Image by Dekuwa via Flickr

The application was easy to install and worked fairly smoothly - you can choose between the phone's built-in browser and Firefox. On starting Firefox there's not a hugely obvious difference between it and the phone's own browser, although Firefox looks a little better.

It's possible to swipe across the screen to get tabs (on one side) and page options (on the other). We couldn't figure out how to zoom into the text on a page - the standard double-tap didn't seem to work - but internet searching suggested we just weren't double-tapping hard enough.

Firefox Mobile allows for add-ons in the same way as its full-size sibling - you can download these from the internet, and although so far there aren't very many, they look quite useful. There's even an ad-blocker.

The password manager is particularly useful, and something that's lacking from most mobile browsers. The Awesome Bar from the standard version of Firefox has also made its way over - this allows users to search their bookmarks, history and more just by typing in what appears to be the standard address bar.

It's a shame the application is limited to two Nokia phones and a handful of others at the moment, but expect that to change soon.

Posted by Anthony Dhanendran on April 22, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (20)

I was a little surprised to see the Browser Choice window appear on my Windows XP MCE notebook the other day.

Asking around the office revealed that it will appear if Internet Explorer is still selected as the default browser. Frankly I'd stopped it from asking and just started browsers with the Quick Launch toolbar or with Launchy.

The annoyance with the selection window was that there was no way for me to tell it that I already had several of the alternative browsers installed and wanted to use one of them as my default.

In the end I clicked on the install button for Opera just to make the window go away and cancelled the download. I restarted the computer and the Browser Choice window hasn't reappeared. Despite the fact I haven't changed the default. I suppose it's the taking part that's important.

Posted by Tim Smith on March 10, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Wednesday 10 March is No Smoking Day, and the charity behind the event has come up with a Facebook app to help kick the habit.

The app gives a public way of tracking your progress, and then best way to quit it to be accountable to someone. Making that someone your entire friend list seems like quite a good idea.

There's more advice and help to be found on the main site.

Posted by Tim Smith on March 9, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (2)

As the comments on this blog have shown, the Office Ribbon has not met with universal approval. In a move to get people to explore the Ribbon the Office Labs has developed the Ribbon Hero

It appears in the Ribbon in Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 and shows your current score out of a total of 420. With just 48 points I’ve still got some way to go. The scores don’t carry across the different programs so there’s plenty to learn.

Points are given for completing version tasks in three categories: Working with Text, Page Design and Layout and Getting Artistic. Up to 44 points are awarded for basic tasks when using the Ribbon.

It’s aware of some of the new tools in Office 2010 like Text Effects and screen shots. Challenges for all versions of Office include working with SmartArt, Charts, watermarks and line numbers.

Once the tasks have been completed you can share you score using Facebook.

Even if you’re not interested in proving your prowess with Office, the Ribbon Hero is a useful learning tool.

Posted by Tim Smith on February 10, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (2)

I took call from a reader today who couldn't access a link in the magazine because they had entered it into the search engine box rather than the address bar of the browser. It's an easy mistake to make. After all, the search box is right in the middle of the screen.

It's not always a problem, type www.computeractive.co.uk into Google and the website is the first result in the list. But, type www.snipca.com/X911 (a shortened link to Windows Update) and there are no matches.

Surely it's not beyond the likes of Google to look through the search term and warn that it might be a link in the wrong place if www or http:// is found.

Posted by Tim Smith on February 3, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Fascinating post on the F-Secure blog about what privacy settings in Facebook really mean. Sean added a photo to a Facebook account making sure that every option was set to private. Unfortunately Facebook still adds a public link for the image. Checking the link I realised that this isn’t just a link for anyone on Facebook, you don’t even need to logged in to view it.

Something to bear in mind before you post photos, no matter how funny they are.

Posted by Tim Smith on January 21, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (4)

Hopefully I’m not too far from normal with the challenge of working on documents across several computers, not to mention different versions of Windows and Ubuntu.

USB keys are one solution provided you remember to put them back in your pocket and online office suites like Zoho and Google Docs are best used when you’re, well, online.

Enter Dropbox. It’s an online service that offers 2GB of storage at no cost (or 50GB and 100GB for $10 or $20 a month respectively) with a clever program that updates files automatically. It’s available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Folders can also be marked for sharing with other Dropbox users, which should come in handy when working on projects with several people.

Dropbox isn’t the only online storage service. I’m also using the paid for version of Humyo for backing up my work, but it’s handy to have a separate account just for working from and sharing with friends.

Posted by Tim Smith on January 7, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (5)

Following the Digital Hero campaign I reported on last year, BT is looking for their Internet Ranger of the Year.

The award is for young people under 16 who have helped other people get online. There will be four winners, one each from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, who will receive an HP laptop and £2500 worth of IT vouchers. An overall winner will receive an extra £250 worth of IT vouchers.

There will also be an award for a school that has encouraged pupils to help other people with their IT skills. The winning school or group of schools will receive £5,000.

There’s not long to apply as the closing date is Friday 15th January. Click here to find the application form. The schools form can be found here.

Posted by Tim Smith on January 4, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Digital Hero campaign has found it’s Hero. Gill Farrington from Derbyshire has been arranging for local school children to help older people with the Internet for the last five years. She was awarded a £10,000 prize.

Twelve regional winners were chosen by a public poll and the overall winner was then decided by a judging panel.

More information about all the winners can be found on the Digital Heroes website along with a video.

The awards were held in conjunction with Citizens Online a charity that works to promote digital inclusion.

Posted by Tim Smith on December 9, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Fonts can be a contentious subject. Is there any place for Comic Sans in the Post Modern Age and are the Calibri and Cambria fonts with Office 2007 and Vista good enough?

FontShop has an interesting interview with Simon Daniels from Microsoft about fonts and the various standards that are competing online.

Posted by Tim Smith on December 3, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)