12 Useful Firefox Extensions for the Location Independent Professional
Photo by nobihaya
As a location independent professional who runs your business on the ‘net and lives ‘virtually’ in the www, you must be using Firefox, right?
If you’re not, then you have no idea how much precious browsing time you’re wasting and I recommend you download the *best* browser bar none tout de suite (immediately)!!
For those of you who are, here are 12 of the most useful extensions/add-ons you can install to super-charge your location independent life….
Fantastic in-browser clock which displays as many time zones as you want, enabling you to keep up with what’s going on where.
Exch is a currency conversion tool that displays publicly available data from Yahoo! Finance in an easy to use sidebar.
Fantastic tool that converts currencies on any webpage you are visiting. The rate will also be displayed on the toolbar. Currencies settings will be remembered for each web site for your next visit. Rates are taken from the Central European Bank.
Based on the new smart-browsing technology for Firefox. It automatically recognises things like books, wine, travel destinations and offers shortcuts between your favorite sites. With BlueOrganizer you can instantly send books to your Amazon Wishlist, find wines with similar taste on Wine.com, lookup maps on Google - all from one simple, personalized menu.
A wireless finder for your browser that helps you find wireless networks in your neighbourhood. Currently monitors over 92000 verified public hotspots in 115 countries. If you do any work while traveling it’s nice to know you’re never far from the web.
Note: You’ll need to sign up for a Mozilla account and enable Sandbox add-ons for this one and the download link doesn’t currently appear to be available.
Useful tool for when you’re browsing ‘local’ websites in foreign countries. gTranslate translates text on a webpage by selecting the text and right-clicking over it. Uses the Google translation services to translate the text.
The JAJAH Firefox Add-on integrates free and low-cost click-to-call functionality into your web browser - a little like Skype within your browser, just using JAJAH instead. Make direct phone calls to phone numbers found on any website.
Weather alerts and updates from weather.com within your browser.
Using Skyhook Wireless’s Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) this nifty add-on automatically defines your exact physical location and turns your laptop into a virtual GPS device. It also integrates your current positioninto your internet search, browsing and communications and you can also pinpoint your exact location on a map and share that location with others via Email or SMS. Other features include a timezone adjuster that automatically updates your PC time based on the timezone you’re currently in.
Note: Requires WINDOWS XP and wi-fi and your wi-fi location is currently only available in the US.
Compare the prices of flights and hotels on several travel sites simultaneously.
Allows you to monitor prices and availability of flights. Fares are updated frequently and, using the FareCompare engine, will tell you if the price for a particular flight is near its record historical low price.
The latest release supports fares for travel within the US and Canada as well as international travel to and from North America.
Note: You’ll need to sign up for a Mozilla account and enable Sandbox add-ons for this one
Based on popular comparison shop, Yapta, this add-on lets you find the best fares on airline websites. Yapta tracks fares for the flights you like and notify you when prices drop.
Yapta helps you plan travel and saves you money by tracking airfares for the flights you want to take, notifying you when prices drop. Even after you buy, Yapta will alert you if a lower fare is available, making you eligible for vouchers or refunds from the airline.
Personal aside: We’ve just arrived in Cape Town for the next 3 months after a horrendous journey from Dubai - all thank to President Bush’s visit shutting down the city and closing off all routes to the airport. As it’s a new destination for us, we’ve also started writing again on our personal travel blog, so if you want to read more about our personal experiences and views of the mother city, then head on over there.
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Comments
I use both safari and firefox - overall I prefer the safari “experience” and the integration ie the ability to use keyboard controls to send links or webpages directly to Mail - maybe it’s a Mac thing, but recognise that FF has some great extensions like Session Manager (and the slow spain toolbar http://slowspaines.OurToolbar.com) which safari doesn’t support
[...] 12 Useful Firefox Extensions for the Location Independent Professional | Location Independent Living… (tags: travel firefox osx) [...]
Those are a whole bunch of tools that I never knew of. I have seen a few different lists like this before and this is the most unique.
My favorites are
Screenshot tool
Colorzilla to help match colors
and Web developer. Anyone who makes their own changes to their websites will find this one incredibly valuable.
Of course I am also addicted to StumbleUpon. Don’t get this one unless you want your production to go down.
[...] Lea Woodward is a proponent of the Location Independent Professional (LIP) life where an individual is not bound to a geographical area, yet keeps at jobs that earn satisfaction and money. Lea shares 12 of the most useful extensions/add-ons you can install to super-charge your location independent l… [...]
I totally agree that Firefox is the best browser around.
Don’t know if I could do without it.
Will check out the add ons and extensions
As always, thanks for a great post.