How To Twitter Quickly from Firefox, IE, Opera and Chrome

Twitter is much more than just ‘chirps’ from one friend to another. It’s now more of a roar as it has penetrated mobile phones, instant messengers, desktops, blogs and websites. It seems now we can Twitter from anywhere to just about anywhere. What finally made me a convert was when I heard that they are even twittering from space (nopes, not the aliens but NASA astronauts!).

Though Twitter is all pervasive, I have found that twittering becomes easier if it’s always in my face and married into the tools I use almost as a habit for my daily web hops.

Mark put in mentions about how to Twitter from some of the popular instant messengers and even from the command line. To further my own user experience, I started looking for ways to say my 140 bytes worth in an uncomplicatedly fast way sans frills from the browsers I use often and almost live in. With the popularity of Twitter, it wasn’t like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Twitter Addons for Firefox

CloudBerry TweetFox for Firefox brings micro-blogging to the browser. This Firefox addon for Twitter lets you tweet excerpts you like from websites with a click of the button and attach a short URL to the source page.

Download and install the Firefox experimental add-on. Restart your browser and add your Twitter username and password through the options dialogue of the add-on: Tools – Add-ons – CloudBerry TweetFox 1.0 – Options.

Select an excerpt from any interesting website and click on the Twitter icon on the toolbar. Tweet the selected text (or any message) from the TweetFox box. Optionally, you can also include the source URL courtesy of the URL shortening service from Chilp.It. Of course, make sure that the entire message is within the 140 character limit of Twitter.

The latter versions expectedly will see support for multiple Twitter accounts and also a feature to send replies.

TwitterBar is a similar add-on which uses the address bar to do the job.

 

Twitter Addons for Internet Explorer

As above, CloudBerry’s Twitter addon for Internet Explorer does the same job. TweetIE installs as a toolbar in IE. If it is not visible, select View – Toolbars – CloudBerry Twitter plugin.  On first use, the plugin asks for your username and password.

Write your own text or select text from any website and click on the Twitter toolbar icon. Your 140 character limited message can now be dispatched with a click.

 

Twitter Addon for Opera

If it’s add-ons and plug-ins with the last two browsers, then it’s widgets with Opera. More exactly, the Twitter Opera Widget. The widget is light and installs in a jiffy. It can be accessed from the Widgets menu on the toolbar.

After logging in, this is how Twitter addons for Opera looks like –

 

The little menu on the top gives you access to all your tweets. Posts and updates are almost concurrent. On the minus side, unlike the Twitter tools for IE and Firefox, the Opera widget lacks a URL shortener. But as a simple lightweight Twitter tool, it scores.

Twitter Addons for Chrome

Chrome so far lacks Firefox’s add-on richness or Opera’s widget gallery. Though, Chrome extensions are on fast track development… till then, it’s a little bookmarklet that I must fall back on.

Twitlet (beta) is a Twitter javascript bookmarklet service that lets you post from the convenience of your browser.

Twitlet is fast and simple. All you have to do is insert your Twitter log-in details to get the bookmarklet. Drag it to your browser’s toolbar and start using it with messages or selected texts. #link or #this can be used to insert the current page’s shortened URL.

Big Tweet is a similar service but it gives better text control over Twitlet. Using the bookmarklet, you can post to Twitter or Friendfeed. With Big Tweet, you can post highlighted text from any webpage with a shortened URL. A significant plus is that it lets you easily insert special characters in your messages for that emotional appeal.

Big Tweet as a bookmarklet also runs with Firefox, IE and Safari.

If I knew that we would be so keen to follow each other’s lives in 140 characters or less, I would have jumped in sooner. Are you are already in the deep end or are you a new believer like me? Either way, you can take a walkthrough of our huge list of posts on things that are Twitter. And of course, don’t forget to comment or tweet on days spent with Twitter.

