Have you ever asked any of these questions?

• What if I want to put a bunch of videos on a disc or USB drive to watch on a trip?
• What if I am reading a blog and want to see a how-to video on the topic I am reading about?
• Where can I keep all of my videos for later viewing?

Well let me tell you what, you will get answers to those and more. Well, more like you will get Firefox Add-ons to solve these problems. To make it easier for you, I created a Firefox Add-on Collection. Below is a description of each of the different plugins.

1. PIP – Picture in Picture (Mac and Linux)

I was really happy to find this add-on. It used to bother me that I had to stay on a tab to watch a video. With PIP – Picture in picture, you are free to roam from tab to tab while the video plays in the bottom right corner of your screen. Initially the window is pretty small. In the settings you can adjust the size to something more viewable.

This is what it looks like in action.

2. FireTorrent

FireTorrent is a great option for the person who occasionally needs to download a torrent file, but doesn’t want to take up the space of a totally separate program. It offers a surprisingly good speed for what you might expect for an add-on. FireTorrent is not compatible with Firefox 3.6 yet.

3. KeepTube

KeepTube is a pretty slick video downloader. Normally when you go to a site such as Youtube, for example, you can share the video on major sited like Twitter and Facebook. You can also send someone a link or even embed the video into a webpage. What KeepTube lets you do is download the video right to your computer so you can share it how ever you would like.

Here is a list of the supported sites.

4. Related Video Sidebar

If you are searching the web for information on how to do something, this is a must have. For example, when you are on a site about Blackberry tips, you can activate the sidebar by clicking on the icon in the status bar in the bottom right of your Firefox window. The Sidebar opens and shows 6 videos related to the article you are reading. Very handy if you are a visual learner.

5. Video Bookmarking

If you read the post a while back about Popscreen, this is a similar site. What the plugin offers is a fast way to save the video you like for later sharing or viewing. Video Bookmarks is not compatible with Firefox 3.6 yet.

How do you handle all of the videos you are bombarded with every day?

intro image halimeade

5 Great Firefox Addons For Power Video Surfing originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

1. TooManyTabs

If you have used TooManyTabs in Firefox, you will love this similar extension for Chrome too. They are from the same developers, but this TMT for Chrome is much more visually pleasing than the Firefox version.

When clicked, TMT will show a window containing all the opened tabs in your current session. You can then click on any tabs that you have currently no use for to move it to the suspended tabs section. The tab state will be saved and memory will be released for other usage. At any point of time, you can easily retrieve back your suspended tabs (and its saved state) by clicking on it in the right column.

2. QuickTabs

When your tab list get longer and longer, you no longer can see the favicon and the title of the tab. When such things happen, Quick Tabs will come in handy. Quick Tabs lists all your tabs in a vertical dropdown fashion and you can easily scroll down to locate the tab you want. In addition, it also comes with a search bar for you to search your opened tabs.

What I really like about this extension is the availability of keyboard shortcuts and the option to choose how many tabs to display in the list. I can easily press Ctrl + M to open the popup window or Ctrl + d to close a tab shortcut.

Personally, I have not reached the tabs nirvana stage where I need to search for my opened tabs, but for those who are into tabs surfing, this is a really useful extension. Another similar extension is Tab Menu.

3. Sexy Undo Close Tab

For those who are tired of going to the History section to retrieve your closed tabs, this extension is going to be very useful. What it does is to show you a list of tabs that you have previously closed so you can retrieve it quickly and easily.

In the settings, you can choose how many closed tabs to display. One thing though, the closed tab list is only valid for the current session. If you restart your Chrome (or start a new session), the previous closed tab list will be gone.

4. Tabs to the front!

In usual situation, when you click a link to open in a new tab, you will still need to click on the new tab to make it the active tab. Tabs to the front! automatically make the newly created tab the active tab and it saves you the effort to click on it.

5. TabJump

When working with many tabs at the same time, it’s hard to remember which one you want to go next. TabJump highlights frequently used tabs and related tabs so you can easily jump between them. In addition, TabJump store your recently closed tabs in the same list so you can easily retrieve them.

For your info, the developer of TabJump is the same as TooManyTabs.

6. TabsPlus

Usually, when you click to open a new tab, it will open itself in the right side of the current tab. It will also open in the background and you have to click it to make it active. Now, if you want to change the behavior of the tab opening, then TabsPlus is the one for you. With TabsPlus, you can select whether to open the new tab as the first tab (extreme left) or as the last tab (extreme right). You can also choose to open in the background or foreground.

7. Session Manager

This Session Manager extension allows you to save your current session (opened tabs and windows) and restore them later. You can save multiple sessions.

8. New Tab Redirect!

With New Tab Redirect, you can now set a custom URL to load in new tabs.  You can choose from Chrome’s about pages, a few popular URLs, or provide your own. Your custom tab can also be a local file, allowing you to create your own new tab page.

Of course, if you are using extensions like Speed Dial, this extension won’t work.

9. Tab wrangler

Tab Wrangler closes a tab if it has inactive for a period time. This is useful if you have the habit of opening many tabs and forget to close them later. The default time is 7 minutes, but you can change it in the settings.

