I have been a big fan of the Firefox extension ScribeFire for some time. It makes it really easy in Firefox to comment on web pages you are viewing. I really like to include references to the resources used in writing a post, and ScribeFire has become an essential tool for my blogging. In fact I rarely write a post directly in the WordPress admin interface. But in editing some posts today I noticed a little invisible bit of tracking code — and of course, wondered “where is that coming from?” It turns out that since February 2009 ScribeFire has a new feature/integration with Zemanta, and the code started showing up then. You can turn this tracking off (see the screen shot below) but it is on by default. What are they tracking? Beats me, but I don’t like my tools inserting tracking code for who knows what. Not that I’m paranoid, but it is my content. I will go on using Scribefire, but I do feel a little used. I guess nothing is truly free.
Here is the screen shot:
Is Zemanta a feature? Maybe for some people, but even after reading through their site it doesn’t interest me. It pays to watch “free” tools closely and carefully question their motives for providing the tool, and testing for any hidden “features.”
ScribeFire and Zemanta Team Up To Create a Smarter Blog Editor
After installing ScribeFire (ScribeFire), you can launch Zemanta from its toolbar. As you write posts, it’ll provide recommendations for related articles and images, based on the content you’re working on.
Zemanta – Scribefire: Fire up your blogging
Version 3.2 contains a few bugfixes and new features. You can read the full changelog at What’s New in ScribeFire 3.2., but the biggest new feature is ScribeFire’s integration with Zemanta.
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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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