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Bookmarklet Directory for Firefox, Chrome and Safari

Howard — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:03:32 +0000

Much have been written and said about the use of bookmarklets as a nifty and fast way of achieving specific things with your browser without the unnecessary need to install extensions that increase browser bloat and takes up a lot of memory to run, even though you are only using them 10% of the time. The advantages of bookmarklets are also that it is cross browser compatible (most of them anyway) and is the only method of adding more functionality to Chrome, as the extensions community for Google’s browser has not yet gained the critical mass compared to Firefox.

A repository of Bookmarklets

However, getting your hands on useful bookmarklets have proven to be a less than friendly experience. Google searches brings up only a handful of relevant results and the majority of them are scattered all over the web. This is where Bookmarklet Directory comes into place. As more and more people come to understand and appreciate the simplicity of bookmarklets, there will be a growing number of user-generated bookmarklets and Bookmarklet Directory aims to collect and rate each submitted bookmarklet in a central repository, much like what Userscripts.org has done for Greasemonkey scripts.

There are a huge number of bookmarklets currently on the site, running on a diverse range of platforms including Firefox, Chrome, Safari and even the iPhone version of Safari. The site categorizes into highest rated, newest and also most popular. You can also browse by tags. However, missing is the option to browse by function, which makes it a tad bit difficult if you are looking for a specific way of achieving something via bookmarklet. The search function attempts to bridge this though.

Being so Web 2.0, Bookmarklet Directory also has a Twitter feed which you can follow @bookmarklets.

StumbleUpon Launches New URL Shortener ~ SU.PR

Chingya — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:33:11 +0000

You’ve heard it right! StumbleUpon is now launching a URL-shortener service, SU.PR (=SUPER).

Having discussed heavily about various URL shortener services lately, it’s impressive that StumbleUpon has finally up its game in competing with DiggBar. Also, some believe that the new SU.PR will raise a strong competition against the all time favourite – Bit.ly, the famous URL shortener that offers click-stats for its users.

Just How Super It Is About SU.PR?

It offers real time click stats for users, as well as bookmarklet for convenient URL conversion.
Traffic builder: The use of Su.pr equalizes link submission to StumbleUpon, since it is linking directly to the main site. This offers the opportunity to get noticed and voted by the StumbleUpon community that closing up to 8 million users.
One-Click to send Su.pr to famous social media sites like Twitter & Facebook.
“Suggested Posting Time” for users to identify best timing to post their links for maximum traffic; also available in scheduling for future posting.
Su.pr provides the option for users to customize their URLs with own domain name. For example: kongtechnology.com/abc
Keeping track with retweet stats for your posted links.

Now some are skeptic about the 301 redirect issue for Su.pr since its service consisting framing, a similar layout to Diggbar or Ow.ly. However, it is said that once the su.pr is officially launched, site owners can then host the toolbar on their own site by inserting a Javascript within. Just how well it will clear the doubts of many, I guess we could only wait and see.

Since Su.pr is still in private Beta, StumbleUpon will be granting a few access rights to people each week through invitation code. So remember to follow StumbleUpon on Twitter for the latest scoops.

What’s your thought about the new Su.pr?

Vanity URL is Available For All Facebook Users

Chingya — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:53:04 +0000

Facebook is going to write its history exactly at 12:01 am (ETD), 13^th June as it allows ALL users to have their custom URLs. In case you’re not a Facebook user, or haven’t noticed, all these whiles only the big names like Coca-Cola, NBA, Ashton Kutcher etc and Facebook staffs get to have their usernames fixed within Facebook URLs. Whereas us little people, end up with a mixture of numbers called profile ID. It’s so much easier for your friends to find your Facebook page via “http://www.facebook.com/yourname“. Consider that a mercy from Facebook. You can have all the FAQs right here.

Why it’s Important to Claim Vanity URL for Your Username in Facebook?

Some of you may not even bothered to sacrifice your plans on THE DAY for a little silly trick like this. However, there’s something you need to know:

Vanity URL is your digital identity. If you plan for business or personal branding exposures via social media sites, there’s no reason why you should risk the chance of getting your very own vanity URL with Facebook – the world’s largest social networking site.
An easier way to find your personal profile by search engine. Having it memorable and effortless for others to find you is the main idea.

Remember the domain-grabbing in earlier days? Pretty much the same type of frenzy. Only the webmasters are now fighting over it in Facebook.

