While the debate over Mac versus PC will last for eternity, one of the elements that many “diehard” PC users have thrown at Apple fanboys is the ability to really tweak their experience, through application add-ons and plugins.

Mac users who use Firefox have had a little taste of this with Greasemonkey, a Firefox add-on that allows support for on the fly changes to websites. If you haven’t heard of Greasemonkey, this is a must read for you and if your browser of choice isn’t Firefox, we’ll show you how to install its equivalent, GreaseKit with Safari.

What Is Greasemonkey?

Greasemonkey is an add-on for browsers that allow users to install “scripts” that are fine tuned to affect how different websites function. For example, if you’re a person who uses MySpace and really hates how the login page is full of ads, you can install a script that adjusts the display of the page when it loads and gives you a cleaner experience.

Cleaning up MySpace is just the beginning; there are scripts for just about everything. If you’re not a fan of the default Gmail web interface, you can use a script that declutters it.

But it’s not just about changing the look and feel of a website; there are scripts that remove content like ads and scripts that add functionality, like a script that lets you add notes to entries in your Netflix queue.

Installing GreaseKit in Safari

While Greasemonkey is an easy add-on if you use Firefox, you can also use similar add-ons in Safari. For Safari users, begin by downloading SIMBL and install it. Then download GreaseKit and install the bundle file inside to ~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins. If this folder doesn’t exist, just add it before dropping the file inside.

Next, relaunch Safari and, provided things worked well, you’ll see a new menu entry for GreaseKit. Now go find some scripts (see below) and click “Install This Script” to copy it into GreaseKit. You’ll see the JavaScript flash on screen and eventually it should be added to your GreaseKit menu.

Getting Scripts

There are a variety of places to find the scripts that integrate with Greasemonkey or GreaseKit. Userscripts.org is perhaps the largest of these and an excellent place to start. I urge caution though as these scripts can become dated when the websites they affect are updated. Also, because you’re not running the scripts in Greasemonkey on Firefox for Windows (where they are usually tested), the add-ons may not function exactly as described. This is likely to happen in Safari if the script is overly complex, requiring additional interfaces to manage it.

Here are the scripts I’ve discussed in this article:

• Netflix Notes
• MySpace Clean Redesigned Login and Logout
• Simplify Gmail

You also might enjoy the Unfriend Finder for Facebook that lets you know when (and who) has unfriended you. This particular script doesn’t work well in Safari, so I recommend using it in Firefox.

Have you found any good scripts? Feel free to use the comments below and let us know what you think.

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It’s a cute 8-bit-era game with deliciously retro graphics that clones Pacman with a pie-themed twist. Eat the pies, don’t get caught by the cooks, and try to beat your high-score. The game can be installed for free simply by visiting http://mrgan.com/pieguy/ on your iPhone’s browser.

The surprising thing is that all of this was achieved without the App Store. I’ve never come across an iPhone web app that feels so much like a native app. From the install process, to the icon and graphics, the attention to detail is impressive.

Admittedly, Pie Guy is no Rolando, but nevertheless it’s just the sort of 99 cent app I’d expect to find riding high in the App Store charts. Except it’s not in the App Store — Pie Guy is free from the constraints and anguish of Apple approvals and it’s just as polished and professional as we’d expect, but perhaps rarely find, from a native premium app.

What’s amazing is seeing what has been achieved without the App Store. A great user experience and a great product, all without running natively. Plus, it even works offline, despite being a web app. It’s worth noting though Pie Guy is iPhone 3GS only, the app apparently takes advantage of the significant improvements Apple made to WebKit performance on the device.

Of course, iPhone web apps are nothing new. Way back when, before the glorious mess that is the App Store, Jobs announced that developing on iPhone was effectively as simple as creating a web site.

After a rather disgruntled reaction from the dev community, and much purported rushing on Apple’s part, we ended up with the App Store. The very notion of web apps, on the other hand, seemed to get tossed aside in the free-for-all gold-rush that ensued.

Many months later, attention is beginning to swing back around to the untapped potential of web apps. It may be that developers are looking for a route to take their concepts to users without running the rejection gauntlet that is Apple’s app approval process. However, it’s also likely that developers want to take advantage of those handy WebKit performance improvements on the 3GS.

Earlier this week on Twitter, David Kaneda, a WebKit developer, claimed, “I could write a pretty competitive Tweetie clone, pretty quickly.” Loren Brichter, developer of iPhone Twitter-client Tweetie, promptly responded by saying, “I dare you.” What resulted from the ensuing exchange was a coder battle that may go some way in illustrating the real potential of WebKit, with Kaneda already producing promising results.

In the meantime though, users are caught between a somewhat chaotic App Store and a predominantly lackluster selection of web apps. There’s clearly room for improvement in both arenas and it’ll be interesting to see what developers manage to squeeze out of WebKit in the coming months.

