Well we all know Firefox is five years old now. Humans are toddlers at this age but this Browser is flying if not galloping. Sometime back I wrote about Firefox add-ons which are great and worth trying out. Besides all this FF certainly gives users a chance to pep up the looks of the browser itself. Personas, may be applied by a single click. And the numbers are literally running in hundreds if not thousands.

Applying Personas is a simple process, visit the persona page, select the Persona you want to apply, mouse-over it and click apply. That’s it. However, if you want to go a step further and design your own Persona, it’s not all that difficult either. It can be done online as well as offline.

Creating a Persona. There are four steps to creating a Persona.

1.  Create a Persona header image. Dimensions should not exceed 3000 pixels (width) x 200 pixels (length). The file size should not exceed 300 Kb and the image has to be in Jpeg or Png format.

2.  Create a Persona footer image. Dimensions should not exceed 3000 pixels (width) x 100 pixels (length). The file size should not exceed 300 Kb and the image has to be in Jpeg or Png format.

3.   Test you Persona Image. This can be done on your own PC browser or by using the Cross-Platform Photoshop PSD Header Template. The detailed procedure is available at the Firefox Persona Page.

4.    Finally Submit your Persona. After you have tested the images it is now time to submit your Persona to FF. The will be a 24 hours delay at the most after which you will be contacted via e-mail in either case.

A few things to remember are: Do not use images that are highly graphic in nature. Use preferably soft colors. Make use of an Image Editor like Adobe Photoshop, Gimp etc. Or you may as well use of Online Image Editing Resources available on the FF persona page. It’s a good feeling when you make your own Persona and even better when you can share it with the world by uploading it to Firefox repository.

For more info head on to the Firefox Persona Creation Demo Page.

It’s a Google Google world, that’s for sure. The Google Chrome browser has some very good extensions lined up for users. The various categories are Alerts and Updates, Appearance and Functioning, language & Translators, Music, Videos and Photos, Tabs etc etc. The basic purpose is very similar to that of add-ons in Firefox, making certain required actions easier by making them a one click effort.

In order to use these extensions one will have to upgrade to the Google Chrome 3.6b or maybe to some other Beta, depending on the type of extension you want to install. This shouldn’t be a problem, just download and start using. However, you will be asked if you want to participate in a survey which will notify each time your browser crashes. Adding an extension is as simple as downloading and installing it, again a one click process. After it is done you will see a small icon of the extension in the top right corner adjacent to the address bar. Extensions that do not shop up can be viewed/accessed from the “Extensions” in the Tools menu. Some of the extensions are really good and promise to make our lives easier. The selected ones are posted below, do try them out.

Custom Colors. For those of you who are tired of watching the same colors scroll by in the Google browser try this extension out. It will give the Chrome a new look and feel. This makes your browsing experience good and the change is definitely worth the effort. Link Custom Colors.

Firefox is not only my favourite browser, millions share this passion with me. This browser since its birth has been growing and attracting attention worldwide. Its small in size, fast and best of all free. Few years back Firefox add-ons started appearing and now there is huge library with thousands of add-ons covering various categories like appearance, toolbars, social networking, dictionaries and plugins etc to name a few. Five very useful ones are listed below.

DownThemAll. This add-on is the Firefox equivalent of leading Download managers like Download Accelerator Plus etc. Since its inception various versions and updates have been released. The latest being DownThemAll 1.1.7.Simply add to your Firefox browser and enjoy uninterrupted downloads.

Converter 0.9.3. If you want to make conversions while browsing a webpage there are easier ways then using a separate application for the purpose. Converter 0.9.3 makes it easy for users to make conversions while being online. Simply select the text and right click to view the converted value in a pop-up menu. Besides this the whole page can also be converted to various units and this app also allows users to make custom conversions. Install it now from here.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary Add-on. Everyone of us needs to use a dictionary quite frequently and if one is online then opening up the book version seems such a big chore. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary add-on makes searching for words and terms from within a page easy. Simply type the word in the search window and select the Merriam Webster dictionary tool to find its meaning. The add-on is available here.

Facebook User Search. Users can search for old friends and acquaintances on Facebook using this Firefox add-on. Searches can be made using their names or email addresses. Very handy and easy to use. Install from this location.

TwitterBar. Twitter-aholics who can’t live without tweeting several times a day will find this add-on unavoidable. Users can make posts on twitter from Firefox’s address bar using the TwitterBar. It also allows users to see how many characters are left. The add-on is available here.

Nowadays if you are not tweeting then you’re not in the circle. Most of us tweet or retweet using a PC, however, there are other options available as well. One can make use of his/her mobile phone, PDA or smart device. The Zune HD that was hit the markets sometime back created quite a stir. Then came news of the Bing app for iPhone and now there is a Twitter app for the Zune HD.

Frankly, the kind of service Twitter offers suits mobile devices. I mean most of us tweet several times a day as random thoughts hit our minds. The convenience for tweeting offered by a mobile device is much more as compared to a PC/Laptop.

