Firefox really is a much better browser than IE. I guess that’s been said before, but many reviews claimed IE7 finally was now a worthy competitor for Firefox and that it had introduced many of the similar features that made Firefox standout.

But IE7 has a number of challenges that still persist: including the use of add-ons. Yes, Firefox can add extensions that will enhance, modify or even extend the features set beyond what was originally programmed. And the selection is huge, currently over 2,300 add-ons, though some are not being actively developed.

My selection is below with some comments:

• Fasterfox – I use this to speed up Firefox Browsing. It can tweak a number of settings easily and you’ll notice a difference.
• fireftp – Yes, FTP from your browser. Stable and reliable, but doesn’t show hidden files reliably.
• foxmarks – application that allows your bookmarks to be stored centrally and shared between your pcs wherever you are
• foxy tunes – supports all media players that I know of and shows up a control set in your status bar.
• gmail space – allows you to use Gmail as a webstore for files, not just email. Finally, you can put your 2GB allowance to good use.
• ie tab – allows you to open IE windows in Firefox for those stubborn or shortsighted web pages that require IE usage. Dumb policy, but VERY useful extension.
• payperpostopps – see here.
• reload every – an extension that allows you to refresh your page every x seconds/minutes, useful if you are waiting for something to show up on a particular page, like a score, a stock price, etc..
• scribefire – allows you to write posts to your blog from your browser.
• search status – displays the Page Rank and Alexa ranking for any website you visit.

So those are my top ten at the moment, and I chose most of those for helping with my blogging. Firefox is highly extensible in other ways, too: Themes, Plugins, Add-ons, Dictionaries, and Search engines. And it’s available on MANY platforms (though some add-ons only work on Windows!). So why are you NOT using Firefox? Comments, please and tell me what you think about IE6/7 vs. FF 2.0/3.0.

(ed. This posting has been extended, tweaked and edited for content since first posting.)

PPP has been a blessing for me in many ways, as it has helped me save nearly $1,000 over the last six months. But there are times when I feel that logging in is perhaps the most frustrating thing that I have to deal with online. Why?

Personal Segmentation
If you don’t know about PPP and segmentation, you may wish to read this posting. Legal Andrew’s website hosts a nice plugin that I have been using for the last few days to help me weed out inappropriate offers. These fall in five categories I find:

1. ineligible opps – I can’t take them for categories, rankings, etc.,
2. undesirable opps – I don’t want to take them because they are inappropriate topics for this blog, eg. lingerie, cooking, to name a few,
3. low-ball opps – I don’t want to spend ages posting for a $5.00 or similar ‘cheapskate’ (sorry, advertisers with small budgets – includes me, actually!) opp with difficult requirements (like requiring high pr and 200 words for a segmented blog),
4. already completed – I already covered that opp before, can’t take it again or don’t want to redo as I have nothing to add to my original comments (rare but true!), and
5. unavailable opps – they sit there and say ‘click me’ but when you do, you find that they are all gone, yet they still entice you to click (again! and again! in the vain hope) – PPP is working on a fix for this.

Once I segmented my opps this way!
Now with that plugin called payperpostopps, I can nuke them all, and focus on what IS available. So here is what is available on page 1 for me today after I nuked them all! That’s right, not much for me today, though plenty of other bloggers will be able to find juicy opps. Page 2 isn’t much better, either. Page 3 and 4 are all red (meaning I can’t take them). Old Mother Hubbard… Well, this cupboard is bare, ain’t it?

This ability to focus on what is available can shave a lot of valuable time and unnecessary effort on my part because I’m able to write better quality posts (see some of my short ‘reviews’) and more information than the advertiser was requesting. Recently, I have only been doing one or so opp per day for that reason. So overall, it’s a good thing to have this plugin: it saves a lot of time checking out opps that you won’t do. Actually this tool helps us to focus on what is good for our blogs, not to be distracted too much by the $$$ signs that confront you when you login.

Risk Factors
It might be too easy to ‘nuke’ opps that you could do or by mistake or change your mind about. I can’t see any way at the moment to make such opps visible again. Also, its usage may lull you into logging off the system without refreshing the pages for a few minutes. I have been able to ‘catch’ a few opps that way.

Ok, now I can go and focus on some of the other posts I have to write. Ever feel you’re outgrowing Payperpost? Comment here, please if you are postie! I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.

This is your Monday Blues’ Posting: Don’t give up on your blogging!

It’s Monday morning, you’re feeling shaky. Your fingers are quivering at the keyboard as you struggle with yourself about your next topic… the phone rings, the wife calls, the computer connection cuts out! You say, “oh, forget about it” or more colorful words!

But stop, look, think! If you give up now, you might lose that moment… your self control to blog might weaken just a little. Then you’ll end up skipping one day, two days, then a week! If you don’t believe me, then take a look at my other blog! It’s forlorn now, but once not so long ago, it was the diamond in my crown! oh, well…

John Chow puts it very well on his website:

This all comes back to my follow up and follow through. It’s all well and good to say, “I’m giong to do it! I’m going to succeed!” However, if you don’t follow up and follow through with your words, then your words are nothing more than a big lie.

So, take his advice, press your fingers to the keyboard and keep on blogging… 😀