Review: Firefox 7beta

I had been having some RAM issues with my machine recently.
I realise 2GB of the stuff isn't a whole lot these days, but it should certainly suffice for my basic Internet use and blogging needs.

An OS re-installation (downgraded to 32-bit OS) seemed to fix it for a while, but within a week I saw that RAM was being hogged quite badly once again.

The culprit, undoubtedly this time around, was the Mozilla browser, Firefox.

  After a quick bit of research I found that since v.3, with each subsequent release, Firefox had indeed been gaining a reputation for hogging RAM.

The browser would 'lock up' RAM especially through use of flash (e.g. youtube videos).
Even when tabs/windows were closed the RAM remained inaccessible to other programs.

As a fan of Firefox and its features, I was disappointed to learn this, but it seemed there was good news.

Developers of the browser had been tinkering away on something they called 'Memshrink' which is designed to address the issue.
And luckily for me, Firefox 7 (utilising this development) has just been made available in beta.

I eagerly installed the software and, running it, immediately noticed it took up far less RAM than its predecessor (less even than the other browser I use, Opera).
I opened three tabs to play flash videos, in addition to my blogger and gmail tabs. Not only did my computer not screech to a halt, even with all three playing, but when I closed them the RAM was freed up right away. 

Is Firefox 7 beta any use?
I'm thrilled to say, without a doubt - certainly where my RAM problem was concerned.

You can download it here.

Review: Angry Birds

I'm going to be openly honest.The reason for lack of activity here for the past while is partly due to social obligations, but mostly...

..due...

...to this:

Grrr!

Angry Birds is one of the most addictive and fiendishly simple games ever.
It is frustrating and rewarding in equal measures and is guaranteed to feast monstrously on your time and energy.


The premise behind the game is as absurd as the concept of birds being angry and requiring a slingshot to fly.
In the game, you try to judge the correct angle to sling birds into structures housing green pigs who have stolen eggs. The idea is to crush or knock the piggies out of existence and eventually lead the troop of birds to their precious eggs. However, those devious pigs have an assortment of ever difficult buildings and underhanded tricks to keep the angry birds at bay.

Each round can be completed in usually under a minute, but some will require tens of attempts to work out the optimal strike points to best collapse structures. This is the essence of the addictive nature of the game... always getting that bit closer with each attempt, and each attempt lasting about half a minute.

The graphics are friendly and cartoony, and the audio is quite funny between the comedic squawks and giggle-inducing grunts, which, even in the direst of frustration keeps the player quite amused.

But bottom line: is Angry Birds any use?

As a deterrent to anything else and a frustrating tool of procrastination, most certainly.
If you're looking to be in any way actually productive with your life, definitely not!

Angry Birds is available for PC, i-phone and other devices at game developers Rovio, here for a very affordable few dollars.

Review: Perfect Optimizer

I recently had a major headache with my PC.
It was freezing badly so I decided to give it a healthy, long overdue reboot.

Not sure what had happened the poor old thing, but it refused to boot up, instead informing me the system32 files were missing or corrupt.

Ouch.

Using another machine, I found a fix and proceeded to jump the necessary hoops.
DOS prompts and safe-mode boots and so on...
Eventually I was able to log in to my familiar cluttered desktop and began normal proceedings.

Alas, there was something or another yet awry. Software was acting strangely and installs weren't completing.
An error code search led me to download and try (and then register) Perfect Optimizer.

It promises to clean, tidy and generally improve the running of your PC.
Certainly as it scans and reveals information about how borked your machine is, it seems to know what it's doing.

It counts into the hundreds, if not thousands of registry anomalies and claims gigs of data as 'clutter' among other signs of digital disease in the bowels of the OS.

The trial version will fix a very limited amount of problems.
Only after registering the product will the registry be even touched.

Having registered (almost $40) and gratefully clicking 'fix all', Perfect Optimizer does its thing and proudly claims your computer as '100 healthy'. 100 what, we can't be sure, but PO seems confident.

One issue I had before running the package was that my Anti-virus wouldn't update.
That was fixed after running Perfect Optimizer, but the issue has since returned, which leads me to dread that certain issues remain (and that things could get far worse without an updated anti-virus).

So, my verdict this time can't be very conclusive...

Is 'Perfect Optimizer' any use?
Verdict: Seems to be on the surface, but I'm too scared to risk a reboot!

