Month: May 2005

Google’s new Web Accelerator software plugs into your web browser and speeds up page retrieval for snappier surfing.

How it works: Web Accelerator only downloads changes to pages you have viewed before; it pre-fetches pages before you click on the links; it compresses web data for faster transfer and “manages your internet connection” to optimize it for surfing.

The good news: it does save you time, in fact, the exact amount of time is calculated and viewable right inside your browser toolbar. And even if it is fractions of a second, it’s satisfying to watch that number go up throughout the day.

The bad news: The privacy policy is “not the usual Yada Yada” (Google’s words.) To install, you have to check a box which says, “I understand that personally identifiable information about me may be sent to Google while using the Google Web Accelerator” [view image], so that’s a dealbreaker for surfers who value their privacy. The Web Accelerator is only worth it for broadband (cable/DSL) users and works for Firefox and Internet Explorer out of the box. Free, Windows only.

Originally from Lifehacker

This tip gets emailed to me every then and again, so heck, why not throw it up? Can’t say this isn’t interesting. Courtesy of the University of Washington CS department, check out this a clip of The Matrix rendered in ASCII.

Read More | Matrix ASCII

Originally from Gear Live

Reuters reports (via the Times of Oman) that authorities in Nepal have restored cellphone service to the country, two months after King Gyanendra (see here) cut off all phone and internet service as an emergency measure to prevent politicians from organising protests. Gyanendra actually cut off landline service too, but restored that after a week. These latest moves came after mounting international pressure to restore democracy and to free politicians — including the chief of the country’s biggest communist group, who has been under house arrest.

[Via Textually.org]

Originally posted by Donald Melanson from Engadget

Here is a SuperScreen Outdoor Theater System, a 13-foot by 16-foot inflatable screen that includes a portable DVD player, dual 15-inch speakers, and a DLP projector. So basically you’re going to need to borrow somebody’s pool for the afternoon. And also ten thousand dollars.

[Via bookofjoe]

Originally posted by Peter Rojas from Engadget

Filed under: Tips and tricks, OS

If you are on Tiger, highlight place your cursor over any word in this post. Now, with the word highlighted hit Apple + Control + D. Instant dictionary definition. Well, nearly instant anyway. On my Powerbook G4, there is a slight delay that is just long enough for me to wonder if it is working immediately before it finally works. I like this feature. I just wish that OS X used the Oxford English Dictionary rather than the Oxford American.

Can anyone say LiveDictionary?

[via fscklog]

Originally posted by C.K. Sample, III from The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)