Firefox has a CPU usage issue and, consequently, can cause overheating problems in some laptops, particularly ultraportables. That's what I've found over the last couple of years.
But don't take my word for it. This is documented on a Mozilla support page entitled "Firefox consumes a lot of CPU resources." The page states: "At times, Firefox may require significant CPU [central processing unit] resources in order to download, process, and display Web content." And forum postings like this one about a Dell Netbook are not uncommon: "Mini9 would get way too hot."
The Mozilla support page goes on to say that "you can review and monitor CPU usage through specific tools" and describes ways to limit CPU usage, such as: "A Firefox add-on, called Flashblock, allows you to selectively enable and disable Flash content on Web sites."
Let me describe my experience. I find that tab for tab, Firefox uses decidedly more resources than other browsers--Safari, for example. And in the past (when I was actively using a Windows Vista-based machine) Firefox also compared unfavorably with Microsoft's Internet Explorer for CPU usage.
More specifically, here's the behavior as I see it. When I'm accessing sites with multimedia content such as the CNET front door, Firefox CPU usage will bounce around between 30 and 60 percent, and sometimes spike higher (80 percent and above), as indicated by the Mac OS 10.6.2 Activity Monitor.
On the other hand, the Safari CPU usage with the same pages open is much lower--typically between 2 percent and 10 percent.
My theory is that most users don't notice this because in mainstream laptops, this isn't an issue. But it can become an issue in ultraportables--typically under an inch thick--which are more sensitive to heat because of the design constraints. The ultrathin Apple MacBook Air, which I use as my main machine, is a good example.
The fan is usually an audible indicator of CPU usage issues. When I'm using Firefox and I have tabs open on multimedia-rich sites (which is par for the course these days), the Air's fan will almost invariably kick on and stay on until I close the tabs. As I write this, the fan has finally shut down after I closed the Firefox tabs (e.g, CNET front door). Those same tabs in Safari are still open and not causing any significant spike in CPU usage or fan activity.
When I contacted Mozilla, a technical support person guessed that Safari is possibly better at optimizing Flash-based sites compared to Firefox. And that may be true. However, I had similar issues before when I was using a Hewlett-Packard business ultraportable (also very thin like the Air) that were not necessarily tied to Flash usage. In short, Firefox was less efficient with CPU usage compared to Microsoft's IE 8. And the behavior was similar. The HP laptop would quickly heat up and the fan would kick on.
Finally, let me reemphasize that I'm guessing that most users don't notice this because heat dissipation is not a big issue for mainstream laptops that are not necessarily thermally-challenged when accessing multimedia-rich Web pages. That said, this has been a steady problem for me because I use ultraportables almost exclusively and has forced me to limit my use of Firefox.
SmarterFox, one of my favorite Firefox productivity add-ons, recently updated to version 3.0. In the process, it added a new feature, fixed some miscellaneous bugs, and changed its name to FastestFox.
For a major version upgrade, changes are slim. The most notable new feature is the ability for FastestFox to automatically surface related search results from Amazon and OneRiot at the top of a Google results page. The related search results show up in addition to an original SmarterFox bar that lets you repeat a search on OneRiot, Amazon, Yahoo, Twitter, and Delicious. The FastestFox release notes are quick to mention that you can disable related search results.
Version 3.0 adds relevant results from Amazon and OneRiot.
(Credit: FastestFox)For as much as FastestFox can do, I'm not particularly thrilled with either the name change--always a pain for users--nor the pushed search results, which outmaneuver Google in grabbing your eyeball at the top of the results page. That said, the extension doesn't crimp any of the app's original usefulness; just its own branding.
I've been using the SmarterFox Firefox add-on (Windows | Mac) for awhile now. It's by far one of the most varied productivity add-ons for Firefox that I've seen. Its clever tricks to speed up searching, browsing, downloading, and even copy and paste are good news for just about anyone whose job description contains the word "Web."
I've put together a SmarterFox slideshow to walk you through the substantial features. Without giving away too much, SmarterFox facilitates faster search through multiple channels, including the Firefox Awesome Bar, the context menu, and Wikipedia enhancements. It also helps launch Web sites faster, and has a novel way of dealing with pagination for sites with multipage articles, and for shopping sites displaying pages of results. Check out the gallery to see exactly how these features work.
Hulu has quickly become one of the leaders in online video. Providing professional content from major networks and movie studios, the site has welcomed millions across the U.S. who want to watch streams of their favorite shows or movies online.
I'm certainly one of them. But after catching up on Battlestar Galactica and watching the same five episodes of The Office over and over again to memorize Dwight Schrute's lines, I'm left wanting more.
That's why I've compiled this list of five television shows that I'd like to see added to Hulu.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm creator and star, Larry David, co-created Seinfeld with Jerry Seinfeld. And although this show doesn't quite live up to the popularity Jerry's show did, it's easily one of the funniest shows on television and one that I would watch every day if it was available on Hulu.
