Firefox 3

I, like many others, downloaded Firefox 3 yesterday. It was an attempt for a Guinness World Record titled Spread Firefox. The result was more than 8 million downloads in a single day. Quite impressive!

I did not have time to install it yesterday as I was on a holiday, busy attending Google Developer Day 2008. See my photos on Flickr. I met there with few fellow developers, like Dmitry Baranovskiy, who you can see speaking at Web Directions South soon and Carlos Mari, Director of Carlos Labs.

So I installed Firefox 3 today. I must say that I am quite impressed with the browser itself and with the ease of upgrading. I expected few hiccups on the way but it was all smooth.

Out of my 31 add-ons installed on Firefox 2 only six do not work. The six that no longer work are:

• AutoCopy
• ColorZilla
• EROnline (Exit Reality)
• Firebug
• Google Browser Sync
• Link Alert

I am going to miss AutoCopy and ColorZilla dearly. I am sure that Exit Reality will release a new plug-in real soon.

And for Google Browser Sync - it's a real shame that this is discontinued. But I knew this in advance, therefore I backed up my bookmarks and returned back to my favorite Foxmarks

In case you wondered what add-ons I use and currently have installed, here is a list:

• Download Statusbar
• Dummy Lipsum
• Dictionary English (AU)
• Dictionary English (US)
• FlashGot
• Forecastfox
• Google Earth
• Google Gears
• Google Notebook
• Greasemonkey
• Html Validator
• IE Tab
• Live HTTP Headers
• MeasureIt
• meebo
• Mouse Gestures
• Operator
• PDF Download
• Personas for Firefox
• Quick Locale Switcher
• Redirect Remover
• Total Validator
• User Agent Switcher
• Web Developer
• YSlow

Happy browsing, everyone!

PS: I also installed Skype 4.0 and it is very sleek!

ExitReality goes to Beta

ExitReality finally flicked the switch this week and went to Beta.

ExitReality is an exciting new social media platform that aims to improve your online experience with an enhanced 3D, multi-user, immersive messaging environment.

Duncan Riley reported on TechCrunch in ExitReality Turns Social Network Profiles Into 3D Spaces that ExitReality promises to transform the social networking experience by offering virtual versions of every social network site profile.

ExitReality works with leading global social media sites Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, Hi5, Orkut and Bebo and is launching soon.

As published in JDJ: Carl's Jr. and Hardee's Web Sites Among First to Go 3D

For the initial launch, each MySpace member gets a 3D apartment that automatically includes their music, friends, comments and videos, and can be decorated in limitless ways. Using 3D avatars, a user can don a logoed jacket, meet friends at the Carl's Jr. or Hardee's virtual restaurant or invite friends over to the burger-themed social-network living room. There, they can ride a mechanical bull, like the one in the famous Western Bacon Cheeseburger ad, play the entertaining Burger Slayer game, as well as pick up 3D widgets such as TVs, arcade game machines, furniture, and even 3D living room or restaurant layouts to decorate their own pages.

This was also noted in Duncan Rileys' ExitReality Launches With Carl’s Jr Deal

Another interesting aspect is the way the platform works; unlike Second Life that relies on centralized servers, the ExitReality plugin renders the page based on the details of the page, so it doesn’t need to rely on centralized servers (the only aspect that would be lost in the case of downtime would be chat). Further as users interact on and around each page, those visitors are counted in local logs, so a website owner doesn’t lose traffic; in effect this is a visual layer the browser sees but with the original content at the original page.

Have a look at Carl's Jr. or Hardee's.

I have already signed up. Have you?

Respect

I catch a train to Sydney CBD where I work. I notice a big difference between my morning and evening commute.

Morning commute is usually a very pleasant ride. I catch a CityRail train that starts its trip at my station, therefore I get a seat anywhere I like. This is an all-stops train that usually waits for the express one. I really do not understand the human nature! My station is very close to the city (10km to be exact). Nevertheless, people chose to ride on an old fully packed express train, rather than all-stops brand new Millennium train, which by the way comes only five minutes after the express one.

That makes me think. Why would anybody choose to stand on the train, squashed between other people for 15 minutes rather than spend 20 minutes seated in comfort and doing something useful or enjoyable, like reading a book or magazine?

And if I happen to miss my all-stops than seven minutes later I can catch another express train which is a brand new one and with plenty vacant seats this time.

I love my morning rides! They are quite. I guess most of the people are still half asleep or simply have nothing to talk about.

Evening rides are a whole different story. I rarely pick the train that is new - maybe I should find out what time such leave and then try to make it to the station on time. But I cannot be bothered.

Anyway, in the evenings people seem to chat a lot. Just yesterday I boarded the train and along my side there was an Indian guy (no race discrimination here, all people are same) already on his mobile phone. Talking non-stop! (Luckily) there is no mobile coverage in the tunnel under the city so he was cut off when we left the station. As soon as we emerged back on the surface, he re-dialed and continued to talk for next 25 minutes until I arrived at my station. He probably continued talking until he reached his destination.

How annoying is that! I do not need to listen to other people's conversations. When I was in Japan I admired they culture. One of the things I'd appreciate here in Australia is that in Japan people do not use mobiles on the trains. It is simply impolite. They even switch the ringing to vibration mode.

I am annoyed by loud people who selfishly created noise that other passengers must tolerate.

It's time to fight back!

As mentioned at Much Madness::Or divinest sense? website:

Coudal Partners published a PDF of business card-sized printable handouts designed to be given to people when they are annoying you.

I wish I had some of these SHHH cards that I could simply pass to these folks.

You-biquity

From my notes on Mark Pesce's presentation on You-biquity at Web Directions conference.

Virtual reality isn’t the television of the future, it is the telephone of the future.

Part 1: Human Essence

Right now anything is possible. Humans and chimpanzees are at least 98% identical. We have now found the gene that gives us a bigger brain than our chimpanzee cousins. Both chimps and humans are incredibly social creatures. These social qualities we have as humans are essential to our lives. We build our relationships, we build social hierarchies, we are very social. Social modeling happens in the neocortex of the brain, of which we have more than any other animal. The Dunbar Number: the number of people you can hold in your head is directly relative to the size of neocortex. The reason we have a bigger brain than chimpanzees is to hold a bigger social network in our heads and that is what being human is all about.

Part 2: Virtual Networks

Social network needs to be fed fresh data, otherwise it dies. We need to spend time to feed them the data and the time is the non-renewable resource in the 21^st century. My social network could be used as my spam filter – if an e-mail is not from a third-degree contact then it's highly suspicious. Wouldn't that be cool! E-mail forwarding is an ad-hoc social network. We find things, we filter them and then we forward them – three F's. For every moment we spend on-line we create a massive amount of data – a data shadow. This data tells a lot about us but at the moment all of then is wasted, not used at all. The mashups are in the right directions, but we need more to use our data to the maximum. The Web is the universal glue.

Part 3: The Center of the World

People form a strong relationships with their mobile phones. The phone has become seamlessly integrated into our lives. And the relationship is very emotional. We say we don't have an emotional relationship with our phone but we all lie. Just drop your phone down to the toilet or on the floor and see what happens. I lost my social life! The phone ultimately meets the physical and virtual worlds. For most of the time the phone does nothing. It just waits. What a waste! Imagine if we could use it as a device that listens actively and automatically connects us with the friends that are near.

The street finds it’s own use for things, uses its makers never intended.