Some owners of Apple’s new iPad have complained of weak wireless signals, dropped connections and slow surfing speeds, messages on the company’s support forum show.
Although users have also reported problems with recharging their iPads from Windows-based PCs or synchronizing the tablet with other computers, Wi-Fi issues have garnered the most complaints, as tallied by the message counts on multiple support forum threads.
As of late Monday, the thread titled “Weak wifi” leads all others with more than 130 messages, and nearly 13,000 views.
“Signal is weak, downloading anything is painfully slow and it will drop the signal and go offline every 5-10 minutes,” said a user identified as “mbell75″ early Sunday, near the beginning of the thread. “Pretty annoying.”
“It will work fine for a while, but show a low signal. Then, after a few minutes of use, my connection will drop completely and I will have to reset my wi-fi radio,” complained “mlp8104″ in a message Monday afternoon.
The biggest beef was that the iPad’s Wi-Fi signal indicator would fluctuate, going from full-strength to the lowest level without warning, or any change in the tablet’s location.
“My wifi went down to 1 bar after working great for a few hours,” said “syunker” Monday. “My download speeds started to crawl, I couldn’t even surf the web. I rebooted my router and it didn’t help.”
Several users said their iPads could not acquire a signal, or only a faint signal, while other devices, including new Apple laptops and iPhones, had no similar trouble. “In our living room where laptops get a full signal, my iPad gets a very poor signal which is so bad that it even cuts completely out sometimes,” complained “Panjandrum” Monday morning. “I had to walk the iPad into the same room as my router to get a movie rental to download.”
As is often the case on Apple’s support threads, users hoped that a software update to the iPad’s operating system would not only solve their problems, but be released soon.
Others, however, chimed in to say that they were perfectly happy with their iPads’ Wi-Fi signal, which was strong and stable at home, work and in public hotspots at locations such as Starbucks.
Some who reported that their iPads intermittently lost a Wi-Fi connection said that they solved the problem temporarily by shutting down the iPad, then restarting it. “But should I have to do that with a device that costs this much and has so much hype about changing the way we use the Net?” asked “sandersn” on Sunday in a different thread.
Monday, Apple posted several iPad-specific support documents to its Web site, including one that suggested users modify settings on their wireless routers. Another troubleshooting document told users to “Move closer to the Wi-Fi router or hotspot,” if they were having problems.
Suggestions from users ranged from disabling the iPad’s “Ask to Join Networks” feature to rebooting routers.
Connectivity issues aren’t new for Apple hardware. Shortly after the company’s ultra-thin MacBook Air debuted in early 2008, owners complained about weak signals when their notebooks’ lids were closed. iPhone owners have complained about poor reception and lost signals over AT&T’s data network since the smartphone first appeared in 2007, to the point that several filed class-action lawsuits against both Apple and the carrier.
The version of the iPad now for sale connects to the Internet only via Wi-Fi; a more expensive model that also uses AT&T’s 3G data network is not slated to ship until later this month.
Over the weekend, users voiced frustration at other problems, including an apparent inability to recharge the iPad through USB ports on many computers, keyboards and hubs. On Saturday, for example, Consumer Reports said that its initial testing indicated that the iPad would recharge via the USB ports on desktop and laptop Macs, but failed to do so on USB ports in a variety of Windows PCs, or through the ports on a keyboard directly connected to a Mac.
Apple clarified the recharging process in a support document published Sunday, noting that the iPad requires a high-power USB 2.0 port to charge while it is in use. The iPad will only charge via older USB ports, including those on most Windows machines, when the tablet is asleep, Apple said.
Apple began selling iPads Saturday at its own retail stores and Best Buy. On Monday, the company announced it had sold 300,000 iPads the first day.

Want to catch up on the latest adventures of your favourite ABC program while you’re waiting at the departure terminal? With the ABC Player application for the iPad you’ll be able to do just that. And did we mention that it is entirely free?
