The much awaited Opera v 9.0 is here. Currently, Opera’s desktop market share is very small, compared to Internet Explorer, Firefox or even Safari. With v9 Opera hopes to turn things around. With the release of v8.50 on September 20th, 2005 Opera got rid of the tag “Ad-Supported Freeware”. Since then it has been downloaded by millions of users, yet there has been no significant increase in the market share. According to Daniel Goldman Opera is gearing up for a serious marketing campaign. Hopefully, it will make some headway.

Opera has always been an innovator. Each of it’s previous builds were ahead of it’s time, and had something to offer that none of it’s competitors had. You can have a look at the comprehensive list of Opera’s Innovations over here . Version 9 also maintains that tradition. Lets have a look at the major new features that has been introduced in this version.
i ) Torrent Support : Many novice users find the concept of torrents confusing. Terms like torrent client, tracker, seeders only baffle them more. Opera has tried to simplify torrents for them through it’s torrent dowloader. It makes downloading torrents as simple as downloading a .exe file. However, it is not intended to replace a full fledged torrent client. So advanced users will probably give this feature a miss.
ii ) Site Specific Preferences : This is my favorite new feature. It allows you to set a specific set of rules for a given website. You can choose to allow pop-ups/block all pop-ups from a site, you can change the way cookies are handled, the useragent that opera uses and a host of other options including applying custom stylesheets. You can now disable javascript at certain malicious sites. Overall, this is incredibly useful
iii) Widgets : This is another feature that has grabbed a lot of attention. These are similar in functionality to the Konfabulator ( now Yahoo Widgets Engine ) or the Dashboard widgets in Mac. They act like tiny web applications. They use HTML, AJAX, JavaScript and CSS, and can use other technologies such as SVG. However, their functionality is limited, and are not Opera’s answer to Firefox’s extensions. There are some very usefull widgets available in the official widget gallery.
iv) Content Blocker : In it’s simplest form it is just an image blocker (ad/vulgarity blocker). Opera provides a very simple interface to block unwanted content. However, it fails to work on embedded flash content, which is very disappointing. Content blocker can be used to block any type of content, but you will need to find out it’s url from the source viewer.
v ) Search engine editor : This is another feature that was due for a long time. Now, adding new search engines to the search tab is a matter of few clicks. All you have to do is to right click in the search box and select “Create Search” option (don’t forget to add a keyword ). A simple yet functional UI is provided for managing the search.ini file.
vi) opera:config : In an attempt to simplify the user interface for a new users, Opera has removed all not so frequently used options from it’s preferences. Instead it has put them in he opera:config ( you need to type that in the address bar to access them ). This feature is obviously inspired by Firefox, but Opera’s one looks prettier.
vii) Thumbnail Preview of Tabs : If you hover your mouse pointer over the tabs, a thumbnail preview of that page will pop-up. This is a nice feature, but hasn’t been executed very well. The thumbnails are rather small and the preview pop-up is cluttered by unnecessary information like Encoding and MIME Type.
Opera has added another small feature to it’s tabs. You can now lock tabs, so that you don’t accidentally close them.
viii) Source Viewer : Opera has added an internal source viewer which highlights known syntaxes. One very weird thing is that if you switch to the Source viewer, Edit–>Find option becomes unavailable. You have to use Ctrl+F to bring up the Search Box.

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WindowFX is a unique desktop customization software.The previous version of WindowFX was released more than two and a half years ago. In spite of it’s uniqueness it’s previous versions had failed to become popular, and for a couple of years no one heard anything more about WindowFx from Stardock.
So what is different this time ? Will WindowFX succeed ?

