Firefox 95 Review 2021

Mozilla released Firefox 95 on December 7, 2021. This is the eleventh and final major browser update in 2021.

This is the seventh update for the new Proton user-interface which was released in June 2021. In this blog post, I cover some of the notable changes in this new browser update.

In the past couple of years, Mozilla has been releasing updates almost on a monthly basis for the Firefox web browser. However, not all of their updates include major changes and new features.

In this new Firefox 95 release, there are several notable changes to highlight and I will cover some of the key changes in this brief blog post. You will also find a video covering what's new in this new stable release.

First up, Mozilla has introduced RLBox sandboxing technology which is designed to isolate subcomponents, to make the browser more secure. This technique uses WebAssembly to isolate potentially-buggy code and isolates these five modules: Graphite, Hunspell, Ogg, Expat and Woff2.

You can check this detailed blog post by Bobby to learn more.

Secondly, Site Isolation which is a security feature in Firefox that protects users against side-channel attacks such as Spectre. This was being rolled out to users starting in Firefox 94. It is now enabled for all Firefox users.

You can read more about it in this in-depth article by Anny to better understand how Site Isolation works.

Thirdly, an improvement to the Picture-in-Picture mode. You can now move the Picture-in-Picture toggle button to the opposite side of the video by right-clicking on the button and choosing “Move Picture-in-Picture Toggle to Left Side”.

And finally in the Microsoft Store you can now download Firefox, for Windows 10 & Windows 11 operating system. There were also a couple of performance improvements implemented like improved page load performance by speculatively compiling JavaScript ahead of time. Mozilla, also made memory allocator improvements.

So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 95. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox improved slightly compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome continues to outperform.

Well, that's it for now. Like I said, there were only a few changes in this new browser update. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Thanks for stopping by!

CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Firefox 94 Review 2021

Mozilla released Firefox 94 on November 2, 2021. This is the tenth major browser update in 2021.

This is the sixth update for the new Proton user-interface which was released in June 2021. In this blog post, I cover some of the notable changes in this new browser update.

In the past couple of years, Mozilla has been releasing updates almost on a monthly basis for the Firefox web browser. However, not all of their updates include major changes and new features.

In this new Firefox 94 release, there are several notable changes to highlight which I will cover in this blog post.

First up, Colorways theme colors - when you first install Firefox or update to the latest version, you will see a dialog box to select a color palette. You'll find 6 main seasonal colors which you can further customize. There are three other color tones for each main seasonal color: Soft, Balanced, and Bold. You can also find these Colorways by going to "about:addons” in the Themes section.

Secondly, with Tabs Unloading in Firefox 94 you can manually unload tabs that are hogging system resources without closing the tabs. You can go to "about:unloads" to see all the open tabs and use the Unload button, when needed.

Thirdly, introduces Windows Background Updates - if you go to "about:preferences" (in the GENERAL tab) under “Allow Firefox to" you can set up updates to happen automatically using the background agent. I've personally disabled this automatic update feature by unchecking the appropriate box.

Fourthly, Site Isolation in Firefox will now protect users against side-channel attacks such as Spectre. This new security architecture allows Firefox to completely separate code originating from different sites and, in turn, defends against malicious sites trying to access sensitive information from other sites you are visiting. You can read more about how this works via this blog post by Anny.

Fifthly, Firefox will no longer warn users, by default, that multiple tabs are open when the browser is closed. However, if you go to “about:preferences” (under GENERAL) in the Tabs section; you can check the appropriate box, if you want to get a warning message.

And finally, Mozilla has rolled out the Firefox Multi-Account Containers extension with integration of Mozilla's VPN service. This lets you use a different server location for each container.

So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 94. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome continues to outperform.

Well, that pretty much covers it in terms of the Firefox 94 update. Hope you found this review helpful. If you have any questions or feedback to provide, please leave them in the section. Thanks for stopping by!

CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

How to Transfer Google Chrome Profile to New Computer

In this blog post, you will learn How to Transfer your Google Chrome Profile to a New Computer.

