extension

Depending on the version of Chrome you're using, you may have noticed some changes to the black navigation bar along the top of the Google homepage. For some, the bar is still there, and for others, it has completely disappeared. One developer decided to make his own navigation menu, and luckily you can use it too.

Black Menu, by Carlos Jeurissen, is a Chrome extension that adds quick links to all of the popular Google services, like Gmail, Maps, Drive, YouTube, among others. Instead of waiting for Google to decide if the navigation bar will stay or go, … Read more

File Transfer Protocol may not necessarily be the safest way to transfer files, but it's still one of the most popular. If you need to use FTP to move files in your network, the browser add-on FireFTP makes it easy. It's Fire(fox) + FTP ... get it?

FireFTP only works with Firefox, of course. To use it, you need to have the browser installed first. Then once you've approved the addition of the FireFTP extension, it's tucked away nicely in the "Web Developer" menu.

FireFTP employs the dual-window interface of most standalone FTP clients, running … Read more

My mid-afternoon most work days, my laptop begins to drag as I am stare at dozens of open tabs, many of which I may need to save or return to before shutting down to preserve the day's twisting and winding research and Internet meanderings. With Chrome extension TabJuggler, I am able to slice and dice and search all of my open tabs, which is a huge help in cataloging my day's worth of work before closing up shop for the day.

After TabJuggler installs, it places a button to the right of the URL bar. Click on this … Read more

Remember when Twitter stopped showing Instagram photo previews to users, both online and in apps? Now you can add those photo previews for Instagram and other third-party photo services back to your Twitter feed, at least on the Web.

This is done through the use of a Chrome extension called Previeweet. The extension actually works for more than just Instagram. While testing it out, I was able to see previews from Instagram, Photobucket, Facebook, Yfrog, Twitpic, Twitvid, Flickr, and Imgur -- which is great, since those are in the list of services that Previeweet says it supports.

To get started, … Read more

Sometimes the person or company responsible for uploading a music video on YouTube is kind enough to include the lyrics in the video information. If not, you probably end up opening another browser tab to find the lyrics so you can sing along (when no one else is listening). As a convenience for future song learning, there's a Web browser add-on that works with Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, which will allow you to see the lyrics while a video is playing. Here's how to get started:

For Chrome: Install a copy of YouTube Lyrics by Rob W from … Read more

The 868,163 people who've installed Google's RSS-handling extension for Chrome can breathe a sigh of relief, because Google has resurrected it after its deletion last week.

"My RSS extension was removed by mistake, but it is now up again," said Finnur Thorarinsson, the extension's author, in a comment to a Chrome RSS-handling feature request. The extension detects RSS and Atom feeds on Web pages and lets people subscribe to them with feed-reading software; it's been updated so it no longer offers Google Reader as an option for subscribing.

Google's RSS extension for Chrome disappeared last week … Read more

Advertisements, poor text color and background color choices, or even annoying Web site themes can distract you while reading an article online. And sometimes it's not just the distractions, but the strain on your eyes, that makes you want to stop reading.

Instead of suffering through the awful color palettes or vibrant advertisements, you can install a lightweight Chrome extension that will remove the color from the Web page you're reading. Here's how:

First you'll have to grab a copy of Grayscale Tool, by Emanuel Malmquist. Just click Add to Chrome in the top-right-hand corner.

Next, … Read more

Do you love reading articles online, but find yourself losing your spot often? The developer of MagicScroll Web Reader, Richard Wallis, proposes that the problem isn't social media and other computer distractions -- it's the way you scroll through large blocks of text online.

To combat the issue of scrolling and making your eyes search for where you left off, Wallis wrote a browser bookmarklet that changes normal scrolling to page-turning style. This means that instead of scrolling down a really long page, you can flip through it, just like you would do with a book.

Here's … Read more

AVI has been around a long time, and there's a lot of video saved in the format. Some devices, including mobile devices, have limited media file compatibility and won't play AVIs. For many users, the simplest solution is to convert the AVI files to MP4 files. AVI to MP4 Converter from A Software Plus is a free utility that can do the job with a minimum of fuss. It converts AVI and similar formats like DivX and Xvid, singly or in batches. We tried it in Windows 7 Home Premium SP1.

AVI to MP4 Converter's user interface … Read more