10. JoinTabs

JoinTabs come in the form of an icon where you can click to combine the tabs from different Chrome windows into one window. It works also with popup windows, but not pinned tabs. For those who want this feature to run automatically in the background, you can try the JoinTabs No Icon.

Which extensions do you use to manage your tabs in Chrome?

10 Useful Chrome Extensions For Efficient Tabs Management originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

Magnet link makes it very convenient for all of us to download file. However, when you click on the magnet link in the browser, you will probably see the error message below.

So how can we open magnet links in the browser in various OS?

Note: Not all Bit-torrent clients support magnet links. Vuze, uTorrent and Transmission are several clients that support magnet links.

In Linux (Gnome)

If you are using Ubuntu Karmic, the default transmission does not support magnet link. You have to upgrade to the latest version (1.9 as of this post).

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:transmissionbt/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Alternatively, you can also install Vuze

sudo apt-get install vuze

Next, we are going to add an entry to your gonf. In your terminal:

gconftool-2 -t string -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/magnet/command "/usr/bin/transmission %s"
gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/magnet/needs_terminal false -t bool
gconftool-2 -t bool -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/magnet/enabled true

If you are using Vuze, change the /usr/bin/transmission to the filepath of the Vuze application (usually is /usr/bin/vuze).

That’s it.

Note: If you are using Swiftfox or Opera, the magnet link will not work with the above trick.

In Windows

Download and install uTorrent, Vuze or Transmission.

Open NotePad and type the following in it:

REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTmagnet]
@="URL:magnet Protocol"
"URL Protocol"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTmagnetshell]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTmagnetshellopen]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTfooshellopencommand]
@=""C:\Program Files\uTorrent\uTorrent.exe" "%1""

If you are using Bit-torrent client other than uTorrent, replace the last line C:\Program Files\uTorrent\uTorrent.exe with the filepath of your Bit torrent application.

Save the file as “magnet.reg“, then double-click it to insert into the Windows registry. You will see some warning windows as shown below.

Click Yes to proceed.

Once the import is completed, you can click on the magnet link in your browser and then select the application that you want to use.

In Mac

There is no configuration required in Mac. If you install Transmission, Vuze or uTorrent, it will automatically add the protocol handler to the system. You can simply click on the magnet link and choose your application from the popup window.

How to Open Magnet Link In Browser originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

Conduit is an online service that allows tons of website publishers to create their own toolbars. It can also be used by any individual to create their personal toolbar and improve their productivity.

First things first, you have to signup for a free account to start using the service. After that, you will land on a page with a default toolbar which looks like following:

Let’s see how you can create a customized toolbar using Conduit.

Adding a Logo To Your Toolbar

I’ll be adding the MakeTechEasier logo to our toolbar. Lets see how to do it.

1. Go to the “My Toolbar” section and click the “Your Logo” link placed just under the Basic Components section. It will take you to a setup page from where you can add the logo.

2. You can add text to the logo or select from many predefined text styles. You can also upload a picture from your hard-drive.

3. When you are done with the logo, scroll down and add a link to the logo. This will open a URL of your choice when you click the logo. Add the alternate text for the logo so that when you hover over the logo, you will see a small hint. As this toolbar is for MTE readers, I will be choosing the destination URL as the blog’s home URL.

4. Press “Save” at the bottom to save all the changes that you have just made.

NOTE : Under the Basic components section, there are many more links that can be added to a toolbar. As they are not that useful to common users, I’m ignoring them.

Adding a Feed Reader to your toolbar

Go to the “My Toolbar” section and click the RSS reader under the “Popular Components” section. It will take you to a setup page to add RSS sources to your toolbar.

On step 1, select any RSS icon of your choice. Then skip the 2nd step and press the “Add an RSS Feed” button in step 3.

You will see a page to add RSS feeds. Define the feed URL and press save. You can add multiple feeds, one at a time.

Press “Save” to add the RSS widget to the toolbar.

Adding a News Ticker to your Toolbar

Most people are really addicted to news alerts, which they read from different blogs or websites. This toolbar can be optimized to give you news alerts on any number of topics that you select.

1. Go to the “My Toolbar” section and click the “News Ticker” under the “Basic components” section. It will take you to a setup page where you can add the news sources to your toolbar.

2. In the setup page, you can select from some predefined news sources which are available under step 1.

3. And if you like to import your own sources manually, you need to add the RSS URLs from that blog /website. Similarly, you can also update multiple feeds one at a time.

4. You can also define the length and breadth or other behaviors of the ticker using the sliders in step 3. After you have finished defining the element, press “Save” to complete the setup.

Add Email Notifier to Your Toolbar

This feature can be found under the “Popular section” and can be added very easily. Go to the page and save the settings. You can add the email addresses after you install the toolbar on your browser.

Adding a Chat Room And Twitter Widget

If you want a dedicated chatroom for your friends, Conduit toolbar offers you one. Conduit also lets you add a simple Twitter reader so that you can read Twitter updates directly from the toolbar. All you have to do is add the Twitter profiles you wish to follow.