We had an inkling that it was coming and that’s been confirmed as ABC has officially unveiled its iPad app on the App Store. ABC Player currently has about 20 of the network’s most popular shows, with the likes of Desperate Housewives, FlashForward, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, Modern Family, and V making the list.
The app will allow you to browse through the shows and check out the network’s primetime television schedule. You’ll be able to watch full episodes for free, with a sprinkling of advertisements thrown in. However, video streaming is only supported over Wi-Fi. The app will maintain a history of the episodes you’ve watched and allow you to resume watching any of them from the point where you’d left off.
ABC Player is available on the App Store for free and is compatible with any iPad running iPhone OS 3.2 or later.

QR codes, or 2-D bar codes that work with cell phone cameras, could change the way we use Facebook. But would you use the tech?
QR codes—or “quick response” codes—since learning of them in a story last year about how a Texas town implemented them as part of a modernization project. QR codes have been huge in Europe and Asia for years, but the technology hasn’t gained traction in the U.S.
Until, perhaps, now.
QR codes are two-dimensional bar codes that are read by an application for cell phones equipped with a camera. You scan the code with your cell’s camera and the browser brings you to a site with more information on the designated item. For example, that Texas town placed QR codes on landmarks; scanning the codes brought visitors to a website that described in more detail what they were looking at.
Now, it appears that Facebook may be rolling out QR codes to profiles—there are reports that some users have already received the two features—”View QR Barcode” and “Generate status QR barcode”—but as of yet, they don’t seem to be functioning.
If Facebook does decide to roll out the feature, it would undoubtedly send the QR code technology mainstream—and could change the way we use Facebook.
Consider these two scenarios: You meet someone at a conference and instantly connect with them via a QR code printed on their business card. Or you pass an advertisement for a product and instantly access its Facebook fan page to learn more. Using QR codes will be another way to blur the lines between digital and physical relationships.

Windows Phone 7 adds new social networking and productivity features all within a clean and touch-friendly interface.
Microsoft took the wraps off of Windows Phone 7 Series (the official name for Windows Mobile 7) here Monday at Mobile World Congress. Slated to launch on handsets by holiday season 2010, Windows Phone 7 Series is a complete overhaul from previous versions of the OS.
Slick, Touch-Friendly User Interface
If you’re familiar with the Zune HD’s user interface, you’ll feel right at home with Windows 7. Microsoft hinted that the Zune and Windows Mobile teams were working closely and you can definitely see this relationship in Series 7. The menus and interface have the same fluid animations and clean typeface as the Zune HD’s.
The Quick Launch screen is a far-cry from the old Windows Mobile start screen. Large, colorful tiles serve as shortcuts to your most-used or favorite apps or Web sites. You can also place live tiles on the screen with links to your Facebook profile or friends.
These tiles are live, meaning if the content of the app or site is updated, the tile will update on your screen. So if you have a link to a friend’s Facebook profile on your Quick Launch screen, that tile will update when they change their picture. It is a bit creepy if you don’t know them very well, but cool nonetheless.
With a tap and drag, you can easily move them around in any order you like or press a broken heart icon to remove them from the screen. Swiping right takes you to a list of all of your apps. If you want to move one of your apps to your Quick Launch display, you simply press down on the app and select “add to quick launch.” When you’re in an app, you’ll see a row of other menu options at the top of the display. Like the Zune, you can “pan” through these menu items with a flick of your finger. If you want to go back to the previous menu, you simply hit the arrow key at the top of the interface.
Social and Productivity Hubs
The People Hub aggregates you friends from all of your social networks in three screens: Recent, All, What’s New. Recent will show you friends who have just updated their profiles or statuses while All will show you all of your friends. What’s new quickly aggregates status updates all into a single feed. You can also quickly share your own status update.
