Backup Your Mozilla-Based Software with MozBackup

Backup Your Mozilla-Based Software with MozBackup:
Have a great setup for your Firefox browser or other Mozilla Code-Based software and need to back it up? Now you can do so quickly and easily with MozBackup.

MozBackup is compatible with Firefox (1.0 – 3.5), Thunderbird (1.0 – 3.0 Beta 2), Sunbird (0.3 – 0.9), Flock (1.0 – 2.0), SeaMonkey (1.0a – 2.0 Alpha 3), Mozilla Suite (1.7 – 1.7.x), Spicebird (0.4 – 0.8), Songbird (1.0), Netscape (7.x, 9.x), and Portable Firefox.

Note: MozBackup does not currently support Linux or Mac.

Setup & Pre-Backup

The install process for MozBackup is quick and simple with a total of four screens to go through. The second screen is of interest…notice that the software is provided “as-is”.



Once you have finished the installation, it is time to backup your Mozilla software of choice. For our example, we are backing up a default install of Firefox. Here you can see the browser pre-backup (36 extensions, 3 themes, and 3 user styles for the Stylish extension).



Backing Up a Profile

When you are ready to backup your Mozilla software and have started MozBackup, this is the first screen that you will see. Click “Next”.



In the second window, you will be asked to choose between “Backup a profile” or “Restore a profile”. You will also need to select the particular software that you would like to backup. For our example we are backing up the profile for Mozilla Firefox 3.5 (en-GB). Click “Next” when you are finished.



In the third screen you will be asked to choose the profile that you want to backup and where to save the backup file to. Since we are backing up a default install, we have chosen “default”. Notice that there is a selection button for Portables (lovely!).

For the file name, we decided to keep it simple and short (just the software name and date). The save location chosen was the Desktop to make the backup file easy to find afterwards. Click “Next”.



Once you have clicked “Next”, you will be given the option to password protect the backup file. Choose the option that best suits your needs. For our example, we chose not to password protect the file. Afterwards, click “Next”.



For those of you who desire to password protect your backup file, here is the window that you will see. You will need to enter and then confirm the password you have chosen. Click “OK” when you are finished.



In the fourth window, you have the option to choose the parts of the Mozilla profile that you would like to have backed up. Simply click to select or deselect a particular option. Notice the button that says “Unknown files” near the bottom. This is worth a quick look if you would like to fine-tune your backup even more.

Click “Next” when you are finished selecting all of the options that you want (in just the one or both windows).

Note: Even though themes are not listed here, they are also backed up with your profile. Also, all items in the Components Selection window and Unknown Files window are selected by default.



If you click on the “Unknown files” button, you will see the following window providing you more choices on what you would like to have backed up (wonderful!). Click to select or deselect options. Click “OK” when you are finished.



Once you have clicked “Next” for the fourth window (shown above), MozBackup begins creating your new backup file. Here you can see MozBackup working…



Once MozBackup has finished, you will see this window displaying a list of what has been included in the backup file.



Restoring a Profile

Time to restore your profile! For our example we are going to restore the profile to a portable version of Firefox. Once you have started MozBackup, here is the first window that you will see. Click “Next”.

Note: If you have a fresh install of Portable Firefox, you need to run it one time to create a default profile section in your portable.



In the second window, you will once again need to choose between “Backup a profile” or “Restore a profile” and the Mozilla software that you want to install the profile backup to. For our example, we have chosen “Restore a profile” and Mozilla Firefox 3.5 (en-GB). Click “Next”.



In the third window, you will need to browse for the backup file that you created earlier (recommended to do this first), then choose the profile that you would like to restore to. Since we are restoring to a portable version in our example, we clicked the “Portable” button.



Clicking on the “Portable” button opens up a browsing window for locating a portable browser’s profile folder. In our example the portable’s home folder name was “Mobile Fox” (Mobile Fox –> Data –> profile). Click “OK”.



Once you have located the profile folder you are restoring to, you can see that “Portable profile” now appears in the list. Select the appropriate profile associated with your backup restoration. Click “Next”



In the fourth window, you once again get to choose the items that you want to restore along with the options presented in the Unknown Files window. This is a nice option to have if you have changed your mind about something and do not want to restore that particular “set of items”.

Once you have made your selections, click “Next”.

Note: All items in the Components Selection window and Unknown Files window are selected by default.



Choose the extra files that you do or do not want to have restored and click “OK”…



After you have clicked “Next” on the fourth window, you will see this message asking you if you are certain if you want to overwrite the profile folder that you have selected earlier. Once you click “Yes” the restore process will begin immediately.



