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Tuesday, July 31, 2007

PlayStation Eye


For years, video game-loving nature documentary film makers have searched for a away to combine their two passions.



Finally Sony delivers, with PlayStation Eye offering the chance to make time-lapse movies snails crawling across window panes via the power of PS3®. It has other uses too. Four mics suppress background noise while the camera captures video at up to 120fps, editable with the bundled software.

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Buffalo TeraStation Pro II

Running a home business or just in ness of an obscene ampunt of data storage? Then say hello to the TeraStation Pro II, available in one or two terabyte system options.

ImageImageImageImage
ImageImageImageImage
The Buffalo TeraStation Pro II is a high-performance four SATA drive NAS supporting RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10.
The Pro II has a claimed transfer rate of 35MBps and a super quiet fan so your office won't sound like a buzzing server room. With quick-swap hard drive trays, you won't need a technical person to replace dead hard drives. Two USB 2.0ports allow for expanded networkd storage.

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Monday, July 30, 2007

Blu-ray vs HD DVD

It has been a long time coming, but the battle to replace the DVD has finally reached consumers. The consumer electronics industry is attempting to replace the millions of DVD players and DVD-ROM drives across the globe. The problem is it can't decide which format to replace them with: Blu-ray or HD DVD.

Each format has its own heavyweight industry backing. HD DVD is supported by Toshiba, Intel, and Microsoft, which will offer an add-on HD DVD player to its Xbox 360 game console this fall. Blu-ray is supported by Samsung, Pioneer, and Sony, which will build a Blu-ray drive directly into its upcoming PlayStation 3 game system, also available this fall.

What is the difference?

Blu-ray has a capacity advantage, offering 25GB of storage on a single-sided disc and 50GB on a double-sided disc. HD DVD discs hold 15GB (single sided) or 30GB (double-sided). Although this would seem to give Blu-ray a significant advantage, 15GB is enough room—just barely—to fit a high-definition movie.

HD DVD players and drives are a lot cheaper than Blu-ray devices. Blu-ray players will cost between $1,000 and $1,500 at launch. Toshiba's first HD DVD player, the HD-A1, is being sold for just $500, and it has been available for more than two months.

Who is going to win?
[Via PC Mag]

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Alienware Area-51 ALX Pure Power

Let Alienware Push Your System to the Limit

The Area-51 ALX system is now available with the quad core Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 overclocked from 2.66GHz to 3.2GHz core clock speed! Alienware factory overclocking increases your processor's overall speed and performance. Alienware assures that all its overclocked systems still meet Alienware's strict quality and performance guidelines before leaving the factory.

Alienware factory overclocking does not void your system warranty.
Double Barrelled Graphics

The new NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 Ultra with SLI dual GPU technology is, simply put, unstoppable. The NVIDIA 8800 Ultra carries 768 MB of GDDR3 memory, for a total of 1.5 GHz of dedicated GPU memory, and is the world's first Direct X 10-compliant video card as well as HDCP ready. With this kind of dual GPU firepower at your disposal, you better start planning the post-victory smack talk now.


More than ever before

Cram all your digital pictures, movies, games, and music, into the massive hard drives on the Area-51 and still have room to spare. With up to 4.0 terabytes of storage you'll never have to worry about storage space.

Life in the fast lane

Alienware's Area-51 ALX is equipped with the latest DDR2 memory that lets you do more quickly. Blaze through those annoying loading screens and get more of what you want, now

World’s First Physics Processing Unit

The Area-51 ALX enables gaming performance beyond the combined capabilities of CPUs and GPUs by integrating a third element vital to realistic gameplay: the highly innovative AGEIA PhysX™, the first-ever physics processing unit. The PhysX adds a level of dynamic motion and interaction never before experienced in gaming by accelerating the scale and quality of real-time physics. With PhysX, visual effects such as how fluids flow and how explosions scatter debris are portrayed much more realistically to greatly enhance gameplay on PhysX-enabled games.

