mikemo

To install:

• Install Greasemonkey
• Restart Firefox
• Install Netflix Notes

Description:

This happens to me all the time: I decide to add a movie to my Netflix queue — perhaps because it was recommended by a friend, perhaps because I saw a good review, perhaps for some other reason.

Then, months later, I can’t remember why I put it in my queue! To address this problem, I wrote a little Firefox Greasemonkey script called Netflix Notes.

Netflix Notes changes your Netflix queue so that you can add a private “note to self” on each movie in your queue. The main point of this is to remind yourself why you added a particular movie — e.g. because a friend recommended it, you read a good review, and so on.

It only works with the Firefox web browser. If you are using another browser, such as Internet Explorer or Safari, Netflix Notes won’t work for you.

I would love it if Netflix obsoleted my work by integrating this functionality natively into their website! But in the meantime, you can use my program.

30-second demo:

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Can other people see my notes?
A: No. The notes are stored on your computer, not out on the Internet. Only someone using your computer can see your notes.

Q: Where, exactly, are the notes stored?
A: They are stored in your Firefox profile. To see them, navigate to about:config, and then type “netflix” into the filter box.

Q: You should store the notes on the Internet! I want to be able to see them from every computer I use.
A: Yes, I would love to add that capability; but I haven’t had a chance to do so yet.

I just have to share this great term that my brother Brian came up with a while back on a Joel on Software discussion board: Action-Oriented Programming.

Regarding motivation to get started implementing a product idea once you have one:

Whatever you do, do something.

Us programmers, we tend to overanalyze things. Lots of up-front design, trying to decide if it’s the right thing to do, not sure if we have enough education yet, etc. But from what I’ve read about successful entrepreneurs, they are DOERS. They’re Action-Oriented.

So I’m inventing a new term:

Action-Oriented Programming: writing the damn program instead of thinking about writing it.

I use Gmail, and although I love it in general, one thing that is a little tedious is that when you want to send someone an attachment, you can’t drag and drop the attachment onto your message like you can with most native email clients — instead you have to click “Attach a file,” then click “Browse,” and then browse to the file that you want to attach.

But dragdropupload is a slick little Firefox extension that addresses this problem. Once you install it, you can drag and drop any file from your computer on top of the words “Attach a file” in Gmail. Sweet! (You can also drag and drop onto any other website that does file upload, but Gmail is where I find it most useful.)