zip and you can extract it to your local computer.īy extracting both the patched version and the official version, I was able to use a great tool called Beyond Compare to perform a full directory comparison and analyze the modifications that were made to the extension. xpi file, which is actually just a compressed. If you want to independently check out what’s been changed in the patched version of this extension, comparing them is actually quite easy. Locate the file you downloaded in Step 1 and open itĪfter following those steps, you should see that Echofon for Firefox is again alive and well.Click it and select Install Add-on From File… After navigating to the Extensions tab in the Add-on window, locate a gear icon in the top right corner.You can also use the convenient shortcut Ctrl+Shift+A to access this menu. In the Add-ons window, click Extensions in the sidebar. You can find this by navigating to the big Firefox menu, then selecting Add-ons. In Firefox, navigate to your Extensions page.The latest version of the patch appears to be “6”. Download the patched version of Echofon.Without further adieu, here’s how to switch over to the patched version of Echofon. const TWITTER_API_URL = "/1.0/" // old and bustedĬonst TWITTER_API_URL = "/1.1/" // new hotness The tragic part about Echofon’s demise is that it ultimately comes down to some very simple code modifications: Using 3rd-party software of any type, especially patched software, comes with piles of inherent risk.) (Please note that I am not a computer security expert, so do not take this as a “seal of approval” or anything. Based on my findings, I decided to try the patched version for myself. What I found were fairly minor modifications, and none of them appear to be malicious. Rather than blindly run this updated extension, I took some time to do a file-by-file comparison between the patched version and the official version to make sure nothing nefarious was happening behind-the-scenes. However, something useful popped up in my search: Apparently, someone had patched Echofon and updated it to use Twitter API 1.1, which replaced the dead API 1.0. Doing a quick Twitter search for “echofon firefox” confirmed my suspicions that my beloved extension had officially died. When I opened Firefox today and noticed that Echofon wasn’t working anymore, I immediately assumed the worst. Patched Echofon saves the day for Twitter API 1.1 I wouldn’t be writing this article if it was all bad news, so here’s how to keep Echofon for Firefox working after the Twitter API change. Users were left with this simple message when they opened Firefox today:Ĭan’t login to Twitter. Since this article exists, I think you can guess what the problem is: As of June 12, 2013, Twitter API 1.0 has been officially shut down, which also killed Echofon for thousands of users. With this foreboding message, Echofon for Firefox stopped receiving updates. This wasn’t the end of the world, though, because Echofon would continue working as long as Twitter API 1.0 was still active. The last version of Echofon for Firefox ever released, version 2.5.2.Īs of October 2012, Echofon for Firefox was officially discontinued by its developers so they could focus on versions of Echofon for mobile platforms (iPad, Android, and iPhone) instead. Available as a small pop-up window in the browser’s status bar, Echofon was a convenient and minimalist way to compose tweets, replies, and browse Twitter. In case you’ve never heard of it, Echofon for Firefox was an add-on for Firefox that allowed users to interact with Twitter without going to the official Twitter website.
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