December 1, 2010

10 Useful Google Chrome Extensions

Google is soul of web. With an extensive product portfolio beneath umbrella, Google undoubtedly dominates the Virtual World. 

Few years’ back Google lunched Chrome foraying in the browser market. Since then I am fan of Google Chrome. It is one of the fastest browsers I have ever used. Google’s Chrome browser continues to increase its share of the market, topping 9.3%, a new record according to Net Applications’s data. This figures clearly indicates Chrome is eating the pie speedily. Overall IE6 had 58.3 percent of the market, while Mozilla's Firefox came in second with 22.82 percent of the market for same period of time. Ever since its launch Chrome is constantly upgrading its features & stability. (Via PCWORLD)

Extensions are important component to increase functionality of the browser. According to Wikipedia Browser Extension is defined as “A computer program that extends the functionality of a web browser in some way. Depending on the browser, the term may be distinct from similar terms such as plug-in or add-on.” Mozilla Firefox was designed with the idea of being a small and simple web browser, delegating more advanced functions to Mozilla extensions. Internet Explorer started supporting extensions from version 5.”

In the world of extensions Firefox dominates the market space. Though Firefox encompass array of extensions, Google’s Chrome is also catching up fast in this space. Being loyal user of Chrome, I am writing this blog post comprising of 10 Useful Chrome Extensions which will help you to increase user-friendliness, functionality & productivity while browsing with Chrome.

Spotted some important information over web? Want to capture the whole page or any portion? Do you want to annotate that important information? Awesome Screenshot helps you in this. Unlike traditional annotating tools it comes with rectangles, circles, arrows, lines and text, blur sensitive info, one-click upload to share. Support PNG and shortcuts.

Do you want to brand yourself? Want to promote your social network presence? WiseStamp extensions empower GMail, Google Mail & Google Apps emails with dynamic email signatures. You can add Twitter, Facebook, Digg and more. It also supports multiple HTML signatures.

Are you concerned about website’s traffic? Want to advertise your product or service on particular website but concerned about Website’s reputation, use this Official Alexa Traffic Rank Extension which will provide you Alexa Traffic Rank and site information when clicked.

Another chrome extension which has introduced super fast search for Gmail & other online data- just like Google Instant! It really saves your precious time while searching flooded mailboxes.

PanicButton makes it easier for you to hide all of your tabs at once just by clicking on a button. They are then saved as bookmarks in a separate folder. After that the PanicButton turns green and shows you how many tabs are currently hidden. Useful in several situations which I think needs no explanation

Obtain several relevant search results by using this extension. When you click the Similar Pages button, your browser will send a search query to Google to see if there are any similar pages for the page you are viewing.

I must confess I don’t check this extension because results produced here are shocking. This extension sits in the background and measures which site is in focus and for how long.   It automatically stops measuring if your mouse and keyboard aren’t used for 2 minutes or more.  It also allows you to manually stop measuring via a “pause” button.  It shows you your total Chrome time, what percent of your browsing is “productive”, and how your browsing productivity compared to hundreds of thousands of users across the world.  You can check out detailed browsing stats to see how much time you spend on individual web sites and apps, which days you are most productive on, and more.  Warning: You are at your own risk! Be prepared for some alarming results.

Learn New Word A Day. With this extension, you can: 1) Double-click any word to view its definition in a small pop-up bubble. 2) View the complete definition of any word or phrase using the address bar dictionary. It definitely helps you in building your Vocab.

CAPTCHA’s argahhh I hate them. Many times over the web you need to prove that you are Human? Solve this irritating CAPTCHA’s with this extension. Now with the help of this extension download files without typing all these annoying CAPTCHAs.

 Fed up of clicking to view 100’s of result pages? Want to save time and enhance your productivity while browsing/searching over the web? This extension helps you in getting quick definitions, auto-loading next pages, search faster, and more. I will say this is Must Have Extension.



Want to learn more about browsers? Read a wonderful eBook 20 things I learned about Browsers & The Web published by Google Chrome Team.

Suggestions & Feedbacks are most welcome. Post them in the comments section. I will be happy to improve the quality of the posts.