The vanity URL grabbing spree will be conducted in first-come, first-served basis. Beneficial to users who owned their profiles before the feature was announced on 9^th June 2009. So if you’re a newbie in Facebook, well better luck on 28^th June then. Finger crossed that hopefully nobody will pick up the exact same branding name as yours. Also, don’t misspell your name, as it is not editable. And NO, You can’t try to sell Pepsi or whatever big names you grabbed either, it’s not transferable, and they could report you for infringement. So be honest and play fair, register your (brand) name only.

So all set for the game? Enjoy the Count Down… right now it says “0 days 11 hours 9 minutes 18 seconds”!

Archview previews ISO/ZIP/RAR archives, allows selective downloading

Howard — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:11:10 +0000

How often have you run into the problem where you just need a single file from a zip file hosted online, and have to download the entire archive just to access that single file? Wouldn’t it be easier if we could download just that portion of the file we need?

Well, a solution has finally arrived. This tool, called LoadScout, is completely free and does exactly that, giving you the ability to tell it where the archive is. It will quickly download the list of files contained within that archive and you can selectively choose which ones you need and you only need to download those parts.

I’m not sure how they do this but the technology is pretty nifty! You can also use it to preview parts of a song to see whether it is worth the download. However, it has some problems working with file sharing sites, so the usefulness is limited due to this.

An alternative is Archview, a Mozilla Firefox extension that does the same thing, except its integrated into the browser and can be easily accessible.

Both these utilities are tremendously helpful in doing these very specific tasks, although you might not run often into a situation where you have to use them extensively. However, when you do, you’ll be glad.

Shortest URL compressor with U.NU to complement your Twitter Lifestyle

Howard — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 05:54:25 +0000

There are many different sites out there that all aim to do one simple thing: converting a long URL into a shorter one. But why would you want to do something like this? I don’t really understand it myself, but in theory, services such as Bit.ly, ShortURL, Is.Gd and others take in a standard URL such as:

http://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=U&start=4&q=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASD&ei=nrMGSq31NcSikAWUpbTiBg&usg=AFQjCNFbQPaIPS5cGQY6rvGQy-2g_7T1pQ

And convert it to something more manageable, such as http://www.bit.ly/ks74js.

The existence of these sites really exploded when Twitter came onto the scene. With Twitter, you only get 140 characters to post for each ‘tweet’, so concise and precision become the order of the day. Therefore, URL shortening services allows users to be able to share direct links to web sites without putting a strain on the character limit.

I would advance that all Twitter needs to do to alleviate this problem altogether is provide a “link to” option for your Tweet so that you can enter in whatever URL you want and it will just link directly to that site, without you having to type in the URL and wasting precious characters. Isn’t this a more elegant and meaningful solution? Whatever the case, it appears that URL shortening services will continue to prevail so long as Twitter does not innovate in the realm of URL sharing.

Whatever the case, it is then a matter of importance that you get the shortest URL possible, and it doesn’t get any shorter than a service called U.NU! Cutting the long story short, U.NU currently generates the shortest short URL of the bunch out there right now, so consider it one of your tools to use in conjunction with Twitter. Their website offers you a Bookmarklet to make shortening URLs a one-click affair.

If you want a Firefox extension, U.NU does not currently provide a Firefox Addon, so if you want one, you can use Is.Gd, which does have an addon although I recommend using a Bookmarklet when you can to avoid slowing down your browser. Do you have an even shorter URL shortening service than U.NU? Share with the readers in the comment box below.

Multifunctional Twitter Toolbar

Chingya — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:50:56 +0000

Twitter Toolbar is a handy application for Twitter users to connect and share their findings with their Twitter peers. For those who constantly log in to Twitter to manage their conversations, the process could be cumbersome at times. How would you like to have Twitter Toolbar installed on your browser instead, while having to explore numerous third party apps to enhance your Tweeting experience?

What differentiates Twitter toolbar from Twitterfox is the multiple third party Twitter apps that come along with the toolbar. I will go through them briefly later on but first, let’s have a look at the installations.

Installations:

Twitter Toolbar could be installed on both IE & Firefox:

For Firefox:

1. Download the Toolbar button.
2. Upon finish downloading, click ‘Install’ and Restart your Firefox browser to get the Twitter Toolbar activated.

