I thought I’d write an article about the Firefox extensions that I used, after totally coming up with the idea myself. It’s my idea, I swear!

All the extensions below are fully compatible with Mozilla Firefox 3, unless otherwise stated.

Customize Google

This handy extension adds some additional options to tweak Google to your liking, one of which I find very useful is to bypass Google’s annoying click tracking - basically, you can’t right click a link from within the search results and copy the path, instead, you’re copying a Google-based URL which then redirects to the page you want to visit. Plus, it adds some extra options such as removing ads, adding additional links to stuff like WayBackMachine, showing favicons in the search results, and so on.

Favicon Picker

If a site you visit doesn’t have a favicon, yet you visit it often and want to put it in your bookmarks toolbar, it won’t have a favicon visible. This annoys me, so, I generally always change the favicon if it’s either ugly, or doesn’t exist. Sadly, this extension does not work on Firefox 3, last time I tried, which is a pity (enabling it crashed Firefox for me). If anyone has a fix, please do share it.

Update: Just found out there’s actually a Favicon Picker v3, which can be found here.

Foxmarks Bookmarks Synchronizer

An invaluable tool (saved my owned bookmarks several times in the past from ‘accidents’), which backs up your bookmarks to either Foxmarks’ site or your own FTP server. Also very handy if you have multiple PCs, and don’t want the fuss of keeping them updated all the time.

FxIF

My latest extension, thanks to Pandya’s aforementioned article, this shows EXIF data for images - stuff like the camera model, apeture, and so on. Pretty simple really. Example photo used can be found here.

Greasemonkey

This highly useful extension enabled the modification of various web pages, to enhance them or change the layout or feel. I use a couple of Grasemonkey scripts including Flickr Rich Edit, Flickr Buddy Icon Reply, Flickr Camera Images, Flickr Multi Group Sender, and deviantART MCF Bypass.

President Bush Countdown

Not really useful, but it shows that he’ll be kicked out of office soon. Hurrah!

Server Spy

Shows what software the server is running. For example, on my blog: Apache/2.2.8 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.8 OpenSSL/0.9.7a DAV/2 mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635. See the above President Bush screenshot to see what Server Spy looks like in the status bar, too.

ShowIP

Another server tool, this shows what IP address the server is that hosts the site. Again, as an example, my blog is on 91.186.27.166. It’s also intelligent, and shows any additional IPs for that site if you require so. See the above President Bush screenshot to see what ShowIP looks like in the status bar, too.

Stylish

Similar to Greasemonkey, but more for modifying the look and feel of sites then adding features. I use a couple of Stylish scripts including Firefox 3 Mac OS X - Favicons on Bookmark Bar, Flickr Vista Fonts, and IMDb - dark blue redesign.

User Agent Switcher

For stubborn sites that refuse to let me in because I use Firefox / OS X.

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Anyway, that’s all I use, feel free to suggest any more, or, post your own in the comments.

Sorry for last night’s downtime. Turns out trying beta versions of software isn’t a very good idea (even more so when you don’t backup first), I somehow managed to mess up the permissions (I think), and overwrite the themes and plugins, which made the site unvisitable for about 24 hours.

Should all be working again, thanks to Minthost’s backups (and Jonathan’s help). >_<

Update (17th July 08): Sucessfully updated to Wordpress 2.6 final.

I seem to have switched to dialup.

Which is odd because I KNOW that I can get more:

Perhaps I should move to a datacentre:

Stupid BT.

I reached 100,000 views on my Flickr account in the past couple of days, and I didn’t even notice until browsing my account’s stats today.

Crave has seen all manner of sadistic alarm clocks, from models that emit sonic booms and electrical shocks to those that fly and roll away. But the appropriately named “Tyrant” from Taiwanese designer Alice Wang takes sleep disruption to a disturbing new level.

If you don’t turn it off, this little monster will randomly dial numbers programmed in your mobile phone every three minutes, according to SlashGear. That’s right–not calls to yourself, but to others who surely won’t be amused. Mercifully, this is only a concept so far (we hope).

Source: c|net Crave

*do want*

Two blog posts within an hour(ish), a record!

Anyway, I thought it would be nice to let readers of my blog in on a little secret, and it helps if you’re a regular on TVF as well.

So basically, two bits of news, first of all, TVF v3. I made a very simple small banner for advertising it, and, as much as I would like to say what it is, I’m not allowed to, bahaha. But I will say that it’s something that should make the whole site quite a bit better, and more intergrated, but that’s all I’m saying. So, just enjoy the banner for now:

Secondly, and I can talk about this more openly, is that we’re planning on giving away an Xbox 360 (and possibly some games, too) in the coming months, so look out for that too. I’m not sure exactly which model it will be yet, but it’ll most likely be the Elite or the one below that, the Premium. First prize will probably also get a free game too, but don’t hold me on that, as we’re still discussing the specifics.

You will need to do a little work to be able to win it, but, for a free 360 it’s worth it, yes?

That Dell 2407WFP-HC that I ordered last month actually wasn’t a 2407WFP-HC. It was the older 2407WFP revision A04 model, which is the one before the “-HC”, which has more colour then the one I have right now.

I only noticed this a few days ago when Fr3d posted a screenshot of his device manager in IRC, and his showed an “-HC” model, whereas mine didn’t. So, I looked around a bit, and mine is indeed the wrong one.

So, since dad had placed the order I got him to email the guy, Mark, at MCS, and check, and I was indeed correct, it’s the wrong one. So, after a couple of emails, a courier is coming next week with an actual -HC, and at the same time pick up the box with mine in it (so I’ll be without a monitor for half an hour).

