Great Firefox Add-ons Posted 10/16/2008 by PeterB, .NET Prog.

So I stumbled upon some Firefox Add-ons the other day and decided to install four new interesting ones that I have been enjoying recently:

Clippings - Save frequently-entered text for pasting later. I downloaded this because it seemed like a very small and simple app, and amazingly it has become more useful than I thought.  The idea is a basic one, but it has merit.

ColorZilla - Advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker, Page Zoomer and more.  I haven't used this yet, but I know that I will probably find it useful considering the amount of times I have used ColorCop.

DejaClick - a web recorder and Super Bookmark utility designed exclusively for Firefox. You can record and bookmark your browser activities, then with a single click, replay the entire sequence all over again. This one I have played around with and I know I will find it to be quite helpful.  I especially look forward to using it when testing a multi-step form process.  Since it tracks clicks as well as what you type, it actually makes any macro you would need to use in the browser.  I will say that it does not seem to track what you do in Flash or Silverlight.

Server Switcher - Easily switch between your development and live servers. I have used this, and although it is very simple in nature, it has made switching between servers fairly easy.  At this time, it seems as if you will have to enter every project in, so if you were hoping for an automatic switch, I haven't found that option.  In my case however, I am using it to switch from my local host to the development server, in which case I do not have a naming scheme that allows for an automatic switch.  This is mainly due to the fact that  my folder names are different than what can be found on the development server.

I came across all of these by going to the Web Development category and started with the A's and stopped at the D's (Server Switcher was featured on the main page so that add-on does not apply to what I just said).  I soon realized there are way too many add-ons out there for me to systematically go through, so I was curious if anyone out there can recommend the ones they use the most.

So, if you happen to have read through most of this blog to get to this point, please comment with Firefox Add-ons that you enjoy.  Currently I also have Web Developer, Dust-Me Selectors, and Firebug, however I am open to finding more without spending all of my time browsing each page and category on the Firefox Add-on site.

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	Skyfire - The Future of Mobile Browsing? Posted 5/30/2008 by PeterV, VP, Marketing

A couple of months ago I wrote about mobile browsers, specifically Opera.  It kind of had that whole "i-phoney" experience with a full window, as the site was intended to look, with zoom capabilities. 

Well I saw this video today of a new beta that takes that even further with Flash and AJAX support.  Only sad thing is the beta doesn't support my blackberry.  And, since I'm trapped on Verizon, I don't have many options.  My old Treo locked up more than Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan combined!  Oh, snap!

Anyhow, enjoy the video, and if you download the beta, please let me know how it is so I can be even sadder.

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	Adobe Launches "Photoshop Express", a Hosted Version of Photoshop Posted 3/28/2008 by PeterV, VP, Marketing

Yesterday, Adobe released a beta version of "Photoshop Express," a toned down, hosted version of it's popular photo-editing tool.  It's targeted at amateur designers, giving them basic tools to take their photo-editing skills a step or two further than what paint offers, without shelling out for costly software. 

More details here. 

I played with it a bit yesterday and found it to be very intuitive and kinda fun.  I just took the test drive, which lets you play with some preloaded pictures.  Or, you can sign up for the beta to get a few more features as well as use your own pictures.  I'm sure a designer would scoff at it, but for someone like me who often needs to do some simple edits like color correction or basic effects, it seemed to more than fit the bill.  Give it a try here.

I'm loving the trend towards more hosted applications, and look forward to full versions of software like Photoshop making its way online.  I'm hoping more and more move to the ad-supported model as well.  For the consumer, I think you'd gladly hold on to your $499 and see some ads.  And for advertisers, talk about targeting a niche market! 

Take a look at some of the features in this screencap I took:

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