September 24, 2010

Technological Advancement in Life

It’s said that a Picture Say More Than Thousands Words!    
Some of images posted below perfectly indicate the technological advancement in our Life.

















Disclaimer: All the images posted above might subject to Copyright to their rightful owner. I don’t own any one of them. I received these images in by Mail.

September 20, 2010

New Twitter & You

Hello Friends!! How are you doing? Today Morning when I checked my mail I was greeted with a mail from Twitter, There are Two Updates they have mentioned in this mail.

Update No. 1: New authorization rules for applications
Update No. 2:  t.co URL wrapping

You might have heard that New Twitter is expected to go live in next few days. According to Twitter’s Official Blog they are enhancing the user experience by integrating applications like TweetDeckSeesmic, or EchoFon & websites such as TweetMemefflick, orTopsy, or mobile applications such as Twitter for iPhoneTwitter for Blackberry, orFoursquare in the main stream.

Today’s mail from Twitter in a step forward towards the New Twitter the states the changes as below
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Over the coming weeks, we will be making two important updates that will impact how you interact with Twitter applications. We are sending this notice to all Twitter users to make sure you are aware of these changes.
What are applications?
There are over 250,000 applications built using the Twitter API. To use most applications, you first authorize the application to access your Twitter account, after which you can use it to read and post Tweets, discover new users and more. Applications come in many varieties, including desktop applications likeTweetDeck, Seesmic, or EchoFon, websites such as TweetMeme, fflick, orTopsy, or mobile applications such as Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for Blackberry, or Foursquare.
Update 1: New authorization rules for applications
Starting August 31, all applications will be required to use “OAuth” to access your Twitter account.
What's OAuth?
·  OAuth is a technology that enables applications to access Twitter on your behalf with your approval without asking you directly for your password.
·  Desktop and mobile applications may still ask for your password once, but after that request, they are required to use OAuth in order to access your timeline or allow you to tweet.
What does this mean for me?
·  Applications are no longer allowed to store your password.
·  If you change your password, the applications will continue to work.
·  Some applications you have been using may require you to reauthorize them or may stop functioning at the time of this change.
·  All applications you have authorized will be listed athttp://twitter.com/settings/connections.
·  You can revoke access to any application at any time from the list.

Update 2: t.co URL wrapping
In the coming weeks, we will be expanding the roll-out of our link wrapping service t.co, which wraps links in Tweets with a new, simplified link. Wrapped links are displayed in a way that is easier to read, with the actual domain and part of the URL showing, so that you know what you are clicking on. When you click on a wrapped link, your request will pass through the Twitter service to check if the destination site is known to contain malware, and we then will forward you on to the destination URL. All of that should happen in an instant.
You will start seeing these links on certain accounts that have opted-in to the service; we expect to roll this out to all users by the end of the year. When this happens, all links shared on Twitter.com or third-party apps will be wrapped with a t.co URL.
What does this mean for me?
·  A really long link such as http://www.amazon.com/Delivering-Happiness-Profits-Passion-Purpose/dp/0446563048 might be wrapped as http://t.co/DRo0trj for display on SMS, but it could be displayed to web or application users as amazon.com/Delivering- or as the whole URL or page title.
·  You will start seeing links in a way that removes the obscurity of shortened links and lets you know where each link will take you.
·  When you click on these links from Twitter.com or a Twitter application, Twitter will log that click. We hope to use this data to provide better and more relevant content to you over time.
Thanks for reading this important update. Come and check what's new at http://twitter.com.
Thanks,
The Twitter Team”
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As a part of User Experience Enhancement Twitter following are the key modification in Twitter’s main stream
1.     New Design: Change in Timeline Appearance
2.     Media: Embedded Media displayed directly on Twitter
3.     Related Content: Additional information on the Tweet e.g. Author’s Bio, replies etc.
4.     Mini Profiles: Quick Access to account information

Check the Video for New Twitter
For Expert Review on the New Twitter Visit: http://www.briansolis.com/2010/09/the-new-and-improved-twitter/