Useful Firefox add-ons (extensions) you cannot live without

Firefox logoThere’s a 22% chance you’re using Firefox, and since you’re actually reading this, you’re probably a bit more tech savvy than the average Internet user, so you’re most likely using Firefox (or Safari, but sometimes Firefox, am I right?). Let’s get on with it – here’s some Firefox add-ons, or extensions if you will, that I can’t live without, can you…?

Adblock Plus

This one is tricky. Advertisements are what keeps lots of the Internet free now a days, so blocking the ads is not the best thing to do. With that said, some sites simply overdo with ads – way too much. Use Adblock Plus to block the overwhelming ads you’re certain you don’t want to see, e.g. flash banners and such. But don’t forget to actually click on some of the ads you see, just to support the site owner and show your appreciation. It doesn’t cost you anything and only takes a second. I do this myself sometimes, even in YouTube videos, if the advertisement is just a little bit interesting.

» Adblock Plus

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How to make the perfect Cappuccino, or: How I learned to stop worrying and making my own cappuccino

Apple logo foamHave you ever wondered how the restaurants made your cappuccino? Because I have, so I decided to go out and buy some rather cheap espresso machine with a steam wand, just to try it out myself. I like coffee and cappuccino, but I prefer to enjoy when I’m out, so when I’m at home, I mostly drink sometimes in the mornings or in the evenings if I feel like making one.

Here’s how I make a cappuccino, as good as possible, with the equipment I have to my disposal:

1: If possible, use a metal pitcher. Make sure to chill it first, this will better the foam.

2: Fill metal pitcher with “half a mug” of fresh whole milk, that hasn’t been steamed before. For my cappuccinos, I use 2 espresso shots, which equals pretty much 1 coffee cup. I’ll be using the same amount of milk, as the 2 espresso shots – and then pour it together in a mug afterwards.

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What does a 13 year old do with an 80’s Walkman?

Quite an interesting experiment, and funny too. BBC gave a 13 year old kid a Sony Walkman, as it appeared when it was first released almost 30 years ago. The Walkman was a complete stranger to the kid, which resulted in some funny observations. “When I wore it walking down the street or going into … Read more →

Beginners Guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), part 1

Business GraphIf you have absolutely no clue, or very little, about Search Engine Optimizaiton, reading this post will get you started with some basic information.

As you have probably figured out already, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. SERP means Search Engine Result Pages, ie. the page you see on e.g. Google with the results of what you just searched for. And SE, you guessed it, Search Engine, like Google, Yahoo, Bing and so on.

I’m going to assume that you already have a website or a blog, that you wish to optimize a bit and get some more hits from the Search Engines. Lets start with the first and most important rule.

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"Uncharted" to be made into a movie?

PlayStation 3 game, “Uncharted”, my favourite PS3-game by the way, is looking to become a movie, according to Columbia Pictures, who’s having Kyle Ward write the script. Kyle Ward has also been connected with movies based on “Kane & Lynch”, with Bruce Willis playing one of them, and “Hitman 2”, claims The Hollywood Reporter. It’s … Read more →

My First 2 Weeks With Twitter: Experiences and recommendations

twitter_logoToday is exactly 2 weeks since I signed up for Twitter and started using it “for real”, and have I learned a thing or two!!! This post will sum up some of the things I’ve learned so far, my experiences and recommendations.

The direct impacts Twitter have had on me involves:

  • Relaunching my website, as I thought it would be interesting to see how it would turn out, when I “advertise” my blog posts through Twitter. Also, for some time I’ve been needing a public place to publish some of the things I have on my mind, so this Twitter thing seemed to be a good idea.
  • Reading a ton of blogs and articles, almost everyday. Back in my pre-Twitter days, I mostly just read the local newspaper online as well as TUAW (Apple blog), in addition to some forums once in a while. Post-Twitter, I’ve come across websites and blogs I never knew existed – and they have alot of great content, articles and theories, that I enjoy reading.
  • I’m much more updated, because the important news spread to Twitter faster than I would otherwise have received them (by my daily visit to the newspaper sites).
  • I connect with new and interesting people, that I’ve never met or known before.

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Apple might beat Nokia in future "mobile war"

Despite advanced smartphones and being the largest phone manufacturer in the world, Nokia simply cannot cope with Apple when it comes to content and the use of software within the phones. That might cause serious problems for Nokia, when the “future mobile war” begins. The biggest advantage with the Apple iPhone is surely the App … Read more →

6 Highly Recommended Ways of Using Twitter Search

twitter_logoWhile some may argue that FriendFeed is more “real time” than Twitter, Twitter is still the bigger player in the “social network league”. Here’s some great tips on how to get the best out of Twitter search.

