Allow me to introduce Startpage:

Startpage claims no retention of user search data, and you have the option to use HTTPS (secure/encrypted) connections to further protect yourself. Startpage uses an aggregate search from various engines, kind of like Dogpile, and gives pretty good results.

You’ll probably want to click the “my settings” link on the front page to customize the output a bit, most notably to enable the “Secure Socket Layer (SSL) / HTTPS” setting. If you choose to “add startpage to your browser”, also make sure to check the “Use HTTPS” box.

If you’re using an unsupported browser, you can manually set up Startpage with the following URL string:

https://startpage.com/do/metasearch.pl?cat=web&query=%s

Note that some browsers want a different variable for the search string, so you might have to replace the “%s” with another string of text.

Give it a try, and let me know what you think.

While it maintains all of the original functionality of the main Twitter site, Brizzly goes above and beyond by adding features like auto-expanding shortened URLs, showing pictures and videos inline, and performing live updates on your feed stream. In most browsers, the left and right navigation panels are fixed, so they are always visible for use.

Brizzly is still in “beta” status, and you need an invitation code to use it. I’ve embedded the one I was given in the link above, but if all ten get used, just search Twitter for “brizzly invite“, and you should find one to use.

Twitter 'More' button opinion

Apologies to Fail Blog.

The Basic PaperBackSwap Flow:

1. Visit PaperBackSwap and fill in the registration form.
2. List ten books on there that you’re willing to part with.
3. You get two free “credits” for listing ten books. Just pick ten books you didn’t like or aren’t likely to read ever again.
4. You then use one credit to request a book listed on the site, and it gets sent to you by mail for free. When you receive it, you mark it “Received” in PaperBackSwap, and the sender gets a credit.
5. If someone requests one of the books you listed, you ship it out to the requestor’s address. When they mark the book “Received”, you get an a credit.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 indefinitely.

PaperBackSwap offers print-on-demand postage service, which I find preferable to doing manually. There are a few advantages to this:

• The postage and delivery confirmation charges are slightly cheaper than they are from the Post Office.
• When you choose this option, credits are instantly applied to your account, and you don’t have to worry about the receiver forgetting to mark your book “Received”.
• Both you and the reciever have access to the delivery confirmation tracking numbers, so you can be sure the book arrived or where it is currently.
• If the book is under eight ounces, you can drop the book in a mailbox instead of making a special trip to the Post Office.

After nine months, I’ve had a flawless experience with PaperBackSwap and recommend it highly, which is why I included it in my FreeBooks software.