gHacks technology news

Access remote Unix GUIs in Windows: Xming

Joe — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:02:55 +0000

A friend recently introduced me to the idea of X11 tunnelling, which is accessing programs over SSH whilst still maintaining a graphical interface. Most Linux distributions, and OS X, have built-in X11 support and to connect to a computer and be able to run graphical programs remotely, ssh server -x is the only command which must be typed. On Windows, it is somewhat more challenging.

Xming is an X server for Windows which can be used to secure forward X11 sessions from Unix machines. Basically, using Xming, a graphical program, like Firefox or xeyes, can be run remotely from an SSH server with X11. Using X11 tunneling, many things can easily be done remotely, whether that be word processing, file-sharing or accessing an email client.

Xming requires a little configuration. In my opinion, Xming works best with the Putty and comes with it. ssh.exe can also be used.

Putty must be configured to enable X11 forwarding, which is done inside Putty by going to SSH>X11 and ticking ‘Enable X11 forwarding’. Whilst programs can be launched via remote SSH terminal, the Xlaunch program which comes with Xming is much easier to use.

In Xlaunch, the chosen view for X11 windows is chosen (one window, multiple windows or full screen), the SSH server and login details is entered as is the application which is to be run. xterm (the terminal) is a good choice!

Access remote Unix GUIs in Windows: Xming

Tags: Linux, remote-access, ssh, unix, x11, xming

Lock Optical Drives

Martin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:34:10 +0000

If you ever had a kid running around in a room with a computer you most likely must have noticed that the little brats seem to be fascinated by the computer lights, buttons, keyboard or mouse. They cannot stop pressing their little fingers everywhere which can lead to some undesired results like powering down a computer or opening an optical drive.

Optical drives are sensible and can break easily if enough pressure is applied. CD / DVD Drive Locker puts an end to this fear by locking selected optical drives of a computer system. The software program is easy to use. Just select the optical drives that should be locked and move them to the list of locked drives with the click of a button. Unlocking works practically the same.

While kids - or more specifically parents - are the main target for the application it might also make sense under other circumstances. Could be useful to lock the optical laptop drive to avoid that the drive opens accidentally.

Credit goes to Instant Fundas for finding the application. They missed to include a link to the application though. CD / DVD Drive Locker is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 2000.

Lock Optical Drives

Tags: cd drive, dvd drive, lock cd drive, lock drives, lock dvd drive, lock optical drives, optical drives, windows software

Firefox Temporary Bookmarks

Martin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:15:14 +0000

Temporary Bookmarks are bookmarks that expire after a certain amount of time automatically. While most users prefer their bookmarks to last indefinitely some might want to be able to add temporary bookmarks to the system without having to worry about manually uninstalling them after a certain period of time.

One prime example would be to bookmark an offer on a website that expires after a set amount of time. It would not make much sense to keep the bookmark afterwards unless a new offer would be put on the same page. Might also be interesting for research.

TARK is a Firefox add-on that can make the bookmarks temporarily available. It does so by providing access to a new toolbar button - or several buttons - that make it possible to mark bookmarks. Bookmarks can be set to be available for up to four weeks using the Firefox add-on. Keep in mind that this is an option, it is still perfectly possible to add bookmarks the usual way which ensures that they will never expire.

Setup requires to drag and drop one or multiple toolbar buttons of the add-on into a Firefox toolbar. This is done by right-clicking a toolbar and selecting the customize option. Each Tark setting is available as one button but there is also a button with a drop down menu that combines them all.

The options of the add-on contain interesting settings. The add-on can be set to reset the expiration counter whenever the bookmarked page is accessed. The very same option provide access to new, unexpired and expired bookmarks which means that it is possible to recover expired web pages.

