Browsers and extensions

Google removed the ability to display a custom background image on your Google Search homepage. However, there's a Chrome extension that can help you regain your little slice of customization.

Aside from allowing you to change the background image, the extension will let you do some other neat things, too. You can remove the Google logo, search and lucky buttons, footer, and promotional links.

Head to the Google Chrome Web Store and install the Custom Google Background extension.

After installing the extension, you can select where you'd like to use an image from. You can also … Read more

Are you still flying solo instead of jumping on the Mailbox or Mailstrom bandwagon? That doesn't mean you can't get a little help from Astrid, your friendly squidface to-do list app, when using Gmail in Chrome.

Each time you read your Gmail, you may star or label some of the messages that you want to get back to. This is a great idea in theory, but messages can easily be forgotten. Instead, you can add a reminder to your Astrid that will keep up with your lack of focus on the Internet.

Here's how to get started:… Read more

Chrome users can now tell their browser what to do.

Launched yesterday, Chrome version 25 includes support for voice recognition. This means developers can integrate the feature into their Web apps.

As one example offered in a Google demo, you can create an e-mail via your voice directly within Chrome 25. Simply click on the microphone icon and start talking. You'll see your words appear in a text box. Click the mic icon again when you're finished.

I tried out the feature and was able to dictate an e-mail message that then appeared in Microsoft Outlook. The accuracy … Read more

Google's Chrome OS app launcher is now available to Windows users, the search giant announced today.

Available through the Chrome dev channel -- which means it's not a final build -- the application houses all of a user's Web-based apps in one space and allows the user to open them outside of the browser. The apps that work with Chrome's app launcher are written in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS but can be opened while a person is offline.

According to Google, the app launcher icon will show up on the Windows taskbar. However, in order to … Read more

Mozilla, which bowed to the market power of the H.264 video compression technology last year, now has built support for the patent-encumbered standard into the Nightly version of Firefox on Windows 7.

Mozilla can't actually ship H.264 in its open-source product because of the patent licensing requirements, so it decided instead to adapt Firefox to draw on H.264 support built into newer operating systems. The first step is done -- if not fully tested and debugged -- on Windows 7, according to a Mozilla blog post today.

Mozilla had thrown its weight behind VP8, a royalty-free … Read more

The Portable Document Format is one of the more ubiquitous document types both on the Web and on personal devices, and can be used for distributing manuals, brochures, and most other formatted documents.

However, until now Firefox, one of the more popular Web browsers, in part due to its availability on OS X, Windows, and Linux, has not had a built-in PDF reader. Instead, to open PDFs it's been necessary to either install a browser plug-in or download the PDFs and open them in a managing program like Apple's Preview.

However, in the latest version of Firefox, Mozilla … Read more

Retooling its browser with the WebKit engine isn't the only big change at Opera Software. The Norwegian company also cut its staff significantly in the last quarter of 2012.

According to the company's fourth-quarter financial results (PDF), the company had 777 employees at the end of 2011 and 931 at the end of 2012. But that figure includes 91 "employees associated with the organizational restructuring."

Moving to WebKit and dropping its in-house Presto browser engine. means Opera is cooperating with Google, Apple, and others using the open-source WebKit software, and that means the company could get … Read more

Google Reader isn't known for its beauty. The user interface is very similar to Gmail, except with fewer bells and whistles. The spacious gaps between columns and menu items can sometimes be more distracting than helpful.

As an alternative to viewing Google Reader in list or expanded mode, there's a Chrome extension that can transform it into a grid of stories. Installing and configuring the extension is quick and easy, so let's get started:

Step 1: Install a copy of Grid Preview for Google Reader for your Chrome Web browser.

Step 2: Head to Google Reader in … Read more

Opera Software is acquiring Skyfire Labs and its technology for squeezing video onto congested mobile-phone networks in a deal worth up to $155 million, the Norwegian browser maker said tonight.

Opera, the fifth-ranked browser maker in terms of global usage, gets paid for adapting its browser for mobile network operators and for driving searches to sites like Yandex and Google. It's been gradually expanding its business into domains such as advertising, though, and the Skyfire deal adds a new dimension to its business selling technology to operators.

"Both companies have evolved far beyond their browser roots," said … Read more