I have been using iOS5 for over a week now and though the new features like instant access to camera from lock screen and the new notification center in iOS5 is worthwhile upgrading, I have been facing constant issues with apps crashing all the time. This even happens in the middle of a game, while reading an email or even using the App store app on the device or using Safari.

It looks like I am not the only person who is facing this issue since there are several threads out there which discuss the problem. Based on most of the threads I was able to fix the app crashing (fingers crossed). However, most of the solutions don’t work so you might have to continue trying different solutions till the apps stop crashing.

Here are some of the solutions you can try out if the apps on your device crash constantly after installing iOS5:

• Close down all the apps running on your device and try opening up apps to see if they crash. If you are not sure how to check open apps, you can read a guide on multitasking in iOS
• Download a free app on your device through the App store on your device. This method has known to fix the crashing for several users
• Reboot your device.
• Update your apps to the latest version
• Turn of iCloud sync on the device

If none of the above solutions work for you, try to reinstall iOS5 on your device and then manually sync the apps to the device. Make sure to make a backup of the device before you restore it.

I will keep an eye for more solutions that should fix the app crashes after installing iOS5 and update this post. Please leave a comment if you continue to have problems or used another method to fix the app crashing problem in iOS5.

Firefox 5 was released before schedule with far less fanfare than Firefox 4.  Firefox 5 is now also available for Ubuntu. If you have already upgraded to Firefox 5, you might be able to enjoy all the latest features it has. However, a lot of users are complaining about Firefox 5 crashing after installation among other problems.

Though there is no specific reason for Firefox 5 crashes, you could try out one of the several solutions listed below to see if it helps to solve your problem.

Bad Installation

One of the main reasons behind Firefox crashing could be a bad installation. This could be caused due to several reasons. One of the solutions would be to backup your Firefox data and then completely uninstall it from your system.

Once you have done that, download Firefox 5 again and do a clean install. This should more likely than not stop FF5 from crashing.

Disable All Extensions and Themes

When Firefox is updated, some outdated extensions could cause problems which might lead to crashes. Firefox add-on manager provides you an easy way to disable out-dated extensions. Make use of the add-on manager to disable those extensions and restart Firefox to see if that solves your problem.

Use Different Profile

If you are not keen on uninstalling and installing Firefox or cannot disable the Firefox add-ons, you could try creating a fresh new profile in Firefox. You will instructions on creating and managing new Firefox profiles in this Mozilla support article.   

Debug Crashes

Now you might not be a programmer, but you can run some basic crash debugging by going through the points listed in the Mozilla support topic. You can submit your crash reports to Mozilla or contact them to see if there is a solution to your problem.

If none of these work, try downloading an older version of Firefox and installing it to see if it solves those crashes. If not, you could switch to a temporary browser like Google Chrome, Opera or Internet Explorer 9 till an update is available from Firefox.

If you check your logs regularly, you might notice 404 errors which are valid. However, several times most of the 404 errors might not be a fault of yours at all.

One of the most annoying 404 errors I have had to deal was with Google’s Doubleclick DARTIframe 404 error, which was supposed to be used for expandable ads or Interstitial ads which needed to be displayed on the site.

More likely than not every website which uses Google AdSense or a Google display ad network might see an error as shown above. Clicking on the link will give you no clue as to what is wrong.

Thankfully, I found a thread, or rather a discussion which had an answer to solve this problem. You can read more about it here. However, if you are looking for a quick solution to fix the Ad.DoubleClick.Net DARTIframe 404 Error, here is the cause of the problem and how you can solve it.

Why Does This DARTIframe.html 404 Error Happen?

According to the document I read, and from what I know as a developer; in many cases expandable ads require permissions from the website it runs on while they do it in iFrames. This disallows them from displaying.

In most of these cases, ad networks use a workaround by hosting a file on the server they are running on to circumvent the issue. DoubleClick does it too. However, neither Google or DoubleClick have a FAQ or help topic listed about it.

How To Fix This Issue?

To fix the DoubleClick DARTIframe issue, you will need to create a new folder in the root directory of your website named as doubleclick. For example, the one we have here is http://techie-buzz.com/doubleclick/ and then upload a file provided by them called DARTIframe.html to that directory.

It is pretty simple, but not documented by Google itself which is shameful. Once you create the directory and upload the file you will not get 404 errors and your ad earnings might just go up.

You can download the ZIP file which contains the DARTIframe.html file and instructions to implement it from here. I hope this helps you to solve your problem.

If you have upgraded to WordPress 3.1 recently and are seeing problems with permalinks redirects specially for category pages, you are not alone. There are several people who have reported similar issues and are seeing 500 errors on permalinks and redirects.

There is no straightforward way to fix this issue and it might take a bit of time to figure out what is going wrong. However, some of the core WordPress team members have come up with a plugin that fixes this particular permalink and redirect issues with WordPress 3.1 upgrades.

According to the plugin description, there seems to be a problem with the REQUEST_URI variable being set on certain WordPress 3.1 installations.

This plugin ensures the REQUEST_URI variable is set during the initialization of WordPress, allowing permalinks to work correctly.

So if you are facing the permalink and canonical redirects problem with WordPress 3.1 go ahead and install the Permalink Fix & Disable Canonical Redirects Pack.