When you buy a new computer, you will need to do a fresh install of Google Chrome. This means that you will again need to customize your settings, add the bookmarks, save your passwords, and add necessary extensions.

However, the good news is that you really don’t need to go through this whole manual customization process all over again. You can save or backup your Google Chrome Profile and then transfer it to your new computer.

This can save you a lot of time and frustration. Google Chrome saves all your data in a profile folder separate from the main folder where the Chrome browser is installed.

In this blog post, I will show you step-by-step how to export your Google Chrome Profile to an external USB flash drive and then transfer it to your new computer. There are two main steps involved: (1) Back up your Chrome user profile; (2) transfer your user profile to the new or another computer.

So, let's discuss both of the above mentioned steps in detail. I've also created a step-by-step video tutorial, if you prefer a visual experience, as you will find below.

STEP 1: HOW TO BACKUP GOOGLE CHROME PROFILE?

The first step is to backup your Google Chrome Profile. I’m using Google Chrome on Windows 10. The Chrome User Profile is saved in a separate folder.

So, first make sure to close your Google Chrome browser and open Window File Explorer. Next, we need to locate the Chrome User Profile folder.

In order to do so, type OR copy & paste, this file path "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\" in the address bar (in File Explorer)

Next, go back one step, by clicking the UP ARROW, in the top-left corner. This will display the User Profile folder.

Select the folder and use CTRL+C to copy the folder and then go to your external drive (I used a USB Flash Drive) and use CTRL+V to paste it.

This will begin the process of backing up your Google Chrome Profile to your back up drive (in my case, my USB Flash Drive). This process could take a little while depending on how large your Google Chrome Profile is, in my case, it took a few minutes.

STEP 2: HOW TO TRANSFER GOOGLE CHROME PROFILE?

Now, that we backed up the Google Chrome Profile, we need to transfer it to the new computer where we did a fresh install of Chrome. So, first make sure that you’ve already installed Google Chrome on your new computer.

Now, let’s locate the Profile Folder on the new computer, just like I showed you earlier (in Step 1 above).

So, first make sure to close Google Chrome and open Window File Explorer. Next, we need to locate the Chrome User Profile folder on your new computer. In order to do so, type OR copy & paste, this file path "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\" in the address bar (in File Explorer).

So, once you are in the Google Chrome Profile folder, you need to replace this current contents with the one we backed up in Step 1.

So, go to your back up drive (in my case my USB Flash Drive), navigate to the backed up Google Chrome Profile folder and then select all the contents, and use CTRL+C to copy the contents.

And then go back to the Google Chrome Profile folder on your new computer and use CTRL+V to paste the contents. This will replace, the current new Chrome Profile with the contents of the backup Chrome profile.

You will see a dialog box confirming if you want to replace the contents, click on "Replace the Files" and it’ll complete the process.

And now if you open Google Chrome on your new computer it should be all set up with the backed up Chrome Profile which includes the bookmarks, passwords, extensions, etc.

IMPORTANT NOTE

One final step, I would recommend is to log into your Google account, click on your profile (in the top-right corner) and turn on Sync. Do this on both the computers which will ensure that your User Profile data is synced.

Well, hope you found this help article helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments section. Thanks for stopping by!

CREDITS: Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images used in this video belong to the author or are from the public domain via Pixabay | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

RecordCast Review & Demo

In this RecordCast Review and demo I will cover some of the key features and functionality of this online screen recorder with which you can create video screen recordings.

Being able to do video screen recordings can come very handy especially when you want to share something visual to someone else.

I've been using screen recorders for many years now and have use many different screen recording software.

Some of these app are desktop, while others are cloud-based which is what RecordCast is.

There are advantages and disadvantages of both, but I find them both very useful.

RecordCast is more of a basic screen recorder, however it is easy to use and also comes video a built-in video editor.

