Super Cool Foxy Tools for Firefox 3

I usually wait for the public release of web browsers and so it was tough to wait for Firefox 3, but after installing it yesterday and “playing” a bit with it today. I LOVE IT!

Warning: Linux users DO NOT INSTALL FIREFOX 3 until we hear from some of our Linux experts out there. Last I heard there were big issues with Linux and Firefox 3 but I don’t know enough to know if it is fixed in this release.

I’ve noticed that it is:

• Faster (noticeably!)
• The colors and graphics just pop a little more
• The new add ons are stellar (see below)
• Download is improved allowing you to pause and work with it more easily
• Typing in URL’s is improved with cool history look up features
• When I restarted firefox after installing plug ins, the history in my back button was retained (maybe it did that before but I didn’t remember it.)

Now, remember, that sometimes the add ons that you loved in Firefox 2 may not work, but for me the only ones with issues are cocomment (which never really works well anyway), my Technorati Tag editor doesn’t (and I can’t find a replacement), and the cool Real Player video downloader is not supported..

My most important add ons work just fine — these are in my list of Cool Foxy tools for Firefox 3 and I’ve noted them with an * (asterisk) so you know I’ve been using them a while.

Cool Foxy Tools for Firefox 3

• Diigo* – The bookmarking service on steroids that gives you the ability to bookmark, annotate, share with groups with tag standards and send it to twitter and your blog all in one swoop. The active bloggers dream. (I set up my Diigo to send to delicious automatically so I maintain both accounts.)
• Delicious* – For those using delicious, this is still a great add on.
• Fireshot*
• Gspace*
• Google Gears*
• ZohoNotebook

As I’ve played, I’ve come across some super cool plug ins that made me gasp:

Warning: If you don’t have Firefox 3, you cannot use these, so download firefox 3 FIRST!

PicLens – Add On Download Page – Information Website
This takes finding pictures on the Internet into a Mac-like 3D wall of pictures. I had moved to istockphoto for my pictures but now, spent some time searching for pictures for the Google Teacher academy keynote next week and found some incredible pictures that Rock! I haven’t figured out yet how to

Other tools I tested

FoxyTunes
Recommendation: For music buffs and music bloggers with a LOT of RAM!

I liked foxy tunes, but all of a sudden my computer got vvvveeerrrryyyyyy slllooooowwwwww! I checked my usage by firefox and then disabled and checked the usage. The additional 90+ MB of ram required to run it wasn’t appreciated on my laptop with 1GB of RAM (50 MB for itunes and another 30 for Foxytunes as well as a few other little processes running) — I also had powerpoint running and a few other things and the slowdown was noticeable. Bloggers who like music may enjoy the little add in it popped into my blogger box that lets one add the digital signature of music. Not for me though.