Niri | Blog

I use Firefox with Firebug. Love it. There’s no other combination out there right now that works as well as Firebug does for web development and HTML/CSS analysis. It’s a power house for dissecting the code and layout and nothing else compares for tweaking, or playing with, style and HTML code live. I can absolutely recommend it to anybody doing web development.

Turns out however that Firebug does not play nice with Gmail these days. I had noticed a lot of slowdowns when using my Gmail account and I thought it was somehow linked to the recent release of Google Buzz, but I was wrong. The culprit was the one and only Firebug! (Did you click the link already. It’s not like I’m dropping subtle hints here!)

Gmail to the rescue with their quick walk through on how to disable Firebug for its Gmail pages, or disable the offending services if you insist on using Firebug with Gmail.

For the best Gmail performance, we suggest disabling Firebug for www.google.com.

Windows or Linux Users

To disable Firebug:

1. Open the Firebug pane in your Gmail tab by clicking the Firebug icon.
2. Click the down arrow next to the Net tab, and select Disable monitor for mail.google.com
3. Repeat Step 2 on the Console and Script tabs.

If you’d like to keep Firebug running, you may improve Gmail performance by following these steps:

1. Click the green or red icon in the bottom right corner of the browser window to open Firebug.
2. Click the Console tab.
3. Select Options.
4. Uncheck Show XMLHttpRequests.
5. Click the Net tab.
6. Select Options.
7. Check Disable Network Monitoring.

Mac Users

To disable Firebug:

1. Click the green or red icon in the bottom right corner of the browser window to open Firebug.
2. Click the bug icon in the top left corner of Firebug and select ‘Disable Firebug for mail.google.com.’

If disabling Firebug for Gmail doesn’t improve performance results, you may have to entirely disable Firebug.

Following these steps has made my Gmail nice and spiffy again. I won’t stop using Firebug unless a better product comes along so Gmail and Firebug will just have to learn to live together. For now the sandbox has been divided until these two can learn to play nice together.

I give you – the i.Saw! The world’s first USB-powered chainsaw.

Oh yes. A real, fully functional, USB-powered chainsaw. Be sure to watch the demonstration video. I think the most disturbing portion is probably this section of the website:

Operating Environment
Home and office use
(Standard precautions apply)

How is this a good product? What exactly are you cutting that is within a USB cable’s length of a computer?!

UPDATE — As it turns out the i.Saw is of course not real. It’s a prank, a hoax, but a clever one with a purpose. If you pre-order the i.Saw you’ll receive this e-mail:

Hello.

We love that you liked the i.Saw enough to pre-order.

Truth is, you already own a chainsaw. Your keyboard.

Help save more trees by cutting down on unnecessary printing. Download PaperCut, a free application that plays the sound of a chainsaw each time you press Ctrl-P.

Available for Mac and PC.

Thanks for the support. Help spread the buzz, if you will :)

PaperCut Team
(formerly known as i.Saw Team)

[i.Saw - The World's First USB-powered Chainsaw]

There are not many things in this world cooler than lasers. I mean c’mon. Laser portraits man! Only to be beat by sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads! [We Have Lasers!!!!!!!!!!]

I’ve been following this guy Tyler for a while over at 334 pounds. Tyler started his blog to track his weight loss, like an interactive journal. What a great use for a blog. He just made is 100lb mark so I wanted to congratulate him for doing what I have not been able to yet which is to find a weight loss system I can stick to and have consistent results.

So Tyler’s overall goal is to lose 150 pounds by the end of 2009. At this rate he’ll obviously make that happen but that’s probably when the real challenge starts; keeping it off. Our society is designed for you to become a big, fat slob – sitting on your ass in the car, at your computer, on the coach, at work and so on. It’s really easy to gain the weight and that much harder to lose it. Keep up the great work Tyler! [334pounds.com]

1. Your family photos are accompanied by text ads for skin care and diet plans.
2. Removes all Falun Gong references from your files.
3. Every month, the hard drive is automatically defragged and investigated for anti-trust violations.
4. Invests in, develops, acquires, and abandons your best ideas.
5. Integrated tax preparation software includes “I’m Feeling Lucky” deductible button.
6. Changes your icons daily, forcing you to look up which obscure scientific figure is having a birthday.
7. Spends 20% of its time on tasks not related to work.
8. Prevents all evil activity unless it is deemed to be for the good of the shareholders.
9. Masseuse comes by every Monday afternoon.
10. Constant crashes won’t bother anybody as long as it’s labeled “Beta”.
11. “Beta” status won’t expire until 2038.

These are of course all jokes so don’t get all offended and angry, oh wait that’s Apple fans – nevermind! :) [woot!]

Not sure if this is real or Photoshopped but it sure looks awesome. Some sort of scooter contraption and I’m guessing it comes without seat belts. Notice the front wheel on the cart is flat and it looks like the scooter is on the kickstand. [KK via Makezine]

theWPresser has a great article highlighting 10 really useful plugins for your WordPress blog that addresses some of the common quirks (read: headaches) with WordPress.

If you’re currently developing a blog or you’re on the lookout for useful functions to add to your shiny blog I recommend reading it.

[link]