Blu-ray Disc Technology

The Blu-ray Disc format offers the highest capacity of any consumer media format to date, also greatly surpassing the capacity of other media formats. Blu-ray Disc gives you the maximum storage capability of 50GB on one dual layer disc, almost 10x the standard storage capabilities of a DVD. Blu-ray Disc's huge capacity allows not only for the highest quality High Definition video to be displayed, but allows you back up your large media libraries on one disc.

[Via Alienware.com]

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Alienware Area-51 7500 with Thermaltake BigWater SE

Thermaltake has been in business since 1999 providing cooling solutions to computer users around the world. In the 6+ years they have been in business, they went from the golden orb, which sold millions, to their current line of products, ranging from CPU coolers to full blown water cooling setups and from cases to PSU's, not to mention the wide range of other products they offer.






This is a Alienware Area-51 7500R4 P2 Chassis with a installed Thermaltake BigWater SE thermaltake liquid cooling kit on. Installation took about 4 hours.

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Sunday, July 29, 2007

Flaming Permomance

Often wanted a PDA phone with a dedicated graphics processor? Here is the O2 Xda Flame screaming for your attention. The manufacturers claim that is the first of its kind to have two processors, one being the intel CPU and the other for being the NVIDIA GoForce 5500 GPU.


02 Xda Flame is powered by an Intel Xscale PXA 270 520MHz and an NVIDIA GoForce 5500 graphics card. With gigantic 3.6″ 640×480 resolution TOUCH screen, the 02 Xda Flame phone has a better LCD screen than iPhone which only features a 3.5 in, 320×480 resolution screen.

Besides that, this PDA phone also comes integrated 2GB internal storage, 64MB Flash ROM, 128MB RAM, WiFi support and 3G network support. With NVIDIA graphics card and 3.6″ LCD Screen, watching DVD on the 02 Xda Flame is definitely an enjoyable experience.

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Wired for Sound


When it comes to owning Ghettoblaster, the first thing that comes to mind is that you want to annoy those within earshot. Now that unfortunately isn't possibly if all you carry around is a puny iPod. Well all this about to change with the PodXtreame Sound Box. This add on speaker is capable of bringing down the house but is only half the size of your iPod. Powered by Li-ion batteries, you can juice this up anytime as long as you have a USB cable.

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Saturday, July 28, 2007

Alienware m9750 First Look


The most powerful laptop with 17” Wide Screen WUXGA, With two processing cores, powered by the Intel® Core™2 Duo processor, 2GB RAM DDR2 at 667MHz, 512MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX GDDR3 NVIDIA nForce 100 with NVIDIA® SLI™ technology and two 250GB hard drives.

The truth?

It's out there.
Today’s games demand maximum horsepower; the Area-51 m9750 delivers. NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology and up to 1GB of graphics memory make it more powerful than most desktops, and all other notebooks.

PC Magazine : Editors' Choice : July 2007

“The new Stealth Black design and SLI graphics allow the Alienware Area-51 m9750 to take its rightful place on the gaming throne.”



[Via alienware.com]

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Kingston MobileLite

Let’s you conveniently exchange data, photos, games and music stored on memory expansion cards between mobile phones, computers, laptops, cameras, PDAs and other devices.

Designed with a USB connector and memory expansion slots that take nine different types of SD and MMC Flash memory cards.

Three Secure Digital (SD) Flash memory card bundles will be offered in addition to the device itself: a 1GB standard SD card combo pack is available now and 1GB microSD and 2GB SD bundles be released later.

Technical Details
  • Model: 9-in-1 Reader
  • Item Package Quantity: 1
  • Hardware Platform: PC, Mac, Unix
  • RAM Memory Technology: None
  • form_factor: SD Memory Card

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TomTom GO 300

Sat-nav took GPS- a satellite location system developed for dropping bombs down an enemy's throat and made it a tool for happy consumers. TomTom toook sat-nav and made it easy to use.

