tech.nocr.at » firefox

Open Source HTPC’s That Don’t Suck

Frank — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:30:11 +0000

In our next installment of Distros That Don’t Suck we will be looking at open source HTPC software. Sure you can load up VLC or even use Windows Media player, but having a dedicated solution with a UI that is made for a TV is a lot easier and pleasing. I’ve left the PVR-centric software like MythTV and Freevo off the list since their main purpose is to act as a PVR. I’ll be reviewing open source PVR software by itself at a later date.

XBMC – The Xbox Media Center Project started as homebrew software for the original Xbox gaming system and has since been ported to Linux, Windows, OSX, AppleTV and even as a standalone Linux based LiveCD/LiveUSB image. It offers a clean UI, intuitive interface and can play just about anything you throw at it. It offers a plugin system with a huge repository of community plugins to enhance the experience. It’s real easy to setup and it’s configuration is portable across operating systems. If you have an old Xbox laying around this makes a great HTPC that is powerful and best of all cheap.

MediaPortal – This is a Windows based HTPC software so technically it’s not 100% open source since it requires Windows and doesn’t offer a Linux port. If offers everything you would expect in HTPC software; Video streaming, DVD playback, Internet Radio, Picture Gallery and it’s own plugin system. You will need a compatible TV Tuner card to enjoy PVR features and to watch TV but it’s not needed to run the software. If you are a Windows fan and are looking for an alternate to Windows Media Center this is as close as you can get without the cost.

Element – Element is an open source HTPC system that comes pre-loaded with XBMC and the ability to play back just about any media locally or over the Internet. Element also has it’s own framework for offering add-on modules that allow you to play content from services like Hulu, Cooliris, Boxee, Clicker, Amazon on Demand and Youtube. They have adapted the UI’s of popular open source software like Firefox and Pidgin so that it fits the TV experience better than their native desktop versions. They also offer an Android app that allows you to use your Android phone as a remote control; definitely a neat idea for the times you can’t find the remote anywhere.

GeeXboX – A Gentoo based fully functional media center that can be run from LiveCD, LiveUSB, or be installed on a hard drive. GeeXbox is a very lean distro that doesn’t require a lot of processing power so it’s perfect for older hardware. It uses Enna as it’s primary media center application to play your music, videos or look at your pictures. This is the perfect distro for the no-frills experience when you just want to play your media and aren’t looking for any additional functionality.

Open Source HTPC’s That Don’t Suck originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/06. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Mobile Firefox Alpha

Frank — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:09:20 +0000

The first Mobile Firefox Alpha codenamed fennec is up for download on Mozilla’s site. Currently, the only mobile device that it actually runs on is Nokia’s N810 tablet, but you can play with it on Windows, OS X and Linux. I’m sure it will only be a short amount of time before we start to see this thing complied to run on everything from an iPhone (I hope) to a Blackberry (I REALLY Hope).

If you download and play with the alpha let us know how you made out in the forums

Mobile Firefox Alpha originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/17. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Portable Apps For Your Mac

Frank — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 05:01:38 +0000

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For the longest time we have seen portable apps for Windows. You know; the kind of applications you can drag onto a USB stick and have them run directly from the stick and never, and I mean ever, have to install anything on any machine that you may run them on. Now with U3 technology (sorry kids, it’s only available for Windows) installing and creating portable apps has even become easier.

I did a segment on the Lab With Leo show earlier this year on just that, portable apps for your Mac.

Freesmug have an awesome list of great OS X apps like Word Processor, FTP clients, IRC clients, and more. They also have a few paid versions of portable Mac exclusive apps like Mail.app, Ical, and Addressbook so that you can keep all of your setting in synch.

theplaceforitall.com – This has two of the greatest portable apps that I use all of the time, versions of the popular web browser Firefox and the email client Thunderbird. Both of these are compiled for both the Mac and Windows, so it doesn’t matter what OS your on, you can run them both and you will maintain all your settings across both platforms.

Because of the complex way that some settings are stored in the Mac operating system it’s hard to come by or even create portable apps, but I’m sure it won’t be too long before that wall comes tumbling down.

Portable Apps For Your Mac originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/21. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Freedom Stick – Freedom From Firewalls

Frank — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:13:42 +0000

The Freedom Stick is exactly what it’s name implies, freedom form firewalls that are placed in countries like Chine or the one in Italy that has been erected to block p2p users from the Pirate Bay.

