A New Browser War?

Microsoft has had an easy time in the browser market since the company drubbed its rival Netscape in the late 1990s. It hasn’t felt the need to update its venerable Internet Explorer (IE) Version 6 browser since 2001 — a lifetime in software-development terms. But after losing market share to the open-source Mozilla Firefox (FF), built on the bones of Netscape Navigator, the software giant has finally woken from its slumber and released version 7, just two weeks ahead of FF’s version 2.

Of the “new” features (new to IE6 users, that is), tabbed browsing is probably the most interesting. Tabs allow the user to open multiple web pages within a single window, with each page’s title bar visible in a small tab on the toolbar. This is one of those features that makes users wonder how they ever lived without it, but the tab labels can become unreadable if too many are open at once.

IE7’s design aggravates the visual clutter by including the tabs on the same bar with other function buttons, and this is only somewhat mitigated by the Quick Tabs feature, which displays all open tabs as thumbnail images, an inconvenient 2-click process that can be time-consuming on slower machines. FF2 addresses this problem much more sensibly by giving the tabs a toolbar to themselves and limiting the number displayed on the screen at any given time — additional tabs are visible by scrolling or a convenient drop-down menu.

Both browsers also natively support RSS feeds, which means the browser frequently checks sites with regularly updated information (news services, for instance) to receive alerts and headlines when new content is posted. IE7 nonsensically buries this useful feature in their Favorites window, meaning two clicks and lost screen space, while FF2 organizes RSS feeds more intuitively, treating them like any other bookmark.

Both browsers now offer protection against so-called “phishing” websites — which present themselves as legitimate sites in order to gain personal data from unwary visitors. Every URL visited is checked against a list of phony sites, if there’s a match, the browser gives the user an alert message. Both IE7 and FF2’s anti-phishing features have reportedly performed well, giving alerts on false sites within one hour of the sites’ creation.

IE has a legacy as one of the most notoriously buggy and virus-prone pieces of software ever released, and Microsoft has a dismal record of offering timely fixes. FF is technically just as prone to attack, but its relative obscurity means fewer malicious code writers target it, and more importantly, the FF community offers bug and security fixes at a rate far faster than Microsoft does.

IE6 users would do well to upgrade to IE7 for its modern browser features and improved security, but anyone wanting to see those features implemented intelligently and supported well would do better to install FF2. Or both. Why not? They’re both free, after all.

Giving “Wireless Phone” a New Meaning

Although it looks (and in some ways operates) like an ordinary cell phone, Netgear’s new Skype phone uses a wireless internet (WiFi) network to access the popular Skype voice-over-internet (VoIP) service. VoIP uses the internet infrastructure to send voice signals that can be received by another VoIP user or transferred to a phone network, including long distance. Skype users calling other Skype accounts pay no fee, and those calling a phone line pay substantially less than they would otherwise; prices vary, but at press time a call to a landline in Egypt ranged from $0.15–0.185 (LE 0.86–1.06) per minute, and a call to Europe or the USA can be as low as $0.021 (LE 0.12) per minute. Unfortunately, the Skype phone doesn’t support any VoIP services other than Skype, and requires users to set up a local WiFi network.

The Netgear Skype phone won Popular Mechanics magazine’s “Breakthrough Award 2006.” Similar products have since popped up in those markets, and we’re looking forward to seeing dual phones — which act as standard GSM cell phone as well as a WiFi VoIP phone — when they finally come to Egypt.

At press time, the Skype phone was scheduled for a late November Egyptian release at an estimated retail price of around LE 1,800.

Rattle Them Windows

So you finally want to dump that hand-cranked boom box with the coat-hanger antenna and speakers that sound like a pubescent boy, but what will you put in its place? If you really want to put the neighbors to shame — or make them move to a quieter neighborhood — consider setting up a full-component system. An amplifier and a set of decent speakers can make a big difference in sound quality when compared to a boom box or mini-component system, and it’s less complicated than you might think.

A full-component system has a minimum of three parts: the input device (such as a CD player and radio), the amp and the speakers. Most amps support at least three different inputs, so you can switch easily between your satellite receiver, CD player and VCR, for instance.

The amplifier is the heart of any powered speaker system. It boosts the audio signal — or “amplifies” it, as the kids say these days — and redirects it to the speakers. An amp with greater power (measured in watts) will send a stronger signal to the speakers, resulting in louder and higher quality sound. Many amps also include bass and treble dials, or you can purchase a separate mixer or audio equalizer for more precise control.

The combined wattage for all the speakers in a sound system should match the wattage of the amplifier — that is, if you have five 100-watt speakers and a 150-watt subwoofer, or low-frequency speaker, your amp should put out around 650 watts. An imbalance in amp output and speaker capacity could mean a nice speaker performs sub-par or, much worse, blows out. A system running between 500 and 800 watts is ideal for a home theater system — anything more and your neighbors may put a price on your head.

In addition to wattage capacity, speaker quality is determined by the range of frequencies they can produce. A good woofer will drop down to a frequency of 40 Hz and may extend to several thousand, while a decent tweeter (for high-frequency sound) should reach the limit of the human ear’s perception at around 20 kHz. Different kinds of speakers are called drivers, and many speaker enclosures include multiple drivers to cover as wide a range as possible. Two nice speakers at the front corners of the room can deliver good quality sound, but for the best experience you’ll want to also place another in the front center and two at the rear of the room, and include a subwoofer in the mix to create a surround-sound system. This is a 5.1-surround sound system: five speakers and a subwoofer; other configurations (4.1, 6.1) are also possible depending on the amp’s capabilities, but all configurations are designed to create a more immersive sound environment. Each speaker should be placed at the same height as the listeners’ ears, and the sub should be placed on uncarpetted floor for the fullest sound. et et