Google+ is a growing entity that has people busy writing userscripts and Firefox and Chrome add-ons so that they can tweak layouts, add the necessary new tools and change the overall feel and look of the social network. Even though the Google+ interface is solid, the user can have a lot of fun including some great add-ons and tricks to make it easier and more fun to use.
Google+Ultimate is a Chrome add-on that can totally change the look and use of Google+ by placing the status bar at the page top and a sidebar on the left that contains friends and circles available for chatting with both float elements that stay in place as the user scrolls down the page.
Google+Tweaks is another Chrome add-on that exists as a userscript for Firefox user with Greasemonkey installed. Here are 10 reasons why Google+ is gaining so much momentum as it has already crossed over 10 million users. This list includes extensions that are useful and will improve the users networking experience on Google+. These have been chosen from the perspective of a user, even though there are many other extensions.
1. The Chrome Web Store: The extension is a surplus which adds Google+ to pop up windows. With this clever device, you do not have to open the browser to comment or view on any posts.
2. Start G+: It will help the user to share articles written on Facebook or Twitter coming directly from Google+ post interface.
3. Image Sharing: Google+ has Picasa already integrated into it and images can be shared from any albums. A simple extension called Photo Zoom can give the user quick and easy zooming for photos within Google+ Stream. All the user has to do is hover above the image and Photo Zoom will load the picture enlarged.
4. G+ Extended: Shortcuts called keyboard shortcuts are handy and help with improving productivity. This extension provides extra keyboard shortcuts which makes better use of Google+
5. Hiding Wanted Comments: This is where Comments Toggle comes into play. There might be an extended list of comments that may not be interested to the viewer. Comments Toggles will conceal the comments and they can only be viewed by togging from the interface.
6. Google Plus Usability Boost: The extension will add some CSS styling to Google+ interface. It does so by taking each post, grouping them in segments along with comments.
7. Social and Share Buttons: When finding articles on Google+ they can be shared on other social networks by using the Share+ Social Buttons for Google+.
8. Notification Count: This is an extension showing new notifications that have been received on Google+. It can be found on the top navigation bar. The user does not even need to open the Google+ account. When the notification button is clicked, it will actually take the user to the account.
9. Google+ Ultimate: Ported from a userstyle, this extension can remove elements from Google+ accounts when viewed on Chrome.
10. Google+ Helper: All posts on Google+ will receive two links through this extension. One link is to tweet a post while the other is used to translate. Google translate helps the user easily update in other languages.
The latest stable release of the popular Chrome for Windows browser from Google now has full GPU acceleration enabled for video decoding.
Dedicated graphics chips draw considerably less power than CPUs when watching videos, which means that your laptop will last that much longer.
In Google’s own tests, with GPU video acceleration enabled the battery lasted 25% longer when watching 1080p videos on YouTube.
Another update brought by this release is a quicker way to access permissions for any website you visit with Chrome. Instead of having to dig through a settings menu for the permissions of a particular website, simply clicking on the new padlock icon in the address bar will give you access to all the permissions available for the current website you’re visiting.
If you have Chrome already, then the update should roll out to you automatically. Otherwise, Chrome for Windows can be found here.
Ideal for everyone tired of listening to campaign rhetoric being spouted by Facebook friends, there's a Chrome extension that can help silence the noise.
Covered in detail by The Register recently, Buzzfeed and the creators of Unbaby.me have developed a new Chrome extension to help people avoid endless political posts on Facebook and Twitter as the 2012 Presidential election rapidly approaches on November 6. While the previous Firefox and Chrome extension Unbaby.me replaced all baby photos on Facebook with images of bacon, puppies and art among other things, the Chrome-only Unpolitic.me extension replaces the majority of political posts on Facebook and Twitter with various pictures of cats.
While Facebook does provide filters to help users avoid updates from specific Facebook friends, this type of application can be particularly helpful for anyone that’s tired of hearing about politics. It allows the Facebook user to avoid political posts, but still read other interesting updates about friends, family and activities from politically outspoken friends.
The Unpolitic.me extension works by actively scanning a user’s social media feed for mention of specific keywords related to politics. While the user has the option of adding any specific keyword into the mix, a large number of default keywords have already been selected for the user.