Firefox Temporary Bookmarks

Tags: bookmarks, firefox bookmarks, firefox tips, firefox-add on, firefox-extensions, mozilla-firefox, tark, Temporary Bookmarks

Online Computer Monitor Calibration

Martin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:05:03 +0000

The first thing to do when connecting a new computer monitor is to calibrate it properly to ensure that it displays the best possibly image. Most computer monitors come with a CD that can be used to calibrate the monitor. Most of the time those programs are not the best possible way to calibrate the monitor though. We already covered a few applications in the past like Calibrate Your Flat Screen Computer Monitor or Monitor Calibration Wizard.

The specialty of the Online Monitor Test is that it comes as a online service but also as an application. Both versions are divided into different test areas: Color Range, Trailing, Homogenuity, 1×1 pixelmapping and Text. Each section is accompanied by a info panel that is explaining the test at hand so that the user understands what the test is about. The info panel can be turned off once the user knows what the test is about to have full access to the screen without obstruction.

Both versions can be run in full screen mode for maximum effectiveness. The Color Range test is basically testing the color reproduction of the computer monitor by displaying color gradients and percentage screens.

The trailing test is testing movable objects on the computer screen. The speed can be altered as well as the color and position of the box that is moving on the screen.

The third option is to test the computer screen for homogenuity. It fills the screen with one solid color. This can also be used to test the monitor for dead pixels.

The 1×1 pixelmapping test is mostly useful for televisions and not computer monitors. The test displays a 1 by 1 checkboard of white and black pixels.

The last and final test is about text display on the computer monitor. The website contains a second service which can be used to test input lag on two computer monitors.

There is not much information about the software application that can also test the computer monitor. It worked fine on a Windows XP Service Pack 3 test system.

Online Computer Monitor Calibration

Tags: calibration, computer monitor, Computer Monitor Calibration, flat screen computer monitor, monitor, Monitor Calibration, online monitor test

Wallpaper Shifter

Martin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:30:27 +0000

Many software programs have been created in the past two years that automatically switch wallpapers on a computer desktop. We covered John’s Background Switcher, Scrollwall or the more recent Web Wallpaper. Some would say that these applications might be overkill under certain circumstances. They all run in the background permanently even if the user wanted to switch backgrounds only once a session during system startup. This is wasting system resources because the applications will not become active during that session anymore.

This is probably the same line of thought that convinced Dario Volaric to create a back to basics edition of this Wallpaper Shifter application. This will probably appeal to many users who are looking for a lightweight wallpaper changer. The application picks a random wallpaper from a directory selected by the user and sets it as the active Windows wallpaper.

Once that has been done it closes down which means that it will not use any system resources from that point on. The application was designed to run during system startup but it can also be run when executed while Windows is running.

It comes with a few options to change the scale mode (automatic, crop, fit, center) and the background (default, blur, edge repeat) but that’s it. If you are looking for a one time a session wallpaper changer then this might be exactly what you are looking for.

Make sure to check out the wallpaper repositories Windows 7 Wallpapers or Windows Wallpapers.

Wallpaper Shifter

Tags: Dario Volaric, wallpaper, Wallpaper Shifter, wallpaper-changer, wallpapers, windows 7 wallpapers, windows software, windows wallpapers

Auto Delete

Martin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:02:23 +0000

File deletion can be automated to a certain extend. Take the cache of an Internet browser for example. It can be set to be automatically deleted whenever the browser closes. Or the temporary files of a computer system. They too can be deleted during system shutdown.

Auto Delete (via Shell City) by Dario Volaric is a similar tool for Windows. The main difference is that it will run at system startup or when the user executes it manually. Another difference is that it will only delete files in the directory if they are older than the age specified by the user. The time frame ranges from 1 day to 1 year.

The user can include subfolders automatically, select if the files should be moved into the recycle or if a status window should be shown during the deletion.

The software program will automatically close after the job has ended. The main limitation of it is that it can only process one target folder. It is also unlikely that the software developer will update the program anytime soon because the last update dates back to 2005.

Do you know of a similar application that can delete files if they are older than x? Let us know in the comments.

