KitchenLab
It has been busy, but I want to share another cool thing with you. We just shot a TV promo. Cooking and Science! Please help us promote it by liking the youtube video. Feel free to share the video …
Source: KitchenLab
2016 TNMHW DAY 4: PANIC ATTACK
2016 TNMHW DAY 4 EARLY SESSION: PANIC ATTACK
Source: 2016 TNMHW DAY 4: PANIC ATTACK
Collaboration
This blog has sat here dead for a while. Reason is my lack of time regarding work with Mozilla. I have done it long (since Firefox 0.85) until 2006 I would say. Add-ons, openweb, new Mozilla projects and Mozillians. All this is still important. Even the FireOS is important.
Yet little time, so I invite writers who are interested in having a voice regarding these issues. To make this a collaboration, rather than a monologue.
Please fill the form if you are interested.
Small sticky ideas
Large visions, big ideas. The next big thing, that what nobody thought of yet. More of these terms.
I do find it hard in our growing heap of collected things (things as in everything) to see a transparency that will frame a new big idea. I am not discussing the next ipad idea, but the wheel kind of idea. Our rate of innovation as a whole is slowing down, yet we put more effort. It is hard to cut first through the cobwebs of the old ideas to get ready to form a new one, based on the shoulders of others before you. Ideas. So are we hard at work as a species to push a plug through a narrow bend at this point of time, or are we using the wrong method(s)? I have no idea. Not even a small one. Big ideas will come, some brilliant mind will have some, and an apparent need will fuel its greatness. It will just happen less
often over time. The rate is slowing down.
Enter: Self assembly in idea formation.
Background: in my field of protein engineering one can rationally design and tinker with the protein for a while to obtain desired results. If said desired results do not come, we move to more randomized approaches. (Directed) evolution, letting the forces of physics find the lowest energy minimum. Also in the world of biomaterials and nanoparticles we see a trend toward self assembly of per-defined components that yield the desired product. Making small changes in the starting materials has sometimes no effect on the final product, sometimes a huge effect. Within this framework some other scientist like to observe, model and predict patterns and behaviors.
So what is it not? We learn quickly from Wikipedia, and I quote: “Self-organization is a nonequilibrium process where self-assembly is a spontaneous process that leads toward equilibrium.” So I do not want to discuss Self-organization of ideas, nor do I want to explore to predict idea patterns in a Seldonian kind of way (thanks Asimov!).
I
would like to think, or lets say that better, explore the idea of developing a set of small sticky ideas (note: improve marketing term in a later stage), which are not dynamic. Such SSI’s must end in an equilibrium.
Changes in self assembly rates of adsorption (to interfaces f) and (re-)organization of the balanced Idea (bI) structure result in different Ideas.
It would be great to play with this here. To combine a few SSIs and let them form a bI. To think about what interfaces the SSIs encounter (is it us the thinkers for example?) and how do we know an an equilibrium is reached?
In the end this small idea of Small Sticky Ideas may prove to be a dead end, or formulate a bigger Idea, or big Ideas may be formed after a methodology is thought of .
(or already has been thought of, then lets play…)
(c) Picture by: http://lorilowe.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/sticky-note-chad-mcdermott5.jpg
You-centric
Well its it a bit old, but so cool:
You-Centric: The Future of Browsing from Carsonified on Vimeo.
So please comment on these idea, and how can !mozillamagazine benefit from this. Should we educate (ask our users to add weave and Ubiquity to their browsers?) of have a hackable page from the inside (the old web developers way?)
What is drumbeat?
Personas for Firefox 0.6 (review)
This kind of extension has been on my list of add-ons for a long time. I do like themes, however I do not like the (sometimes) heavy load of images it carries into my browser. Themes are also a static change of of you browser, more or less as a skin does for other computer programs you might have.
Enter: new concept in browser customization. I really feel that we see here a new feature in a browser that is as revolutionary as the concept of add-ons. The customization is interactive via a web server, in the same way I like to have my bookmarks synchronized (with the help of Foxmarks), and in this case it changes the look of your Firefox browser. I on purpose say here look, because in my opinion this kind of functionality will be seen more and more in other add-ons and in future versions of Firefox. I is just that good (you could think about calender functions, IM, blogging and of course graphic RSS feeds).
“So you are jumping up and down for joy, what are you talking about”?
I am talking about Personas for Firefox created by Chris Beard, with help of some other prominent Mozilla people and Firefox fans.