Curb takes you through the trials and tribulations of being Larry David. He's a rude, abrasive person who has little respect for anyone or anything. But it doesn't matter--his total disregard for people's feelings and his penchant for arguments makes the show a winner. Adding it to Hulu makes perfect sense. It's an HBO show--a network that Hulu currently doesn't partner with (but should)--and its cult following could help the site capture an even larger audience. I don't see any downside.
Seinfeld
What can be said about Seinfeld that hasn't already been discussed by its millions of fans and countless pundits? Seinfeld is, in my opinion, the funniest sitcom ever created and its cast of characters was second to none.
A show about nothing, it took some time for Seinfeld to captivate audiences. But when it did, they were taken by off-the-wall stunts, strange characters (George Costanza was based on Larry David), and hilarious story lines. Perhaps that's why I simply don't understand why NBC, one of the main companies backing Hulu, doesn't feature one of its most popular sitcoms of all time on its own online video service. Maybe it's contractual or maybe NBC suits don't want to offer it for free if they think they can incur more revenue on DVD sales, but bringing Seinfeld to Hulu would, in my mind, make the video site a more compelling service.
The Sopranos
Another huge HBO hit, The Sopranos is one of my favorite series and probably the show I'd most like to see on Hulu.
The Sopranos follows the life of mobster, Tony Soprano, but it doesn't inundate the viewer with scenes of mob violence, though there is quite a bit of that. Instead, The Sopranos uses Tony's family and psychology as the backbone of the story and employs the Mafia angle to provide color and drama as needed. Suffice it to say that The Sopranos is more about sociology and human interaction than the Mob. But one aspect of the show that probably keeps Hulu away is the profanity and sexual content--it's everywhere. Look for age verification if it ever gets to Hulu.
Sportscenter
Putting Sportscenter on Hulu seems like the logical next step for the video streaming service. Except, of course, that Sportscenter is broadcast on ESPN, which is owned by ABC--a company that has yet to partner with Hulu. But that shouldn't stop us from wanting the premier sports news show on television to make its way to Hulu.
Sportscenter is the single source for daily sports highlights and with so many rebroadcasts each day, it's conceivable that you'll see the same show three or four times in just a few hours and never tire of it. That's the kind of viewer Hulu needs and I don't know of any other show besides Sportscenter that could provide it.
The Wonder Years
Am I alone in thinking that The Wonder Years was one of the best television shows of the past 15 years? I thought it was poignant, funny, and most importantly, real. Yet I can't find it anywhere on DVD and as far as I know, it might never be released due to contract disputes. But that shouldn't stop it from coming to Hulu.
The Wonders Years is easily one of my favorite shows of all time. Following the formative years of Kevin Arnold, the show's viewers were able to relive teenage years that were rife with uncertainty, misunderstanding, puppy love, and a strong desire for whatever the future might hold. Its writing was superb, its acting even better. The Wonder Years was, to both children and adults alike, a tale of life. I'd like nothing more than to be able to immerse myself in that world just one more time on Hulu. And I'm willing to bet its cult following is right there with me.
One of my buddies just tipped me off to a must-have tab management add-on for Firefox. It's called FoxTab, and it's a cross between Mac OS X's Expose, Windows Vista's Flip 3D, and the thumbnail view in Google Chrome. When you've got a lot of tabs open in Firefox, this offers a quick way to jump to the page you want without having to eyeball the name of each one.
To toggle it on you just hit a small keyboard shortcut and it zooms out all the tabs into a giant wall. You can also summon it with a small button that sits next to the address bar, or by choosing it from the right click menu. Once opened, you simply pick which tab you want to see by clicking it, or simply scrolling with your mouse wheel. It's not nearly as smooth as Tab Effect, an eye candy tab switching add-on Rafe wrote about back in September of last year, but it's neat nonetheless.
There are five different styles in all, and each one offers a different way to view the thumbnails you have open. My personal favorite is the standard grid view, which can be tweaked to include as many rows as you'd like. Windows Vista users are more likely to choose the stack view, which is identical to Vista's Flip 3D. No matter what you choose, it's a pretty svelte alternative to hunting down the page you want by favicon and text alone.
Note: This is an "experimental" add-on in Mozilla's directory, so you must be registered there to download it.
Related: Surf your bookmarks by thumbnail with Bookmark Previews
FoxTab lets you see all of your open tabs as thumbnails. You can maneuver them with your scroll wheel, or swap what type of view you'd like on the fly. (click to enlarge)
(Credit: CNET Networks)
Discount retailer Target has signed a deal with photo-sharing service Photobucket, adding it to the small collection of online partners for its in-store photo-printing service.
Through the partnership, members of Photobucket can directly order photos for pickup at most Target stores (presumably any Targets that don't have photo-printing stations would be the exception). Typically, the photos will be ready within an hour.
Photobucket, a unit of News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media, is the third current partner for the retailer; Target already has partnerships in place with Shutterfly's and Kodak's online photo services.