Technical specifications

  • 200 Mhz ARM920T processor
  • 32 MB RAM
  • SD Card for map storage
  • 320 x 240 x 4096 colours 3.5” TFT screen
  • Internal Li-Ion battery
  • 4.5" x 3.6" x 2.3", 11 oz.
  • 12 channel ‘All-in-View’ integrated GPS receiver
  • Internal antenna and support for (not in package) active external antenna
  • Just plug in, switch on & GO: no installation or activation necessary
  • Door-to-door planning: detailed maps of your region
While the American GPS is good, next gen satellite location will be even better. The currently floundering European Galileo system will guide you to an address, then up the stairs to the right room. Meanwhile, the Russians are developing their rival, GLOSNASS.. seriously.

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HTC Touch


The HTC Touch is a iPhone direct competitor with its TouchFlo Technology which allows you to navigate on screen with your fingers and distinguish between a stylus and finger usage. Is it the one of the thinnest phones running on the Windows Mobile 6?


The HTC Touch is running on Windows Mobile 6 Professional with Push Email. It also has microSD card slot, 2 MP Camera, EDGE, Wi-Fi, A2DP Bluetooth and talk time up to 5 hours.

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Thursday, July 26, 2007

Test Your Firewall

If you would like to simply generate some event traffic on your computer to test the event notification dialog and see some events in the log choose the simple probe.

If you would like the server to check a list of common ports on your computer to determine if it is able to obtain a connection to them use the port scan.

Simple Probe
Port Scan

Additional Scans
A number of other sites offer probing and scanning of your system.
Please note that these sites are not affiliated with Hackerwatch.org

Scan page at DSL Reports
Advanced Port Scanner at PCFlank.com

HackerWatch

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Top 5 17-Inch LCD Monitors


These 17-inch monitors are the best in the class today, and they're relatively affordable. Ratings and rankings can change due to pricing and technology changes, so check back frequently for the latest info.







Dell UltraSharp 1707FP

Size (inches): 17
Resolution (pixels): 1280 by 1024
Adjustments: Multiple adjustments
Contrast Ratio: 600:1
Interfaces: Analog and digital
Weight (pounds): 9.13

This thoughtfully designed display with easy swivel and pivot mechanisms also has easy-to-reach USB 2.0 ports on its side.


NEC MultiSync 70GX2

Size (inches): 17
Resolution (pixels): 1280 by 1024
Adjustments: Tilt and swivel adjustments
Contrast Ratio: 700:1
Interfaces: Analog and digital
Weight (pounds): 12.6

Despite its high price, this monitor's sharp text, bright graphics, and clean design make it a standout.


ViewSonic VP720b

Size (inches): 17
Resolution (pixels): 1280 by 1024
Adjustments: Multiple adjustments
Contrast Ratio: 500:1
Interfaces: Analog and digital
Weight (pounds): 12

With plenty of ergonomic adjustments and strong scores in our graphics tests, this display would suit graphics professionals.


Lenovo ThinkVision L171P

Size (inches): 17
Resolution (pixels): 1280 by 1024
Adjustments: Multiple adjustments
Contrast Ratio: 700:1
Interfaces: Analog and digital
Weight (pounds): 11.9

Though this display made a poor showing in our image quality tests, its easy adjustability impressed us.


Asus PM17TU

Size (inches): 17
Resolution (pixels): 1280 by 1024
Adjustments: Tilt adjustment only
Contrast Ratio: 600:1
Interfaces: Analog and digital
Weight (pounds): 9.92

This worthy performer displayed fine text and pretty graphics, but its design is dull and it offers few extras.


[Via PC World]

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Researcher Publishes Attack Code for Mozilla Flaw

Hacker posts details of a flaw that could let criminals run unauthorized software on a victim's machine.

Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

Mozilla Corp. is working on patching its Firefox browser after a hacker posted details of a flaw that could let criminals run unauthorized software on a victim's machine.