Under “Social And Messages” section you can find these two most used utilities.

The search field in the toolbar is set to Google by default, you can define it by configuring the search widget. Among other tools that are mostly used, radio player, TV and games can also be installed in the toolbar.

Toolbar Components For Web Masters

The toolbar has endless possibilities and it is really useful for oneself to promote his/her blog or website. For experienced developers, you can even add XML links, custom defined HTML components and Java scripts with the Conduits API. The best part is that you get paid for every installation. Isn’t that like hitting two birds with one stone ?

Make Tech Easier Toolbar

I have prepared one such toolbar for all MTE readers, which can be downloaded from MTE Toolbar Page.

In conclusion, regardless whether you are a blog owner or just a casual web surfer, Conduit toolbar is an useful tool that can be used by anyone to improve their productivity.

How to Create a Customized Toolbar for Your Browser originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

What is a DNS server and why should I care?

In brief – a DNS server is what translates the domain names you type in your web browser (such as Yahoo.com) into usable IP addresses (like 209.131.36.159). When you enter a domain name, there has to be a DNS server somewhere along the line that can translate that name to an IP.

So each time you click a link or enter the name of a website into your address bar, your computer has to wait for the DNS server to respond and provide the real IP address of the site. If that DNS server is slow, you’ll have a delay in opening many of your sites, no matter how fast your internet speed, because you’re stuck waiting until you get a response.

If you’ve never manually specified a DNS server, you’re likely using the one provided by your ISP. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, but some ISPs don’t consider DNS performance a high priority. By choosing one of the other public DNS options, you may be able to make a noticeable difference in the time it takes to find and load websites.

So what are these public servers?

Since many ISPs don’t really worry too much about the speed of their DNS servers, other independent options have sprung up. The most popular has been OpenDNS, but that could change now that Google has entered the arena.

They both provide free access to their DNS servers. You can specify what DNS server to use on each individual computer, or inside your modem/router to have the change apply to all computers on your LAN. Applying these changes will be covered in more detail later in this article.

Getting namebench

We’ll be using namebench to scan a list of public DNS servers and determine our best options. Namebench runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac and can be downloaded for each platform at the link above.

It is a Python script and will require Python and the Python-tk library for graphics. You can skip the Python-tk requirement if you’ve satisfied with a command line interface.

Once you’ve got namebench downloaded, run the namebench.py file. I recommend running it from a command line window, as it prints a lot of information about what it’s doing to the console screen as it runs. If you have all the required software, you’ll get a screen similar to the following.

If you’re happy with the default settings, click Start Benchmark. This part may take a while. Give it at least 10 minutes to check all servers. Once complete, namebench will open your default web browser to a page showing the test results. The following shows the results of my benchmark.

This test showed that I got the best results from the public servers at OpenDNS, with Gorge Networks (my ISP) coming in second. After re-running the test a few times, my results varied a bit but my ISP always came in second (being the closest, geographically).

Applying your new DNS settings

Once you know the fastest servers for you, the next step is to apply those changes. For the sake of future simplicity, I suggest specifying the DNS info in your modem or router. Then you won’t have to worry about entering DNS info on every computer, or re-entering it after a new OS install.

Instructions for exactly how to do this vary widely depending on what modem/router you’re using. On my TP-Link DSL modem, I log in to 192.168.1.1 and put the DNS settings in the WAN > DNS section.

Linux users can manually specify the DNS server by editing the file /etc/resolv.conf.

Windows users can enter DNS settings on the TCP/IP Properties screen of each network adapter.

Mac OSX users can access DNS settings from the TCP/IP tab for any network interface inside the Network section of System Preferences.

How to Speed Up Browsing on All Platforms with Namebench originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

Lunascape is the first multilingual, triple engine browser developed in Japan. It combines the four main web browsers – Internet Explorer, FireFox, Chrome, and Safari. This mean that it supports the three layout engines, or rendering engines, that are used to create the four browsers listed above: Trident (Internet Explorer), Gecko (FireFox), and WebKit (Chrome/Safari). Currently, it only works on Windows.

One thing that I really liked about the browser is how customizable it is. When installing it, I am able to choose the default layout engine, or rendering engine that I want to use.

This doesn’t mean that I can’t quickly change to the other engines. In the lower-left hand corner, there is a globe icon that allows me to change the browser for that web page I am viewing.

You can even associate a web page with a specific layout engine, even if it’s not the default. This is especially useful when you need to test a web site/blog on various browsers.

You can even use Lunascape as a portable browser instead of having it installed on your system.

Lunascape allows you to import bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and various others. I found it a little strange that it didn’t allow you to import bookmarks from Safari or Chrome, since Webkit is one of the inbuilt layout engines.

Lunascape comes preset with four different skins – Default, Cool, Silver, and Simple. They are equivalent to the four browsers that Lunascape has. If you don’t like any of those, you can change the web skin to the 190 different web skins that were created by users. Users can also create their own skin and upload it into the skin library that Lunascape has online. There are some great skins in the library, so don’t forget to check it out.

