Let me begin this with saying if you don’t currently use Firefox as your web browser of choice, you should switch right now. Firefox is — simply put — the best browser out there. One feature which makes it so great is the ability to add on what they call extensions. Think of these as after-market add-ons to assist in everything from keeping you virus-free to blocking out annoying ads.
I’ve scoured the web to find 5 extensions that are particularly great for the world traveler. In no particular order, they are….
FareFirst — Monitor the lowest airline fare in selected markets. This one is pretty nifty; it places a small icon on the bottom of your browser that, after specifying your hometown and intended destination, alerts you when a low fair is available. It’s kind of like Southwest’s DING!, only for all carriers. It’ll also give you a historical graph of prices, so you can estimate whether or not it’s a good time to buy.
Map+ — View a Yahoo! map of a selected address without having to open a new window or tab. This allows you to highlight any address from a website and right click, where you can have a Yahoo! Map of the location automatically pop-up. This is especially great when you’re in a new town and trying to figure out where to eat. Unfortunately this only supports addresses within the United States, but even so it’s a handy tool.
Clipmarks — Clip the best parts of web pages. Clipmarks is especially handy when you’re researching your next trip. Instead of bookmarking a bunch of different websites of museums and landmarks you plan to visit, Clipmarks allows you to capture bits and pieces of a website — paragraphs, links, images, video — and save them onto the clipboard. Then you can share them with friends for group collaboration, post them to a blog, or open them to the public. Pretty nifty.
UnPlug — Save video and audio that is embedded on a web page. When you’re on the road, changes are you’re going to run across some pretty sketchy Internet connections. This neat little extension allows you to easily save media (video and audio) to your hard drive so that you can view it later without an Internet connection.
AdBlockPlus — Save your time and traffic. Poor Internet connections can make web pages pull up slower than molasses. Get rid of all the extraneous junk ads on a website so that the content you want comes quicker — especially if you’re paying $5 a minute for that Wi-Fi connection.