Must-Have Firefox & Thunderbird Add-Ons

There are lots of Add-Ons I use every day with Firefox and Thunderbird. These lists show the ones I use frequently (in alphabetical order).

Firefox Add-Ons:

• ColorZilla - Get colors of page elements or images, very helpful for web development
• Copy ShortURL - Quickly copies the short version of the current page's URL if one is defined, or will automatically make one using the TinyURL service. Very hand for Twitter and Facebook posts!
• Download Statusbar - Handy indicators for files that are downloading (or have been downloaded)
• Firebug - This is an indispensable Add-on for any web developer to debug client-side Javascript and much more
  
• FireShot - Take screenshots and easily do annotations and basic edits
• Forecastfox - Integrated weather info, very customizable
• FoxClocks - Display times in other timezones, helpful if you're working with people overseas (or are overseas yourself working with people back home)
• Live HTTP Headers - Useful tool for inspecting information being sent and returned from HTTP requests, great for web development debugging (ajax calls, etc)
• S3 Firefox Organizer - A quick and dirty Amazon S3 file manager. There are better free S3 tools out there (such as CloudBerry Explorer), but for quick things directly in Firefox, this works great.
• Tabberwocky - Provides tweaks to the way tabs are handled in Firefox
• TwitterBar - Allows quick Twitter posts directly from the URL box. It by no means replaces a regular Twitter client, but it's a great lightweight option for doing posts for the current web page you're viewing.
• Web Developer - If you're a web developer and you're not using this extension, I have genuine pity for you. Seriously, this extension provides so much functionality, it's unbelievable.
• Xmarks - An add-on that integrates with a free service to synchronize Bookmarks and/or Passwords with multiple computers. This makes keeping information the same on my different computers a breeze.

Thunderbird Add-Ons:

• Folderpane Tools - This extension allows for customization of the folder pane. Accounts can be rearranged and the start-up folder can be chosen.
• FoxClocks - Display times in other timezones, helpful if you're working with people overseas (or are overseas yourself working with people back home)
• Lightning - Calendar integration for Thunderbird (including iCal feeds)
• Nostalgy - If I could have ONE add-on, this would be it. Allows you to assign keyboard shortcuts to easily file mail. This saves me TONS of time and allows me to filter and file emails extremely quickly.
• Provider for Google Calendar - this pairs up with Lightning to allow Google Calendars to be added (though read-only Google Calendars via the iCal URL will work without this)
• Quicktext - this is another extension that I use daily. Provides a flexible way to create stored text strings/emails and easily use them when drafting new mails or replying. Great for customer service professionals!
• Zindus - Syncs contacts between Thunderbird and Google Contacts (or Zindus' format, but I use it for Google Contacts)
  

Am I missing any "must-have" add-ons? Please let me know!

TicketExchange by TicketMaster: Let's see how many ways we can screw over our customers!

By now, most people are well-aware that TicketMaster is in the business of dominating the event ticket sales market and approaches monopolistic tendencies -- at at the least, leaves a sour taste in each and every customer's mouth that uses their service.

If I were the CEO, I'd be seriously embarrassed that ZERO of my customers are happy with the service they are getting. The problem is that customers are literally powerless in many situations: If they want to see an event and the tickets are sold by TicketMaster, well, they just have to take it up the ass and deal with it.

This post is not really about TicketMaster in general, but is specifically about a service they have called TicketExchange. The TicketExchange "service" allows ticket holders to resell their tickets to other buyers in a quasi person-to-person marketplace.

This is a great idea in concept, but the manner in which TicketMaster does this is extremely questionable and has got to be darn close to illegal.

Let me first start by saying that I am aware that I, as a ticket holder, have a choice for how to sell my tickets. There are other options, such as StubHub, Craigslist, etc. The TicketExchange process makes things easier, and I appreciate that in concept. However, as you read on below you will see that they are seriously taking advantage of people that don't stop to think about what's really going on.

The best way to illustrate my point of TicketExchange's disturbing nature is by providing an actual example.

1. I have an extra ticket for an upcoming Sounders FC game that I would like to sell. I sign into my account and decide to list my ticket for $30. This is described to me as the "posting price". I don't know about you, but that sounds like the price it should be posted at -- i.e., the price that people should see when they are browsing for tickets that are available for the event in question. Simple logic, right? WRONG. The ticket actually shows up for sale for $34.50! I did some more testing and found that TicketMaster lists your ticket for 15% more than whatever you put in for your "posting price". I will explain later why this is royally screwing you even more.
2. As noted when I posted my ticket for sale, I will get "90% of the posting price". They are correct, I will get 90% of the posting price -- not the price it was posted at. Confused? I think that's something they do on purpose. They make no attempt to tell you that they are jacking up the price from what you type in. Per this example, I will get 90% of $30.00 -- NOT 90% of $34.50. As you can see already, TicketMaster is skimming even more than you might have thought from each sale.
3. When someone buys my ticket (for $34.50, not $30.00 as you thought), they are then charged an "Authentication and Reissue fee" of $2.50 per ticket. Let's be honest: no human is touching these tickets, so why exactly does it cost $2.50 to allow someone to buy my ticket and print it out on their own printer?
   

One the sale is done, the buyer has just given ticketmaster a total of $37.00, and I am getting a measly $27.00. I understand they are offering a service and that said service charges me a fee for the convenience, but they are skimming 10% off of my end, then jacking up the price AND skimming off more money (the "Authentication and Reissue fee") on the other end!

At a minimum, I would at least expect my tickets to be posted for the posting price that I said to post them at.

This is a total racket!

I want to make sure everyone is aware of this situation and keeps it in mind when deciding to sell their tickets via the TicketExchange "service".