First let us analyse the possible reasons of failure of WindowsFX v2. Allthough WindowFX makes your desktop look super cool, it comes at a price. WIndowFX does require some processing power. Back in 2002, most people didn’t have more than 128-256MB ram ,PIII were still very much in use and most people were without a graphics card. Hence, most users simply couldn’t afford to have Windows FX running on their system. However in the past few years RAM has become dirt cheap and processors have become more powerful. Entry level Graphics cards are available for a few thousand rupees. Hence, excluding the hardcore gamers most people can now afford to have programs like WindowsFX on their system.
Let us have a look at some of the features which will be present in WindowsFX v3.
? Window Transitions : WindowFX began as a software that added nifty transition effects for various functions in WIndows. This is still it’s main function. Windows transition effects occur when you minimize and restore windows.WindowsFx v3 provides 17 transition effects out of the box. You can set the length of the transition effects to suite your taste.
? Menu Animation : Just as the name suggest, this will add transition effects to menus. It worked flawlessly with all the applications I tried it on. 21 menu transition effects are provided out of the box. Again you can configure the length of the animation.
? First Appear Animation : These animations are shown when a new window is opened or closed. Advanced options allows you to disable this animation effect for windows smaller than a defined size. There are 21 animations provided out of the box.
? Shadows : Windows Xp already has shadow effect but compared to other visually appealing operating systems like OS X, it is pretty average. WindowFx provides 11 different shadow effects, including one which is similar to the shadow effect in mac. The shadows are alpha blended and looks crisp. One feature that I would like to see in the future versions is the ability to increase/decrease shadow size. Currently you can only change colour.
? Taskbar Preview : This is something that will be included in Windows Vista ( Screenshot taken from Paul Thurrott’s Review ). WindowFX shows a thumbnail preview of the window when you hover your cursor over the taskbar entry ( Screenshot ). It also works if the program has it’s icon in the system tray ( eg. Yahoo messenger and Winamp ). However, the main aim of WindowFX is to make your desktop look cool. But the thumbnail preview that pops up looks rather ugly. I prefer the way Visualtasktips works.
? Drag Animation : This comes into effect when you drag a window. Again you can choose any one of the 7 animations that WindowFX provides. I did not like most of the effects, and found them a bit annoying. The only one which I found to be somewhat decent is “Make the Window semi-transparent” while dragging option. This option also allows you to set the transparency level.
? Others : WindowFX also improves upon the Alt+Tab WindowSwitching feature in WIndows XP.Other features include adding transparency to windows taskbar as well as any application. Another interesting feature is “Minimize to size”. This would reduce the size of windows to a desired size instead of minimizing it when you click on the minimize button.Another option worth mentioning is the random transition effect.WindowFX can select a transition effect at random, thus surprising you every time.

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A war has erupted between the spammers and a private company known as Bluesecurity. Bluesecurity develops a free software known as Bluefrog that aims to get rid of spammers by counter-attacking them. Conventional approach to tackling spam is to flag it and delete it. Bluefrog takes a more proactive approach. Once a message is marked as Spam the software will automatically post opt-out requests on the sites advertised by spam using contact information available on the site. Thus if someone sends a large number of spams about a pirticular product that website will be flooded with opt-out request. Thus Bluefrog spams the spammers! Some people consider this as immoral and illegal. Bluesecurity’s arguement is that, “Active Deterrence is an ethical solution to spam as it allows the members of the Blue Community to complain about spam in a safe and automated manner. The number of complaints posted by the Community is exactly equal to the number of spam messages received. Merchants and spammers are warned in advance and can easily avoid receiving complaints by complying with the Registry”. To me it is an apt way to teaching the spammers a lesson. Spammers can’t be convinced by sweet words and persuation. Blue Frog provides a way to fight back.

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A broken screen does not necessarily mean you need to buy a new computer, with a laptop repair service you can save your current notebook pc. Whether you need a laptop battery, power cords, or laptop memory, find everything on the Internet.

Ever since Opera became a freeware, there has been a huge splurge in the number of downloads. More and more people are becoming aware of the fact that a better alternative exists.

People are switching to Opera from Internet Explorer as well as Mozilla Firefox. I often see new users of Opera asking questions like �Where can I find more plugins/extensions/addons for Opera?�. Although there are several usefull add-ons/plugins available for opera, unlike with Mozilla Firefox they are spread all over the web and can be difficult to discover. That is what prompted me to cobble together this guide. This guide is broadly divided into 7 sections and lists some of the modifications which I found worthy enough.

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It’s a long time since I posted anything in the Boredom Killer’s category.So here is something you can try when you are really really bored - Composing songs with your Landline telephone set.

If your phone supports Tone dialing then you can create various sounds by pressing the keys. With some effort you can create recognisable tunes with them too.

Here are some examples :-

Happy Birthday

1 1 2 1 6 3
1 1 2 1 9 6
1 1 # 9 6 3 2
9 6 9 3 6 3

Mary Had a Little Lamb
3 2 1 2 3 3 3
2 2 2 3 9 9
3 2 1 2 3 3 3
3 2 2 3 2 1

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

1 1 9 9 # # 9
6 6 3 3 2 2 1
9 9 6 6 3 3 2
9 9 6 6 3 3 2
1 1 9 9 # # 9
6 6 3 3 2 2 1

More songs are available over here .

Btw, don’t expect them to be very melodious

Web 2.0 has truly become a craze, and I am sure that most of you would have heard about it. However very few are actually aware about what Web 2.0 really is!

