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Google Chrome Extension chromeTouch, touchscreen and inertia scrolling
Just a short demonstration of a Google Chrome extension called chromeTouch. It enables touchscreen and inertia scrolling in Google Chrome, similar to that of the Grab and Drag extension from Firefox. You can find chromeTouch in the Google Chrome extension gallery
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Chrome Corner: extensions to keep Google Chrome in sync on multiple computers
Since you last saw an edition of Chrome Corner, we've done some re-thinking about what it should be. Instead of trying to force together a weekly update when there's sometimes just not enough news to justify doing it, the Corner will now crop up whenever the crew at Download Squad has a nice haul of of Chrome-y goodness to post about.
Today's topic: syncing across multiple computers!
Google Chrome can sync your bookmarks, but what about all the other bits and pieces that you want available on all your machines? Passwords? Form data? Notes?
The Extension Gallery has plenty of awesome options that can help you keep all your Google Chrome installs marching in step -- read about eight useful ones after the break!
Passwords and form data: LastPass, RoboForm
Apart from not having the same set of bookmarks available on every machine I use, nothing irks me quite as much as having to recall and re-enter all my passwords manually. LastPass and RoboForm both handle the task admirably, and they have other benefits as well. LastPass, for example, includes a strong password generator which makes creating hard-to-crack passwords easy.
Both extensions can also auto-fill form data for you with your pre-entered information (name, address, phone number, etc.).
Tabs and Sessions: TabSync, FreshStart
FreshStart is a fantastic session manager and synchronizer (which I wrote about before), with the ability to restore sessions from machine to machine. It's also great at recovering from crashes. TabSync is more minimalistic in its approach. Set it up to auto-sync or press the button to do things manually, and your current window's tabs are locked in so you can restore them again later.
Session Buddy is a killer session management extension for Google Chrome
Once installed, you can save and restore tabs and windows from previous browsing sessions. You can also remove specific tabs or windows prior to restoring -- just in case there are pages you don't need to reopen. By default, Session Buddy restores windows exactly the way you had them, but you can also choose to open everything in a single new window or in the currently active window.
You can also create new sessions by manually entering a list of URLs in Session Buddy's options screen. It's a handy way to set up windows and tabs for news reading forays, time wasting on your favorite LOL-worthy sites, or getting right down to business with your favorite web apps.
You're not just stuck with a list of timestamped sessions, either: Session Buddy lets you specify names for easy recall.
Clicking the "update snapshot" link quickly saves your current Chrome session, and you can also export (to plain text or CSV) and import sessions -- useful if you want to pick up where you left off on a different computer.
I'd love to see the developer plug Session Buddy into Chrome's sync framework as the Fresh Start extension does. With that added, Session Buddy would easily be among my top 5 Chrome extensions.
Google Chrome isn’t a Spy!
Google's Chrome browser has been heavy hit by people claiming it has serious privacy issues.
After an interesting discussion with people who are, “relevant to my interests”, the topic of Google Chrome soon came up. Most predictably what was mentioned was the privacy issues raised with it. As a believer in the open-source vetting process, I heavily disagree that Google could be doing anything subversive to our personal data.
To settle this argument in a non-subjective way I decided the best course of action would be an experiment. Essentially, what I wanted to test was the difference in packets between Google Chrome on first boot-up and search term “test123″ and a comparable browser with similar conditions. This way, we test Chrome against a vetted control browser. A few conditions before we get started:
- Experimental Browser: Google Chrome Beta for Linux (Ubuntu Karmic 9.10 x64) with experience reporting disabled.
- Control browser: Midori 0.2.3 (Ubuntu Karmic 9.10 x64), a WebKit browser licensed under a similar permissive license as Chrome.
- Analysis Method: A tcpdump, sudo tcpdump -w testbrowser.pcap -s 1550 dst www.google.com, command and Wireshark analysis.
- This tcpdump commands monitors all traffic going to the Google domain (216.239.32.0 – 216.239.63.255)
- Wireshark was to make the dump look pretty.
