Quoted from http://www.gearlog.com/2007/06/iphone_bluetooth_compatibility.php:
iPhone Bluetooth Compatibility List - Gearlog
As Dan Costa has been editing Tim’s and my iPhone review, I’ve been busy attaching every Bluetooth headset I can find to our iPhone. Want to know what works and what doesn’t?
So far my recommendations - strictly in terms of iPhone compatibility - are the BlueAnt V12 headset and the BlueAnt Supertooth Light in-car speakerphone. The V12 had unusually clear connections and transferred caller ID information to its built in screen accurately. The Supertooth, meanwhile, fixed the iPhone’s problem of having a too-quiet speakerphone by really pumping up the volume.
For full results with headsets and speakerphones, head to the jump.
Garmin Nuvi 660 speakerphone/GPS: Pairing OK. Dialing OK. Speakerphone OK. BUT microphone is AWFUL - call sounded horribly noisy and muffled on other end. Also, Nuvi stalled while trying to transfer 1585 contact phone book.
Motorola H800: OK.
Plantronics Voyager 510: OK.
Plantronics Pulsar 590 (in mono mode): OK.
SoundID SM100: OK, but some background hiss.
Blueant V12: OK, and unusually loud and clear! Number, not name caller ID on headset screen.
Blueant Supertooth Light: OK
Motorola H9: OK, but very staticy
Samsung WEP200: OK, and loud
Have you tested any Bluetooth headsets? Add them here.
Quoted from http://skattertech.com/2007/04/review-shure-se210-earphones/:
Review: Shure SE210 Earphones | Skatter Tech
Skatter Tech got a hold of the Shure SE210, an upgrade to the popular E Series, a few weeks ago and we have been quite pleased with the headset’s performance. The headphones included with most MP3 players, including iPods, are not exactly top notch. Purchasing a high quality set of headphones makes quite a big difference. Although the SE210 is at the bottom of their line of high-end earphones, it is still one of the best ones available on the market. (We reviewed the SE210-K Black)
Shure SE-210 Specs:
- Sound Isolating Earphones
- Hi-Definition Micro Speaker
- Frequency Range: 25Hz - 18.5kHz
- Included: Deluxe Fit Kit & Case
- Available in Black or White
- Price (MSRP):
$179 $150
If you own the previous E2c model, the first thing you’ll notice is that the new SE210 earphones are much smaller and lighter. We felt the material also looked cheaper, but the sound it produced proved us wrong. Shure kept the headset in the Y-shape form factor instead of switching over to other styles such as “behind-the-neck,” which Sony uses in their headsets. Unlike its predecessor, which had a 56-inch cord, the Shure SE210 offers flexibility by including a 36-inch extension cord to go along with the short 18-inch headset. (54 inches total) Finally, Shure has improved the performance of the bass since it could barely be heard in the E2c’s.
Another bonus when you purchase Shure earphones is that they are almost guaranteed to fit (unless you have really weird ears). Shure includes 3 types of headphone sleeves: foam sleeves (S/M/L), rubber flex sleeves (S/M/L), and a triple flange sleeves. In addition to the sleeves, Shure bundles a semi-hard carrying case, the 3-foot extension cord, and a little tool to clean out wax from your earphones.
Overall, the most important factor, sound quality, was superb. Although $50 more expensive than the previous model, the SE210 is quite a good improvement since the earphones are more compact, reach a wider set of frequencies, and have an improved bass. If you one of those audiophiles, who is looking for something even better, you might be interested in their other higher-end models: SE310, SE420, or SE530. However for most people who want a better set of headphones, but want something cheaper than $150, we recommend checking out these: Shure E2c, Bose Tri-Port, or Sony MDR-EX90. And as for the SE210s, they are available in stores now!
Buy Now: SE210 White or Black for $149
Links: Shure.com | SE210 Earphones
Related: Shure HeadPhones Preview
Quoted from http://www.bspcn.com/2007/05/06/23-ways-to-download-youtube-videos/:
23 Ways to Download YouTube Videos | The Best Article Every day
Google has a solid amount of cash in its pockets, but with all the recent lawsuits against YouTube one has to wonder if it’s time to salvage whatever videos you like from the service and save them somewhere where evil attorneys won’t look - your hard drive.