Last week, Photobucket announced a partnership with start-up Scrapblog to make it easier for members to put their photos into online (and eventually print) scrapbooks.
Photobucket, the massive photo-sharing site that was acquired by News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media last year, has partnered with Scrapblog, a start-up that lets members create online scrapbooks.
Through the partnership, whose financial terms were not disclosed, Scrapblog's drag-and-drop application will be available within Photobucket so that users can work their Photobucket albums into scrapbooks and then share or embed them on the Web. Starting in September, printed versions of Scrapblog scrapbooks will be available for purchase.
"Scrapbooks have traditionally been an important part of how people have kept and shared memories offline for many years, and bringing that capability online to Photobucket gives users even more options for enhancing their lives and expressing themselves digitally," Photobucket president Alex Welch said in a release. "We are excited to partner with Scrapblog, and be the first photo and video Web site to integrate a digital-scrapbooking feature directly into the site, making it easy, convenient, and accessible to everyone."
Coral Gables, Fla.-based Scrapblog, founded in 2006, has created scrapbook-related marketing campaigns for brands ranging from Carnival Cruise Lines to the ABC television series Ugly Betty (parent company Disney is an investor). Longworth Venture Partners led Scrapblog's Series A venture round in March 2007.
Fox Interactive Media, the News Corp. subsidiary that owns social sites MySpace and Photobucket, has signed on as the latest member of the Family Online Safety Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to "identifying and promoting best practice, tools and methods in the field of online safety, that also respect free expression."
As the first social network to become a nationwide teen craze, MySpace became a frequent target for safety advocates--including state lawmakers, who ended up working with the social network to create a safety plan for kids and teens online.
Other prominent members of FOSI include AOL, AT&T, Cisco, Comcast, Google, Loopt, Microsoft, Ning, Verizon, and a number of international telecommunications carriers.
"FOSI has been a dedicated leader in promoting online safety and we look forward to contributing to the work they do," Fox Interactive Media Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam said in a statement Friday. "Internet safety is a key priority for us as we strive to keep all teens safer online. This new membership will further strengthen our efforts and will also allow us to share our expertise with other members."
FOSI holds an annual conference about online safety: this year's will be on December 11 in Washington, D.C.
MySpace, the social network owned by News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media, announced Wednesday that it has hired five new members for its executive team--three senior vice presidents and two vice president--in fields ranging from engineering to customer service. They're coming from a mixed background of media and tech.
Manu Thapar, former vice president of engineering at Yahoo, has been hired as MySpace's senior vice president of engineering, a role that involves architecture and security management as well as the creation of an offshore development team. Another Yahoo veteran, Tish Whitcraft, has joined MySpace as senior vice president of customer care and will oversee the construction of a "self-help" tool for MySpace users.
On the media side, Angela Courtin has been hired as MySpace's senior vice president of marketing, entertainment, and content. She comes from MTV Networks, where she was vice president of integrated marketing. Jason Oberfest, a former biz-dev guru at Los Angeles Times Interactive, has been hired as vice president of business development to work in both deal making and developer relations. And Abe Thomas, a former employee of eBay and its PayPal subsidiary, has been hired as vice president of online marketing.
But the revolving doors at MySpace are moving fast. TechCrunch reported Tuesday that the company was looking to lay off as much as 5 percent of its workforce, which chief operating officer Amit Kapur confirmed to the blog later in the day. But the exec classified the move as "performance driven," meaning that fired employees would be replaced and that MySpace was actually looking to hire as many as 300 new employees.
The hiring announcement comes so close on the heels of the layoff reports that conspiracy theorists might speculate MySpace put out a release about fairly recent executive picks to temper any bad press. But when asked, a MySpace representative classified the hires as "very recent...or are locked and loaded to start soon," so it's more likely that personnel changes just happened to fall into the rumor mill at an opportune time.
Looks like some big-media deal-making went into this one.
Photobucket, the photo-sharing site that was acquired by News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media last year, has announced the launch of an iPhone application (download), just like everybody else.
Users can browse their Photobucket albums, as well as upload images from the iPhone to the service with a single click. The application costs $4.99.
But Photobucket had a more interesting announcement on Thursday, namely a multiyear partnership with Ask.com, the search engine owned by new-media conglomerate InterActiveCorp.
Through the deal, Photobucket will use exclusively Ask.com search for its photo, video, and Web searches, and some of Ask.com's text and display ads will be shown on Photobucket. No financial specifics were mentioned.
"Photobucket has one of the largest online audiences, and now Ask.com provides these consumers with the answers to the questions they ask every day," said Andrew Moers, general manager of partnerships for Ask, the No. 4 player in search. "This alliance furthers our strategy to bring Ask.com to consumers worldwide through a broad range of Internet access points."
Photobucket sister company MySpace, meanwhile, has its search (and many of its ads) handled by Google. But on that note, Google has provided ad technology to Ask.com since the dinosaur days of 2004.
