
I have to admit that I was a little late to the game when it came to
Firefox. I downloaded the free web browser late last year after hearing good things about it from my roommates. I used to think that all browsers were pretty much the same, but I changed my mind when I saw how the program could be customized using "add-ons," specialized plug-ins that are easily installed.

The add-on that has impacted my work flow the most has been
Cooliris, a media plug-in that makes searching for images about as easy as possible. I spend a good portion of my time searching on-line for reference photos (anything from cars to weapons to clouds). Now, instead of clicking through dozens of pages on Google and Flickr, I can simply click on the icon, transforming my screen into a scrolling wall of images (and even video) that is easy to navigate, not to mention extremely fast.
You can even search directly from the plug-in, choosing from the many sites that are Cooliris enabled. One of my favorite features is the "share" button, a small envelope that, once clicked, adds the selected photo to an e-mail. Once all the photos are attached, I send it to myself. The subsequent e-mail provides me with a link to a custom page where all the images are displayed and easily downloaded.

Finally, there is
FireFTP, a no-nonsense program that turns your browser into a FTP window, making file transfer easier (and faster) than ever. Now I don't have to open up Dreamweaver every time I want to upload documents to Marvel or my web site.
Just a reminder,
Identification Day is tomorrow. I'll be answering questions and drawing up a storm (although not taking commissions).
American Museum of Natural History
Milstein Hall of Ocean Life
Saturday, June 13
12:30-3:30

And just for fun, here's a sketch from my 2004 trip to see
Body Worlds in LA. Have a great weekend!