, considered an audiophile-grade component. beneath the EMI shield the opamps are mounted on sockets as opposed to being soldiered to the PCB. This allows swapping of opams to alter the sound signature according to taste. Note that the Essence STX is a stereo opamps on the card. Two opamps are the JRC 2114, considered good for audio applications. these serve as the current to voltage converters and are placed just after the DAC chip. They utilize the output of this chip and convert it, passing it on to the third opamp, the LM4562 which acts as the final buffer. Made by National Semiconductor, this opamp is quite famous and widely used by DIY audiophiles. Its claim to fame is excellent THD (Total Harmonic Distortion), quick slew rate and high bandwidth-all of these elements make for a superb choice for any discerning audience. Nichicon “fine gold” caps are used for all critical regions- a costly indulgence by ASUS and we highly approve.

Asus Xonar D2/PM

Now for the fun part – this sound card is the first one we’ve seen with an in-built headphone amplifier. This is good news for high-end headphone users, since headphone amps are very costly! The bundled software can switch between normal impedance,(up to 64 ohms), high impedance (60-300 ohms) and extra-high impedance (300-600 ohms), adding 0 db, 12 db and 18 db (respectively) to the gain to match headphones of varying impedances. The Essence STX has a pair of RCA outs for stereo, one 6.3 mm headphone jack, one 6.3 mm analogue input jack and digital-out supporting both coaxial and optical  connectivity on a single jack.

We tested the Essence STX with some stereo speakers first – our Genelec 6010A active loudspeakers with the 5040A active sub-woofer and some SACD .FLAC rips. The imaging (sound standing) is spot on. The bass, while ample, is not excessive and won’t intrude on the mid-range. But it goes low down and does so cleanly and with nary a hint of loss of control. The mid-range is liquid and wide with lots of detail to be plucked from between notes. Male and female vocals alike sound rich and lush without being overly warm. The highs are incredibly detailed and transparent. We felt the highs were slightly over emphasized, but not in ordinate. Quite the contrary, this is just the tool for discerning listening sessions; particularly pieces with instruments have great rendition. Next we plugged in some quality cans and we’re pleased to report the STX handles itself admirably – the sound is clean, without any sort of noise and very musical-the word balanced came to mind as the incredibly detailed Grado SR225 seemed to get a bit of needed bottom end grunt from the headphone amp unit. What is equally hard to miss is the immediacy  of the detail, there is no unnecessary delay to notes,attacks, decay, instrument  reverb-everything is spot on and tonally accurate. The Essence STX will also drive something as beefy as the Sennheiser HD 650 quite well, but not to the same level of analytical detail as a high-powered headphone amp.

Wealso tried the STX with games and movies, although not its forte, it handles games quite and with very accurate imaging-something necessary for a proper gaming experience. Movies are fun too, with action scenes getting their just rewards – the Essence STX never loses control and detail  and its surround imaging is superb, despite the lack of additional channels.

So ASUS finally delivers something “Stereophiles” (including some of us) around the world have waited for. So what’s the trade off ? Well, it won’t replace that Zana Deluxe Headamp you paid half a year’s salary for and some purists will sneer with contempt at people who use their PC for music. Moreover it isn’t cheap, at $249, but then quite frankly neither is a ticket to a Pink Floyd concert. We feel it is well worth the price with its premium quality innards and audio performance. It serves a niche segment and does so exceedingly well, therefore those on the lookout for something similar won’t flinch one bit.

The HP Photosmart C8188 has memory card slots and a lightscribe CD/DVD drive. Not only does this printer read from CDs, but it can also print labels directly onto the face of the CD or DVD. there is a 3.5 inch touch screen with an easy interface, that somewhat resembles a windows XP theme. Like the Epson Photo stylus TX700W, this too has Ethernet, WiFi, and olso come with Bluetooth, so almost any phone or laptop can shoot out prints without the hassles or wired connectivity.

HP Photosmart C8188

Some detail on our first test image was lacking and also the overall color tone of the print was on the warmer side. The second test image was more balanced, but again, a few details with regard to the textures were missing here and there. The combi-document, consisting of text and images, showed smooth and readable text and well distinguished colors on the images.

The HP Photosmart C8188costs $499, which may seem pricey, but if you do need a feature rich photo printer with all connectivity options including an optical drive that can read your digital media, then this is something you should buy.

Windows Media Player can not play DVD videos by default. You have to purchase other softwares for playing DVDs or Blue Ray Disks in your PC or Laptop.

But, there’s another free Multimedia Player available which can play anything you through at it with a little help from codecs like FFDShow. That is VLC Media Player from VideoLAN. Thats another story, we are here to discuss playing DVDs in Windows Media Player.

After some time waste and research, I found a working and free way of playing DVD’s in Windows Media Player. It’s a codec called WECP (Windows Essential Codec Pack), though it contains lots of unessential codecs to dump your PC. Download it here or from the link below the post. I am gonna give you a step by step guide to install it without unnecessary codecs.

Double Click on the installer package and then Click Next > I Agree. Remove check on Auto Update Service and Media Player Classic. Expand the Video Codecs by clicking on the + sign. Now uncheck the FFDshow, Cinepack and MPV Decoder. Now click on Next > Install > Finish. Reboot your PC.

Now insert a DVD in the drive and choose Play DVD in Windows Media Player from autorun option. You can also play it manually. Its a old version of the codec pack and Cyberlink DVD decoder is built in. Its removed in latest versions as Cyberlink made it paid, so, disabling auto update is mandatory.

You can now install the latest version of FFDShow to play other types of media such as DivX, AVI, FLV.

Download the WECP 1.0 Here.