Luckily, there are literally dozens of tools for downloading videos from YouTube and/or converting those YouTube videos to some format other than .flv. It’s hard to pick the best one, as they all have pluses and minuses. Thus, we’ve chosen 23 YouTube downloader tools we’ve found to be actually working. Here they are, categorized according to the platform they work on:
Web based
1. YouTubeX doesn’t have a lot of options, but it’s simple, and it works. It also enables you to share the YouTube video with your friends via e-mail. Unfortunately, all the files are called get_video, and you have to add the .flv extension manually.
www.youtubex.com
2. KeepVid is another simple site. No hassle, works not only for YouTube movies but for a number of other sites, including Google Video, MySpace Video, DailyMotion and others. Again, you have to add the .flv extension by hand.
keepvid.com
3. VideoDownloader is very similar to KeepVid, but supports even more video sharing sites, and it’s also available as a Firefox extension. Just like with KeepVid, all downloads are in .flv format. We recommend MediaCoder for free conversion.
javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php
4. YouTube Downloads takes the cake in the longest domain name contest. It also separates itself by using a proxy for downloading videos, which means that you might be able to get videos even if YouTube access is blocked at your workplace or in the country you live. Just search Google for YouTube videos, and copy/paste the URL into YouTube Downloads.
www.downloadandsaveyoutubevideos.info
5. Zamzar is an online file format conversion site which can do a lot more than just converting YouTube videos to another format and downloading them to your hard drive, but it’s doing a great job so we had to include it here. Thoroughly tested by us and highly recommended. See the video of it in action here.
www.zamzar.com
6. YouTubia separates itself from the crowd by enabling you to search as well as download YouTube files. Options are scarce, but it works.
www.youtubia.com
7. VidGrab is another simple site that works with YouTube, Google Video, MySpace and Break.com. Besides the download function, the site also sports a top list of most viewed videos.
www.vidgrab.com
8. Vixy offers both downloading videos and converting them into DivX avi, mov, mp4, 3gp, or mp3 (for audio only) formats. The conversion works well enough, but sometimes results in slightly choppy playback.
vixy.net
9. Hey! Watch is an ambitious video encoding service with a large number of options, especially when it comes to converting videos to portable media player formats (it even supports my trusty iRiver H340.) Most online video converters often produce crappy results, with video and audio being out of sync, and this problem is also present on Hey! Watch, but it happens rarely.
heywatch.com
10. Media Converter can be a little slow, but the results of the video conversion are quite good. We’ve converted some YouTube videos to avi (mpeg4 + mp3) format and it worked well. The tool is not limited to video conversion; it also supports several audio and document formats.
www.mediaconverter.org
11. KcoolOnline is a web-based converter which supports 98 video sharing web sites, including YouTube. It has literally zero options, so it’s recommended for those who like to keep it simple.
www.kcoolonline.com
Windows Applications
12. VDownloader is a desktop application that catches YouTube, Google Video, and Grinvi video links from your clipboard. Start it up, copy the video URL and click download. It automatically converts the videos to mpeg or avi formats.
www.softpedia.com/progDownload/VDownloader-Download-51327.html
13. YouTube Grabber downloads files from Youtube in .flv format. Copy and paste the URL of a video from YouTube into the program, press «grab», and the file will be downloaded into the same directory as the program.
www.download.com/Youtube-Grabber/3000-2071_4-10574801.html
14. Orbit Downloader is a desktop application which can download videos from a wide variety of sites. The download process is very simple, just hover your mouse over the video and you’ll get a button that says «Get It». The developers of the program claim that it’s very fast (up to 500% faster, they say) due to its P2P download technology.
www.orbitdownloader.com
15. My Video Downloader. With all these free tools, it’s actually funny to see a commercial one. It’s called My Video Downloader, and while it does look solid and offers a lot of conversion options (a free trial which enables you to download 10 videos is available), we’re not sure it offers enough to warrant a price tag.
myvideodownloader.com
16. KeepV is a desktop downloader as well as a converter, which can convert the downloaded videos from flv to avi, mov, mp4, or 3gp formats.
keepv.com
17. VideoGet boasts being able to download video clips from more than 100 video sharing websites. We haven’t tested all of them, so we’re just going to take their word for it. It’s a deskop application with a nice, simple interface, and a solid number of options.
nuclear-coffee.com/php/products.php
18. TubeSucker is a desktop YouTube video downloader with some interesting options, including batch downloading large amounts of videos from a certain user. See the video tour on the site.
www.newrad.com/software/tubesucker/
OS X
19. Get Tube is an OS X application which lets you download video or audio files from YouTube, DailyMotion and Kewego.
web.mac.com/simonvrel/iWeb/software/v.1.0.html
Linux
20. Youtube-dl. Here’s some love for Linux users. Youtube-dl is a program that lets you download YouTube clips in flv format, which both mplayer and VLC can easily chew up.
www.nuxified.org/blog/download_youtube_video_files_with_youtube_dl
21. YouTube Ripper is not actually an application; it’s a simple script that rips all videos that match a keyword, uploaded by a specific YouTube user. We don’t really have ideas on what to use this for, but maybe you do! PHP port is also available.