Here you can see MozBackup restoring the profile in our example. The restore process seems to go much quicker than the backup process…



Once MozBackup has finished restoring the profile, you will see this window providing a list of the items that it has restored.



Attack of the Clones

Here is our default install of Firefox alongside the new portable version. Which one is which?!



Conclusion

MozBackup can be a life saver if you find yourself needing a quick profile backup to take with you somewhere. It can also be wonderful if you have to do a system reinstall…nothing quite like getting your favorite Mozilla software set back up in record time!

Links

Download MozBackup (version 1.4.9)

MozBackup Homepage

Report: Missing iPhone Prototype Pressured Chinese Worker to Commit Suicide

Report: Missing iPhone Prototype Pressured Chinese Worker to Commit Suicide:


Updated 11:50 a.m. PDT: Apple has confirmed the Foxconn employee’s death.

We’ve heard plenty of stories about Apple employees getting fired for leaking secrets, but imagine how much pressure is on the company’s partners to keep products hush hush. A Chinese publication reports that a 25-year-old employee of Foxconn, who manufactures Apple’s iPhones in Taiwan, committed suicide after losing a prototype of the fourth-generation iPhone.

Foxconn worker Sun Danyong was handling a shipment of 16 iPhone prototypes, and one of them went missing, according to ND Daily [Google translation]. Then, Foxconn unleashed its central security division to investigate Sun. Unable to take the “unbearable interrogation techniques,” Sun jumped from a 12-story building on July 16, according to the report.

Foxconn has issued a statement [Google translation] apologizing for the incident. The letter admits that the chief of Foxconn’s central security division, surnamed Gu, may have used “inappropriate interrogation methods,” including possible beatings, searching Sun’s house and holding Sun in solitary confinement. Gu is on suspension and under internal investigation, according to Foxconn.

In a statement provided to CNET, Apple confirmed Sun’s death.

“We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death,” an Apple spokeswoman said. “We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect.”

Apple is infamous for operating with a level of secrecy comparable to the Central Intelligence Agency. However, as Apple’s product line expands and accrues more partners, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the corporation to guard its secrets. In the case of Foxconn, it’s clear why the company would exert so much pressure on its employees to protect Apple’s secrets: The manufacturer would not wish to lose this valuable partnership.

Foxconn employee committed suicide over iPhone leak interrogations? [Shanghaiist]

See Also:

• After a Decade of Secrecy, Apple Reluctantly Tries Out …


• Apple Kills Think Secret: Publisher Nick Ciarelli Talks …


• How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong

Photo: MacRonin47/Flickr

Why 2010 Will Be the Year of the Tablet

Why 2010 Will Be the Year of the Tablet: "

After years of enticing rumors, ambitious prognostications and flat-out blather, 2010 may finally be the year that the tablet PC evolves from being a niche device to becoming a mainstream portable computer.

The tipping point comes via word to Wired.com from a well-connected industry executive that mainstream heavyweights Dell and Intel are collaborating on a touchscreen tablet due for release next year. Though our source has learned little about specifications of the device, what’s apparent is that the tablet will serve as a subscription-based e-reader for displaying newspapers, magazines and other media, giving Amazon’s Kindle — particularly, the nearly $500 large-format DX model — a run for its money.

As notable as the format is the business model: The tablet will be free for consumers who opt into a contract subscribing to one or more digital media subscriptions, according to our source. That’s similar to how telecom companies currently subsidize cellphones when customers agree to two-year contracts.

Our source, who requested to remain anonymous due to a non-disclosure agreement, said the companies are aiming to launch this product in about six months.

Dell and Intel are just the latest examples of a growing trend. MKM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen said he, too, has heard rumors about not just Dell, but also handset makers Nokia and HTC delivering tablets by end of first quarter 2010. Nearly everyone has now confidently reported that Apple is launching a tablet by early next year. Singapore start-up Fusion Garage and TechCrunch are rushing to release the CrunchPad touchscreen tablet by this November.

Market research firm Display Search now projects the touchscreen market will triple in the next few years, from $3.6 billion to $9 billion.

“The iPhone was a big catalyst for the whole touchscreen industry, even if it’s just from a 3.5-inch mobile phone,” said Jennifer Halgrove, an analyst and director of display technologies with Display Search. “It encouraged people’s imaginations, and now companies are saying, ‘Oh, I can make a bigger one, and I can also have this user friendly interface.’ That really opened this industry.”