- Procedure: Start the dump, load up the browser and enter a search term to Google for “test123″. Stop the packet dump after this and monitor the results.
What I found:
The results actually surprised me in a very positive way. Not only did the two browsers communicate on exactly the same ports but Chrome also used around 60 less packets in the final dump. A cruel twist of irony that a third-party browser communicates with Google over 100% more than Chrome does. Anyway, without further hesitation, here is the dump from the different conditions.
Google Chrome Beta channel for Windows has been updated to 4.1.249.1025 including fixes for few UI and stability issues
Friday Fun: Play 3D Rally Racing in Google Chrome
Are you a racing fan in need of a short (or long) break from work? Then get ready to enjoy a mid-day speed boost with the 3D Rally Racing extension for Google Chrome.
3D Rally Racing in Action
This is the opening screen for 3D Rally Racing. You can start game play, view current best times, and read through the instructions from here.
The first thing that you should do is have a quick look at the instructions to help you get set up and started.
Click on “Play” to start the process. Before you can go further you will need to choose a “User Name”. Once you have done that click “Select Track”…
Latest Google Chrome Dev Release Crashing on Offline Gmail [Annoyances]
Tipsters like theworldisasheep saw it, this editor confirmed it, and Google even mentioned it in their blog post, at the very end: the latest release of their Chrome browser often crashes when loading Gmail with Offline enabled. It will likely get fixed in a small new update coming soon, but in the meantime, if you're desperate to get back into Gmail without your browser dying, you can create a temporary bookmark to the no-labs version of Gmail. If you want a more surefire solution, head to your Options, switch to the "Under the Hood" tab, click "Gears Settings," and click the "Remove" link next to Gmail and Google-related items. You may lose your offline data for now, but you'll be able to re-synchronize it when two of Google's best products finish duking it out. [Google Code]
Google Chrome Becomes Location Aware
Google just launched the latest developer version of Chrome, which now includes preliminary support for Google's geolocation API. Google's Geolocation API allows developers to pinpoint your computer's location by looking at the WiFi networks around you,
The Dev channel has been updated to 5.0.342.1 for Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms and 5.0.342.0 ChromeFrame
The Dev channel has been updated to 5.0.342.1 for Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms and 5.0.342.0 ChromeFrame
All
- Extension content scripts no longer run multiple times after fragment (ie #hash) navigations (Issue:35924)
- Early version of Geolocation API now available with following caveats:
- To enable, run the browser with --enable-geolocation
- Wifi based location is only supported on Windows and Mac (not OSX 10.6 for now)
- Permissions are not persisted (will re-prompt every time) and associated UI is incomplete.
Mac
- Improved plugin stability (Issue:35081,36928)
- AutoFill Preferences UI Updates
- Translate infobars are now implemented (Issue:34466)
- Mac History menu now has favicons andno longer lists duplicates of Recently Closed sites
(Issues: 20464 and 21314) - Added HTML5 databases to the Mac cookie manager (Issue: 35191)
More details about additional changes are available in the svn log of all revisions.
Google Chrome Developer Update: 3000 Extensions, Events on 4 Continents and More
- Merge all of the open tabs into a single window.
- Use OAuth to connect to web services.
- Make cross-domain XMLHttpRequests from a content script.
- Display page actions based on the current URL or the current page's content.
- Sydney, AU - Mar 5th
- Tokyo, Japan - Mar 11th
- DevFest Japan, Google Chrome extensions, HTML5
- Austin, TX - Mar 14th - Mar 15th
- South by Southwest, advanced extensions and HTML5 101
- London, UK - Mar 16th
- Madrid, ES - Mar 18th
- Google Chrome hackathon @Universidad Complutense de Madrid (sign up here)
Google Chrome tip: fast, easy access to extension options screen
While it's certainly not all that difficult or time consuming to click through the wrench menu, then extensions, then click the options button next to whatever it is I want to configure, there's a more direct route.
Like many tasks in Windows, you can speed things up with a simple right-click.