The application is free! It allows users to read updates as well as update their posts from the Twitter account. The Zune HD requires a WiFi connection so connectivity can be limited depending on where one is located.

Previously users had to use the Browser, now the app will make it easier to cache pages and view their tweets offline. I guess not we are waiting for a Facebook application. More info the app is available here.

Digg.com has introduced some very nice stuff that one can shop for while digging off course. This includes T-shirts of various types, apparel, under wears,dog shirts, mittens, laptop sleeves, blankets, bags and hooded shirts to name a few. Besides all this one can also design his/her own custom apparel using the T-shirt creation environment. At the same time you can also open an online shop at digg and sell the stuff you have designed.

An easy to use interface make sit possible for users to create apparel of various types, colors and shapes. Off course you need to log in and provide credit card details for buying stuff. The site is offering free shipping on all product purchases till 24th Dec 2009. See Digg for more info.

Just today I logged in to my Facebook account and was presented a with rather odd looking screen. Instincts told me to hit the cancel button, but alas there was none. It was not something optional, instead it was a requirement, off course the option for looking in to it later was also present.

Facebook privacy concerns have been the subject of debate for quite some time and this new addition aims to address these issues by giving users with more control on who can view what, regarding their personal information. in some ways the procedure is more simplified while at the same time members have to make public some info to others. An in all I think it is a good idea to give users more control over their privacy settings at least. See the screenshot below. (Click to enlarge)

Various options available are to keep on going with the old settings or select new settings regarding members phone numbers, email address, work and education info, family etc.

The official Chrome OS is still to be released, some say next year, so what all choices do we have? Wait for a year or just wait? well not for long the since folks at Dell have tinkered with the OS and have produced a hacked version of the OS (8 GB in all) which can be loaded in to a Flash disk for trying out Live, but in a Dell Mini 10v. This certainly comes as a surprise because just recently Google declared the project Open Source and the trend certainly has caught on rather fast.

The hacked version is available for download and instructions are also available online for users to follow. To do this one has to own a Dell Mini 10v though. So Mini 10v owners are the blessed ones or people who can afford and are dying to try out Chrome can buy to take the plunge. After downloading the image one will have to load the image on to a 8 GB thumb drive and reboot via the USB for previewing Google Chrome.

The OS boots up in under 12 seconds and is known to work well. Driver support may vary according to the model but since this hack is exclusively for the Mini 10v so owners of these machines will find no glitches hopefully except for the Wi-Fi which is known to show hiccups during operation. Anyways it won’t hurt to try out the OS on any machine just to experience its looks and response minus the depleted driver support.

First there was blogging and now emerges micro blogging concept with emergence of Facebook live feed, twitter and other lightweight/micro blogs where you can quickly log your rants, thoughts, shouts and social blah blah instantly and that to all for free.  These micro blog services enable you to keep in contact with your friends and colleagues on Facebook, twitter, typepad, tumblr, allowing you to post anything like images, videos, audio clips, and above all text. Posting on these micro blogging services is simple, easy and there are multiple ways to do that such as email, mobile applications, and anywhere from the web. Above all these micro blogging services let you customize your micro blog with hundreds of free themes and if you are a design savvy person you might want to cook up your own customized theme.

Micro blogging is a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually less than 200 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user as described by Wikipedia . Now let’s look at which services are available for free micro blogging and what they offer. There might be lots of them, cropping up everyday but few most popular are these.

The OS that is attracting wide attention the world over is going Open source. Just recently Google announced plans of releasing its code at Chromium. So if you want to contribute in any way just visit Chromium and sign up. The OS will be released sometime next year and promises revolutionary features as compared to today’s operating systems.

First of all it is going to be fast, in fact much faster then present day operating systems. Secondly, there is no installing apps, most of the things are web based. This will also ensure data security and integrity, hence being more secure. It is also going to be easy to use! what about Windows is it difficult? Or how much easier? Let us wait and see. An API will make it easier to modify code and/or develop new apps. There’s support for multitasking, ability to play on Flash based games, initially that is. And off course users will be able to connect to external devices (what about drivers?)

So primarily it will be for NetBooks, more info is available at the Google Blog.

Sometime back it was Symbian OS which gave users the flexibility of installing hundreds of thousands of applications, then iPhone overshadowed everything by making available thousands of applications at the Apple website, now its Android’s turn. The Google based OS for smart phones that is poised to take the world by storm has an equally impressive number of applications lined up for its loyal followers. Some of the most wanted are described here in not so fine detail. The applications/games introduced here have been selected after much surfing and browsing.

• Wapedia. Originally developed by Taptu Limited the application makes it possible for users to access Wikipedia contents on their Android based phones. The application is fast in accessing content even on 2G Networks. This is a must have utility for Wikipedia fans. Its features included news items, image rendering, auto-complete feature for article titles, support for multiple languages and links to alternative wikis.