Both Apple and Microsoft have their own Internet Web Browsers, built in as part of their Operating Systems, Mac IOS and Windows and I believe that the same is true of Google, but I have no experience of using that operating system so I can not comment on that.
I know that for many Linux Distributions the first choice that comes with them is FireFox, but it is not built into them and is an application added to the Distribution. Again, I need to qualify this statement by saying I only really have experience of Linux Mint, which is a very popular Linux Distribution, however many of the others seem to have it included as well.
If you do a search on the internet for a browser, you will soon discover that there are a lot of them. I do not know how many there are, but it could well be 100s if not higher than that. You will also see that nearly every site you visit has a favourite browser which makes it very hard to choose an alternative browser.
So why would you choose an other browser? The simple answer is, just as a back up to your main browser in case of problems with it, you might not like the browser you have installed or for any other reason of which there are many. Really the second browser is a matter of personal choice, because the various claims about the browsers, I really do not know if they are correct or not.
FOR IOS
Safari, which is built in with IOS is a very good browser, easy to use and as far as I know as secure as it can be. It is updated regularly and security updates often (along with IOS) often need no action as they are done automatically by Apple. It is important to keep your system updated which will include Safari updates. I like the lay out of Safari and feel very comfortable using it. Saving favourite sites is easy to do. The only problem I have had with it has been with Facebook which is resolved by restarting Safari.
Both Google Chrome and Firefox work well IOS, my personal preference is Firefox. Why Firefox? It has been going since 2004 and I first used it then on Windows, it is the one browser that I keep going back to no matter which operating system I have used. Firefox works well with Mac IOS. The best thing with Firefox is that you can Block AI enhancements, which is something I have done when using it and it works as far as I can tell. Other browsers which are "forks" of Firefox, you can use them, if you can find the installer, however I would not bother to do so because they tend to work better with Windows or Linux.
FOR WINDOWS
My first choice if using windows perhaps would be Edge, because of it being built in with it. The times that I have used it since when using a Windows PC have been good and that is why I recommend it. My other recommendation, if you do not wish to use Google Chrome or Chrome based browsers would be Palemoon it is a very good browser to use and I am surprised it is not more popular. There are so many browsers that work okay on Windows and everyone will have a favourite one. I am not here to tell you which to use only to say from personal experience these are the ones I like.
FOR LINUX
I really do not know with this, because of my limited experience with Linux, only that from those that I have looked and used Firefox is included with them, so I would think that would be for a good reason for the makers to have done so.
OTHER BROWSERS WORTH CONSIDERING
I can again only think about those that I have used and that has been mainly on Windows. Vivaldi is a very good browser as it is very different to most others. I have not used it on IOS so I can not comment on how good it works here. With the newer browsers Brave is interesting, I found it works well, but there is the nagging about Brave Rewards. DuckDuckGo is another browser worth considering. I have liked it when I have used it and will be interested in how it develops which given the way the search engine should be very good.
Points to remember
What ever browser you choose you will have to do some setting up and make some change too. Some, I have found easier to do than others, Chrome and Firefox are very easy to do and have many, many add-ons if you want them. Both the pre-installed browsers, have a lot of choice and a lot of changes and extensions for you to choose from. I tend to stick with things as they are, because it suits me to do so.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Every one will have a favourite browser and searching for one, really can be very confusing. It can also take a long time to do a complete search. Remember that many sites have paid content and are not totally reliable. Look at the suggestions, but make up your own mind - Wikipedia will give you more information on the browser and I have found it a good place to check them out. Do not hurry making your choice and remember the best browser for you is probably the one you are using !
On 7 April 2024 I wrote a blog post entitled, Hello I am Kev and I am Autistic and now I am typing this one called, Kev Unmasked #Autismacceptance, because April has been designated Autism Acceptance/Awareness Month. Why there should only be one month of the year when Autism Awareness/Acceptance and not 12 months, is not really logical to me, then many things are not. What happens during the remaining 11 months of the year? Do we not be aware and not accept? The truth of the matter for many is that it does not matter what month is designated, they will neither be accepting or aware of anything or anyone!