For instance, the creators of the extension have added “Romney, Obama, election, voting for, republican, democrat, Ron Paul, 47 percent, binders, debate, how messed up is this country, Biden, Paul Ryan, Akin, Scott Brown, Elizabeth Warren, abortion, romnesia” along with 30 other keywords to help identify political posts.
In addition, the user of the Unpolitic.me extension has the ability to use any image-based RSS feed. The creators of the extension have set the default as a stream of cat pictures from Instagram users. However, the user of the extension can change the RSS feed to anything else in addition to adding more feeds into the mix. There’s no reason that a usr has to stick with cat pictures.
For instance, someone that likes all types of cute animals could add more image streams of puppies, panda bears and bunnies. The makers of the extension recommend using RSS feeds that provide large resolution pictures. In addition, there’s no limit to the number of RSS feeds that a user can choose to use.
The Unpolitic.me extension will randomly pull from those feeds and replace the content on the page. On Facebook, a post about politics is simply replaced with the phrase “Politics blocked” and the replacement image. There’s also a link to remove the image if the user really wants to see what was originally posted. On Twitter, the user also has the ability to undo the content block. However, Twitter users will see a link to Buzzfeed’s animals section rather than a photo pulled from the RSS feeds chosen by the user.
Conceptually, the Unpolitic.me extension can be used to block any type of content found on Facebook or Twitter. If a user doesn’t like a particular organization, any posts about said organization can be blocked by adding a few keywords in the settings of the extension. However, the extension can only block posts that include words. For instance, if a Facebook friend posts an political meme without adding a description, the person using Unpolitic.me will still see the political post within their Facebook feed.
Sending sensitive personal information over email is a dangerous security misstep that could make you increasingly vulnerable to hackers. But SafeGmail plugin for Chrome takes the risk out of the whole process by encrypting your messages with military-grade security.
We should all know by now that Web-based email from a company like Google or Microsoft is anything but secure. Never should you share sensitive personal data, like your credit card number or Social Security Number, through an email — that’s just basic privacy protection stuff. Unfortunately, not doing so can be a huge pain when it comes to getting things done. Fortunately for Gmail users, there is now an easy solution: SafeGmail, a free Chrome extension that lets you quickly encrypt any message with military-grade data encryption called “Pretty Good Privacy” or PGP.
Here’s how it works: Once you’ve installed SafeGmail (it takes one click), simply sign into Gmail and start a new email message. Below the “Subject” field, you’ll see a new check box next to which reads “Encrypt?” Click the box, and you’ll be asked to enter in a question and an answer.
In order for the recipient of your email to read the message, she or he will have to know the answer to the question, and input it correctly. If the person doesn’t know the answer, they won’t have access to the email, so don’t get too clever — there’s no point to this whole thing if you have to send a separate email or text message with the answer to your security question. That said, you also don’t want to make the question too easy — only the recipient should know the answer.
When you’re ready to send, hit the new “Send + Encrypt” button at the top of the window, and the encryption process will begin. This can take a slightly longer time than you might expect, if you have a slower-than-average Internet connection, but shouldn’t be bad with standard broadband access.
When your recipient receives the encrypted email, it will include a link to SafeGmail’s system, where he or she will have to correctly answer the question. Assuming that happens, a new window will load asking the recipient in copy and paste a string of characters — the encrypted message — into a text box. The length of this string will change depending upon the length of the message. So if you’re verbose, expect to make your recipient copy and paste a massive block of text. After the encrypted message is pasted into the text field, the recipient just clicks “Show My Mail” and voila! The message is readable.
Because the decryption process is done within your browser, SafeGmail never actually access the message, so you don’t have to worry about their servers getting hacked either. And once the decrypted message it’s closed, it will be re-encrypted for both you and whomever you sent the email to. After a certain period of time, the message will expire.
Watch a quick video about how SafeGmail works below:
Samsung has once again partnered with Samsung to produce a laptop running Chrome OS. The new model shuns Intel's chips, and has a very attractive price tag too.
Google has once again collaborated with Samsung to release a laptop with Chrome OS installed. The new model is simply called Chromebook, and is smaller and lighter than the Chromebook 550. It also marks a departure from Intel’s chips, as it’s based on ARM architecture instead.