Run Firefox Like Chrome

You could say I was a bit surprise that this didn't come to mind in terms of browsers mimicking others, even though you can theme to make them look like other browsers. Thus the reason for this topic and that is making firefox act like Chrome through a few plugins.

Stealther
This extension is supposed to mimic incognito browser so now you can do all your secret evil things in firefox now without being caught.

Download Statusbar
I am a big fan of this extension and been using it for a few months now and so its benefits are very useful and you won't get that download window popping up on you.

Locationbar² 1.0.3
All this extension does is highlight the main url and to help prevent spoofing. I know IE8 and Chrome use it built into the browsers, not to sure on Opera has something similar.

Speed Dial
If your an Opera user you should know this extension very well and basically its mini browsers within a browser and thus cutting out the use for tabs entirely.

Prism
With this extension basically you doing what Chrome and IE8 are doing and making a whole new process and so you wouldn't have to worry about firefox crashing and losing everything. Although it don't really matter since firefox has a good recovery system and should be able to recover most data.

Resizeable Textarea
Although I am somewhat familiar with this extension chrome has this built in and I be making a topic about tips, tricks and Easter eggs about Chrome shortly. As for the extension itself basically you turn a small text area into a large one by dragging from one of its corners and so if your commenting on something and the text area is small you can make it bigger.

Peer's
Now I am big fan of this extension because of hte fact you can expand the search function even more in firefox and you can get the first 8 results based on your keywords.
So if your not a fan of Chrome, like me, then you can at least mimic it until another version of Chrome comes out.

Five Reasons Google Chrome OS Will Fail

As smart and popular as Google may be, the success of Chrome OS is not a fait accompli.

Sometimes the smartest and most popular kid at school simply falls on his face. Google Chrome OS could very well turn out to be that kid.

Will Chrome OS be the promising upstart that fails to thrive in the real world? It's much too early to tell, but here are five reasons that Chrome OS could fail:

1. Netbooks aren't the world
Netbooks may be important, but they remain a tiny part of the world's PC sales. Google's bet is predicated on strong demand for weak computers. It also takes advantage of a kink in Microsoft's armor: MS actually needs to sell its operating systems while Google can, for now, afford to just give Chrome away.

However, operating systems have been given away for years now and Microsoft has persisted. Linux accounts for about 1 percent of the OS market today, and has already lost the battle for netbooks. And there is a reason for that: It isn't Windows.

Google is counting on users of small computers not being tied to specific applications and being willing to accept low cost and, perhaps, ease of use over a more familiar and more powerful environment.
Some doubtless are, but enough to really challenge Microsoft? Not anytime soon.

2. Microsoft Can Shoot to Kill
I'm Steve Ballmer and here's what I say: Windows 7 NB (for netbooks) will be free through all of 2010. Starting right now. Anything Google can do, Microsoft can--at least theoretically--do better. Google wants to give away a netbook operating system? So can Microsoft.

It will be hard for regulators to complain as Microsoft is now reacting to a powerful competitor's frontal assault on Windows. And placing and end date on the freebie--which can always be extended--allows MS to charge once Chrome is vanquished.

But, does Microsoft even have to do this? No. There is strong evidence--Linux on netbooks, for example--that Microsoft can still successfully charge for what other's give away.

Do not underestimate what can happen when Microsoft gets mad. The company's biggest enemy in recent years has been itself. A new external threat may help Ballmer & Co. sharpen their thinking and respond like an angry immune system to isolate and overwhelm a foreign organism, like Google.

3. Google Docs is the best they can do
So far, Googles efforts at creating cloud applications have been pretty feeble. Look at all the things Google Docs don't do that people need, at least occasionally. Google needs to prove that applications-as-a-service can match those users install. So far, it hasn't come close.

Google's cloud computing strategy so far is "applications lite," which may be fine for occasional use, just like a netbook, but don't meet enough needs to be a real solution.

4. Chrome isn't a "real" operating system
If I were building Chrome, I'd do everything possible to hide the operating system and hope users don't notice what's been left out.

