New versions, new features

A couple of pieces of software I use recently released new versions, so I thought I'd talk a bit about a couple of the little touches added to them that, in my opinion, just make life a little bit easier.

Firefox 3

One of Firefox's new features is an updated location bar, aptly named the AwesomeBar. Firefox searches bookmarks, tags, and history as you type in the location bar.



This feature actually ties very strongly in to FF's completely redesigned bookmarking system, which fully supports tags and "smart bookmark folders," which are based on customizable database queries to the bookmark engine.

Bookmarking has also been made extraordinarily simple, for such a robust system. At the end of the location bar is a small star icon.



Click this icon, and the page is bookmarked - as simple as that. Click it again, and a dialog will pop up that allows the bookmark to be saved into a different folder, to add tags, etc. It makes bookmarking that much simpler. In my experience, it has also made sorting bookmarks easier, with the combination of tags and the AwesomeBar. Rather than having to manually add every martial arts page I have bookmarked to my MA folder, I can tag it with martial arts much more quickly, and find it with a quick search.



Another FF feature I've used extensively in previous versions is keyword searches. Save a search on, say, snopes.com, add a keyword, and I can search directly from the location bar. This involved bookmarking a search, and editing the saved URL, though - not always a fun proposition. Now, FF has added a context menu item when right-clicking on a search text field.



Makes setting these searches up SO much easier.

iPhone

This is a feature I was actually surprised wasn't implemented earlier on this device. On previous versions, when using the software keyboard, holding down a key will give options for that key - holding down the A key, for example, presents options of A with various accents.



When typing in web addresses into MobileSafari, there is a quick button for adding .com to the end of an address.



Holding down this button did nothing, despite how intuitive it would be for it to offere the options of .net, .org, .edu, etc. Finally, Apple added this little helper.



Simple little thing, nothing ground breaking... but I like it.

Of course, there's still no copy/paste.

Oh - and I can type in Korean now, too. Shows up as boxes when I send texts to people though. :/

My princess

Every morning, Bridget gets up and leaves for work before I do. She shuffles out of bed, fetches the baby, feeds her, and sits her on the bed next to me while she finishes getting ready for work. Sometimes Eleanor wakes up as Bridget is moving around, sometimes she needs to be woken up.

This morning, when Bridget sat her next to me, she looked like this:



Poor thing was so sleepy!

Inanity

Einstein vs. Ninjas

With trusty sidekick Richard Feynman. For awesome.

Our new kitchen floor

Landlady finished staining and varnishing our kitchen floors. Very nice dark brown/red stain. Unfortunately, meant we had to stay at the resort all week while it dried, but we survived. She'll be painting the trim this week, and we can move the table and chairs back in Tuesday night.

All clear

Bad gas, that's what the doctor said. Or maybe constipation. But she's doing much better now, and we bought suppositories in case it happens again.

Worst case of gas I've ever seen.

Drawing blood

We should get a "regulars" discount...

Ellie woke up this morning at 2 AM in a tizzy, completely inconsolable. She was crying and crying and shaking. Finally Bridget insisted we take her to the ER. She seems like she's in some kind if pain, we just can't figure out what. When she's had ear infections in the past, she's never really so much as peeped. Doctor seems to think it's either flu or strep throat. I doubt both, but we'll see.