Overall, very good service on behalf of MCS, so, I would highly recommend them. It was also pretty good value, even though it’s a refurb, the 2407WFP that I have now basically arrived brand new, the only sign of use was a tiny scratch on the left (and I mean tiny), but for the sake of saving over £100 off the retail price, who cares?

Acksaw found a really neat Flash-based script today, that basically loads images off your Flickr account, and displays them in a pretty damn cool way. Basically, it’s a grid with all your photos in it from Flickr, and you can zoom in and make it move around and stuff. It’s actually a very cool idea.

It can be used with a Flickr account, or your own xml-based gallery thingy. The Flickr method is the easiest as you just have to edit a few bits of code and you’re done. The XML method means you have to edit a file whenever you add new photos, so it’s a bit annoying in that way, whereas Flickr is super-easy.

You can see mine here: william-hook.com/tiltviewer

Pretty cool eh? If you make your own, post a link to yours in the comments.

Why?

Since I started this blog, I’ve used the exact same template. I’ve not edited a single piece of code at all except for my own mods, and it’s not broken a thing.

Also, if I install a plugin, it can somehow modify the WordPress files on-the-fly and add in any functionality. For example, The reCAPTCHA, the Flickr thumbnails, the iPhone skin, all those plugins were activated with a single click. NO code edits, NO file modification, nothing.

That’s why I like WordPress. It’s so easy to use.

Invision Power Board, on the other hand…..oh boy. Have a look at TVF’s blogs. IPS recently changed the layout a little, but all our custom skins are totally screwed. What it should look like, is this: IPS Blogs.

Somehow, if it was WordPress, that would be possible without needing any code edits. But being IPB it means there’s a TON of code to be edited, which is a chore.

So, IPS, please, steal some code from WordPress and make IPB work better then it does now between upgrades!

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Since I got my iPhone, quite a few people seem to have expressed an interest themselves, and refuse to believe how easy it is to get an iPhone and unlock it. So here is a simple guide of exactly what I did, what it has, and so on.

Update (30th April 2008): Moved the guide to a proper page now, and added some more info: http://william-hook.com/iphone/

I have been getting LOADS of emails recently with random spam, mainly to “blog@william-hook.com”….and since I had a catch-all email setup, I got pretty much everything and everything related to spam. So I’ve killed it. The only account that exists now is the alias that I usually use for stuff (mail@…), but I sometimes use other addresses, but if someone needs that it’ll just bounce. Hopefully that’ll cut out 90% of the spam I’ve been getting.

Honestly, it’s russian, the usual enlargement emails, drugs, pills, and other random bs that I DON’T WANT.

If I ever meet a spammer in real life, they better run for their lives, as I’m actually going to murder them.

I got an iPhone yesterday, after O2 had announced that they were cutting £100 off the price, I decided to go for it.

And I must say, it’s an incredibly nice phone. Everyone says “oh, it doesn’t have MMS or 3G so it sucks”, but honestly, that does not bother me at all. I never use MMS, and on the one or two times that I have, email would probably have sufficed. Also, 3G doesn’t bother me much because Stafford has shocking coverage with Vodafone (who are the best 3G network, apperantly), so….so what?

The phone itself is a nice size, not too big, not too small, but it is a bit heavier compared to the Sony Ericsson W880i that I’ve had. Still, for all the features it has, it’s a good size. The interface is very nice and easy to use, and compared to the tiny keys on the W880i, it’s a dream to type on…even with the on-screen keyboard. I also watched an episode of The Gadget Show on it last night, from Monday, and, it’s a nice screen to watch media on. I used the “Videora iPhone Converter” first, which coverts your videos to work on the iPhone, then you have to sync it, then go to the iPod section, and go to “Movies”, then tap it and you’re set.

Of all the talk about the iPhone on the net, I’ve yet to come across any mention of the sound quality for the phone itself - it’s pretty good. I’ve made a couple of calls with it and for the most part, it actually does have a “stronger” and more bassy sound then the W880i has, when on calls. The SMS feature is also very nice, it’s extremely easy to follow a conversation with the “threaded” view.

I also unlocked it as soon as I got home, because 1) I’m still on Vodafone, and 2) I don’t want to pay for the contract. Using ZiPhone, all you need to do is take it out the box, plug it in, download ZiPhone, unzip it, run it, hit “unlock and jailbreak”, and it’ll do all the work for you. As my phone only had 1.1.2 on it, I also had to upgrade it (to version 1.1.4, which works perfectly), but it should be pretty obvious how to do that.

So far the only issue I’ve found is that I have too much music, I’ve had to not sync some of my albums, as I have around 8.5GB of music. If Apple do indeed release the 3G iPhone, and they have a 32GB or 64GB model, I might just get one of those and then give this one to my dad. 64GB would be a great size for me, as I could load all my music onto it plus quite a bit of video too.

Overall, it’s well worth the £169, so if you haven’t got one, and you live in the UK, get one.

Before you sue me, Mister Bush, I would encourage you to read this:

Ok, so George “Dubya” Bush is a supposed “war criminal” - gotcha

A purported ex coke addict? - Right.

But please, Oh please George, why did you have to become one of those filthy stinking filesharing pirates? The RIAA would have everyone believe that these pirates are the most evil of the evil people on the planet. Hitler was nothing in comparison to someone sharing the latest Britney Spears album.

The following video is an interview done by Fox news.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb7iOvS7Akc

Wow George, I didn’t realise you could get the Beatles on iTunes.

Oh wait, thats right - you cant, nor can you get them on any legal music downloading platform for that matter.

Also, according to this article by the Washington Post, ripping your own legally purchased CD’s is also against the law.

Guess you can just add that to your list of bad things you’ve done huh?

The above post was found at this site, which, at the moment, is down.