Should I Upgrade My Web Browser?

By Bryan Lambert – Sunday, May 3, 2009

The car I drive is a beautiful bright yellow Mustang convertible with big bold racing stripes, while the car that my neighbor drives is a small, economical silver Toyota Prius. While the cars will get you from point A to B with no problems, they do it in different ways. The Mustang looks “cool”, it drives “cool” and it gets you to point B in “cool” while the Prius drives solid, is an engineering marvel and gets you from point A to B with quiet, fuel efficient “coolness.” Internet browsers are very much the same, they (for the most part) will get you from point A to B – but how you arrive can be totally different factors of cool.

While a lot of this Tip may be more subjective than objective, it will give you a good idea of different ways to arrive at point B (so to speak) with your internet browser.

Internet Exploder

Where else to start the discussion of browsers than with the defacto standard for browsers – Internet Explorer (currently with nearly 67% of the browser market share). The reason that it is the biggest (much to the European Unions consternation) is that it is bundled with Microsoft’s Windows operating system. While it’s not necessarily the first browser available, or (in many persons’ opinions) the best browser available, it is still used by many, many people. Microsoft just recently launched Internet Explorer version 8, and now they are starting to include it in their automatic updates for Windows (no need to fear if you are in love with version 7 of Internet Explorer, the update is an “opt in” type, where you get to choose if you want it installed). The newest incarnation of Internet Explorer offers some very nifty “innovations.” You’ll note that the word innovations is in quotes – this is because they are innovations for Internet Explorer, but not necessarily browsers in general. These innovations make it well worth the upgrade over Internet Explorer 7. A word of caution though, Internet Explorer 8 will run rather s.l.o.w.l.y on some “lesser” (read that slower) processors.

As a side note, if for some reason you are still running Internet Explorer 6, do it a favor and put it out of its misery– upgrade to another browser – ANY OTHER BROSWER than Internet Explorer 6. The faster that this malware loader masquerading as a browser with its antiquated HTML (the basic language of the web) rendering engine goes away, the better off the whole world will be. Now that Internet Explorer 8 is out, it has some users wondering just what else is out there. Fortunately, there are terrific alternatives to Internet Explorer.

Alternative Browsers – AKA: Browsing the Browsers

When running Microsoft Windows (or really whatever operating system you have), it is good to remember that there are always alternatives to the browser that your computer shipped with. The really cool thing about internet browsers is that several can be loaded onto a computer at the same time. Though they may try to vie for being the top dog (that is, the default browser), they will peacefully coexist. This means that along side Internet Explorer you can run one or more of the alternative browsers (even at the same time as one another). Some of the major browsers that you may want to consider are: Mozilla’s Firefox, Google’s Chrome, Apple’s Safari or Opera (made by Opera – who also make a popular mini version of their browser that can be used on many cell phones). A really nice thing about running multiple browsers is that if a particular browser may have a problem rendering (displaying) a web page, you can always launch another browser to see if the problem is that web page or perhaps the browser.

Speaking of other operating systems, if you are running Apple’s OSX, then your default browser is Safari, and if you are running some version of Linux (like Ubuntu), then your default browser is usually Firefox. In addition to these browsers, there are several smaller builds as well as “skins” that go over existing browsers. What do these browsers’ offer that Internet Explorer may not offer? Where do we start? All are pretty much faster; all are highly customizable, and all are innovative. In fact, many of these browsers innovations usually show up in Internet Explorer a little down the road. All are free to download and use, and as mentioned all can run on the same machine at the same time. If you have not had a chance to run them, I’d highly recommend downloading them all and giving them a whirl. When you install them, they will even conveniently import your favorites and other options directly from Internet Explorer – so you don’t have to waste time “rebuilding” them.

Another terrific feature that these alternative browsers offer is that most of them are built with cross platform use in mind, thus while Internet Explorer (from version 6 forward) only runs on Windows machines, Opera and Firefox will run on Windows, OSX and Linux machines; Chrome and Safari currently have OSX and Windows versions (note that Chrome is still in beta for OSX). But, whatever browser you choose, be sure to get the most recent update for that version so that you have the latest security fixes installed. This is much less of an issue than in years past in this age of automatic updates – but it is always worthwhile to check every once in a while. For a list of some other alternative (and lesser known) browsers available, you can always check the terrific Wikipedia article on “Comparison of Internet Browsers.”

Final Thoughts

While this Tech Tip offered a quick overview of internet browsers in general, we also have some older Tech Tips on specific browsers (such as Chrome) that are worth a look. It is true that while these browsers will get you from point A to point B (figuratively speaking), they all do it a little differently and with their own version of “cool”. Also, while reading about a browser may be good, we encourage you to go ahead and give some of the alternatives a test drive – you may be surprised that you like what you find and that you’re happy trading in your current browser for a different “set of wheels”.

What is Microblogging?

By Scott Nesbitt – Sunday, April 26, 2009

Social networking. That phrase has been all the rage over the last couple of years. With sites like Facebook, MySpace and the like, more and more people are connecting with each other and interacting online. Blogs, too, are a popular way of sharing information and attracting an audience of people with similar interests.

But more and more people are making that kind of interaction quicker and shorter. Instead of writing long posts or email messages, they’re tapping out quick missives telling their friends (and the wider world) what they’re up to at the moment.

How do they do that? By microblogging.

What is microblogging?