The plugin library is not as vast. There is only one plugin available: Twitter plugin. This allows you to have the Twitter tool in the Lunascape browser. There should be more plugins available, or allow users to use the plugins from the other browsers. Looking in the Lunascape forum, it seems that users will have the capability of using Internet Explorer and FireFox plugins in Lunascape in the next release (currently in beta). Additionally, users are also able to register add-ons that they created for the browser.

Lunascape has a great built-in RSS Reader that allows you to add a single RSS feed or import an OPML file.

There is also a RSS Ticker that scrolls at the top of the browser with your RSS feeds.

It doesn’t seem that the RSS Reader and the RSS Ticker are associated with one another, which is a bad flaw. The best way to handle this is to allow you to pick and choose which feeds in your RSS Reader you want to be in the RSS Ticker. This will eliminate the redundancy of having to add an RSS feed to two different places, and not be overwhelmed with too many items scrolling at the top of the browser. A good thing is, the RSS settings are easily customizable and allows for the ease of subscribing to RSS podcasts.

In Lunscape, you are able to search different search engines, including Google, Yahoo, Ask, Technorati, Ebay, and Amazon. This is great because you don’t need to have more than one toolbar to search the different search engines.

Lunascape has various bookmarklet that have been taken from the three layout engines that you are able to use and customize to the way you want. They are sectioned off by Trident, Gecko, and Webkit, so you know where the bookmarklet came from. It gives you the capability of customizing the browser even more than you already can.

Overall, I have to say that Lunascape is a browser that web developers should use. There are a couple of issues with the browser, but nothing that takes away its customizability and usefulness.

Lunascape

Lunascape – The World’s First Triple Engine Browser originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

For those of you who don’t use bookmarklets or arent quite sure what they are, here is a brief description.

What are Bookmarklets?

Bookkmarklets are a tiny java script application designed to add one click functionality to your web browser. There are hundreds of different uses, many of which save the need to run a desktop program.

A few programs with bookmarklets that have been mentioned on Make Tech Easier before are:

• Webnotes
• Hootsuite
• Zementa
• Evom
• Posterous

Why Use a Bookmarklet?

The main reason to use them is to save time. As an example:

To email a copy of the Webnotes post to someone, use the “Gmail This!” bookmarklet. A window will pop up just like when the compose button in Gmail is clicked. The link and email subject are automatically added. If you want to add more to the body of the email you can explain what the link is before you email it.

Other reasons to use bookmarklets are:

• Sharing things quickly on a social media site
• Spell check
• SEO
• URL shortening
• Adding the site to a social bookmarking site (ie Delicious, Digg, Reddit)
• Subscribing to a RSS reader
• Eliminating the ads and bloat for printing

20 other useful bookmarklets

1. Share on Facebook

Share sites on your Facebook wall or send as a message

2. Share on Friendfeed

Share links on both Friendfeed and Twitter with this one bookmarklet

3. Gmail This!

If you are going to pick one from this list to try, pick this one. It will save immense amounts of time and keep distractions at a minimum.

4. Evernote

Great for the avid Evernote user. send a link with tags, web clip, and notes to the notebook of your choice. This is a very quick way to add things without keeping the page or desktop app open all the time.

5. Serendipity (Reddit)

Randomly displays a site. A lot like Stumbleupon

6. Add to RTM

Quickly add a reminder or to-do

7. Vox This!

Add content to your Vox Blog

8. Readability

If you do a lot of reading on the web, this customizable bookmarklet will rock your world. It removes the bloat and formats the text in a way that is easier for YOU to read.

9. Spell Check

Checks spelling of any page, even published pages. Any word spelled wrong or not in Firefox’s dictionary will be highlighted.

10. Subscribe in Google Reader

Fast way to add a RSS feed to your Google Reader

11. Xray

Great for web designers. Click the bookmarklet then on any item on a page. Information like dimensions, position and border is displayed.

12. Share on Tumblr

Easily share a link on Tumblr

13. BugMeNot

Use BugMeNot database of usernames and passwords to sign in to “registered users only” websites, like news sites.

14. Boxqueue

Add videos to your Boxee Queue for viewing later. You need both a Google account and Boxee account to make this bookmarklet work.

15. DiggThis!

Quickly add sites to Digg.

16. Password Generator

If you have trouble coming up with secure passwords all the time, save some time and energy by installing this bookmarklet.

17. Google Translate

Super handy for those times when you end up on a site written in a language other than your native tongue.

18. TweetBurner

You know there had to be at least one Twitter something or other in the list.

19. Pagezipper

Features like continuous scrolling and auto resizing of images for your browser window make viewing sites less work.

20. Printliminator

Eliminate items on the page you DO NOT want to print. Great for pages or blogs without a printer friendly version of the page or post.

Including the one we have previously mentioned at MakeTechEasier, here are 25 of the useful bookmarklets that you can place in your browser. These are only a small portion of what is available. All of them are made to save time or make your browsing experience more personalized or enjoyable.

What bookmarklets do you use?

Image credit suchitra prints

25 Time Saving Bookmarklets You Will Want to Have in Your Browser originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

Now, the question is: can this search process get any easier?

