Top 10 Browsers To Explore The World Wide Web

The World Wide Web has made world a global village and to access this village, it is obvious that you will need a doorway. Finding the doorway to enter the global village is not a tough job. Different internet browsers are there to provide you the access to the World Wide Web. It is true, all the browsers are meant for same purposes, yet each of them has got something special. For a complete browsing experience, you need to glance through these features. If you do that, it will be a simple task for you to access the web for news, shopping, entertainment or communication. Whether you use the Internet Explorer or Apple Safari or the Google Chrome, you have a secure browsing platform. However, it is good to understand the basic features that make them stand apart. If you can understand these distinct features, you can upgrade your system accordingly.




1. Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox, the free web browser developed by Mozilla Corporation is popular among web users for its great features. The latest version of Mozilla Firefox, i.e. Firefox version 4, supports features like spell checking, tabbed browsing, live bookmarking, incremental field, location aware browsing and many other. To support web developers, this open source browser offers a complete environment for their built-in tools.


2. Internet Explorer

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer supports different computer languages like CSS Level 1, HTML 4.01, DOM Level 1 and XML 1.0. Officials stated, Internet Explorer 9, which is yet to be released, will support XHTML and SVG to offer a different browsing experience altogether.




3. Google Chrome

Google Chrome, designed and developed by Google is dedicated to provide faster browsing experience than its competitors. The very first version of Chrome has passed Acid Test 1 and Acid Test 2. Version 4 of this browser has also passed the Acid Test 3. The security features of this browser are really commendable and warns user about every possible threat that there is.



4. Apple Safari

The graphical web browser, Apple Safari was initially designed for Mac OS X. Yet, later it was developed for Microsoft operating systems too. Both Windows and Mac users can access all the basic features of Safari, but Mac OS X users will also be able to save clips of any webpage and view them on Apple Dashboard.


5. Opera

Designed by Opera Software, internet suite and internet browser, Opera supports security features like malware protection, built-in phishing and strong encryption while browsing. It can also delete HTTP cookies and private data at ease. Opera, which is known to be the fastest browser, has introduced different features that other internet browsers adopted much later.


6. Maxthon

China based web browser compatible with Microsoft Windows, Maxthon is known for its user interface that can be classified in different ways. AD Hunter, the ad blocking feature of this browser, blocks all floating advertisements and web banners that affect your browsing speed.


7. Flock

If you are looking for a browser that can provide complete support for Web 2.0 features and social networking facilities, Flock is for you. Flock, which is available for free download, is compatible with different operating systems like Linux, Mac OS X, Free BSD as well as Microsoft Windows.


8. Phase Out

Phase Out is the best browser for someone who wants to explore the outer space. This browser is also recommended for the online gamers as this browser offers brilliant graphical display. Apart from this, Phase Out also offers other mainstream features that are needed for web browsing.


9. Deepnet Explorer

Deepnet Explorer claims to provide high security level than the other popular browsers including Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. It is the first browser to support features like phishing alarm, P2P client integration and RSS news reader. The browser, which provides high security and brilliant usability, is compatible with Windows operating system only.


10. Avant

Known to be an extremely user-friendly browser, Avant supports features like mouse gesture, anti-freezing, flash filter and multi processing way better than popular web browser, Internet Explorer. Users will not have to experience any malware or adware problems in this browser. Yet, it is only compatible with Microsoft Windows.


source

Read more »

Old Photos Of The First Generation Of Computers

Computers, and technology in general, have come a long way in today’s world. The modern world is actually shaped and defined through the usage of computers, those neat little gadgets that do the hard work for you. Modern computers are also perfectly capable of entertaining, organizing, reminding, even surprising you. That wasn’t always the case. Here is glimpse of the history of computers and their humble beginnings. These computers may not have been as powerful as modern computers, but they’re old black and white photos are intriguing nevertheless. If for no other reason, then because those old computers were capable of filling a whole room with their robust circuitry. Enjoy these old photos of the first generation of computers.

1. AVIDAC, Argonne’s first digital computer, began operation in January 1953. It was built by the Physics Division for $250,000. Pictured is pioneer Argonne computer scientist Jean F. Hall.

