Firefox 3.1, Color Profiles and that Darn Yellow Tint

This isn't supposed to necessarily be a blog about technology, but it doesn't hurt to go there if the information may be helpful to others. If the title of this post doesn't capture your attention, then there is no reason to read any further.

There, I saved ten minutes of your time. You're welcome. Talk with you later.

If the title to this post means something to you, then please read on.

I use the Firefox web browser on several platforms, including Microsoft Windows XP and Vista, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu. It is my browser of choice for a number of reasons. However, I was a bit dismayed when I recently noticed that certain graphic images were displayed with a 'yellow tint' when viewed using Firefox 3.1 under the Windows operating systems. I have heard of entire screens appearing discolored with a yellow or brown tint, but this was different; it was just certain, select images and only under Firefox 3.1 on my Windows XP and Vista machines. The following three images provide an example of the yellow-tinting that I was seeing.

When what I should have been seeing were the clean images that follow.

So what was causing this discoloration? The answer was not as obvious as I expected it to be. Most of my attempts to research the problem kept leading me down the path of entire screens being tinted yellow or brown, or for the problem to be related to a specific application (e.g. Windows Photo Gallery under Vista - KB939395). However, it was reading about these other problems that led me to further investigate Windows Color Profiles and how Firefox deals with them.

Color Profiles allow devices such as monitors and printers to define how colors are displayed. Images may have metadata associated with them as provided by the original capture device (e.g your digital camera or scanner). Hence why only certain images appeared discolored.

It seems that the software for the Samsung SyncMaster LCD monitors used with my Windows machines had also installed a specific Color Profile that was now in-use. You can see if a certain profile is associated with your monitor by navigating to Display Properties / Settings / Advanced / Color Management.

During my research I also discovered that Firefox 3.1 comes with color management support enabled by default; meaning that the browser will look to the Windows Color Profile to tell it how to display certain images.

Whew! Now we're getting somewhere.

This led to me two possible solutions to resolve the discolored tinting associated with my configuration. I believe that either one will fix the problem, but I made both changes on my systems.

1. Remove the monitor specific Color Profile assigned in Display Properties / Settings / Advanced / Color Management. A specific Color Profile does not need to be assigned, as Windows has information to use as a default. This is a reasonable solution if your configuration does not require the use of a specific Color Profile, which is the case for the majority of computer users. Notable exceptions may include graphic artists or design professionals.
2. Disable Firefox color management support by changing the Firefox about:config value for gfx.color_management.mode from 2 (enabled for tagged images only) to 0 (disabled). For the curious, a setting of 1 enables color management support for all images. This solution leaves your Color Profile intact in case it is needed for other applications, but tells Firefox to ignore it.
   

Changes made. Obligatory re-boot finished. Presto! The yellow-tint issue has been fixed.

If you are experiencing a similar problem, I hope that this information is helpful to you.

A Lesson From Charlie Brown

As a kid, I always loved watching the Charles M. Schulz Peanuts characters celebrate holidays. The shows were always entertaining with Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang. It was also a special treat to be able to view a cartoon on prime time television when the adults usually ruled the airwaves. These shows originally aired in the 1960s, long before the 24/7 animation overload of Cartoon Network! I recall as a child that our family television only received five television broadcast stations in the Chicagoland area: ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and independent WGN. None of them offered much in children's programming outside of the usual Saturday morning cartoon fare.

Watching these Peanuts shows now as an adult I realize that they are also full of great life lessons. I have come to greatly admire Charles M. Schulz for bravely creating shows for children that didn't back away from tough issues related to religion and society. We are all fortunate that these classics were created during the era they were, as I doubt few producers would touch these topics in the same manner today; it wouldn't be politically correct or Hollywood hip to do so.

'A Charlie Brown Christmas' in particular reflects Schulz's strong Christian faith when Charlie Brown, confused by the blatant commercialism of Christmas, questions if he really knows what the holiday is about. His friend Linus comes to the rescue by quietly quoting Scripture from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 8 through 14:

"'⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. ¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.' That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

Hearing this, Charlie Brown realizes that he does not have to let commercialism ruin his Christmas. I hope that this lesson from Charlie Brown can also be a lesson for all of us during the busy holiday season...

Slow down, watch the Peanuts' Christmas special, and don't forget what Christmas is all about.

New Year Resolutions and My Inbox

It's that time of year again. Time to make resolutions about being a better person and improving our lives... only to forget about them a month or two later. Have you thought about what your resolutions will be this year?

