What's to come with Firefox 2.0

As a true goober, or professional geek, I try to check out everything I can before my users start asking me questions about it. This includes everything from new platforms like Apple's Intel platform and AMD's new AM2 platform, all the way through to new software. Today, I'm looking at a preview of Mozilla's Firefox 2.0, currently known as Bon Echo.

One of the most handy things that this release will eventually bring us is "Text Field Spell Checking." While most people are thinking "Why do you need spell checking in a web browser?", I personally can attest to it's helpfulness in posting things like blog entries and forums posts. While my grammar may still be a little sub-par, at least I know my spelling will be good without cutting and pasting into TextEdit first.

Other big additions to the Firefox realm are an improved search field and a couple of security features. Soon Firefox will compare the URL address of a website to a list maintained by Google to help prevent phishing. Also, by using McAfee's SiteAdvisor, we can see if a website is known to sell out your email address to spammers and the like.

All in all, this release of Bon Echo is very stable, and has enough enhancements for me to finally drop Safari as my browser of choice for Mac OS. I will also be using it exclusively on my Windows machines, and I can only hope for the speed enhancements to follow over. All ready in development is Firefox 3.0, known currently as Minefield. I have used it, however without Universal support for Mac OS X, usage was just painfully slow. Once Firefox 2 is out, I'll start playing with that one more.

Boone Night Sky

One of the things that us techy guys seem to love is electricity. This shot shows nature's most impressive electrical shot in the form of a burst of lightning. I took this shot with a fairly old Sony digital camera, and yes, with a new SLR I would've gotten much better results.

There are two important factors to catching a shot like this on your own: a long shutter speed and patience. I personally took about 30 different shots before I nailed this one, each taking 8 seconds of capture. There can be no movement while the shutter is open, so I had the camera setup on a window sill to keep it still.

With a decent camera you can have a lot of fun trying to catch nature in the act. If you are going to be shopping for a new camera any time soon, remember that most of us have no need for more than about 5 megapixels. This camera was actually a 3 megapixel model, which has always had enough quality for me. Of course, I don't print images out very often, but a 4"x6" printout would probably look great. For 8"x10" prints, you will need atleast 8 megapixels.

The Best Buy

Back when I was a young teenager, I used to run for the Sunday paper and check out all of the electronics stores' latest offerings. I knew back then that I would never buy a pre-packaged computer, but I still used the ads as a standard for what a machine should cost. When I went to pick up my first tower, custom built for me by a local shop, I was fairly shocked by what I got for the money. Needless to say, I felt a bit cheated until I needed some help. You do pay a little extra for local support, but I know it was totally worth it for me. The best part was that with just a couple hundred dollars per year, I never had to buy a whole new package ever again.

Fast forward to today. I opened up the Best Buy catalog the other day and was kinda surprised at what I saw. Having been bombarded by Dell's recent $299 deals, I expected the outlet guys to keep up. Their lowest-priced offering was an eMachine at $379. That package doesn't even include all the handy upgrades that Dell throws at you for free, like the flat-panel upgrade and free printer. So the question of today is "What's the Catch?"

The catch is what's under the hood of these packages. Dell buys such a large amount of product that they have to clear house at the end of every quarter to keep the stock holders happy. In fact, the spring is always the best time to buy a cheap computer, as this is always the slowest time of the year. This year this rule applies double.

Next year, Microsoft will release Windows Vista. If you haven't heard about it, it's a revolutionary leap some five years in the making from Windows XP. I have personally used some pre-release versions of Vista, and it was a little painful to see a $3,000 machine slow to a crawl. In fact, a recent study showed that as many as half of the machines in circulation today will not even meet the minimum requirements for Vista, much like the $299 Dell. Luckily, I'm here to tell you what not to waste your money on this year.

Budget machines come in a variety of flavors, but for most manufacturers this means cutting back on parts as much as possible to maximize profit. Integrated graphics save at least $50 per machine, and this is the first thing to watch out for. Microsoft's new Windows will need a dedicated graphics card with some pretty serious horsepower. While you don't need one now, you do want to make sure you have a PCI-Express x16 slot for expansion when you get into Vista.

Second up is 64-bit computing. Right now it seems a little silly to need 64-bit computing, and, in fact, it is. Vista changes everything, though, and 4GB of memory will fill up quickly. Today's machines should all have 1024MB of memory, but for true Vista readiness, look for 2048MB. Also make sure that your processor is 64-bit, like AMD's offerings or select intel processors, so that when Vista comes, you'll be ready to go.

Lastly is the advent of "Dual-Core" processors. For the most part, the difference between processors in the same series is minimal, with only those that really want the best of the best paying out for the top of the line. With Dual-Core processors, like the Athlon X2 or Pentium-D, there is a huge jump from their single-core counterparts. Vista will be designed to utilize these even better, with advancements to DirectX and the like. I highly recommend paying out a bit now to get one of these. Windows XP will have a nice speedup, as well.

While there is so much more out there to touch on about buying a machine, the main point is that the cheapest thing just won't cut it this year. The security enhancements and user interface with Vista will make it worth having, so don't get something now that won't run it.