What the Flock?

I did indeed manage to hit my 4000 words last night. I finished chapter 5, which also completes the first book of the second novel. Technically, I suppose I could take the next three days off, but I don't seem to feel as though I need to go through my short rest period that I generally need to go through after finishing a book. The best part was that I very quickly came up with a rough idea for the second book. I need to hammer some stuff out, but with any luck that'll only take a few hours to a couple days. So far, I'm a touch over 18000 words into the second novel. Not a bad start...

It's been a while since I've discussed any new technologies or software, so I figured I'd relay to those who haven't yet updated, Firefox has now come out with version 3.0. I just upgraded last night, which is about a week or so after it came out. I always like to give new versions at least that much time, just in case there's a problem. The upgrade was painless and most of my extensions upgraded just fine. I also chose a new theme, one with a darker background.

Cullen, you may be interested in hearing that version 3.0 supposedly has a smaller memory footprint. I have found that it uses about 8-12% less memory, but I also never found it to be a memory hog to begin with, so take that for what it is worth.

Most people are too lazy to download and install a new browser and that is fine. I'm not offended. Most people learn to do things one archaic way and they never bother to seek out anything better, despite the fact that they know software goes through constant revisions. I figured I'd mention another free browser that is built off Firefox 3.0. Yup, people are already building off the new version. It is called "Flock" and it is also a free download available at flock.com.

Why did I not download this version if I am going to pimp it here? Well, I figured it was time I pimped something I had no use for, but know that other friends of mine may have a use for it. Call it charity work.

So what's the special special gimick of Flock? It is being advertised as a "social web browser". It was designed with special support compatibilities to certain sites, in particular, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogger, most news feeds, and more. Essentially, the browser automatically keeps track of your social networks and notifies you of germane information without you having to log into the various sites all the time to see if anything has updated.

I imagine I may eventually check this browser out, if only because it'll make checking my Gmail and posting my blog posts easier. I'm not really into the "social networks" like Facebook and Twitter, but I know a lot of my friends at the Knickerbocker are into that sort of thing and for the more progressive among them, (I think that subset may only include Cullen) this may be what they (he?) is looking for.