The idea of the tablet computer is nothing new to the tech industry. The development of tablet PCs can be traced as far back as 1888, when the United States Patent office granted a patent to electrical engineer Elisha Gray for an electrical-stylus device for capturing handwriting. In more recent years, plenty of hardware companies, such as Hewlett-Packard and Acer, have presented tablets that have only succeeded to fulfill a niche. Controlled with a stylus on a touch-sensitive “digitizer” screen, tablet PCs have traditionally been tailored toward artists and designers, failing to break into the mainstream.

But in recent years, costs of touchscreen components and software have been declining, and new types of touchscreens are emerging in the display market, Colegrove said. After stylus-controlled digitizer touchscreens came resistive touchscreens, which were very cheap to produce but suffered from low durability and poor transmittance. Then, a newer technology called capacitive touch became available, in which electrodes sense a user’s fingers on the X and Y axes, negating the need for a stylus.

In 2007, Apple featured capacitive touch technology (which it marketed with the more friendly term “multitouch”) in its iPhone and iPod Touch, which have sold 40 million units worldwide to date. Clearly, there is a mainstream audience for these keyboard-less computers, and Apple opened the doors with a superior user interface.

“The touch-based user interface is something we got from the handset market,” Kuittinen said. “And now that you have this innovation, it’s easier to go back to the tablet concept, and say, ‘Wait a minute, let’s add this.’ All of a sudden the device is a lot more appealing and sexier, especially since you have multitouch.”

A $0.00, media-centric tablet from Dell and Intel would certainly be competitive against Amazon’s Kindle in terms of price. Who would buy an Amazon Kindle reader if a free tablet were made available? The Kindle 2 costs $300, and the large-format Kindle DX runs for $490 — and even after purchasing a Kindle, consumers must still pay for content.

At Amazon’s Kindle DX launch event in May, The New York Times teased the idea of subsidizing longer term subscription commitments, but only in areas where “home delivery is not available.” Still, no such subsidy model has yet come into fruition for Amazon’s Kindles.

The idea of opting into a contract might initially sound like a turn-off, but Kuittinen told Wired.com that for cellphones, carrier-subsidy has been an extremely successful method to reel in customers. He said he would expect similar results with a subsidized tablet.

Kuittinen added that he has heard the Dell tablet would measure 5 inches — slightly larger than an iPhone but smaller than a Kindle. However, he said he is skeptical about Intel’s involvement with the product. Given the nature of the company, Intel would provide the guts of the device — perhaps a low-powered processor such as the Atom, which is currently used in netbooks. Kuittinen said this processor is not adequately energy-efficient to power a tablet PC compared to the ARM-based chips used in iPhones and devices running Google Android.

“There’s really no other viable alternative,” he said. “Android has such a strong moment right now. It’s going to be so much easier to develop for it.”

The low cost of Intel’s Atom chips would help keep the a rumored device’s overall price down in order to make subsidy not too hefty for content providers involved. But the software would be the key ingredient to drive the success for this device, and an Intel-based machine would either have to run a Windows or Linux-based operating system.

A tablet produced by Dell and Intel would most likely run a mobile version of Windows 7. In presentations marketing Windows 7, Microsoft has been heavily promoting the upcoming operating system’s support for multitouch. Windows 7 is slated for an October 2009 release.

The challenge for Dell and Intel is unlikely to be the creation of the product, but rather cementing negotiations with content partners. The companies will find it difficult convincing large newspaper companies to convert from being an advertisement-based business to a fee-based business. However, they might be more open to the idea if Dell and Intel keep their tablet at a low cost.

Intel and Dell declined to comment on this story.

See Also:

• Analyst Predicts Apple Will Unleash Touchscreen Tablet Next Year
  


• Rumor: $800 Apple Tablet Coming in October


• Financial Times Confirms Apple Tablet for September


• How an Apple Tablet Could Pit iTunes Against Amazon.com


• Large-Screen Kindle Won’t Mean Squat if Apple Tablet Arrives
  


• Rumor: 10-Inch Apple Tablet Landing in Early 2010


• Rumor: Mac Tablet Coming Fall 2009

A MacBook modified into a tablet: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

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Analyst Claims to Have Seen Apple Tablet

Analyst Claims to Have Seen Apple Tablet:


To dispel any disbelief in Apple’s rumored tablet, an analyst claims to have seen a prototype of the gadget in person.

The analyst, who remains anonymous in the story, told financial publication Barron’s that Apple’s tablet could be introduced in September for a November release. The source shared no details on the specifications of the device. Other publications’ sources have described Apple’s rumored tablet as a 10-inch version of the iPod Touch with multimedia specialties.

