Matthew's Weblog

download here

So Scientific American Frontiers did an episode on “Hydrogen Hopes” which had some really great stuff, all from the Ovshinskys, who run Energy Conversion Devices and are churning out inventions by the bucket. I’m personally dying to get my hands on the modified Prius they demoed with the solid fueltank of hydrogen… but it’ll have to wait until I get the solar installed. Maybe I’ll even be able to install their solar cells…

Try running their analysis tool yourself… I bet it’s not as expensive as you think.

So here are configurations that I use, gathered from a handful of locations. Add to the user.js file to enable them, or manipulate the values through about:config

// Change main bar to normal Google search:
user_pref(”keyword.URL”, “http://www.google.com/search?btnG=Google+Search&q=”);
// Find As You Type Configuration:
// Set this pref to false to disable Find As You Type:
user_pref(”accessibility.typeaheadfind”, true);
// Put an end to blinking text!
user_pref(”browser.blink_allowed”, false);
// Enable pipelining:
user_pref(”network.http.pipelining”, true);
user_pref(”network.http.proxy.pipelining”, true);
user_pref(”network.http.pipelining.maxrequests”, 8);
// Delay before starting to draw HTML page… Last value in milliseconds (default is 250)
user_pref(”nglayout.initialpaint.delay”, 0);

More configs… add the following code to your userChrome.css file:
/* Make the Search box flex wider
(in this case 300 pixels wide) */
#search-container, #searchbar {
-moz-box-flex: 300 !important;
}

and some stuff that I haven’t tried but looks interesting…
userChrome.css:
/* Remove the Go and Help menus
(These are just examples. Try changing “Go” to “Edit” or “Bookmarks”) */
menu[label="Go"], menu[label="Help"] {
display: none !important;
}
/* Change cursor for links that open in new window */
:link[target="_blank"], :visited[target="_blank"],
:link[target="_new"], :visited[target="_new"] {
cursor: crosshair;
}
/* Change cursor for JavaScript links */
a[href^="javascript:"] {
cursor: move;
}

user.js
// Click on throbber to go to Mozilla.org:
user_pref(”browser.throbber.url”, “http://www.mozilla.org/”);

Also, these look like a good combo: a definable location for the cache and how to use a profile on removable media…
—
Specify where to store the cache

To specify in which folder the cache is stored, add the following code to your user.js file:

// Path to Cache folder:
user_pref(”browser.cache.disk.parent_directory”,”C:\Path To Cache”);

Remember to use two backslashes for the path separators if you’re using Windows, e.g. C:\Path\Path To Cache instead of C:\Path\Path To Cache.
Run Firefox from removable media

This advanced tip makes it possible to run Firefox from removable media, such as a USB memory stick. This will allow you to run Firefox with your personal settings from any computer, even those that don’t have Firefox installed. It has only been tested on Windows XP/2000. The basic instructions are as follows:

1. Copy the Firefox application folder and your profile folder to the removable medium. In this example we will use R:\Firefox for the application folder and R:\FFProfile as the profile folder, assuming the drive letter for the removable media is R:.
2. Create a simple batch file called R:\Firefox.bat with the following line:

start \Firefox\firefox.exe -profile \FFProfile

3. Optionally, disable the disk cache to reduce the amounts of file writes to the removable storage by entering about:config in the address field of Firefox and set browser.cache.disk.enable to false.

The reason why a batch file is needed instead of a simple shortcut is that a shortcut uses absolute paths, and since the actual drive letter for the removable media may change depending on which computer it is plugged into, the relative path used in the batch file is guaranteed to work anywhere.
—

And adding new search options to the right-hand searchbar

So I’ve decided to document my current Firefox setups since I’m setting up a third (fourth? fifth?) time and am tired of rediscovering bits I forget. In addition, people keep asking about bits that I haven’t written down and I want to be able to provide one place for people to look. Here it begins!

First, the main tweak guide I use and a description of other tweaks in the context of an article.

Yes.

However, there’s an interesting rumination on a man who has made it his goal to research how to make it happen (as well as the subject’s response) that makes me somewhat uncomfortable about the people who will get us there. It will take a lot of research and much soul-searching before society is ready to deal with this question. Unfortunately, I’m quite clear that people can’t handle it right now.

Both articles are talking around each other, using unsupported, dismissive language, when what we really need is a clear discussion to begin. If in 40 years we do make enough progress to noticeably inflect the aging curve, we will need a lot more thought than shouting going on. And (at least in the US these days) I’m not sure that’s going to happen…

An article about combining IT studies with business courses or other types of learning… not just the heads-down code monkey approach, and not the theory of compilers either. Both are very appropriate options but I wish these alternatives had been available while I was in school so I didn’t have to make my own major. I probably learned as much, though.

This USATODAY article focuses on a trend that I’m really torn about, and that personally affects me in more ways than one. I want to have tech jobs created locally so I can be gainfully employed. However, I’m looking into using offshore programmers to bootstrap my own personal startup and the price is (more) right.

Cornered by my own logic…

I love it when someone tells it like it is. Technological controls will always fail… the only question is when. To finally have the Apple Music Store as a counterexample – something that shows people want to pay the artists – is marvelous, because it means people may finally get a clue. Unfortunately, the braindead squirrels running media distribution may never get that their niche is about to be obliterated…