The flaw lies in Firefox's URL handler component, which was the source of another bug, disclosed Tuesday by Mozilla.

This second flaw was disclosed Tuesday by Billy Rios and Nathan McFeters, security consultants with Verisign Inc. and Ernst & Young LLP respectively.

Like the first flaw, this one could be exploited by attackers to launch programs on the victim's PC without authorization, said Tyler Reguly, a security research engineer at nCircle Network Security Inc. "They're both related to the URL handling process," he said "It's just different errors within that handling process."

Even though the code posted by Rios and McFeters can only be used to launch software that is already installed on a victim's PC, it could be very dangerous if used by criminals, Reguly said. "It's still letting you run any program that exists on the user's computer," he said. "You can make it do some fairly bad things. For example, having it use command-line FTP to download a malicious file off a server somewhere and then execute that file."

A victim would have to be tricked into clicking on a malicious link for the attack to work, Reguly said.

Mozilla's security chief Window Snyder, said that her team is working to verify and fix this latest flaw.

Firefox's URL handler has been a headache for Mozilla ever since security researcher Thor Larholm showed that the way Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox interact with each other could be exploited to launch software on a user's machine without authorization. To make the attack work, IE would load malformed data from a Web site, and would then send it to Firefox, which would launch the unauthorized software

Microsoft Corp. and Mozilla disagreed about who was at fault, however. Snyder initially said that the attack wouldn't work on Firefox alone and that Microsoft should change the way IE passes malformed data to other programs. Microsoft said that the problem lay with Firefox.

While disclosing details on the first URL handler bug on Tuesday, Snyder admitted that she was wrong. "We thought this was just a problem with IE. It turns out, it is a problem with Firefox as well," she said. "We should have caught this scenario."

Mozilla is planning to fix this issue in the upcoming 2.0.0.6 release of its browser. Snyder did not say when the Billy Rios bug would be patched.

Read More...

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

OS X (Tiger) Tips

This video makes the assumption that you are on an Intel mac running Tiger (as most new Mac users are). If you have any thing to add or a tutorial of your own, post it as a video response. Another thing I didn't mention: If you're on a MacBook go to the 'mouse and keyboard' menu, then on the gestures menu check all of the boxes and hover over them to see how to use them, then once they're all enabled, make good use of them!


<16:31>

FULL DESCRIPTION HERE: http://www.randombattle.com/osxtips.html



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Skype 2.2 for Windows Mobile

Publisher: Skype

Publisher's website: http://skype.com/

Skype for Pocket PC is free and simple software that enables you to make free calls anywhere in the world with your handheld. Created by the people who brought you Kazaa, Skype uses innovative P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you with other users. It is quick and easy to install and offers several features, including SkypeOut calling from Skype to regular and mobile phones worldwide, free conference calling, and secure file transfer. Skype calls have better sound quality than your regular phone and are highly secure with end-to-end encryption.

Version 2.2 includes unspecified updates.

Download now




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Tips for Your Wi-Fi

1 Set your preferred network

To make sure you always connect to the same wireless network, open the Network icon in your system tray, click the Advanced button, and under "Preferred networks," move the network to the top of the list.



2 Go stealth

Tighten your home network's security by disabling its Service Set Identifier (SSID) broadcast. By default, all access points broadcast their SSID or network name to anyone within range. Disabling this feature will deter hackers.

3 Change frequencies

To avoid potential interference from your cordless phone, buy one that operates on a frequency different from your network's. Companies such as Uniden now offer phones that operate on a 5.8GHz frequency; most Wi-Fi networks operate on 2.4GHz.

4 Channel surfing

Too many wireless networks nearby? If you're experiencing trouble, try changing the Wi-Fi channel to avoid interference. Check your manual for instructions.

5 Repeat performance

Adding a repeater is the quickest and easiest way to broaden the range of your wireless network. Just place the repeater halfway between your router and your computer.

