What Is A Browser?

When you buy a computer it comes with most of the software that you want to use on a day to day basis. Some of the time you may buy the Microsoft Office suite or iLife & iWork to add a bit of the most well needed applications to be fully functional.

The main program that you use daily is pre-installed on the computer. This would be your web browser. With a PC it will have Internet Explorer (IE) and with a Mac it will have Safari. Did you know that these browsers have different functions and that you can actually use these and many other browsers on your computer. You may have only used IE or Safari but other browsers are Firefox, Google Chrome, and Opera. Google has made an excellent video about what a browser is. Even though they are promoting Chrome, I think it gives a great explanation as to what a browser is.

So which one should you choose? From my experience most people are using IE on their PC. IE is only available on a Windows computer. IE just released version 9 (which is only available if you have Windows 7) when most of the computers if have used are still using version 7. You may even be using IE right now and be fine with it. My mother in-law had a problem using it when she tried to access a web site and it would not let her load the site because it said her browser was out of date. It was also giving her other problems as simple as not letting her print. I have also had a few colleges ask me how they can see more of actual screen space when browsing because the IE tabs are taking up all the room. With IE 9 they cleaned it up quite a bit but I have not spent to much time with it.

Safari is made by Apple. It just had an update, and it is available on Mac and PC. That is all.

Firefox is very well known. It is has been on out since 2005. In only a few years it almost reached 50% of the market. At my school Firefox is the only other software that is installed for students to use. This is because the Blackboard system does not work well in IE. Firefox offers many extensions, add-ons, and customizable themes. I used Firefox for quite sometime until it began to act very slow for me.

Opera browser has been out for awhile. I first heard of it when I was searching for a better browser on my Samsung Instinct. I was able to find a version for my phone and it worked great! From using the phone app I was curious about the desktop version. I installed it it found it to be very usable. One of the best features that it has was the ability to sync my bookmarks from the mobile app to the desktop. They are also one of the few browser that is able to work on many devices.

Google Chrome was released in September of 2008. After 2 years it has now more than 20% of the market. I have been using it since the day it came out. It has progressed over time and has been given every feature you would need in a modern browser. It has the ability to add custom themes, extension, and now even apps. In its most recent version it was able to boost its speed far above everyone else.

One of the greatest features of Chrome is the ability to sync all your bookmarks, apps, and browser info. If you are using Chrome you can set this up by going to settings and signing in with your Google account. This allows you to keep all the computers that you use in sync. So say you have Chrome on your computer at work. You create a bookmark and install a extension, then you go home and load up Chrome on your computer and the bookmark and extension you added are automatically sync to the browser where you added them at work. This feature is really great so you don't have to do double the work to keep you favorites in place.

Chrome also updates itself automatically whenever you open it. This is really convenient so you don't have to take time to download and install a new version. I find the extremely helpful to everyone so that the browser receives the greatest and up to date software. All the problems that my mother in law was having with IE was solved by me installing Chrome. In the future if the websites she uses needs a newer browser she will be fine since Chrome will always be up to date.

Chrome is also very simple compared to IE as pictured above. As you see in the picture of Chrome there is only one bar at the top. This is referred to as the Ominbar. You can type in a web address such as www.google.com or you type in whatever you would like to search for. When you first set up Chrome you can choose the search provider you would like to use.

While much work has gone into to each of these browsers to make them all user friendly, in the end it is up to the user and preference. As you can tell I am a Chrome user. Maybe you are a Firefox fan. I would encourage you to try out another browser and see if it has some useful features. Maybe you will find something you really like, or maybe you will the rest of the browser world is years behind your current set up.

For those of you that would like to see a great break down of different browsers and there market share throughout time go here.

Tablet In A Minute: Otter Box iPad Case

Good review about a great case!

Tablet In A Minute: Otter Box iPad Case: "Do you have kids? Do you have a iPad? Then the Otter Box iPad case is what you need. This is a very durable case that is sure to protect you..."

Tablet In A Minute: HP TouchPAD Introduction

Hey check out a new blog I started.
Tablet In A Minute: HP TouchPAD Introduction: "Hp had its Think Beyond event on February 9, 2011. Here they introduced three new devices. The first was a 3.1' smartphone with WebOS ..."

It is the there for all of you tablet needs.

Android Market Online

Yesterday Google had an event where they showed off what they have been working on. As the event was mainly to show off the Xoom Honeycomb Tablet and the new interface, they also introduced many new things to the basic Android community. The main announcement which will have the most affect is the Android Market online.

You can go to www.market.android.com and browse all the apps on the Android Market. This is truly a great advance for the market as it is building many new users will up to 300,000 Android phones activated a day. User can browse, tweet, and directly isntall apps right from with in this website. One way I have used this is as I was reading a post online about Blogger it gave a link that took me right to the Android Market to view the information about the app. Then on the web interface all I had to do was press Install and the app started downloading to my phone. It really is truly miraculous. No syncing with cables were used. I am now using the app to post this and it really was so simple. I can even see all of the apps I already have installed and those that I have purchased. If you have more than ine Dndroid device you cab choose which device you would like it to be sent to. So give it a look, and if you are not a current Android user yiu can check out all tue great apps you are missing out on.

