Fireday - Firefox extension reviews for June 15, 2007

Friday, June 15, 2007 3:00 AM

Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Fireday | Comments: 0 | View blog reactions

This week: Google Reader Watcher and Bandwidth Meter and Diagnostics

Google Reader Watcher

Rating: 4/5

As of writing this review, my favorite RSS online reader is Google's RSS Reader. 1). The layout is well thought-out; 2). Anywhere I can log onto the Internet, I can read my feeds; and 3). it uses AJAX extensively.

The Google Reader Watcher is for heavy users of the Google Reader and provides an excellent way to check on your feeds while you surf.

After installing the extension, I had the StatusBars installed on my machine. A great extension for those who have too many icons on their status bar. Anyway, I couldn't find the icon on the status bar when I restarted Firefox. So, I uninstalled the StatusBars extension and presto, the extension appeared in the status bar.

The options for the addon include a tabbed interface with the following tab names:

  • General
  • ToolTip
  • Account Information

For a quick update on your feeds, mouse over the RSS icons to find out how many feeds you've received. Right-click the icon in the status bar for the context menu. With the context menu, your options are Open Google Reader, Check For Unread Feeds, and Preferences.

Click on Preferences. One of the nice options under the General tab is the ability to specify how long (in minutes) before updating your feeds.

Overall, I like the extension, but it seems I'm hanging out more with Google Reader than before and this addon isn't necessary for me, but that doesn't mean you don't need it.

If the Google Reader Watcher improved the installation where it could work with other various status bar extensions, the rating could've been a 5.

But who knows. A newer version could be on its way to fix its shortcoming.

Bandwidth Meter and Diagnostics

Rating: 3/5

I always want to know how fast I'm moving on the information superhighway. The Firefox extensions I've seen before are really slick, so I'm kind of accustomed to how these extensions perform.

The Bandwidth Meter and Diagnostics allows you to run an upload and download test on your machine to benchmark its network performance. It also tells you your domain name and IP address.

After installing the extension, I was eager to see how this Firefox extension would perform. I looked under the tools dropdown and found the Bandwidth Meter option and selected it.

A dialog box was brought up with my IP and domain name address with two buttons: Upload Test and Download Test. I clicked on the download test first. At first, I thought I had installed a rogue extension and it taking me to a "good" web site. As soon as I clicked the download button, I was expecting the extension to scroll the results in the text area below the buttons, but unfortunately, I was taken to a web page in the Firefox browser and stats were displayed there (The good news is that I do have a screaming connection).

I immediately tried the Upload button. Same results in a browser window instead of the results box under the buttons.

As I said before, I've used my share of bandwidth testers and this one does an adequate job of displaying your results, but the extension may need a little facelift or some touch-ups with consolidation inside the extension's viewable area instead of jumping over to a browser page.

The extension receives a 3 out of 5.


Hope everyone liked this weeks reviews. I'll see ya next week.

If anyone has questions, please post them below or Contact me directly.

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