Ya, lumayan lah. Ternyata kalau Firefox 3 udah cukup lama dirilis, addon-addonnya juga udah banyak yang didesign biar bisa klop di Firefox 3 dan juga ternyata kalau Firefox 3 ini ditambahkan addon yang sesuai, kerjanya nggak kalah ama browser-browser lain, malahan positif-positifnya browser lain juga masuk deh ke Fx3. :)

Baru install, g langsung download Chromifox (Theme Firefox bertemakan Google Chrome), Downthemall, AdBlock Plus, Google Gears, Mouse Gestures dan Fast VIdeo Downloads. Haha, segitu udah cukup kayanya buat pemakaian internet g. Kalau buat yang lain mungkin yang di atas masih agak kurang, misalnya fitur search video atau toolbar-toolbar seperti Yahoo Toolbar atau Google Toolbar atau bahkan Facebook Toolbar. Ya mungkin yang seperti itu cocok buat yang "maniak" community website macam itu :)

Overall : 8.5/10
Keep it up

I have heard some debate about the morals of using Ad Block Plus since it can cut into the revenue stream of websites that rely primarily on advertisements, but ultimately it’s your decision.

Ad Block Plus can be found here.

Last weekend, I've had a really pleasant 'walk in the park' with IE. Obtrusive ads were gone. Flash and iFrames and text ads were nowhere to be found. Great. Then we took a left turn to the seedier side of the web, where pop-overs and pop-unders sprang like proverbial mutants. Marauding Flash ads strutting their stuff, iFrames blending, flickering in the corners and where the old but trusty animated GIFs still fight for your attention and irritation. But as we browse through the underground for a good hour, I felt comfortable and forgot that I was with IE. It was more like a Firefox experience with the trusty AdBlock Plus.

But my new IE companion, IE7Pro, has done a really professional job of keeping the nasties away from our stroll. The developer billed it as the 'Ultimate add-on for Internet Explorer'. Here's the features:

IE7Pro is a must have add-on for Internet Explorer, which includes a lot of features and tweaks to make your IE friendlier, more useful, secure and customizable. IE7Pro includes Tabbed Browsing Management, Spell Check, Inline Search, Super Drag Drop, Crash Recovery, Proxy Switcher, Mouse Gesture, Tab History Browser, Web Accelerator, User Agent Switcher, Webpage Capturer, AD Blocker, Flash Block, Greasemonkey like User Scripts platform, User Plug-ins, MiniDM, Google sponsored search,IE Faster and many more power packed features. You can customize not just Internet Explorer, but even your favorite website according to your need and taste using IE7Pro.

Quite a plateful for a 2.4mb download. So far, it has been a hassle-free browsing with IE and IE7Pro sticking around. The only thing that's annoying me is that Flash animation cannot be selectively blocked, unlike AdBlock Plus. Wildcard works, though. Let me see what surprises it will bring in the days to come.

It's freeware, btw.

While I've installed it to all WinXP boxes at the house we're still a Firefox/Safari household.

„Ich hoffe, dass jetzt die Einsicht wächst, dass die momentan so verbreitete aufdringliche Werbung insbesondere mit Animationen und Sound kein guter Weg ist.“

Ich füge noch ergänzend hinzu, auch Pop-up's abzuschaffen. Ansonsten kann man mit dem Artikel der ZEIT schon recht zufrieden sein, objektiver als die N-TV Variante ist er allemal. Und die Überschrift ist, sagen wir mal, kreativ.

IO ODIO GLI SNAPSHOT!

Detto questo ho deciso di rimuovere una volta per tutte il problema alla radice ed ho chiesto aiuto all'oracolo (google) e la risposta è stata molto più semplice del previsto.

Il suo nome è Adblock Plus ed è un plugin per firefox molto utile. Eccovi la breve descrizione tratta dal sito:

Ever been annoyed by all those ads and banners on the internet that often take longer to download than everything else on the page? Install Adblock Plus now and get rid of them.

