The web is not as beautiful, as it was 10 years back.

It is certainly rich in information but no longer beautiful, thanks to all those widgets, advertisements, plugins and social media buttons plastered across each and every website you come across.

Organizing information is another big, big problem. Bookmarking is so 2007, it just doesn’t work anymore. Reading and accumulating information gets really troublesome, when you are running sort of time and hurrying through the finer details of a story.

Evernote’s Clearly changes all this.

Clearly (nice name) provides a simple way to read only the text version of a webpage, right inside Google Chrome. No advertisements, no banners, no buttons – just the content, you and your browser. Following is an example of how clear a webpage becomes, once you hit the magical “Clearly” button:

Clearly comes with three preset themes to choose from, so if you are fond of reading articles on dark backgrounds and green text, you can always create your customized “reading environment”. The advantage of turning a webpage into its text only version is that you can read a lot faster, without getting distracted by nearby ads. Furthermore, it is super easy to copy excerpts, scroll, use the “real meat” and be done with it.

There are tons of other distraction free reading tools out there but Clearly has a unique offering. You can clip an article directly to one of your Evernote notebooks, or assign a unique tag to it. That way, the URL of the webpage is saved to your Evernote account, which can later be synched with the desktop client. The benefit here is that you can quickly bookmark important stories without getting lost among a pile of 2 dozen news items.

If you launch Clearly on a multi-page article, it will automatically turn it into a single page, so you can read the entire story at one place without having to click, click and click ….. all the way to the 10th page.

As of now, Clearly supports only Google Chrome while extensions for other browsers is a work in progress. Clearly wont let you save images or files but it is indeed a better alternative of Readability. Watch the following video to see Clearly in action:

Apart from speed and robustness, one of the best features of Google Chrome over any other browser is cloud sync. Your bookmarks, saved passwords, extensions, preferences, auto fill options and themes are automatically backed up to your Google account, so you can quickly restore them on any other computer.  If you browse the web in your office computer and make changes to bookmarks, settings or change a password, the changes will automatically reflect in your home computer.

While Google Chrome’s cloud sync is perfect, the developers have added two more options under the sync belt – the ability to sync open tabs and custom search engines. Before you head over to Google Chrome’s options page to enable this feature, type chrome://flags/ in the address bar and enable syncing open tabs and syncing custom search engines in Google Chrome:

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “Relaunch now” to restart Google Chrome.

Now go to the options page, navigate to “Personal stuff” and click “Customize” under your Google Chrome sync profile. You should get the option to sync open tabs and all your custom search engines, following is an example:

I tested both the features in Google Chrome’s latest stable release (15.0.874) and it worked as advertised. This feature is a lifesaver when you have more than 20 open tabs in Google Chrome and the browser crashed or your laptop ran out of power. You can always re-open the last used tabs on the same computer but there is no way you can re-open the last used tabs on another system, running Google Chrome. With open tabs sync added to chrome, no longer you have to worry about which tabs were open in your office computer and which webpages you were reading on your home computer. Personally, I would prefer the “bookmark all tabs” option over open tab sync, as Google Chrome sync is not real time yet. However, if the browser crashes or your operating system goes to sleep, this little setting might just save the day.

Another feature I am loving in the latest release of Google Chrome is the experimental smooth scrolling (activate it from Chrome://flags). Gives a feeling of scrolling in a touch device, with your mouse wheel – of course!

Parents fret all the time about protecting their kids on Facebook, but many of the products and services I’ve seen that aim to help are intrusive, and inject the parents into the child’s normal, healthy online social life in a way that’s awkward for both.

Chrome does a good job of updating your extensions automatically, but it checks for updates on its own schedule. If you know that a new version of an extension is out but Chrome hasn't updated it, here's how to do it manually.More »

I use Tweetie on the Mac as my primary Twitter client, despite its long period of neglect. But now that it looks like it might actually become vaporware (despite assertions to the contrary), I’ve started to look elsewhere. That’s why I was thrilled when I saw the Iconfactory’s blog post today previewing Twitterific 4.