Auto Delete

Tags: auto delete, autodelete, Dario Volaric, delete files, file deletion, software, windows software

Copy URL To Clipboard When Copying Text In Firefox

Martin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:20:42 +0000

Quoting text on a website usually requires to include the url of the website the quote was found. Some webmasters prefer not to do this but visitors like the possibility to check the source for additional information to research the topic further. And sometimes it comes in handy to check if the article on one site is actually putting the quote into the right context.

The small Firefox add-on Quote URL Text adds a new entry to the context menu of the web browser. The Quote Text entry can be used to copy the selected text and the url of the page to the Clipboard. This saves the step of having to copy the url separately when quoting text on a web page.

The Firefox add-on comes with a few options to include additional information like the title of the page and the date the page was visited. There is even a separate tab for advanced formatting options which allows for additional format changes.

The add-on seems to have a bug when pressing the context menu entry without having selected text before. The error does not have any bad effects though other than having to click on the OK button to get rid of it.

It would be nice if the developer of the add-on would include a few more options. Some interesting ones would be the use of a url shortening service and the ability to add html code to the formatting. One could for instance create a valid html link pointing to the url of the page with the link as the anchor.

Copy URL To Clipboard When Copying Text In Firefox

Tags: copy url, firefox, firefox tips, firefox-add on, mozilla-firefox, quote url, quote url text

Great Summary Summarizes Web Pages

Martin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:49:59 +0000

Don’t have the time to read a long article on a web page? Then it might be worth to give the Great Summary service a try. The service extracts the most important sentences of a web page and provides them as a summary to the user.

It is pretty obvious that a computerized summary won’t be as good as one from a human. It might still be worth a try if you lack the time or will to read a longish article. A good test text was the CNN article “Five ways to keep Alzheimer’s away”. The expectation for that article was to be presented with a list of the five ways that can keep Alzheimer’s away.

It is up to the user to pick the amount of sentences that should be returned. It can range from 1 to 100. Trying to squeeze a long article in 1 or 2 sentences might fail more often that it would succeed. Selecting 5 or 10 sentences did not reveal the desired information of the Alzheimer article. It did list some of the recommendations but not all of them.

Even more disturbing was the inclusion of part of the footer links which clearly had nothing to do with the article. The problem here is obviously that the service is analyzing the whole page and not only the part that contains the article. Areas like the header, footer or menu should be exempt from the analysis to avoid the confusion.

A Firefox add-on is available for Great Summary as well. It adds an entry to the right-click menu which sends the page to Great Summary.

The service could be very interesting if the developers would improve the detection rate of the important parts of a web page further. They should also lay more emphasize on titles and lists because these usually contain important information.

Still: There is not much to lose here. If you are desperately needing a summary you might want to give Great Summary a try.

Great Summary Summarizes Web Pages

Tags: firefox, firefox-add on, firefox-extension, great summary, summarize, summarize web pages, summarize websites, summary, web pages, web services

Winamp Minitube Adds Youtube Videos To Music

Martin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:24:48 +0000

Minitube is a Winamp plugin that unfortunately works only with Winamp and not with related music clients like AIMP2. The plugin searches Youtube automatically once a song starts playing grabbing the first result from the video portal and starting to play it on the desktop in its own window.

It would be rather chaotic if both the music player and the video would be playing the music; This is why the developers have made the decision to either play the music in Winamp and mute the video or mute Winamp and play the video with sound.

Minitube has a few additional options that can enhance the experience. It is possible to set the connection to low or high bandwidth, start the video in a window or fullscreen or to automatically hide the player if no video is found or skip to the next song instead.

The playback is normally not synchronous due to the fact that the music track begins playing before the search is conducted. It can also happen that the first result on Youtube is no longer available which would display a “The video is no longer available” message for the duration of the song or that an unrelated video - with the correct song - is pulled from Youtube.

The best application for this would probably be to load a mp3 playlist and select to play the Youtube videos with sound in fullscreen. This would be like a custom music video channel on the Internet.

