KwiClick is a Firefox extension that unifies all your searches and social sharing tasks. It aims to improve your search experience and efficiency by displaying all the stuffs in a  non-intrusive window. It allows to do more work (search and sharing) without having to leave the current page. Let’s take a closer look.

Getting started

After you have installed KwiClick, the first thing that it does is to change the behavior of your search. Whenever you perform a search (in the search bar), instead of loading the search result on the current page, a small window will now pop up showing the search result. You can then click on the search result to get it load on the current browser. It also responds to the mouse middle click to open the link in a new tab. Alternatively, to perform a search in KwiClick, you can click on the icon beside the search bar. This will also open up the search window.

At the bottom of the window lies a row of icon where you can select the site to retrieve your search results from. Available sites include Google, Wikipedia, YouTube, Friendfeed, Twitter, Flickr and Google Maps and many more.

The best part about this small display window is that it allows you to search for content without having to leave your current page. This non-intrusive display window floats above your current page and can be closed/reopened easily. Furthermore, it allows you to search content from various sites and provide real-time results (Twitter).

Get quick, instant result while surfing the Web

let” s say while you are surfing the web and come across this term that you want to check it up in Wikipedia. Instead of opening a new tab, go to Wikipedia.org and search for the term, you just need to highlight the term. A set of icons (known as Search Clover) will appear above the highlighted term. You can then click on the ‘W’ icon to perform a search in Wikipedia.

You can perform the same trick with address (on Google maps) as well. Highlight the address and select the Maps icon. The address will instantly show up in Google Maps. One thing I noticed though – it only searches US address. I can’t get my local address to appear with the Map function.

Easier and faster social sharing function

When you are on media sites like Flickr, Youtube or Vimeo, you will immediately notice a new row of toolbar appear on top of the video/photo.

This toolbar allows you to view the video/photo on a separate window so you can continue to surf the Web with the video still running in the front end.

In addition, you can also easily share the video/photo without having to go to the social networking sites.

Backend configuration

It is also good to see that there is a bunch of configuration options in the backend. You can decide what appear on the Search Clover, how it reacts to the highlighting of the terms, the look and feel of the display window, mouse actions in the search results and many more other options. If you have installed a mouse gesture extension, you can also configure it to work in KwiClick.

Conclusion

After trying out this extension, I have decided to keep it because it is just so darn useful for me. What about you? If you have tried it, do let us know if it works for you.

KwiClick: Power Up Your Firefox Search and Improve Your Efficiency originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

Take me for example, I used to be an avid Orkut user (Yes, yes, I liked Orkut .. sue me!), but have almost stopped visiting the site since I joined Facebook. I also had an account on Myspace and hi5 before Orkut (and then Facebook) pulled me away. And of course, I use Twitter !

Oh and when I say I moved over to Facebook, that only means that I don’t log-in to hi5 or Orkut anymore. I still have accounts there, though. And I’m reminded of that fact every couple of days when I receive an email from them asking me to “reconnect” with some of my lost buddies.

If you, like me, are sick of such reminder emails, I think it is time to delete your profiles on those social networks that you don’t use anymore.

The social networks, on their part, don’t really make it easy to find the option to delete your profile, obviously, so we’ve listed out ways to do that on some of the most popular networks around.

Orkut

To delete your Orkut data, click on the Settings link and under the General Tab, you’ll find a link that says Delete my Orkut Account. Click on that link.

hi5

hi5 is another one of those social networks that used to be quite popular some time back but most people moved on to other networks when their friends moved on. Your account is still there, though, and to delete your account click on the Account link and click on the button that says “Cancel my account“.

Twitter

Among all the social networks that I’m on, Twitter is probably the most addictive and if you also seriously think that it’s becoming a hindrance to your offline social life and want to get rid off it, click on the the Settings link in the top right hand corner of your screen and scroll down to the bottom of the Account tab. You’ll see a link that says, Delete My Account. Click on it.

Facebook

When it comes to social networks, Facebook, is the big daddy of them all. See how I said Big daddy and not the grand daddy. Facebook is a relatively new network and if you already have friends on other networks that you don’t want to lose touch with, why bother with Facebook, right?

Deleting your facebook profile is probably the toughest of them all, because Facebook doesn’t really provide a method using which a user can delete his/her account. All they let you do is deactivate your account, which means that your data is still with them, but no one will be able to interact with you on the site.

Click on the Settings link in the Top right corner of the page and Select Deactivate from the Settings tab.

To really delete your account from Facebook, though, you’ll have to contact their customer service team and ask them to delete your account.

Which other social networks are you guys a part of? Do they let you delete your Account with them or keep your data locked up forever?

Image credit: liako

How to Delete your Social Networking Accounts originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

When a picture or video and the accompanying text is uploaded, ShoZu will CC your email and/or other destinations you choose. If you upload the same thing to all of your sites, that feature alone will save you immense amounts of time. Below are a couple ways media can be uploaded a couple different ways:

The Desktop Application

The ShoZu desktop app runs with Adobe Air, so you need to have that installed along with the most recent version of Adobe Flash installed before the app will work. Once the desktop application is installed, if you have previously set up an account, you will need to log in. If not it takes a minute or two to set up a new account.

When logged in, you will see the list of destinations you have previously chosen on the web page. This can be a couple, or it be a lot; I have a few here that I use.

The process for uploading pics, video or text is super easy. Simply drag and drop the media you want to share into the window. The picture or video will show up in the window. Type a short caption in the small box and any additional text into the big box. Some sites won’t show the extra text.

*For those wondering, the picture is of a 12 pound bowling ball painted pink with lots of metal flake. It was chained to the soon to be groom’s leg for a bachelor party.

If you would like to send the same thing to multiple sites from time to time, click the next destination; the picture and text stay in the windows making it super simple. The program remembers what you upload to where. After you upload a picture, a check will be by the destination so you don’t post the same thing on the same site multiple times.

From a Mobile Device

These day more people than ever have data enabled phones. One of the main reasons people like yourself purchase this kind of phone is so they don’t need to be tied to their computers for work. This also applies for uploading pics to their social media accounts. The device I use is a Blackberry Curve; it is a little limited compared to other devices I checked into. Some of the features like the feeds from Twitter, Facebook and Podcasts do not come to to the Blackberry app. I was a little sad about this, but I have other apps that I have grown accustomed to using for that stuff. From other devices, having the ability to see what your friends are doing, makes ShoZu a one shop application for mobile social networking needs.

The upload of the pictures, video and text is very similar to the desktop application. Select the picture, add text and the destination. Quick and simple, exactly what you want from the your mobile device.

Mobile Blogging

If you fancy yourself a blogger, being able to add posts on the fly is great. Sites like Blogger, Wordpress, Livejournal, Windows Live Spaces and more let you post on the go. Here is a post to a Wordpress blog to give you an idea of how it will look.

Other Features

Citizen Journalism Sites sites like CNN, BBC News, and Reuters let you upload newsworthy pictures  Some other places you can upload your photographic wonders to via ShoZu are Email and FTP sites.

With the laundry list of features ShoZu has, I am sure it will fit it well with anyone who has the need to share media online.

How do you update your social networks?

ShoZu – Social Network Updating Made Easy originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)