The Pictures Hub lets you see all of the pictures on your hub, your most recent pictures and what’s new with all of your friends. The phone will pick the latest pictures you uploaded or have taken with your phone. And, like the People Hub, What’s New in pictures shows your friend’s most recent picture uploads. The Pictures Hub allows you to easily share your own photos with your social networks.
The Office Hub lets you easily sync your documents between your phone and your PC. Office Hub comes with OneNote, for notetaking, Documents, and Sharepoint for presentation collaboration. Users will also have access to an Outlook Mail application which gives similar features, like flagging important e-mail, that you’d find on the desktop version.
Zune Player and Xbox Live Come to Windows Phones
Despite the rumors leading up to the conference, there was no “Zune Phone” announcement, but all Windows 7 phones will ship with the same music and video features as the Zune HD. Users will also be able to manage their music with the Zune PC software. Does this mean the death of the standalone Zune HD player?
If you’re an Xbox owner and want to keep tabs on your friends’ achievements, Windows 7 phones will come with a mobile version of Xbox Xbox LIVE games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements and gamer profile. Users will also be able to purchase games and apps easily from the Windows Marketplace as well.
Windows 7 phones will also ship with Bing Maps, which has some unique features that are on par with Google Maps. Bing Maps dynamically update with street-view photos, 3D graphics and directions. It also shows you real-time traffic updates and reviews of local businesses via Yelp.
Microsoft: More Control Over Hardware Partners
According to Microsoft, hardware partners will not be able to replace the Windows 7 UI. So if you’re a fan of HTC’s TouchFLO user interface, which runs over older versions of HTC Windows Mobile phones, you’re out of luck. It is a bit surprising that Microsoft has locked in the Windows 7 interface because one draw of the platform was the number of different flavors you could get it in.
Microsoft is also taking further control over the hardware side. All Windows Series 7 phones will ship with three hardware buttons: Home, Search, and Back. They’ll also all be capacitive touch-enabled with multitouch.
Microsoft’s hardware partners include Dell, HTC, Garmin ASUS, LG, Samsung, SE, Toshiba, HP and Qualcomm. NVIDIA, which provided the Tegra chip in the Zune HD hardware, is noticeably absent. Microsoft had no comment.
Microsoft plans on bringing Windows 7 phones to all four major U.S. carriers, but are working with AT&T and Orange more closely to bring full lines of Windows 7 phones to the carriers. Microsoft plans to have Windows phones in the market by the end of this year for the 2010 holiday season.

Invisibility cloak project is back on! It’s from a different team of scientists that were using silver-plated nanoparticles in water though, with these latest Harry Potter enthusiasts using photonic metamaterials to change light rays.
The idea is to cloak an object and disguise it with the use of light rays, like a “carpet mirror”, as described in the Science publication by Tolga Ergin, a scientist from the German Karlsruhe Institute of Technology working on the project.
Using polymer crystals with minuscule rods, Ergin found success with his “invisible cloak,” making it invisible to light wavelengths:
“By changing the thickness of the rods, you can change the ratio of air to polymer.
Since the refractive index of air is about one and the refractive index of the polymer is about 1.52, in principle, we can get any refractive index between those two numbers”
Anyone looking at the object assumes the area is flat, and that there’s nothing hidden there—and it could theoretically hide any object, even a house. There are obviously limitations involved with the science, not least the length of time it takes to create the 3D cloaking structure.

The debate still continues. Do you prefer using web based applications or software installed directly on your computer? In past articles we’ve covered word processors and Twitter clients. In this article I will be discussing the debate as it pertains to free feed readers.
If you like to keep up with online content via feeds, you’re probably familiar with what a feed reader is. However, if you need more information about what feeds are all about, check out this article explaining a bit more about feeds and readers: What is a feed reader?
There are two kinds of free feed readers out there. There are feed readers you log on and access online (web application) and there are the feed readers that you download and install directly on your computer (desktop application). Let’s take a look at the differences and discuss some of the pluses and minuses of each.
