Originally downloaded 10/14/06. OK, I’ll bite. Cooliris is an extension to web browsers (supports IE, Firefox, and Safari) that pops up a preview of web pages when you hover the mouse pointer over hyperlinks. Since it’s free, I’m definitely curious to see how well it performs.
Update 10/29/06. Cooliris is indeed a cool browser plugin, but personally I find it a bit too aggressive and intrusive. Having used it now for a couple of weeks, I find that it pops up without warning, and I hardly ever intentionally use its magic powers. Occasionally, it’s really pissed me off. For example, I find that when I log into Digg.com (for example) from a Cooliris window, my main browser window doesn’t acknowledge the login. Why this should be so is totally mysterious to me… since I understand the way cookies work, it makes no sense unless the Cooliris window isn’t actually being served from the same host as the “regular” Digg page. In any case, it’s a real time-waster to think you’ve logged in only to find you have to do so again.
Bottom line is, I don’t need Cooliris. I find that it doesn’t load “previews” of pages so much as tries to transfer browser activity from the main window to its own… and its in that process that Cooliris goes from being a help-mate to being a nuisance.
Version as tested: 1.3b.