Winamp Minitube Adds Youtube Videos To Music

Tags: minitube, minitube plugin, winamp, winamp music video, winamp plugin, winamp video, youtube, youtube music, youtube music video

BlackBerry Wallpapers

Martin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:47:21 +0000

If you want new wallpapers for your Blackberry cell phone you could try and find sites that are offering them, you could try and create them yourself locally with an image editor or you could use the online service BBsnap which turns Flickr images into BlackBerry wallpapers.

BBsnap can be used without registration which is the most user friendly approach. A new wallpaper can be created in just a few steps. It begins by entering a tag or keyword in the Flickr search box. The service will then automatically pull images from Flickr. A click on an image will load start the wallpaper creation.

The user has to pick his BlackBerry cell phone from a list of available phones first. The selected image will then be loaded. A rectangle with the same dimensions as the screen of the BlackBerry cell phone will be displayed. It can be moved around in the image to pick the best part of it for the wallpaper.

A click on Done will start the wallpaper creation. The wallpaper can then be downloaded to the computer to transfer it from there to the BlackBerry cell phone. The other possibility is to point the browser of the cell phone to that page and download it from there.

BlackBerry Wallpapers

Tags: bbsnap, blackberry, blackberry images, blackberry wallpaper, blackberry wallpapers, cell-phone, mobile phone, wallpapers

Moving The Firefox Disk Cache To Another Drive

Martin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:37:00 +0000

The Firefox disk cache is usually located on the same drive that Firefox got installed. In Windows it is located in the Documents and Settings folder. It usually is a good idea to have temporary directories located on a fast hard drive. In this case the hard drive that Firefox was running on was a Solid State Disk which is usually not the best choice for lots of write operations since those drives read data fast but write them rather slowly.

The main reason for moving the Firefox disk cache is therefor performance. Security could be another reason. The disk cache could for instance be moved to an encrypted part of the hard drive, a removable drive or ram disk.

The location of the the Firefox disk cache cannot be changed in the Firefox settings. The only way is to add a new parameter in the about:config dialog to change the location of the Firefox disk cache.

Type about:config in the Firefox address bar:

Right-click and select New > String from the menu. Enter browser.cache.disk.parent_directory as the preference name and the new path to the cache location, for example d:\temp

Opera users can practically do the same by typing in opera:config#UserPrefs|CacheDirectory4 and changing the preference there.

Internet Explorer users can simply change the location in the Tools > Internet Options by clicking on the Settings button under Browsing History.

Moving The Firefox Disk Cache To Another Drive

Tags: disk cache, firefox cache, firefox disk cache, firefox tips, internet explorer disk cache, mozilla-firefox, opera disk cache, web browser

XBMC Media Center Final

Martin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:55:23 +0000

The final version of the XBMC has been out for a while now. We covered an alpha release back in August and it is time to check on the final release and promote the product further. It may sound a bit biased but I’m using the XBMC for years on my old modded Microsoft Xbox system. While it has seen some gaming in the past the main reason for modding the system was to add the XBMC to the Xbox to be able to watch movies and videos that have been ripped or downloaded on the television and not on the computer.

XBMC has been expanded since then and it can now be installed on various platforms including Windows, Linux or Macintosh computers. It is intended to be used for media PCs (like the Xbox but with additional features) that stream the media to the television but it can be installed on any computer meeting the requirements obviously.

The interface has been designed with usability and wow effect in mind. Links to video, music, images, settings and plugins are available from the main menu. The first three entries lead to similar sections of the media center. The user has to first pick at least one data folder that contains files that can be read by the player. This takes a few seconds at most and it is possible to navigate with the keyboard, mouse or gamepad in the menus.

The media center will pick up metadata automatically but it can also search the Internet for additional information like movie posters, plot summaries or actors.

Plugins enhance the system further. They can add all kinds of new functions to the system like games, communication, news and service integration (Youtube, Apple Trailers, Podcasts).

