CTE Visions

I came across this post from Linuxhaxor I thought it was funny and wanted to post it here for others to see and read.

1. You shouldn’t switch to Linux because… you actually enjoy paying for an operating system that is so mired with bugs and issues that it shouldn’t even released as an alpha build. What recession?
2. You shouldn’t switch to Linux because… change is always scary. Look at Obama, he scares the shit out of me. I voted for him but he always talks about change and change is always scary even if that change will make things better.
3. You shouldn’t switch to Linux because… the only thing you use your computer for is to play games. I mean people still use computers for things other than games?
4. You shouldn’t switch to Linux because… You love to dedicate one whole day of your week just for scanning purposes. Anti-virus scan – Spyware Scan – Defragmentation scan – Registry Scan & defrag. What Fun!
5. You shouldn’t switch to Linux because… You love to pay for Anti-virus/spyware (with yearly subscription renewal) for protection that the OS should provide you with in the first place. Even though Windows Defender does a fabulous job, its just not there yet.
6. You shouldn’t switch to Linux because… most people use Windows. If most people use windows it must be good!
7. You shouldn’t switch to Linux because… you realize that nothing lasts forever. Eventually your windows will succumb to a BSOD, while Linux has its version of kernel panic, you might have to wait a couple of years to experience it, if at all.
8. You shouldn’t switch to Linux because… you LOVE Internet Explorer and you can only use the latest version of Internet explorer on windows. Imagine going online without IE.
9. You shouldn’t switch to Linux because… you have to be a geek to use Linux and we all know that geeks don’t have girlfriends.
10. Last but not least. You shouldn’t switch to Linux because… you don’t want to be a conformist and do what everyone tells you to do. You want to be unique, which is why you want to use windows. Oh wait…

I thought this was funny so if you have any funny lists please let me know by posting a comment or sending an email through the contact us form.

Many of you who have driven with me know that I am always in a hurry. Call it bad timing or just to kind to say good-bye when I should, but I always seem to be trying to make it up on the freeway or roads (typically it is the freeway). Well with the CES show going on I came across some news about a new Cobra radar detector.

Now a days a simple radar detector is not enough since pesky highway patrol and police officers keep putting their traps in the ground, or in places where you simply can’t see them coming.

Cobra Electronics‘ solution:
The AURA (Advanced Universal Road Alert) update-able database of GPS coordinates for speed and red-light cameras and other known driving hazards. Cobra’s new high-end models, including the top-of-the-line $469.95 XRS R10G shown here, comes with a lifetime subscriptions to AURA updates, to be offered starting this spring.

The XRS R10G provides protection and peace of mind with Cobra’s new Super-Xtreme Range Superheterodyne Technology, detecting all 15 radar/laser bands with its super-fast lock-on detection circuitry. The detector provides maximum detection range and the best possible advance warning of even the fastest POP mode radar guns. It comes with a GPS Locator and Lifetime Subscription to AURA Database to alert you to verified Speed and Red Light Camera locations, dangerous intersections, and reported Speed Trap locations for the entire United States and Canada.

I currently have a radar detector but nothing as nice as this. I would like to get my hands on one just to see how well this really works. But I don’t see myself paying $500 for one so if any of you decide to buy one or somehow get your hands on one, let me know what you think.

After my recent post of Internet Explorer I was asked by many of you “What browser should I use?”  “What browser do you recommend?” “Where do I go to download a new browser?”

I can’t give a perfect answer because everyone likes to surf the Internet in their own way. So somethings that matter to me (add-ons and plug-ins) may not matter to you. But one thing that should matter to all of us is security. Another that should be important but the average public does not know about is web standards. Microsoft is trying to be better at this but is still falling short, but many of the other browsers follow the standards.

I am a huge Firefox fan, and I use the browser on my home computer, although at work I use a combination of IE, Firefox and Opera, (for testing purposes). Each browser has its own strengths and weaknesses. However, I have found Firefox to be a strong contender for the best all-around web browser.

Firefox 3 (download)

• Strength - Thousands of add-ons, themes and the community of developers / designers behind it.
• Performance - It employs Gecko 1.9 to enhance the existing layout engine. It passes Acid2 test and gets better results on the Acid3 test compared to Firefox 2. Basically, it means that Firefox 3 is more CSS and javascript friendly.
• Security – Does not allow a website to download onto, install onto, or execute code on a user’s computer without the user’s agreement.
• Usability - The download manager and bookmark storing system are redesigned, and are easy to use. Also, it separates the themes for Mac, Linux and Windows, and that means users will have a more native look and feel on different operation systems.

Opera 9.6 (download)

• Strength - Fast and small, standards-compliant, and available for many operating systems.
• Performance - Provides textual content before ANY other browser, and noticeably faster than IE for total page loading time. Opera’s cache (especially the back/forward performance ) is simply faster than any other browser.
• Security – Opera has a very good reputation in the security community for always fixing any possible security issues as soon as possible
• Usability - The first browser to introduce mouse-gestures. The whole User Interface, including all the menus, keyboard commands, mouse gestures, tool bars, and even individual buttons are extensively and easily customizable, using a user-friendly GUI driven interface for most features

Safari 3 (download)

• Strength - It is the default browser in Mac, and it has an elegant interface.
• Performance - It has support for CSS Web fonts and animations and improves support for SVG and HTML 5 media.
• Security – Uses robust encryption to ensure that your private information stays private
• Usability - As-you-type text search, Quartz-style font-smoothing

Google Chrome (download)

• Strength – It is fast, secure and multi-processing structured.
• Performance - Chrome uses V8 JavaScript engine to generate javascript code dynamically and hide class transitions automatically. It also uses multi-processing architecture, which allows the browser to shut down a single Tab or a plugin wherever problem occurs but to keep the whole browser alive.
• Security - Chrome warns users when they attempt to visit a harmful website based on google’s phishing and malware blacklists, which is being updated periodically.
• Usability - The Tabs are placed at the top of the window in order to make the navigation faster and smoother. Additionally, Chrome displays 9 most visited web sites and sites most often searched on the home page.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta (download)

• Strength - It is the default browser in Windows
• Performance - Accelerators, Automatic Crash Recovery
• Security - InPrivate, allows IE8 not to save searching and browsing history, cookies and form data. In another word, it clears the browser cache by default.
• Usability - Search Suggestions, Web Slices, Tab Color Grouping

Acid3 Scores:

Chrome: 74/100
Safari 3: 87/100
FF3: 71/100
Opera: 60/100
IE 8: 17/100

I don’t know much about the Flock browser but have heard a lot of good things about it. I may look into running it just to see what it is and how it works, so for now here is a link to download it and some information I have found about it.

Flock (download)

• Strength - built on Mozilla’s Firefox code base that specializes in providing social networking and Web 2.0 facilities built into its user interface.
• Security - Automatically set up with strong privacy and security settings
• Usability - Integrates social networking and media services including MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Blogger, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc. Notably, when logging into any of the supported social services, Flock can track updates from friends: profiles, uploaded photos, and more.