Al momento la versione rilasciata è "Adblock Plus 0.7.5.5" con data 17 giugno 2008. Il plugin, prima che mi dimentico e non sarebbe corretto, è stato scritto da Wladimir Palant.

Ora però non perdiamo tempo e liberiamoci dalle scatole questi snapshot inutili ed invadenti con dei semplici passaggi:

1. Andiamo alla pagina del plugin ed installiamolo. Sarà necessario riavviare firefox una volta conclusa l'installazione.
2. Una volta dentro firefox andiamo nel menù Strumenti -> Componenti Aggiuntivi. Troviamo "Adblock Plus" e selezioniamo opzioni
3. Inseriamo un nuovo filtro: spa.snap.com/*
4. Chiudiamo il tutto e riavviamo firefox

Mi spiace deludervi ma abbiamo già finito. E' stato davvero semplice e le finestre snapshot saranno ormai solo un lontano ed antico ricordo.

ATTENZIONE: Il plugin potrebbe bloccare alcuni siti che invece non devono essere bloccati come ad esempio il sito Nike Plus. Per riabilitare la visione corretta del sito servono pochi e semplici passaggi:

1. Cliccare sull'icona del plugin (ABP in rosso di fianco alla barra degli indirizzi)
2. Verificare (magari tramite la funzione cerca) se nella finestra che si è aperta in basso il nostro sito compare
3. Se il sito compare cliccare sulla freccia a fianco dell'icona ABP e selezionare la voce "disattiva per <dominio>" oppure "Disattiva solo per questa pagina"

Ora sarà lo spam assieme alla vendita di viagra e le tante donnine nude che "escono" come per magia dai siti porno e siti non porno a diventare il nostro incubo peggiore nella navigazione in rete.

Concludo con due punti molto semplici e non legati all'articolo:

• Mi vergogno di aver usato un Firefox in italiano ma non sono sul mio computer
• Se non usi Firefox sbagli! Quindi corri ad installarlo e vedrai come la tua vita cambia in meglio!

But not me. Once Google Chromium got some ad blocking plugins (or make it a permanent/built-in Chromium feature), it will stay installed in my notebook but will not get much screen time. I still like to browse sans ads and Firefox with AdBlock Plus is still a winning tag-team duo.

Wozu ein Browserwechsel nicht so alles gut sein kann... Da hab ich mich dazu entschlossen mal eine Alternative zum Firefox zu testen.. Den Flock - Flock ist ein Fork aus dem Firefox-Projekt und somit Plugin-kompatibel, allerdings verwendet er ein eigenes Verzeichnis in dem er seine Konfiguration ablegt. Somit hatte ich einen Browser, der gänzlich ohne Plugins - also "unzensiert" das Web zeigt.
Mancheiner wird den Geist dieses Artikels vielleicht nicht verstehen...  Mich hat es getroffen.. So ist dieses Blog schon von Beginn an als recht googlekritisch zu bezeichnen gewesen. Siehe hier

Wenn man dies in Betracht zieht, hat die entdeckte Google-Add symbolische Brisanz entwickelt.. Google guckt immer zu - links wird über das Googlemonster berichtet, rechts lacht die Google Anzeige. Links ein Screenshot vom gelöschten Googleaccount, rechts die Add.... Anfy und ich haben überlegt, wie wir auf diese Entdeckung reagieren sollen.. Eigentlich gab es nur zwei Möglichkeiten... Drüber schreiben, oder Baywords sein lassen und nur noch das wordpress.com blog pflegen...
Wir haben uns für erstere Möglichkeit entschieden, möchten nochmal dringlich auf einen sinnvollen Einsatz von Addblockern wie z.B. den von uns verwendeten hinweisen. Solche Addblocker steigern durchaus die Privacy - eine nicht geladene Werbung spart Ladezeit, lenkt den Leser nicht vom Inhalt der Seite ab, aber sie nimmt den Leser auch die Möglichkeit darüber zu urteilen, wie die Webseite zu bewerten ist. Auf einem großen Portal wie Baywords, wo die Nutzer keinen Einfluss darauf haben, ob irgendwo Werbung eingeblendet wird, ist dies sicherlich relativ irrelevant und die Vorteile eines Werbeblockers überwiegen. Auf Telepolis sorgte ABP allerdings schonmal dass ich ein kleines "Sponsored by Microsoft" übersehen habe.. Auf einem IT-Nachrichtenportal eine nicht unwichtige Information.