XBMC Media Center Final

Tags: media center, media center pc, media PC, movie player, music player, windows software, xbmc, XBMC Media Center

Monty Python Youtube Channel

Martin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:42:56 +0000

The British comedy group Monty Python has a massive fanbase thanks to their popular movies The Life Of Brian, Monty Python’s Flying Circus or Monty Python And The Holy Grail. It seems that Monty Python struck a deal with Youtube / Google to bring lots of clips from their shows to the video portal officially.

The channel currently hosts 23 video clips of which 21 are from Monty Python shows and movies. It is not an immense collection at the moment but it looks as like new videos will be uploaded regularly to Youtube.

Some famous scenes from their movies are already available like the fight with the black knight in the Holy Grail movie or the Biggus Dickus scene in the Life of Brian. So, if you are a Monty Python fan head over to their official Youtube channel to watch the videos there.

Monty Python Youtube Channel

Tags: comedy videos, monty python, monty python videos, the life of brian, youtube, youtube videos

Enable Address Bar In Windows XP SP3

Martin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:19:27 +0000

Microsoft removed the address bar in Windows XP Service Pack 3. The address bar was a toolbar of the Windows Taskbar that worked as a quick launcher for websites and files. There are actually a few possibilities to bring back the address bar in Windows XP Service Pack 3.

The first one is the easiest to accomplish but its results are unfortunately only temporary. Start by moving a folder from the Windows Start Menu to the top of the desktop. If you do it right a new bar should appear on the top of the computer screen.

Right-click that bar and select Toolbars > Address which should add the entry Address at the right side of the bar. You can now access the address functionality there permanently or move the Address Bar back to the Windows Taskbar.

The problem here is that a reboot or log off will remove the address bar again. The advantage of this method is that it does not require the manipulation of system files.

The second option is to replace the browseui.dll file which handles the interface with a previous version that still included the Address Bar. This requires access to the Service Pack 2 version of browseui.dll.

The file is a system protected file which means that you need to replace it the following way:

Reboot the computer
Press F8 during boot process to load the advanced boot menu
Select Safe Mode with Command Prompt
type xcopy C:\browseui.dll C:\Windows\System32\ with c:\browseui.dll being the location of the SP2 version of browseui.dll

The Address entry should be visible again after rebooting the computer. The change is permanent with this method. There is however no guarantee that other features or functions that have been implemented in SP3 in the file continue to work after applying the change.

The third and probably best option is to install a third party address bar which does not tamper with system files. MuvEnum Address Bar provides access to a new address bar that makes use of an increased functionality such as multiple Internet search engines or access to history and bookmarks of multiple web browsers while retaining all the original features of the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Address Bar.

It can be selected as a Toolbar by right-clicking on the Windows Task Bar, moving to Toolbars and selecting MuvEnum Address Bar from the menu.

Enable Address Bar In Windows XP SP3

Tags: address bar, address toolbar, browseui.dll, MuvEnum Address Bar, windows taskbar, windows tips, windows xp sp3, windows-xp

Rapidshare Links Downloader

Martin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:42:12 +0000

Rapidshare Links point to files that are hosted on the Rapidshare file hosting site. We have already shown you how to validate those links with the Rapidshare Links Checker without leaving the page the links are listed on. Many downloaders for Rapidshare have been developed and are currently available on the Internet. One of them is the Russian tool Raptor which proves to be a bit problematic at the beginning due to its Russian default language.

The language can only be changed in the options once the application has been installed which means that users will have to find their way through the Russian installation dialogs. That’s not a huge problem though for users who have installed hundreds of applications in the past.

The two images below demonstrate how to change the language from Russian to English.

Some elements of the interface will remain in Russian though but that is nothing to worry about. A list of Rapidshare links can be added to the Rapidshare downloader by clicking on the + icon in the top navigation menu. Other options include the ability to simply use [CTRL V] to paste them into the program’s interface.