2. A press conference for what is considered the first computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC), was held at the University of Pennsylvania on February 1, 1946. The machine (shown here with a technician) took up an entire room, weighed 30 tons and used more than 18,000 vacuum tubes to perform functions such as counting to 5,000 in one second. ENIAC, costing $450,000, was designed by the U.S. Army during World War II to make artillery calculations. The development of ENIAC paved the way for modern computer technology–but even today’s average calculator possesses more computing power than ENIAC did.

3. The first ever computer in Latvia was developed and made at the start-up Institute of Electronics and Computer Science in early sixties. No computers were made industrially in USSR at that time. Therefore successful completion of that project certainly represented a significant achievement. Built on a lot of vacuum tubes, the computer actually worked well and was used for supporting research activities for several years till the time when it became possible to replace it by a more powerful industrially made computer.

4. The CSIRAC was Australia’s first computer. The name stands for CSIR originally stood for “Council for Scientific and Industrial Research”. This name was in effect from 1926 to 1949.

5. A man and woman working at a Ferranti Pegasus computer. This computer was a classic 1950s/1960s mainframe installation, taking up the majority of space in a room.

6. The computer history at NTNU is much older than the computer departments. The very first computer at NTNU was called DIANA, or DIfferential ANAlysator. This was an analog electronic computer built by Jens Glad Balchen and the Division of Cybernetics in the years between 1952 and 1955.

source

Read more »

10 Largest Known Stars of the Universe

The study of the vast and enigmatic universe, the phenomena at work within it and the unfathomably large heavenly bodies that it encompasses makes one feel so tiny, so insignificant. We are mere specks compared to the size of our planet which is only a fraction of the size of the Sun. But there are stars out there that make even our Sun look like an insignificant fleck.
So here we have compiled a list of some of the largest known stars of the universe. The size of each star has been mentioned in solar radii, where one solar radius (1 R_☉) is equal to the radius of the Sun.


VY Canis Majoris

Part of the Canis Major constellation, this hypergiant star (one with great mass and luminosity) is the largest known star yet, with a radius between 1,800-2,100 solar radii (2.7 billion kilometers approximately), which means it can encompass 900-1,050 Suns in a straight line from center to circumference! It is situated 4,900 light years from the Earth.


VV Cephei A

This red hypergiant is the primary star of the VV Cephei eclipsing binary star system (a pair of stars orbiting around their mean center of mass, where the plane of orbit coincides with the line of sight of the observer), located in the constellation Cepheus 2,400 light years away from the Earth and has a radius of 1,600-1,900 solar radii.


V838 Monocerotis

Located in the constellation Monoceros 20,000 light years away from our Sun, this red variable star has a radius of 1,570 ± 400 solar radii – nearly equal to Jupiter’s orbital radius


WOH G64

WHO G64 is a red supergiant located in the LMC (Large Magellanic Cloud) galaxy roughly 160,000 light years away from the Milky Way. It has a radius approximately 1,540 times that of the Sun.


V354 Cephei

The pulsating/irregular variable star, V354 Cephei, is a red supergiant with a radius of 1,520 solar radii. It is situated around 9,000 light years away from the Sun in the Cepheus constellation of the Milky Way.


RW Cephei

Another irregular variable star from the Cepheus constellation, RW Cephei has a radius between 1,260 and 1,610 solar radii. It is located at a distance of 11,500 light years away from the Sun.


KW Sagitarii

KW Sagitarii is located 10,000 light years away from the Sun in the Sagittarius constellation and has a radius equal to 1,460 solar radii. The supergiant is as bright as 360,000 Suns!


KY Cygni

This red supergiant has an estimated radius between 1,420 and 2,850 solar radii. It is located 5,000 light years away from our Sun in the Cygnus constellation.


Mu Cephei (μ Cephei)

At 1,420 solar radii, the red supergiant Mu Cephei or Herchel’s Garnet Star is one of largest stars visible to the naked eye. It is located in the Cephius constellation in the Milky Way.


Betelgeuse

This semiregular variable star, in addition to being one of the largest known stars, is the brightest one in the Orion constellation. The red supergiant has a radius equal to that of 950-1000 Suns and is located 643 ± 146 light years away

source

Read more »