Recipe: Pitta Pocket Treat

Simple, sensual and sweet, this is the tastiest fancy-pants treat you can make in under four minutes.

Take a pitta bread 'pocket' and make this happen:

Tip: Apply heat

Secondly, open the bread and butter it.
Spread in a nice amount of strawberry jam.

Now comes the fancy bit:

Mon dieu

Yes. Brie cheese!
Pop a few slices of brie into the pocket.

Heat further to melt the cheese.


Is a 'Pitta Pocket Treat' any use?

Verdict: Can't answer - too busy stuffing my face with nom nom treat.

Rant: Ready Meal Packaging

I just spent six minutes preparing a 'ready meal'.  

Not dissimilar to this one.

The instructions state 'remove film lid carefully with a scissors'.

There is a reason or two they've phrased it thus.
Firstly it is an intricate operation. You do need a scissors.
Definitely no chance of grabbing a corner and ripping off the lid, the plastic is too thin.
A knife is no good either because the glue is too heavy.

It literally needs to be snipped with careful precision around the side of the tub.

Now it's not just me is it, but aren't these things supposed to be convenient? Is that not the entire reason behind them?

Why do the company who produces the meal not have a better plastic and glue set-up?

Probably expense. And so, they come up with the delicately phrased instruction.
If you're prone to over-thinking such things with a mild amount of paranoia (as I, for instance) just might be, you'd be forgiven for being wary of eating this meal at all.
Surely the company include the specific instruction to avoid lawsuits - it's the only reason for any health and safety instruction these days, let's face it.

Is that plastic, when melted into the food particularly carcinogenic? You have to wonder.


So ultimately...:

Is having to cut ready meal packaging off carefully with a scissors any use?

Verdict: No indeed. It defeats the purpose of the 'ready meal' being quick and convenient and is a little worrying to boot.

Review: blogger.com

I just started using blogger.com for a new review blog if you didn't notice.

I have used blogger (or blogspot.com as it's also known) previously, so I have enough experience to let you know straight up: it has its faults.

To be fair, it's very easy to set up (assuming you have a gmail account).
It's very intuitive in terms of getting a decent design together.
Blogger has templates you can choose from and modify as you see fit.

  Like this, see?:

You don't need to know a dot of programming code - everything is there and very accessible - colors, fonts, background pics (you can upload your own if you like).

Within an hour you will have cobbled together a great looking blog that also reflects your personality and your taste and it will definitely project something at least close to what you are looking to portray with your blog.

Also, it promotes a sense of community, which is very important amongst bloggers.
It's easy enough to follow and comment other blogs you might enjoy and before long you'll have built up a nice community of fellow bloggers.


Managing your blog in general on blogger is really handy - the layout of the dashboard and tabs is extremely accessible. Some more intricate settings are a little tucked away, but not too difficult to find if you use your brain.


However, blogger falls down for me at a crucial point.

Posting.
I find posting quite tedious - especially in terms of popping pics in to my posts. I upload or link and they appear a line or two above where I intended - i.e. where the cursor was. Why is that?

Also, line breaks never conform when published as to how they were while editing.
That includes when I dare delve into the 'edit html' option in posting mode.

Finally I've also found another little bug in linking text to URL's. Sometimes it happens that the pop up box into which I'm supposed to paste the link isn't 'active'. And when I paste, it appears in the post itself - behind the edit box.


On the one hand it's a great interface - very manageable and intuitive.

On the other, get it together blogspot! - bloggers blog and posting is really number one!
If that isn't as smooth and intuitive as your log on and design procedure then expect a lot of people to drop out after a couple of posts.


At the end of the day...

Is 'blogger' any use?

Verdict: It'll do (just don't annoy me while I'm posting - I'm likely to scream at you).

Review: This Any Use?

My first proper post will be more of a preview than a review.

I just made a blog site and it's called 'This Any Use?'
You can find it at http://isthisanyuse.blogspot.com/ but you already know that since you're here.

It has a colorful if hopefully subtle layout and style. Surely it will be modified as time goes on.

  Here's a taste:

It's a shame the description insists on staying gray regardless of what methods attempted in template designer, but perhaps in time this issue will be resolved - with a proper banner if necessary.

There isn't much else to say about the site in terms of review since it's so new.


It looks quite attractive and if it delivers on its promise it could be a decent enough resource.

Is 'This Any Use?' any use?

Verdict: Looks promising, hope so.