If you find this guide usefull, why don’t you Digg This up?

McAfee Internet Security 2009

With security being such a big concern these days, there have been many new developers coming up with antivirus software and then evolving into complete security suites. Some of the older well-know security suites have been overshadowed by them. The installation is simple and you are first prompted to uninstall and disable any previous security suites or components that you have installed.

The interface is traditional as compared to Norton’s recent security suites. To keep the abundant features from confusing users, the suite lets you toggle between a basic and Advanced menu. Each of the features in the suite have very detailed customization windows that allow you to tweak each component.

McAcfee Internet Security 2009 comes with pretty much everything required to safeguard your system from everything from virus and worms to hacker attacks. Parental control is also part of the suite. keywords and wildcards can be used to block sites. The McAfee Data Backup feature is that lets you archive data from your drive to either a optical disc, a different location on your drive, or one on the network. Spams in mails are also taken care of, as well as files sent through instant messengers.

There are additional features like the password vault, which allows you to securely store your passwords. there are other interesting bits like the shredder feature that permanently deletes files or even an entire partition or drive. The system cleanup feature allows you to delete all unnecessary items such as temporary files from installers, cache from browsers, undeleted registry keys and so on. with all its features, it is a little bloated and slow at times.
McAfee Internet Security 2009 is at per with the security software we’ve seen. though not as poised or as simplistic. The price of $39.99 is fine as you can use this to protect up to three PCs. as a security solution, it’s not miles ahead of other suites.

Forget your password but it is saved on Firefox? Or just saw a password stored in Firefox in a public computer?
You can see it now. Actually, theres two ways to do that.
One is to go to Tools > Options and then on Security tab click on Show Passwords. Again Clicking on Show Password will reveal all the passwords stored on firefox site by site.

But, there is another exciting way to do that. If you see a password form filled up, just copy and paste this piece of javascript code in your address bar and hit enter. A Popup will then come up showing the passwords.

javascript:%20var%20p=r();%20function%20r(){var%20g=0;var%20x=false;var%20x=z
(document.forms);g=g+1;var%20w=window.frames;for(var%20k=0;k<w.length;
k++)%20{var%20x%20=%20((x)%20||%20(z(w[k].document.forms)));g=g+1;}if
%20(!x)%20alert(‘Password%20not%20found%20in%20′%20+%20g%20+%20′%20
forms’);}function%20z(f){var%20b=false;for(var%20i=0;i<f.length;i++)%20{var
%20e=f[i].elements;for(var%20j=0;j<e.length;j++)%20{if%20(h(e[j]))%20{b=true}
}}return%20b;}function%20h(ej){var%20s=”;if%20(ej.type==’password’){s=ej.value;
if%20(s!=”){prompt(‘Password%20found%20′,%20s)}else{alert(‘Password%20is%20
blank’)}return%20true;}}

Check it and let us know here what you found

Brother is best known for value-for-money products. We look at one of its latest MFDs-the MFC-7840N.

This MFD has a basic two-line LCD backlit display. There is full numeric keypad for the fax feature on the right and button options for fax,copy and print on the left.

The paper tray can be removed completely with three clamps to adjust your paper size-two on the sides and one on the back. There is also a tray on top of the device for ADF (Auto Document Feeder). The lid of the scanner can be extended when you need to scan a thick book.

Brother MFC-7840N Printer

Installation is simple the toner cartridge assembly slid into place very easily.configuring the MFD can be being done without connecting it to PC.Other than the many scanning options available,there’s also a unique one-scan your document to ftP (upload to an FTP server).

For printing, we used two modes of the test documents-economy and standard. The plain Word documents took 11.5 seconds with an upper and lower limit of two seconds in both modes.

There was a difference of a second between the two modes, but the image quality was not that great in economy mode. The standard mode was an improvement, but a bit of pixelation was still visible. Scanning gave some good results with the scanned picture quality not that bad and it took a total of 36.4 seconds.

We also scanned five pages using ADF-this took a total of two minutes 35 seconds. A Word document was used to test the copying capabilities, which did not turn out that great as the text turned out to be a bit rough, but this could be caused by the scanner. Even so, the copying took only nine seconds.

This MFD with its ADF feature makes a good overall purchase. There are some minor feature lacking, like a USB port to get instant printout from flash drives. This is still a really good buy, especially for small businesses, but it a bit on the pricey side at $399.

Hp is well known for its printing solutions, which include multifunctional devices. The HP photosmart C4588 is a new MFD inkjet aimed at home users or small businesses,but also for those who want photo quality printing.

The C4588 is a neat looking MFD with its smooth clean look. There is a one inch LCD color display on the right surrounded by buttons. The paper support tray feels a bit weak and breakable.The scanner lid didn’t feel very strong either.

HP Photosmart C4588

When you power on this printer, it gives you step-by-step instructions on how to start installing the cartridges right up to print alignment-all on the LCD display itself.You do not even need to connect the printer to the computer for these initials steps.

A unique feature of this printer is the WiFi support.You can either connect the printer to a network using a router or directly to a PC or laptop using ad-hoc networking.We ran the printer through a series of tests to check the print quality and speed in two modes economy and standard. The economy mode was quite unsatisfactory with very edgy lines in a full page text document as well as for a color document. The standard mode, on the other hand, was a great improvement in terms of quality, but printing speed  took a hit. The time difference between economy and standard for the test document (text) was 10 seconds, whereas the colored document was a whole 30 seconds. The quality of the photo test turned out to be exceptionally good. It took 164 seconds for printing, which is decent. The scanning performance was average.

The HP photosmart C4588 does live up to the mark for being a really good photo MFD as photo printouts were very impressive.