The concept behind VoyURL is simple: A browser plugin records your every click, which you can then choose to share publicly in a real-time feed. Their website analyzes and shows you your online history in customized infographics, to identify patterns, recommend content and help you learn more about the way you use the internet. You can see the browsing history of all users in one giant timeline or follow a specific user. The service is currently in beta, but you can slip in here or here. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Dec 16, 2011 - 35 comments

Here is a Photoshop filter that can make Kirby dots.
posted by JHarris on Nov 30, 2011 - 19 comments

Occupy Flash - The movement to rid the world of the Flash Player plugin [more inside]
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Nov 21, 2011 - 143 comments

The official Google Earth plugin is one free download that makes all sorts of cool stuff possible in your browser. There's a full screen version of the program (complete with underwater views and 3D buildings) which can be searched by entering queries at the end of the URL. There's a framed version with support for layers, historical imagery, day/night cycles, and the Google Sky starmap. Less useful but more fun are Google's collection of "experiments" demonstrating the possibilities of the Earth API, including a "Geo Whiz" geography quiz, an antipode locater, a 3D first-person view of San Francisco, a virtual route-follower, and MONSTER MILKTRUCK!, a crazy fun driving simulator that lets you careen a virtual milk truck through the Googleplex campus, ricochet off the Himalayas, or explore any other place you care to name. Lots more can be found in the Google Earth Gallery -- highlights include a look at mountaintop removal mining, a real-time flight tracker, a guide to trails and outdoor recreation, a 360 panorama catalog, geotagged Panoramio photos, and the comprehensive crowdsourced Google Earth Community Layer. And while it's too large to view online, don't miss loading the Metafilter user location map into a desktop version of Google Earth! [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi on Jun 9, 2011 - 15 comments

LastPass is the last password manager you'll ever need. Available on almost all common platforms, its easy to use, and free. [more inside]
posted by crunchland on Jul 11, 2010 - 73 comments

Any experienced studio engineer or producer knows that the presence of visitors in the studio can dramatically affect the performance of singers and musicians. Using advanced proprietary computer modelling, the Virtual Studio Visitor plug-in convincingly emulates the effect of various studio visitors on a performance, without the need for the visitors to actually be present. Also from the visionaries at Sonic Finger: the Dead Quietenator provides you with the highest quality pure digital silence, including several highly sought-after vintage silences previously unattainable.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Oct 1, 2007 - 20 comments

iLike "provides a buddy-list for your iTunes - it helps you discover new artists based on what you're already listening to, and it helps you browse your friends' music libraries and share music suggestions with each other." Basically, there's an iTunes plugin (OSX only) that automatically sends your iTunes metadata to the iLike site to be shared with the community.
posted by Kwine on Feb 21, 2007 - 19 comments

Eolas® Technologies Inc. owns the plugin concept. Meet US Patent 5,838,906: "The patent claims to cover mechanisms for embedding objects within distributed hypermedia documents, where at least some of the object's data is located external to the document, and there is a control path to the object's implementation to support user interaction with the object." Eolas sued Microsoft, was awarded $521 million, Microsoft is appealing, and the W3C held (Macromedia hosted) an ad hoc meeting on the recent court decision and launched a discussion list. Microsoft plans to promptly make changes to Internet Explorer. If this follows through, what are the negative and positive implications?
posted by aaronshaf on Sep 2, 2003 - 29 comments

Scriptographer is an Adobe Illustrator plugin that allows usage of Javascript to extend the functionality of the program. Looks really interesting. Short on examples right now, but the documentation and whatnot is all there. [Note: Major dHTML usage on the page. No stupid window resizing and such, though.]
posted by Su on Feb 16, 2002 - 9 comments

Adobe and SVG: Adobe leverages their Acrobat reader along with Real Player to include their SVG browser plugin. Of note are the SVG with sound, filter effects, and JavaScript animation. Is Adobe gearing up to position this as a Flash competitor?
posted by mutagen on Apr 21, 2001 - 16 comments

Worth downloading the plugin. Well, I thought it was funny. And free, easy 3d graphics for the web sounds like a good idea to me. Pwaaak.
posted by andrew cooke on Jan 11, 2001 - 6 comments

interesting freenet newsbite at wirednews -- but could something so (potentially) powerful really get folded into IE and netscape? i assume this would be something like setting up your browser to launch the app from a freenet:// link ala hotline. or would microsoft and aol actually work to integrate a file sharing app? i tend to doubt it.
posted by subpixel on Sep 25, 2000 - 1 comment