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According to the official WebKit blog, the browser rendering engine now supports some explicit CSS animations. A recent nightly build brings support for keyframes and repeating animated effects coded directly in CSS. The animation features are currently exclusive to test builds of Safari, but they have already been put into play by Apple in the iPhone and iPod touch’s mobile Safari browser.

Since that’s the easiest way to see them live, I fired up mobile Safari on my iPhone and had a look at the three demos available. There are falling leaves, pulse, and a bouncing box. The falling leaves were probably the most impressive example of the potential this new tech offers, but all three were promising and looked good on the iPhone. They should soon be supported by Safari for the desktop as well, and they have been submitted for inclusion in the official CSS standards, as determined by the W3.

While it’s not clear yet what the limitations of the tech are in terms of interactivity, they do present a nice, simple alternative to overly complicated Flash animations, at least for visuals. Depending on how advanced the support for CSS animations and other effects becomes, Apple may see less of a need for supporting Flash. As the iPhone gains more hold in the mobile browser market, web designers could opt to code in CSS animation effects to reach a broader audience.

Regardless of what happens with Flash, CSS animation support is promising for iPhone users and developers alike, since it expands the canvas and promises more graphically-rich content. As long as it doesn’t result in this kind of thing.

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Mac Menus For Multiple Monitors – I use my TV as a second display for watching movies, playing games, etc. Which means that not having menus on either one or the other display really cramps my style. Thanks to jkOnTheRun, I now have at least one option, even if it’s not ideal (that would be a top menu on each screen).

Microsoft to Tango With MobileMe – If you want to cut in on a competitor’s territory, the best place to strike is where they’re weakest. Apple knew Vista was disappointing, so they targeted the OS in their ad campaign. Microsoft may have learned that lesson, since they’re set to release a MobileMe competitor.

Seagate Drives Prone to a Slight Case of Not Working – Barracuda series drives that are used in some Apple computers are developing a nasty case of the fails. The good news is that the data can be saved on failed drives. The bad news is that an application which could warn you of imminent failure doesn’t run on Macs.

Apple Now Selling Used Products in China – Apple computers aren’t selling like hotcakes in China, which now represents a major market, even with the global economic turmoil going on right now. They’re probably hoping that offering used/refurb deals will net some more customers.

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This update is recommended for all Safari users and features protection from fraudulent phishing websites and better identification of online businesses. This update also includes the latest security updates. For detailed information on the security content of this update, please visit this site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

The KnowledgeBase article about the security content of the update takes you to Apple’s main security page, which links to the Safari 3.2 security fixes. Most of the fixes are about arbitrary code execution but some are more subtle fixes to make sure that web pages don’t have access to local files.

The anti-phishing updates are two-fold. If you visit a malicious web site, Safari will warn you with the following dialog box:

Clicking on the “Learn more about phishing scams” link takes you to a web page that explains Strange Behavior and Malicious Software: Phishing attacks. Interestingly enough, this explanation is on Google.com rather than on Apple’s web site. I assume this means that Apple is using Google’s list of sites that they have identified as potentially dangerous, like you might see on some search results.

To go along with this, there is a new preference in the security panel to toggle this warning when you visit a fraudulent website.

The other change is a positive indication for sites that have taken the extra step to obtain an Extended Validation Certificate from one of the Certificate Authorities that have begun to do the extra background checks. If you visit a site that has one of these Extended Validation Certificates, Safari will display the site name next to the usual lock icon in green text, as you can see in this example from eBay.com’s login page.

Not all sites with SSL certificates have these EVC credentials (my bank’s online site does not, for example). When you do see the notice, you can click on this green text to get more details on the site certificate (just as you can for other sites by clicking on the lock itself). Make a note of the “Class 3 Extended Validation SSL SGC CA” line in PayPal’s description below.

There are lots more features coming in Safari 4 which should implement much more of the HTML 5 specification and the new SquirrelFish javascript engine, but this is a small step towards that.

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The WebKit engine underlying Safari also powers both Apple applications, including Mail, and many third party apps, like BareBones’ BBEdit. The next logical step, in my mind, is to WebKit-enable the Finder, letting me type in a URL, search Google, or access my bookmarks directly from my desktop, without having to open Safari. We can already see similar functionality with how you can play MP3 files within the finder without opening iTunes or view photos without opening iPhoto.

Click to See One Mockup of a Safari-Enabled Finder

There’s no good reason that I can type a URL in Windows to open a Web site immediately, and my Mac won’t give me the same option. And Apple’s low market share may actually give the company an advantage when competitive questions are raised. I’ve attached a quick mockup with one way today’s Finder (pre-Leopard) would look with embedded URL entry and bookmark access. What’s holding Apple back? Wouldn’t this be a useful feature?

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