I had written a very long piece about this, which I was going to post and yet having read it back, it did not state what I know it should do, so I have deleted it, apart from the first paragraph.
As I have discovered the hardest part of going from the weird one with the temper, to knowing and understanding that there are others like you and there is a reason why you are like you are and there is a name for it. This is all very confusing and you keep checking the facts out and the more that you do the more you realise it is true and it is you!
Like most others, I had a fixed idea what Autism was and what it looked like in others, mostly children, that it turns out is just a very small part of what Autism is and while the fundamental parts do not change which allows you to know that you are Autistic, the manifestation of it is as individual as you are. No matter how many tests you take, the results will always be the same each time.
The next part is when you start exploring yourself and your childhood, well it was for me, as perhaps I just became Autistic ! I know it is a stupid thing to think, as you are and always have been Autistic from birth! My exploring my childhood, made me realise why I got what I called "people sick", and so many other things, which I still do or need and perhaps, it was not a sudden explosive tempter, but a meltdown! Then there were the many tests, the results of which I never got to know and why to a certain extent I was protected, because back then, Autism was not understood and many who were may have been thought of as being mentally ill (I do not know this for a fact).
Finally, placing all the pieces together, when I asked those closet to me, none were surprised and just said we knew you were, just accepted it was you!
I am trying to type this, to perhaps help me and perhaps help others. I really have found it easy to say to other please be autistic aware and be autistic acceptance and tolerant of those with Autism, than I have myself. Having spent most of life 'masking" that is hiding the person that I really am, being controlled by my environment and not being able to cope, the switch to being honestly me has been and continues to be hard.
Kev unmasked and accepting that I am Autistic means I no longer have to pretend that I am a Windows PC like the majority of others, that I am an Mac and work with IOS and there are millions of others like me, we do the same things as the PC peeps do, just differently. The PC and the Mac ! I like this metaphor as it might make it easier for some to understand. Being a PC might be fine for you, but it is not for me, just like your being a Mac would not be fine for you. It has meant that I can control my environment better, to understand why things are intolerable for me and what changes I need to make so that they are. It means I have learnt to tell others please act in certain ways, like going to the Doctor so that I feel at ease. It has also meant for me that I have learnt better coping skills and these have led me to a better emotional and mental state. Finally I am learning it is okay to be me and if others do not or can not that it is not up to me be like them, just to be me and to be happy to be me.
The Autism Spectrum is wide and Autism shows differently in each person. It most certainly not one thing. Accepting that you are and always have been, is hard and yet it is also freeing, because at long last you can honestly be you !
We ask others to be Autism Aware and to be Autism Acceptant, perhaps we need to be that ourselves first and then ask them to be the same and not just for one month of the year, but for every day of every month of every year.
I have in the last week upgraded my iPhone 15pro for the iPhone 17pro having seen that the 15 had gone from the official Apple website. That is not that you can not still get one as the website states that it is available at authorised sellers. I was concerned that because of this that I might not get as much trade in value for my 15pro as I would at the moment, if I waited much longer, so it seemed logical to use my savings and go for the 17 Pro now which I did.
In real life the iphone17pro looks far better than it does in the advertisements and online, all of the colours are so much nicer even from a distance. The cosmic orange, which I eventually chose is really different to any other mobile telephone colour I have seen and it has far more depth to it than you think it has.
The design again is far better in real life and it really has that wow factor that makes you look at it. A further point I would make is that it looks solid and almost "shouts" I am here and I am going to be the mobile for you.
I really loved the feel of it when I held it for the first time. Slightly heavier than the 15 pro, it is noticeable not that much of big difference because you have a bigger display area. The full details are on the Apple website if you are interested in knowing them.