The Web-Based Feed Reader
Many people prefer the web-based variety of feed reader. Most of the time it is because they can log on and access their feeds from any computer connected to the Internet. These free reader programs (of which there are many) are hosted on remote servers so much of the resource load is carried by the remote servers.
There are several popular web-based feed readers. My personal favorite is Netvibes mostly because I enjoy the interface. However, one of the most popular web-based feed readers is Google Reader which is very versatile offering many features.
Minuses? Feeds aren’t actually downloaded for offline viewing like a desktop reader. You may also have to deal with a slower load time. Also, you need a browser window open whenever you want to keep an eye on your feeds which uses memory.
Still, many still choose the web-based feed reader over the desktop feed reader.
The Desktop Feed Reader
Many people also prefer a desktop feed reader. They make this choice for many reasons, including more features and not having to have a browser open. These people also like having articles available to read offline when the Internet is not available.
There are a few favorites that people seem to like such as FeedDemon and BlogBridge.
Minuses? While on other computers, your feeds won’t be accessible with the same interface. Also, your own computer’s resources will be used to load your feeds, etc. This may not be that big of a deal for everyone, but it may be for some. Also, not everyone can or wants to have another program installed.
Conclusion?
Personal conclusion, if you choose to acknowledge it, is that it depends on each persons preferences and situation. For instance, if you jump computers a lot, a web based feed reader may be a good choice for you. If you are always on one computer and you don’t mind installing another program, then a desktop reader may be a good choice.
You also need to look at how much access you have to the Internet. If you are always on, a web based reader will work fine for you. If access is spotty, or you travel a lot and there’s not always Internet available, a desktop reader may be more suitable.

Late last week, Google (GOOG) made another aggressive move to stay ahead of Microsoft (MSFT) in the online productivity tools space by acquiring DocVerse, a startup founded by two former Microsoft employees, known for tools that let users collaborate on Microsoft Office files on the Web.
Google nabbed the three-year-old, San Francisco-based DocVerse for $25 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. What Google gets in return is the technology to make Microsoft Office operate more like Google Docs.
DocVerse provides a 1MB plug-in to Office 2007 that allows users to edit and share Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents online and in real-time with all the features of the Office client versions intact.
Ironically, the acquisition gives Google the authority to let users access full-featured Office files in a Web-based environment before Microsoft does.
Google plans to add the DocVerse functionality to Google Apps for free, but it has not announced when that will take place. Yet one thing’s for sure: Google is giving Microsoft no breathing room in the race to bring cloud-based productivity tools to businesses. Just yesterday, Google unveiled an online store called Google Apps Marketplace, where enterprises can buy cloud-based applications designed to work with Google’s own apps.
A Body Blow to Microsoft
It’s worth noting that Microsoft already provides the same kind of online-collaboration capabilities as Docverse via its free Office Live Workspace service. But this is an offering that Microsoft has barely marketed, likely because with the upcoming Office 2010, arriving in June (May 12 for businesses), Microsoft will include Office Web Apps. These are free, stripped-down online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. If users want the full features of Office 2010 they will still have to buy the full Office 2010 desktop suite.
While Microsoft still has an undeniable lead in the productivity tool space, especially at enterprises, the latest moves by Google turn up the heat. Just as Steve Ballmer anounced Microsoft’s “all in” commitment to cloud computing last week, Google comes along and integrates online collaboration with Office docs through its own established cloud-based productivity suite and opens up a apps store for businesses.
“I’d say this [Google's Docverse buy] was a body blow to Microsoft,” says veteran industry analyst Roger Kay. “Microsoft has to respond as best it can, whether shipping Office 2010 earlier or pushing Office Web Apps more, or both.”
Chasing Google’s Web Apps
Office still remains Microsoft’s main cash cow, along with Windows. It generates 90 percent of the revenue for Microsoft’s business division. However, the Office suite faces a variety of growing threats, not only from Google Apps, but also from IBM (IBM) with LotusLive iNotes and Oracle (ORCL) with its newly announced “Cloud Office.”