This can be attributed to the fact that the definition of web 2.0 itself is very ambiguous.According to Wikipedia :

Web 2.0 generally refers to a second generation of services available on the World Wide Web that lets people collaborate, and share information online. In contrast to the first generation, Web 2.0 gives users an experience closer to desktop applications than the traditional static Web pages.

The concept of “Web 2.0″ began with a conference brainstorming session between O’Reilly and MediaLive International. O’Reilly’s website contains a detailed explanation about Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is a more dynamic and interactive World Wide Web.

One of the things that is often associated with Web 2.0 is AJAX. The web has evolved over the years. The bland and completely html based websites have made way for more sophisticated websites implementing various standards like Ajax, JavaScript and CSS. Ajax makes it possible to make websites more interactive. I have used Ajax in my blog for Displaying comments (to get a demonstration click on the View comments link in the main page.)

To make the meaning of Web 2.0 clear let us consider couple of examples

1. Digg Vs. Zdnet : Zdnet is a Web 1.0 website. It offers little interactivity. Only the Zdnet editors have control over what gets posted. Digg is a Web2.0 website. It is a technology news site. However what sets is apart is the fact that the content of the site is entirely managed by the members of the site ( anyone can become a member). All members can post news that they think is interesting. The news is posted in the Backyard. Now members Digg (or vote ) for a news. Once it received sufficient amount of votes it reaches the front page. So this offers much more interactivity.

2. Yahoo Vs Netvibes : Yahoo is an old-fashioned Web 1.0 start page or portal. It contains links to various services like Horoscopes, Entertainment etc. You are also presented with the news headlines. Again you have no control over the content of the page. On the other hand in a website like Netvibes it is you who decides the content of the page. You can add weather reports, News feeds you find interesting, search engine you want to use and so on. Thus, Netvibes is a Web2.0 website.

( Readers please note that this article was written before Yahoo unveiled it’s new interface. )
3. Encyclopedia Britannica Vs Wikipedia : This is another excellent example of Web 2.0 vs Web 1.0. Encyclopedia Britannica operates in the classical fashion. It has a group of experts, writers and editors who manage the content of the site. Where as Wikipedia is largely maintained by the community. Anyone can become a part of the community. Everyone can contribute to Wikipedia. While this has often led to the abuse of Wikipedia, it has it’s own advantages. In many matters Wikipedia’s converge is more than Britannica’s. For eg. Search for St. Patrick’s Higher Secondary School doesn’t throw up any valid results in Britannica, there is a stub on this subject in Wikipedia.

Many people associate Web 2.0 with rounded edges, XHTML validation, Firefox compatibility and so on. In my opinion these are just misconceptions. The hype surrounding Web 2.0 has clouded the real meaning of Web 2.0.Nowadays, anything trendy is being defined as Web 2.0. According to John C. Dvorak Web 2.0 is nothing but hype.
He says that :
Web 2.0 is a rallying point. Maybe cheerleading will make it happen! But what they are cheerleading for, a slew of vague and meaningless concepts shows that they have no clue about what they are doing.

He is certainly right when he says that Web2.0 is vague. In a way Web 2.0 is nothing new. No new technology is behind these sites. Even AJAX which has gained popularity only recently, was invented in 1998.However, the concept behind these sites is certainly new. These sites are changing the face of the web. And there is no denying it. I am pretty sure that Web 2.0 is here to stay. The popularity of sites like Digg, Slashdot, del.icio.us and Gmail prove that.
What do you say?
P.S. A huge list of Web 2.0 sites is available here

After a long break I am finally back.Due to exams and other troubles I wasnt able to update my blog for a looong time.
I had also managed to corrupt my mySQL database while porting from b2evolution.As a result my site was down for more than a month.My Google PR went down from 4 to 2.Hopefully I will be able to regain my PR soon
And oh yes, Today is also my Birthday!

Yes.Expect something big soon.Opera’s community news section has been updated to announce that Team Opera has planned a big event to mark the New Year.Daniel Goldman has revealed that the major event will be held in New York City.However other community members would not also be left out. More details should be available on this Monday ( December 12th ).As of now one lucky member can win an Opera T-shirt everyday for answering a simple question.You can participate here
A part from that expect a lot of new features in the future releases of Opera.I had mentioned in one of my earlier articles that there are reports that final release of Opera v9 would support widgets.Today Opera employee Olafur Arnason aka Olli has revealed that some more new features has been added to Merlin ( codename for Opera v9 ).Also it would include a much easier way to add search engines to the search bar.So now you wont need to download the search.ini editor or tinker with the search.ini file manually.It would now be possible to have site specifit settings.Check out his blog for more info.
Update: Opera has revealed what the big surprise is.For details see http://my.opera.com/newyears