Ich für meinen Teil werde ABP weiter verwenden und mir angewöhnen meine Quellen ab und an mal ohne seine Hilfe zu laden...

[Treibholz]

imagine checking or emails or googling without seeing those annoying ads...

its just like to saw all intentions of everyone who wants to make the web another product.. or a currency note...

lets stop those guys to put shit on our screens !

and this dream is alive ! just download the ADBLOCK PLUS ADDON for the firefox browser !

about half a million people are downloading this wonderful software !

you can get it here

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

But here is Chrome, Google's newest product, a shiny new browser. With their previous offerings, Google has always been the Knight in shining armor, saving the general public from the hells we were normally forced into accepting. Google.com made web browsing efficient and gave it a clean face by way of superior search algorithms and refusal to use banner ads on result pages. Gmail smashed Yahoo mail and Hotmail with it's usability, clean look, and immense storage space. Google Docs has even made a positive mark, and giving hope to calloborators across the web. In each of these cases, Google took an old idea and innovated. They made something that, once used, we could look at and forget how we ever managed to get by without it. But where is the innovation here? A web browser?

Well, quite obviously, this is a ground-breaking mother-fucker. Google made it. Naturally, I grunted with excitment the moment I heard about it. There was no fucking way I was going to let the greatest browser ever pass me by. No fucking way.

But then it hit me. I already have the greatest browser ever. I absolutely had to see the features. Chrome was going to be so fly.

I have to admit, there are some sweet features. Incognito mode, dragging tabs to a new window, the new tab page. All nice stuff. But then there are the filler features which are already available to Firefox, or as addons, such as Simpler downloads, Imported settings, and Safe browsing. But where is the real innovation? Where is this freshness that I have come to expect from Google? It simply wasn't there.

I had to ask myself why I thought Firefox was so good. And really, why do I like it so much? Well, that was easy. It isn't that Firefox itself is so revolutionary, because it isn't. Sure, they popularized tabbed browsing, and Firefox 3 has added many new features that I consider must-haves, but the real beauty of the program are the addons. Even now, i'm using ScribFire to write to my blog. Slowly, I realized that the little things that made Chrome "neat" were easily extended into Firefox as addons, and I'm certain we'll be seing those new addons within days.

So, I closed the Chrome browser, and uninstalled it. It was going to take more than a few well-thought gimmicks to make me piss on the people that saved me from IE. Where was Chrome then? I'll stick to Old Faithful for now. Besides, Chrome doesn't have Adblock Plus.

In die Adressleiste eingegebene URLs oder Suchanfragen werden an Google gesendet, damit von der Vorschlagsfunktion automatisch gesuchte Begriffe oder URLs empfohlen werden können

Von Ihnen aufgerufene nicht vorhandene URLs werden möglicherweise an Google gesendet, damit wir Ihnen bei der Suche nach der gewünschten URL helfen können

Die Funktion "Sicheres Durchsuchen" stellt regelmäßig eine Verbindung zu den Servern von Google her, um die aktuellste Liste bekannter Phishing- und Malware-Websites herunterzuladen. Zusätzlich wird, wenn Sie eine Website besuchen, die eine Phishing- oder Malware-Website sein könnte, von Ihrem Browser eine verschlüsselte Kopie eines Teils der URL dieser Website an Google gesendet, so dass wir weitere Informationen über diese potentiell gefährliche URL senden können. Google kann die reale URL, die Sie besuchen, aus diesen Informationen nicht bestimmen

Ihre Kopie von Google Chrome enthält mindestens eine eindeutige Anwendungsnummer. Diese Nummern und Informationen zur Installation des Browsers (z. B. Versionsnummer, Sprache) werden bei der erstmaligen Installation und Verwendung der Anwendung und bei der automatischen Update-Prüfung von Google Chrome an Google gesendet

Gerade diesen Punkt finde ich mehr als bedenklich. Warum macht man soetwas außer um möglichst viele Daten zu sammeln und diese auch noch zuordnungsbar zu machen?