The answer is Yes, if you are using Inquisitor. You’ll be surprised how much faster, quicker and easier you can now search with the search bar.

Inquisitor is a browser plugin that extends the functionality of the search bar. It makes the search bar more intuitive, responsive and much easier to use. As you type in the search bar, Inquisitor starts to search the web and brings back the result on the fly, and enabling you to access to your search result faster.

Inquisitor is owned by Yahoo and is compatible with Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer 7, 8. It also works in Mac, PC and iPhone.

Once you have installed the respective extension for your browser, it will automatically replace your search bar. To perform an intuitive search, simply type in the search bar. A list of suggestions will appear as soon as you type. The initial result is based on your browser history, but as you type, the list get refined and brings in more relevant result for your search term. In most cases, I am able to find what I want without having to complete the search terms.

Inquisitor also comes with several configuration options that you can set to suit your preferences.

Options that you can configure include:

Auto-complete settings

Inquisitor will attempt to auto-complete your search term as you type. You can either make it auto-complete the entire phrase, current word or do nothing. Personally, I have found that choosing the “auto-complete current word only” option gives you better control of your search results.

Instant result setting

In the dropdown list of suggestion, you can You can choose how the result is displayed, whether website result first or keyword suggestions first.

Display count

Number of website results and keyword suggestions to display in the dropdown list.

Search Engine

The default search engine is Yahoo. You can also set it to Google.

A thing to note here: If you set the search engine to Google, the website result search will cease to work. You will only see keyword suggestions in the dropdown list.

Display links to additional search engines

If you are frequently using Wikipedia, Flickr or any other search engines to perform your search, this is where you add in the additional search engine to the dropdown list.

Conclusion

Depending on how often you use your browser’s search bar, this plugin can be useful/useless to you. For me, it has definitely improved my productivity and enabled me to get my search result much faster and easier. Being cross-platform/cross-browser compatible also make it a highly versatile tool, not to mention that it works great in iPhone and iPod Touch too.

What do you think?

Speed Up Your Web Search With Inquisitor originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

Like many modern browser, Opera 10 (Unite) offers tabbed browsing, a download manager, add-ons, speed dials (up to 25 favorite sites shown as a thumbnail), bookmarks with tagging; you know all the basics. Of course there are plenty of ways to customize the look, but the layout of the browser window is similar to that of Safari, Firefox and others.

Some of its Great Features

Built-in BitTorrent client

Opera Unite comes with a BitTorrent client that allows searching for and download of torrent files.

Cross-platform syncing

Opera Link enables you to sync bookmarks, speed dials, bookmark bar, notes, etc. with other devices including your phone running. As long as device is running a current version of Opera, Opera mini or Opera mobile; your information is right there and ready for you.

Customized search

The customizable web searching gets you quick access to Google, eBay, Amazon and more with the search field in the upper right corner. Or, for even quicker searching, search directly in the address bar using built-in and customizable keywords. For example, type “e VW Rabbit” in the address bar to search for “VW Rabbits” on eBay.

Web server within browser

The innovative features Unite is bringing to the table are really going to turn some heads. The idea behind the “services” as they are calling them, is to create a web server within the broswer and make each computer accessible from anywhere on the web, allowing you to retrieve information from it just like you would from a website or server. There will be more services to come, but right now here is what Unite comes with.

• Media Player – Access your local music collection from anywhere on the Internet.
• Web Server – Host a web site from the local computer.
• Photo Sharing – Share photos directly without uploading to a middleman site like Flickr.
• File Sharing – Allows sharing files directly between users; no emailing or torrent sites needed.
• The Lounge – A chat interface hosted on your computer.
• Fridge – Lets other people can put a virtual sticky note on the your refrigerator door like back in the day.

My Experiences Using the New Features

I do have to admit that these features are a really good idea. I think for people who embrace the new browser, the services could take the place of many third party hosting and application sites for smaller scale usage. However, while playing with the services feature, I did run into a few instances where I needed to reset the sharing part of the browser. There was no specific reason, just an unnamed error. I am sure as it gets closer to the final release it will be a lot more stable.

With the growing number of data enabled mobile devices, having all of your information synced is becoming more important by the day. Both the desktop and mobile versions of Opera are very fast browsers to surf the web. Having the ability to sync my bookmarks (which I imported from Firefox), coupled with being able to surf the mobile web via a HTML browser while I’m out is a really great thing in a pinch.

I don’t see myself making a total transition from Firefox just yet. I am going to keep using it part time and keep an eye on what services they roll out in the coming months. I wouldn’t write off Opera, they have been in the background for a long time making a really reliable browser. In the end, all the bells and whistles can make a browser fancy, but speed, usability and reliability are what matters. (Sorry Internet Explorer) Download Unite here and see what you think.

What are your thoughts on the Opera browsers?

Review of Opera Unite: Putting a Web Server In a Browser originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

It’s a competitive world out there, and in the world of web browsers the phrase would be “extermely competitive”. Remember the good ol’ days of browser war back in the 90s? While there’s no more IE in the Mac universe, the competition is still very stiff. The not-so-famous names try so hard to get their brands out to the masses.