6 Build a wall

Create a virtual wall of protection between your network and the Internet by installing a firewall on every computer logged on to your network. This will keep Internet pests at bay. To enable Windows' built-in firewall, go to Control Panel > Security Center > Windows Firewall. Make sure the On radio button is selected and hit OK. For even better protection, another alternative is Zone Labs' free ZoneAlarm firewall application.

7 Opt for change

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) has been cracked before, but changing your WEP key often will add another level of protection to your network.

8 Restricted area

If your access point supports it, use access lists to specify which machines can log on to your network.

[Via Cnet]

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

SONY PEG-UX50 Clié

The PDA combines an ARM926 processor, a digital signal processor and a CXD2230GA graphics accelerator that uses a 2-dimensional graphics engine to produce 3-D images.

Sony is so confident everyone will want this sleek new product -- which folds into a convenient 4.2-by-3.5-inch box and has an eye-catching high-resolution flip-and-rotate screen -- that the company plans to charge $700 for it. The new PEG-UX50 Clié will appear in retail stores in September.



Features:
  • 480 x 320 widescreen format - First in the PDA consumer industry!
  • WLAN and Bluetooth
  • A new Sony-designed processor called the Handheld Engine which combines an ARM926 processor, DSP and a graphics accelerator!
  • Backlit keypad - Personally, I think this is a very useful feature if you need to use it in dark or poorly lit places.
  • Swivel-type screen which allows for keypad mode or tablet mode!

Read More...

Monday, July 23, 2007

WD RE2 750GB hard disk drive

Western Digital RE2 hard disk drives are the world’s most reliable server-class SATA drives in the market. With 1.2 million hours MTBF, 5-year limited warranty.

Designed for enterprise market and comes with 750GB storage capacity. It features 3.0 Gb/s data transfer rate, 7200rpm speed, Native Command Queuing (NCQ) and 16MB cache.
This SATA hard disk drive boosts Western Digital exclusive technologies such as SecurePark for improved shock characteristics, StableTrac for better vibration performance, and IntelliSeek to reduce power consumption, noise and vibration.


[Source www.wdc.com]

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Blu-Ray Camcorder by Hitachi

An 8 cm disk drive feature in the Blu-Ray camcorder enables full high-definition recording up to one hour. The drive is about the same size of most conventional DVD camcorders drives.

Besides the above features, the latest Hitachi BD/DVD drive comes crammed with a 5.3 MP CMOS sencor with 1,920 x 1,080 resolution recording.

Hitachi claims the camcorders will record up to 7GB of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video on 8cm BD-RE/R media or 5 times less on 8cm DVD-RAM/RW/R discs.

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Buffalo 56GB SSD in your pocket

New products in the TurboUSB range. It used to be standard HDDs so Buffalo decided to switch to SSDs with storage spaces going from 16 (24) to 56GB.

The Buffalo SHD-UH ’s compact dimensions (57×89x14mm), weight (40 to 60g) and resistance to shocks and vibrations will become with your daily companion.

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The SEGCLIP 1Seg TV Tuner

Never watched TV on your computer yet? Well it's about time with the amazing number of TV tuners available throughout the world! In Japan the standard is called WanSeg (1Seg) and I-O DATA is one of the many to use it in USB device, available for PC and MAC.

[Via akihabaranews]

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Sunday, July 22, 2007

Good and Bad Passwords

Because the attacks are becoming increasingly more common, you don't want to use anything in your password that's personal and easy to guess. Keep in mind the following don'ts:






  • Don't use only letters or only numbers
  • Don't use names of spouses, children, girlfriends/boyfriends or pets
  • Don't use phone numbers, Social Security numbers or birthdates
  • Don't use the same word as your log-in, or any variation of it
  • Don't use any word that can be found in the dictionary — even foreign words
  • Don't use passwords with double letters or numbers

The best passwords are at least eight characters in length and use a combination of numbers, keyboard characters and upper- and lower-case letters. The longer your password is, the longer it will take someone (or more likely, some program) to crack it.