“Google is always trying to outflank Microsoft,” Kay says. “There are a lot of benefits to a client-based collaborative system that synchs periodically via the cloud. Having it as an Office plug-in through Google Apps is pretty sweet.”
The Real Problem: Google Incompatibility with Office
Nevertheless, there is a flip side to Google’s purchase of DocVerse: It is an acknowledgement by Google that Office is the king of productivity apps and that incompatibility between Office and Google Docs has been a weakness.
Does DocVerse solve this weakness? No, writes PCWorld columnist David Coursey.
DocVerse is essentially an Office add-on that stores files in Google’s cloud, writes Coursey. This may help convince Office users to try Google Apps, but it doesn’t address the bigger problem of feature and file format incompatibility with Office.
“Limited compatibility with Microsoft Office is a major reason why many Google Apps free and paid customers prefer to use the e-mail and calendar features, but not the word processor, spreadsheet and presentation modules of Google Docs,” writes Coursey.
Still Early Going for Google Apps
For the time being Office still dominates at large enterprises. A November survey of 2,000 IT decision-makers by research firm Forrester revealed that 80 percent of companies surveyed support some version of Microsoft Office, and 78 percent have no plans for implementing an alternative to Microsoft Office.
This could change as Google continues to tighten its focus on online collaboration tools for businesses, says Forrester analyst Sheri McLeish. But, she emphasizes, it’s still early going for Google Apps.
“Yes, businesses are experimenting with Google Apps, but Google is still trying to sort out its apps and enterprise solution sets.”
McLeish adds it’s hard for most companies to make the business case to switch tools when users are comfortable and familiar with Office. “Google realizes this,” she says, “which is why it is resorting to acquiring a company that basically helps people work online with Office formatted documents.”
Clearly Google’s long-term goal is to chip away at Microsoft’s Office desktop suite dominance, but the DocVerse acquisition doesn’t move the ball too far down the field, says McLeish.
“I see this as a complement to Office apps, not a replacement technology,” she says

After we’re done, we ask ourselves the golden question, “Is this app a keeper?” That’s what this list is all about — those apps that eventually find a permanent place on our Macs to call Home. Everyone should have these installed, regardless of what you use your Mac for.
Dropbox
Everyone knows Dropbox for their amazing file-sharing service. Drag any file into the Dropbox folder and it automatically gets shared.
Sign up for a free account and you automatically get 2GB to share with your friends. Set up shared folders and anything you drop will be instantly downloaded by others.
Need mobile access to your files? There’s an iPhone app just for that.
AppFresh
Surely you must know how it feels to load an app, just to have it inform you that it’s outdated and there’s a newer version available? Don’t we always need the latest and greatest?
AppFresh is what you want. It will scan through all of your installed apps, plugins, preference panes, widgets and spew up the results in a matter of seconds. All the information you need to see will be laid out in front of you: latest version number, currently installed version, release date, release notes. It’s a geek’s all-you-can-eat buffet.
Adium
Adium is probably the most widely-used multi-protocol chat app on Macs. It’s oddly strange that it’s never been featured exclusively on MakeUseOf.
Adium supports a wide range of chat protocols from MSN to Facebook to ICQ to Gadu Gadu. If you use it, Adium supports it.
Adding to its list of features, Adium is also hugely customisable in both its theme and functionality. Check out the addons that the Adium community has to offer.
The Unarchiver
Emphasis on the “The”. This little app – that comes without a user interface – can probably unpack just about any file you throw at it. Once installed, it will replace Mac’s native unarchiving utility, BOMArchiveHelper.
To mention a few, it supports and unarchives RAR, ZIP, Tar, 7-Zip, Stuffit, CAB, MSI and even EXE files. The only format it cannot unpack is ACE. But that’s hardly a worry.
