Have a couple of web-based applications that you need quick and easy access to on a regular basis? You could set your browser homepage to Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Facebook, or Zoho Writer. Or you could use Bubbles to create a desktop shortcut that will open your web page almost instantly in a site-specific web browser. We first looked at Bubbles a few months ago, but this week the developers released a brand new beta version which is faster, and which adds support for extensions.

These extensions are scripts that let you change the way you interact with certain web content. You can find extensions at the Bubbles repository. When you click on an extension to run or install it, the extension will be added to your Bubbles menu. This provides a quick and easy way to create shortcuts to frequently used web applications like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail or Facebook. One user-generated script provides you with a window that keeps the Facebook Chat interface open even when you're not viewing the whole Facebook web site. Other extensions provide system tray notifications of social networking or email updates.

The beta is relatively new, and there aren't a ton of extensions to choose from. But Bubbles handles most web sites that you can access in Firefox or Internet Explorer fairly well. And while Bubbles will eat up a ton of RAM if you open 5 or 10 windows, it appears to use less RAM than Firefox when you're just visiting a single page.