The New Year

Welcome to 2011! Wow what an eventful year it has been. I would like to start by sharing the great news that I received my Associate of Science from Utah Valley University in December. It has been a long time coming but it gives me quite a bit of peace to know that I have actually accomplished something by attending all these classes. I also had a wonderful Christmas with my family. My wife and I announced to our family that we will be having a baby on July 12th! We are extremely excited! Other than that being a big addition to my family we also added a few gadgets. On Christmas I received a Roku XD|S and a Kingston 16 GB Class 4 MicroSD for my HTC EVO 4G. I am loving having both of them but I would like to dedicate the post to another gift I received right before the holidays.

Last year on December 7th I watched Google's Chrome OS event. It was very exciting to see the progress the Google Chrome has made in the last few years. I have been following Chrome OS as closely as possible. I even used Chromium build on a flash drive to test out. It worked okay but was definitely not a final product. As they went through the event they announced the Cr48. A non-branded device that runs Chrome OS and will be first tested through a pilot program before it reaches the market in the summer of 2011. Sundar Pichai VP of Product Management announced who would be able to participate in the pilot program. He said you could sign up online, post a video of why you would be a good candidate, or he even suggested that those who had entered to receive a Google Chrome sticker would possibly receive a Cr48. I became extremely exited at this point knowing I had signed up for that sticker just a week prior. I signed my self up, then I signed my company up for 20, and then I even signed up My SMO.

A day passed and I shared my excitement with just about everybody. In an attempt to get everyone signed up, and studying for finals that week I actually forgot about the possibilities of actually getting one myself. On December 9th I went about my day like normal. My wife texted me letting me know that I had received two packages. I had ordered a few things online but I was only expecting one package. I thought maybe they had to fit it into two boxes. So as I read reviews about the Cr48 all day on Engadget I was pretty stoked just for when they would come out this summer.

That night after getting home late having finals and everything else on my mind. I didn't even remember about the packages that had come. I had been home for a couple hours looked by the front do and noticed the extra packages. It come from an unknown place. I opened it and immediately knew what it was! I bursted out a shout of joy and my wife thought something was wrong. Then next hour flew by as I spent that time in bliss. I could not believe that I had actually got one!



After using the Cr48 for the past month it has been great. It works just as expected... excellent! Now that I have started school I have been using he Cr48 a ton. I have only had a problem with it here or there but it has really been an excellent device. I will write more on how it is on a day to day basis. All I have to say is, thank you Google for this wonderful opportunity. Thank you.

Brett Bristow

Many Hands = College Education

With fall approaching we all know that means it's back to school time. With school tuition, fees, and books it can leave quite a large whole in my pocket. In the spring I was able to apply for Fafsa Grants, and UVU scholarships. To my great anticipation for receiving some of this free money, the amount of students attending Utah Valley University nearly doubled in a matter of months and left me with no help in the Financial Aid area.

As Dave Ramsey would say, "School is not an emergency!" Therefore I keeping my small emergency fund and declining the loans offered. This left me with the only option, a payment plan. I had saved a bit for my first payment which took my next three payments for the rest of the year to $483 each. The goal here is to finish college with out any debt, and being able to start out right once college is over and not worry about thousands of dollars of debt.

Currently my wife and I are in a Total Money Makeover and have been working on paying off $12,000 over the last 2 years. We are slowing getting there, we are down to about 6,000. With tuition being $2,200 a semester I don't really want to put it on hold while I attend school over the next 2 semesters.

I am trying out this social experiment and would love anyones help. Maybe I receive help to make a quarter of my next payment, maybe the full thing. Maybe even enough help to pay all the way to April, of 2012 when I graduate. Whatever it may be help would be greatly appreciated.

In the event you help me, I can't help you by posting a link to your website to socially promote your company or personal blog. The only other thing I ask is that you help share this with others by, reposting or sharing this link on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and Blogs.

With all my gratitude I thank you, for reading, donating, pondering, and sharing.

You may also follow me on Twitter to learn of progress and updates.
Or learn more about social media with MySMO.

All about me

I created this blog space about two months ago and am finally deciding to put up a post. I have so many thoughts that I would love input from all who read. I will talk about my the many things of my life and some of the things I don't understand, but one thing I know for sure is the I LOVE TECHNOLOGY!!! It does not matter what it is but if it has an on button I am in love! Sometimes you may read what I have to say and think, "this guy is such an Apple Fanboy." Or maybe this guy just loves Google way to much! Whatever you may think I will to my best to give my best opinion on all technology. Let me know about any questions you have and I will do my best to answer them and maybe you will be able to help answer many of my questions. Thanks for reading!