Reminder: make sure you have saved all the information you need as this action will close ALL other Firefox browsers at once

For IE:

1. Download the Toolbar button.
2. Run the downloaded .exe file, and configure the settings according to your preference. Then tick ‘Agree’ to have the toolbar installed.

Configure settings according to preference

Options to add buttons to your toolbar

Twitter Toolbar Features:

Multiple features could be found in Twitter Toolbar as followed:

1. Keyword Search – Multiple results obtained from Google Search.

2. Twitter Tools & Research apps – Tons of third party applications that help you to enhance your Twitter experience: from web clients, picture sharing, trend tracking and more.

3. Tweet Now – A twitter web client that allows you to send tweets via your Twitter account.

4. Twoak – URL Shortener service that compresses a lengthy web address to a shorter link. This is particularly handy when you are sharing a blog post or web page along with your tweets. Just paste in the link and hit ‘Go’; you could even customize tag for your link. Your new short link will appear as shown in the picture below:

5. Toolbar News – Purpose is to keep the users updated with the latest changes and add-ons made for Twitter Toolbar. You could choose to add your own comments to this inbox, mark the read/unread messages or delete them.

6. Ask – Contact the support team for any enquiries or suggestions.

7. Email Notifer – Get instant notification of your new emails in various emailing services: Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, AOL etc.

Email Notifier & Online Radio Player

To Setup Email Notifier in Twitter Toolbar:

a. Click the dropdown menu and locate: Email Notifier > Settings
b. Add the email accouts you wish to be included for notifications. The frequency of email checking ranges from 5 to 60 minutes.

Overview of Email Notifier Settings control box

Enter the username/password for each account; Auto Login is optional if you refuses to log in manually every time to check your emails.

c. You could personalize your very own email notification alert using .wav sound file.
- Tick ‘Play the sound when new e-mails arrives’ > Browse and locate your .wav file

To Configure Radio Player:

a. At the dropdown menu, go to Radio Player> Stations > Add Stations
b. Choose the genre of your station or simply add an internet radio service, for example ‘ai fm’ by clicking ‘Define Your Own Station’.

c. Copy and paste the URL of your desired internet radio. Name your station and choose streaming type.

d. Besides radio stations, music files (.mp3) from your PC could also be included.

e. Voila! Your Station is all set to go! Make your pick.

To Configure Add-ons/Remove Applications:

Notice there is a ‘Toolbar Options’ within Email Notifier Settings. It comes with 4 components:

a. Personal Components: To add/remove the extra features such as Email Notifier, Privacy Components (history cleaner), Weather Forecaster and Online Radio Player.

b. Predefined Components: To add/hide the predefined components such as Twitter Research, Twoak, Tweet Now as introduced earlier.

c. Useful Components: To include some frequently used applications on the toolbar such as Microsoft Office, Microsoft Paint, MSN messenger for your convenience.

So there you have it – an overview of the multifunctional Twitter Toolbar, which could be downloaded FREE at http://thetwittertoolbar.com. Give it a try and do share with us your thoughts in the comments below.

Scoopler real time search engine

Chingya — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:18:54 +0000

Dying to know the latest scoop online? Here comes Scoopler!

Scoopler is a real time search engine created by AJ Asver and Dilan Jayawardane. Yes, you heard it right – real-time! The main factor that got everybody into Twitter frenzy lately. Scoopler gathers all the real-time results from the web, and presents you the most relevant and breaking news available based on your keyword search.

The page is divided into 3 columns. The middle column shows the live updates of your search. Once you mouseover any particular result, the updating will pause temporary for you to scan through the content and find your best pick. At the same time, two option buttons will appear:

“Peek” to preview the content before navigating to the real site; and
“Shared” that allows submission to Digg, Stumbleupon, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and more.

While some might not appreciate Twitter to dominate most of the “Live” updates, you could still head over to the right column for less-active but Popular picks. Browsing through the links, or have your results shown in videos or images. It is mentioned that the service will include blog comments and more live videos soon.

However, it would probably be a good idea to include an advanced search feature so users could filter out some dominating search results like Twitter; or even categories ranging from news, blogs etc. Overall, Scoopler is still an awesome idea to capture real-time results and offer web users an alternative besides the usual search engines.

What do you think of Scoopler?

Any chance for real-time search engines to overtake Google in the long run? What expectations you have for the developers to enhance their current service? Kindly share your views in the comment section below.

