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This is an update of my older list of Firefox 2.0 Extensions I’m a long-time user of the Mozilla and Firefox browsers. Google Chrome is awesome, but I’ve been unable to switch to it as my primary browser because the Add-Ons just don’t offer the customizations and features to which I’ve grown accustomed. Here’s my list of extensions that makes Firefox the ultimate browser. Essential Add-ons that I use every day: Tab Mix Plus: If I had to choose only one extension, this would be it. This extension alone keeps me from switching to Google Chrome. It makes the tabs behave any way you wantRead More →

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A few months ago, I noticed I was approaching my bandwidth limits on my hosting account. Switching hosting providers is a pain, so I decided to move some high-bandwidth graphics to Amazon S3, where the bandwidth is cheap and unlimited. All was well until I realized that Google was returning search results pointing to my bucket on s3.amazonaws.com instead of carltonbale.com. Luckily, AmazonAWS has a work-around. You can use your own domain name in an Amazon S3 bucket. Here are the instructions on how to do it, from beginning to end. Introductory Steps for new Amazon S3 Users: First of all, obviously, you need yourRead More →

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I recently needed to share some open source files via BitTorrent and wanted to host them on my Amazon S3 account.  For those of you familiar with S3, here is the short-answer: add ?torrent to the end of the URL of a public-shared file to get the *.torrent file, so the link would be http://s3.amazonaws.com/your_bucket_name/your_file_name?torrent If you’re new to Amazon S3, read on for more info and detailed instructions. Why would you want to distribute a file using BitTorrent? I wanted to do this because, when sharing a file via a torrent, you use less of your Amazon S3 bandwidth and lower your monthly expense.Read More →

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I noticed a weird charge on my credit card from “Mnesvc Inc Seattle” on 9/1. I initially thought it was a fradulent charge, but it was for less than $2, so I was a little confused. After a little more research, I found that Mnesvc is really Amazon.com and this is how they are now billing their monthly Amazon Web Services, such as S3 backup. Why they made this change, I don’t know, but it probably signals a move to integrate TextPayMe in some fashion. I just wish they had provided me with a more clear warning of what to expect on my credit cardRead More →

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As you know, my wife and I just welcomed a little girl into our family. Our families ares hounding us for photos on a daily basis so I set out on a quest to find the best way to share with them our digital photos. Here is what I found. RAW Image Support I have a Nikon D40 D-SLR and shoot all of my pictures in RAW (*.NEF) format. I do this because the RAW / NEF format offers much, much more flexibility; you can almost re-shoot the picture if you edit it with the Nikon NX software. Anyway, I was hoping to find aRead More →

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Despite being around for years, RSS and Atom web feeds have managed to stay below the mainstream radar; a quick poll of my tech-savvy friends proved this to be the case. This article explains what web feeds are, why you care, and how best to take advantage of them. What are web feeds? According to Wikipedia: A web feed is a data format used for serving users frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it. Making a collection of web feeds accessible in one spot is known as aggregation. What’s the Benefit? The benefit to the userRead More →

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After reading an informative post by Paul Stamatiou on blog traffic, I decided to join Technorati and see what it has to offer. Truthfully, I didn’t even know that it offered user accounts and statistics, but it apparently it does. Anyway, to get things started, here is a link to my Technorati Profile.Read More →

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I recently discovered that X10 Wireless Technologies Inc was trying to post false customer testimonials on my site. Upon further investigation, I also discovered that they “The X10 Gang” has been trying to game Digg.com as well.I found 8 users that I believed to be part of The X10 Gang. I looked-up the Digg and Submission history for these users and found 25 total stories. Of these 25 stroies, 23 either pointed to an X10 website or to a story about X10. These users only dugg stories submitted by one another — but didn’t digg any submissions by any other users. Furthermore, there are twoRead More →

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I just received an unsolicited commercial e-mail from a company named, ironically, PermissionEmailCorp.com. They did not receive my permission before sending me the e-mail. Their site states that they provide “choice / opt-out” for recipients. Funny, the spam message they sent me didn’t contain any such option. Apparently they provide “free advertising for charities.” They also promise not to collect any customer information. Wow, how nice of them. But if they really cared about your charity, they wouldn’t use “third-parties” to “advertise and collect information about customers.” The company appears to be based out of China and related to AdvertisingEmailCorporation.com. PermissionEmailCorp.com retrieved the e-mail addressRead More →

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This is an update of my previous list of Firefox 1.5 Extensions. I’m a long-time user of the Mozilla and Firefox browsers. The base feature set is amazing but the extensions are what really make this browser a requirement. Here are my favorite extensions: Required (I use constantly): Tab Mix Plus: If I had to choose only one extension, this would be it. It makes the tabs behave any way you want them to behave. I use it to make child tabs open beside their parent, for the title text to be blue when the tab is unread, to show page download status in theRead More →