Saturday 21 June 2008

Geeks

  • 5 Essential Firefox 3 Add-ons - While it is definitely true that some add-ons get a wider coverage and more downloads than others it is still a fact that each Firefox user had his own share of add-ons that he considers essential. This can be mostly attributed to different motives in using Firefox. A web developers is using a different set of add-ons than someone who loves to surf on video portals or social networks.

There is still some common ground, add-ons that are used by most of the Firefox community, or at least the part that knows that add-ons are available to extent the browser. Most users would call them essential but there will be some who will question the addition of one or the other add-on in the list.

The list contains some brand new add-ons like the Searchery add-on that can only be downloaded if the user has an account at Mozilla. Most will probably be known by most of you but I have added some that will be new as well.

  • Adblock Plus - This one blocks lots of advertisements and although I make my living from those I recommend this add-on. It's possible to add websites to a white list which means that ads on that site will not be blocked. I do that for websites that I like so that they earn from my visits.
  • Edit Middle 2 - The awesome bar (location bar) in Firefox 3 is not typo friendly. If you happen to write mozzilla instead of mozilla you will not get results in the bar if you remove the second z in the misspelled word. This add-on corrects that behavior.
  • No Script - No Script is installed in my secure Firefox profile. It basically removes scripts from any site that is not in the white list.
  • Searchery - Searchery adds Google search to the Firefox location bar which means that it is possible to get rid of the search bar in the right if Google is your main search engine.
  • Video DownloadHelper - Probably the best video downloader for Firefox. It supports many websites and uses a general detection routine which means it works on pretty much any video portal. [via gHacks]

 

  • Sidenote Is a Universal, Unobtrusive Note Drawer [Featured Mac Download]

sidenote.pngMac OS X only: Donationware application Sidenote adds an unobtrusive sidebar to your Mac desktop for taking and organizing multiple rich text notes. Under normal circumstances, Sidenote takes up a couple of pixels on the edge of your screen (though you can make it completely invisible in the Preferences), so it doesn't take any space until you need it. You can invoke Sidenote by either hovering your mouse over that edge or with the user-definable keyboard shortcut. In fact, virtually every aspect of the program is accessible via a keyboard shortcut, which any keyboard lover can appreciate. The application manages multiple notes, prints, emails, and exports notes, and is almost entirely customisable. Sidenote is donationware, Mac OS X only. [via Lifehacker]

 

  • Read It Later Adds Firefox 3 Integration, Offline Reading 
    readitlater.pngWindows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): To-read manager Read It Later, a free Firefox extension we've previously covered, has updated for Firefox 3 in a big way. The add-on places a little red checkmark in the address bar for quick adding to a locally-saved list of reading links, but carries over the bookmarking star for easier sorting. The bigger news might be a one-click "Read Offline" tool that downloads local versions of your reading list URLs for non-connected reading. There's lots more updates and features, so hit the link below to install and see what's new. Read It Later is a free download, works wherever Firefox does. [via Lifehacker]

 

  • Google spreadsheet asset allocation using the GoogleFinance() function which not only lets you get current, but also historical stock data - if you invest in the markets this is a neat way to track your positions. Go to randomfoo for a more details.

 

  • The Portable UV Monitor times your sunblock

There was a time that I would go out in the sun and never ever burn.  Then I started working from home and well, now I burn to a crisp.  I burned in the car, thankfully my car has a sun roof so its an even burn.  Frankly even before I started burning I should have been a bit more worried about sunblock and UV rays due to skin cancer or not wanting to turn into the raisin lady.  If you're not sure what the raisin lady is, thats the person who has baked themselves to a shrivelled crisp, year round, since they were five.  Once they hit 35 their skin has turned to this weird not so natural skin texture.   Now if they ever grew a brain and decided to be careful in the sun this little gadget is definitely the way to do it.

To be perfectly honest I don't really know how much sunblock is optimal, when to reapply or what it means when there are high UV rays.  Well this UV monitor doesn't just tell you the UV rays are particularly vicious today.  You program in your skin type the SPF of the sunscreen you slathered on and it will begin a timer for you.  It lets you know when you need to reapply your sunblock.  Be careful in the water with this bad boy though, it is splash proof but I wouldn't go diving into the depths of the ocean with it on your wrist.  It is being sold for about $48 or �24.99. [via Coolest Gadgets]

 

 

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