John Stampfel “Superpowers for your Browser with Extensions” MEETING DATE: Thursday, December 5, 2024 6:45PM - 8:45PM (Zoom meeting room opens at 6:45 PM; Meeting starts at 7 PM) via Zoom virtual meeting.

Description

In 2024, approximately 85% of computer and smartphone users primarily use their web browsers as their main program. This high percentage reflects the central role that browsers play in accessing the internet, whether for work, entertainment, or communication. Chrome is the most-used desktop browser, used by 3.46 billion † worldwide, while Apple’s Safari, with 984 million worldwide † , is the most used smartphone browser.
This most frequently used tool can be made even more powerful with the addition of special purpose extensions. These are sometimes called add-ins. The browsers have a feature which supports the incorporation of these extensions, which are written by third-party programmers. The extension can be used in the browser, it is for use on whichever operating environment supports the browser, as it runs in the browser. When a skilled person finds a need for a feature or operation in a browser which is not native, they can write an extension. They can share the extension with the general population.
This presentation reviews some of the extensions which John Stampfel uses in Firefox and EDGE. This will give an idea of extensions which he finds helpful to do things during his browsing activity. Maybe you will find some which would be useful to you or encourage you to look for an extension which would improve your life and productivity as you use your preferred internet browsing tool.
† https://backlinko.com/browser-market-share

John Stampfel’s Background

John Stampfel has been the president of the Brookdale Computer Users Group since 2015. He is a physicist by education, S.B. from M.I.T. and PhD in experimental solid state physics from Carnegie-Mellon. He is retired now after a 40-year career in computer systems development at Bell Labs, Comcast Labs and as a contractor. John’s interests in computers persist as a hobby as he continues to at least try to stay abreast of the current evolution in hardware, software and systems. He mostly uses Windows and iOS (Apple iPhone), but, having been around *nix since its beginning, he continues to use Linux, too.