As many of you recall, it was just over two months ago that Apple came out with the stunning Safari 4 Beta. It was then and there that I, a long time Firefox user, switched to Safari, Mac OS X’s native web browser. Yesterday, however, I decided it was time to go back to the Fox. READ MORE »

It’s been a while since I’ve talked Firefox Plugins. Let’s end that spree today with FoxyURL. We all love URL shortening services- FoxyURL does a good job at that.

Now, they have a Firefox Extention. The extension is lightweight and with it URL creation is easy. When you’re on the URL you want to shorten, click the button and the URL is automatically generated with a shortcut button to copy it to your clipboard. The button can be positioned anywhere on your toolbar—even nestled between the address bar and the search box as shown above.

FoxyURL is a free extenion (aren’t they all?) and works with all versions of Firefox.

FoxyURL [via Lifehacker]

No, this has nothing to do with Green Bay or West Fargo. When going out of town, often it can be hard just what needs to get done before you leave town. I had the same problem last week when leaving for Minot. The solution? Packer Pro for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

Packer Pro forces you to organize BEFORE you leave, which certainly removes the shuffle and associated panic with forgetting something. The app has built-in lists which you can use or modify to your liking for any trip- big or small. If you are traveling with your family, don’t worry- they have you covered. And with many items built-in it reduces time typing.

Packer Pro- great for the traveler on the go. The app is $3.99 from the iTunes App store. If that’s a bit much for you, Packing is a scaled down version of Packer Pro that only goes for 99¢.

Packer Pro [App Store Link via TUAW]

Good Morning once again. I know I said it last time, but this should be the last rash of breaks from posting. That said, let’s get started with this week’s Manic Monday.

• CNBC takes on the whole Mac vs. PC thing- and it’s not good.
• And Time Warner is at it again…
• Microsoft’s Windows 7 RC 1 is due for release this week, with a few surprises.
• Ubuntu 9.0.4 ” Jaunty Jackalope” is ready for release, also.
• Study shows the majority of Music Buyers are Music Pirates. RIAA says the study is full of crap.
• Funny: Pirate Bay IP Addresses Assigned to Prosecution Lawyers
• Apple found guilty of willful patent infringement. Yikes.
• Oracle buys Sun- everyone is doomed.
• Sad News: Yahoo pulls the plug on Geocities- the place where I started.

And that’s this week’s Manic Monday. And provided there are no more family emergencies, posting should be back to normal. Enjoy!

I figured I would warn you all a head of time this time. I will be on Hiatus from the website again this week. I am tending to a Family Emergency and I’m not sure what kind of Internet access I will have out of town.

I apologize once again for the leave- I WILL be back for Manic Monday on Monday.

- Jake

P.S: I will try to stay active on Twitter throughout the week. Go to twitter.com/jakebechtold to follow me.

Good Morning- it’s time again for Manic Monday. Here we go!

• Congressman Wants to Ban Download Caps. Oy vey…
• Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 due out next week.
• But will it have tabs? Anyway else makes no sense!
• Engadget endorses Monster Cable? Not a chance in hell!
• Time Warner uncaps the tubes. Finally, they did something smart!
• That said, they did tell the FCC to shut about Net Neutrality.
• News from Sweden: The Pirate Bay Four have been found guilty.
• And the Swedes aren’t happy.
• Hulu app coming to the iPhone soon. Your brain will soon be like Tapioca.
• Microsoft officially announces Office 2010.
• Too bad IE is still outta whack.
• And there is one piece of Apple news: The new shuffle only costs 28% of it’s retail price to make.

And that’s this week’s Manic Monday. Stay tuned as always for more great tech content to come.

As you may know, there are over 100 different apps for using Twitter. However, it seems to me the Windows gets all the good ones. It just so happens that I came up with a great Twitter app that is Mac only.

Nambu is a native Mac OS X application that supports a number of services, such as FriendFeed and Identi.ca, but is extremely strong as a Twitter application, as it has built-in support for tr.im and pic.im.

Nambu has three different views: Standard list view which will automatically integrate tweets from multiple accounts into a single timeline- great if you have multiple accounts from multiple services. Three-pane view, somewhat similar to Mail, with a sidebar allowing you to choose between accounts. And then there is multi-column view which allows you to choose what appears in each column: main timeline, replies, sent messages, etc (a lot like TweetDeck). Also, replies are threaded- a nice touch.

So if you’ve been unhappy with some of the Twitter applications out there, give Nambu a try. It’s Mac OS X only, and it’s free. And if you like Nambu, there’s an iPhone version, too. Tweet on!

Nambu [via TUAW]

If you are looking to kill some time today, check out Dead.AtYourage.com.

While most birthday facts sites tell you who was born and died on your birthday, Dead At Your Age tells you who you’ve outlived. All you have to do is enter your birth date and the web site will dig up a list of people who left for somewhere else before your age. You can also subscribe for email alerts that tell you when you’ve outlived someone else.

Is it practical? Not at all but if you’re looking to kill some time- here you go.

Dead.AtYourAge [via Download Squad]

Time for an iPhone app- and while we’re at it we’ll talk cars, too. Car maintenance is very important to the performance of your car. Today’s app helps you keep track of your car maintenance, and gas fills too. Enter Gas Cubby.

Gas Cubby is the ultimate tool for tracking gas mileage and vehicle maintenance. Whether you’re a hypermiler, or just want a reminder to change the oil, Gas Cubby will help save you money and keep your vehicle operating at its peak.

GasCubby tracks gas mileage and vehicle maintenance, charts MPG, gas price, gas expenses, service expenses, has customizable service reminders and supports multiple vehicles with detailed info, such as VIN, License Plate, and Insurance Policy

GasCubby is currently on version 1.1 and is onsale in the App Store for $4.99. But once 2.0 is released, GasCubby will go back to $9.99, and existing users can upgrade for free. Enjoy!

Gas Cubby [App Store - iTunes link]

Good Morning- hopefully you had a great Easter weekend (and celebrated the real reason of Easter). But now- on to technology. Let’s take a look with this week’s Manic Monday.

• Gmail: 5 years and it’s still in beta! Here’s why.
• iTunes launches variable pricing (we already talked about this last tuesday).
• CompUSA risen from the dead? No- they are not Jesus of Nazareth.
• BBC to plug BitTorrent downloads.
• And this just in- snow is flying in Hell.
• Apple admits to MacBook cracking- will fix it for free (Good news for me).
• Guilty or Not Guilty? That is the question facing Pirate bay.
• Ubuntu 9.04 boots in 17.5 seconds. Nice!
• Chrome progress is being made on a Linux version. Still no Mac version, though.
• Facebook messes up your GPA? Yea right!

And that’s this week’s Manic Monday. I will be posting all five days this week- so stay tuned for some more great tech content. Enjoy!