Chrome has a built-in context menu (pictured above) which appears when you right click an extension button. As you can see, it's two-click fast to get to the Chromed Bird (or any other configurable extension) options this way!
Bonus: there's also a disable and uninstall option, making it a really fast way to get rid of those unimpressive extensions you test.
Automatic Translation in Google Chrome (BETA)
Automatic Translation in Google Chrome (BETA)
Instantly translate webpages into your language with Google Chrome. Get the latest Chrome beta at www.google.com
From: googlechrome
Views: 11714
38 ratings
Google Chrome & Privacy - Browsers, Privacy and You
Google Chrome & Privacy - Browsers, Privacy and You
Learn about the features in Google Chrome that help protect your privacy. Download Google Chrome at www.google.com
From: googlechrome
Views: 10945
61 ratings
Android-inspired theme for Google Chrome is pure robo-fun!
Every now and then, however, a nicely done theme appears. If you're an Android fan using Google Chrome for your desktop web browsing, the Robot Theme has been crafted just for you! The Android mascot and printed circuit background is well done. The darks aren't too dark and the green doesn't punch you right in the face the way many green-heavy themes do.
Chrome's minimal interface doesn't give theme designers a lot of room to pull off something fun and interesting, but I'd say Roman Nurik has done just that with Robot.
Google Chrome & Privacy - Browsing Safely
Google Chrome & Privacy - Browsing Safely
Ian Fette, Product Manager, explains Google Chrome's safebrowsing technology. Download Google Chrome at www.google.com
From: googlechrome
Views: 492
10 ratings
Google Chrome & Privacy - Browser Cookies
Google Chrome & Privacy - Browser Cookies
Jeff Chang, Product Manager, explains the cookie controls in Google Chrome. Download Google Chrome at www.google.com
From: googlechrome
Views: 631
15 ratings
Google Chrome & Privacy - Browsers Search and Suggestions
Google Chrome & Privacy - Browsers Search and Suggestions
Brian Rakowski, Product Manager, explains what happens when you search from the Google Chrome omnibox. Download Google Chrome at www.google.com
From: googlechrome
Views: 405
8 ratings
Google Chrome & Privacy - Keeping Browsers Updated
Google Chrome & Privacy - Keeping Browsers Updated
Ian Fette, Product Manager, explains Google Chrome's security updates. Download Google Chrome at www.google.com
From: googlechrome
Views: 513
13 ratings
A polyglot Google Chrome beta, with new privacy features
[via Google Chrome Blog]
Whether you're catching up on your favorite Arabic gameshow, getting up to speed on the latest Korean mobile gadgetry, or researching the local perspective for a dream trip to Machu Picchu, we're all constantly reminded that the internet is an amazingly multilingual place. The Google Chrome team is excited to introduce a new beta feature to help our users navigate the multilingual web: instant machine translation of webpages, without the need for any browser extensions or plug-ins.
How does it work? When the language of the webpage you're viewing is different from your preferred language setting, Chrome will display a prompt asking if you'd like the page to be translated for you using Google Translate.
Here's a demo of the translation feature by Jay Civelli, one of the engineers who developed it:
For more on how automatic translation in Chrome works, read on in our Help Center article. We hope that the development of online translation tools like this one will help make all the world's information universally accessible in an easy, frictionless way – imagine reading a diversity of foreign language news sources in your mother tongue, or easily conducting online commerce across borders and languages.
With today's beta release, we're also excited to introduce new features that will give you even greater choice and control over your privacy as you browse the web. We realize that many users have questions about privacy in browsers, so we've produced a short video to help users better understand privacy in the browser:
In addition to Chrome's existing incognito mode – a handy way to browse the web without leaving traces of website visits on your computer or downloads in your browser history – you can now manage your privacy settings in the new "Privacy" section of Chrome's Options dialog. From these settings, you can control how browser cookies, images, JavaScript, plug-ins, and pop-ups are handled on a site-by-site basis. For example, you can set up cookie rules to allow cookies specifically only for sites that you trust, and block cookies from untrusted sites.