Resolutions to live healthier (loose weight, exercise, etc.) probably should not count, as these are things that we ought to be doing anyway. There's no good reason to wait for the New Year to start living healthier, but if the magic of the New Year helps to inspire you to make a positive change in your lifestyle, I say go for it!

Last year I resolved to do better at staying in touch with friends. I'm not so sure that I have been very successful at that, but if credit for effort counts I should at least receive an honorable mention.

This year it's all about managing my email better. Kind of a scary thought, eh?

My overflowing email inbox (both at work and at home) has inspired me to tackle this matter, and I've already made some good progress. Merlin Mann has a great 43 Folders series called Inbox Zero where he discusses email overload in a very entertaining presentation. His concept is simple; only look at your inbox periodically and when you do, be prepared to do one of the following five things (my interpretation is added):

• Delete (trash the message since there is no action required)
• Delegate (pass the message on to someone else for their action)
• Respond (reply with a brief message only if necessary)
• Defer (decide that action needs to wait; use this sparingly!)
• Do (take action)

It's a great concept that I started to implement several weeks ago. My first step was to reduce the volume of email that I receive. So much of my email is rather useless information from senders that 'may' have something valuable to tell me now and then. Good examples are frequent flyer statements, on line merchant notices, and club newsletters. I created a free account with OtherInbox.com. The service is currently in beta, but it has performed well enough for me to decide that I can rely on it.

OtherInbox.com helps you manage your email by dynamically creating a new email address for any service that you need. Let's say that the DMV requests your email address; simply provide one such as DMV@[account].otherinbox.com. Then when the DMV sends you a message, it will automatically be in a folder named DMV under your OtherInbox.com account. Once you use this a few times, you begin to see how rather brilliant the idea is, and much easier than managing email filters.

Since implementing OtherInbox.com, my email traffic has been reduced significantly and the filtered messages can be reviewed at my leisure instead of clogging-up my inbox. The next step is to become more disciplined at following Merlin Mann's Inbox Zero process for the messages that I still receive in my regular inbox. Seeing the number of messages being held in my inbox slowly decline over time has been great inspiration.

I hope that this is a resolution that I can keep, as I believe it could go a long way towards making me more productive and less stressed. Good luck with your own resolutions!

Can You Hear Me Now?

I am having trouble understanding something.

What compels people to have private telephone conversations in public restrooms?

I mean really. Who is so important that you cannot 'finish business' before taking their call?

This may only be a male-thing, as I don't make a habit of hanging-out in women's restrooms, but there's a sub-group of men who seem to have no problem talking on their mobile phone while standing at the urinal or spending time on the toilet.

I find that it's extremely rude to the other restroom patrons, and I am embarrassed to audibly use the facilities while the guy next to me is talking to his mother. I don't feel the need to broadcast the sounds of my bodily functions beyond the restroom walls, especially via a stranger's mobile phone.

Are we Pavlovian conditioned to answer a ringing phone regardless of our situation? Why can't we let a ringing phone wait? I have always worked on the belief that if the phone call's that important, the other party will leave a message or call back later.

Based on the one-sided conversations that I had heard, the calls are often business related. I can only imagine being on the other end of the conversation... "Yeah, we can [PHFFFFT!] get that order of [TINKLE... TINKLE...] widgets out to you [FLUSH!] next week."

Gee thanks buddy; you have taken the phrase 'Nice doing business with you' to a whole new level.

Holiday Spirit - Is There Hope?

"November 28, 2008 - NEW YORK - Police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the Wal-Mart doors before its 5 a.m. opening. The impatient crowd knocked the employee to the ground as he opened the doors and trampled him to death. Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers stepped over him and became irate when officials said the store was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said."

Is this what we have become as a society? Monsters who succumb to the call of retail savings? We can rationalize stepping on an injured man in order to save a few dollars on a video game for our spoiled children?

It is depressing to read these types of stories.

I love Christmas and the Holiday Season. I really do. However, I find American society's adoption of the holiday more depressing and confusing each year. Inflatable yard displays with flashing lights and blaring music. Umm... yeah. Happy Holidays.

Even if you do not lead a Christian spiritual life that calls you to honor the birth of Christ, holiday spirit is so much more than boosting the earnings of retailers who hawk cheap, useless gifts that clutter our lives, our minds and our homes.

Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, Dong zhi, whatever the holiday; they all call us to serve each other. To do good deeds that enrich our lives. To make someone's life better. To make a sacrifice for the benefit of another person.

My wish to you is that you find true holiday spirit in your life. That we can become a society who honors and respects life, instead of trampling it on the threshold of Wal-Mart.