#firefox extension

[limetimo]

My dad and I got talking and somehow it led to him bemoaning the end of flash and this and how he's love to play some old games but can't... and I was like. Man. I'm sure they've figured it out by now.

So in case anyone else didn't know, you can use Ruffle!

I have it as a firefox extension, but you can install it for windows too.

[standardquip]

Youtube search fixer. Make youtube search suck less. I reblogged this at some point, but I must not have tagged it well because I can never find it when I'm searching. So I'm just making my own post now with a ton of tags. It has some additional stuff too, like taking out the shorts section.

[unhallowedarts]

of course now that i've finally been infected by the new dash i can't find any of the posts that say how to fix it. anybody know the best firefox extension to get rid of this bullshit?

[corbindavenport]

Introducing Alt Text Creator

Images on web pages are supposed to have alternate text, which gives screen readers, search engines, and other tools a text description of the image. Alt text is critical for accessibility and search engine optimization (SEO), but it can also be time-consuming, which is why I am releasing Alt Text Creator!

Alt Text Creator is a new browser extension for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome (and other browsers that can install from the Chrome Web Store) that automatically generates alt text for image using the OpenAI GPT-4 with Vision AI. You just right-click any image, select "Create Alt Text" in the context menu, and a few seconds later the result will appear in a notification. The alt text is automatically copied to your clipboard, so it doesn't interrupt your workflow with another button to click.

I've been using a prototype version of this extension for about three months (my day job is News Editor at How-To Geek), and I've been impressed by how well the GPT-4 AI model describes text. I usually don't need to tweak the result at all, except to make it more specific. If you're curious about the AI prompt and interaction, you can check out the source code. Alt Text Creator also uses the "Low Resolution" mode and saves a local cache of responses to reduce usage costs.

I found at least one other browser extension with similar functionality, but Alt Text Creator is unique for two reasons. First, it uses your own OpenAI API key that you provide. That means the initial setup is a bit more annoying, but the cost is based on usage and billed directly through OpenAI. There's no recurring subscription, and ChatGPT Plus is not required. In my own testing, creating alt text for a single image costs under $0.01. Second, the extension uses as few permissions as possible—it doesn't even have access to your current tab, just the image you select.

This is more of a niche tool than my other projects, but it's something that has made my work a bit less annoying, and it might help a few other people too. I might try to add support for other AI backends in the future, but I consider this extension feature-complete in its current state.

Download for Google Chrome

Download for Mozilla Firefox

[none-ofthisnonsense]

I need your help, Firefox users - is there an extension where I can just drag and drop links and it'll keep them there?

I don't need anything fancy. Just to be able to drag and drop links onto the side of my screen (or the extension icon) and later click on it again and find what I dropped there.

[thescholars]

what with the current Stuff happening, i figured i should remind everyone to download shinigami eyes here (for chrome, firefox, and firefox nightly on android) and to continue to flag transphobic and trans friendly pages!!! you can do that by right clicking on a link to the page you want to mark and selecting shinigami eyes -> mark as anti-trans/t-friendly . lets help keep the internet safe for our trans siblings!!! also it would be really fucking funny if we could get m*tt flagged as transphobic

[radibe5]

I recommend getting the Firefox browser on your phone and adding the uBlock Origin extension! I hear mileage may vary but for me I never get ANY ads on YouTube (or anywhere) anymore :)

In complete seriousness, they need to make laws about ads that say they can take no more than one, maybe two, clicks/taps to close/skip. No more "wait 10 seconds until you can skip the video, wait 10 seconds until you can skip the fake playable ad, wait 5 seconds until you can close the 'download now' overlay, puts up a half-screen in-app appstore pop-up (which at least you can close immediately)." This should literally be illegal to do.

Edit: this is blowing up so I just wanted to add (haha ad) that this was my "reasonable request" I also think there should be way more and way stricter laws around all advertising in general. I think most advertising as we know it today should be abolished.

