Force Google Search Options

Google's new Search Options, i.e. Recent Results, do not appear on the left by default.

To make Google's Search Options permanent, the parameter name is 'tbo' and the switch is '1'.

Jason at Lifehacker figured out you can simply add a space and &tbo=1 to the end of the Google search URL.

But what about embedded search in Firefox 3.5?

In the comments, gigitek figured out how to edit c:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\google.xml. Add the line in red using Notepad or any clean .xml editor, not your word processor.

param name="q" value="{searchTerms}"
param name="ie" value="utf-8"
param name="oe" value="utf-8"
param name="aq" value="t"
param name="tbo" value="1"

But there's another procedure in order to force Firefox to use your new google.xml file.

1. Close Firefox
2. Delete google.xml
3. Open Firefox without the google.xml file
4. Close Firefox
5. Save your customized google.xml file
6. Open Firefox

If all goes berserk, search for a replacement google.xml provided at mozilla.com and try again.

Surfing Safely

From simple desktop hygiene, er, surfing safety, to complex hash signatures, here's a firm synopsis of passwords.

Vanilla broadband speeds

Broadband speed claims:

So it's not so much that they're lying -- it's really more that they're speaking sweet nothings, which is perfectly legal (and disingenuous).

Us geeks know that network performance isn't a scalar (math) quantity. Bigger numbers don't mean shit. It's the matrix of bandwidth (in bytes), latency (in milliseconds), packet loss (a percentage), all averaged over a long enough time-frame (hour, day, week, month, or billing cycle) to account for all systemic variables (bandwidth caps, network load averages, etc) is what matters.

Critical Social Concept

It’s really our Internet—the Internet is not another television channel or service.