But is that possible? At what point must something that looks and acts like an operating system be presented to users? How much functionality can be sacrificed to provide ease-of-use? Google describes Chrome almost as though an operating system can do all its work behind-the-scenes. I am not sure this is as possible as Google might like to believe.

The closer Chrome comes to being a "real" OS, the more Linux-y it will become. Oops! A one-way ticket on the Voyage to the Bottom of the Market awaits.

5. Compatibility matters
Compatibility, both hardware and software was the major reason why the world anointed Microsoft its King of Computing. You may not remember the days of incompatible word processors, spreadsheets, and file systems, but I do.

Microsoft became a monopoly because a single vendor could best meet the needs of the largest number customers by imposing standards. Customers voted Microsoft the winner and they like not having to worry about compatibility issues.

My sense is that Chrome will be a lowest-common-denominator operating system for computers so small and inexpensive as to be essentially disposable.

It is true such a computer will do 80 percent of what I need to accomplish each day, but the other 20 percent requires specialized software, sometimes specialized hardware, and maybe more horsepower than a netbook can possess.

Compatibility really matters and while Chrome's world may be complete as far as it reaches, there is always more. That's why Windows, frustrating as it may be, will prevail. The "20" in the 80/20 Rule matters a lot more than proponents of "80 is good enough" like to think.

The example I use, and this applies equally to Macintosh, is the large number of specialized apps that exist only for Windows. They could be written for Mac or Linux but because Windows is so dominant, developers see no reason to build for other platforms.

I am about to buy a netbook primarily to replace a Windows laptop for carry-around use with an application that doesn't require a lot of horsepower, but for which only Windows software is available.

Chrome will have to become more popular than I can today imagine for this software to be ported over anytime soon. Some people just need Windows and it will be a long time before Chrome can negate that.

I am not predicting Chrome's doom even before it starts shipping, but it's important to think about the challenges any new operating system faces. They are considerable and, so far, no one has come close to clearing them. (Even Microsoft, some will say).

Five Reasons Google Chrome OS Will Succeed

There's little doubt in my mind that Google will not fail with Chrome OS.

Sure, the company's been known for a few misses, but it's already proven that it can build a solid operating system -- not to mention a Web browser, cloud computing suite, and the best search engine in the world. If you're not sold on track record alone, here are five reasons Chrome OS will succeed:

Brand Name
Even before Android found its way into any devices, it had street cred. That's paying off now, as smartphone manufacturers jump on board with the open OS with the easily-recognizable brand. Expect Google to get the same traction with Chrome OS, with both consumers and manufacturers. The average user may be frightened by Linux, but soothed by the open arms of Google.

Price
Google hasn't announced how much Chrome OS will cost, but I'm willing to bet it will be cheaper than Windows XP, even at Microsoft's discounted netbook rate. Because its bread-and-butter remains in search ads, Google can afford to undercut Microsoft, which is already sacrificing OS profits to hang onto market share.

Good Specs Allowed
With Microsoft allegedly limiting the power and size of discount Windows XP-licensed netbooks, the door is open for Chrome OS to back better machines. Imagine, a netbook with 2GB of RAM and hybrid HDD/SSD storage. It could happen if Google convinces manufacturers to offer hardware upgrades for Chrome OS models.

Netbook Market Shift
Intel desperately wants consumers to know that netbooks aren't the same as full-powered PCs, because the cheap mini-notebooks are cannibalizing sales of their more expensive processors. Chrome OS will help send the message home with a simple, Web-only device, just in time for the rush of consumer ultra-low voltage PCs that offer cheap yet more powerful computing. The netbook market will change, and Google will be in perfect position.

Faster, Smarter
In short, Chrome OS will do everything that Linux couldn't do on its own. With Google promising continued support for new hardware devices and support for developers to build apps, Chrome OS will look more attractive than Linux, and even Ubuntu. Add the simplicity and security that Google wants to provide, and Windows XP starts to seem like a second-tier offering.