nlindblad.org/2007/04/08/youtube-ripper-collectors-edition/
Plugins
22. Vidtaker is a Firefox-only plugin that can download videos from most streaming websites: Google Video, YouTube, MySpace, as well as a number of nasty adult SomethingTube spinoffs (Pornotube, YouPorn etc). It automatically converts the video to a DivX avi.
www.vidtaker.com
23. Ook? Video Ook! Yes, that’s the full name of this Firefox plugin, which enables you to download videos from YouTube and several other video sharing web sites. It features one click downloading and integration with the popular DownThemAll Firefox plugin.
addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2584
Written by Stan Schroeder
Quoted from http://www.bspcn.com/2007/05/26/top-8-linux-games-of-2007/:
Top 8 Linux Games Of 2007 | The Best Article Every day
Written by rangit.com
Below are 8 addictive 3d games for linux users to fill their time with. These games are really good and some have won awards or have been featured on magazines. Most of it is cross platform and free. You don’t have to use ‘Wine’ to be able to play as they come with Linux installers.
- Battle For Wesnoth
David White who started Wesnoth back in 2003, had a vision of a free open source strategy game that had very simple rules, uses a strong artificial intelligence, challenging and fun. Wesnoth has already passed the 1 million mark for downloads. As of March 2007, the game is available in 35 different languages.
A normal Wesnoth player has
- 200+ unit types
- 16 different races
- 6 major factions
to choose from. Actually, you can even make your own custom units, design your own map, scenarios or even campaigns. It’s all up to your creativity. The most interesting part of any game is the ability to multiplay. You can challenge up to a total of 8 friends in multiplayer fantasy battles.
- Nexuiz
Nexuiz is a free, cross platform, first person shooter distributed under GNU General Public License by Alientrap Software. It started back in May 31 2005 with version 1.0 using DarkPlaces, a significanlty modified quake engine. The current version, 2.2.3, was released on January 26, 2007. Nexuiz’s logo is based on the chinese character “力” which means strength.
Several notable features of the game include
- ability to multiplay up to 64 players
- ability to generate bots for practice sessions
- dynamic lighting system similar to Doom 3
- America’s Army
America’s Army is a tactical, multiplayer, first-person shooter owned by the United States Government and released as a global public relations initiative to help with U.S. Army recruitment. The first version, Recon, was released on 4th July 2002. The current version 2.8.1 was released on 22nd Mar 2007.
It’s the first well known computer game used for political aims. The game is used as a playable recruiting tool and critics have charged the game serves as a propaganda device. A counter on the homepage of the PC version shows over eight million registered accounts as of 2007. GameSpy tracked the game usage and reported an average of 4,500 players at any one time between 2002 and 2005. It is enough for America’s Army to rank in the Top 10 Online Games chart.
- Enemy Territory : Quake Wars
is a first-person shooter follow-up to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. It also has the same science fiction universe as Quake 4, with a story serving as a prequel to Quake II. Quake Wars is the second multiplayer-only game in the Quake series after Quake III Arena. The gameplay is almost the same as Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, but with the addition of controllable vehicles and aircraft, asymmetric teams, much larger maps and the option of computer-controlled bots. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is being developed by Splash Damage for the PC using a modified version of id Software’s Doom 3 engine and MegaTexture rendering technology.
At E3 2006(Electronic Entertainment Expo), the game won the Game Critics Award for Best Online Multiplayer.
- Tremulous
Tremulous is an open source team-based first-person shooter with a game play that is similar to Gloom(a quake 2 mod) and Natural Selection (a Half-Life mod). The game features two teams, humans and aliens, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The game has been downloaded over 200,000 times and was voted “Player’s Choice Standalone Game of the Year” in Mod Database’s “Mod of the Year” 2006 competition.
- Tux Racer
Tux Racer is a newbie friendly, open source, 3D computer game starring the Linux mascot, Tux the penguin. Like many open-source games, the replay value of Tux Racer is extended by easy modification of the game. New maps can be created by making three raster images to indicate height, surface, and object placement. The last release of Tux Racer was version 0.61, 29th October 2001.
- World Of Padman
WOP is a new and free comic style game that uses the Quake 3 engine. The game was recently featured in 3 German magazine covers; PC Action, ‘BRAVO Screenfun’ and ‘Linux Intern’.
- Vendetta
is a first person twitch based MMORPG. New players get an 8 hour trial which is enough to get anyone hooked to it. After that, you gotta pay $5 a month which is quite worthwhile, especially considering the incredibly communicative development of the game. It has a native linux installer as well as one for Macs and Windows.
Quoted from http://www.bspcn.com/2007/06/07/20-tips-for-more-efficient-google-searches/:
20 Tips for More Efficient Google Searches | The Best Article Every day
Written by Leo Babauta
For millions of people, Google is an indispensable search tool that they use every day, in all facets of their lives. From work or school, research, to looking up movies and celebrities to news and gossip, Google is the go-to search engine.
