Random Firefox Tips 2

Before I used Firefox, I used Opera. Opera is more of an all-in-one package; it contains a whole lot more funcionality than Firefox out of the box. With Firefox, you have to use Add-Ons for most of Opera’s features. One example of this is Speed Dial, which is a customizable page that’s displayed when you open a new tab in Opera. You can get this in Firefox with this Add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4810.

Firefox 3 integrates one of Opera’s niftiest features: keyword search. This is one of those super-useful things that streamlines your work. The concept is that the search bar on any webpage on the net can be accessed right from your address bar by using a keyword before your search parameter. For example, suppose I search for torrents on isohunt very often, then I go to the isohunt homepage, right-click on the search bar and click “Add A Keyword for This Search”. I made the keyword “iso”, but you can make it whatever you want. Now whenever I’m searcing for torrents, I can enter iso [name of file here] is the address bar.

Cheap Electronics in Bangkok

I was in Bangkok last week on holiday, hence the brief hiatus. It was the craziest, most consumeristic holiday I’ve ever had; a whole week spent in shopping malls, in Bangkok, that crazy haven of cheap sex and electronics (I only sampled the electronics, though). And this was not my first time in the city either, so I have a pretty good idea of the place. Here’s my condensed shopping guide (of interest to nerds only):

There are two malls to visit if you’re into technology.

The first is called Mah Boon Krong (MBK for short). This is a massive edifice to the Gods of capitalism; you can buy anything here, from clothes to books to lampshades to mobile phones to laptops, graphics cards, pirated software, music, movies and everything else in between. This mall is a jungle, literally, and the food court is the best in Bangkok, too.

The second mall is, where technology is concerned, even more amazing. This one is called Pantip Plaza. While it is not as big as MBK, its focus is only on electronics and there are a hundred places to buy the same graphics card, or case, or cooling fan, or RAM module, and the variety is amazing, too. Unfortunately, this was wasted on me as all I bought was a 4 GB Kingston USB stick, for no more than 10 USD. And that wasn’t the cheapest one around, either.

If you’re going to Bangkok, don’t miss out on MBK and Pantip Plaza.

Random Firefox Tips 1

The first in what will be a random collection of Firefox Tips, Hacks, Tutorials, and Add-ons, all of which you’ll probably find in a hundred other places on the net.

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

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

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

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

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