Most people these days are running Windows XP, but most of them are probably not using ClearType. While using it will not make a huge improvement in font quality on a normal CRT screen, the improvement is quite dramatic on higher quality LCD's and especially on laptop screens.

Of course, big surprise, you'll have to use Internet Explorer to use it. I tried with Firefox, but it kept telling me to "turn it on" even after I checked the box that was supposed to do just that. Then I tried MSIE and gee, it worked. Go figure. Then on the next screen it installed an Active-X component, so that explained why it wouldn't have worked anyway.

Go to ClearType Tuner

I just stumbled up WatchThisNext.com from one of the many blogs I read every few days. At first it just seemed like a fun, and addictive web 2.0 web site. They show you 4 movies and you drag and drop them into one of 3 categories... and another movie appears.

It's addictive, hypnotic, whatever. I'm sure the movie site would make Joe Vitale proud. Speaking of Joe, have you read his latest bestselling book yet? It's another winner, don't miss it!

WatchThisNext.com, besides perhaps suggesting a movie you may want to see, is sort of pointless. But it's a great example of web 2.0 in use... and it may also be a money maker for the creator as every title links over to Amazon. Not that Amazon pays all that well, (though they did just increase commissions for sales of 20 or more items), but it will probably make them some decent money.

Too bad there isn't any way to save your selections... and they should probably also add a banner for NetFlix and perhaps Blockbuster to make even more money. I just wish I thought of this viral web site first.

I love Google Maps. It just keeps getting better and better. You see a very detailed street map, a satellite view and even a hybrid overlay view. Zoom in, zoom out, drag the map with your mouse, it does it all.

You know you can type in an address and view the map and directions on Google Maps, but did you also know that you can get a free Google Maps API Key and load a map to your web site or blog? Well you can, and now you can learn how to add a Google Map to any web page in just minutes.

Barbara Hardie's first 2 Alternative Connections Expos of 2006 are posted on her web site.

Sunday, January 29, 2006
Crowne Plaza Hotel
Cromwell, CT

Sunday, March 26, 2006
Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel
Marlborough, MA

For more information, including expo agendas, visit AngelConnections.com

Well it's out, and has been for a little while now... the final release of Firefox 1.5 from Mozilla.

I installed it towards the end of November and got to say that it's better then ever! If you're still using MSIE, you really need to switch. Even casual web surfers are missing out on so much. And if you're a power user such as myself, you'll never go back to MSIE once you make the switch. For security alone you'd want to switch, but there are just so many great features in the program.

If you need some help in the transition from the "dark side" of MSIE, you can check out "Firefox: How to..." The unofficial guide to Firefox. If you hurry you can buy it for just $17, but the price will be going up soon.

Besides the standard features, you can also add on extentions that increase the fuctionality of Firefox. Once you have tabbed browsing setup, you may want a quick way to navigate between tabs. I just got an extention called foXpose, which allows you to see a small screen shot of all of your tabs and jump quickly from one to another. I've seen this sort of thing for every window on a Mac, now at least you can use it for web surfing.

You can find and search all the available extentions on the Firefox Add-ons page.

Some other favorites are; BetterSearch (add screenshots to search engine results pages), Sage (RSS Feed Reader), Deskcut, Forecastfox, Tab Clicking Options, BlankLast (for tabs) and NoScript for that extra bit of security. And when you've got a good list of extentions installed, get InfoLister to keep a record of all the extentions, plugins and themes you have.

I just found a cool site and of course in light of my last post about how much I love Firefox, and their 1 year birthday, it just made sense to mention this site.

StopIE.com
Help stop Internet Explorer, the world's most popular and worst internet browser. This site tells you how and why to switch.