A good password is one that is easy to remember but difficult to guess. That sounds like a paradox, but it's really not.

There are a couple of different ways to create difficult-to-crack passwords. One is substituting letters with characters and numbers. To make it easier on yourself, try to use numbers and characters that resemble the letters they are replacing.

For example, you would never want to use the word "password" as your password. If you change it to p@s5w0rd!, you've got something that would take some time to crack but is fairly simple to remember.

Some of the worst passwords are: password, qwerty, admin, secret, abc123, 123456, and the name of your company or department or your car's plate number.

Finally, never leave it blank. That's a surefire way to let the bad guys into your system.

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FLV Player 1.3.3

FLV Player is a standalone application to play Flash FLV files with. This utility can come in handy when viewing many FLV files, as it doesn't require the Flash IDE. The installer comes with optional FLV association, so double clicking an FLV file opens and plays the file in the player. The installer includes optional downloads for FLV recording and conversion software by Applian.

Download Now (1.85MB)
Tested spyware free

  • License:Free
  • Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
  • Limitations: No limitations
[Via Download.com]

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Great Free Files: Open Source Downloads

Gimpshop

Open Source software has never been known for its photo processing prowess. Until now, that is. Gimpshop is an exceedingly powerful Photoshop lookalike that has far more features than you, or most people you know, will ever use.

If you're looking to do something as simple as touch up photos, or something far more sophisticated, like work in multiple layers, it has the tools you need. There are also numerous effects and filters, the ability to easily create color gradients, and plenty more. In fact, if all you want to do is basic photo-retouching, it's probably overkill.

But if you want to indulge your inner artist, there's plenty. The program is based on a long-time Open Source favorite, GIMP, but has more fit and polish, and a Photoshop-like identity.

Download Gimpshop


Inkscape

If you're looking for a graphics program that lets you create illustrations and graphics, much like Freehand or Illustrator, then give Inkscape a whirl.

It includes a surprisingly powerful set of tools for creating graphics from scratch, or for editing existing graphics or photographs. You'll find numerous drawing tools, the ability to create layers and combine them, and more.

The program supports the standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format, as well as many others. It imports files from many formats, including .jpg, .png, .tif and others, and exports to numerous vector-based formats and .png.

Download Inkscape

They're free, but that doesn't mean these apps aren't powerful. Created by folks who welcome help and improvements to their work, many of these programs are superior to packaged software.

[Via PC World]

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Friday, July 20, 2007

Firefox Add-ons

VideoDownloader
by Javi Moya

Download videos from Youtube, Google, Metacafe, iFilm, Dailymotion and other 60+ video sites ! And all embedded objects on a webpage (movies, mp3s, flash, quicktime, etc)
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2390


NoScript
by Giorgio Maone


Winner of the "2006 PC World World Class Award", this tool makes Firefox the safest browser around.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722


IE Tab
by PCMan (Hong Jen Yee), yuoo2k

IE Tab - an extension from Taiwan, features: Embedding Internet Explorer in tabs of Mozilla/Firefox...
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419


Fasterfox
by Tony Gentilcore

Performance and network tweaks for Firefox...
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1269


FoxyTunes
by Alex Sirota

Do you listen to Music while surfing the Web? FoxyTunes lets you control almost any media player and find lyrics, covers, videos, bios and much more with a click right from your browser.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/219


Image Zoom
by Jason Adams

Adds zoom functionality for images...
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/139

Download Embedded
by Andrew Ruder

Downloads all or selected embedded objects on a webpage. Can be used for downloading movies, mp3s, flash, quicktime, or other embedded files (although this does NOT work on video embedded in flash [ youtube, video.google.com, etc
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1993


Translator


https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3361

Screengrab!
by Andy M
Screengrab saves entire webpages as images...



https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1146

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