Setting up
I left the setting up to the person who was helping me as they know far more than I do and if there was a mistake then it was theirs' not mine. You need to have your Apple I.D. and password to start the the process, so take it with you to where you are getting your phone from (I forgot and had to come home and get it and then go back to the shop before I could begin things). Be aware that it can take some time to complete the transfer across, the SIM card etc. and the update required before you can use your new phone, it about and hour for it all to be done in my case.
Adding Bank cards to the Wallet:
Before you can add your bank cards to the wallet, which if we are honest most of us use rather than a physical card now. The card will need to be verified before you can use it on your new mobile. The easiest way to do this is through your mobile banking application, or you will struggle to do so. After you have set up the mobile banking (do not forget the biometric setting up), log in and go to the account with the card, the one you have used on your old mobile and there will be a section showing to added to wallet, just follow the instructions and it is then added with verification to the wallet ready to use.
With the wallet set up you may need to check that other applications you use work or you may have to sign in to them with your password.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The biggest change I have found is the speed of things with the 17 pro compared to the 15 pro, it really is noticeable and impressive, so much so that I kept trying to see if I could slow it down and I could not do so.
INTERNET CONNECTION/MOBILE DATA
Mobile internet connection or data was also a bit step forward and it never dropped the connection all the time I used it while we were out. To be honest it was that good that I forgot to change over to the home internet (broadband) when I got home. Running a speed test using the home broadband it was very fast, double and more than what it had been with the iPhone 15 pro.
MESSAGING AND TEXTING
I do not use texting or messenger much, but I thought I would try them out. Receiving and sending both was easy to do and both were sent and received quickly. This could be due to my service provider as well as the improvements made on 17pro.
CAMERA
The camera is really impressive. Apple have advertised it as part their promotion for the 17 pro and using it both in dull and bright light is excellent and the quality of the photographs, I have to use that word excellent again. I have not as yet used it to its full capability so I am waiting to see how great the zoom really is.
SOUND QUALITY
The improvement here between the 15 pro and the 17 pro is like going from a vinyl record to a compact disk, it is that good. Receiving calls is now something I will not worry about nor sending them as the microphone means that I can use my normal voice level and not have to raise it as I have had to to do with every other telephone I have used.
DO NOT LIKE
I really do not like the number of buttons on the side of the telephone and I am not sure they are necessary. I do not know what Steve Jobs would make of them, perhaps he would have asked the engineers to come up with a better solution.
DAILY USE
The 17 pro is so easy to use that you can almost think that you have had it for much longer than you have had, it just does things and you do not have to think about how to do them. I am not sure I can write much more than that.
CONCLUSION
The iPhone 17 pro, is not that more expensive to buy than the 17 so if you can afford to do so, it is worth the extra money. Even in the few days that I have had it, I have no hesitation in stating that it is the best mobile I have ever owned. The build quality, is obvious from the start as is the quality of the screen which I really think is outstanding for clarity. The battery charge holds well. I did top up the battery to full when I first got my phone I have not had to recharge it since, so the 30 hours Apple claim for it are probably true. I do not play games on it which why I say probably.
Few of us are really interested in all the technical details of our telephone, all we really want to know is that it is reliable, looks good, is easy to use and has a good camera and on all of these things the 17pro excels. It is worth checking directly with the Apple website about the phone and the same website is good for finding out answers, rather than searching elsewhere for them.
Linking with your other Apple devices is automatically done so you don't have to do anything more. I am not sure about the connections with other manufacturers, again the place to go would be the Apple website.
I would suggest getting a case to protect your phone, there are many places to get them from and they vary in price and quality.
I always knew that I would upgrade my iPhone 15pro to another iPhone sooner or later. I was never going to go for the 16 range, because, well perhaps Apple had a misfire with that one. Going for the 17pro was an easy choice to make, however I did not expect it to be as great as it is and that is why I would have no hesitation in recommending it to others.
Before I started to use it, I had heard some really nice things about it. The most common thing was that it was like Twitter when it started, that is easy use and that the people using it were generally nice and polite.
