The Lifelong Learner         by Stanley Kubasek | About Me |

I usually have a list of must have products of the previous year. This year I did not really have a good list. It’s mostly the old software that I use. I do have a list of Firefox extensions that I would have hard time living without. Here they are.

Adblock Plus
Removes the ads. A great extension. (Make sure you select a white list to keep updating the ad list.)

IE Tab
There are still (!) some websites that work only in IE. A must extension have for now.

Last Tab
Very useful extension if you are used to Alt-Tab shortcut – you use Ctr-Tab to switch to last tab. (I feel this should be a built-in feature.)

del.icio.us
Great way to store/share/search bookmarks.

WebDeveloper
If you are a webmaster/web developer, this is a must.

Download Statusbar
Enhances the built-in downloader.

ShowIP
Useful extension when you’re doing web development work.

Answers
Good way to look up definitions.

I tried many others but the above I use all the time.

There are some extensions that are very popular but I don’t seem to get why. For instance, FlashGot. I installed it many times but never seem use it. :-(

This was easy for me last year (see my entry, 2004 Products I Could Not Live Without), when I had a lot to choose from (I still use all of those programs, btw). But in 2005, there had not been a lot of products that I use on everyday basis. That was until last month, where I discovered two great services: reddit and digg. I use them everyday now and I get to read a lot of excellent material. I love it.

reddit.com - best articles by users' ratings
Reddit is a source for what's new and popular on the web. Entries (mostly articles) are referred by users and rated/ranked by users as well. I visit this site everyday, ever since it was recommended in an article by Paul Graham, and everyday (or almost) everyday I find great material to read. Topics are mostly non-technical but there is a lot of great stuff. I wish they had a top ranking for weekly and monthly, but great nonetheless.

digg.com - best tech articles by users' ratings
Digg is similar to what reddit is, but covers only technical material. It works better than reddit, as they have it broken to different categories, for which you can subscribe through RSS. Overall, I like it better than reddit, but reddit contains general information, so they cannot be compared on content. One of my favorite categories are design, software, programming, and toplinks thisweek (I subscribe to them separately through Bloglines, my RSS reader).

TaskSwitchXP Pro - task-switching program
Like I said in this entry, Better Switching and Minimizing of Programs, if you use Alt+Tab to switch tasks, TaskSwitchXP is an upgrade to that. I started using Alt+Tab more often because of it. But the second very big benefit, and why I love this product, is the ability to minimize to tray. I've been looking for that for some time. This product works great.

Not a big list, but not bad, I think. But because I found reddit and digg, I'm finding more and more good stuff, so next year the list will probably be bigger (and better).

Here is a list of products that I discovered in 2004. These are products that I use everyday, both at work and at home. Quite simply, I would not be able to live without them. Literally. :-)

Bloglines -- RSS reader

Bloglines changed how I read news. Bloglines changed how I browse the internet. Bloglines gave me what I had always wanted: control of the internet. I read what I want, when I want. I don't miss anything. There are so many RSS feeds out there (I even have several of my own on this domain -- click on the xml image), that you can pretty much get what you want. I have 93 different feeds (and the list is growing). I read blogs. I read news. Bloglines is great. Not a day passes by without using it.

Firefox -- browser

Like I said before, I had watched Mozilla struggle with their browser for years. Well, in 2004 they finally delivered a browser that is a lot better than Internet Explorer. I use Firefox all the time now. On a rare occasion, I am still required to use IE, but that's once or twice a week. Firefox brought back the fun to my browsing experience.

Thunderbird -- mail program

What is Thunderbird, you might ask. To me, it is a replacement of Microsoft Outlook. It is a mail client. It is sleek. It is fast. It is customizable. It has good IMAP support. I can't live without it and I am very happy that I got off Outlook. Did I say how much it costs? Free.

Milenix MyInfo 2.6 -- note-taking tool

What is MyInfo? I know you're asking yourself that. I know, I know. Because not a lot of people use it. To me, though, MyInfo is like a notebook that I take with me everywhere I go. It is a note taking tool. I put all of my notes, goals, personal stuff, reference info, and more into it. It is a very small program but it's very useful.