But instead of just typing in a phrase and wading through page after page of results, there are a number of ways to make your searches more efficient.
Some of these are obvious ones, that you probably know about. But others are lesser-known, and others are known but not often used. Use this guide to learn more about, or be reminded of, some of the best ways to get exactly what you’re looking for, and quickly.
- Either/or. Google normally searches for pages that contain all the words you type in the search box, but if you want pages that have one term or another (or both), use the OR operator — or use the “|” symbol (pipe symbol) to save you a keystroke. [dumb | little | man]
- Quotes. If you want to search for an exact phrase, use quotes. [”dumb little man”] will only find that exact phrase. [dumb “little man”] will find pages that contain the word dumb and the exact phrase “little man”.
- Not. If you don’t want a term or phrase, use the “-” symbol. [-dumb little man] will return pages that contain “little” and “man” but that don’t contain “dumb”.
- Similar terms. Use the “~” symbol to return similar terms. [~dumb little man -dumb] will get you pages that contain “funny little man” and “stupid little man” but not “dumb little man”.
- Wildcard. The “*” symbol is a wildcard. This is useful if you’re trying to find the lyrics to a song, but can’t remember the exact lyrics. [can’t * me love lyrics] will return the Beatles song you’re looking for. It’s also useful for finding stuff only in certain domains, such as
educational information: [”dumb little man” research *.edu].
- Advanced search. If you can’t remember any of these operators, you can always use Google’s advanced search.
- Definitions. Use the “define:” operator to get a quick definition. [define:dumb] will give you a whole host of definitions from different sources, with links.
- Calculator. One of the handiest uses of Google, type in a quick calculation in the search box and get an answer. It’s faster than calling up your computer’s calculator in most cases. Use the +, -, *, / symbols and parentheses to do a simple equation.
- Numrange. This little-known feature searches for a range of numbers. For example, [”best books 2002..2007] will return lists of best books for each of the years from 2002 to 2007 (note the two periods between the two numbers).
- Site-specific. Use the “site:” operator to search only within a certain website. [site:dumblittleman.com leo] will search for the term “leo” only within this blog.
- Backlinks. The “link:” operator will find pages that link to a specific URL. You can use this not only for a main URL but even to a specific page. Not all links to an URL are listed, however.
- Vertical search. Instead of searching for a term across all pages on the web, search within a specialized field. Google has a number of specific searches, allowing you to search within blogs, news, books, and much more:
- Movies. Use the “movie:” operator to search for a movie title along with either a zip code or U.S. city and state to get a list of movie theaters in the area and show times.
- Music. The “music:” operator returns content related to music only.
- Unit converter. Use Google for a quick conversion, from yards to meters for example, or different currency: [12 meters in yards]
- Types of numbers: Google algorithms can recognize patterns in numbers you enter, so you can search for:
-
- Telephone area codes
- Vehicle ID number (US only)
- Federal Communications Commission (FCC) equipment numbers (US only)
- UPC codes
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airplane registration number (US only)
- Patent numbers (US only)
- Even stock quotes (using the stock symbol) or a weather forecast regarding the next five days
- File types. If you just want to search for .PDF files, or Word documents, or Excel spreadsheets, for example, use the “filetype:” operator.
- Location of term. By default, Google searches for your term throughout a web page. But if you just want it to search certain locations, you can use operators such as “inurl:”, “intitle:”, “intext:”, and “inanchor:”. Those search for a term only within the URL, the title,
the body text, and the anchor text (the text used to describe a link).
- Cached pages. Looking for a version of a page the Google stores on its own servers? This can help with outdated or update pages. Use the “cached:” operator.
- Answer to life, the universe, and everything. Search for that phrase, in lower case, and Google will give you the answer.
More info:
For more on Google’s search syntax, see this guide, and this one.
Quoted from http://www.jscreenfix.com/:
JScreenFix - Fix stuck pixels and screen burn-in
JScreenFix
JScreenFix is a software solution that can fix stuck pixels, reduce screen burn-in and improve the quality of images displayed on a screen.
What is a stuck pixel?
A stuck pixel is a bright dot of colour most noticeable when the rest of the screen is black. Stuck pixels are fairly common on high resolution LCD screens. Stuck pixels sometimes start working again with time unless they appear black on a white background, these are known as dead pixels.
JScreenFix repairs stuck pixels through rapid, repetitive operation and resonance. Most stuck pixels are repaired within 20 minutes. How do I check for stuck pixels?
What is screen burn-in?
Dark patches on a plasma screen are the result of screen burn-in. Burn-in occurs on plasma screens if an area of the screen does not change for a long period of time. For TV input, channel logos often burn into the screen. This can also occur on LCD screens and is more correctly referred to as image persistence.
