The World of Stuff .com

I’ve got the power!

In September I switched from Internet Explorer to Firefox. There are numerous extensions for Firefox that allow you control over the web sites you visit. For example, I’ve downloaded Adblock (which blocks ads from pages), StumbleUpon (which allows you to find cool sites based on your interests), and others (including a program that displays “alt” text for images… something Firefox does not do by default).

Now I’ve discovered the Extension to End All Extensions. It’s called Greasemonkey, and you can use it to manage the content or features of any site you visit. It doesn’t do anything by itself; you download mini-extensions, called user scripts, that do the dirty work. These basically function as extensions, except that they are easier to write (being only JavaScript) and to download. Some improve usability around the Internet, while others are designed to work at specific sites. So far I’ve downloaded three, all for general use.

MouseOverThis! gets rid of JavaScript that makes the status bar say something when you hover over a link. Immensely useful for sites such as snopes.com which are good but, for some strange reason, don’t want you to see where their links go until after you’ve clicked them. (The Adblock extension also works wonders on Snopes, making it actually navigable.)

Frame Killer Plus gets rid of all frames but the largest (but, by default, only on the sites you specify). It’s good for those annoying sites that keep external links wrapped in their own frames. About.com is a good example, and again, another prime opportunity for Adblock to do its magic.

Another one I downloaded was No Middle Man, which gives you direct links instead of redirection links (for example, when you leave the web site of a government agency, and they just have to say before you get redirected that what happens on the rest of the Internet isn’t their fault). But I removed this user script because I couldn’t get it to exempt Google’s cached pages.

In short, Greasemonkey gives you the power to control the Web. Twenty cool points to Greasemonkey.

To sleep, perchance to dream…

Speaking of interesting and possibly useful things, we have here a watch called the SLEEPTRACKER (intended to be shouted, hence the caps). It’s a pretty cheap-looking watch, but it’s actually expensive. And here’s why: it monitors your sleep and wakes you up at the opportune moment.

You know one of those rare days when you wake up just bursting with energy, ready to go out into the world and take on anything that comes your way? I don’t either, but I’ve heard good things. Anyway, that’s what you’re supposed to feel like when you wake up at the proper point of your sleep cycle. And that’s supposedly when the Sleeptracker wakes you up. Just at the right time. Oh, what a feeling.

And it’s only US $149.