RECORDCAST FEATURES

RecordCast is an app built by a software company called PearlMountain who have many different software like FlexClip, Fotojet, DesignCap and others, many of which I've personally used.

RecordCast has a simplistic user-interface and is easy to use. Given that it's a cloud-based app, there is nothing to download or install. You can use it on popular browsers like Google Chrome and Firefox..

There are three recording modes: (1) Record screen & webcam; (2) record screen only; and (3) record webcam only. You can capture audio via your microphone as well as your system audio.

RecordCast also comes with a built-in video editor which allows you to do some basic video editing like trimming, splitting, adding animated text overlays and annotations, music, etc.

HOW TO CREATE A SCREEN RECORDING IN RECORDCAST?

To create a screen-recording with RecordCast follow the steps below:

1. Log into your RecordCast account;
2. Click on the "Create by Record" button;
3. Choose your Video and Audio Recording Mode;
4. Choose your audio recording options;
5. Click the "Start Recording" button;
6. Choose the screen(s) you want to share;
7. Click "Share" and starting screen recording.

Once you complete your video screen recording, click the "Stop Sharing" button and your video will be saved. You can then download the MP4 video or edit it in the built-in video editor (if you wish).

Below is a live step-by-step demo on how to do a screen recording in RecordCast.

RecordCast is free to use, but the free version has limitations. For example, you get up to 5 minutes of recording time; 480p standard resolution downloads, and you can save a maximum of 12 projects in your account. It will also have a RecordCast watermark and intro.

Whereas, the paid PLUS plan has all the premium features like up to 30 minutes of recording time; 720p and 1080p resolution downloads; save unlimited projects; and no RecordCast watermark or intro.

The premium Plus plan is reasonably priced at $3.99 per month billed annually (check the website for the latest price). You can try RecordCast for free. Hope you found this review helpful. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section. Thanks for stopping by!

AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER: If you use the links above to purchase any of the above mentioned products. I may earn a commission as an affiliate marketer. This recommendation and review is based on my firsthand experience using the mentioned products myself.

CREDITS: RecordCast logo and screenshots are copyright protected used with permission | Any images, graphics, video clips used in this video belong to Anthony Godinho or are licensed for commercial purposes and used with permission | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners | Video Produced by Anthony Godinho, Internet Marketer, YouTube Partner & Blogger

Firefox 93 Review 2021

Mozilla released Firefox 93 on October 5, 2021. This is the ninth major browser update in 2021.

This is the fifth update for the new Proton user-interface which was released in June 2021. In this blog post, I cover some of the notable changes in this new browser update.

Mozilla has been consistently releasing monthly updates for the Firefox internet browser in 2021. That being said not all of their updates include major changes and new features.

In fact, in the last Firefox 92 browser update, there were no major changes implemented. Most of the changes were mainly related to fixes to security vulnerabilities. However, in this new Firefox 93 release, there were several notable changes which I will highlight in this blog post.

First up, Firefox now supports the new AVIF image format which offers significant file size reduction compared to JPEG, PNG & WebP file formats. It also supports features like High Dynamic Range; 8, 10 and 12-bit color depth; Lossless and lossy compression to name a few. You can check the link below to check if your browser supports AVIF fil format.

Secondly, the Firefox PDF Viewer now supports XFA Forms which are used by many governments and banks. XFA stands for XML Forms Architecture and developed by JetForm to enhance the processing of web forms. They are more flexible compared to standard PDF Acro Forms.

Thirdly, Mozilla introduced a new automatic unload tabs feature. When you have multiple tabs open in your Firefox browser running on Windows computers and the available system memory is critically low tabs are automatically unloaded to help reduce Firefox out-of-memory crashes.

Fourthly, Firefox now blocks downloads that rely on insecure connections.This will help protect against potentially malicious or unsafe downloads. You’ll see a warning message dialog box about a potential security risk when downloading a file, using an insecure connection.

Finally, there were a couple of enhancements to privacy protection in the form of improved web compatibility for privacy protections with SmartBlock 3.0 and a new referrer tracking protection in Strict Tracking Protection and Private Browsing. You can learn more about it in this article.