Die während der Verwendung von Google Chrome an Google gesendeten Informationen dienen dem Betrieb und der Verbesserung von Google Chrome sowie anderer Dienste von Google und werden zu diesem Zweck verarbeitet.

Diese Punkte reichen mir zumindest vollkommen aus um bei meiner jetzigen Wahl zu bleiben. Ich meine die Geschwindigkeit ist bei dem Googlebrowser zwar enorm, aber ich möchte nicht so überwacht werden, wie es Google im Moment mit dieser Software macht. Ich denke mit dem 3.1 Update des Firefox - mein Standardbrowser - wird dieser mit Chrome gleichziehen.

Für Firefox möchte ich daher (um ein wenig die Werbetrommel zu rühren) ein paar Tipps für Einsteiger geben, welche Addons man Installieren sollte:

1. Adblock Plus

Dieses Programm sorgt dafür, dass Werbegrafiken oder Javascripte gar nicht mehr geladen werden. Außerdem kann man durch das hinzufügen der Filterregel "*google-analytics.com" (ohne "") das Spionagetool von Google blockieren. Durch dieses Tool wird 95% der Werbung blockiert, da man durch Filterlisten immer auf dem aktuellen Stand bleibt. Dadurch werden die Seiten schneller geladen und vorallem übersichtlicher, da störende Elemente entfallen.

2. Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper

Da es manchmal Schwierigkeiten geben kann ein nicht gefiltertes Werbeelement exakt zu blockieren ist dieses Tool einfach nur genial. Hier ist es möglich durch eine Auswahl mit der Maus den Filtercode zu erstellen und so exakt das blockieren, was man möchte. So kann man dann wirklich 99,9999% der Werbung blockieren und man kann sich auf das wesentliche konzentrien.

3. No Script

Javascripte werden per Default blockiert und mann kann mit einer Whitelist bestimmen, welche Seiten Javascripte ausführen dürfen. Dies ist meiner Meinung nach gut, weil eine Seite auch ohne Javascript funktionieren sollte, die Scripte dürften eigentlich nur zur Optimierung benutzt werden. Ein weiterer Vorteil ist, dass die Ausnutzung der Sicherheitslücken durch Javascripte enorm erschwert werden!

Diese Addons machen Firefox meiner Meinung nach zu dem Browser schlecht hin. Ich kenne keinen Browser der etwas Vergleichbares wie Adblock Plus hat (Safari und Opera müssen sich meiner Information nach mit Proxys behelfen) und gerade dieses Programm macht das Surfen wesentlich angenehmer.

Zum Schluss möchte ich noch den Standardsatz loswerden: Alles ist besser als der IE im Prinzip auch Chrome, wenn er nicht so Datengeil wäre.

And, until recently (just today, actually), Firefox has been quietly and dependably facilitating all of my activities, communications and learning via the World Wide Web since I converted from Internet Explorer near the beginning of the millennium, around 2004 (not that I needed a good reason to leave that tired piece of reject code behind). All the way from 1.0 to version 3+ I've been a loyal supporter, fan and avid user of Mozilla's beautifully designed desktop icon, Firefox. I upgrade every chance I get. I install plug-ins. I even bought a Firefox t-shirt and some stickers.

I still love Firefox, but now I'm feeling a little... confused.

