By Angela Hey
About this blog: I write about technology companies, trends and events in and around Mountain View. Where else can you find startups nurtured by
Y-Combinator and
(More)About this blog: I write about technology companies, trends and events in and around Mountain View. Where else can you find startups nurtured by
Y-Combinator and
500 Startups working alongside multi-billion corporations like
Google,
Symantec and
Intuit? I like to write about software and systems that are changing lifestyles. Innovations like self-driving cars, on-demand limousine services and electric bikes are revolutionizing transportation. Smartphones help people find their way, manage their health and make new friends. In my articles, I like to include something for Mountain View residents, something for industry professionals and something for venture investors. I'm particularly interested in mobile apps and cloud computing. I came to California to find software applications for AT&T. I've worked in startups, advised venture capitalists and analyzed enterprise software markets. After getting a PhD at the University of London in engineering, I joined Bell Laboratories, analyzing over 400 telephone company systems. I also have an MMath degree in optimization from the University of Waterloo in Canada, and an MA in mathematics from the University of Cambridge. My husband John Mashey, is a computer scientist and trustee of the Computer History Museum. He also defends climate scientists by blogging.
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Check out Opera - it's becoming my favorite browser. Has your default browser changed in the last 6 months? Mine is still Firefox - but Opera is good for many sites - I wish more programmers would recognize it when they write code!
Here's how I use browsers on my PC with Vista:
1. Internet Explorer - this is my workhorse for complex or risky pages, but the security makes it fail to read good pages often
2. Firefox - used to be my favorite - and still is my default browser where I need rich functionality on complex pages, but it's a bit slow because I use add-ons
3. Opera - this is my latest and favorite browser - it has all of the features I use in Google Chrome and is much more robust - it's on release 9. It's faster than Firefox or IE - so I have that open in a window for quick research and rapid news scanning. I like the way you can type a search term into the URL field - as you can in Chrome. I like the default page with miniatures of my favorite pages.
4. Safari - I tried this and it's about the same speed as Opera - I use it on my Mac and iPhone as the default browser - it reads most pages - but it's not compelling.
5. Google Chrome - is a work in progress and lacks features. I understand simplicity, but it's just too minimal. I had to add a "send link in the mail" script -I can't believe that this is still not a standard feature. I hate using the email buttons on pages as they don't have names from my address book pre-loaded. So I always send the link in a browser - sometimes running it through a program that shortens the link.
Someone asked me if the browsers interfere with each other - the general answer is no. However, if you have too many windows open and a lousy graphics system then the system may freeze until you close a window. Another situation can arise where two browsers want to use the same file and it's locked - but that's a very, very rare event - it's only happened to me once.