So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 92. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes, you’ll find the links below. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome has continues to outperform.

Well, that's it for now. Like I said, there was really not much in this update. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section. Thanks for stopping by!

CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Firefox 92 Review 2021

Mozilla released Firefox 92 on September 7, 2021. This is the eight major browser update in 2021.

This is the fourth update for the new Proton user-interface which was released in June 2021.

In this blog post, I cover some of the notable changes in this new browser update.

Mozilla has been consistent in releasing regular updates for the Firefox internet browser almost every single month in 2021. Though not all their updates include major changes and new features.

In fact, in this Firefox 92 browser update, there were no major changes implemented. Most of the changes were mainly related to fixes to security vulnerabilities.

In the previous Firefox 91 update, Mozilla implemented the HTTPS-First Policy to facilitate secure connections in Private Browsing mode. They have further enhanced security as highlighted below.

The only notable change I'd like to highlight was the automatic upgrade to HTTPS, using HTTPS RR) as Alt-Svc headers. This allows a server to indicate that a particular resource should be loaded, from a different server while appearing to the user that it was still loaded from the same server.

There is a web document that explains this in a little more detail, if you'd like to learn more.

A few other minor changes in this new Firefox browser update include:

1. Full-range color levels are now supported for video playback on many systems.
2. An open alert in a tab no longer causes performance issues in other tabs using the same process.
3. Certificate error pages have been redesigned for a better user experience.

Finally, Mozilla continues work on restructuring Firefox’s JavaScript memory management to be more performant and use less memory.

So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 92. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes, you’ll find the links below. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome continues to outperform overall.

Well, that's it for now. Like I said, there was really not much in this update. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section. Thanks for stopping by!

CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Firefox 91 Review 2021

Mozilla released Firefox 91 on August 10, 2021. This is the seventh major browser update in 2021. 

This is the third update for the new Proton user-interface which was released on June 2021. In this video, I cover some of the notable changes in this new browser update.

Mozilla has been releasing regular updates for the Firefox web browser almost every single month in 2021 and they've kept pace with it.

Firefox 89 which was released in June 2021 was the first redesign with the new Proton user-interface which many users were not full on board with. I've personally gotten used to it. So now, let's get on with the changes and improvements in this new Firefox 91 update.

First up, HTTPS-First Policy. In Private Browsing (or incognito) mode Firefox now attempts to make all connections to websites, secure and fall back to insecure connections only when websites do not support HTTPS. You can read more about it in this blog post.

Secondly, a new Windows SSO (also known as, Single Sign-On) which allows users to login into Microsoft, work, and school accounts, using credentials, from our Windows 10 operating system. You can enable this option in Firefox settings under Privacy & Security in the Logins & Passwords section by checking the appropriate checkbox.

Finally, Simplified Printing which is a useful print option that enables you to print a clutter-free page that strips away ads, buttons, background images, etc. and can save you on paper and printer-ink.
 
When you use CTRL+P to print a page in your browser, under More Settings and in the Format section, you’ll see two options: Original and Simplified. The new Simplified option will enable you to print a clutter-free page. BTW, you can also use the READER MODE (by clicking the Reader Mode button) (when available) which gives you a clutter-free page.

So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 91. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes, you’ll find the links below. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome has continues to outperform.

Well, hope you found this brief Firefox Review helpful. Feel free to share your feedback based on using the new Proton user-interface. Thanks for stopping by!

CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Firefox 90 Review 2021

Mozilla released Firefox 90 on July 13, 2021. This is the sixth major browser update in 2021. In the previous browser update, Mozilla released the brand new Proton user-interface.

 So this is the second major browser update since the new Proton release. In 2021, Mozilla has been releasing browser updated almost every single month.

This particular update was delayed a little bit, especially given the big Proton release, which is understandable.

In this blog post, I’ll cover some of the key changes in this brief Firefox Review. Most of the changes in this new release are related to privacy protection and security.

