The shift to email isn’t great news if you’re the national postal organisation, but Australia Post isn’t entirely stuck in the backwaters. New data reveals that an increasing number of its customers are using smart phones to access its service.
iOS/Android: Previously mentioned time-passing, sometimes productivity-killing StumbleUpon has just released an iPhone and Android app, tailored specifically to a mobile browsing experience.
Firefox/Chrome: If you’re tired of clicking through page after page of search results and would prefer to simply scroll through the pages on an infinite rotation, AutoPagerize enables endless scrolling.
The Windows Mobile Team Blog offers a useful overview of alternative Windows Mobile browsers for owners who want to use something other than Internet Explorer, including previously-discussed Skyfire, Fennec and Opera Mobile. Despite the source, it’s a fairly even-handed discussion and a good overview for new Windows Mobile device owners — though author Jim Causey does talk up the benefits of Windows Mobile’s developer diversity (“Whenever you have a strong developer community, you find a range of alternatives to match the way you like to work and play”) without mentioning the platform’s well-deserved reputation for instability.
Survey of Web Browsers for Windows Mobile [Windows Mobile Team Blog]Minors experience significantly fewer ads online than the elderly in a measure of web page “clutter,” according to a recent report from Nielsen Online. Web surfers under 17 saw the least screen real estate given over to advertising, while those over 65 saw the most. And the more “niche” a site’s appeal, the more clutter generally. Of course, dedicated adbusters can use software like BFilter or reconfigure your router to block ads for the whole family. At what point does the ad volume or tone overwhelm the value of the content or service for you?
Dear Lifehacker, How do I stop my computer from saving every picture I’ve viewed on the web when using Firefox? Thanks, Luke There are many things we don’t want other people to find on our PCs, either because we’re ashamed of them (Celine Dion, anyone?) or because we’re trying to surprise them (way to blow that birthday surprise). While there have been add-ons and extensionsto help solve this problem, 2008 has seen every major browser developer look into what is nicely referred to as ‘private browsing mode’, and generally referred to as ‘porn mode’, which keeps everything neatly non-cached and private. Surprisingly given its general reputation for advanced features, Firefox is the last cab off this particular rank. Both Google Chrome and IE 8 include porn mode, but you’ll need version 3.1, currently in beta, to get that feature with the ‘fox. So the short answer is: wait a few months. In the meantime, select Tools, then Clear Private Data, make sure everything is ticked, and click ‘Clear Private Data Now’ to get rid of the evidence.
The universal, high-speed-everywhere web isn’t quite a reality yet, as anyone who’s used a relative’s dial-up or a seriously weak airport connection can testify to. Web page re-formatting tool Finch gives you just the text, ma’am, from any site you plug into its address box, stripping Flash, JavaScript, stylesheets, and even images from the layout. Tools like this often crop up for mobile phones, such as Google’s Mobilizer, but Finch is made for the desktop browser. Some sites will work better with their graphical navigators removed than others, of course, but for anyone stuck with a fist-poundingly slow connection, or paying for every megabyte, Finch is a great bookmarket to keep handy. Finch [Adam Brenecki via Digital Inspiration]
