After downloading and installing Internet Explorer 8 onto the computers of various members of my family, I’ve now downloaded and installed it on my own machine. There’s not a whole lot that you’ll notice that’s different initially. I believe I have noticed that pages do seem to be loading a bit faster in IE8 than previously in IE7.

I’ve had to use the compatibility feature on a couple of sites, ones that I’ve developed for clients, so there’s so more work for me to take care of and make sure those are up to par.

I’m still using Firefox as my browser of choice. I still say that the main reason I stay with Firefox is because of all of the plugins and extensions that are available on this platform. Hopefully IE8 will get more activity from developers and Microsoft will keep improving this browser. Competition is good for everyone. Let’s hope both of these browsers keep pushing each other.

I’ve written about my dislike of Apple software a variety of times before. You see my experience with dealing with and trying to remove Apple software has been more akin to the feelings I have when trying to get rid of malware or other unwanted software on computers. The challenge now is that I’ve gotten Apple off of my computer but now they’ve teamed with Facebook to get it back on my computer with Quicktime.

Quicktime Install on Facebook

I’m not sure what bothers me more in this situation. I understand that Quicktime is a popular plug-in and many people have no problem with the application.

My bigger frustration is that I have to continually tell Facebook and my Firefox browser that I’m not interested in the plugin and I’m NOT GOING TO “Install Missing Plugins”.

Does anyone know if there’s some way to force the browser or Facebook to remember my preference here? I’d love to know if you do. It gets old continually trying to take care of this issue.

Jayvee over at Tech Side Up found this great Photo Booth plugin. The plugin, developed by Dubi Kaufmann takes it’s cue from the popular Obama poster created by Shepard Fairey.

Download the plugin here, the instructions are also in the link. It’s as simple as unzipping the file, dragging it to Library/Compositions/ and you have the Obama plugin ready for use.

Go forth and Obamafy!

While technically it’s not a Mac topic, I decide to blog about this because it does run on Macs.

Google just added video capabilities to it’s chat software. From within Gmail you can now talk face to face with your friends and family from across the globe. The browser based video chat requires installation of additional software which is downloadable from Google.

I tried it on my Mac and chatted with my dad using his Windows laptop. The quality was good. I’m amazed that it worked so well.

For those who don’t have a video cam, voice chat is a great option as well.

Check out the entry from Google’s official blog. Download the plugin for the video chat here.

I must admit I’m a Facebook whore. One of the great time wasters that I’ve come across with. Part of the appeal of Facebook is the ability to share photos. I know that a lot sites do that but it happens that Facebook is the one I like now.

It’s so much of a hassle to upload pics via the web interface. Luckily there Facebook Exporter for iPhoto. It’s an iPhoto plugin for Facebook that let’s you upload photos directly from the iPhoto interface. You can create albums, tag people, etc. It’s a neat little plugin for Facebook addicts like me.

Here’s a link to the plugin page.

Recently I came across a post about the new file backup service, Dropbox. After a little digging, I got myself an invite to the private beta, and got it set up.

Set up was truly a breeze. This is one of those programs that just seem to work. I have it installed on my Mac and on my Windows XP Desktop. From receiving the beta invitation to uploading files was 3 steps. I’d write a tutorial, but really, it’s just that easy.

The best part is that the software is designed, specifically, to sync one folder on your computer to the web. Whatever you put in the folder, syncs to the online service and in turn to your other computers that are linked to your account. Change that file at work, and it’s changed online and at home as well.

The one negative, I suppose, is that it only watches and syncs one designated folder on your computer. If you want it to be in sync, it has to be in that folder. I know they are working on more advanced ways to designate what syncs, but I would prefer not move stuff out of my folder/naming scheme to get it to sync.

Dropbox will also let you share folders of pictures as slideshow albums. I think Flickr (or other comparable service) would probably be a better tool for that particular feature, but might be useful for some people. It also lets you share public folders and individual files. Just think about the next time you need to email that 100 MB file. Just drag it to the public folder and email the link instead.

The timing on this is probably what I like the most. I’ve been debating about Mobile Me since the announcement, but with the bugs their facing and a $100 per year cost, I just haven’t convinced myself its worth it. And this is just one more free option that takes the place of one of Mobile Me’s features. (It looks like after the beta, 1 GB accounts will still be free).

Currently, Dropbox works with Windows Vista/XP or Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard. There is a Linux version soon to be released in Alpha. The program is still an invite only Beta, but I have invites available for the first 10 comments.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Could this, with a few other free tools, replace Mobile Me?

This might be a little late since this has been around some time. Still some people might not know about this so here goes. You can upload photos to your Google/Picasa accounts using Picasa Web Albums Uploader from Google.

The guys from Google have put together a little app to help upload photos to your Picasa account. It can either work as a stand alone app or as a plugin for iPhoto. It supports iPhoto 4, 5, 6 and iPhoto 08.

Download the application here.

I’ve been trying to do some encoding of Flash Videos for a web site. The thing is, everytime I’d want to view the finished video I’d have to preview it on an embedded Flash Video Player on a web page. It’s just a plain hassle to do this for previewing. It took more time that I’d like. Thank God my friend Nargalzius pointed me to Perian. A freeware plugin that allows Quicktime to play almost any video format, even FLVs. Straight from the Quicktime program.

Neat plugin. Go get it here.

Alright! This is indeed the battle of the century. On the left corner, wearing the signature iPod-white shorts is the .Mac account, a value-added PIM service and backup system exclusive to .Mac members.

On the right corner, we have Plaxo, the world’s most popular PIM synchronizing tool that’s compatible with almost all OS platforms.

But for today, we’re going to take a look at the lighter side of these two web tools as we see which one does it best when it comes to … greeting cards (!!!) An integral part of our online social life is remembering special ocassions and acting with an eGesture such as sending cards via email.

Plaxo calls them eCards. Apple calls them iCards (who would have thought?)

Read more

Perhaps one of the more useless plugins for iTunes is the Jumping Jobs iTunes visualizer. But you know what? They say that the most useless of things are the most purposeful in this journey called life.

So download and install it now. It only works for Mac OSX PPC though.

[Via The Joy of Tech]