The downloader will automatically download the selected files from Rapidshare. It is possible to add proxies in the application but it can practically be left running in the background because it does not require user interaction after starting the downloads.

The article Rapidshare Search might help you find some interesting websites that contain links to files that are hosted on Rapidshare.

Rapidshare Links Downloader

Tags: file host, rapidshare, rapidshare download, rapidshare links, rapidshare search, raptor, windows software

Monitor And Automatically Close Windows

Martin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:49:21 +0000

Click Off is a lightweight Windows application that can be used to automate a few tasks in Windows. Its three main functions are to automatically click a button, to automatically close a window and to automatically fill in text in a form.

Usage for most operations relies on the keyboard shortcut [CTRL ALT D] which has to be pressed when the window is active or when the mouse is hovering over the element that should be clicked on. This can be used for instance to automatically close popup windows or to check radioboxes on an Internet page.

Automatically adding text to a form on the other hand requires some additional work. Pressing the keyboard shortcut while hovering the mouse over the text field will add it to the program’s list of items. A double-click on the entry will provide options to enter the desired text for the form.

Please note that the program does not work with all program windows, buttons or forms. This is usually the case if the button or text field have not been created from the windows standard libraries. There is unfortunately no fix for that.

Clickoff uses roughly 5 Megabytes of computer memory. There is no information about system compatibility. It ran fine on a Windows XP Service Pack 3 test system. The website of the program is in German. Just scroll down to the bottom and click on the Download link to download the file. The program itself is available with a German and English interface.

Monitor And Automatically Close Windows

Tags: automate, clickoff, popups, software, windows software

Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.18

Martin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:59:33 +0000

A new version of the email client Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.18 is currently distributed to mirror sites to prepare for the official update announcement that is expected to be released later today. The only way to download the new version right now is to download the Thunderbird 2.0.0.18 release from the Mozilla ftp site.

The release is already available for all supported languages and operating systems. Neither the Check For Updates nor the official website reveal that a new version is about to be released.

This includes the release notes which still show the information about Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.17. The release notes usually get updated almost simultaneously with the updates going live.

Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.18

Tags: Email, email client, mozilla thunderbird, thunderbird, thunderbird 2.0.0.18, thunderbird email, thunderbird release

Life Photo Archive Online

Martin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:57:27 +0000

A deal between Life and Google makes more than 10 million photographic images available on the Internet. The collection spans from the 1750s to today. Google provides a special search engine for the collection that makes use of the Google Image Search engine.

The collection centers around five areas called People (Kennedy, Picasso), Places (Times Square, New York), Events (Vietnam War, Winter Olympics), Sports (baseball, football) or Culture (Railroad, Cowboys). It is possible to enter any search term which is usually good enough to find many images related to the keyword.

A click on an image will display a larger thumbnail and additional information about it including the location or date taken. The very same page contains links to related images and an option to purchase it as a framed photograph. A click on the image will load it in full size in a new window.

Image resolutions range from 800×1280 to 1280×1280. Could be a nice idea for a present or as a background wallpaper for the PC.

Google Image Search can also be used to search the Life Photo Archive exclusively by appending the source:life parameter to the search.

Life Photo Archive Online

Tags: google image search, google images, Life Photo Archive, life photos, photographic, photography, photos, pictures

Setup Firefox To Use Minimal Screen Estate

Martin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:10:22 +0000

Firefox 3 displays five bars at the top of the application window before it is starting to show the website’s contents. There is the title bar, the menu, the navigation toolbar, the bookmarks toolbar and the tabs of course. They take up about 132 pixels in height on the screen which is more than a fourth of the screen estate of an Asus eeePC 7 and still an eights of the popular 1024×768 screen resolution.

If you analyse the elements of the Firefox header you notice that there is lots of free space there. That’s wasted space that could be put to much better use.

The following article is going to show how you can save more than 60% of that header space. It is not necessary to apply all the changes. If you feel that you need the title bar or the status bar then you are of course free to keep them. The article however will be radical and outline how to use minimal screen estate in Firefox.

