New browsers

Well, I wrote a few days ago about Flock, a firefox-based browser focused on networking. You can download it here. I am really enjoying it, but it is quite a memory hog. I think it has to do with how much it is keeping track of. But it is nice to be able to open the browser and just check in on what everyone is up to. And I love it's blogging tool (did this post through it!). Check it out and play with it!

And I'm not too sure how many of you out there are aware of this, but Google just released it's own browser. What?! you ask.... Yeah. Unfortunately, it's only a Beta version which only works on XP and Vista. But Mac and Linux ones are supposedly coming soon. I've started playing around with it. It is blazing fast! But it has a some bugs on a few websites. On the other hand, it is the fastest browser I've seen with gmail, and it has Gears built in, so you can take many of the google services that are offered offline (through Gears) offline. Very cool. It's called Chrome. If you're using windows, it's definitely worth a shot.

On an interesting note, Google released word of this browser to programmers and others worldwide by emailing them a comic strip. Though a little deep, it really explains all about the browser.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Greasemonkey fun...

Yeah, I know Pendergrass sent out an email about this about a year ago...but I'm just now getting into these little scripts. I thought I'd share what I'm trying out, so others can know what's available, and so I'll have a record somewhere of what I did try and what did or didn't work. These are little scripts you can install (after installing the Greasemonkey add-on to Firefox) and which can add extra stuff to specific websites or how your browser works in general.

After trying some stuff, I got an error message in gmail which pointed me to this collection of scripts bundled together as an add-on. It's called Better Gmail 2. So far, this seems to be a pretty decent addition to my gmail experience. I'll let ya know of any problems I have!

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okay, after trying Better Gmail 2 - I love it! To adjust what is enabled, go to where you manage your firefox add-ons and go to Better Gmail 2 preferences. Under the skins tab, you have to try out the "Gmail Redesigned". I think it looks completely awesome!

And I also have added a regular greasemonkey script for adding RSS feeds directly to google reader from your browser, and I found it in this list - but note that all the gmail scripts in this list are old, and Better Gmail 2 does them all and more!

awesome add-ons for firefox...

Had a friend tell me about an awesome add-on for Firefox, called Bookburro. Basically what it does is if it detects that the page you are viewing has a book in it (or is about a book), it pops up a little thingy in the upper left-hand corner of the page which you can click on. When you click on it, a little menu drops down searching for and then listing the prices of the book on different websites (you can indicate which ones). Pretty awesome, huh? Get it at bookburro.org.

Oh, and note that you will have to give the site permission to install it in firefox - just follow the instructions on the little thingy that pops down at the top of your browser.

Here's a list of all the other Firefox Add-ons I use and love:

Download Statusbar - this is just a better way of managing your downloads than Firefox's native way.

Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer - This is especially awesome if you use Firefox on multiple computers. Just install it in each Firefox installation and it will synch up your bookmarks and links bar whenever you use 'em. Prett snazzy, huh?!

Random Theme Switcher - Okay, this is just because I enjoy different themes and am too lazy to switch 'em myself. Pretty much it just randomly chooses a theme every time you start up Firefox. I enjoy it because I never know what Firefox is gonna look like! (it keeps things interesting...)

Google Notebook - I just enjoy this for collecting random stuff from all over the web. I've also used it for some research for school projects.

MediaPlayerConnectivity - this is primarily to play streamed media in Ubuntu, but it does give you more control over what your browser does with media links on a page (and more options).

Colorful Tabs - really the most simple concept, but really awesome. basically this just makes your different tabs different colors, and you can assign specific colors to specific sites if you want to.

So there ya go - my favorite add-ons for Firefox. Let me know if there are any you suggest!