JScreenFix can eliminate image persistence on LCD screens and reduce burn-in on plasma screens. How do I check for screen burn-in?
JScreenFix deluxe can prevent noticeable damage by monitoring how a screen is used and equalising burn-in patterns.
How do I fix a screen?
This depends on the type of screen and the device it is connected to. For LCD screens connected to a computer, the JScreenFix applet is the best solution. The JScreenFix applet can also be used to reduce screen burn-in on plasma screens when run in fullscreen mode.
JScreenFix deluxe is the recommended solution for computers connected to plasma screens. This utility monitors how the display is used and can equalise future damage automatically. It also includes support for defining templates to repair previous burn-in and reoccurring stuck pixels.
For PDAs, mobile phones and other portable devices supporting Java, the Java Midlet should be used.
For screens connected to a standalone DVD player, PixelProtector is the best solution.
Quoted from http://www.pthree.org/the-ultimate-firefox-extension-list-for-junkies/:
Aaron Toponce » The Ultimate Firefox Extension List For Junkies
December 5th, 2005 by Aaron
This is an ever-growing and ever-changing list. These extensions are by far the Ultimate of Ultimate Must-Have Extensions for Firefox. Every extension works with the latest version of Firefox, and is platform independent. I don’t provide links to the installs, but rather just the pages. The reason for this, is the versions change so frequently. Anyhow, here’s the list, in alphabetic order. If you see a star (
) next to the extension, it means that I think it should be built in to the browser by default, or I would like to see it in the next release. Enjoy.
Extensions:
- Adblock Plus- This extension is necessary for the Filterset.G Updater, and is crucial to blocking the ads on the pages. Not only are images blocked, but flash, iframes, javascript and plenty more. Of course, you can explicitly define what is blocked, or you can use wild cards to block whole directories or domains. Whenever I install Firefox for someone new, this is the first extension I download and install.
- All-in-one Sidebar- Now, rather than opening up a new window to manage your downloads, extensions and themes, you can open them in a sidebar similar to that of Opera. Really, one of the most handy extensions that I use.
- Calculator- Sweet! A solid calculator that will replace the default calculator on any operating system! It keeps a history of everything you type plus it has trig functions, constants, conversions and algebraic functions. It can run as a separate window, in a tab, or in the sidebar. Even though this isn’t fully fledged like many calculators out there, this is a very solid replacement for the OS built in. Personally, I still prefer to use my HP and TI emulators, but this extension is just solid and fast. Get it!
- ChatZilla- If you are using Linux, which you should be, then this app isn’t all that hot. However, if you aren’t, then this maybe just the IRC client you were looking for. It is still lacking in many features that most IRC clients give, however, it is free, and you don’t have to feel guilty searching for an mIRC crack. It still holds its own, and opens in a separate window. This is a great client when you are spending hours searching through Google looking for that technical answer.
- ColorZilla- One of those web dev apps that just makes sense. Here, I have the ability to pick any color within the Firefox program, and get the RGB, HTML and gamma values of the color. Not only can I pick a color from the page, but I have a color picker pallet that I can pick from as well. Options include panning, zooming and copying the results to the clipboard. The only issue with Linux is making sure Firefox was compiled using the same GCC version as the extension (the Ubuntu Firefox package was not). When it works, it works well.
- Download Manager Tweak- This extension is one of those must-haves. Personally, it is quite annoying to me for a separate window to pop up when downloading files from the web. And even though you can configure the behavior in the settings, sometimes the window just won’t close. With this extension, rather, I can have the download manager open in a new tab or a sidebar. Also I can configure if it loads in the background or foreground, which buttons I want visible and much more. A rock-solid extension!
- FireFTP- This should be included by default into the next major Firefox release. This is a fully-featured and completely customizable FTP client. This rivals all free FTP clients currently available. The only thing that it lacks is SSH/SCP implementation. Other than that, this extension just plain rocks, and is in every installation of Firefox that I currently oversee.
- Forecastfox- There are no doubt several weather applications available, and many of them heavily customizable. However, when my Firefox browser is open, most weather applications are covered by the window. Here, I can have the weather updates in the status bar showing 3 days ahead. Forecastfox connects to Accuweather.com for it’s updates and shows graphics of what the weather will be like. When your mouse hovers, you get temperature, wind speed and direction and a brief forecast for the day. Clicking on the image will take you to the Accuweather site for more detailed info.
- GMail Manger- While there are a number of options to view the status of your inbox, nothing beats pure simplicity. Sure, I can see my inbox through the personalized Google homepage, an email client or a number of other options. But I do not always have my email client up and I am not always looking at the Google homepage. While browsing, it is nice to know when I receive a new message. The Manger does just that, plus allows me to view drafts, labels, unread messages and more. I can also manage multiple GMail accounts.
