Browsing videos on YouTube is great fun, but what happens when you find one you’d like to view offline, keep or transfer? Although you can embed or link to videos you like, YouTube doesn’t actually give you any option to download them. Don’t worry, because some of Firefox’s great add-ons (plugins that you can use to extend your browser) can do the job for you, all without even having to open a second program. Let’s take a quick look at some of the best.

YouTube Video Downloader does exactly what it says on the tin. The ‘keep’ icon, located in the status bar, opens the video details in a new tab, prompts you to chose a format (FLV, 3GP or MP4), name the video and download it. That’s it! Easy, right?

Another discreet option is Easy YouTube Video Downloader – it simply adds a button underneath the information displayed to the right of YouTube videos. Like its predecessor, it supports FLV, 3GP and MP4, but without the new tab is possibly even simpler to use.

Softonic.com”>NetVideoHunter takes a different approach, opening a window containing a list of the videos you have been viewing. The main selling point is that it ‘collects’ videos as you browse them. At the end of your session, it presents you with a list of the videos you have just seen, allowing you to pick the ones you want to download. It also has the added advantage of being able to download from video sharing sites apart from YouTube, such as Dailymotion and Google Video, and includes a player, so you can view videos even after you have closed the original page.

If you are looking for a little excitement, try YouTube Downloader. This experimental add-on is so thrilling that you have to check a box to say that you understand the risks – although when I tested it, it didn’t seem too wild. Youtube Downloader lets you download videos and music, and not just from YouTube. Like NetVideoHunter, it presents you with a list of possible downloads, and then lets you select the ones you want. It also has a search function which will automatically search for the video title on Google.

If discretion’s not your thing, maybe the Ant.com Toolbar is what you are looking for. Although it does install a toolbar on your browser, it’s only to accommodate the extra options it includes – a search tool, download manager, video player, download explorer and a ranking function. It is also more customizable than some of its competitors, allowing you to toggle a small number of options.

Whether you’re a dedicated video downloader or just someone who browses occasionally, you’ll find an add-on to suit. Read the reviews, make your decision and start downloading videos from YouTube today!

The inbox counts don’t work at all and clicking on an account simply takes you to the Gmail login page instead of your inbox. According to one blogger, this is due to a security update in Firefox 3 which blocks the plugin and may have affected other Gmail plugins as well.

The only answer is to downgrade to Firefox 2 but that’s not exactly ideal. If like me, you’re lamenting the loss of a trusty Gmail add-on, here are some functioning alternatives to try.

Gmail Notifier Designed by Google, Gmail Notifier is all you need if you just need to check one account. It displays an icon in your system tray to let you know if you have unread Gmail messages, and shows you their subjects, senders and snippets, all without your having to open a web browser. A Mac version is also available. Note that it doesn’t work if you’ve got the Google Toolbar This is worth installing for several reasons of which one of them is the Gmail checker. It isn’t very sophisticated however. An open envelope notifies you when you’ve received new mail and clicking on the drop down arrow next to it reveals all the subject headings of mail in your inbox. Clicking on any one of them, or the envelope itself, takes you to your inbox. Shame their is no inbox count reading or customizable sounds for when new mail arrives though.

Gmail Notifr A Mac only extension which sits in your Menu bar and supports multiple accounts. Gmail Notfr displays in digits how many e-mails you have waiting for you. It conveniently supports Growl alerts and doesn’t install any daemon background processes unlike Google’s Gmail Notifier. However, you can’t define how frequently you want it to check for mail (so it might be a bit slow at notifying you of new mail).

Gmail+Growl This works with Gmail Notifier and as the name suggests, is a very simple plugin for Mac users that uses Growl alerts to notify you of new Gmail. Unfortunately, it only supports single accounts but the great thing about using Growl is that you can customize the alerts.

GmailAssistant A third party Windows only application which supports multiple accounts. If you want a Gmail checker that’s completely independent of your browser on Windows, then this is a good choice although the configuration is very limited. You can’t define the frequency you want it to check for new mail or save your preferences for each account.

A few days ago I noticed that funny things were happening on my computer. Gmail displayed the dreaded ’still working’ message and Facebook photos went crazy. I checked my Internet connection, logged out and logged in. I even restarted my computer, the fail-safe to solution to everything! Nothing worked and, for the first time ever, I had a sneaking suspicion that my beloved Firefox was at fault. It was time to find out what you can do when Firefox 3.5 goes bad…

Clear your history

Not a revolutionary idea, but once it was mentioned, I realized I hadn’t done it (or checked the settings) since upgrading to 3.5. Go to Tools > Clear Recent History and choose ‘Everything’ from the drop down menu.

