Tiffany B. Brown

Firefox 3.5 has been released

3.5 includes support for the HTML5 audio and video elements, and local / offline storage, a faster JavaScript engine, refinements to clearing private data, and a new private browsing mode.

Truthy and Falsy: When All is Not Equal in JavaScript

A refresher on data types in JavaScript and when ‘true’ and ‘false’ aren’t necessarily true and false.

WAVE toolbar

WebAIM offers a toolbar for Firefox that provides a quick accessibility test for your web site.

I am now the proud owner of a T-Mobile G1 running the Android operating system. I like it so far, though I wish the on-screen keyboard pas a bit more responsive. I have already installed a few applications, including Pacman, and a bar code / QR code scanner, but I’d like to take full advantage of this pocket-sized computer that sometimes pretends it’s a phone.

So I ask you: What are your favorite Android applications?

Please share:

• The name of the application
• What it does
• Whether it’s free, paid, and/or open source

I’m looking for a great to-do list / task manager (GTD not necessary) in particular.

Sometimes when developing and testing a site, you need to clear your browser’s cache. Clearing the cache is particularly important when testing SWF files. Browsers tend to hold on to those like a pitbull on a chew toy.

Firefox makes it easy to clear your cache with its Clear Private Data feature (Tools > Clear Private Data). But by default, the Browsing History and Authenticated Sessions boxes are pre-checked in addition to the Cache box. If you just want to clear your cache, you have to uncheck those boxes and then click the “Clear Private Data Now” button.

That’s a pain in the touchas when you’re in a developing - uploading - testing loop. Luckily Firefox let’s you change that.

What to do

1. Enter about:config in the address bar. Click the “I’ll be careful, I promise” button if one appears.
2. In the Filter field, enter privacy.item. These are the current settings for the Clear Private Data box.
3. Change the settings for privacy.item.sessions and privacy.item.history from true to false by double-clicking.

Restart Firefox, then go to Tools > Clear Private Data. Cache will be the only pre-selected option.

Introduction to RDFa

An attribute framework for including metadata in HTML tags

Open Melody

Six Apart announces a developer release of Melody, an open source content management system for bloggers and publishers where its community of users and contributors is its most important feature.

USB Thumb Drives and Your Open Source App Arsenal

Ideas for getting more out of your thumbdrive.

T-Mobile Announces MyTouch 3G, Second Android Phone

So — less than three weeks after I finally broke down and bought a G1 (because my N80 was dying), I find out about the MyTouch 3G. You can pre-order it starting July 8th. (I may buy a new one and give / sell my G1 at a discount) [Via OStatic → JK On the run] … an aside, my cousins’ G1s are how they access the internet. One uses her phone instead of a computer. Another uses his at work because his job blocks access to some sites.

Going down in the downturn

Middle-class women are turning to sex work. Clark-Flory suggests that this is partly because middle-class advantages, like a solid college education and professional work experience, don’t offer the same level of protection that they once did, and the Internet’s tendency to democratize everything. I’ll add that it’s also because sex work can be lucrative, offers flexibility in schedule, and can be done in private. Everyone sees you at McDonald’s. They don’t have to see you doing sex work. [Via Jezebel]

Opera has just launched a shot across the bow of other browsers with its new Unite feature. It’s a part of Opera 10, which is still in beta, but it could revolutionize the web, by turning every computer into a server.

So what can you do with Unite? Several things, including:

• Share files, including photo downloading and music streaming.
• Host chats with your friends.
• Run a web server for a simple web site.
• Leave or receive notes on your computer.

Unite requires an Opera account, and an alpha build of Opera 10b (Windows, Mac, Linux).

Opera Unite is a local web server, but it interacts with a proxy server. This means that end users don’t need to establish a firewall or set up port forwarding on their machines. They can just install Opera and go.

After starting a service, you can set three levels of access control: Public (open to anyone), Limited (open to anyone with a password), and Private (available to you). With file sharing and web serving, you also control which directory you want to make available.

Once you have made a directory available, you can send the url — in the form of http://computernickname.yourmyoperausername.operaunite.com/ — to your friends. It’s viewable in any browser, including mobile devices.

Don’t be a dummy: be a safe(r) Unite user

As with any service that lets users share their hard drive’s contents, Opera Unite can be a potential resource hog and security hole. Opera got it right by making these services easy to start or stop, and by supporting restricted access via password. Still, it’s up to users to understand how it all works.

For example, I stumbled across one user’s web server directory that hosted PHP files. Unite, however, is a simple and light-weight HTTP server. There is no PHP, which means that everything — including his database configuration details — is being served as plain text.

So there are two lessons learned:

1. Unite is a basic non-Apache server with no modules that means there’s no PHP, Perl, Python, or even server-side includes available.
2. Don’t share directories with sensitive data, and limit the number of directories that are exposed via Unite

Something else to know: Unite ties you in to the My Opera social network and makes other members aware that your services are running.

Is Unite a game-changer?

I think it depends on what the game is.

I don’t think Unite is compelling enough for most users to switch to Opera as their primary browser or to join the My Opera community. But I would not be surprised if it gained some traction with the geek set.

The concept of Opera Unite is pretty powerful. I can see this being useful as an impromptu office file sharing network, or to stream music from a computer at home to another at a friend’s house party.

Keep in mind that Unite also comes with a JavaScript API that supports file I/O (input/output). In a way, Opera is moving us closer to ubiquitous computing and the browser as OS.

And perhaps that’s the real story of Opera Unite: it is now dead-simple to give as much as you get from the web and use the skills you already have to build new tools.

In relationships, we hear about the ’seven year itch.’ but when it comes to our careers, is there such a thing as a two-year itch?

I first thought about be two year itch after a conversation with an acquaintance about why he left his last job: “After about two years, I just need a new challenge,” he said.

I reflected on my own career and knew what he meant. The longest I have ever worked for a company was four years. I only stayed that long because we were at the height of the dot-com bust. In 2001-2002, it was a lot easier to stay than it was to find a new job.

Perhaps there is something to the idea of the two-year itch.

In her book “The How of Happiness,” Sonja Lyubomirsky explains the psychological phenomenon of hedonic adaptation. Simply put, it’s the tendency for people to adapt to their current situation, and return to their base level of happiness after a life-altering event. Lyubomirsky cited a German study of newlyweds that showed the happiness boost of marriage wore off after about two years.

Perhaps it’s the same with jobs. I posit that the two-year itch is really a return to our baseline levels of happiness and job satisfaction. We start a new job and 24 months later, our enthusiasm and motivation are gone or diminished.

Of course, the easy way out is to search for a new job. Yet in a down economy, that process is much harder. Besides running to a new job every time you feel a little restless isn’t necessarily the best look for your resume.

So you stay at your job, but how do you stay motivated? How do you remind yourself everyday to do a good job and be fulfilled? What techniques have you tried to adjust your attitude?