- Google Browser Sync- Why is it that Google has the most useful software? In this case, I have the ability to sync browser sessions across multiple computers. It will sync bookmarks, history, cookies, tabs, windows and saved passwords. Of course, you don’t have to sync all of them. You can choose what you want as you please through the preferences. All of this through your Google Account. Naturally, you don’t want to install this extension on computers that is accessed by others. Pretty awesome, though! A definite must-have.
- Google Send to Phone- Here’s a useful extension that has its place. Send text messages to any cell phone with any cellular carrier in the United States. This is very helpful to remind your spouse to pick up certain grocery items, meet a friend at a location, or whatever. Very handy to use rather than typing the message in your own phone, not to mention saving you the $.10 if you don’t subscribe to text messaging in your plan
- HTML Validator- Being a web developer, this extension, along with the next one in the list, are quite handy to use. This extension will validate your page against the W3C. No more need to visit the page separately to see if your code validates. This handy little extension will sit in your status bar letting you know if the page validates, has warnings or if it has errors. It will show you with an icon that changes colors: green, yellow and red respectively. If that isn’t enough, it will also tell you precisely what those errors are and how to fix them when viewing the source of the page in Firefox. It was because of this extension that I was able to work out the warnings in Wordpress and make this site validate perfectly. Handy extension.
- Measureit- Being a web developer and wannabe graphics artist, I am constantly curious about the width of images and elements. This is another simple extension. It sits quietly in the lower-left of the status bar, and when clicked, creates cross-hairs of your mouse pointer. The only bug I have noticed, is when zooming in on pages, the pointer doesn’t take that into account. Other than that, it is a valuable tool for a web dev.
- PDF Download- Now I have the ability to either view the PDF in the window, a new tab, view it as HTML or download it directly. It just doesn’t get plainer than that.
- Performancing- Post to your blog directly from this 3rd party blogging tool. All of the major blogs are supported including Blogger, Wordpress, Movable Type, Typepad and others. A small icon sits in your task bar for launching the application, and when launched, a WYSIWYG editor shows with all of the categories, posts and history of your blog. This is one solid extension. The only feature I would have for it is the ability to edit pages not included in the feed of your blog. Then again, that would be a blog setting and not something this extension could handle.
- SmoothWheel- I’m going to be frank. This is my least favorite of extensions that I have installed. I do like it however, it is just, well, okay. Nothing about it really stands out. I downloaded it to see how it affected scrolling pages, and I was impressed at first, but since, have toned it down a bit, as it has become somewhat of an annoyance. There are a number of options for scrolling the page faster or slower and a couple other useful tidbits. Overall, I like it, but it’s just okay. I don’t know what else to say. I do find that when I uninstall it, I miss it.
- Tab Mix Plus- Tab Mix Plus is one solid extension. It takes tabbed browsing to a whole new level. Tabs can be opened in the foreground, background, open your homepage, show the page load status and much more. Definitely a must for any installation. This is probably the first, if not second extension I install on any Firefox install.
- Tab Preview- A friend brought this extension to my attention, and I have since been converted. Normally, when I am browsing the web, I have a ton of tabs open. Ten or more at least. With that many open, it makes it difficult to see what tabs hold what web page. With Tab Preview, I can hover my mouse over the background tap, and get an image preview of what it contains. The image can be customized to show immediately or delayed, and how large it should be. This extension should be implemented into the next major Firefox release, as it has just become too crucial of an extension IMHO to leave out.
- User Agent Switcher- For some reason, this is one of the extensions that I didn’t think about until after installing most of the ones on this list. You now have the ability to spoof your user agent string to your liking. You can even create your own customized string, if you desire. What are the benefits you ask? Spoofing. Telling a web page that your browser is something other than it is. I don’t know. It’s just fun.
- Viamatic foXpose- If you have a Mac, then you are most likely familiar with Expose, a feature with Mac OS X that allows you to view all over your open windows with the press of the key on the keyboard. Well, with Viamatic foXpose, you can view all of your open tabs in a single window just by pressing a little button in the bottom left of the status bar. Select the tab you want, and you’re taken there. There aren’t any preferences to configure, so you just install it and use it. If you have a number of extensions installed also, it seems to run a tad slow. But this extension is killer, and it only works with version 1.5 and later.
Themes:
These 4 themes are all part of the Tango Desktop Project. The project exists to create a consistent look and feel to the Linux desktop and Open Source Software. While the project is still immature, these themes for Firefox show how well it works. At any event, if your are a Gnome user, these themes will integrate with 90% of Gnome themes fairly well. You really won’t need any other themes installed.
