Chrome: Google Chrome has a built-in speech recognition system, but you can only use it in certain places. Dictation is a webapp that uses Chrome's speech recognition engine, but allows you to dictate much larger chunks of text right inside a simple webapp. More »

iOS/ChromeOS: If you've been waiting for offline document editing in Google Docs, wait no longer. Google announced offline editing at Google I/O today, and Google Drive, Google's Dropbox-like competitor, picked up native apps for iOS and Chrome OS which allow you to view and edit documents in full screen on your iPhone, iPad, or Chromebook. More »

Chrome: Streak is a new web service and Chrome extension that adds a ton of useful features to your Gmail account, including the ability to compose messages and schedule them to be sent at a later date, text expansion that works by menu or keyboard command, and the ability to manage your personal projects, whether you're planning an event with multiple people, scheduling a vacation, or otherwise just want to keep track of a project that involves lots of people and even more emails in your inbox. More »

Do you have a favorite bookmarklet you love to use but hate having it cluttering up your bookmarks bar? An easy to use webapp solves the problem for you, no coding experience required.More »

Chrome: Google's adding offline support to Gmail, Calendar, and Docs. The offline support comes via the Offline Google Mail extension, available now in the Chrome Web Store.More »

Web/Chrome/Android/iOS: Springpad is a free service that allows you to save places, notes, itemsand more to your account for future reference. The service just got a lot more social with today's update: now you can connect Springpad to your Facebook account to automatically show you items that your friends like, places they visit, and more in case you want to save them to your account. More »

Amazon's new Kindle Cloud Reader webapp allows you to read ebooks you've purchased via the Kindle store on any device without installing an app to do it, regardless of whether you have an active internet connection. More »

SENDtoREADER is a new webapp that instantly sends any web pages you're viewing to your Amazon Kindle ereader for future reference.

Chrome: Many of your favorite sites have their own Chrome extensions that offer offline browsing, powerful searches, or other features. There's a Web App for That is a Chrome extension that, once downloaded, gives suggestions for future extensions based on the sites you visit most often.More »

Chrome: The Extended Share for Google Plus extension for Chrome adds a "Send to" link to each post or update at Google+ that you can click to republish the post at Twitter or Facebook. If you have an invite to Google+ but miss the ability to share updates with friends elsewhere, this extension makes it easier. More »

If your browser's default start page is feeling a little ugly and boring, DeviantART user flatmo1 has created a great-looking start page inspired by Windows 8's tiled interface, ready to get you to your favorite sites with just a click. More »

Chrome: If you wake in the morning and tune in the news as you start the day, the BBC News Alarm web app for Chrome lets you wake up and listen to the headlines from the BBC World Service, downloaded while you sleep. More »

Chrome: Life-organizing webapp Springpad updated today with offline syncing, so you can view and edit all your notes, lists, and other items even when you don't have an internet connection. More »

When TweetDeck landed in the Chrome Web Store, it seemed like an indication that it might eventually evolve into a pure HTML5 Web app. Now it looks as though that's exactly what's going to happen, with TweetDeck announcing that a new, not-just-for-Chrome Web client is ready for beta testing.

It's a natural progression for TweetDeck, especially since its originally Adobe Air app is practically all Web code. TweetDeck Web will sport a feature set which is nearly identical to the Chrome app, with the notable exception of Twitter streaming.

Initially, TweetDeck is targeting Firefox 4 and 3.6, Google Chrome, and Safari. Opera and Internet Explorer 9 won't be invited to the dance until a bit later on.

If you'd like to get in on the TweetDeck Web beta, head on over and register -- or sign up using your existing TweetDeck account.

While custom new tab pages like previously mentioned Myfav.es are great, some of you may prefer Chrome's default for its easy access to Chrome-only webapps. Here's how to add your other favorite pages to Chrome's new tab page. More »

The open and free alternative to the Chrome-specific Web Store is now almost upon us! Developers, feast your eyes on the first milestone release of Mozilla's Web Application project.

Developers, this milestone release means that the OWA Application Manifest spec is now stable -- so you can now safely begin building apps. There is also a stable JavaScript API that you can use to interact with the browser (installing, uninstalling, etc.) There's also the beginnings of a tutorial that you can use to get started.

Most Desktop and Mobile Platforms: There's no shortage of digital comic book readers out there, but new service Graphic.ly stands apart: instead of downloading CBR files, you build up a library from their web store and sync it across all your devices. More »

Your operating system can run processes in the background -- things like realtime antivirus protection and streaming movies and music around your home -- and so can Google Chrome. Background apps have existed in Chrome and Chromium for some time, but now that the Chrome Web Store is open and its apps are available for installation, Google has posted a blog about why backgrounding is cool.

It's really all about Chrome being your "OS" even if you're using a Windows or Mac computer. With the ability to run Web apps in the background and Native Client support headed to the beta and stable channels in relatively short order, Chrome Web Apps will soon be capable of doing many of the same things your traditional desktop apps can do.

Google's post talks about using backgrounding to issue notifications (as apps like TweetDeck and exfm do) or to prefetch data. There's really no end to the possibilities, and we're exited to see what the next generation of Chrome Web Apps can really do.

Certain extensions—like Gmail notifiers, for example—are great when your browser is running, but can't run when it's closed. Chrome's added a new feature that will let extensions stay open, even if you don't have any open browser windows. More »

It might only be a couple of years old and its extension interface might not be quite as powerful as Firefox's, but in terms of developers, big-name publishers, and sheer numbers, Chrome already has a very healthy ecosystem of add-ons.

When you factor in Chrome's exclusive selection of Web apps, it's even possible to say that Chrome has a wider variety of extensions -- or at least until Mozilla launches its Open Web Apps later in the year.

Still, as always, the problem with add-ons is finding the right ones. You have thousands of add-ons to choose from, and only a handful that are actually worth using. First-time users haven't got a snowball's chance -- unless they read this list of must-have extensions!

But this list of extensions is for converts, too. With massive defections from Internet Explorer and Firefox, Chrome has grown from just a few million users in 2009 to over 120 million at the start of 2011. Firefox users will be especially pleased to find almost every add-on has a comparable extension -- and IE users... well, they'll just be glad to have any extensions at all.

Whether you are looking for helpers or shortcuts, or full-blown Web apps, you will be pleasantly surprised with the variety and power of Chrome's extensions.