First up, enhancement of the SmartBlock feature, a tracker blocking mechanism for Firefox Private Browsing and Strict Mode which was first introduced in Firefox 87.  It is designed to intelligently fix-up web pages that are broken by Firefox's tracking protection without compromising your privacy.

The new enhanced version ensures that you can still use third-party Facebook login buttons, to sign in to websites, while still protecting you from cross-site tracking. You can read more about it from this blog post.

Secondly, Firefox for Windows users, can install Firefox updates, silently in the background, even if Firefox is not running. You will find this setting under “about:preferences”, in the General section, under Firefox Updates. If you want to disable this feature, you can use this Firefox Preference and change the value to False.

Thirdly, in Firefox 90, you’ll find a new Third-party Module Information page. If you type “about:third-party” in the address bar and hit Enter. It will provide information on any modules or apps that are not compatible with Firefox, which can help reduce Firefox crashes, performance or compatibility issues.

Finally, you can set up Exceptions to HTTPS-Only Mode. If you type “about:preferences#privacy” in the address bar and hit Enter, then scroll down to the HTTPS-Only Mode section. There you can activate the new Manage Exceptions button which will allow set up an exception for HTTP sites that you trust.

So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 90 dubbed Firefox Proton. You can check the list of detailed changes in the RELEASE NOTES. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome has continues to outperform.

Well, hope you found this brief Firefox Review helpful. Feel free to share your feedback based on using the new Proton user-interface. Thanks for stopping by!

CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Firefox Proton Review 2021

Mozilla released Firefox 89 on June 1, 2021. This is the fifth major browser update in 2021. This new release comes with the brand new Proton user-interface.

In Mozilla’s own words “We’ve redesigned and modernized the core experience to be cleaner, more inviting, and easier to use.” 

 The new design includes several changes. These changes are mainly related to the user-interface of the browser.

 I’ll cover some of the key changes in this brief Firefox Review.

First of all, you'll find subtle changes in the main toolbar which now includes more spacing between icons. I generally use the Compact mode which is now been removed. So now you only have two options: Normal; and Touch.

Secondly, you'll notice that the tabs have also been redesigned. The new ones are called "floating tabs" and rounded corners. I personally preferred the earlier ones, from a functional standpoint, but the new ones look better.

Thirdly, the hamburger menu has been streamlined and reorganized to be less cluttered with fewer items. They have also removed the icons which I found useful.

Finally, you will also find redesigned prompts with rounded corners. For example, when you right-click on various sections of the browser, the pop-up prompts have a cleaner look and feel.

On the privacy side of things, Mozilla has now made the Total Cookie Protection as the default option in Private Browsing mode. Total Cookie Protection was introduced in version 87 in order to isolate cookies by website. This prevents cookies from being used to track you from site to site.

So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 89 dubbed Firefox Proton. You can check the list of detailed changes in the RELEASE NOTES. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome has continues to outperform.

Well, hope you found this brief Firefox Proton Review helpful. Overall, I've gotten used to the new user-interface, but that cannot be said for many of the current Firefox users. I think it will definitely take some "getting used to", but feel free to share your experience using the new user-interface in the comments section below. Thanks for stopping by!

CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Blue Yeti USB Microphone Review

In this Blue Yeti Review I will cover some of the key features and functionality of the World's #1 USB Microphone. I've been creating video content for my YouTube channel for many years now.

Most of my videos are tutorial and review videos of products and services that I use. In many of these videos, I do a voice-over and have used many different headsets to record my audio.

For most part, I've used the Logitech USB Headset which has worked pretty well for me. However, it was time for me to create better quality audio and so I researched many different USB microphones and headsets.

My research finally led me to buy the Blue Yeti USB Microphone. I've had it since February 2021 and have been testing it for these past few months.

In this blog post, I will share my honest opinion and experience using the professional mic. You can check my brief video review below, of the Blue Yeti in which I recorded my voice-over using this USB mic.

