Opera 10.50 is fast!

I just tried the new Opera 10.50 release on Win7 x64 and, boy, is it fast! Although I don’t have any real benchmark numbers, everything is really, really snappy.

The Monster test on Chrome Experiments actually runs pretty smoothly on the new Opera. Previously, only Chrome could run it well on a PC – both Firefox 3.6 and Internet Explorer 8 failed miserably.

There are a few nice new UI tweaks as well, including support for Aero Glass everything, jump lists and a nice little recycle bin in the upper right hand corner for recently closed tabs. Also, the tab bar can be resized to give a mini preview of each page.

I don’t anticipate using Opera Link for setting synchronization or Opera Unite for social media sharing, but Opera Turbo seems interesting, especially when in a crowded cafe on a slow Wi-Fi link or browsing while borrowing someone’s 3G dongle.

Overall, this seems like a really strong release and may give me pause when thinking about what browser to run as default. Great job Opera!

EDIT: Opera Unite is quite a bit more interesting than I had initially thought!

It basically runs a web server within Opera from which you can host different services like file sharing, media streaming or even web hosting.

Obviously you aren’t going to run any heavy duty web services on this, and all pages are served under a sub-domain of operaunite.com.

Still, everything just works and this feels like it has the potential like peer-to-peer technology to be a game changer. Especially if you can get you and your friends to mirror each other’s content.

The “real” reason why Apple blocks Flash on the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Food for thought…

Could the real reason for Apple’s disdain for running Flash on the iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad be that it potentially allows developers to circumvent the iTunes Apps Store and bypass Apple’s almost bulletproof control over what can run on their devices?

Right-click on a Wacom Bamboo Pen in Win7

My Wacom Graphire tablet finally bit the dust after ten or so years of faithful service. (Rest in peace!) So I went out and bought a new Bamboo Pen to replace it. A tablet is essential for effective OneNote use as well as sketching and Photoshop work.

Visually it looks better with its flat and shiny blacks compared to the gray and blue of the Graphire. The cheapest Bamboo Pen model unfortunately lost the eraser feature on the back end of the pen. I hardly ever used that feature anyway, but still it feels like a reduction in value as the price for both were about the same (even after 10 years).

However the aspect ratio of the Bamboo matches that of my widescreen display, so I no longer have the unmapped area at the bottom of the tablet.

For my workflow, I require both the middle-click and right-click mouse buttons mapped to the two pen buttons. However, try as I could, I couldn’t get the right-click mapping to stick.

The solution lies in that there are two sets of settings in the Control Panel for Pen and Touch – the Wacom driver settings in “Control Panel > Pen Tablet Properties,” and the Win7 settings in “Control Panel > Pen and Touch.”

Be sure to check the “Use the pen button as a right-click equivalent” option in the “Pen and Touch” panel in addition to correctly mapping the buttons in “Pen Tablet Properties.”

StayFocused for Google Chrome

If you need that little extra push to keep you from surfing the web too much, this might help. :D

https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji

Zen and writing in the new year.

Two programs I’ve found on the Internet that are invaluable to me for writing are WriteMonkey and Focus Booster.

WriteMonkey is a simple, free .NET 3.5 program that presents you with a black screen, green text, a flashing cursor and nothing else.

This decided minimalism helps you to focus on your writing without any of the visual and attention grabbing distractions that inhabit the modern computer desktop.

It works on any Windows computer with the .NET Framework installed. It might work also on Mac and Linux if you use Mono (I haven’t tried this).

Focus Booster is a free Adobe AIR app that is the electronic alternative to one of those red, apple shaped cooking timers.

It counts down alternating blocks of working and playing time as recommended by the Pomodoro Technique. This helps you to recognize the passage of time as you work and minimize fatigue by constantly having brief play/rest time interspersed with focused work.

It should work on any computer provided that you have Adobe AIR installed first.

Happy New Year to everybody and cheers to productive and fun months to come.