I’ve used Twitterific in the past, both on the iPhone and on the Mac, and I always appreciate the attention to detail Iconfactory puts into its UI design. But the app never felt robust enough for me, especially as a user who needs more features for managing multiple accounts. However, I’m not a fan of TweetDeck, which, though powerful, frankly just seems ugly and cluttered.

HP and other manufacturers are gearing up to release a set of new printers that will allow the user to remotely print document. If you are using Dropbox you can have this same functionality now.

Amit Agarwal at Digital Inspiration has written a simple VBS script that allows files uploaded to Dropbox to automatically print.

To set-up the remote printing function you must do the following /> id="more-22640"> /> 1. Install Dropbox

2. Download the zip file

3. Double-click the eprint.vbs file. A sub-folder (PrintQueue) will be created inside your main Dropbox folder.

Now any file that is placed inside the PrintQueue folder will automatically be printed. There is no need to run any additional commands or navigate any dialog boxes.

I have tested this with a variety of files, including txt, doc, xls, and jpg and they all print without any problems. Of course if you require any specific formatting you will have to manually do this before uploading the file into the PrintQueue folder.

[Windows Only]

As many of you have learned by now, not all free screensavers are created equal. Many times, “free” means that you have to install stupid toolbars, adware and other unwanted junk along with the screensaver. That’s not true of the ones at NewFreeScreensavers.com. Here are the most recent additions to the site.

Quite recently, I got a new laptop and wanted to move data from the old one to the new one. Just like Firefox and Google Chrome, Opera does have a Sync service called as "Opera Link" which will allow you to sync your Bookmarks, Personal Bar, Typed History, Speed Dial, Notes and Search Engines to another computer.

In some ways, GV Connect’s (the mobile client for Google Voice) re-appearance in the iPhone App Store was somewhat anticlimactic. After what felt like months of “he said, she said,” along with an FCC inquiry (holy cow, has it really been a year?), I heard the news via a retweet. While the Google web app for Google Voice worked just fine, it’s nice having a truly native version; the web app was a tad slow, and it was a pain when the account timed out, requiring you to login again.

My Google Voice needs are somewhat modest. For me, it’s the number I give out when someone wants to get in touch, but I don’t want to give them the Super Top Secret Cell Phone Number. So, PR people, headhunters, bill collectors, etc. all get the Google Voice number. Most of the time, I even turn forwarding off so it goes straight to voice mail.

Quanp, the online storage service that gives you a whopping 10GB of free storage space has now come up with another way for you to utilize your account – Microsoft Office Addin. If you are not aware, quanp has been pretty active in developing interactive widgets recently to get people to use their storage services. Widgets like quanp send, quanp.drop and quanp.on are useful stuff that you can make use of.

With this latest quanp Office addin, you will be able to download, edit, upload and share your document directly from your Office. /> id="more-20574">

Installation

The installation of the quanp addin is pretty straightforward. Simply download the exe file and double click to install it. If you have opened your Microsoft Office, you will need to close it for the installation to proceed.

When the installation is done, you will find the quanp icon in the ribbon of your office.

Have you ever wanted to design your own catapult? How about a toy robot, or maybe a more complex machine you’ve been layout out in your head? If so, you might already be familiar with Google Sketchup. It’s a simple to use 3D modeling program for Windows and Mac that has been popular for years, and is used in such other products such as Google Earth to create the buildings. What you may not know is that you can add a plugin to Sketchup which will enable physics, turning your sketches into simulators. /> id="more-20642"> /> Rather than try to describe exactly what it can do, I’ll give you this video to see for yourself.

After nearly a decade, iTunes is getting a new icon with the release of version 10 today. Steve Jobs joked about the looming obsolescence of the CD featured prominently in the logo now that iTunes sales are poised to surpass CD sales for the first time in history.

Ping

The new icon is a metaphor for what’s to come in iTunes’ future. The emphasis will be on music, yes, but also on what’s unique about music on the web. Accordingly, Jobs also introduced Ping, a brand new social network Apple created specifically for iTunes. Ping allows users to share activity with their friends, and follow their favorite artists to receive updates about concerts, albums, and more.

