logos - ReadWriteWeb

Firefox Slow? Check Your Add-Ons, Says Mozilla

Audrey Watters — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:13:41 -0800

A common complaint about Firefox is that it's just too slow, particularly upon launching. And after touting the speed and enhanced performance in the browser's most recent release, Mozilla wants to make it clear to users: if Firefox is slow, it's probably your add-ons.

Of course, the wide variety of add-ons and the ability to customize your browser to your liking is one of the things that has long made Firefox an appealing choice. But in a post on its blog, Mozilla reveals some stats from performance-testing. It found that for every add-on you install, you're adding about 10% to the amount of time it takes for Firefox to start-up.

]]> According to its automated performance testing, Mozilla has found that in fact some of the most popular add-ons are among the worst culprits. Firebug, for example, ranks #2, slowing launch speed by 74%. Adblock Plus makes the browser launch 21% slower, and the StumbleUpon add-on, 19%.

Firefox says it's going to start labeling add-ons that are drags on performance, displaying warnings on those that slow start-up time by more than 25%. In an upcoming version of Firefox, these warnings will be displayed in the Add-ons Manager as well. It also says that in this new version, third party add-ons will not be installed unless the user explicitly allows the installation in Firefox. This will likely cut back on the unwanted toolbars and bundled add-ons that people inadvertently install.

Firefox says it's also reaching out to developers, to help them make sure their code is optimized and that they are building add-ons with best practices in mind.

For users, it's always a good idea to disable - or better yet uninstall - add-ons that you aren't using.

]]> Discuss

Poll: AOL Reveals New Branding, Love it or Loathe It?

Sarah Perez — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:11:26 -0800

Late last night, AOL revealed a sneak peek at their new branding campaign for their soon-to-be standalone content-focused business. The rebranding effort will officially launch on December 10th when AOL begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange as a separate company from Time Warner, its current owner. The new logos - yes, there are more than one - feature a lowercase "aol" on top of various colorful images that range from an orange goldfish to a green scribble. The odd designs are definitely different than AOL's "running man" or "triangle with swoosh" logos of years past - logos that became synonymous with the service that a large part of America once used to go online. But are the new logos any good? Or do they look more like the joke that AOL hopes it's not becoming?

]]> In order for AOL to survive, they've had to focus on becoming a content business instead of an internet provider and that's exactly what the new branding is designed to reflect. Gone are the all-capital letters ("AOL") which remind people of what they stand for ("American Online"). Now, there's an uppercase "A" followed by lowercase letters and a period. This is meant to remind people that "there's always something behind AOL," says CEO Tim Armstrong in an interview with PaidContent. "The AOL brand is composed of many different things. The nomenclature of the dot is what comes after the dot." In other words, AOL no longer stands alone. It's Aol.music, Aol.Mapquest, Aol.Shopping, etc.

The new logos are just a preview of AOL's revamped look and are meant to replace AOL's swoosh triangle for good. The AOL "running man," however, will stick around the brand in some form, although the company isn't saying exactly where he will show up.

But the updated logos are a little off-putting to some. Noted technology blogger Om Malik of GigaOM posted his gut reaction Sunday night, calling them out as "lame," "ambiguous at best," and "as sexy as the obese, shapeless humans living on Axiom, the flagship of the BnL fleet in Pixar movie WALL-E." Ouch!

But it's easy to see where he's coming from. After all, some of the logos look more like the sorts of doodles you would find gracing high-schoolers' notebooks - like the hand doing the "sign of the horns" hand gesture. Really. "Rock on!," shouts the logo, but it reminds us more of a middle-aged heavy metal fan reminiscing about their youth than the young, hip company AOL desperately hopes to become.

Then there is the pink glob. The best way to describe this logo is a fluffy wad of bubble gum. A green scribble looks like someone had trouble getting their ballpoint ink pen going and a generic blue swirl seems to signify nothing but a lack of imagination. What content sites are these logos even associated with? Your guess is as good as ours.

CNET calls the goldfish logo "cute" (sarcastically?), but AOL isn't trying to build the next LOLcats empire, so maybe they should have forgone "cute" for something a little more meaningful and modern.

But that's just our opinion. What's yours? Let us know in the poll below.

]]> Discuss

Red Hat Sends C&D to DataPortability.org...Over Its Logo

Marshall Kirkpatrick — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:00:50 -0800

Open source giant Red Hat sent a Cease and Desist letter to the DataPortability.org group today, the group says, demanding the removal of the DP logo from the group's website.

Red Hat alleges that the infinity sign on the blue suitcase of DataPortability.org and the green and white infinity sign at the top of the site are "identical to the Fedora Infinity design logo owned by Red Hat."

]]> Since when can anyone own the symbol for infinity? Below are the logos in question, judge for yourself. At a time when scores of other, more conservative companies are joining the Data Portability Group, and on a day when Microsoft is committing to new levels of openness (which Red Hat, incidentally, received with "a healthy dose of skepticism") - doesn't a threat from Red Hat to sue seem a little strange?

Believe it or not, the above are not the logo for Red Hat's Fedora product, the following is.

Ok, so if those look alike it's because they all use the symbol for infinity. Red Hat isn't going to claim to own the symbol for infinity, is it? A request for comment hasn't been responded to yet, we'll see if the company has anything more to say. Meanwhile, a discussion concerning how to respond has begun on the DataPortability.org mailing list.

Outlaw pretzel image above used by, apparently illegitimate, CC license from Flickr user Oskay.

]]> Discuss