GeekSugar

Background Noise on Websites: Love It or Leave It?

GeekSugar — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 07:30:30 PDT

While it seems there are far fewer websites containing background music than there were, say, eight or nine years ago, occasionally I'll stumble across a site that starts playing music upon entering. Recently, I've noticed it on sites from restaurants to resorts, even my most recent website of the day.

I absolutely cannot stand music and noises that play on a site - especially if they play in a loop. Given my penchant for keeping a high number of browser windows open on my computer, sometimes I can't figure out where the noise is coming from. In fact, that's exactly what just happened to me . . . the Droid noises on the Verizon Wireless site confused me for a solid five minutes.

What about you? Do you detest the background noise as much as I do, or are you a fan?

Geek Tip: Drag and Drop in Firefox

GeekSugar — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:45:23 PDT

As a compulsive tab-opener in Firefox, I'm always on the hunt for easy ways to organize my open tabs. While there are plenty of add-ons for managing tabs (Too Many Tabs and Colorful Tabs are two of my favorites), some days I just can't get them under control. I tend to work in multiple windows with multiple tabs, and if you do the same, this tip might come in handy. One of the easiest ways to organize windows in Firefox is to simply drag them around the screen.

You can change the order of the tabs simply by clicking on one and dragging it across the others. Look for a blue icon that shows which two tabs the chosen window will be moved between. You can use this to move a tab into its own window, too. Click and drag the tab off of the browser window or to the far side of your screen and the selected tab will now display in its own window. Conversely, if you find yourself working in too many windows, you can drag tabs from other open browser windows onto an existing window to create a new tab. Good news for you Chrome and Safari users - this tip will work for you as well!

Download of the Day: TooManyTabs

GeekSugar — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:15:08 PDT

Ever since Firefox and I have patched up our rocky relationship, I've been looking at new ways to spruce up my favorite Internet browser. The FF add-on ColorfulTabs (I couldn't imagine my virtual world without it!) has added the perfect amount of oo la la to not only my browser, but my screen appearance in general. But I'm loving my latest add-on, TooManyTabs, because it provides you with an extra Firefox row, so you don't have to scroll through all your tabs to see them - making it much easier to find specific tabs!

Geek Tip: Retrieving Closed Firefox Tabs

GeekSugar — Mon, 28 May 2007 13:04:04 PDT

This happens to me all of the time. I'll be using Firefox to surf the net, open way too many tabs, close a few to open more and realize that I need to go back to a website. Well luckily there are a couple of tricks to help you get your tabs back. All you have to do is hit 'Command+Shift+T' for a Mac or 'Shift+Ctrl+T' for a PC and your last tab will appear. If you don't like keyboard shortcuts, just go to history and recently closed tabs and voila- you will see all your recently closed tabs!

Looking Forward to Firefox 5: What's in Store?

Kristy Korcz — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 12:05:48 PDT

Mozilla may have just released Firefox 4 to the masses last week, but the company isn't about to rest on its laurels: there's already news about what's coming up in the next version of the web browser. New features are being added in order to stand out in a competitive market, and here are a few sweet ones to look forward to:

Social sharing - You'll be able to share what you're reading right from your browser bar, which makes Facebooking finds super easy.
Identity managers - This will allow you to stay signed in to your favorite websites, and log in with multiple accounts.
PDF previews - Check out downloadable PDFs right in your browser before downloading.
Tabs - Currently being tested is the ability to move groups of tabs at once.
Task bar web apps - If you have a Facebook web app, you will be able to view your news feed, updates, messages, and events from a drop-down in your task bar.

Does this news get you excited for Firefox 5?

The Week in Geek

GeekSugar — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 03:20:38 PDT

This week: Twitter turned 5, AT&T bought T-Mobile, and the Nintendo 3DS readied for launch. Check out these stories and more big news in this week's recap.

On Sunday, the news broke that AT&T bought T-Mobile, becoming the country's largest mobile provider. Details surrounding what this could mean for consumers are still unclear, so stay tuned for more information.
Twitter celebrated the fifth anniversary of the first tweet, sent by co-founder Jack Dorsey.
This week, Sprint became the first wireless carrier to allow customers to port their numbers to Google Voice without incurring the $20 fee.
In more mobile phone news, AT&T announced its first 3D phone, the LG Thrill 4G.
Also this week, Samsung announced two new Galaxy Tabs, an 8.9-inch model, and a 10.1-inch model. Expect them later this Summer.
In browser news, Firefox 4.0 is here, and comes complete with some awesome features.
New features from Facebook this week: Social Ads (which you may choose to keep your name out of) and Questions, which is now available to all users after a private testing phase.

Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding will be live streamed on Friday, April 29, and there are plenty of other geeky facts about the big event, including a ban on tweeting!

And, finally, don't forget: the Nintendo 3DS goes on sale this Sunday. Here's everything you need to know if you plan on picking one up.