Most Mac users I know use either Safari or Firefox. But there are other good browsers out there that deserve a decent attention. Even though at the end you’ll get back to your old love, there’s nothing wrong on giving these alternative a try.

Mac-Only Browser

1. OmniWeb

OmniWeb is a veteran which need no further introduction. OmniWeb used to be a paid app and has been the alternative browser for Mac for so long that it has its own “cult” follower. Now that it’s available for free, there’s no other reason why you can’t try it.

2. Shiira

Shiira is the result of a (bit idealistic) project from Japanese developer to create a browser that is better and more useful than Safari. That’s why it’s based on Web Kit and written in Cocoa. So whether the project’s goal is reached or not, is for you – the users – to decide.

3. Camino

Camino is an open source web browser developed by Mozilla Project with a focus on providing the best possible experience for Mac OS X users. So if you want Firefox which built specifically for Mac, this is the one.

4. Stainless

Stainless used to be the ‘twisted’ Mac version of Google Chrome. But in the development, Stainless grows to become a unique browser with its own unique features, such as: parallel sessions, which allow users to log into a site using different credentials in separate tabs at the same time. (I’ve tried this with GMail but failed).

5. Sunrise

Sunrise is another Japanese Mac browser project based on Webkit. It has some unique features like visual bookmark and the ability to take snapshot of an entire web page. Another tiny useful feature is the ability to visually watch the loading progress of a page which is missing from Safari 4.

Not Mac-Only Browser

6. Opera

Opera is an ‘old’ browser who survive the browser war. The company which creates Opera is also one of the pioneers on development of ‘great’ mobile browser. The Mac version of Opera is also a good and stable alternative browser, but the existence of Safari and Firefox (and some people said also the un-Mac look of Opera) makes this oldies has to struggle to get more attention.

7. Flock

Flock is a browser which dubbed itself as the “social browser” and equipped itself with many social-ish features from blogging to facebook-ing and flickr-ing. The easy-WYSIWYG blog editor itself makes Flock worth the look.

8. Chrome

Chrome needs no further explanation. This Google’s browser is predicted to be one of the strong names in the future. At this moment, there’s no stable Mac version released to the public yet, but the alpha tester reported that we can expect good things to come.

Have you used any of these? Or do you know other alternative web browsers for Mac? Share using the comment below.

8 Alternative Web Browsers for Mac originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

End the terrible thought of having to manually conduct every task that requires your attention on the web and “employ” the use of a more effective, time saving, accurate app.

How it works:

As soon as you’re able to get the hang of it, you can easily do more than just repeat a group of specified steps. You’ll be able to start scripting some very complex tasks in Firefox that will allow you to save immense amounts of time and sky rocket your productivity. This works by iMacros placing a library like function bar that goes in the left side of your screen.

Now you just have to click the ‘Record’ button on the ‘Rec’ tab of the iMacros sidebar, start doing some tasks you’d like to record in Firefox, click ‘Stop’, and now you’ve instantly just made a macro.

To tell iMacros to replay the task all you have to do is find your macro in the list, hit the play tab and click ‘Play’ to do the task in the macro.

Once you’ve created a macro in Firefox, you can go directly to the ‘Edit’ tab in the iMacros sidebar, select your recoreded steps from the list and choose the ‘Edit Macro’ option to view and edit its corresponding code. It’s fairly easy and simple  to pick up on the basics of the scripting language iMacros uses just by recording a macro and effectively viewing its source code. Here’s a quick step by step overview of the entire process.

Conclusion

This is an incredible Firefox extension that will allow you to save ample amounts of time with the click of a button. Leave all of those repetitive and annoyingly tedious tasks in the past and look forward to a more productive future with the use of iMacros.

If you’ve ever used or have found this app to be useful, please feel free to discuss it below and subscribe to our amazing feed for one of the best scoops on free apps!

Automate Your Browser Tasks With iMacros originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

Fluid is a prism like Site Specific Browser (SSB) for Mac OSX Leopard that allows you to run a specific site like an application. Each SSB is just like any other applications in your Mac system and comes with its complete sets of user tools, including desktop icon, dock icon, menu bar and Preferences page. What makes Fluid different from Mozilla’s Prism is that it makes use of Safari’s Webkit rendering engine and is able to integrate seamlessly into the Mac OS.

There is no installation required for Fluid. After you have downloaded and extracted the zip file, simply click on the Fluid icon to create your first SSB.

It might take a few seconds for it to generate the site, but once it is done, you will find your SSB reside in the Applications folder just like any other apps. When you launched it, you will also see the SSB icon in the dock.

There are some well-thought design in the user interface:

1) When you click on an external link, it will open in a new window (instead of a new tab).This is done so that each browser is specific to only one site. However, the newly opened window will be treated as a child to the parent window and it is always stacked below the parent window.

2) The URL bar is hidden by default to provide more viewing spaces. Since each browser runs only one site, the chances of using the URL bar is definitely lower than a normal browser. To access the URL bar, click the button located on the top-right corner.

Features

1) Dock SSB as an icon in status bar

This is a feature where you convert your SSB into an icon at the status bar. This is useful if you want to have quick access to your site, for example, accessing your Gmail account quickly.