“One veteran analyst who has seen first-hand a prototype slate-style computer from Apple says the device could be announced in September for release in November,” the story reads. “Whatever the exact dates, the computer industry is so anxious to see what Apple introduces that it has held off on competing designs until Apple CEO Steve Jobs gives the device his final blessing.”

We’re skeptical about the validity of this claim. First, we question if remaining anonymous would benefit this source, because we imagine Apple doesn’t show its secret products to many analysts; thus it’d be easy to narrow down the possibilities. Second, if the analyst is going to blabber anonymously anyway, why not share additional details of the product? The only reason such a source would come forward would be with the permission of Apple to perpetuate the hype surrounding the product — which seems unnecessary considering the flood of previous reports on this rumored device (see below).

In any case, with all the rumor reports added together, an Apple tablet seems inevitable in the near future. And Wired.com has also heard that in the next year, a large number of tech companies — including Dell, Intel, HTC and Nokia — plan to compete with their own tablet PCs, too.

See Also:

• Financial Times Confirms Apple Tablet for September


• Rumor: $800 Apple Tablet Coming in October


• How an Apple Tablet Could Pit iTunes Against Amazon.com


• Analyst Predicts Apple Will Unleash Touchscreen Tablet Next Year …


• Rumor: 10-Inch Apple Tablet Landing in Early 2010


• Large-Screen Kindle Won't Mean Squat if Apple Tablet Arrives …


• Apple COO Reveals Plans for Touch Tablet — Kinda

A mocked-up illustration of an Apple tablet: Photo Giddy/Flickr

Personal Supercomputers Promise Teraflops on Your Desk

Personal Supercomputers Promise Teraflops on Your Desk:


About a year ago John Stone, a senior research programmer at the University of Illinois, and his colleagues found a way to bypass the long waits for computer time at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

Stone’s team got “personal supercomputers,” compact machines with a stack of graphics processors that together pack quite a punch and can be used to run complex simulations.

“Now instead of taking a couple of days and waiting in a queue, we can do the calculations locally,” says Stone. “We can do more and better science.”

Personal supercomputers are available in many flavors, both as clusters of CPU and graphics processing units (GPUs). But it is GPU computing that is gaining in popularity for its ability to offer researchers easy and quick access to raw computing power. That’s opening up a new market for makers of GPUs, such as Nvidia and AMD, which have traditionally focused on high-end video cards for gamers and graphics pros.

True supercomputers, the rock stars of computing, are capable of millions of calculations per second. But they can be extremely expensive — the fastest supercomputer of 2008, IBM’s RoadRunner, costs $120 million — and access to them is limited. That’s why smaller versions, no bigger than a typical desktop PC, are becoming a hit among researchers who want access to massive processing power along with the convenience of having a machine at their own desk.

“Personal supercomputers that can run off a 110 volt wall circuit allow for a significant amount of performance at a very reasonable price,” says John Fruehe, director of business development for serve and workstation at AMD. Companies such as Nvidia and AMD make the graphics chips that personal supercomputer resellers assemble into personalized configurations for customers like Stone.

Demand for these personal supercomputers grew at an average of 20 percent every year between 2003 and 2008, says research firm IDC. Since Nvidia introduced its Tesla personal supercomputer less than a year ago, the company has sold more than 5,000 machines.

“Earlier when people talked about supercomputers, they meant giant Crays and IBMs,” says Jie Wu, research manager for technical computing at IDC. “Now it is more about having smaller clusters.”

Today, most U.S. researchers at universities who need access to a supercomputer have to submit a proposal to the National Science Foundation, which funds a number of supercomputer centers. If the proposal is approved, the researcher gets access to an account for a certain number of CPU hours at one of the major supercomputing centers at the universities of San Diego, Illinois or Pittsburgh, among others.

“Its like waiting in line at the post office to send a message,” says Stone. “Now you would rather send a text message from your computer rather than wait in line at the post office to do it. That way it is much more time efficient.”

Personal supercomputers may not be as powerful as the mighty mainframes, but they are still leagues above their desktop cousins. For instance, a four-GPU Tesla personal supercomputer from Nvidia can offer 4 teraflops of parallel supercomputing performance with 960 cores and two Intel Xeon 5500 Series Nehalem processors. That’s just a fraction of the IBM RoadRunner’s 1 petaflop speed, but it’s enough for most researchers to get the job done.