It's not like I didn't tell her. Firefox knew all about our little "thing" since it started. Since February of 2005 I've been a raving fan of Gmail, Google's (still beta, three years later) e-mail service, and Firefox was there when I signed up. When Google really started branching out into other services, especially with the iGoogle homepage, Google Docs and Google Reader, I was interested. After all, Google was a strong supporter of Firefox, so using their services wasn't a disservice to my beloved web browser at all, was it? In fact, I was supporting a supporter of Firefox.

A couple of days ago I heard that Google was on the verge of releasing their new browser, Chrome. I read a nice article about it from a source I enjoy reading (and usually trust) and decided to give it a try. I had already been using Google Desktop on my Linux laptop and Google's Picasa photo software on my Windows computer, and I love Google Earth, Google Talk and Google's release of SketchUp, so a Google web browser didn't sound all that bad.

My first impressions are a mess of mixed feelings, but overall I am both impressed and pleased. I can come up with really only one major gripe (other than that Chrome doesn't support any good plug-ins yet, like Adblock Plus) having to do with the way it handles RSS and other subscription feeds, but despite how much I do like the newcomer, my beloved Firefox is dormant even now while I use Google Docs to write this from within Chrome, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I'm enjoying the experience, but with a touch of bitterness. Chrome is not Firefox. Mozilla took on a web browser giant and made some major headway and history, significantly impacting Microsoft's monopoly on the web browser market. Now Google wants to offer Internet goers yet another option, and I'm all for competition, but now I am forced to question my personal definitions of loyalty and support in this grand game of Hungry Hungry Web Browsers.

Would making the complete switch to Chrome be betrayal? I'm not ready for that yet, as I have fallen in love with the features many of Firefox's plug-ins offer as well as Firefox's inherent feature-set. I don't think Chrome is that far behind though, and it will probably catch up soon. What should I do? Obviously I've switched before, and it's not like I'm married to Firefox, but I had never felt loyalty for a product before like I do for Firefox - or so I thought. Perhaps what I felt wasn't loyalty at all, but satisfaction. If I can find satisfaction somewhere else, and we're not talking about marriage here (of course) then perhaps I belong somewhere else.

That's how I handled my switch from a mail service I liked (go.com, before Disney bought them - do you even remember them?) to a mail service I love. That's how we should do business, that's why there's competition. There has to be choice.

But then, I've been with Firefox longer than I've been with my wife. We go way back (in Internet years, anyhow). Just now I was doing some research to get the dates right for when Firefox was first released, and when Google really got their start. I typed "http://www.wikipedia.org" into the address bar, then hit "TAB" and it displayed this:

Then I could type in my search without ever having to load the main Wikipedia page. Of course, Firefox and other browsers have offered this function in one way or another (separate search bars, toolbars, plug-ins, etc.) but never has the workflow been this natural and easy (from later tests I found that I didn't even have to hit the tab). That's just one of many features they've included in their browser (the Omnibox).

They also snatched up the fastest JavaScript engine on the market (up to ten times than the system Firefox is running, and WAY faster than the IE JavaScript), and they set up their infrastructure to prevent many of the problems that older browsers are facing today with common viruses, bugs and page crashes that can disable the browser or even the whole computer.  
For more details on the technical aspects of this new browser, check out some of these articles:

• Wired Magazine - the one I read that got me interested - the history, reasons behind it and some of the new technology in a well-written, easy-to-read, fun presentation
• Blogoscoped - very good basic rundown of the features
• Washington Post - good review of some of the features
• PC World - good article, seven reasons for it and against it
• USA Today - a nice, brief review

In the end, Chrome has many awesome, powerful features that make it very attractive to me. I may end up switching when they make those last couple of changes to make it just a little more attractive to this (still) loyal Firefox user.

No matter what happens, though, I'm keeping my Firefox t-shirt.

One of the major aspects of firefox is its extensibility, which is possible by the use of addons. Addons are either themes, plugins, or extensions. While themes enhance the appearance of the browser, plugins enable viewing of certain types of content from within the browser, such as flash and videos. However, extensions improve the functionality of the browser. Choosing the right extensions can effectively improve your online browsing experience.

