Entries from July 2005

Things that are currently making an oppressively hot, smoggy summer sparkle like a shiny new dime:

• Indulgiung in smooth, highly caffeinated cups of Café Francese at Sicilian Ice Cream with the latest issue of The Economist
• Getting a chance to spend a week hanging out with some hometown homies in town on vacation
• Oodles of free live tuneage, including The Most Serene Republic doing an in-store at Soundscapes on College street, Canada Day celebrations with The Apostles of Hustle and Feist, and Out Hud and The Quantic Soul Orchestra as part of the Beats, Breaks, & Culture festival
• Living less than 50 feet away from High Park, where there’s tennis to be played, trails to explore, pools to swim in, and Shakespeare to be spectated
• Being pleasantly busy without feeling that sense of panic that usually accompanies lots of work (though I still need to find a good café with free wifi - anyone?)
• Gallivanting about with Renée like madcap beatniks without a care in the world
• Getting to see David Sedaris do a public reading (he’s just as funny in person)
• The tickle of a cool breeze on a hot, sweaty day that makes your whole body shiver deliciously
• Not having much of a plan for the summer, and being completely and utterly pleased with that state of affairs

Finally, after wrasslin’ with a bushel of system and OS issues, I’ve built a G5-optimized version of the official Firefox 1.0.4 release. Of course, the Firefox 1.0.5 release is just around the corner, but this should hold everyone running my earlier optimized release builds over until that (and the Firefox 1.1 release) is available.

I don’t have a full changelog here from the last optimized release build I made available (Firefox 1.0.2), but if I remember correctly there are security fixes, DHTML fixes, and a bunch of other small bugs squashed that should make everyone jump for nerdy, geeky joy.

Now that I seem to have the issues with my iMac all worked out, you can expect optimized versions of future Firefox releases, barring any unexpected meltdowns.

Note: I built this on Mac OS X 10.4 and haven’t tested it under Mac OS X 10.3, but it should run with no problems on Panther. As usual, I have not built support for any version of the OS earlier than 10.3, as it’s quite silly to be running 10.2 or earlier on a G5 system, innit?

Without further ado: Download the G5-optimized Firefox 1.0.4 release (disabled) A newer version than this is now available.

As usual, please post your thoughts, comments, and feedback on how it’s working for you in the comments. Please keep in mind that this is not a support forum for Firefox issues. That would be over here. So don’t be pissed if no one responds to questions not specifically related to this build.

07/09 update: Wow - over 4000 downloads in the past 36 hours. Here’s something interesting - the Firefox 1.0.4 file is around 10mbs. So that means over 40 gigabytes of transfer in 36 hours. The file is hosted via Apple’s dotMac service, which I believe normally limits file transfers to 3G a month. You go, dotMac!

If the link goes down, please post in the comments and I’ll make it available from another location.

Update (July 20): I have created a special BeatnikPad Mozilla / Firefox feed for those of you who are interested in just Firefox and other Mozilla-related updates. See how much I care?

For those of you who want the full BeatnikPad feed (which includes Firefox updates) you can use this feed instead. Enjoy!

Subscribe to the Firefox / Mozilla feed

Sickened and pissed off would probably be the best summary of how I’ve been feeling today. The saddest thing is that none of this is surprising any more. That still doesn’t make it any less insane or devastating.

• Comprehensive Wikipedia entry on the bombings
• The London Metroblog
• BBC in-depth coverage of the bombings
• The Guardian newsblog has good information
• Flickr bomb blast photo pool
• WSJ: Bloggers and Photographers Chronicle Chaos in London

Well, that was quick. Just a week after I finally got a G5-optimized build of the Firefox 1.0.4 release posted comes the release of Firefox 1.0.5. This will (hopefully) be the last official release from the Mozilla kith & kin before Firefox 1.1 makes an appearance “at the end of the summer” (says Firefox dude Asa Dotzler).

This also means that I can stop posting these Firefox updates and get back to posting about the quality of my boxer shorts, the cut of my jib, and other fascinating topics.

» G5-optimized Firefox 1.0.5 released continues...

1. That scouring the city for an air conditioner would make me very grumpy.
2. That getting the last window air conditioner available at Costco would almost precipitate a fist fight with a large, very sweaty and hairy man.
3. That attempting to install a window air conditioner in +34° temperatures (+42° with the humidity) would leave me feeling woozy and dizzy.
4. That window air conditioners often require wood shims underneath (less it fall on top of unsuspecting people below) that are very difficult to find in High Park and often mean negotiating with large, very sweaty and hairy men at lumberyards.
5. That after three hours of struggling and cursing it turns out that air conditioners cannot be installed on side slider windows.

All I can say is: crap.

GodDAMN do I feel handy - much better now than a few days ago. And in the nick of time, too - it’s a boiler room out there.

I promise to only use this power for good.

Looking for the G5-optimized nightly builds of Firefox? Head on over this way.

Well golly, it’s another Firefox release. I’ll try to keep this brief - here’s the changelog for this release:

• Restore API compatibility for extensions and web applications that did not work in Firefox 1.0.5.

This was built on Mac OS X 10.4.2 using XCode 2.1 and has not been tested on Mac OS X 10.3 but should work just fine. Mac OS X 10.2 is not supported. This is not an official build, your mileage may vary, there are no guarantees in life, etc., etc..

As always, please post any observations or major issues that you cannot reproduce using the official release in the comments.

Download the G5-optimized Firefox 1.0.6 release (disabled) A newer version than this is now available

I have created a special BeatnikPad Mozilla / Firefox feed for those of you who are interested in just Firefox and other Mozilla-related updates. See how much I care?

For those of you who want the full BeatnikPad feed (which includes Firefox updates) you can use this feed instead. Enjoy!

Subscribe to the Firefox / Mozilla feed

Dear loved one -

You may have been wondering why I have not replied to your email. Or why your phone calls to me reach no one but the cold, robotic murmurs of virtual voice messaging or a lonely-sounding girlfriend. You may have been unlucky enough to run into me on the street and thought to yourself, “Damn, that boy is not looking very good these days,” followed by “why is his face so dirty? Wait, is that supposed to be facial hair?”

No, I haven’t joined a cult, and I haven’t lost my last shred of self-dignity and taken to surfing porn sites all day whilst wearing greasy sweat pants. While I’d love to be able to say something dramatic like, “have I ever told you about how absolutely delightful Scientology is?”, the truth is much more mundane. I’m writing a book.

Yes. After months of frenzied negotiations, frantic phone calls at 3am, and long periods of self-doubt interrupted with brief moments of Rock Star: INXS to make me feel temporarily superior, I’m writing a book for O’Reilly. The contract is finally signed and all that’s left now is for me to write, write, write like my life depended on it.

I’m reminded at this point by Joe Clark’s response to my statement, “‘I’ve been offered the opportunity to write a book,” which was simply “Don’t”. Or another experienced author’s sage advice that I “stay hydrated and shower often”. Needless to say, I’ve ignored both of their advice.

Assuming I get through this process without losing my mind (or my girlfriend), I will hopefully post more information as I get closer to finishing. But for now, if you send me email or call me and I don’t reply, please don’t take it personally. I’m probably off in a damp, dark room somewhere, staring blank-eyed at my computer.

Love, Neil