All 4 themes work with Firefox 2 and above. I have not tested them with earlier releases. If you are running an earlier release, I strongly recommend that you upgrade. There are a number of security and bug fixes. If you’re a KDE user, I don’t know of any themes from that project as of yet, but I’m sure they are in the works.
These themes are on the Mozilla update system, so Firefox will appropriately ask you to update when new versions are released.
- Tango- The theme is tight, and makes Firefox integrate tightly with Gnome. It is the core standard from which the rest of the 3 themes are based on.
- Tangerine- This theme is a child of the Tango theme above, except rather, it works well with the Ubuntu Human theme. Firefox now actually looks like it belongs with the Ubuntu operating system.
- Gnome- Another child of the Tango theme above, this theme however, works well with the Clearlooks and Industrial Tango themes for Gnome. Styled to give a modern edge, it is really cool, and again, tightly integrated.
- Industrial- The last of the 4 built from the Tango icon set, this theme really only works well if you are using the Industrial look from Novell. This theme is the least favorite of the 4 for me because of the ‘older’ feel that it has. However, the design is just as good and tight as the previous three.
Search Engines:
The search engines listed below are the only search engines that I have installed. Using the SearchPluginHacks extension listed above, I deleted all the rest that came bundled with Firefox.
- Amazon- I spend a great deal of time looking for deals on line when shopping. Amazon just works for me, they have speedy delivery and a great inventory.
- Bittorrent- At first thought, you may think bittorrents are used for nothing but piracy, but later you realize that piracy isn’t really all that great, and there is a great deal of open source software and tools that are torrents.
- Flickr Tags- It’s always fun to browse different photo albums, view screen shots and more. Flickr is just cool.
- Google- Built into the browser by default, this search engine is the creme of the crop, and appears first on the list, regardless of how many you have installed.
- IMDB- Being a movie buff, I spend more time here than I should. Get info on actors, movies, directors and much more.
- Technorati- If you syndicate a feed, any feed, then Technorati is your friend. Get stats on blogs, search results, feeds and anything else related to blogging.
- Weather.com- Even though I have Forecastfox installed, I still use Weather.com for my detailed weather reports rather than Accuweather.
- WebMD- An absolute must if you have kids. Search anything medical related including symptoms, allergies, bacteria, viruses, medicine and much more.
- Webster- I use Webster when I don’t know the definition of a word or need a thesaurus. Who uses printed dictionaries these days?
- Wikipedia (EN)- Even with all the flack that Wikipedia has been through lately, it still is a credible resource for a large majority of information. Besides, it’s just too cool having the ability to edit any page.
That’s it for my list of The Ultimate Firefox Extension List for Junkies. Like I said, I have found these extensions, themes and search engines to be the most useful for me. Yes, I have every one of them installed. If I uninstall the extension, then I take it down from this list. They may not do much for you, so try them out, and see what you think. I personally believe that many of these could be implemented by default into the browser itself. Of course, I am always on the lookout for more extensions. If you have one that you just can’t live without, feel free to post them in the comments below.
Well folks, the evidence is starting to roll in that those of us(myself included) who jumped ship to prepare for an iPhone did so under false pretenses. I’m disenchanted by the fact that it’s so crippled and the process and integreation isn’t what was to be expected… There are two dealbreakers for me here. No FAN discount, and no support for Exchange PUSH. I was considering it since I was under the impression that the corporate “hookup” I have would apply to the iPhone. So such dice.. Apple, like with everything else they have ever sold offers absolutely ZERO discount and price adjustments(such as Macbooks being sold in places such as Guitar Center.)
Here is some of the latest news and I will continue to report on this as information becomes availible. Click the link to see the entire thread including any updates to the information.
Quoted from http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/579009962631/m/221004385831/p/1:
PSA: Things to keep in mind if you’re planning on buying an iPhone - Topic by The Faceless Rebel
All of these have been confirmed and verified as factual at this time. One hopes that as word of some of these things gets out, AT&T and Apple will loosen some of the more onerous restrictions. This is not supposed to be an Apple-bashing/Apple-worshiping flamewar thread. The Battlefront is that way if those are the droids you’re looking for. If you’re here to worship at the Altar of Jobs, the Mac Achaia is also that way. This thread is merely to provide useful information to prospective iPhone buyers and nothing more.
1) All iPhones must have a voice plan AND a data plan. AT&T is offering “bundle” plans with iPhone which consists of nothing more than a voice plan and data plan stuck together. They cost exactly the same as a regular phone with data and voice plans, there is no discount with the bundle.
2) iPhone is not only SIM-locked to AT&T, it is locked to the specific SIM it comes with. No other SIMs will work. If you put a different SIM in, you can use the iPod functions of the iPhone such as playing music, but the cellular network is locked out.