[miyamiwu]

bless firefox

[the-sleepy-archivist]

Blocking Ads on Mobile Devices

Blocking ads on our phones is way harder than it should be so I figured I'd make some recommendations. These are not the only options out there, just the ones that I know and have used.

Please note that browser-level and system-level adblocking are complementary; you'll have the best experience if you use both of them together as they each block different things in different places. If you want a basic idea of how effective your combined adblocking setup is, you can visit this website in your mobile browser.

Lastly, there is some additional advice/info under the readmore if you're curious (EDIT: updated March 2025 to add more adblocking options for iOS and to add info about sideloading altered versions of social media apps that don't contain ads on Android and iOS).

Android

Browser-Level

uBlock Origin (for Firefox)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard

Blokada 5 (completely free version) OR Blokada 6 (has some newer features but they require a subscription)

iPhone/iPad

Browser-Level

AdGuard (Safari extension; free for basic browser-level blocking, requires a subscription or one time purchase of “lifetime” license for custom filters)

1Blocker (Safari extension from an indie developer; can enable one built-in or custom filter list for free, requires a subscription or one time purchase of “lifetime” license for enabling multiple filter lists and updating filter lists to the latest version automatically)

Wipr 2 (one time purchase from indie developer; simplest option to use, but also the least configurable. Best if you are looking for one time set and forget and don’t need any custom filters. Note that it does not have a system-level blocking option)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard (requires subscription or one time purchase of “lifetime” license for system-level blocking)

1Blocker (can activate without a subscription, but requires subscription or one time purchase of “lifetime” license to enable system-level blocking AND browser-level blocking simultaneously)

AdGuard DNS only (this is free and does not require the AdGuard app, BUT I would only recommend it for advanced users, as you can't easily turn it off like you can with the app. Credit to this Reddit thread for the DNS profile)

Some additional info: browser-level blocking is a browser addon or extension, like you might be used to from a desktop computer. This inspects the HTML code returned by websites and searches for patterns that identify the presence of an ad or other annoyance (popup videos, cookie agreements, etc.). System-level blocking is almost always DNS-based. Basically whenever an app asks your phone's OS to make a connection to a website that is known for serving ads, the system-level blocker replies "sorry, I don't know her 🤷‍♂️💅" and the ad doesn't get downloaded. This works in most places, not just a browser, but be warned that it might make your battery drain a little faster depending on the app/setup.

Each of those types of blocking has strengths and weaknesses. System-level DNS blocking blocks ads in all apps, but companies that own advertising networks AND the websites those ads are served on can combine their services into the same domain to render DNS blocking useless; you can’t block ads served by Facebook/Meta domains without also blocking all of Facebook and Instagram as well because they made sure their ads are served from the same domain as all the user posts you actually want to see. Similarly, browser-level blocking can recognize ads by appearance and content, regardless of what domain they’re served from, so it can block them on Instagram and Facebook. However, it needs to be able to inspect the content being loaded in order to look for ads, and there’s no way to do that in non-browser apps. That’s why using both together will get you the best results.

These limitations do mean that you can’t block ads in the Facebook or Instagram apps, unfortunately, only in the website versions of them visited in your browser. It also means ads served by meta’s/facebook’s ad network in other apps can’t be blocked either (unless you're one of the rare beasts who doesn't use facebook or instagram or threads, in which case feel free to blacklist all Meta/FB domains and watch your ads disappear 😍; I'm jealous and in awe of you lol).

One note: some apps may behave unpredictably when they can't download ads. For example, the Tumblr app has big black spaces where the ads are, and sometimes those spaces collapse as you scroll past them and it messes up scrolling for a few seconds (UPDATE: looks like the scrolling issue may have actually been a Tumblr bug that they have now fixed, at least on iOS). Still way less annoying than getting ads for Draco Malfoy seduction roleplay AI chatbots imo though. And honestly *most* apps handle this fairly gracefully, like a mobile game I play just throws error messages like "ad is not ready" and then continues like normal.

