Try TwitBin

Just installed TwitBin on my home PC.

It's a Firefox extension that adds a narrow panel on the left side of your browser so you can view and post messages to Twitter.



I've only had limited use of the extension for now, so my feedback is probably way too superficial at this point. But here goes:

Last Updated: May 8, 2007 at 9.10pm

Stuff I Liked

• User name and Password. I especially like the fact that TwitBin doesn't store your user id or password on their own servers (or, at least I think they don't).
  
• Shortened Links. I really appreciate the abbreviated links. They make for a much better use of space.
• Adjustable Width. I like keeping the TwitBin panel really narrow, so I'm glad I had the option to adjust the width.
• Character Countdown. TwitBin now has a character countdown so you know when you're almost at 140 characters. It also stops you from entering more characters when you've hit 140, so there's no danger of going over [added May 8]
• Open in new Tab. I'm so used to right-clicking on links and opening them as new tabs on my current browser window. I'd like to be able to do that in TwitBin too. The updated TwitBin opens links only in the active tab in Firefox v2.0. Not exactly a new tab, but this is a good step in the right direction. [added May 8]
  

Stuff I'd Like to See

• Position Preference. I'd actually prefer having TwitBin run down the right side of my browser window, instead of the left. I consider the left side "prime real estate" and would rather reserve that for whatever site I'm visiting.
• Image Suppression. I'd like an option that lets me completely suppress the display of avatars. Considering the limited (narrow) space, and the fact that avatar sizes are scaled down anyway in TwitBin, I'd rather use all that space for tweets.
• Direct Messages. I'd like to view direct messages, or at least get a notification that a new direct message has come in.
  

Overall, I definitely like. Kudos to the folks at infinimedia for coming up with this baby.

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Addendum: If you're like me, you may have some trouble figuring out how to launch TwitBin for the first time, after you install the extension and restart Firefox.



You'll find that a new TwitBin icon has been added to your Firefox Navigation toolbar, inserted discreetly just before the URL field. Clicking on the icon toggles the TwitBin extension on and off.

Firefox Crop Circle

It's been up for a while, but it was only today that I stumbled across this blogpost about a bunch of guys who decided to make a Firefox Crop Circle.



It's pretty amazing what lengths passionate people will go to. Kudos to everyone involved!

Google Browser Sync for Firefox

What happens when my top two favorite brands collaborate? The result is one really incredible product (and a very happy user)!

I'm talking, of course, about the Google Browser Sync for Firefox which is...

... an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers.

It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions.

I found out about this utility a few days ago and for the first time in literally years of web surfing, I found it worthwhile to actually invest some time in organizing my bookmarks.

I'd long ago given up on browser-based bookmarks and had already been using my Google homepage instead, because I needed the same bookmarks on my home PC and my work laptop. But the Google homepage interface is somewhat cumbersome and not at all conducive to organizing tons of bookmark entries.

Google Browser Sync is therefore a godsend. The best part for me is the fact that I can end a session of web browsing on one machine and literally resume it on another. There's no awkward mental shift when you face an empty browser window at the start of a new session.

With the Browser Sync I can easily pick up from the train of thought that I had when I ended the previous session. For this avid web surfer, that's like manna from heaven! Haha!

It also helps that I didn't need to create a new Google account to use this. My current account works just fine and literally took less than a minute to get everything installed, configured, and working.

All software should be so painless and so useful.