3) There is no way to transfer your existing contacts from your current SIM within the iPhone. You need to first transfer your existing contacts from your old SIM into iTunes, and then to the iPhone. If you already own a USB cable for your current phone, then you’re good to go. Most recent phones come with a USB data cable of some sort unless you got one of the cheapest free phones, in which case you aren’t in the iPhone’s target market anyways. Note that Bluetooth currently does not work for data transfer of any kind.
4) iPhone cannot be activated in the AT&T store. You must go home and activate through iTunes with a valid credit card. Current customers of AT&T are reporting very long activation wait times, as long as 2-4 hours.
5) If you buy an iPhone to try it, remember there is a 10% restocking fee if you open the box even if you are within the return period. This falls in line with Apple’s standard return policy, but not with AT&T’s. It’s an Apple product being sold at the AT&T store.
6) The return period is 14 days instead of the usual 30. Again in line with the Apple return policy, not the AT&T one.
7) Currently the iPhone does not support Adobe Flash, and it is unknown if it ever will as Apple is currently embargoing all 3rd party application development. Teh Great and Mighty Jobs has hinted there may be Flash at some point in the future.
Just to reiterate point (7), currently no 3rd party application development is allowed for iPhone. There is no SDK, and it cannot run ordinary Mac OS X applications. Furthermore even if you made an app there is no way to install your app on the iPhone as iTunes won’t allow it anyways. iTunes only lets you transfer music and videos.
9) Just to reiterate point (8), there is also no Java support so you can’t make applications that way. Apple has said there will never be Java support. Teh Great and Mighty Steve doesn’t like Java.
10) The battery is internal, just as with iPods. After 300-400 charges, you need to send your iPhone to Apple and they will replace the battery for a fee. Heavy cell phone users will probably need to send their iPhone in for a new battery in a year or less. I suspect that most Generation 1 iPhone buyers will upgrade to Generation 2 iPhone the moment it comes out anyways, so this point may be largely moot.
11) iPhone only supports AT&T’s 2.5G/EDGE network at this time, though Teh Great and Mighty Steve has already commented that there will be a 3G/UMTS/HSPA version of the iPhone when AT&T rolls out 3G in enough areas to justify support. I’ve been a Cingular/AT&T customer for a long time now, and knowing the glacial pace that AT&T rolls out network upgrades, that means the wait for a 3G iPhone could be long indeed.
12) There is no iChat at this time, and since 3rd party apps are not allowed, no other IM clients can ever be released for iPhone.
13) Currently the iPhone cannot use ordinary music tracks from iTunes as ringtones. It’s not known at this time if you can create your own ringtones in iTunes and then send them to your iPhone tagged as ringtones, or if this won’t be allowed because AT&T wants to violate you for additional fees to buy their premade ringtones. Remember, wireless companies never use lube.
14) The iPhone is exclusive to AT&T for at least 5 years. 5 years is like an eternity in the world of wireless communications. So, learn to like the restrictions that Apple and AT&T have placed on the iPhone, or don’t buy it, because you’re not going to see a Verizon or T-Mobile iPhone anytime soon. Remember, Apple never uses lube.
15) Bluetooth support is crippled. There is no OBEX so you cannot transfer music or other files to other devices. There are UNCONFIRMED reports that right now Bluetooth only works with the iPhone’s headset and nothing else. *STAND BY FOR UPDATED INFORMATION*
16) Just to reiterate points (7), (8), and (9), running AJAX scripts (AJAX stands for Asynchronous Javascript and XML, in case you’re wondering what AJAX is) does not in any way count as having a real SDK or being able to create and run 3rd party applications. There is no Reality Distortion Field powerful enough to make anyone think AJAX is the same as real applications.
17) Currently there is no voice dialing support in the iPhone. That is likely to change in the future, as just about everyone will clamor for such a feature to be implemented.
18) There are NO discounts on iPhone. No upgrade discount, no new customer discount, and no FAN (corporate/university) discount. You pay full price like everyone else, or you don’t get to buy iPhone. Simple.
19) Currently the bundled voice/data iPhone plans do not work with FAN discounts. iPhone buyers who have FAN accounts are now finding they cannot activate at all. This is presumably better than the previous problem where people who had FAN discounts were losing them from their accounts. I’m guessing that AT&T is working on this as we speak. Normally FAN discounts only work on voice plans and not data plans, so AT&T needs to figure out a way to calculate the value of their bundled plans separately and apply the FAN discount to the voice part of the plan only.
I hope this PSA has been helpful to prospective iPhone buyers. I would suggest that anyone interested in iPhone wait for the 2nd generation product rather than put down $500-600 for a device which seeks to restrict everything you can do with it while simultaneously finding creative new ways to siphon money from your wallet.
