Read this first https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=311292#c55

So I used Camino to set the global download directory to the /private/tmp folder (by dragging and dropping it into the Camino prompt). Then I set Firefox to Download permanent files wherever I wanted. The result now is PDFs open in adobe on a single click and get removed automatically. If I want to keep the file I just download it again to the download directory or use the save as prompt in Adobe. Easy. And now I can see my beautiful backgrounds again! What a treat.

All the best,

Nate

Ok I’ve had a few friends asking how I score all the beautiful women. So after much deliberation I’ve decided to share my long kept secrets… ok, ok, just my secrets for making you awesome online… I present you my list of Firefox add-ons that are sure to make you more awesome. Weather it be by avoiding adds, knowing where you spend you time online, adding a command line to the web or a host of other stuff. Yes I am a geek @ heart, but beautiful women seem to be into that, so why fight it.

1. Adblock Plus – Blocks adds automatically. Its awesome if I had to recommend just one plugin this would be it. “Ever been annoyed by all those ads and banners on the internet that often take longer to download than everything else on the page?”
2. Ubiquity – Watch out here comes Web 3.0. Get it and learn how to use it. It makes doing common stuff on the net trivial.
3. DownThemAll! – Lets you download lost of stuff fast, resume, select which links to download on a page based on filters.
4. FoxyProxy – Route your traffic wherever you want, useful for automating getting around annoying web filtering. “FoxyProxy automatically switches an internet connection across one or more proxy servers based on URL patterns. Put simply, FoxyProxy automates the manual process of editing Firefox’s Connection Settings dialog.”
5. Zotero – Zotero is a powerful, easy-to-use research tool that helps you gather, organize, and analyze sources and then share the results of your research.
6. Update Scanner – Monitors web pages for updates. Useful for websites that don’t provide Atom or RSS feeds.
7. pageaddict – Pageaddict is a Firefox extension that will remember how much time you spend on each web site during the day. It allows you to “tag” each site and restrict how much time you spend on sites with a given tag.
8. TimeTracker – Do you spend too much time on Firefox? Do you open tabs faster than you can close them? Cannot get things done? Keep track of how much you browse with TimeTracker.
9. TrackMeNot – Protects users against search data profiling…
10. iMacros for Firefox – Automate Firefox. Record and replay repetitious work. If you love the Firefox web browser, but are tired of repetitive tasks like visiting the same sites every days, filling out forms, and remembering passwords, then iMacros for Firefox is the solution you’ve been dreaming of!
11. ChatZilla – IRC Chat client, for those odd occasions when I need live help with something.”A clean, easy to use and highly extensible Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client.”
12. gTranslate – With gTranslate you can translate any text in a webpage just by selecting and right-clicking over it. The extension uses the Google translation services to translate the text.
13. Mouseless Browsing – Mouseless Browsing (MLB) enables you to browse the web entirely with the keyboard. The basic principle is to add small boxes with unique ids behind every link and/or form element. You just have to type in the id and press enter (there is also an automatice mode available) to trigger the corresponding action i.e. following a link, pressing a button or selecting a textfield…
14. Torbutton – Torbutton provides a button to securely and easily enable or disable the browser’s use of Tor. It is currently the only addon that will safely manage your Tor browsing to prevent IP address leakage, cookie leakage, and general privacy attacks.
15. Unofficial Google Translate Firefox extension – Right click, select the languages you want, and click translate page. You can also highlight text and alt+left click or alt+ middle click or ctrl+alt+left or middle click for an in-place translation
16. Web Developer – Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.

What is a hacker? Despite what you may initially have been led to believe ‘hacker’ is a broad term, with diverse meanings. I consider myself a hacker, why, because I hack stuff… what do I hack, well if I have a problem I hack together a solution myself. I’m willing to learn about the problem, what other people have tried, and have an intuitive feel for what form the solution might take. I could be trying to get my blog to be all sexy, circumventing lame-narrow minded internet filtering in China (or uni) or hacking my mind and body, so that I can concentrate longer, be happier and healthier. But my favorite topic to hack, and one that I’m devoting my life to is hacking some of the big problems like environmental destruction.

Hacking is a mind set, a creative state of mind at that. It involves thinking outside the box, a do it yourself philosophy, a willingness to learn, and teach and being unafraid to make mistakes. I was born a hacker, I don’t really know that its something you can become… you need that passion and drive… and a state of mind that I’m not sure can be taught. But the point is hackers are good people, sure some are pricks, but like most subcultures the people are good and honest. Check out this awesome doco for yourself if you want to know more about hackers. It’s the first doco made about hackers since the 90’s, and as you can imagine, a bit has changed since then!

Hack to learn!

Nathan aka madteckhead

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5