So what is BlueSky? It is very similar to X or whatever Mr Musk calls it now, in being a social media site where people interact with each other and you follow and have followers. You can post pictures and videos, what I like about this, you can hide the content if you mark it as being "adult" so people can choose to see them or not. Be warned explicit content is not allowed and posting can mean a ban from the site. There are quite a few things which you need to be aware of all of which are explained in the terms and conditions,
I have posted this link from Wikipedia which gives a comprehensive explanation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluesky It is worth reading this if you are unsure about using it. One of the most important things that it has is age verification which is a legal requirement it many places in the world. I have no problem with this or any other legal requirement that Bluesky has put in place as these seem to be protections rather than restrictions. We have recently seen what Mr Musk has done in the name of freedom !
Okay, I do not use it Bluesky to its full capacity and discover the many other timelines with different interest and views so I really can not give an opinion on them. You can also restrict who views your post and others can restrict you from seeing their posts. It is worth the time setting things up the way you want them and you can change them as and when you want to do so. My not having many restrictions means I have had a better experience as I have learnt a lot of different views and from many different countries in the world. I hope that others have the same experience, because it would be a shame not to do so.
Honestly, yes there is the politicking, yet from what I see there is little of the nastiness that seems to be an increasing part of the DNA of X. People seem to be really interested in saying this is wrong, not we are totally right and everyone else is wrong. It is easy to spot those who try to do so and to block them. If you do not spot them, others will do so and ask the community to see what is happening and block the persons concerned.
What I really love about Bluesky is that people generally post nice stuff on it and I do look forward to seeing posts from people that I follow and interact with. It is as if everyone has collectively decided, ye we will have our differences, but in a nice adult way and we post news and other things from where we live, not to create divisions, just to inform.
I did see a complaint from someone who said Bluesky was like the old twitter from years ago, yes it is like twitter back then, because people WANT it to be. We want a nice safe place to be social on, to share things we love and to learn from others about what they love and by doing so we all grow and unite with the things we love and are not divided by our differences.
I called this blog Bluesky, the nice Social media choice, because quite simply Bluesky is that, the nice Social media place.
I joined Twitter in March 2010 and now I am leaving it, well not Twitter, that has long gone and been replaced by the monstrosity that is called X.
I loved Twitter when I joined as it was a nice place where people mostly got along. Yes, there were fall-outs and disagreements as in life, these however soon passed and things calmed down. It felt a "safe place" and I liked that and have made some real friends as result, it those, the few that remain, that I shall miss unless like me they migrate to another "social" like Bluesky,
Twitter had rules and many people were stopped or banned from being on it, some famously whom I do not need to name as it is well known. This to an extent stopped extreme views and misinformation being spread, it was not the place for them.
This all changed when Elon Musk took over Twitter. The only thing I really knew about him was his political view were, well honesty nasty and more like those found in 1930's Germany. Soon those views and those who shared them, were amplified and more and more I found myself having to block people and beginning to wonder if I really wanted to remain on there and I was not the only one.
Rather than leave in the first wave, like many others had done, I thought I would give Mr Musk a chance to settle down and perhaps realise that the "direction of travel" was not a good one. It did not settle down and his Nazi salute, for that is what it was or could be interpreted as (protecting myself here) during the election of Mr Trump in the USA made me really have to consider if I could still balance my view of accepting others having different views with the propaganda that was now drowning out other views.
With the change of name from Twitter, to X, things have declined to a point where it is a cesspit of misinformation, lies, far right propaganda almost brain washing, Joseph_Goebbels would have made the most of this tool if it had been available to him.
Why now, am I leaving ? I have had enough of the lies, the hate, the nastiness which more and more has drowned out the good things. Most importantly, it was depressing being on there.
So goodbye to twitter, you became X and now you ARE MY EX - IT WAS YOU NOT ME. I HAVE A NEW PLACE NOW, BLUESKY WHERE NICE PEOPLE ARE AND NICE THINGS ARE POSTED.
According to the official Apple website these are the dimensions