2) Plugins

There are several plugins built into the Fluid package:

Thumbnails plugin

This plugin allows you to view your search result (Digg, Google, Flickr etc) in a cover flow style.

Browsa

Split up your SSB into several panels and load different sites in them. This is useful if you want to compare two sites side by side.

Why would I need this?

Most people will argue the need for this type of SSB when you can simply open up multiple tabs in a single browser.

First of all, whether there is a need for this or not is really up to personal preferences. Some prefer their favorite sites to be like an application on the desktop where they can launch it quickly while others prefer to launch multiple tabs in their browser.

Secondly, when you open up too many tabs in a browser (such as Firefox), there is a tendency for it to take up a lot of memory, and could lead to crash of the browser. With SSB, you won’t have such problems.

Thirdly, Fluid does provides some useful features targeted for single site. For example, you can create a SSB for Gmail and dock it in the status bar. You can then easily check any incoming mails by clicking on the icon. With Google Gear, you can also use it as a native desktop application.

In my opinion, Fluid does not aim to replace the current browser that you are using. Instead, it is meant to complement your current way of browsing the Web by providing you a more convenient (and personalize) way to access your favorite sites.

What’s your feel on this?

Fluid: A Powerful Site Specific Browser For Mac OS X originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

In terms of browser choice, I love Firefox on my Windows. For Mac, nothing beats Safari. When Safari 4 beta comes out, I downloaded it and upgraded my Safari 3 in no time. But lo and behold, there are many changes – supposed to be for the better – that are not to my personal preferences.

I surely wouldn’t complain about the speed. To me it feels faster. Recent test showed that Safari 4 beta is the fastest among other browsers. It was done by Apple so it’s a subject of bias. But so far there’s no objection to the test result from other browser makers

The problem is, I missed several things from Safari 3 like the position of the tabs – which are moved to the top, the full title of the opened page which will be shortened as more and more tabs are opened, and the blue bar which show how far the page has loaded.

And I’m not alone; there are a number of people out there who don’t like a number of new features of Safari 4. After a little googling, I found several solutions to the problems.

Tinkering With The Terminal

The first discovery was the method to bring back Safari 3’s familiar environment by tinkering with codes through the Terminal. There are about 8 codes found in this Random Genius page, including how to undo the changes should you prefer to have the Safari 4’s look and feel back.

Safari has to be restarted every time any changes were made for them to take effect.

If you are familiar with Terminal, the codes will surely help you. I myself am not a coding guy and the thought of writing one (even it’s just a copied and pasted line) make me shiver with fear. So I move on and continue with the search.

With a little help from little apps

So far, I’ve found two apps that will do the same task: changing individual elements of Safari 4 beta and revert back the changes if needed. They are:

1. Safari 4 Buddy – about 220 Kb of size and has options to change seven elements including the option to undo the changes.

2. Safari 4 Modifier – about 2.9 Mb of size and has options to change nine elements including the option to undo the changes.

Both apps using checkbox style options and users just simply check or uncheck the elements based on preferences.

Whichever method you choose – either the Terminal coding or one of the apps – their goals are the same: to have a speedy and convenient surfing experience without having to deal with unwanted eye candy.

If you have opinion or experience to share about Safari 4 beta, please use the comment below.

The things I Hate About Safari 4 Beta – And How To Easily Fix Them originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

With this browser app compatible with Firefox and Internet Explorer, you can leave a comment on any page of the web you’d like and it can be viewed by anyone. iComment turns any page on the web into a discussion board or chat.

What is iComment?

The real use of iComment comes in when you arrive at a site that doesn’t have a built-in commenting system and you wish to leave a comment, this app allows you to create your own commenting system on that site and post a comment virtually anywhere. Your comments can be viewed by anyone if you choose to make them public. If they are private, then only other iComment users can view them.

How Do I Use this Tool?

You have to first download iComment, then choose a username and enter your email address so that you can be notified of following pertaining comments by other users.

As soon as you’ve downloaded and installed iComment, you can begin to leave all sorts of opinions on the webpage of your choice. The iComment button is located on the top right hand corner of your browser window.

You can also access the options menu by clicking the arrow pointing down next to the icon.

Comments are instantly displayed as small icons on the right hand side of the webpage. Every comment is associated with a specific element on the sites page; therefore you have to choose the text fragment or image that you are commenting about. For example, if you select an image to leave your opinion on, when your comment is viewed the image will be highlighted so that you’re able to relate the image with the comment.

By right-clicking on the picture you want and select the “Add Picture iComment” from the menu, you will be able to enter your text comment into the editor. The comment should instantly appear on the right side of the picture.

This is how the comment looks on the webpage with a reply:

Conclusion

iComment is an app that works with both Firefox and Internet Explorer and doesn’t require you to register with any site. Leave your opinions on any page of the web with the use of a simple button and revise them at a later time. Once you leave a comment you can choose to have follow-up replies sent to your iComment account or your email address. In my opinion iComment is a great tool that allows you to share your comments and thoughts anywhere on the web, this is your freedom of speech exercised on the web.