The project has been brought forward by the CCC (Chaos Computer Club) and is basically a version of TOR and Firefox that can run on a USB stick. The aim is to provide every internet user with the opportunity to surf the Net without fearing censorship or prosecution.

It was designed with ease of use in mind and can easily be run by people with little or no computer skill. Download the archive for the CCC’s Chinese Wall page and unpack the contents to a USB key. If you have autostart enabled the system will launch the Vidalia Control Panel and Firefox which will allow any user to sure the net using the anonymity of the TOR network.

Freedom Stick – Freedom From Firewalls originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Set Up Mozilla Weave On Your Server

Frank — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:04:37 +0000

Sad like the rest of us that Google decided to cease development of it’s Firefox synchronizer? Not happy that foxmarks just doesn’t provide with you enough? Why not run your own mozilla weave server in order to synch all of your firefox installations. Blogger Marios Tziortzis has posted a detail step by step guide on getting your own weave set up. Setting weave up on your own server means that you don’t have to rely on Mozilla’s servers, and you can keep your data private, which includes bookmarks, passwords, cookies, and browser history. It’s not all that hard to get going and will enable you to have a seamless synch among all of your Firefox installations.

Setting up Mozilla Weave

Set Up Mozilla Weave On Your Server originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/09. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Avalinks – Social Bookmarking Reinvented

Frank — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:02:53 +0000

It’s hasn’t been the biggest secret around these parts, I have been working feverishly at creating a “new” social bookmarking service. I know what some of you are already saying; “but we already have delicious”.

Avalinks takes a fresh look at social bookmarking.

Watchlists to follow family and friends
Make your bookmarks public for the world to see or private for just you
A Firefox extension to make bookmarking a snap
Accessibility to your bookmarks from anywhere
Full del.icio.us based API. Easy integration into current applications
iPhone support for accessing your bookmarks – http://m.avalinks.com

We are still working out some of the kinks and some of the features like a Firefox extension that will allow you to synch your bookmarks across different computers, no matter what OS you are using. This way you will have access to your bookmarks from any computer, anywhere, anytime.

Stop on by and give it a whirl. You never know, you might just like it.

Avalinks

Avalinks – Social Bookmarking Reinvented originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/07/16. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Robot Easter Egg

Frank — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:07:32 +0000

Type “about:robots” in the address bar on Firefox 3.0 to see a little bit of wisdom form our metallic brethren. If you stumble upon any more Firefox easter eggs drop a comment so we can check them out. Remember, Robots are Your Plastic Pal who’s fun to be with.

Robot Easter Egg originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/06/24. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

FireNES – NES Games In Your Browser

Frank — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:53:57 +0000

For all of you hardcore 8-bit gamers, you can now play your favorite NES games right in your browser. Available exclusively for Firefox, FireNES allows you to browse and play through some 20,000 NES games. The beauty of it? You don’t need any additional software, just download the extension and it will run in Firefox no matter what OS you use.

Now if they could only create a PSP or XBox360 Firefox extension i’d be set.

FireNES

FireNES – NES Games In Your Browser originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/06/08. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

First Looks At Mobile Firefox

Frank — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:42:04 +0000

Mozilla has just revealed a first look into its new Mobile Firefox interface. The new mobile browser will come in two flavours: one for touch screen devices like the iPhone and most PDAâ€™s, and one for non touch devices, like most cell phones.

Firefox mobile offers a familiar layout to all you iPhone and iPod touch users out there. Taking there cues from mobile Safari the main screen offers a similar layout. Back and forward navigation buttons, a bookmark button, and a retractable address bar.

There are some additions over Appleâ€™s mobile browser: a zoom button and a tab button that offers a different experience of the Safari one. When you press the tab button it will display up to four tab previews on the same screen for easy switching.

First Looks At Mobile Firefox originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/25. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Quickly Install Open Source Software

Frank — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:30:28 +0000

Here is two great pieces of software to make sure that you are getting the best open source replacement software you can get your hands on. WinLibre (for Windows) and MacLibre (for the Mac) allow you to install and update some of the best open source software available for the two platforms. This is great if you are setting up a fresh system and want to grab all of the cool apps that you need like Firefox or Thunderbird. You can also run the application periodically to check for any updates or to install newer versions of the software you already have installed.

