One of the most talked about features in Safari 5 has been its Reader function -- Apple's built-in implementation of the Readability bookmarklet. Both are nice ways to reformat articles on blog or news sites for distraction-free reading.

If you like the look of Safari Reader but would rather not change from Google Chrome or Firefox, don't worry. The iReader extension brings the same functionality to your browser of choice!

Like Safari Reader, iReader shrouds the background in semi-opaque blackness . Hover near the bottom of the page to display zoom and print controls, as well as e-mail/Twitter/Facebook sharing buttons. iReader is also highly configurable -- set Gmail as your 'send page' client, change the display font, activate smooth scrolling, set the "curtain" to be more or less transparent, and adjust the reading area and margins. You can also choose hotkey combination to activate iReader (rather than having to click on the Omnibar icon).

Download iReader : or Firefox add-on

Plenty of people scoffed at the original Google announcement about Chrome OS. It's just another minimalist Linux distro, they said -- but that's actually not quite true. Unlike most lightweight Linux distributions, there won't be any traditional local apps apart from the Chrome browser.

If you'd like a Chrome OS-like experience without having to give up apps like Transmission, VLC, or DropBox? Take a look at the new release from the developers behind Peppermint.

Dubbed Peppermint Ice, the new spin replaces Firefox with Chromium and includes the same selection of web app shortcuts (Facebook, Seesmic, Google Docs, Hulu, Pandora, etc.) and local apps (like DropBox, Tranmission, and XChat). Want to add your own web app shortcuts? It's a snap using the built in Ice tool. And since Peppermint is derived from Linux Mint, apt-get is available via the terminal -- meaning you can install boatloads of other apps if you want to.

Kendall Weaver, who heads up Peppermint development, told me that on his Core2 notebook with an OCZ Vertex SSD Peppermint Ice boots up in about 6 seconds. That's definitely speedy enough to compete with just about any "instant-on" OS I've tried out. Even on my admittedly poorly-configured, Atom-powered Gateway netbook Peppermint boots in 10 seconds... Nice!

Peppermint is a solid Linux distribution for people who just want to surf but don't want to give up the flexibility which Linux distros typically provide. The interface is clean and simple, and should be familiar to anyone who's ever used Windows XP. Hey, if my 5-year-old can jump in and find his YouTube favorites on Peppermint, the learning curve can't be too steep (if it even exists).

Good news if you're a Firefox fan: Kendall also informed me that Peppermint One will be switching to Firefox 4.0 when the second beta arrives. The switch will provide a welcome performance boost, though you might have to deal with some broken extensions temporarily -- although if you're installing Firefox betas you're probably used to that by now...

Since the release of the Firefox 4 beta, I've been happily using it as my default Web browser once again. Google Chrome had been my primary browser for quite some time, but Firefox 4's improved speed and the fact that it can do three things I've wished Chrome could do for ages have won me back.

The three things? A real download manager (plus great add-on options like DownThemAll and Automatic Save Folder), being able to right click an image and set it as my wallpaper, and the euphoria-inducing ability to copy and paste in our CMS once more (with Chrome, you have to right click, paste, paste into a pop-up window, then click OK -- it's a security thing, supposedly, but rather cumbersome).

One thing I don't like about Firefox 4 is that big, orange button and all the wasted space it creates along the top. I like Chrome's minimalist UI -- and with Firefox's awesome array of customization options it's easy enough to mimic without a theme or addon!

All I did was add a few lines to my userchrome.css -- using Sebastian's ugly button removal code as a starting point. Here's my code:

#appmenu-button-container {
width: 92px;
position: fixed !important;
}
#appmenu-button {
padding: 3px 8px 3px 8px !important;
margin-top:0px !important;
background-color: rgba(200, 200, 200, 0.4) !important;
}
#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="true"] #TabsToolbar {
padding-left: 95px !important;
}
#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="true"] #TabsToolbar {
padding-left: 98px !important;
padding-top:1px !important;
padding-right:98px !important;
}

.tabbrowser-tab {
height: 20px !important;
padding-right: 4px !important;
}
.tabbrowser-strip {
height: 20px !important;
}

Basically, I've trimmed a few pixels here and there and made two adjustments via customize > toolbar layout. To the right side of the tab bar, I added a flexible space -- to keep the Windows minimize/restore/close buttons from overlapping any of Firefox's UI elements.

Got your own clever userchrome hacks? Share 'em in the comments, we'd love to see them!