AutoPager Firefox extension

Like everyone, you use Google to search for things and the thing that you're searching for is not always on the first page of results, right? So you click the "Next" button, scroll, scroll, scroll, click "Next", scroll...you get the picture.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could just search and then scroll and keep scrolling through the results until you find what you want? What about popular blogs like Engadget, Gizmodo, and Lifehacker? On almost any popular site you can think of, you're always having to click "Next" when you really just want to scroll.

That's where AutoPager comes in -- when you get to a site that it knows how to handle, it asks you if you want to enable it. Click "OK" and you're ready to scroll through blog posts and search results, never having to pause to click on the pesky "Next" link.

Disclaimer: geek talk ahead. Autopager uses lazy reading, so it won't hurt your browsing performance.

Sorry Internet Explorer users -- this only works for Firefox, which you should be using anyway.

Ultramon

If you have two or more computer monitors, you know how nice it is to be able to move your applications from one monitor to the other to make yourself as productive as possible, or at least appear that you're productive.

I hate to sound like a complete sloth, but moving those windows around can be a pain, which is where Ultramon comes in handy. Ultramon allows you to easily move application windows from one monitor to the next using your mouse or a specified hotkey. It also allows you to maximize your application across both monitors in case you have something really, really wide that you're working on. I can't imagine working on something that wide, but I'm sure someone is doing something like that out there.

One pretty cool feature of Ultramon is that it provides a "smart taskbar", which gives each monitor its own task bar and can show only the applications that are on that monitor. It takes a little while to get used to, but it's pretty cool. If you just want one really wide task bar, you can do that, too.

One annoyance that I've found is that there does not seem to be an option for moving the mouse along with the window. You can assign a separate key to move the mouse to the other window, but I would imagine that you would have that option for $39 USD.

After using Ultramon for a while, I can honestly say that I'm underwhelmed. It does its job well, but I built the same basic functionality by myself with Autohotkey in 36 lines of code.

Ultramon works well, but I'm not sure that it's worth $39 USD. If it were more attractively priced at $19 or $25 USD and also had the option to move the mouse along with the window, I'd definitely recommend it.

Addendum: Reader NewKreation posted a comment about an Autohotkey script called WindowPad that I've tried out and it works great. Save yourself the $39 USD and get this script instead. It's free and offers more functionality than Ultramon. I smell a future blog post...

Sennheiser PX 100 Collapsible Headphones

Did you recently get a shiny new iPod? How does it sound? Great, huh? Well I can assure you that it doesn't sound as great as it could because the headphones that Apple ships with the iPod are pieces of crap. How does music sound through your computer? Pretty bad, doesn't it?

I have a simple and inexpensive way for you to solve your audio problems -- go get a pair of Sennheiser PX 100 headphones because I think they are the best headphones for the money. I don't often rave about products, but I have literally gotten at least five of my friends (yes, I do have at least five friends) to get these headphones. Every time they put them on, they can't believe how great their music sounds, and one co-worker even bought one set for home and one for the office because he loved them so much.

So why are they so great? First of all, they're inexpensive, at around $35 per pair. But the main reason is that they sound awesome, with strong bass and great response through all frequencies. I'm not an audio expert, I only marginally sound like one since I'm writing something that will be posted online.

The only thing that some people might not like is that these headphones are on-ear, which means they won't naturally block out surrounding noise at low volume. Some people don't like on-ear headphones, so if that's the case with you then you probably won't like these very much.

They're light, comfortable, collapsible, come with a nice carrying case, and most of all they sound incredible, especially for the price. No matter what type of device you plug them into or what type of music you listen to, it will sound so much better when listening through these phones.

Check them out here -- you won't be disappointed.

Easynews

I absolutely love Easynews and anyone who wants access to the limitless amount of content hidden within newsgroup servers, Easynews is the best way to get to it.

So why should care about newsgroups and why on Earth would you want to pay $9.95 a month for it? Because newsgroups are the original forums, places where people discuss all kinds of topics in a specific place. No matter what your interest, there are newsgroups for it. Especially if you like binary content. The problem is, you have to put large stuff out there in little pieces, and some of the pieces get lost because newsgroup content is generally not kept around for very long.

Enter Easynews -- they keep their newsgroup content around for a long time, much longer than most providers and they make the binary treasure trove hidden within very easy to get to. Music? Check. Movies? Check. Games? Check. It's all out there, tons of it, but you just need the right service to get to it all and get to it easily.

And Easynews is definitely the right service. Check it out -- they have a free three day trial so you can see just how good it is.