For researchers, this means the ability to run calculations faster than they can with a traditional desktop PC. “Sometimes researchers have to wait for six to eight hours before they can have the results from their tests,” says Sumit Gupta, senior product manager at Nvidia. “Now the wait time for some has come down to about 20 minutes.”

It also means that research projects that typically would have never get off the ground because they are deemed too costly and too resource and time intensive now get the green light. “The cost of making a mistake is much lower and a lot less intimidating,” says Stone.

The shift away from large supercomputers to smaller versions has also made research more cost effective for organizations. Stone, who works in a group that develops software used by scientists to simulate and visualize biomolecular structures, says his lab has 19 personal supercomputers shared by 30 researchers. “If we had what we wanted, we would run everything locally because it is better,” says Stone. “But the science we do is more powerful than what we can afford.”

The personal supercomputing idea has also gained momentum thanks to the emergence of programming languages designed especially for GPU-based machines. Nvidia has been trying to educate programmers and build support for CUDA, the C language programming environment created specifically for parallel programming the company’s GPUs. Meanwhile, AMD has declared its support for OpenCL (open computing language) this year. OpenCL is an industry standard programming language. Nvidia says it also works with developers to support OpenCL.

Stone says the rise of programming environments for high performance machines have certainly made them more popular. And while portable powerhouses can do a lot, there is still place for the large mainframe supercomputers. “There are still the big tasks for which we need access to the larger supercomputers,” says Stone. “But it doesn’t have to be for every thing.”

Photo: John Stone sits next to a personal supercomputer- a quad-core Linux PC with 8GB of memory and 3 GPUs (one NVIDIA Quadro FX 5800, and two NVIDIA Tesla C1060) each with 4GB of GPU memory/ Kirby Vandivort

Toshiba Claims New 64 GB SDXC Card is Largest and Fastest

Toshiba Claims New 64 GB SDXC Card is Largest and Fastest: "

Toshiba announced Tuesday that it will offer a 64 GB SDXC memory card that it claims can beat its rivals in terms of speed of data transfer for reading and writing to the card.

The new cards can offer a maximum write speed of 35 MB per second and read speed of 60 MB per second.

The combination of large storage capacities and increased data transfer rates should help meet the needs of consumer electronics devices such as digital cameras and camcorders that require high bandwidth data communication, said Toshiba.

For example, digital SLR cameras will be able to shoot longer continuous bursts in the highest quality RAW format, with the new cards, said the company and it will also be possible to download a 2.4 GB video in 70 seconds.

At the Consumer Electronics Show this year, the SD association announced the SDXC or the Secure Digital Extended Capacity format. The new standard applies to cards with capacities more than 32 GB and up to 2 TB, compared to the SDHC standard, which applies to cards with capacities greater than 2 GB and up to 32 GB. The maximum data transfer rate for SDHC cards is 104 MB/s, with plans to increase it to 300 MB/s.

No word yet on pricing for these cards. Samples of the card will be able in November and it is likely to reach consumers early next year.

Specifications of the 64 GB SDXC card [Toshiba]

Sony to Introduce $200 E-reader

Sony to Introduce $200 E-reader: "


Amazon watch out as Sony is set to launch an all-out offensive against the Kindle. Sony plans to introduce two new e-readers priced at $200 and $300, according to a release from Sony.

The two new models—PRS-300 branded as Sony Reader Pocket and PRS-600 called Sony Reader Touch–will be available at the end of the month.

The aggressive pricing on the new devices puts Sony ahead of its rivals. Amazon’s Kindle 2 retails for $300, while the large screen Kindle DX costs $490. Even the cheapest of e-book readers today such as the Cool-er cost $250.

Specifications of the two Sony e-reader devices had leaked late last week. The $200 Pocket will have a 5-inch display and will be available in colors including blue, rose and silver. The device can store about 350 standard eBooks. The $300 Touch will have a 6-inch touch screen display. Users can take handwritten notes with the stylus pen or type with the virtual keyboard. All notes can be exported and printed. But unlike the Kindle, both models do not have wireless connectivity.

Sony is also likely to cut prices of e-books in its store to match that of Amazon and the newly launched Barnes & Noble e-book store. New releases and bestseller titles in the eBook Store will be available for $10, said Sony.

See Also:

• Amazon.com Kindle 2 review


• Amazon.com Kindle DX review


• Kindle 2’s Fuzzy Fonts Have Users Seeing Red


• Kindle Readers Ignite Protest Over E-Book Prices

Photo: Sony PRS-700 Reader (Eirik Newth/Flickr)