Microblogging is the act of posting short messages to the Web. And when we say short, we mean short. A microblog post, which is called an update (or, in the case of the most popular service out there, a tweet), can be a maximum of 140 characters, including spaces. In case you’re wondering, the 140 character limit comes from microblogging’s inspiration: SMS text messages sent from a mobile phone. A microblog update looks like this:

Presenting advice from Garr Reynolds: think naturalness not perfection – http://tinyurl.com/df26mj

Simply posting a 140 character message somewhere on the Web isn’t the way it works, though. You have to use one of the many microblogging services that are out there. More on these in a moment. These services collect and publish updates in different ways. The central form of aggregation is called a timeline. That’s just a collection of updates. The main page (or thereabouts) of most microblogging sites have a public timeline, which lists all of the latest posts from users. You can have a timeline of your own updates, which is on your own page (for example, http://identi.ca/scottnesbitt).

Microblogging services also allow people to subscribe to (also referred to as following) your updates, or at the very least read them. People can follow you or read your updates at the microblogging site or using software. A future TechTip will look at some popular microblogging clients.

As you’ve probably guessed, microblogging is very similar to conventional blogging. A microblog can focus on one topic, and can be used for personal or business reasons. The biggest difference is the length of the post and the immediacy. Microblogging is definitely more immediate – updates are instantaneous. In the time it takes for a conventional blogger to write and publish a post, a microblogger can post any number of updates.

Why do it?

Most microbloggers (in the words of a popular microblogging service) do it to “communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

A lot of people who microblog find it’s an easier alternative to conventional blogging, or even using sites like FaceBook and MySpace. All you need to do is sign up and start typing. You don’t have to worry about tweaking the look and feel of your microblog, or anything like that.

It’s not just folks with time on their hands who do it, either. A lot of businesses and consultants put considerable effort into microblogging.

What’s it good for?

Think of a group. Chances are that members of that group are microblogging. Friends microblog to keep up with each other, and to exchange information and gossip. Other people do it to share information or to promote their pet causes. Businesses microblog to get feedback from customers and to announce new products or share news. Consultants microblog to promote their business and to showcase their expertise.  There have even been cases in which writers serialize the stories or poems that they’re working on at a microblogging site. Nigerian author Ben Okri, for example, recently published a poem on a popular microblogging site.

On a recent visit to Toronto, actor and Twitter user LeVar Burton posted a message asking for a good place to have a pint. Not only did he get the recommendation, he also met up with a bunch of fans at that venue for what was a meetup of microbloggers in the real world.

Something that’s become popular is people microblogging during presentations and conferences. They’re sharing their thoughts, and the thoughts and ideas of presenters, with both fellow conference attendees and the wider world. Believe us, it’s a lot easier and more immediate than liveblogging.

Where does microblogging fall flat?

One complaint about microblogging is that it can be more than just a bit narcissistic. Remember Web pages, circa 1996 or 1997? Or most personal blogs? Updates can be just as vapid. For many, except maybe someone’s followers, the fact that the microblogger just got back from walking the dog and is eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich or that they’re trying to read Finnegan’s Wake for the sixth time isn’t all that captivating.

While microblogging started as way of keeping friends, family, and classmates up to date, for many it’s become a race to collect the most followers. They’ll post updates about anything that will attract readers. Many purists view this as being insincere, since the person posting the updates really has little interest in what their writing about. They just want to be popular.

What services are out there?

The undisputed king of microblogging services is arguably Twitter. You’ve probably read about Twitter in a newspaper, a magazine, or a blog post. You might even know someone who regularly uses Twitter. Hundreds of thousands of people use Twitter, and post countless updates (called tweets in the Twitter world).

Make sure to follow Geeks.com on Twitter!

But it’s not the only game on the Web. While other microblogging service may not come close to denting Twitter’s market share, they do offer alternatives to the service. The services (around 100 of them worldwide) all work in generally the same way. The only things that differ are the terminology they use, some of the features, and the number of users. Here are a few popular services:

First up, Jaiku. Now owned by Google, Jaiku allows you not only to post updates (called jaikus) to the general public, but also to channels which are collections of updates on a single topic.

A service that’s gaining in popularity is identi.ca. What sets identi.ca apart from most other microblogging services is that it’s built using Open Source software. In the words of the developers: “If you don’t like how Identi.ca works, you can take your data and the source code and set up your own server (or move your account to another one).”

An interesting take on microblogging comes in the form of Yammer, which has been termed “Twitter with a business model”. What makes Yammer unique is that it’s focused on internal communication in companies. Instead of being based on the question “what are you up to?”, Yammer is based on the question “What are you working on?”. It’s like an internal discussion board, but limited to 140 characters.

Finally, there’s Plurk. In addition to letting you post short text updates (called plurks), Plurk lets you share images and videos from YouTube with your followers. Being able to share images and video definitely adds a very interesting dimension to microblogging.

Is it right for you?

That depends. Some people will always think that microblogging is a waste of time and bandwidth. Others swear by it. We’ve met a number of people on both sides of that fence, and even more who inhabit the middle ground between them. The latter group uses microblogging, but isn’t consumed by it.

The only way to find out if microblogging is right for you is to give it a try. Take a look at a microblogging service on the Web. Spend a week or two, and see how you like it – both as an updater and a follower. You might find that microblogging is a lot more fun and interesting than you thought it would be.