The top five must have firefox extensions:

1. NoScript

NoScript is the best security extension that firefox has got till date. It works by blocking all scripts from 'unknown' websites. Once the page is loaded, you can allow or permanently block scripts on that website. You can also allow scripts to run temporarily for the current firefox session. This extension also blocks Java applets, flash and silverlight objects on the page. With a wide range of options to configure from, this is a must-have extension for all firefox users.

2. Adblock Plus

As the name suggests, this versatile extension blocks all the annoying ads on the webpages. All kinds of ads such as textlinks, banners, rotating images and video ads are blocked. You can also add a subscription list which is updated with all new ad loaders. Thus, once installed, Adbock Plus saves you the distractions arising from the adverts.

*This extension must be taken with a pinch of salt. Though it sounds all pretty and nice, you may lose out on good deals, and links to better websites. I suggest using it selectively for different websites.

3. DownThemAll!

The ultimate download helper extension for firefox. It is the best because, it does all the work of a commercial download manager program and the best part is that it works from within firefox. It splits the files upto 10 chunks and downloads them simultaneously thereby increasing download speeds.

*Did I mention that it works for rapidshare.com links as well? ;)

4. Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer

Are you one among those who browse the internet at several places? Home, Office, Laptop, etc? Imagine having to maintain a separate list of bookmarks at each browser! Foxmarks helps to overcome this problem by synchronizing the bookmarks between the ones on your system with the ones on the server. All you need is sign-up for an account (or you could also use your own FTP server) and foxmarks maintains a global bookmarks list on the server which is updated every time you add a new bookmark. Hence wherever you log on to the internet from, your bookmark list will be intact.

*This extension has saved my bookmarks several times when there were browser crashes, and I have no need to make backups while I'm reinstalling my OS. :)

5. StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is an amazing extension that helps you 'stumble upon' webpages based upon your interests. This is one of the long standing extensions in the history of firefox and is awesome fun and very useful when you are searching for something specific.

*I have elaborated upon how to acquire StumbleUpon in one of my previous posts, take a look for complete instructions.

The next part of the series, will contain information on more utility addons which are particulary useful and help you browse the internet with ease.

Noot: de site van De Morgen stinkt de laatste tijd vreselijk, maar met Firefox en AdBlock Plus is hij weer wat welriekender. En met het archief bij mijn bladwijzers.

I recently got a Sony Clie T615 as a belated birthday pressie from my mom to replace my old black and white Sony Clie (thanks, Mom!) and one of the things I installed on it was BigClock, a freeware clock for PalmOS devices that also includes a pair of timers. I fired up Firefox in Safe Mode and found that it took about 25 seconds to load (I don't recall the exact time now) so I started disabling extensions like mad and found that enabling Adblock Plus (ABP) added over a minute to my load time. I knew that shouldn't happen so I posted a query on the ABP forums about it.

Once I finally figured out how to see which filters I had subscribed to I saw that not only did I have the FiltersetG, which is strongly recommended against, I also had the Malware Domains filter. I don't recall why I added the Malware Domains filter but I removed it and my load time jumped to where it should be. I already had the EasyList filters and I was advised to compliment it with the other two two Easy* filters. Now my load time is 45 seconds from clicking the launcher to getting my start page, which is still a tad long but definitely something I can live with.

If you find Firefox is taking a while to load for you and you have Adblock Plus, before you kill APB check out which filters you have by going into your Adblock Plus Preferences window and collapse any filters you've installed. If they include FiltersetG and/or Malware Domains remove them. That should get you loading faster, regardless of what operating system you're running.

I've skimmed over the entire process I went through but you can read it on the Adblock Plus Forums (free registration may be required).

What if I told you it was free?

What if I told you that 99.9% of websites will work in exactly like they work in IE? Too good to be true? It's not!