Both applications are free and available for their respective operating systems.

Quickly Install Open Source Software originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/08. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Webstatistics 2.0

Frank — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 04:00:00 +0000

Are you a web designer? Do you own a web site? Well if you are a stats junkie like the rest of us, here is the site for you: http://www.xinureturns.com/

As the site says, it’s “Page Rank and much more”. It would be a bit much to list everything that this site looks up about your URL, so you are just going to have to click the link and find out for yourself.

Another nice link to have is : http://www.unofficialseoblog.com/top-10-must-have-seo-firefox-extensions/2662/

Webstatistics 2.0 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/10/03. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Scripting is baaaad

Frank — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

So, on Monday I reported on why you shouldn’t allow Flash on your network with the article: Nmap 127.0.0.1: Flash Style . Kind of hinting toward how a malicious site could scan your internal network without triggering your firewall, IPS/IDS, or sometimes even a host based firewall/ips. Today, I have a new threat that is hot off of BugTraq. A researcher at SecNiche.org by the name of Aditya K Sood found a vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer’s PopUp Blocker. An incredible small amount of code can be executed via JavaScript to add a site to the “Allowed” popup list. You can find the write up HERE (PDF).

Isn’t it about time that you start using Firefox with Adblock Plus and NoScript ? Might as well throw in another good add-on called StumbleUpon as well.

::UPDATE:: It has been confirmed that this only works when the html document is opened locally. The reason I didn’t wipe the article all together is the fact that things like this usually are a seed to find an actual working way to get this done.

Scripting is baaaad originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/08/16. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Are you secure: Secunia to the rescue

Frank — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Secunia.com has been a great resource of vulnerability and virus information over the years for Black, Grey, and White hat hackers alike. Recently they released a BETA project that looks promising and could be the first step into a “package manager” for Windows. In there own words:

A new addition to the Secunia Software Inspector series, the free Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI), is now available for BETA testing. Capable of detecting and categorising more than 4,200 applications.

So far, I have run it on a Vista Ultimate and XP SP2 box and it has come back with some impressive results. It found some software that I hate to admit, had totally forgotten about, on my system that was out of date. As for cons, I have only found two thus. One, it detected my Firefox install as 2.0.0.4 instead of 2.0.0.6. The second being, not so much a technical fault, but a person preference. It is not portable, you install it and it works on that box.

What they don’t tell you on the site is that when it detects out of date applications, it provides you a direct download link. This is good and bad, you are not seeing where this download is coming from, so you are trusting Secunia. It’s good for us lazy computer geeks though, because it is only one click.

Finally, they provide you a detailed write up on the out of date software you have and links to find out what vulnerabilities affect that software package.

In closing, this is a great piece of software that I will definitely keep tabs on and take around with me, along with my File Hippo Updater

Check out and follow this project at https://psi.secunia.com/

Are you secure: Secunia to the rescue originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/08/01. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Media downloading made simple

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Ever seen an online video you wanted to save for later? Something informative, or just plain hysterical? I have. I’ve tried the Firefox Plugin “Video Downloader“. It works, but you have to be using Firefox (Yes, there still are people in the world who don’t use it) and that doesn’t make it very portable. Then there is the fact that once downloaded it is in FLV format, which is playable only in a browser or Flash Player. I have also tried Zamzar, the convert “Anything to Anything” site. Another very useful tool, but you have to download the FLV, then upload it to them, and wait for them to convert it and email it to you.

Don’t get me wrong, these are great programs and very useful in their own right, but not the solution. That’s when I happened on a website called VConvert.net which downloads the flv, converts it, and delivers you the video in formats for your PC, MAC, iPod, PSP, iPhone, and even your Cell phone! (Phones capable of playing .3gp)

Tools that do one task, and do it well.

Media downloading made simple originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Firefox: 400 Million Strong

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Firefox has made the 400 million mark, quite impressive. The open source browser has only been around for about 3 years, so achieving this number is quite impressive. There are reportedly about 120 million or so regular Firefox users, which makes me wonder what happened to the other 280 million went.

81% of our readers are regular Firefox users, good for all of you.

Firefox: 400 Million Strong originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.