You turn next. What your comments?

Leave A Comment Anywhere On The Web originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

LastPass is an online password manager that you can install as an addon in Firefox and Internet Explorer. It encrypts all your passwords with 256-bit AES encryption algorithm and synchronizes them across different browsers and devices. With LastPass, you only have to remember one master password and it will take care of the rest.

When you first run LastPass, it will prompt you to create an online account. This will be the account that they use to store all your passwords. During the registration, you will have to create a strong master password. In case you are wondering how long should your password be to considered strong, there is a password meter that shows the strength as you type in your password. Note that I have used a 42-characters long password and the password meter is still not full.

If you want to let LastPass take full control over your password management, there is also an option for you to disable the default password manager in your browser.

To enable its users to migrate their existing password account to LastPass easily, there is an Import function that you can use to import your browser password setting. It also supports Keepass, 1Password, Sxipper and many other password managers.

The way LastPass works is similar to the way Firefox’s password manager works. Whenever you login to a site, an unobstructive popup will appear to ask you if you want to save the password for this site.

If the password is already in your account, when you go to the site, the login field will be prefilled with your login credential. There is even a auto-login function that you can use to quickly login to your site.

Just like Roboform, LastPass also comes with a form filling feature that you can use to quickly fill up your form. One annoying thing I found is that it shows a autofill pop up every time it detects a fillable form, including email newsletter subscription box. Since almost every sites comes with an email newsletter subscription box, the popup appears every time you visit a new site. This can be very irritating.

Bring LastPass with you everywhere

If you have installed portable Firefox on your USB drive, you can also install LastPass on the portable Firefox so that you have access to your password even when you are away from your computer. This is useful if you are on a travelling trip and need to use an Internet cafe to go online.

Backing up your password

When you save your password in LastPass, the password is stored in an encrypted form in the LastPass server. To avoid the incident where your password is inaccessible when the server is down, you can install LastPass Pocket on your computer and have it export and back up your account setting (including passwords) to your local hard drive.

LastPass currently only supports Firefox and Internet Explorer. The Safari version is on its way while the Google Chrome version is not available till Google released the extension API. LastPass works in Windows, Mac and Linux.

What other ways do you use to sync your password across various browsers and devices?

Sync Your Passwords Across Different Browsers With LastPass originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

Since Firefox 3 is come pre-installed in Ubuntu, I took the opportunity to test out Opera 9.5 and see if it has enough juice to replace Firefox as the default browser in your desktop.

The following are some of the noticeable differences that I observed:

Speed

Even though Firefox 3 is fast, Opera is even faster. A browser test shows that Opera took about 100ms to startup and complete loading the home page while Firefox 3 took a miserable 240ms to startup and another 100ms to load the page. Not that the 140ms extra makes a great deal of differences, but it is definitely make Opera looks more impressive. First impression counts, and in this case, Opera 9.5 really makes its presence counts.

Good support for flash plugin

It is the ‘norm‘ for Firefox to crash whenever it loads a flash content, especially videos (sad, but true). This is also the main issue that most Ubuntu users are facing. This issue has been around since Firefox 2 and I am quite disappointed that it has not been solved in Firefox 3. In Opera, the support for Flash content is excellent, if not, flawless. There is no crashes and the loading is fast and smooth. Same flash plugin, different browsers, different result.

Synchronization

One of my favorite extension in Firefox is Foxmarks because it allows me to sync my bookmarks across different computers. In Opera, the synchronization feature is in-built with it. The Opera link syncs not only your bookmarks, but also include your notes, personal bar and speed dial between computers and mobile devices. You never lose your information even when you are using other computer.

Display Tabs in tiles, cascade

Opera 9.5 allows you to display your tabs in tiles or cascade. This is useful when you are doing a price or product comparison over different sites. You can now have a bird eye view of all the tabs arranged in tile format, and it saves you time in switching from tab to tab.

Magic wand

Yes, Firefox has a great password manager, but why can’t it take a step further and log you in automatically? Magic wand did a great job in doing just that. Not only does it saves your password, it also automatically log you in without any fuss. Simply click the wand icon beside the address bar, or “Ctrl+Enter“.

Speed Dial

Seasoned Opera users will know that the Speed dial has been around since the previous version of Opera. I find this to be a very useful feature and I was rather disappointed that Firefox didn’t include this in their native build. Even though the Speed Dial extension tops my list of favorite Firefox extension, somehow I still find it uncomfortable that it causes a split second delay whenever I open a new tab. I find the speed dial in Opera very elegant. Since it is integrated in Opera, it also loads faster and smoother. (By the way, do you know that you can easily add more window to the speed dial in Opera by tweaking the configuration?)

My conclusion:

So is Opera good enough for your Ubuntu desktop? My answer is Yes. Even though I love Firefox for its robustness and flexibility, there are some great features in Opera that I find it extremely useful, but are not available in Firefox. While I don’t think it could become a replacement for Firefox, it can definitely be a great complement to it, especially when you need to watch a Youtube video without your browser crashing.

What do you think?

Is Opera Good Enough For Your Ubuntu Desktop? originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)