Mozilla may have released the first beta of Firefox 3.6 nearly two months late, but the organization believes the final version still will arrive on schedule before the end of the year.
The Mozilla wiki page on version 3.6, code-named Namoroka, listed early September for the scheduled release of the first beta, but it actually arrived October 30. Despite that, Mike Shaver, vice president of engineering, said Mozilla wants to release the browser before the holidays and is sticking by the overall schedule for the open-source Web browser.
"We're still looking at a release candidate in November and (final) release in December at this point," Shaver said in a Tuesday interview.
That means Mozilla has a compressed schedule for producing the final version, but Shaver said coders are working hard. "We're not going to coast into it," he said. "We're going to continue shipping beta updates aggressively."
Those involved in open-source projects, with different motivations and pressures than those in the traditional proprietary software industry, sometimes have an attitude of "we'll ship it when it's done." Mozilla, though, recognizes that time matters even for an open-source project.
"We've always been more quality-driven than time-driven," Shaver said. "But we understand timing in the market matters to our users and our competitiveness."
ScheduleOnce, the service that helps multiple users find the best time to have a meeting, has new(ish) tool that lets users access its service without leaving the Google Calendar interface.
Using it requires installing a small add-on that currently works only in Firefox and IE with IE7Pro installed. Users then get a new ScehduleOnce menu in the left side of Calendar, either through Google Apps, or in the public version of Google Calendar. The control widget lets them see a list of meetings they have scheduled, along with the option to create a new one as if they were doing so back on ScheduleOnce.
What's really interesting about this add-on is that as of this week, it could no longer require the download to work. On Tuesday Google opened up a new API for developers to create sidebar gadgets in Calendar. A widget that makes use of this could let users keep track of tentative meetings they've set up, however any scheduling may still require going back to ScheduleOnce's site.
(Credit:
ScheduleOnce)
You can rely on Z-Cron as a robust scheduler that can handle not only shutting down the computer, but also launching programs, leave reminder notes, and cleaning directories. Similar to the Unix Cron scheduler, and far more powerful than the native Windows task scheduler, Z-Cron is an aggressive sergeant at arms, able to tell your computer what to do and when to do it, leaving you to get on with your life when you're away from your machine. Besides tasks, Z-Cron also has the capability to schedule tasks to run daily, weekly, monthly, once, and regularly at your system start-up.
The most useful tool that Z-Cron possesses, and what makes it such an excellent utility, is that it comes with a database of Embedded Tools. These tools are the basis for everything it can do, and they include a range of tasks such as an alarm clock, the capability to shut down a remote computer on your network, activate a USB peripheral, and connect or disconnect from the Internet.
Note that the installation is in German, although the program is in English. Still, that's not a cause for concern: getting the program going is about as simple as can be. The value of being able to have the computer do necessary tasks while you sleep or while you're away is a great weapon in any power users' arsenal.
When Power Downloader needs to set a schedule for his computer to do basic tasks when he's not around, he needs to rely on a robust scheduler that can handle not only shutting down the computer, but also launching programs, leave him reminder notes, and cleaning directories. For all that and--cliched as it sounds--more, Power D relies on the freeware Z-Cron.
Z-Cron's list of available tasks should make any power user take note.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Similar to the Unix Cron scheduler, and far more powerful than the native Windows task scheduler, Z-Cron is an aggressive sergeant-at-arms, able to tell your computer what to do and when to do it, leaving you to get on with your life when you're away from your machine. Besides the aforementioned tasks, Z-Cron also has the capability to schedule tasks to run daily, weekly, monthly, once, and at the system start-up.
The most interesting tool that Z-Cron possesses, and what makes it such an excellent utility, is that it comes with a database of Embedded Tools. These tools are the basis for everything it can do, and they include a range of tasks such as an alarm clock, the capability to shutdown a remote computer on your network, activating a USB peripheral, and connecting or disconnecting from the Internet.
Power Downloader notes that the installation is in German, although the program is in English. Still, that's not a cause for concern: getting the program going is about as simple as can be. The value of being able to have the computer do necessary tasks while you sleep or while you're away isn't lost on the globe-trotting Power Downloader, and leaving his computer in control of such capable code means never missing an important chore.
I have to admit that I don't use Apple's Dashboard widgets very often. Though I know there are several useful widgets available I think it might be that, in my business, I often search for a stand-alone solution to whatever the particular problem might be before thinking of Widgets. In other words, I think it's mostly just habit that I moved away from the Dashboard. But I came across an excellent free widget today that just might make me spend more time with widgets.
