If you generally use Firefox, and you wish to check the status of 301 Redirects or whether they have been successfully removed, make sure you clear your browser cache.
You can do this by going to Options, then Advanced, in Firefox options (Firefox 16.0.2).
Alternatively check using another browser such as Chrome or Internet Explorer, before worrying that the 301 redirect hasn’t been removed, as Firefox will cache 301s unless the website header takes steps to remove the cached version.
If you use Firefox for web surfing and Twitter (I do!), then you might find Search Cloudlet is a useful plugin.
Search Cloudlet
It’s simple and effective to use – it inserts context-aware tag clouds in Google, Yahoo and Twitter pages.
Apparently the addition of Twitter was the suggestions of @cleverclogs, who suggested I give it a try. And having installed it, I now have a tag cloud on my Twitter home-page, plus search pages, profile pages, favorites and the public timeline.
You can click between the tag cloud for keywords, or, on Twitter, a tag cloud of @ replies, which is quite useful. And there’s a handy ‘Off’ option as well. You can also select to turn it off permanently on your own page, other profile pages, or on Twitter search.
To be honest, I don’t use it a lot – following 2000+ people means that I need more than a tag cloud for the latest page of updates to really look into the available data – but it can be quite handy for checking out who I’ve replied to recently, especially as a reminder if there’s a username I need to look up.
But it’s no hassle to have it turned to ‘Off’ for when I occasionally need it.
Have you used Search Cloudlet and found it useful?
And what Firefox Add-Ons would you recommend using with Twitter, or other microblogging platforms?
One of the great things about the current web revolution is that as soon as a website/application a
ppears, someone clever figures out ways to tweak it to improve on it for their needs.
And so, as many people are discovering Plurk, TwisterMC aka Thomas McMahon, has already created a sidebar plugin for Firefox 2 and 3, to use the simplified mobile version of Plurk.
It comes with the Plurk logo of a headless ‘thing’ and a keyboard shortcut. The actual functionality of the sidebar is down to Plurk, and it’s being download right now for a test.
I’ve seen a couple of rumours that Plurk’s creators are too keen on third party applications being developed – perhaps down to Twitter’s downtime problems and the fact 90% of requests to Twitters database comes from external applications. But we’ll see…
Want to keep up to date with the latest on microblogging? Subscribe via RSS here.
I can finally sit and type long enough without sneezing to start catching up….so…
Something worth plugging is the ‘One Child, One Laptop‘ initiative, which has had fun poked at it, but is now here. $200 gives one laptop, and from November $400 gives a laptop, and gets you one for your own kids…or yourself… The great thing, as Seth Godin points out, is that a child in the 3rd World with access to knowledge can start contributing in millions of different ways and changing things, whether it’s using a website to diagnose a family illness, or new agricultural techniques. Or realising how loans have crippled their country…
Less worthy, but also getting attention, is the post by Jason Calacanis defining Web 3.0 in his opinion. Which appears to also be a definition of Mahalo. Could this be a lovely wind-up? See the follow-up…Or Techmeme
Finally, does anyone else have problems with the Java image upload on Facebook, if you use Firefox? IE runs perfectly…
There’s a new Firefox add-on for those people who want to submit links to Digg, Reddit, and up to 34 social bookmarking sites, without having to visit each site individually.
You’ll still need an account with each site, but Social Poster allows you to submit the same info to sites including StumbleUpon, Technorati, Newsvine, Furl, Spurl etc.
It”ll be interesting to see whether it has an effect on the sites included, as more of the same links could start appearing across all the social bookmarking sites. I’ll certainly be trying it to promote my blogs and MCN’s website with it…
I’m still pondering the eternal paradox which is RSS.
On one hand know that the majority of people who will read this will do it via an RSS feed, whether it’s read in Live Bookmarks in Firefox, a feed reader, or another outlet.
By the same token, I don’t have the size, stature or chance to place adverts in my RSS feed yet, so anyone reading this via RSS can’t be tempted by any links.
So do I start publishing a truncated RSS, against my better judgement, to get people to come and view my blog to try and eke out a few extra dollars, or do I continue in the hope that enough people will still be intrigued enough to visit?
It’s a micro version of the problem facing most online publishers in one form or another. Whether or not I can solve it satisfactorily, remains to be seen…
On another note, I’m at internetworld tomorrow at Earl’s Court in London. See if you can spot the Badger!
I’ve been a little distracted by the arrival of a new PC at work. So I now have two PCs, and three monitors on my desk! All with a rather lovely view of Seattle to remind me of the time I spent there.
Anyhoo. If you’re a keen user of Firefox, and you’re also a user of Vista, then why not get involved in the Mozilla testing process? You can find out more, here. The test day itself has passed, but you can still join in. I would, but all my work PCs are locked onto Win XP for the foreseeable future…
And in other news, I’m sure most people have now heard of Yahoo Pipes. Kudos to Yahoo for releasing the tool for creating, merging and splicing all kinds of feeds, and with an interesting graphical interface. I’ve been receiving emails from several people telling me how great it is.
Trouble is, it’s not quite user friendly yet. As zdnet pointed out.
That would be me, then…
I’ve spent years telling people they should tests everything in alternate browsers , on Mac and PC, and in various states of intoxication. So I felt particularly stupid today, when I attempted to show this blog to someone using IE6.
First, the URL made IE6 tried and download the site as a doc. This was due to me trying to insert code in the title, which worked fine in Firefox. Of course, discarding my own advice meant that I don’t think I’ve ever checked how the site looked in IE.
Hence why I’m only just discovered that my sidebar is permanently lodged at the bottom of all my content. Again, only in IE.
All suggestions point to a strange bit of code messing things up. Should be simple, if time consuming, to fix. In the meantime, please feel free to berate me for being a pillock. And normal service will be resumed shortly, in between reviews for Gamestyle and Strategy Informer.
You might have read my last post, covering the depression currently affecting some people in media companies. You may not. Either way, I’m going to try and share some of the things that make me come back to my day job, my internet hobbies, and indeed this blog…
Last week, I was making a presentation to our advertising staff. Despite not being one of my best efforts, one of the questions at the end was about how I’d gained my knowledge about the web and what formal training I had.
The answer is no formal training at all. Here’s how I’ve learnt the little I know about the internet.
1. Have a passion for it. Actively be interested in it. Desire to find out how things work, or why something is successful.
2. Read everything you can. Use Live Bookmarks in Firefox, RSS feeds and aggregators to find out as much about the subject as you can.
3. Experiment. Don’t just talk about a social networking site like Myspace. Sign up and use the thing. That way you’ll be able to offer your own insights, and just as important, be able to spot when someone is talking rubbish. Want to learn about blogging? Start one. it doesn’t have to be about your day job, but if you try and make your blog the best it can be you’ll learn loads. This blog has a loooooong way to go, but every step pays me back with knowledge, if not cash.
4. Take an interest in marketing, search engine optimisation and particularly tracking. Finding out the best tracking systems for your blog and RSS feeds will inform you about what works best, and how to improve….
For starters, try www.downloadsquad.com, www.engadget.com, www.theregister.com for some info.
Try Firefox as your browser, or download RSSreader.
Blogger for blogs isn’t a bad place to start. For social networking, begin with Myspace, and start from there.
And for tracking Feedburner seems pretty good, and MyBlogLog offers good tracking and community aspects…
But I’m always hear to keen more suggestions, so make sure you leave a comment with a suggestion of at least one site or application for me to check out
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