The official web browser of IBM

Mozilla's Firefox just became the official browser of IBM.

The announcement came on Bob Sutor's blog this morning and means that tens of thousands of new users will be downloading Firefox at work - and, quite possibly, many will do it at home as well.

Sutor is VP of Open Source and Linux in IBM's Software Group, so it comes as no surprise that he supported this move. But this isn't merely for his division. Or even for the Software Group. This is for all 400,000 IBM employees all over the world.

All computers - whether on Windows, Mac or Linux OS - will be loaded with the software from now on. Employees will be urged to - expected to - make it their default browser.

And IBM will encourage all its vendors of browser-based software to fully support Firefox as well.

Why Firefox? "Firefox is now the gold standard for what an open, secure, and standards-compliant browser should be," Sutor wrote. IBM has contributed to Firefox over the years, too, and will continue to.

Sutor cited the shift to cloud computing as another reason for the change. Cloud computing, to be successful, requires open standards to be used. After all, if everyone enters the cloud using different infrastructure, it's going to be difficult to share data and truly access it from anywhere.

The reasons Sutor gave for why he loves Firefox:
* Firefox is stunningly standards compliant, and interoperability via open standards is key to IBM’s strategy.
* Firefox is open source and its development schedule is managed by a development community not beholden to one commercial entity.
* Firefox is secure and an international community of experts continues to develop and maintain it.
* Firefox is extensible and can be customized for particular applications and organizations, like IBM.
* Firefox is innovative and has forced the hand of browsers that came before and after it to add and improve speed and function.

For a company the size of IBM to make this change and publicly encourage anyone and everyone to use Firefox as the default browser at home, too, is a huge boost for Mozilla.

Read rest of entry

Leaked: Apple’s internal iPhone 4 antenna troubleshooting procedures

The antenna issues plaguing the iPhone 4 have infuriated many iPhone users (and rightfully so), but have you ever wondered how Apple is training its employees to deal with the fiasco? Well thanks to one of our Apple connects, we now know the exact procedures AppleCare reps must follow when dealing with any reception complaints regarding the iPhone 4. Hit the jump to check them out.

1. Keep all of the positioning statements in the BN handy – your tone when delivering this information is important.

a. The iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. Our testing shows that iPhone 4’s overall antenna performance is better than iPhone 3GS.

b. Gripping almost any mobile phone in certain places will reduce its reception. This is true of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, and many other phones we have tested. It is a fact of life in the wireless world.

c. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 3GS, avoid covering the bottom-right side with your hand.

d. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 4, avoid covering the black strip in the lower-left corner of the metal band.

e. The use of a case or Bumper that is made out of rubber or plastic may improve wireless performance by keeping your hand from directly covering these areas.

2. Do not perform warranty service. Use the positioning above for any customer questions or concerns.

3. Don’t forget YOU STILL NEED to probe and troubleshoot. If a customer calls about their reception while the phone is sitting on a table (not being held) it is not the metal band.

4. ONLY escalate if the issue exists when the phone is not held AND you cannot resolve it.

5. We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON’T promise a free bumper to customers.

Clearly Apple is taking the position that nothing is wrong with the antenna, although that’s not surprising since most companies will never willingly admit their flagship product is potentially suffering from an unfixable flaw. But does anyone else find it interesting, if not troubling, that there is no mention of an impending software fix?

Read rest of entry

Speeding up Flip 3D:

Eye candy is well and good, but not all of us have topof-the-line graphic cards to render all the sleek effects. This hack will limit the number of windows that are rendered in 3D, which will hopefully let you have your cake and eat it too.

Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
And create a new DWORD value called Max3DWindows. The value should be set to a number between 4 and 9:
higher the number the more muscle your graphics card needs to pack.

Try it out with different number values by opening multiple windows and checking out the difference.

Read rest of entry

Admin User Option From Welcome Screen

This is the easiest way to see the special admin account on the welcome screen.

Start the Registry Editor

Go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon \ SpecialAccounts \ UserList \

Right-click an empty space in the right pane and select New > DWORD Value Name the new value Administrator. Double-click this new value, and enter 1 as it's Value data.

Close the registry editor and restart.

The registry editor is in the windows folder in the "C:" drive. It is called regedit.

Read rest of entry

4 Applications That You Do Not Know (But Should)

Most computer users are happy with what they got. They use the same set of computer programs day in day out without spending a thought on the thousands of software programs that might be better suited for their needs. The majority are using the same programs. Winamp for music, Firefox for web browsing, Windows Media Player for videos, iTunes for managing the music collection, Gmail for email and so on. The following article will review four applications that you probably never heard about before that might replace installed applications or improve your computer experience in other ways.

1. F.Lux



I reviewed the computer monitor lighting solution a while ago and it is actually one of the few applications that run all the time on my main computer system. Flux changes the brightness color temperature of the computer display automatically. It uses a 24 hour graph to visualize the changes. The color temperature will be normal throughout the day and be lowered automatically as the day passes to adjust to the real world. You will love this application if you have to look at (to) bright computer screens especially in the evening and at night.

2. Speedfan



Speedfan is an interesting application to monitor system temperatures and control fan speeds. Users run usually in two scenarios. The first group thinks that their computer system makes to much noise while the second has to fight high temperatures that can lead to crashes and data loss. Speedfan can help both groups. It can lower the fan speed of connected computer fans automatically to reduce the overall noise level of the computer system. It can also warn the user if temperatures are reached that can cause damage and problems.

3. Drive Namer



Drive Namer is an excellent application to add names to optical drives such as DVD or CD drives. Windows is blocking the name changing on those drives by default which gets confusing if more than one optical drive is installed or virtual drives are used. All of the drives will be named DVD Drive or CD Drive. Drive Namer can change that name to something practical that helps identifying the drive at first glance.

4. Deltacopy



Windows Backup Software Deltacopy is a sophisticated backup software program that uses a client server approach which makes it ideal for computers located in a network.

Read rest of entry