Wow, it's that time of the year: end of the year, that is. 2004 is coming to an end. :-( But as with each year's end, shopping season is here. Do you know what you're going to get for everybody on your list? Yeah, right, who knows that. But whatever you get, get the best. CNET's list of 100 Top 100 Products has top 10 products in 10 tech categories. So if you want to treat yourself, or somebody else with a tech gadget, take a look.

VOTED BEST SHORT JOKE OF 2003 (That's some funny stuff, I think.)

This is a list of bargain-listing sites, as listed in PC Magazine. Check these sites for lists of sales, coupons, and rebates, browse. You should be able to find some good deals. (I have not checked all of them, but I check DealCatcher, SlickDeals, DigitalDeals & SlickDeals constantly.)

-> Amazing-Bargains.com
-> CleverMoms.com
-> Bargainshopping.org
-> DealCatcher.com
-> DealHunting.com
-> DigitalDeals.com
-> SlickDeals.com
-> Getmeadeal.com
-> RefundSweepers.com
-> Techbargains.com
-> TotalDeals.com

You'll find both new stuff and old clunkers at these sites, many of which link directly to deals featuring the latest products at the manufacturers' sites.

Check out the link below to see some amazing photos.
http://www.fifth-essence.com/archive/bestpix2003/index.htm

Best Photos Of The Past Year -- 2003

~~ Awesome ~~

These photos were voted by readers as the best images of year...

The above is not on the site, but very cool.

Top 10 tech products of 2004? Well, CNet, based on the recent technology show, compiled such a list. They're also saying that this year's show is shaping to be one of the best. That's cool -- hopefully we'll get a lot of nice, reasonably priced products in 2004. Let the innovation continue!

It seems to me that the Sony VAIO X505 Notebook (1.7 pounds!) and Toshiba 0.85-inch Hard Drive will be big (small will be big :-)), and the 45-inch LCD by Sharp.

Check the products here : Best of CES 2004

These sites let you find shopping bargains.

MySimon.com
* Buying advice through Shopping Picks
* Brief descriptions, pros, cons, and tips

NexTag.com
* Intuitive but text-heavy
* Shows recent price drops and a graph of price change over time (pretty cool)

PriceGrabber.com (Best Bet by PC World)
* Efficient use of space thanks to text-heavy listings
* Indicates whether the best deal found is refurbished or used

Shopping.com
* Clean and simple
* Front page displays fewest number of product categories and subcategories
* Posts user reviews from Epinions (its sibling company)

WSJ.com recently listed the best and worst ads for 2003. I'm providing you the links for them (you need RealPlayer to view them).

Best Ads of 2003:

The Great Race: GM's Hummer

Taking One for the Team: Adolph Coors Co.'s Coors Light

Worthy of a Tony? : eBay

Coke Ads Pop: Coca-Cola Co.'s Coke Classic

And the Worst Ads of 2003:

Finger Lickin' Bad? : Yum Brands Inc.'s KFC

Not a Happy Tune: DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler

Presented here, below, are the Best Photos of 2003. All of them are amazing, so you should look at all of them. Wow! That's some amazing stuff. (Thanks Rafal.)

Best Photos of 2003:

Fire Starter (above) | Cloud | Storm | Shark | Sun

CNet.com just poblished the 100 Best products of 2003. They're split into 10 categories: Desktops, Notebooks, Software, Handhelds, Storage and Software, Digital Music, Peripherals, Digital Cameras and Camcorders, Home Entertainment, and Cell Phones. If any interest you, take a look.

That's not to say that you should jump in and buy just based on their recommendations: I also suggest you look at the user's reviews, as they are probably even more valuable (I always do that). Also, sometimes they don't have a big list of stores that you can compare to, so search for the product elsewhere (PCWorld.com; PriceWatch.com; etc.).