Upon installation (after you allow downloads from this website) you can go to the <Tools> menu and look under add-ons to find an options menu, however you will not find any options for Personas there. Look at the bottom left corner of your browser:
(NB: please do not be alarmed by the strange setup of my browser, and yes that image you see if due to Personas)
You see a picture here from another review of Personas in a more normal setting (click onimage to read the review at Mozilla Links)
So what are your option here? If you click on the Personas logo in the left corner a small pop-up window emerges were you can choose the Persona (think of it as a minimized Theme or Skin) that you want. You select the one you want and plop your browsers has a new look. This part of the add-ons works great and has lots of potential.
This add-on is still under development, but the 0.6 release is stable and works with many different add-ons. Add to that list BioFox, BioBar, Tabrowser Preferences, eBay companion (beta) for Firefox and Duplicate Tab.
Currently you can create your own Personas and email them to Chris Beard, later these Personas can be submitted to a website, and I am sure this now small-spin off project will attract an active community of Persona builders, advertisement gurus, Google web-application builders and people who like pretty colors ;o). In later releases Personas can be dynamic to reflect the time of day, to show you your appointments for the next hour, or just to surprise you with another random Persona of Firefox 3 times a day.
Now those applications give rise to a whole new browsers use and feel.
Good: the concept is excellent (cannot wait to see dynamic Personas happen), not intrusive and works as expected.
Bad: No previews of what is to come (what if you have to look through 1000 Personas), Dynamic Personas do not work yet, hard to find the add-on the first time (it is so non-intrusive).
Overall: I have seen the future baby! Thanks Chris for some fresh breath…
Requests for reviews? Contact me!
Wow, I am getting a lot of hits here. I just shows me that Firefox use is one the rise, and that add-ons are a major part of it.
So seeing the small amount of post I have here in combination with the amount of people here, I would still like to keep this blog going. To review official Mozilla[alpha/beta/gold] add-ons and the many others out there. I would like to limit my reviews to a few very “grown-up” add-ons that favors Firefox marketing as well. of course if an add-on has bugs or bad features in my opinion I will list them.
So I put out a call to you for requests. Which add-on would you like to see review here?
Just place a comment to this post or email me at marco [dot] casteleijn [at] gmail [dot] com.
Thanks!
eBay companion for Firefox 0.9.6.4 review
As I was describing in my earlier post, I a testing (with many others) a new add-on for Firefox. I asked Mozilla if I could review this before the official release, and no problem. The current version is very stable, and most likely very close to the 1.0 version. Get your copy here.
I do have to mention that I review this add-on here as a buyer, and do not have any experience as an eBay seller, but here goes:
First off the installation, well it is relatively small approx. 470 bytes. Installation went easy and the add-on seems to be compatible with my other add-ons (Faster-fox, Nuke anything enhanced, Suomen Kielen oikoluku, Tabrowser preferences, Duplicate tab, BioBar and Biofox. I also have IE-tab installed and the companion works even when I use IE in a new tab, so no problems there!).
After installation we are presented with this screen:
Obviously are the relatively big eBay icon which makes the eBay sidebar appear and disappear, which also give the status of log-in. So I clicked connect, and was presented with the log-in screen in eBay. I entered my log-in details and was presented with the following safety notification: 
I have reviewed both options and to be honest, I do not much difference here. Still when I connected to eBay via the companion, I still need to connect again to use my eBay functions (in the eBay website) as shown here:
What does work differently is when I close the Firefox, this part of the functionality is working according to the choice made.
Further features: active, biding, watching, selling, and ended items are seen after choosing this via a pull-down menu. Notifications for these items can either glow up or are shown via pop-up window from the lower right side of Firefox. It is up to you. Furthermore, you can refresh your items in the lower left of the side-bar. An option to alter this refresh rate could be handy for some, I was however quite content with the default setting.
Finally, this add-ons come with many features as seen here:
One impressive feature was that every time I entered another website were I use the same passwords and log-in (because I have such a small memory gland ;o), I got a warning about this. This is also true for the Paypall password I am using. If it get annoying you can uncheck this option.
Good: side-bar features can be ‘put-away, safety issues are solid, nice notification system.
Bad: Re-login after connecting to eBay is annoying, eBay button can be smaller, refresh rate to watch items can not be set.
Overall: A very solid add-on, which from a buyer-point-of-view works nicely. eBay much? Give it a go!
Enjoy!
Null Morpheme 