Besides being clever, The Unarchiver is also efficient. You can click on as many RAR or ZIP files for it to unpack but it will never overwork your system. Instead, it will queue the files and unpacks them individually.
Transmission
This little app is always being compared to uTorrent. Why? Transmission is fantastic BitTorrent client that was specifically designed to be integrated seamlessly on a Mac.
It’s simple and minimalistic, it’s lightweight, it’s fast and there are a lot of cool things you can do with it.
It will be a long time before I part with this trusty app.
AppCleaner
Macs have always boasted simple installation and uninstallation procedures. To install most Mac apps, all you need to do is drag it over to the Applications folder. To uninstall, drag the app to Trash. But the story doesn’t quite end there.
There will be a couple of mystery files left on your Mac. They won’t do much harm but since you’re uninstalling an app, chances are, you won’t need these files lingering on your Mac. AppCleaner solves this debacle.
Drag any file you want to uninstall into AppCleaner and it will display all the related files. Make sure that you agree and click Delete. Goodbye, remnants!
Skitch
We’ve written about Skitch more than once. Personally, I’ve used it for years. And there’s a good reason for that.
Skitch is one of the most basic yet impressive image editors for Mac. It is capable of saving images to JPG, PNG, PDF, BMP, TIF, GIF and SVG. That should cover most of your image-saving needs.
I mainly use Skitch for simple image manipulations like resizing, cropping, converting to other formats and annotations.
It’s quick and I love the fact that I know the output file size even before saving the file. Skitch also keeps a history of every file every edited. It may not sound like much but that’s what I love it for. I can turn the History viewer on and conveniently grab a file which I modified a week ago.
Perian & VLC
I find it awfully weird that Quicktime still doesn’t support Divx out of the box. Like every good marketing strategy — when there’s demand, there’s supply. Failing every good marketing strategy — Perian is free. Still, it’s considered the swiss-army knife of video codecs for Quicktime (why does that sound so familiar?).
I would probably be at the wrath of the Guillotine of Tech if I used the word “video” and didn’t follow it quickly with “VLC”. For years, VLC has reigned cross-platform champion as the most capable video player. Macs are no exception.
iStat Menus
Keeping with the minimalistic mindset, Apple maintains that, “The less you know, the better.” That’s why Activity Monitor is buried deep within the Utilities folder. Generally, a Mac user should focus on the task at hand and not worry about how much free memory is available.
iStat Menus makes this information easily attainable — on your menubar. At the cost of some menubar-estate, this preference pane will add vital information like CPU usage, temperature, memory usage, network activity and other goodies to the top of your screen where it’s visible at all times.
Sure, this may go against Apple’s teachings but hey, we’re geeks — we need to know everything that’s going on, all the time.
OnyX
OnyX was featured just once on MakeUseOf in the article Ten Tools To Keep Your Mac In Tip-Top Shape. But you know what? Once is more than enough to convince anyone that OnyX is a keeper.
Think of OnyX as a strict physician. It inspects and examines your Mac for anything that might seem wonky and straightens out all the kinks.
It can also clean out old log files and performs a series of automated maintenance to keep your Mac healthy.
Teamviewer
C’mon. This app doesn’t need an introduction!
Teamviewer is one of the best zero-configuration remote-support applications that’s available. Period. And since it’s also available for Mac, why not take advantage of it?
Even if you’re not on the receiving end, having Teamviewer installed is really convenient if you are your family’s tech-support team.
Quicksilver
Highly regarded by productivists as the definitive must-have application, Quicksilver has finally won me over. Sure, its highlight may have been the Tiger-Leopard era but it still has its place in Snow Leopard.
With a couple of quick keystrokes, sending an email or transferring files can be as simple as launching an application. But don’t be fooled, it’s not a simple app launcher. It can do so much more!