First of all, it's a very solid mic, built with quality material and craftsmanship. It's very sturdy and has a relatively heavy base and a foam padding at the bottom to absorb vibrations.

Secondly, I found the Blue Yeti very simple to set up. It's pretty much plug and play without any additional software or drivers to install. It's designed to work on Window and Mac computers. I'm personally using it on a Windows 10 machine.

Thirdly, it has several audio settings called pick up patterns. There are 4 pick up patterns which allow you to adjust the audio for various types of recording. I will cover these pick up patters in more detail in the section below.

HOW TO USE PICK UP PATTERNS IN BLUE YETI?

(1) the CARDIOID mode works best for podcasting, Twitch streaming, music recording, instruments and voice-overs;

(2) the BI-DIRECTIONAL mode records from both, the front and back, of the microphone. This mode is great for recording a duet or a two-person interview;

(3) the OMNI-DIRECTIONAL mode picks up sound equally from all around the mic. This setting works best, for recording a live band performance, a multi-person podcast, or a conference call;

(4) and finally, the STEREO mode uses both the left and right channels to capture a wide realistic sound image which works best for recording an acoustic guitar or choir.

OTHER FEATURES OF THE BLUE YETI

The Blue Yeti also comes with a built-in headphone 3.5 mm output jack to which you can connect an external headset. This can come very handy for instant playback.

It also has a volume control nob which enables you to control the volume of the external headset.

There is also a mute button on the front of the mic, which is very useful when you need to mute and unmute the mic during a conversation or meeting. When muted, the red LED light will blink.

IS THE BLUE YETI RIGHT FOR YOU?

Overall, based on my own experience using the Blue Yeti these past few months and recording several voice-overs and on Skype/Zoom calls, I can definitely recommend this USB mic.

That being said, the quality of the audio will also depend on your room set up. For example, if you have a lot of echo in your room, it will easily be picked up because the Blue Yeti is a very sensitive mic.

One thing I found useful for me is to have the GAIN nob set to the 12 o'clock position. If you get background noise, like a hiss, you can use Audacity to remove the background noise. I've created several Audacity tutorials, including one on How to Remove Background Noise using Audacity.

The standard Blue Yeti comes with a regular desktop stand as you can see from the image posted above.

However, you can also get the Yeticaster Professional Broadcast Bundle which includes the Compass Premium Microphone Boom Arm.

It also includes the Radius III Custom Shockmount which is designed to isolate the mic from noise, shock and ambient vibration.

And finally, you get it comes in three different colors: Blackout, Silver, Midnight Blue, and also a whiteout. I got the midnight Blue color Yeti and love the look and feel.

I'm a happy camper with my purchase and would recommend it to anyone who wants a good quality mic that's easy to use and reasonably affordable.

Do you own the Blue Yeti microphone? If so, what has been your experience with it. How have you used it and for what purposes? Please feel free to share your feedback below. If you're looking to buy this USB mic and still have questions or concerns, please leave them in the comments section. Thanks for stopping by!

AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER: If you use the link above to purchase the product. I may earn a commission as an Amazon affiliate. This recommendation and review is based on my firsthand experience using this product myself.

CREDITS: Blue Yeti logo and screenshots are copyright protected and used with permission | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Commercial rights to use videos, graphics & images  used in this video | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Logos and screenshots used with permission from Microsoft | Other company names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Firefox 88 Review 2021

Mozilla released Firefox 88 on April 19, 2021. This is the fourth major browser update in 2021. Mozilla continues to roll out new browser updates every month this year, as it did in the year 2020.

There was not much in terms of major updates in this new release, but I’ll cover a couple of notable changes in this Firefox Review.

The key changes that I'll cover in this new browser update include: protection against privacy leaks; a small change in Firefox Screenshots; and JavaScript support in PDF forms. So now let's dive right in...

