There are a number of people who are not satisfied with the security provided by popular web-based email service providers like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail etc. List is growing as the fear is not imaginary keeping the recent events of hacking. Though these hacking events are not frequent but what about the constant monitoring and unauthorized scanning of your mails by the service provider itself? [Read more…]
Review: Midori, A browser faster than Google Chrome
There are a number of web browser available now a days. With the leader being Firefox, IE, Chrome, Opera and Safari. With these browsers fighting for the user share it seems difficult for a new browser to make waves in to cyber world. But if a product has merit then its quite unlikely that it will go unnoticed. Such a thing is Midori, an open source extremely light web browser (still in alpha state but works quite good even in alpha state) developed by a Japanese firm (Midori means Green in Japanese Language). Midori is exclusive for Linux only and is not available to download on Windows. You can install Midori using apt-get:
sudo apt-get install midoriMerits:
- Extremely light, takes very less time to start
- Loads web pages in a flash, fast rendering
- Full integration with GTK+ 2
- Tabbed browsing
- Private browsing
- User scripts and user styles support
- Speed dial
- Configurable web search
Demerits:
- Negligible extensions, a web browser without extension is a women without makeup
i.e. ugly and useless (no offence to women) - Ctrl+Enter does not work for putting .com at the end (i.e. write facebook+Ctrl+Enter in the address bar to go to www.facebook.com) instead opens another tab to search (for facebook). Quite annoying. I tried to change it but could not find any settings to do it
- Not available on Windows
- Does not have wide support, some web-based application may not work properly
Midori is making lots of buzz in the market. This is why some of the Linux distributions (such as Bodhi Linux, Elementary OS and probably OpenSuse ) are shipping with Midori as their default browser. Since it does not eat much of the resources, it is definitely worth giving a try.
Review: Chrome Web Store
Announced and launched in December’10, the Chrome Web Store is now available in more than 15 countries other than USA. Web
Store is more like Mozilla’s add on page with different extension and application available for free or a nominal fee. Apart from extension it also has a number of browser games to keep you busy and help you in killing time right in your browser.
The web store is open for the developers to develop new applications and extensions. Industry sources say that the delay in launching the web store outside US is related to payment issues. The developers can select the region where they want to sell their product. Inspired by Apple Store, it contains a decent number of applications with more to come as developers flocked to get a pie out of Google.
If you are using Google Chrome and still do not see the chrome web store option on the new tab page, I would suggest you to change the language of the browser to “English US” from the setting. This way you can enable the option of web store in your browser.
Altogether it is an innovative step from Google to popularize their already popular web browser. Now we need to wait and watch for the reaction of Mozilla, Apple and Microsoft.
Review: Facebook email is a big let-down
It was announced few months back. All devoted fb users were so eagerly following the news, the news about the gmail killer facebook email. Last night I got the much awaited Facebook email invitation. I was so happy to see that 
message. I gladly accepted it. As soon as I applied the new messaging, everything looked different, better. I could not control my emotions and put up my facebook status right at that moment. I got replies from friend for invitation. Meanwhile I was exploring this new hyped application. I found these things from my experience:
Whats New: There definitely few things you will notice at first. For instance, You can see the smileys 
instead of : ) in your messages. The message space is more clean and shorter fonts are used. It shows all the previous message conversation with the person (It categories the messages by User). You just have to scroll up for seeing that. You can receive email from other service provider like gmail at an address [email protected]
These emails will be saved in the “other” category of messages.
It does allow the user to attache files and also allows to send pic/video taken at the instant from webcam. The upper limit on attachment is not known yet.
It also has the text messaging feature. It means if a friend sends you a message and checks the “send to phone” option, you will receive the same message on your mobile phone and you can reply straight from your phone. This conversation will also be shown in the facebook messaging box.
Now you can forward the messages you receive to other users (which was missing in the older version of facebook messaging).
Why it disappoints? When you expect something like “gmail killer”, you want a grand application. Unfortunately, facebook email is not a gmail killer. I guess, it cannot replace the regular email service. Instead of having a complete new email feature, it is just an up-gradation of facebook messaging.
Right now its available only by invitation. When I invited my friends, they did not see any invitations despite of me sending it.
By default, it archives the message instead of deleting it. If you want to delete a message, you have to open it and then from drop down select the delete option. Tiresome.
Verdict: It definitely is a better messaging service but it is a poor email service.
Waiting for replies on this post.
P.S. If you want to get a the facebook email, first you need to apply here:
Sources: ?topic=new_messages