It definitely takes a bit of getting used to but it’s highly rewarding once you’ve honed the skill. In fact, you may feel slightly disabled if you’re on a Mac without Quicksilver.
Bean & TextWrangler
I bunched these 2 apps together, not only because they’re both text editors or because they’re free. Rather, it’s because I simply couldn’t make up my mind.
Bean is has slightly more features, supporting Word documents. Aside from that, it also launch amazingly fast!
Bean is an alternative to using Microsoft Word on my Mac. Since I don’t work with Word documents that often, there’s no point in forking the money over to buy a copy.
I use TextWrangler for different purposes, mainly for what lacks in TextEdit — a word counter. It also supports coding and HTML, which is helpful on occasion.
Carbon Copy Cloner
With all the reports of Time Capsules crapping out after a year of use, I refused to take any chances and decided back up my data manually. Carbon Copy Cloner was such a helpful application that I just had to find a spot for it on my Mac.
With features like scheduled tasks and incremental backups, it’s almost a good as Time Machine (without the fancy interface). It allows you to make complete or selective backups of your Mac, backup to a networked Mac, backup to a disk image and even restore from one.
Using Carbon Copy Cloner means freeing yourself from the backup schedules of Time Machine and having complete control over your backups.
Burn
Not that I’m complaining but my fancy Mac does not allow me to burn DVD videos outside of iDVD. There’s just no native support outside of the iLife app suite. Want to burn a music CD but not with iTunes? Tough.
Burn is a simple application that slips right into place. In fact, it’s so simple, it’s crazy. I messed around with it a bit by dragging an AVI and told it to burn a video DVD. I thought it would produce an error of some kind because only MPG files can be used. You know what Burn returned? “Would you like me to convert it for you?” I can’t believe this app is free.
So there you go. 15 apps worth having on every Mac.

By no means are Twitter and Facebook perfect: You might wish that Facebook made it more intuitive to hide FarmVille or certain status updates. Or, maybe you wish that Twitter would introduce a new feature like nested tweets. Good news: For many of these website tweaks or suggestions, there’s likely to be a script you can download to fit the bill.
Here are my top eight picks for Facebook and Twitter add-ons. Many of these solve common user gripes (such as not knowing to what site shortened URLs will bring you on Twitter). Some, like “Facebook Fixer,” enhance the site and allow you to customize it beyond standard options. Do note that most of these scripts require that you first download Greasemonkey, and not all are compatible with every browser, so be sure to check the requirements before you download a script.
1. Facebook Fixer.
This script lets you customize your Facebook account and offers many features that are enabled by default, but can be enabled or disabled independently. Some of these features include: larger profile and album pictures; homepage customization where you can hide independent sections such as pokes, suggestions and “connect with friends”; and calendar integration, which includes a link on each profile that synchs birthdays with Google Calendar, or the option to export a file with all your friends’ birthdays, which can be imported into sites such as Google Calendar, Yahoo, Apple iCal, Microsoft Outlook and more.
2. Facebook Purity.
The Facebook Purity script cleans up your homepage and removes all newsfeed items from third-party games such as Mafia Wars and FarmVille, and zaps announcements on who’s become friend with who, who’s attending a certain event, who joined a group and who became a fan of something. Optional items you can block include: comments on a status, photo, photo album or link; tags in a photo or photo album; and event postings.
3. Unfriend Finder.
Ever wonder if you’ve been dropped by a Facebook friend? Every time you log in, the script checks to see if someone is missing from your friend list. When the script detects someone is no longer your friend, you get a notification and a bubble counter in the Facebook toolbar. There are two types of “unfriends:” Either you removed them from your friend list or they removed you (but they’re still on Facebook), or they deactivated their account and are no longer on Facebook. If they reactivate their account, you’ll also be notified.
4. No Facebook Ads.
If you’re tired of the age-targeted ads Facebook runs, take advantage of this script. Downloading it will remove ads from your Facebook account-including flyer ads, network ads, bumper ads-leaving its appearance a lot cleaner.