I remember hearing about Mozilla when it was still in Beta, before it became the Netscape Navigator and finally Firefox. I tried it, but due to the newness of the browser, and the whole world wide web for that matter, it didn't work very well. Most websites at the time just weren't designed to be compatible with anything other than IE. But that has changed!

If you are using IE 7 (and if you are using IE, you should be!) than you have been introduced to the wonderful world of "tabbed browsing." Did you think Microsoft came up with that? Nope!

So, you can download (for free) the Mozilla Firefox web browser here, but that is just the beginning. After you download it you can download numerous "add-ons." Since Firefox is an "open source" browser, anyone can make add-ons for it! This means there is a wide variety of add-ons for every thinkable (and some you won't think of) use.

There are also "themes" you can download. These themes are skins for your browser so you can change the colors/shapes/sizes of your buttons and task bars. There is everything from sports team themes to holiday themes. Ones that just change the colors to some that change the look entirely. There is even one that makes Firefox look like IE!!! Theme I'm using currently is Aquatint Black Gloss.

In addition to the add-ons and themes another feature that I like is that you can place your favorite bookmarks (IE calls bookmarks favorites) right on the toolbar for easy one-click access!

I personally have added the following add-ons:

1.) Adblock Plus - Helps block pop-ups and many ads on website pages.

2.) Feed Sidebar - This add-on sold me on Firefox. It gives me a very nice sidebar that I can open and close with all of my RSS feeds in it. It also adds a nice icon and small notices whenever I get a new RSS item. Since I read 12-15 blogs everyday, this makes it VERY easy to keep up to date with them. You should subscribe to my RSS feed.

2.) Google Preview - Gives you a small thumbnail preview of EACH page in the results of your google search!

3.) Surf Canyon - Gives you preview pics on Craigslist and gives you suggested similar links to your search results on Craigslist, google, and Yahoo!.

4.) PMOG - A passive game. It puts a toolbar at the bottom of your browser, and as you surf the web you are playing a game with thousands of other people. Just by doing your everyday surfing you are playing the game and will find missions and other surprises left by other players. These missions will take you to other pages (on a theme) and are very helpful to find new and interesting websites.

5.) Woot! Watcher - On the bottom corner of my screen it tells me what Woot! is selling at what price for the day. Only works with original woot! currently.

Overall there are hundreds of different reasons to love Firefox. Everyone can make it exactly what they need their browser to be! Go check it out!

But my question is, if you're not using Adblock Plus, where have you been for the last 4 years?

If you get one Firefox extension, it should be Adblock Plus, not only will the web be more enjoyable, pages will load faster, and be cleaner than they were before, and without the buzzing mosquitos or the crap where the thing starts talking to you in the middle of you trying to read the page.

I mean guys, my heart it with the people that are trying to run a website and pay the bills but sheesh, some of these sites are more advertising than content, and some sites are even distributing computer viruses through advertisements (including in ads on big sites like Yahoo recently), so Adblock Plus is suddenly a security tool as well!

I want to try this, how do I?

Get Firefox if you aren't using it, (It's like Internet Explorer without the suck)

Get the extension.

Restart Firefox and click on the "Show All Subscriptions" link and pick the best set for your country. (I use EasyList+EasyElement)

Enjoy the web, ad free, and it you do run into an ad, right click and use "Adblock Image", it will paste in the new rule in an editor, and you can pare it down using wildcards.

Example:

http//www.goodsiteyoudontwanttoblock.com/badcrappyadvertisement

becomes

*badcrappyadvertisement*

So for the sake of all that is good and right, please use adblock, take back your sanity!

Let's start with three of my favourite plug-ins, the ones I just can't live without.

First, we have Bugmenot. This is an extension that integrates BugMeNot into Firefox. If you don't know about BugMeNot, well you should. Bascially, what BugMeNot does is it lets you bypass logging into sites that require you to login. This is useful if you're browsing The New York Times, or trying to get downloads off megaupload, for instance. Head over to http://www.bugmenot.com/ for the lowdown (also scroll down and check out the disposable email addresses).