We’ve all seen them – those ads on nearly every software website that offer to clean your registry or speed up your downloads. Many of us have learned to ignore them. Occasionally, however, you come across such an application that actually does what it says. It really cleans the registry, and it really can help repair your system. Such a program is IObit Toolbox. It’s a general purpose repair package reminiscent of the old Norton Utilities. It’s useful, portable, works on several versions of Windows, and to top it off, it’s free. /> id="more-20468"> /> Note: IObit Toolbox contains many applications. Many of them are small, simple tools that perform a single task. As such, those will be mostly ignored in this review in favor of the less common, or simply more interesting tools.

Google Chrome has been cited as being the greatest browser since Firefox, and it has even more of a claim to fame now that it offers free extensions. Unlike the Firefox addon’s typical measurement of value, “is it worth the slowdown?”, Chrome extensions offer convenience with fast page renders, regardless of the platform or the number of other extensions currently attempting to load. This article showcases fifteen extensions that all users should consider Installing.

1. Google Mail Checker: This is a self-explanatory extension. Click it to open Gmail when it notifies you of an unread message.

2. RSS Subscription Extension: This extension detects when there is an RSS feed that can be subscribed to, indicating such by placing an icon into the address bar. Clicking it will deliver the feed.

3. Xmarks: This extension will effectively allow Xmarks users to tie Chrome into their account, which allows bookmarks to be seamlessly shared across Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Chrome.

4. iMacros for Chrome: iMacros, currently in beta, is a popular extension that allows you to record what you do with Chrome and therefore automate tasks. This extension is especially handy if you use a lot of sites and are constantly logging in and out of accounts.

5. Aviary Screen Capture: Instantly captures part of a Web page in a neat and convenient interface that is easy to use.

6. Picnik Extension: Similar to above, but there is the added option to select one image in particular from a drop down list of your captures.

7. FlashBlock: With another self-explanatory name, FlashBlock effectively blocks all of the flash on a Web page unless you specify that a certain domain may retain its functionality. This extension adds convenience with keyboard shortcuts.

8. AdThwart: As the name suggests, this extension effectively removes ads for your viewing pleasure.

9. AdSweep: This is quite similar to the aforementioned extension, except it sweeps away ads and does so using a different blacklist than its younger sibling extension. Mixed together, however, you can achieve great anti-advertisement viewing.

10. Brizzly: This extension is definitely a time saver, allowing users to quickly glance at their recent Facebook and Twitter updates. A simple click is all it takes, automatically streaming social updates with embedded videos and images included. It also offers the ability for the user to update their status as well.

11. Google Alerter: There exist some extensions to notify users of unread mail, new pings in Google Wave or Google Voice, but this extension is an all-in-one convenient package of uber Google checking. It will check Reader, Wave and Gmail for new, unvisited pings.

12. Chromium Delicious Plugin: Recent Delicious bookmarks can be easily saved and retrieved through this extension.

13. ChromeMilk: This extension is a handy to-do list for those who can’t ever seem to remember that they need to pick up the milk while they are out on the road. Pro members can get themselves a version for their iPhone so that they really don’t have any excuses.

14. LastPass: This is more of an extension for Xmarks, which is one of the aforementioned extensions. It allows passwords to seamlessly sync across multiple profiles and browser types.

15. Fittr Flickr: Flickr is a handy website on its own, but this extension adds new functionality, such as a lightbox style gallery, more photo information and the inclusion of keyboard shortcuts. If Flickr was great before, this extension makes it unbeatable.

One of the most recent builds of the Chromium web browser is drawing some criticism. As you may know, Chromium is the open source browser project that Google’s Chrome web browser is based on. In the Chromium version 5.0.375.3, something new showed up. The address bar was not displaying the normal “http://” in front of addresses. It was reported in the issues at Chromium’s code site as a possible bug.

However, it turns out that this is an intentional move, and it’s started a fairly heated debate there. Some of the people posting there do not want to have the http prefix removed. Some people argue that it’s a feature that everyone will eventually want.

Apparently, if you need to copy and paste the address from the Chromium address bar, it will automatically add the “http” prefix, even though you don’t see it. This will need to happen in order to use copied URLs in other applications.

In my opinion, I don’t think it’s going to be a problem as long as the feature works as they say it will. I sometimes wonder why we even need to type the “www” in the address. It’s a waste of time and I’ll be happy if it goes away for good.