5. TinyURL Decoder.
While URL shorteners do save space on Twitter, you’re often clicking at your own risk-phishing scams and spam-laden direct messages are becoming more and more common on the microblogging site. This script decodes the shortened URLs on Twitter’s website and displays the original URL, so you can decide whether or not to click.
6. Nested Twitter Replies.
Twitter’s website still only allows you to view @replies in a list, which can be confusing if you’re trying to follow a conversation. Applying this script automatically displays tweets in a nested conversation format, making it easier to follow.
7. @Troynt’s Twitter Script.
This Twitter script does it all. Among its many features: expansion of Links in tweets; inline inclusion of YouTube videos and Twitpic images; nested tweets; option to save, reply to or retweet a tweet when you hover over it; autocompletion of a username when you begin typing “@” in a tweet and much more.
8. Twitter Old Style RT Emulator.
If you hate Twitter’s retweet button and long for the old method, this script will convert all retweet symbols and user pictures into “RT @username.” Note that this script only works in Safari and Firefox.

Found this incredible article on the internet:
via WeAreUproar
We built Gratuitous in order to learn about developing and selling iPhone applications. We’re always looking for ways to improve our visibility in the App Store. Recently, though, we’ve been looking for ways to increase our visibility from outside the App Store into the App Store.
AdWords to the rescue! Right? Maybe not. AdWords didn’t work out for Gratuitous, so we quickly changed course and moved on. But I’d like to share our findings with you
Keyword Pricing
We didn’t know anything about AdWords when we started, so we kicked it off with default settings. We typed up our ad title and body, and hit “go.” The default setting in AdWords is to optimize for impressions (how many times an ad is displayed) by automatically bidding on clicks. For our keywords (iphone tip calculator), the bid went to $2-3 per click. While that may not be bad for a lot of products, it doesn’t make sense for an iPhone app that sells for $1-2. Even if you were able to get the cost per click down to $0.50 – $1, remember that an ad click doesn’t guarantee a purchase – far from it.
So, we switched over to manual pricing. We figured if we could get some clicks for $0.10 – $0.15, then they might be worth it. At that price, we didn’t see enough ad impressions to be worth our time. When bidding high we saw 3 clicks for 10,000 impressions. At 10 cents, the impressions went down to just a few per day. There is no way we’re going to see enough clicks to make that worth our while. If you’re selling a $10 app, then AdWords might be worth looking at.
Copyright and “Limited” Distribution
When we first submitted our ad, it went into review by the AdWords team because it included the word “iPhone.” It’s kind of hard to sell an iPhone app without saying “iPhone,” so we trusted that Google would see that our use of the term “iPhone” was an instance of fair use. After a few days, our ad was approved, but was marked as “Approved (limited).” Limited, to Google, means US-only. That was good enough for us, so we left it as is. If you need ad distribution outside the U.S. you can email Apple and ask them to approve your use in AdWords. Email lwidup@apple.com with your AdWords account number and a nice, friendly note.
Moving on
It’s pretty obvious that AdWords isn’t going to work out for Gratuitous, but apps are only part of our business. “Apps for your life. Consulting for your business.” Instead of advertising Gratuitous, we’re now trying AdWords as a way to generate leads for our consulting service. This is agile business. We tried something, quickly evaluated the results, and adjusted strategy decisively.
I resisted the temptation to spend a bunch of time becoming an expert in AdWords and going in 100%. There may be a way to make AdWords increase Gratuitous sales a bit, but it’s not worth our time. It’s clear that AdWords will not sell thousands of dollars worth of Gratuitous, so the experiment is concluded and we move on and adjust strategy. As a small business owner, I knew I needed to be quick and just test the waters. You’re going to do a lot of new things as a small business owner. Having a good sense for what to spend time on and what to do “just good enough” will be very valuable.