Mozilla Firefox – Hi. I'm John.

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There are a couple of cloud tools that I use to make my life easier and to increase my productivity. I’ve written before about using Dropbox to help share and sync your files with the cloud, but today I’d like to share another tip/tool that I use daily: Browser Sync.

As a web developer I’ve usually got several browsers open including Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Thankfully, both of these browsers offer a neat option called Sync that lets you share your bookmarks (and other preferences) with yourself, on any computer.

This is handy because during the day any number of bookmark-able links come up but I haven’t got time to look at them. Or I may find a link that I need to save and install software from on another machine.

Using Firefox Sync and Google Chrome Sync, any bookmark I save will show up on any PC/Linux/Mac computer I use. No more E-Mailing myself links, no more USB keys, no more losing my bookmarks due to viruses or re-installing Windows.

But it’s not just bookmarks that can be shared securely. With Google Chrome sync you can sync your passwords, preferences, and extensions. That means if you buy a new laptop, the minute you sign into Google Chrome Sync, all your data and extensions are ready to roll. No installing required.

This is really powerful stuff and it’s exactly why the Internet and the cloud are changing the way we work and live. I’d like to hear how you use Browser Sync in your work/life in the comments below if you’d like to share.

Well, it’s been just over a month since I made the switch to Linux from Windows. My distribution of choice for desktop PCs has always been the fantastic Mandriva Linux. Available for free with plenty of included software (Open Office suite, the Firefox web browser, Kopete messenger, Amarok media player, and much more), it’s always done the trick and looks wonderful doing so.

I have two physical hard drives in my PC. The first one is mounted ‘/’ for all my system files and programs. The second drive is my ‘/home’ directory, where all of my documents are kept. All of the system files are kept entirely separate from my documents.This sort of division is done even with one single hard drive automatically by Mandriva so that if I ever need to format or upgrade the operating system I don’t lose any of my pictures, movies, or music, ever.

Life without Windows is certainly possible. I’m living proof. And the stuff I use my computer for is likely more intense than your average Joe since I’m a web developer. All of the required software that I use on a daily basis is available and runs great in Linux.

All of my games worked out-of-the-box using the Windows games and software emulator* (Read more about the Wine project). I’ve included a screenshot of me playing Morrowind. It runs great. My girlfriend and I played through Max Payne on this PC, as well, and we’re a quarter of the way through the Quest for Glory 2 remake (which is a lot of fun, by the way) on my other Mandriva Linux PC (our media center).

If you’re considering running Linux or if you’ve heard about it and are curious, give Mandriva Linux One a try. It’s pretty simple: You download it and burn it onto a blank CDR. Reboot with the disc in the drive and you can use it right off the disc without actually installing it. If you like it, go ahead and install it. Otherwise, just take the disc out and reboot — nothing has been changed on your computer.

For more information about Linux, try reading some of these sites:

* I realize Wine is technically not an emulator, but when explaining what it does it helps to use that term.

Hi. I'm John.

Tag: Mozilla Firefox

A Month With Mandriva