Polaris makes Google Analytics fun again

Kitkat — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:14:33 +0000

Polaris is a desktop application, which pulls data from your Google Analytics account and displays them in a simple, clean interface giving you quick access to all your stats in an aesthetically pleasing interface.

Granted, the data displayed can always be found just by logging on to Google’s website, but this method allows you to have a full-featured desktop application that aggregates the data in a more user-friendly way.

The software runs on Adobe’s Air platform, which can be best described as “flash for your desktop” as it allows developers to build simple, beautiful applications that are almost widget-like in looks and functionality. The program has nice graphs, charts and animations to display your visitor numbers, traffic sources, referring sites, top content, top keywords and a host of other information essential for running a successful blog.

The free version (decent enough) allows you to access only one profile at a time, which is more than enough for any average blogger. Should you have more than one website and want to view everything at one go, a fee of US$15 a year is required, which is not outrageous considering the quality of software. Give Polaris a try!

Hulu – The Next Best Thing in Video Streaming

Chingya — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:30:15 +0000

So we are all familiar with YouTube and Metacafe, both serve as video streaming platforms for users to upload and share video clips. But what about Hulu??

As I was reading through an article: You Like Hulu: Video Site Shows Strong Growth, I was having jaw-dropped moments when it announces that Hulu has been showing tremendous growth lately, with video views increased by 62% in 6 months since launched in October 2008; 380 million video views and a 2.6% market share. The author, Ben Parr claims that Hulu is to be second only to YouTube. I’m not surprised, since Hulu is actually on the no.4 spot for TIME’s Best Inventions of 2008 out of 50 other entries.

What is Hulu?

According to Internet News, Hulu is a joint venture web video site for NBC Universal and News Crop. Since October, 2008, it has been streaming video clips, ranging from full-length TV programs, movies and trailers for various networks, such as Fox, PBS and even film studios like Warner Bros, Sony etc.

No downloads available, yet the viewing is F.O.C. You won’t be expecting the most recent blockbuster movies (except trailers) up there, but the good-old ones such as Fifth Element, Ghostbusters etc are to be found, along with the popular daily talk shows or drama, like Heroes, House, 24 and so on.

How is Hulu different from YouTube?

It has strict rules about accepting unsolicited videos – so you won’t be seeing much of home-made, crazy videos from random users as in YouTube. Instead, you will be seeing a lot more productions from major studios and TV networks. There are still rooms, of course, for users’ submission, yet beware submitting copyrighted videos or you will be held responsible under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act).

Who Are Likely to Enjoy Hulu?

In fact, anyone who is a big fan of movies/tv programs may appreciate the excellent streaming quality Hulu offers to the viewers. The flexibility and convenience of viewing according to your own schedule is a big plus. Also, by signing up to Hulu, you get to create reviews and discussions for the program you’ve watched.

What’s the BIGGEST Bummer of all?

Currently, it is only available in the U.S.!

However, there is still possibility for it to go aboard and if it does, there is bound to be a major impact to YouTube’s current video streaming market and viewers rate. So watch out, and be prepared to get “hulufied” anytime!

Chartbeat Real Time tracking better than Google Analytics

Kitkat — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:55:01 +0000

Bloggers and webmasters (now that’s a term that I haven’t heard in a while) have long used Google Analytics to provide information on their website such as who’s visiting, where do they come from, how long did they spend on the site, and other miscellaneous info that is important to allow you to tweak your website and capture the audience.

If you’re really serious about monetizing your blog, Charbeat is hard to beat in terms of offering far superior services to Google Analytics. In Google Analytics, all the results are delayed 24 hours, although you can change the settings for more frequent update but the information is still delayed by 2 to 4 hours, and some information might not be available or accurate until the next day when Google has properly crunched through the data. This has led to some services try to outdo Google by offering the same services but at real-time speed!

Chartbeat presents its data in a pleasing dashboard view, but since it is modeled in the time domain, you can literally pull back the clock and playback the events like a movie as you watch the numbers and chart bounce up and down, giving you an extra dimension (as Albert Einstein says, Time) with which to peer through your data. Ebbs and flows can give greater insight to why people are coming to your site and what is attracting them to it.

The service is free with a 30-day trial offer after which you need to pony up an introductory US$9.95 a month for continued use. For hardcore bloggers this is probably a price you are willing to pay.