Get a Costco.com search plug-in for Firefox

I’ve been a fan of the Firefox browser for several years. If you haven’t tried it yet, I challenge you to give it a spin and compare its functionality and stability to IE.

One of my favorite Firefox features is the search engine toolbar that appears to the right of the address bar. The browser comes standard with several pre-installed search tools for sites such as Amazon, Wikipedia, and Creative Commons. It’s nice to be able to punch in a search term on the fly and be taken directly to the site of your choice.

You can also add search tools that other (smarter) people have created. I added one for Target.com a while back and it works great.

“So, is there one for Costco.com?” you ask. Why, yes there is! A group calling itself the Mycroft Project has made such a tool available. You can install the plugin directly to your browser and begin using it immediately. Or you can visit the main site and search the more than 15,000 plugins currently available. Note that not all plugins work with the current Firefox version 3.

Costco.com is top-performing retail site in August

Internet Retailer reported yesterday that Costco.com had the best “high broadband” rating of all web retailers last month. Their survey also studied who had the best access rating among dial-up and “low” broadband users. I’m curious to know just how many Costco.com shoppers are still using dial-up. We made the jump to broadband in 2001.

I’m also wondering if anyone reading this has ever had a problem with the site. I can’t recall one time that it ever failed to load for me. Being someone who works in an internet-related field, I appreciate the simple design of the site. I do think they could improve on their search functionality, however.

The fall shopping challenge: Dell EPP vs. Costco

I just received the big C’s fall shopping special promo mailer. There’s something about getting anything from Costco in the mail that makes that 10-yard trek to the mailbox after work worth all the effort. If for some reason you don’t get this mailer, you can see all the fall promo items on teh inter-tubes. “Fall” into savings. Get it?

For some reason my eyes fell on a particular item in this offering – a Dell XPS computer bundle, including Word and PowerPoint. Now, it’s been almost four years since I bought my Dell Dimenson 8400 system through Costco.com. I’ve been very happy with it and I haven’t really kept up with Dell’s progress in marketing newer, better computing packages. I knew that the XPS line used to be the higher-end, gamer-friendly boxes. Now it seems it has entered more of a mainstream marketing target.

My employer offers discounts on Dell systems through the Employee Purchase Program. Last time after much research I opted for Costco because they had a better deal on the three-year warranty, plus the free customer assistance by phone. So I started to wonder if my computer tanked all of a sudden, which direction would I go now? Assuming I needed another new monitor (not likely) and I was looking to invest in another long-term PC system, which avenue would lead me toward a better deal on this exact package?

The 2008 Homeowners Almanac

I had to do a little digging to find this, but it’s a gem. This free downloadable book contains more than 200 pages of helpful tips for homeowners. One notable entry has to do with making the right decisions on a new high-definition entertainment system. I can vouch for the fact that that’s a tough thing to do. Take my advice and get the help you need. Download this book!