First up, Mozilla has introduced a new protection against privacy leaks on the web. Trackers are no longer able to abuse the “window.name” property to track users across websites. In Firefox 88, Window.name data is limited to the website that created it, in order to protect against cross-site privacy leaks. I won’t get too technical about this but you can read more about it in this detailed blog post.

Next up, a little change in Firefox Screenshots. The Take Screenshot option is no longer listed under Page Actions. Firefox users can right-click on a page and then select Take Screenshot. Alternatively, if you go to the Customize Menu (in the top-right corner of the browser) and choose Customize Toolbar. Here you will see a Take Screenshot button which you can drag and drop to the Firefox toolbar.

And finally, Firefox 88 now supports JavaScript embedded in PDF files. This was included because some PDF forms use JavaScript for validation and other interactive features. So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 88.

You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes, you’ll find the links below. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome has continued to outperform. Well, that's it for now, until next time, thanks for stopping by!

CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Firefox 86 & 87 Review 2021

In this Firefox Review, I cover some of the key changes in Firefox 86 and Firefox 87 which were released on February 23rd and March 23rd respectively.

I missed the Firefox 86 review, so I’m covering some of the notable changes in both these updates in this bog post and video review which you will find below.

So far, Mozilla has released three major browser updates in 2021. Mozilla will continue to roll out new Firefox browser updates on a monthly basis for the rest of this year, just like that did in 2020.

Now, let's dive into some of the key changes and improvements in the new Firefox updates.

First up, Total Cookie Protection which is part of Mozilla's Enhanced Tracking Protection to protect your privacy online. You’ll find Total Cookie Protection in STRICT MODE. It’s designed to isolate cookies (or tracking data) by website. So, each site gets its own cookie jar, essentially, preventing cookies from being used to track you from site to site.

Secondly, SmartBlock which is a tracker blocking mechanism for Firefox Private Browsing and Strict Mode. It's designed to intelligently fix up web pages that are broken by Firefox's tracking protection without compromising your privacy.

Thirdly, enhancement in the Picture-in-Picture Mode. PIP-mode allows you to pop, videos out, of their webpage so they are always floating on top enabling you can to watch while continuing to browse.

Firefox now supports simultaneously opening and watching multiple videos, in Picture-in-Picture and this is great (for example) if you’re watching several games.

And lastly, improvement in the Print Functionality. If you want to print (CTR+P) a web page, you'll notice a cleaner design and better integration, with your computer's printer settings.

So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 86 and Firefox 87. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, I was not able to run the browser test successfully because I experienced some issues with my computer. But, I’m pretty sure that Google Chrome continues to outperform Firefox overall.

CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Firefox 85 Review 2021

Mozilla released Firefox 85 on January 26, 2021. This is the first major browser update in 2021. Mozilla continues to roll out new browser updates every month this year as it did in 2020. There were a few notable changes in Firefox 85 which I will cover in this Firefox Review.

Firstly, Firefox now protects you from super cookies which are a type of online tracker that can stay hidden, in your browser and track you online even after you’ve cleared your cookies.

 By isolating super cookies Firefox prevents them from tracking your web browsing, from one site to the next. You can read more about it in this blog post.

Secondly, there were some small improvements, in Firefox Bookmarks. If you bookmark a webpage in Firefox, it adds it to the "Other Bookmarks" folder and will place this folder in the Bookmarks toolbar.

Many users didn’t like this when it was first implemented, so Mozilla has made an option available to hide it. You can right-click on it and uncheck "Show Other Bookmarks" to hide this in the future. Also, Firefox now remembers your preferred location for saved bookmarks.

Thirdly, in the Firefox Password Manager you now will notice this new option to remove all logins. This can come handy, especially if you want to delete all your logins at once.

And finally, Firefox 85 spells the end of support for Adobe Flash. As I had mentioned, in my previous Firefox update Firefox 85 onward will not include support for Adobe Flash. You can check this article  from Mozilla to learn more about it.

So these were a few notable changes in Firefox 85. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox declined slightly compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome has continued to outperform.

CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.