I'm being interviewed on The WELL, one of the oldest & coolest online communities, for two weeks about my book, Don't Click on the Blue E!: Switching to Firefox. It's really fun, and the folks on The WELL are all smart, polite, and very knowledgeable, which makes discussion a total pleasure. One person mentioned Greasemonkey, an extension for Firefox, which led me to write this reply. ...

The dude that invented the world's most awesomest extension for Firefox - Greasemonkey - gave a presentation at OSCON, & he's posted his slides. If you want to find out more about the background of Gm, or where it's going, check 'em out! (Check out all of my posts on Greasemonkey.) ...

Greasemonkey is still one of the coolest things runnin' on Firefox. If you're programmatically inclined, you too can write your own Greasemonkey scripts for the betterment of us all. Don't know how? Mark Pilgrim has written a book on the subject - Dive Into Greasemonkey - and released it under the GPL. Mark's a heck of a good writer, & the man knows how to program, so this could be just the thing for you. Read it & make something cool! (Check out all of our posts on Firefox and Greasemonkey.) ...

Here's the latest in a loooooooooong line of cool Greasemonkey extensions: Gmail Conversation Preview Bubbles. Right-click on a message in Gmail, & a cute lil' balloon opens with the message in it. Makes buzzing through Gmail even faster! Try it out & let us know if ya like it. (Check out all of my posts on Greasemonkey.) ...

Greasemonkey is one of my all-time favorite Firefox extensions, & lately there's trouble in Greasemonkeyville. Mark Pilgrim, who's a wicked smart web dev guy, found a serious security hole in Gm, & I mean a biggie. For now, downgrade to Gm 0.3.5 (which will protect your machine, but at the cost of Gm no longer working like it should), & keep checking this blog until a better fix is posted. Hey, it's still early days with Gm, & this is what open source is all about: allowing folks to find bugs openly, report them, & get 'em squished. (Check out all of my posts on Firefox & Greasemonkey.) ...

Actually, it's not branded Firefox yet; instead, it's called "Deer Park" in an effort to make it clear to folks that this is an ALPHA, & that quote-normal-unquote folks (i.e., not nerds like me) should probably avoid this. I installed it last night on my Linux laptop, & it's good. Much faster, with some cool new features (the ability to reorder tabs, for instance). Many of my extensions don't work, but that's not surprising (Greasemonkey, hurry up & update yourself to work! I miss you!). If you're into testing & livin' on the bleeding edge, try this one out. The final release is due later this summer. (Check out all of my posts on Firefox & Greasemonkey.) ...

On 2 March, SecurityFocus published my column Where is Google Headed? (and reprinted at The Register), a look at Google's new AutoLink feature for its Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer. I'm critical of the feature, and although I was attacked on other blogs, and even called both greedy and a hypocrite, I still stand by my column. I've done more thinking about the AutoLink issue since my column came out, and I'd like to further my arguments with some clarification. Understand that I'm a fervent supporter of Rip, Mix, Burn culture, and I firmly believe that users have the right to alter web pages once they're in a user's web browser cache … but I think AutoLink - as currently implemented by Google - is a very bad idea. The key distinction for me is this: I don't like it when large corporations make wide-ranging decisions for users that disadvantage those that the corporations choose not to favor. So, for instance, I like the Firefox Greasemonkey extension, but I don't like AutoLink. ...

The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 100 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week across over 75 industry-leading blogs. Each week we ask our bloggers to choose their top posts, which we bring to you in one easy-to-read weekly post. You'll find lots more links after the jump. Enjoy! ...

The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 100 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week across over 75 industry-leading blogs. Each week we ask our bloggers to choose their top posts, which we bring to you in one easy-to-read weekly post. You'll find links to the hottest posts from the past week after the jump including coverage of the most overrated shows of all time, DVD disagreements, and even a Picasso. Enjoy the full listing after the jump. ...