One final note: on Android, you may actually be able to find hacked versions of Meta’s apps that have the ad frameworks removed. In some cases they are a little janky (unsurprisingly, apps don’t always take kindly to having some of their innards ripped out by a third-party), and they are often out of date. BUT in return you get an Instagram app with no ads whatsoever, and some of them even add additional features like buttons for saving IG videos and photos to your phone. However, use these apps at your own risk, as there is functionally no way to validate the code that the third-parties have added or removed from the app. Example altered IG app (I have not vetted this altered app, it's just a popular option): link.

It is technically possible to install altered apps on iOS as well, but Apple makes it much, much harder to do (unless you are jailbroken, which is a whole different ballgame). I'm not going to cover sideloading or jailbreaking here because even I as a very techy person eventually grew tired of messing with it or having to pay for it. If you're interested you can read more about the different ways to do sideloading on iOS here.

[intothestacks]

An extension for library and book lovers

Library Extension allows you to see if your library has a book you're interested in and put a hold on it without having to go to the library site to do it.

They have extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

The extension works for several dozen countries, so it's worth checking if your country is included.

You then select which country subdivision you live in and which library systems you want to add the extension to.

Once the library is added in, when you go to shopping sites like Amazon, you should see on the side whether the library has any copies of the book!

[corbindavenport]

Alt Text Creator 1.2 is now available!

Earlier this year, I released Alt Text Creator, a browser extension that can generate alternative text for images by right-clicking them, using OpenAI's GPT-4 with Vision model. The new v1.2 update is now rolling out, with support for OpenAI's newer AI models and a new custom server option.

Alt Text Creator can now use OpenAI's latest GPT-4o Mini or GPT-4o AI models for processing images, which are faster and cheaper than the original GPT-4 with Vision model that the extension previously used (and will soon be deprecated by OpenAI). You should be able to generate alt text for several images with less than $0.01 in API billing. Alt Text Creator still uses an API key provided by the user, and uses the low resolution option, so it runs at the lowest possible cost with the user's own API billing.

This update also introduces the ability to use a custom server instead of OpenAI. The LM Studio desktop application now supports downloading AI models with vision abilities to run locally, and can enable a web server to interact with the AI model using an OpenAI-like API. Alt Text Creator can now connect to that server (and theoretically other similar API limitations), allowing you to create alt text entirely on-device without paying OpenAI for API access.

The feature is a bit complicated to set up, is slower than OpenAI's API (unless you have an incredibly powerful PC), and requires leaving LM Studio open, so I don't expect many people will use this option for now. I primarily tested it with the Llava 1.5 7B model on a 16GB M1 Mac Mini, and it was about half the speed of an OpenAI request (8 vs 4 seconds for one example) while having generally lower-quality results.

You can download Alt Text Creator for Chrome and Firefox, and the source code is on GitHub. I still want to look into support for other AI models, like Google's Gemini, and the option for the user to change the prompt, but I wanted to get these changes out soon before GPT-4 Vision was deprecated.

Download for Google Chrome 

Download for Mozilla Firefox 

[glindafication]

Some art inspired by the final chapter of attrition by @festivating that came out last week! If you haven't read the fic already, I HIGHLY recommend it.

I tried out a more painting-y kind of colouring style for two of these and I feel like it has potential but you can definitely tell I'm not quite used to it yet. But still, it's always good to experiment I suppose. Hope you enjoy them!

Last one is the most spoiler-y so I'll put it under the cut since the chapter only came out last week.

[silvermoon424]

Finally moved all the way over to Firefox and left Chrome behind. My laptop doesn't sound like it wants to die all the time anymore, why did I wait so long to do this 😭😭😭

[adobe-outdesign]

not only did you get me, you got google’s AI

Tech companies: AI is perfect place to get i\nfo! AI always very reliable use AI. Use AI always. no problems ever with AI

The AI:

[dykephan]

i ♥ weird girls

[amalgamasreal]

On Personal InfoSec

Been awhile since I've had one of these posts but I figure with all that's going on in the world it's time to make another one of these posts and get some stuff out there for people. A lot of the information I'm going to go over you can find here:

So if you'd like to just click the link and ignore the rest of the post that's fine, I strongly recommend checking out the Privacy Guides.