All the changes outlined are applied by customizing the Firefox toolbars and installing several add-ons. Links are give when needed. Let us start:

Here is a picture of the default Firefox interface:

And here how it can look like after making the changes

The minimal interface combines several toolbars into one bar and removes the title and status bar. The status bar and the tab bar are set to automatically hide. They will appear when they are needed.

1. Install Tiny Menu

Tiny Menu compresses the Firefox menu that contains the File, Edit etc entries into one menu item that can be displayed as text or as an icon.

2. Merging the Navigation Toolbar with the Menu bar.

We are now starting to merge toolbars to get rid of some of them. A right-click on blank space in the Menu toolbar will open a menu with the option to customize. Select that option.

Now drag and drop all elements that you need from the Navigation Toolbar (Reload, Home, Stop, Address Bar and Google Search) to the right side of the menu bar.

3. Remove the Navigation Toolbar

The Navigation Toolbar should now only contain items that you have not moved to the Menu Bar. Right-click the bar and uncheck Navigation Toolbar from the context menu. This should remove that toolbar from Firefox and give us some valuable screen estate.

4. Merging the Bookmarks Toolbar with the Menu Bar

Right-click on a free space of the Menu Bar again and select customize. Now drag and drop the Bookmarks Toolbar Items to the Menu Bar and click on Done. This should clear the Bookmarks Toolbar from any items.

5. Disable the Bookmarks Toolbar

Now right-click on the Bookmarks Toolbar and uncheck it from the menu. This should remove the Bookmarks Toolbar from Firefox as well.

6. Autohide the Status Bar

We already removed two toolbars from Firefox and are half-way through. Install the Autohide Statusbar add-on for Firefox to automatically hide the Status Bar when it is not needed.

7. Disable the Title bar and move the captions to the menu bar

This one is optional. The title bar might be useful for several purposes. It is for instance used to move the window around on the screen. Once it is gone it cannot be moved anymore (only maximized, minimized). The size of the window can be altered but its position cannot be changed. The title bar is also displaying the title of the current website which might be helpful for some users.

Install the Hide Caption add-on for Firefox to remove the title bar.

8 Autohide the Firefox Tabs bar

This is another optional step as it seems that many users like to have a view of their tabs bar all the time. If you can live without it for most of the time you might want to consider putting it on auto hide. Moving the mouse into the area where it should be will display the tab bar.

The add-on had to be modified to work with the latest Firefox 3.04 build. You can download it directly here: hide_tab_bar_10dev3a

Now for comparison:

It might not be that easy in the first hours of working with the new interface. Not everything has to be implemented which means that it should be easy to create your very own minimized version of Firefox.

Please feel free to comment, ask or add to the article in the comments.

Setup Firefox To Use Minimal Screen Estate

Tags: firefox, firefox 3, firefox interface, firefox minimal, firefox tips, firefox toolbars, mozilla-firefox

Video Analysis Software Kinovea

Martin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:29:16 +0000

Video analysis is an area that we have not covered before here at Ghacks. Kinovea is an Open Source video analysis software for coaches, athletes and medical professionals. It can be used by anyone else obviously since it is freely available from the program’s homepage. It can be used to analyze virtually anything from Wii Fit performances to the performance of professional athletes.

You can basically load one or two movies into the application to analyze them. Most features can be used to analyze the movement of athletes or objects. A set of tools has been designed for the analysis like manipulating the playback speed between 2% and 200% or comparing two videos of the same scene from different angles.

Other features include a magnifier, 3D plane, image adjustments, comments, chronometers, trajectory analysis and saving a sequence as images.

Kinovea is a feature rich video analysis software. New features are constantly added by its developers. It requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 or higher to run properly.

Video Analysis Software Kinovea

Tags: analysis software, kinovea, Open Source, sport analysis, video analysis, Video Analysis Software, windows software

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