Web browser change :)

You may have heard about the Firefox web browser. It’s had millions upon millions of downloads so far and is getting absolutely rave reviews. I downloaded it when it got it’s release on Tuesday, and I must confess – it’s damned good. Sure, sure, Internet Explorer still has an edge with some things because – since Netscape got a bit “bloated” (screen names, long load times, very dull) – people have written sites and applications for Internet Explorer and nothing else.

However, I like Firefox. It’s got loads of neat features, such as tabbed browsing, which allows you to open up new pages within the same browser window and switch between them. Even better is this “Live Bookmark” feature, which you can use on sites with RSS feeds. When you’re using Firefox and it detects a feed (which is listed in the HTML code – link rel=”alternate” type=”application/rss+xml”), you’ll see this symbol (right). Once you’ve got that, just click on it and it’ll add to your favourites, but the best is yet to come – ‘cus when you’ve added it then it’ll look like this…

Yep, all the most recent news stories are listed, and they’ll update automatically!

Get the Firefox web browser here

Well anyway, onto the blog. This week – well, last Saturday actually, started off with a visit to my “manor” of Birmingham for the Winter MoDaCo event. Brum is looking quite good I must say, the Bull Ring is a classy joint now compared to the way it used to look. Check out the photos of the event. I was well impressed with pretty much everything I saw at the event, including the Windows Media Centre (sorry, Center) and TomTom, which I liked a lot – I’ll be chatting about this very soon. TomTom (check out their site here) is a satellite navigation system for your Smartphone. To put it briefly, it’s a little box that sits on your windscreen. This communicates with the GPS system.. in other words, it talks to the satellites. Then your phone talks to that box with Bluetooth. All the software is on a 128Mb memory card and it tells you where to go… a voice, a slick 3D map.. sorted… More on this soon, keep it tuned..

In the USA this week the Motorola MPx220 is having a very bumpy birth. This is always an awkward time for new handsets, ‘cus it doesn’t matter what gets “fixed” later on in life, it’s all about the problems that people see on release. You know the deal, “Oh yeah, that new Motorola thing, the one that replaced the MPx200.. doesn’t it have sound and camera problems?” … sure, these might get fixed later on down the line, but the stigma remains. The sound at least appears to have been sorted, as this MSMobiles.com story shows… however, the camera problem remains – and this is an issue we’ve been hearing about since early testing stages… :(

Can it possibly get worse for the poor Moto MPx220 ?

Yes, unfortunately it can. It appears that since Cingular and ATT Wireless merged, the MPx220 is being removed from the shelves! Yes, even the store managers seem to admit it.. what a horrible time for the MPx220 ! :( But nah, that can’t be true can it ? They can’t just be binning the MPx220 ? Lets hop over to another US-based website for another opinion….

Also this week me and my sweetheart have been having some builders in to sort the house in. Dust, muck and new doors. I can’t even find my way around the place any more :) It’s quite good though, even if she won’t let me put a bar in the lounge :(