1: Stay updated with topics you care about.

I like to keep up to date with Apple and iPhone news. But what if I also wanted Palm Pre in that cocktail but avoid all the retweets, well, you should simply do a search like this:

apple OR iphone OR “palm pre” -rt filter:links

2: Managing multiple Twitter accounts but still want to stay updated on them all?

Some users might have multiple Twitter accounts, and it would be nice to see all messages to all your accounts, regardless of which one you’re logged in to, at the moment:

to:techpatio OR to:techpatio1 OR to:techpatio2 (you catch the drift…. very simple)

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Michael Jackson Death Crashed Several Websites

The story about the death of Michael Jackson was so big an event, that several news sites and services simply could not keep up with the increased traffic from visitors. Gossip “girl” Perez Hilton took quite a blow in his website uptime, as well as TMZ, which recovered fairly fast though.

Even Twitter wasn’t able to cope with it all, but they’re already having some issues every now and then, so no big news really. According to Trendrr an amazing 100,000 mentions of Michael Jackson occured on Twitter – an hour!! That’s about the same high level as the beginning of the Iran election.

Good ol’ mighty Google didn’t have the best of days either. They confirmed to BBC that they actually thought they were victim of some sort of an attack, since so many searches occured for the same subject at the same time. That’s why alot of people ended up with the message “We’re sorry but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer”.

R.I.P., M.J.

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Best In Support: Apple beats Dell and HP

A recent study shows American consumers more satisfied with the products from Apple than the ones from Dell and HP. Apple often gets good grades for their customer service, both in Apple Stores and calls to their support, in the US. Support calls were recently examined by Vocal Laboratories by asking 1147 customers, once their … Read more →

iPhone 3GS costs Apple $179 to produce

According to iSuppli, it would seem that Apple is actually saving some money on producing the new iPhone 3GS at $179 compared to the older iPhone EDGE which had a production cost of $226. Obviously this does not take into consideration the (probably) huge amount of costs they had for research and development. However, even … Read more →

Facebook Looking To Replace Twitter Tweets?

Have you heard about the Facebook “Everyone button” yet? I haven’t, so I was a bit surprised to read today that Facebook launched a beta of the new Publisher with the “Everyone button” for certain users. Basically it lets you post your status updates for the whole world to see, not only your friends, just … Read more →

iPhone 3GS almost three times faster than iPhone 3G

Do you have the new iPhone 3GS yet? If not, here’s another reason as to why you need to get one… AppleInsider reports that Apple (finally) undersells, as the iPhone 3GS is almost three times faster than the iPhone 3G, and not only twice as fast. In controlled JavaScript Web site renders, the iPhone 3GS … Read more →

How to get Twitter followers that matters

twitter_logo“Oh no, not another one of those get-thousands-of-followers-scams”, you think? You’re in luck, because it’s not. I hate those and they don’t add anything of value to your Twitter experience (so I’ve heard, but it makes sense to me).

In 10 days of being a Twitter user, I have 43 followers – of which, I only know 2 of them personally. So what about the other 41 followers? Well, I was stunned to see people follow me, even after having made only one or two tweets in total (about nothing even worth mentioning).

After a while, I learned that if I made a tweet about “poker”, shortly after I would receive one or two followers that have also tweeted about poker in the past. And if that’s not the case, then people are usually just following you, hoping that you will follow them back. I don’t mind following back, as long as I find their previous tweets interesting – that’s really what matters to me. But if I see somebody following me, that has more followers than he is following himself, then I tend to think here’s a guy that doesn’t just follow me hoping I will follow back, he actually has more followers than he’s following. There’s a catch though – in theory, he could have just unfollowed say 1,000 users recently, bringing his following down to 8,500 while he himself is being followed by 9,000. I’m not sure whether or not there’s a tool to “batch unfollow”, otherwise this process seems a bit “too much” just to get some followers…

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Charge your iPhone/iPod Touch Wirelessly

Palm Pre does it, using the Touchstone. Now iPhone and iPod Touch can do it too, thanks to WildCharge. Wire-free charging technology integrated into a flexible protective cover that fits snugly over the body of your iPhone. Compatible with all models, including the new 3GS. So basically, if you’ve lost your iPhone/iPod charger cable (again!), … Read more →