Its been quite a while since I’ve posted anything on here. Things have been a bit crazy in the past two months or so, but I’ll try to get back to a regular level of activity this fall/winter.

A software recommendation to start…

RockMelt is a relatively new web browser (released Nov ’10) that puts a focus on social media.

My first thought was “I don’t care all that much about having Facebook and Twitter integrated into my browser”, but I have to say that I’ve since changed my tune.

To me, visiting the actual Facebook/Twitter pages is a hassle. So much so, that I saw my use of those sites dropping over the past two or so years, until I started using menu bar notification apps in order to access facebook/twitter without having to always go there. Obviously any smart phone employs the same sort of simplified interface, and I’ve been using that as well. RockMelt is not much different in terms of the snapshot mentality applied to accessing social media, with the obvious difference being that its contained within the browser. I find that its just another great way to access the benefits of Facebook without having to go there.

So basically, RockMelt is just a browser thats Facebook/Twitter friendly. But the real selling point for me is that beyond the social media stuff, RockMelt’s User Experience is an improvement on Google’s Chrome browser (of which I’ve become quite fond). RockMelt is based on Chromium so it works and functions just like Chrome; but its got some really smart additional features, like a dropdown snapshot of your google searches… you can search for something and get results without leaving the page you’re on (great for those of us who use google as a spell checker). Another feature worth noting is “Quiet Mode” which stops notifications from Facebook/Twitter and hides all of the social sidebars.

RockMelt isn’t perfect, but its a great improvement on chrome and it runs like a champ. I’ll continue to use it as my main browser for now (and you should too).