(h/t @lorelleonwp)

Did you know that 74,000 years ago, Mankind was nearly wiped out due to the eruption of a super volcano? In fact, Life on the entire planet has been threatened with 5 major extinctions by climactic changes, asteroid falls, volcanic eruptions and gamma ray bursts, yet here we are.

Here’s a cool video showing what happened.

As I mentioned a few days ago, Mankind’s biggest challenges are directly ahead of us. It may all be over in the next few decades if we don’t   get it right.

However, what lies ahead if we do? What is the future going to look like? One set of futurists believe that we are in the 4th epoch of evolution. They believe that the next epoch, the 5th, is a merging of man and machine called the Singularity.

This set of videos from the BBC, outlines the coming of Human 2.0.

Human 2.0 part 1

Also see Human 2.0 part 2 , part 3, part 4 and part 5.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t trust every prediction I see, but it’s becoming obvious that we have a tricky road ahead. I hope we don’t end up on the Information Highway to Hell.

As we start a new year, some of us try to find time to look back over the old year, and try to anticipate the changes coming in the new year.

Some people take the long view. James Martin and a few people at Oxford University, have chosen to think about what’s coming in the next few decades. They’ve put together an hour long video to illustrate the problems and solutions that will be needed for the 21st century. Here’s an 11 minute trailer for the movie.

Follow the link below to see this hour long video.

> The Meaning of the 21st Century

Here’s a quote from the sponsors of it:

We are at an extraordinary crossroads of human history. Our actions, or failure to act, during the next 20 years will determine the fate of the Earth and human civilization for centuries to come. This is a make-or-break century.

There are massive problems in the decades ahead … The good news is that there are solutions.

As we learn to understand this century and play its complex game, we can chart extraordinary futures. We can create civilizations more magnificent than anything yet conceived.

I’ve only watched the trailer at this point, but I’ll take time soon to watch the full movie. I recommend that you make time to watch it as well.

Recently one of our readers emailed us that their Outlook installation was having a problem after installation, here is what they had to say:

I purchased MS Outlook 2003 on 12/2/2010 and installed it today 12/3/2010. When I attempted to open it I got the error message that says " Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. MAPI32.DLL is corrupt or the wrong version. This could have been caused by installing other messaging sorftware (sic). Please reinstall Outlook." I have tried reinstalling Outlook and I keep getting the same message. Please inform me how to fix this.

If you are facing a similar error, there is a quick fix for this. All you have to do is Open windows explorer and navigate to "C:\Windows\System32" without the quotes and double-click on the "Fixmapi.exe" file. This should fix your error and allow you to use Outlook.

Alternatively you can press the Windows and R key simultaneously and then type "C:\Windows\System32\fixmapi.exe" without the quotes to fix this issue.

Note: The folder might be hidden by default, so you will have to go click on certain warnings to view the folder. You can also copy paste the path above in your Windows explorer address bar. Make sure to change the drive if it is different.

If you upgraded Google Chrome to version 9.0.597.0 dev this morning and are seeing frequent crashing of the browser, you are not alone. The problem is that the latest version of Chrome has a problem with the GPU Acceleration.

Thanks to How-to-Geek there are several solutions to fix the GPU Acceleration crashes on dev channel. The one that worked for me is adding "–disable-accelerated-compositing" switch to the command line and start it again.

This problem occurs for only those users who have turned on GPU acceleration in about:flags (previously about:labs), so you might want to go there and disable "GPU Accelerated Canvas 2D" feature for the time being and then try starting the browser without the above switch.

If the command line switch does not fix your problem, you will find more solutions at the how-to-geek’s post linked above.

In the past we have given you instructions on how to fix 3194/1014 errors with your iPhone or iPod Touch devices. As with major software upgrades with iOS, there are bound to problems for few people. One of the most annoying one’s with iOS 4.2 is the “No Content” in iPod music which can be easily fixed.

Another problem being faced by users and also being actively discussed in the Apple forums is the 1013 error which occurs after upgrading to iOS 4.2. However, thanks to a member, Dave, there is a fix for this problem.

Here is a step-by-step instruction to fix the iOS 4.2 1013 error after the upgrade:

1. Go to your “Applications” folder
2. Go to your “Utilities” folder
3. Launch “Terminal”
4. Type “sudo nano /etc/hosts” (without quotes) and hit return
5. Enter your password
6. Use the down arrow key to find the “gs.apple.com” entries. Once the cursor is in front, make sure you comment out the line(s) by entering “#” (no quotes) in front of the text
7. Save the file by pressing CONTROL+O on the keyboard
8. Exit the nano editor by pressing CONTROL+X on the keyboard
9. Restore your iDevice

For users with Windows PC, you will have to follow change the hosts file in %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\. You might want to visit our earlier post on downgrading iPhone which has an active discussion and instructions on making this change.

(via)

Apple released iOS 4.2 to users today and the new iOS software brings in a lot of new changes. iOS 4.2 is also a unified OS across all devices including the iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone.

However, users who have upgraded to iOS 4.2 are reporting that the update is wiping out all their music/songs and launching the Music app displays a message saying "No Content" available. This message can come as a shocker to many, but fortunately your music has not been wiped out and there is a quick fix for this issue.

TechCrunch has pointed out to a simple fix for this issue. If you see "No Content" when you launch the music app on the iPhone, iPod Touch or the iPad, just plug the device into the computer and play a song from the device. Once you have done that sync your device and your songs will be recognized again.

So don’t panic, your music is still there alive and waiting to be heard.