Adblock Plus is an extension that I never thought I'd need. I mean, ads never really bugged me. They were just a mild annoyance as far as I was concerned; I never looked at them. Now, everytime I use someone else's computer I'm amazed by the number of advertisements-- of all shapes and sizes, and how intrusive and annoying they are.

Ever found yourself in need of online storage. For me, at least, G Space has changed file hosting for ever. G Space provides an interface for you to upload any file onto the free space in you gmail account.

Plus: A minor hack for people who are obsessive about the mintuae of their browser experience: http://digitizor.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/how-to-set-single-click-to-select-url-in-address-bar-in-linux-versions-of-firefox/

foto by unpodimondo

Vi segnalo due siti molto interessanti che, negli ultimi giorni, sono stati completamente rinnovati, sia nella grafica che nei contenuti e nelle tecnologie... Si tratta dei siti internet rispettivamente delle riviste "Vita" e  "Il salvagente" ovvero di due dei settimanali più interessanti (insieme a "Internazionale" e "Carta") che si trovano in edicola... Purtroppo quasi tutti gli altri settimanali sono ormai diventati soltanto mucchi di pagine pubblicitarie allegate a CD e DVD...

Ma ritorniamo ai siti:

Vita.it si propone come il Social Network del No profit ovvero il Web 2.0 del mondo del volontariato. Per il momento è ancora in fase beta ma sembra promettere molto bene. Si confermano le caratteristiche positive del vecchio sito alle quali è stato aggiunto quel "qualcosa in più" offerto dai servizi del Web 2.0

Il salvagente.it si propone invece come il quotidiano on-line dei consumatori e, oltre a riproporre alcune rubriche già apparse sulla versione cartacea, offre nuovi servizi e notizie con aggiornamenti quotidiani.

Per entrambi i siti valgono gli apprezzamenti per la qualità dei contenuti, sia negli articoli che nelle rubriche, che riescono a fornire allo stesso tempo consigli utili per la vita quotidiana e una corretta informazione per sapere come va il mondo (da quello che succede sotto casa nostra a tutto il pianeta).

Purtroppo c'è da segnalare il solito neo di questo tipo di portali, ovvero la troppa pubblicità che  colpisce il visitatore, soprattutto nel caso de "Il salvagente". Un portale che dovrebbe occuparsi dei consumatori ma che ospita contemporaneamente banner di grandi gruppi dell'energia, del settore bancario e assicurativo,  di pay tv o di catene di supermercati, perdendo perciò inevitabilmente parte della sua credibilità...

Sarà un caso che sul portale convivono una bella pubblicità a SKY e contemporaneamente un titolo (senza articolo)  sulle "tessere Mediaset Premium nella bufera"? Mi domando se per caso, il banner di Sky  ha fatto dimenticare alla redazione l'azione collettiva fatta dal Movimento dei consumatori contro Sky per l'aumento di prezzo della rivista Skylife? Come si suol dire in questi casi... "A pensar male si fa peccato ma spesso ci si azzecca".

La stessa osservazione vale per la versione cartacea de "Il salvagente"...  Sinceramente come lettore (addirittura abbonato) pagherei la rivista il doppio del suo prezzo pur di non avere la pubblicità e avere perciò maggiore sicurezza sull'imparzialità dei  test e dei giudizi della redazione!

Fortunatamente su internet, grazie all'estensione  ADBLOCK PLUS per Firefox, in pochi minuti si possono ripulire tutti i siti web dai banner pubblicitari ed avere pagine più leggibili e veloci da caricare! Cari amici de "Il salvagente" e di "Vita", mi dispiace dirvelo ma ormai ho già pulito dai banner anche i vostri siti che adesso sono più belli di prima perché in questo modo è possibile concentrarsi solo sui preziosi contenuti degli articoli! Comunque Grazie e Buon Lavoro!

p.s. Provate l'estensione ADBLOCK PLUS!!!! Io la reputo la cosa migliore inventata dopo Mozilla Firefox!