Erase the cache

When you clear the history, make sure you’re including the cache: in the ‘Clear Recent History’ option, click on ‘Details’ and make sure ‘Cache’ is marked.

Update to the latest version

Make sure you have updated Firefox 3.5 to 3.5.1. Technically this patch was security related, but it also included a fix for “an issue that was making Firefox take a long time to load on some Windows systems“. (more…)

SweetFM switches seamlessly between Last.fm and iTunes. If you get bored of listening to either application at any point, you can just switch in a click. You can configure hotkeys to control most tasks and even use your Apple Remote – useful for parties or just kicking back and relaxing.

But there’s more to it than that. SweetFM extends Last.fm functionality with things such as tag-station shuffle. Just enter an artist name with some Amazon.com when playing major artists.

One other thing worth bearing in mind about SweetFM is that if you want to export tracks to iTunes, it will automatically check for duplicates although this obviously relies on your music being tagged correctly. There’s lots more to SweetFM than this too including CSS skin design support, Skype moods integration and handy Growl notifications.

There’s little to fault with SweetFM and considering it’s now completely open source and free, the time has never been better to try this sweet app.

Aside from being faster, lighter and more stable, what makes Firefox really different is add-ons. You can easily customize Firefox to work how you want it to, and it’s not hard. Click an add-on download link, restart Firefox (it will remember all your open tabs), and you’re done. To get started, here’s 5 add-ons I think are really cool, and should convince you of Firefox’s all-round awesomeness!

1 – Juice. I include this as it’s flashy, great looking and can really change your browsing. Basically, if you read something you want more inmore info about, just highlight it, and drag it into the Juice sidebar – it will search DownThemAll!  This basically allows you to download whatever is on a web page. You can choose what type of files you’re looking for, like MP3s or images, and’DownThemAll’ in one click. It can save you lots of time scrolling through long pages looking for files.

3 – Open IT Online. This neat add-on allows you to open most documents, spreadsheets and presentations using online applications. when downloading a Word file,  an extra option will appear under ‘Open With’, allowing you to see the document in your browser, saving you the hassle of waiting for another application to open. It’s unobtrusive, and makes document viewing hassle free.

4 – UrlbarExt is a bit nerdy, but I like it, and use it every day. It adds a bunch of tools to the address bar, like a tiny URL maker, an add address to clipboard button and much more.  It really makes use of a piece of browser space that was underused.

5 – The add-on I use most? TwitterFox. Everything I want from Twitter, without having to open up a page, it’s fantastic. You get a tiny icon at the bottom of Firefox, and clicking it activates a pop up display showing you your Twitter feed. It feels ideally suited to Twitter, and I can’t imagine a browser without it anymore.

So there you have it. If you load up an add-on you don’t like, it’s simple to deactivate it – just go to add-ons in the Tools menu, and you can deactivate or uninstall anything you like. No doubt everyone will have their own favorites, so you can go and check out the Firefox add-on site here.

In 2006, Microsoft discontinued making Windows Media Player for Macs meaning there was no longer a tailor made player for the WMV format for OS X. Fortunately, there are a few free and easy solutions to this problem:

Flip4Mac Plugin This is probably the easiest solution as it enables QuickTime to playback WMV files.  This plugin created by Telestream allows you to import, export and play Windows Media video and audio files on your Mac. The Flip4Mac WMV plug-in also works with other QuickTime based applications such as iMovie and Final Cut Pro meaning you can even edit WMV files on Mac too.

VLC Media Player The most versatile player out there allows you to play WMV files as well without the Flip4Mac Plugin. However, this is just a playback solution – it won’t allow you to edit WMV in QuickTime supported applications such as iMovie and Final Cut. The great thing about VLC Media Player however is that it’s lightweight, fast and can handle almost any media format.

MPlayer OSX This player emerged out of the

Crane wars is an almost ready for release game from Flashbang studios, the quirky team behind Paper Moon, Off Road Velociraptor and Minotaur China Shop. You can play a beta 3 version of this browser game here. You control a crane at a construction site, and have to build tower blocks, while watching out for attacks from a neighbouring crane company. You can throw objects at the games on Blurst, Crane Wars is compelling mainly because it’s a cool and ridiculous idea. It was originally scheduled for release today on the Blurst site, so if you don’t fancy playing the beta and want to wait, it shouldn’t be long… As with all Blurst games, you’ll need the Unity browser plug-in.