Browsers:

There's a number to go with but for this post going forward I'm going to recommend Firefox. I know that the Privacy Guides lists Brave and Safari as possible options but Brave is Chrome based now and Safari has ties to Apple. Mullvad is also an option but that's for your more experienced users so I'll leave that up to them to work out.

Browser Extensions:

uBlock Origin: content blocker that blocks ads, trackers, and fingerprinting scripts. Notable for being the only ad blocker that still works on Youtube.

Privacy Badger: Content blocker that specifically blocks trackers and fingerprinting scripts. This one will catch things that uBlock doesn't catch but does not work for ads.

Facebook Container: "but I don't have facebook" you might say. Doesn't matter, Meta/Facebook still has trackers out there in EVERYTHING and this containerizes them off away from everything else.

Bitwarden: Password vaulting software, don't trust the password saving features of your browsers, this has multiple layers of security to prevent your passwords from being stolen.

ClearURLs: Allows you to copy and paste URL's without any trackers attached to them.

VPN:

Note: VPN software doesn't make you anonymous, no matter what your favorite youtuber tells you, but it does make it harder for your data to be tracked and it makes it less open for whatever network you're presently connected to.

Mozilla VPN: If you get the annual subscription it's ~$60/year and it comes with an extension that you can install into Firefox.

Proton VPN: Has easily the most amount of countries serviced, can take cash payments, and does offer port forwarding.

Email Provider:

Note: By now you've probably realized that Gmail, Outlook, and basically all of the major "free" e-mail service providers are scraping your e-mail data to use for ad data. There are more secure services that can get you away from that but if you'd like the same storage levels you have on Gmail/Outlook.com you'll need to pay.

Proton Mail: Secure, end-to-end encrypted, and fairly easy to setup and use. Offers a free option up to 1gb

Tuta: Secure, end-to-end encrypted, been around a very long time, and offers a free option up to 1gb.

Email Client:

Thunderbird if you're on Windows or Linux

Apple Mail if you're on macOS

Cloud Storage:

Proton Drive: Encrypted cloud storage from the same people as Proton Mail.

Tresorit: Encrypted cloud storage owned by the national postal service of Switzerland. Received MULTIPLE awards for their security stats.

Peergos: decentralized and open-source, allows for you to set up your own cloud storage, but will require a certain level of expertise.

Microsoft Office Replacements:

LibreOffice: free and open-source, updates regularly, and has the majority of the same functions as base level Microsoft Office.

OnlyOffice: cloud-based, free, and open source.

Chat Clients:

Note: As you've heard SMS and even WhatsApp and some other popular chat clients are basically open season right now. These are a couple of options to replace those.

Signal: Provides IM and calling securely and encrypted, has multiple layers of data hardening to prevent intrusion and exfil of data.

Molly (Android OS only): Alternative client to Signal. Routes communications through the TOR Network.

Briar: Encrypted IM client that connects to other clients through the TOR Network, can also chat via wifi or bluetooth.

Now for the last bit, I know that the majority of people are on Windows or macOS, but if you can get on Linux I would strongly recommend it. pop_OS, Ubuntu, and Mint are super easy distros to use and install. They all have very easy to follow instructions on how to install them on your PC and if you'd like to just test them out all you need is a thumb drive to boot off of to run in demo mode.

If you game through Steam their Proton emulator in compatibility mode works wonders, I'm presently playing a major studio game that released in 2024 with no Linux support on it and once I got my drivers installed it's looked great. There are some learning curves to get around, but the benefit of the Linux community is that there's always people out there willing to help.

I hope some of this information helps you and look out for yourself, it's starting to look scarier than normal out there.