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November 5, 2006
Google AND Wikipedia...What a combo!
One thing geeks have really enjoyed over the past decade is debating which browser is best. Of course, this month with the introduction of Firefox 2.0 and Internet Explorer 7, we are just in hog heaven!
These days, I'm splitting my times almost evenly between my MacBook and my desktop Windows XP machines. On my MacBook, it's all Firefox, all the time. On Windows, I jump from IE7 to Firefox and back and forth. Both of the browsers on both platforms have tabbed browsing which is wonderful for juggling the many things I’m working on at any given moment.
Most of my time with browsers is devoted to searching. If I clocked it, I'd bet I spend about 1/2 of my time on a Google page. For weeks, I was really leaning to IE because of the Google toolbar. This gives me access to my Google bookmarks on any machine I happen to be using, as well as a few other items. This is available on both browsers, but the IE implementation has more features.
This week I've really become committed to Firefox because of a new plugin only available on Firefox. This is the Googlepedia plugin. It's just what it sounds like. When you add this plugin, you have the same search box in your menu bar. However, the search returns Google results on the left side of the page and the most appropriate Wikipedia page on the right. Already this is changing the way I look at the world. On the left I have a sampling of points of view and windows on whatever my topic is, but on the right I have a compilation of research on my topic that serves at least as a briefing paper for me to get started on my own information hunt. It's like having a research assistant right at my desk!
The plugin is available on both Windows and Mac, but only for Firefox. So, looks like that's where I'll be staying for awhile!
Posted by Pat on November 5, 2006 9:12 PM
Comments
Pat,
Awesome blog. I also stumbled across Smith's 9 Grade Blog. This is a good site.
Posted by: Tony on November 6, 2006 7:17 PM
Cool!
Posted by: Barry Mansfield on November 15, 2006 8:49 PM