Switch through the tabs to check your schedule and enter data
(Credit: CNET Networks)Organized, from iSlayer.com is a handy and elegant calendar widget which helps you keep your schedule organized. On the spare, but sleek tabbed interface you'll find handy world clocks for different time zones; Notes for reminders and thoughts; Events to give you a heads-up of the days appointments; and a ToDo tab for to-do lists. Each of the categories are very smartly done, with options like the ability to show due dates for your to-do lists, and the ability to create multiple calenders for separate tasks. What's more, it shares the same database as iCal and Mail, so whatever changes you make, you know you're always in sync.
Organized is a free Widget for Mac OS X 10.5, but in the interest of the continued development of cool programs, I should point out they politely request you consider a donation. I think once you see how easy it is to stay organized, and the way it works with iCal and Mail, you just might throw a few dollars their way.
If you've ever wondered how many minutes a day you spend using Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or Gmail; or how much of your day is "wasted" by community Web sites such as Digg, Slashdot, or MetaFilter, a free application called RescueTime (also available for Mac) can track that information for you, while providing several other valuable features to monitor your time.
Monitoring productivity in the Internet age has become more complicated than ever, especially if you work online. E-mail, instant messaging, and multitasking keep many of us switching constantly between projects or contacts. RescueTime combines a local application with complementary Web-based software to track the time you spend with specific applications and Web sites, down to exact minutes and seconds.
The online RescueTime app provides lots of ways to slice, dice, and analyze your data.
(Credit: CNET Networks/RescueTime)Getting started with RescueTime is simple. You'll need to download and install the data collector and then sign up for an account on the RescueTime Web site in order to start tracking your productivity. The local software monitors your application/site usage, communicates with the Web service, and lets you manage your privacy and other program settings. The Web service provides the meat. That's where you can view your usage statistics (as well as slice, dice, and tag them), set productivity goals and alerts, and grab HTML widgets for monitoring your time without even visiting the RescueTime site.
Once you get the RescueTime monitoring software up and running, it will take about an hour for your statistics to show up on the Web site. As soon as you can manage your application/site data, it's smart to tag your applications and Web sites to create some meaning from the raw data. For example, I tagged the CNET blogging tool and my favorite text editor, NoteTab Light, with the tag "text," which means "hey, I'm writing here." Next, I tagged the Web-based Download.com catalog tool with "catalog" (duh), SnagIt and Adobe Photoshop as "images," and Outlook with "e-mail." You can see a snippet of my usage data from the RescueTime widget below.
So, you might ask, am I seriously suggesting voluntarily allowing "Big Brother" access to your PC? Well, yes and no. If you use RescueTime in the default manner, you will certainly be providing personal information on application use and Web site visits to a software company. However, RescueTime does have a very solid privacy policy, and it also includes various options that let you customize exactly how much info (and what type) is shared with the Web service.
The RescueTime privacy options let you restrict the sites it tracks.
(Credit: CNET Networks/RescueTime)For example, if you're concerned about sharing your Web browsing habits, you can enable a domain whitelist for tracking in the Privacy tab of the local RescueTime app. A domain whitelist is simply a text file with a list of Web sites. If you visit one of the sites on your whitelist, RescueTime will track it. All other Web sites will be grouped together in the data under "Other Web sites," which could be useful for browsers concerned about sharing their private surfing habits. You can also use the RescueTime Web service to exclude any specific applications or sites from its monitoring.
Similarly, you can ask RescueTime to only monitor domain-level URLs. That option means that the app will record that you visited Download.com, but not specifically the Kelly Clarkson Sex-E Screensaver. For security reasons, you can also set RescueTime to send updates to the Web service using the SSL protocol.
The communication between the local RescueTime client and the Web service is also completely transparent. To see the exact information that the software is sending online, visit the RescueTime.com folder in your Application Data directory within Local Settings. For XP users, the path is usually "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\RescueTime.com\logs\." For Vista users, it's generally "C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\RescueTime.com\logs\." The "uploaded" directory holds all logs already sent to RescueTime; the "pending" directory holds the logs waiting to be sent.
Most importantly, you can always turn off logging by either quitting the local RescueTime application, or right-clicking the RescueTime icon in your system tray and disabling logging. The default keyboard shortcut for enabling/disabling logging is Ctrl-Alt-L. In my specific case, I have corporate monitoring and remote-access software on my work machine anyway, so I have no PC privacy to lose. Those users who consider installing and using RescueTime on their home PCs may want to consider the pros and cons, and contact RescueTime directly if you have specific concerns.
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