Category Archives: Cool Stuff

Spellbound Plugin

1. Download spellbound_0.7.3.xpi from the download page of Spellbound to someplace like "c:temp"
2. Temporarily rename it "spellbound_0.7.3.ZIP", open with Winzip and edit the "install.rdf" file
3. Change "<em:maxVersion>1.0+</em:maxVersion>" to "<em:maxVersion>1.5.*</em:maxVersion>"
4. Replace "install.rdf" in the zip file with the version you just edited.
   Rename it back to "spellbound_0.7.3.xpi"
5. In Firefox, put "C:Tempspellbound_0.7.3.xpi" (assuming you put it in C:Temp) and hit the INSTALL button when it comes up.

Spell Check Libraries

1. Download the Spell Check libraries, "spellbound_lib_win32_1.0+_20050727.xpi" from the Download site.
2. Temporarily rename it "spellbound_lib_win32_1.0+_20050727.ZIP", open with Winzip and edit the "install.rdf" file
3. Change "<em:maxVersion>1.0+</em:maxVersion>" to "<em:maxVersion>1.5.*</em:maxVersion>"
4. Replace "install.rdf" in the zip file with the version you just edited
5. Rename it back to "spellbound_lib_win32_1.0+_20050727.xpi"
6. In Firefox, put "C:Tempspellbound_lib_win32_1.0+_20050727.xpi" (assuming you put it in C:Temp) and hit the INSTALL button when it comes up.

Done.

Ok, As I can’t spell very well,  I use a Firefox Extension called Spellbound. It works very well, has a good Dictionary, and helps me avoid Spelling disasters. I depend on it alot and highly recommend it.

In short: I really NEED Spellbound to work. Trouble is: It doesn’t work after the latest Firefox Update. After some embarrassing Spelling mistakes, I resolved to find out how to fix it.

Turns out, it’s not so hard. In fact, It took me less than 10 minutes to figure it out (No, I’m not that smart, just lucky).

First, with firefox shutdown: Find where your Extensions are. On my XP machine, it’s in my "settingsapplication data" directory specifically:

mozillafirefoxprofilescafabfs7.default user 3extensions

View Extensions.RDF and you’ll see something like:
<RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:mozilla:extension:{9EBEDB01-55DC-432b-A2DB-7E4AF3230A24}"
       em:version="0.7.3"
       em:name="SpellBound"
       em:description="Adds spell checker support to web forms and extensions."
       em:creator="Robert Strong"
       em:homepageURL="http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/"
       em:updateURL="http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/updaterdf/spellbound.rdf"
       em:optionsURL="chrome://spellbound/content/prefsDialog.xul"
       em:iconURL="chrome://spellbound/skin/spellbound.png">
<em:contributor>Frank DiLecce (Ausdilecce)</em:contributor>
<em:contributor>mozilla.org developers – original spell checker code</em:contributor>
<em:contributor>mozilla.org translators ~ translations</em:contributor>
<em:targetApplication RDF:resource="rdf:#$ra73h3"/>
<em:targetApplication RDF:resource="rdf:#$sa73h3"/>
</RDF:Description>

and

<RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:mozilla:extension:{21C392B7-136E-4f46-B1DD-405AFE01B2F1}"
       em:version="0.9.1.0"
       em:name="Mozilla SpellCheck Libraries"
       em:description="From the Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.6 Win32 Release"
       em:creator="packaged by Robert Strong"
       em:homepageURL="http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/"
       em:updateURL="http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/updaterdf/spellbound_lib_win32.rdf"
       em:contributor="mozilla.org – development of these components.">
<em:targetApplication RDF:resource="rdf:#$gc73h3"/>
</RDF:Description>

Ok, the "{9EBEDB01-55DC-432b-A2DB-7E4AF3230A24}" and "{21C392B7-136E-4f46-B1DD-405AFE01B2F1}" happen to be the names of the directories that Spellbound and the Mozilla SpellCheck Libraries reside in.

In Each of these Directories is a "install.rdf" file. Edit these and change from

em:maxVersion="1.5"
to
em:maxVersion="2.0"

in both "install.rdf" files.

Restart Firefox and get your Spell Checking back. Life is good once again…

According to Google Blog, Google News is coming out of “Beta”. Not sure what the difference is, other than the word Beta removed from the logo, but I think it’s good news (No pun intended).

I use Google News every day. I like it as it offers a fairly International view of world events and neatly displays news on the page. Other news services present simular information, but I like the straight forward layout that Google News offers. Using it and configuring it is easy to do.

What I’m Curious about is: How do they expect to generate Revenue from the Service?

Most of the news content has provisions that you can’t insert Advertisement banners when you redisplay the news. At a guess, I’d bet that Google resells the information they gather when people hit the links on the page. This might be a concern about one’s privacy, especially since the Department of Justice is suing Google for information on what people are searching for (Can you Say “Big Brother” boys and girls?) all in the Name of fighting “Porn”. The fact is that people give up thier privacy everyday, often without realizing it. I’m not advocating the sacrafice of ones privacy, but I think there are Gray Areas. Preseting the News in the fashion that Google does takes resources to set up. To pay for these resources, you sacrifice a little of your privacy.

You could read about privacy Concerns on this Iafrica.com page retrieved via news.google.com

In Any Case, this is another good service that Google has presented.

Read about Google Earth on Lifehacker. If you have a Mac or PC and a broadband Connection, Check it out.

FBOWEB.com has Flight tracking from a few airports such as JFK. Not sure this is a good idea or not, since it seems to show near real time tracking of airplanes heading towards JFK. I’m having fun plotting out where I and my family live. Seems to work ok with Web Proxies too.

On googleearthhacks.com you could download all sorts of overlays. There is even a good Google Earth Blog too.

Very cool and definitely worth checking out