The new Chromebook has an 11.6-inch screen, smaller than previous models, but with a higher (and more traditional) 1368 x 768 pixel resolution. The Atom processor has been removed and Samsung has installed its own dual-core Exynos 5 Dual chip.
This is exciting for several reasons. Samsung’s Exynos 5 Dual was the first chip to use ARM’s Cortex A15 architecture — the same as Qualcomm’s quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro — and the Chromebook marks its first appearance after being announced in August. It’s also expected to appear in Samsung ’s next generation tablets and although no clock speed is mentioned for the Chromebook, the chip can run at up to 1.7GHz.
Samsung and Google’s move to ARM is also good news for our wallets, and the Chromebook has been priced at a very competitive $249 in the US and £229 (if purchased online) in the UK.
For this you get a 16GB SSD that provides a 7-second boot up time, 2GB of RAM, a memory card reader, a pair of USB ports, an HDMI-out, Wi-Fi, a VGA camera, Bluetooth 3.0 and a battery that promises more than 6 hours of use before needing a recharge. The chassis weighs 2.5lbs, or 1.1kg, and measures 20mm thick.
As the whole point of the Chrome OS is to work in the cloud, Google will make up for the pathetic 16GB of onboard storage space by providing a complimentary 100GB chunk of Google Drive space. The small print points out that this is only valid for 2 years, after which time it’ll revert back to standard and you’ll have to pay.
So, the price is good and the spec is interesting, and to help introduce buyers to Chrome OS, Google will promote the new laptop in stores through special “Chrome Zones.” However, with the impending introduction of Windows 8 and all its associated hardware, will the Chromebook get a look in, regardless of its low price?
The new Chromebook is available as a pre-order from Best Buy, Amazon, TigerDirect.com and Newegg.com, or from PC World in the UK right now. According to the latter, it’ll be released on October 19.
PrivacyFix, a new plugin for Chrome, tells you how much money you generate for Facebook and Google.
Every so often, a new product comes along that’s so great, it makes you angry it didn’t already exist. This morning, that product is PrivacyFix, a free plugin for Chrome that tells you nearly everything you ever wanted to know about how your online activity is being tracked, and fills in your online privacy holes with a click. But that’s not the best part.
Unlike other tracker blocker plugins, like Ghostery or Do Not Track Plus, PrivacyFix provides an estimate of exactly how much revenue you generate for Facebook and Google through your online activities. It’s an insight into the inner workings of the Web’s money machine that few of us have had access to in the past.
According to PrivacyFix, I am worth a whopping $0.51 per year to Facebook — a surprisingly low amount, though I am far from a heavy Facebook user. For Google, that number takes a wild leap up to $1095.17. Other Digital Trends staffers who tested out their PrivacyFix stats showed similar disparity between Facebook’s and Google’s earnings from a single user. Clearly, Google know something about online advertising that Facebook does not.
Of course, these numbers are only estimates, and do not come directly from the companies themselves. Instead, PrivacyFix, created by online privacy company Privacy Choice, has teamed up with stock analyst startup Trefis, which provides the figures.
“It’s a very rough estimate, of course,” said Jim Brock, founder of Privacy Choice, in an email to me this morning. “We included it because it’s important for people to understand that their data has real value. When they use these services, they are exchanging data for value.”
Though Facebook and Google are the only companies for which PrivacyFix gives per-user earnings estimates, Brock says that the company is “very interested in adding additional revenue information whenever we can find it.”
The decidedly nifty data value estimate feature aside, PrivacyFix’s primary function is to alert you to the porousness of your online privacy in Facebook, Google, and other websites. It automatically analyzes your Facebook privacy settings, and alerts you to areas that are leaking your data. To update your settings to the most secure option, just click “fix.” The same goes for Google.
PrivacyFix also tells you which websites may share your personal data, plus which data brokers and advertising networks have installed tracking cookies on your machine, and provides an equally quick way to shut off the flow of personal data. Finally, PrivacyFix provides an optional “healthbar,” which appears in the top-right corner of your browser at all times, and gives you a visual cue of how much of your personal information is being shared on each website you visit.
While other plugins provide similar services, Brock says that PrivacyFix gives users a number of benefits that competing products do not.
“Three things really distinguish Privacyfix from other privacy tools: it’s super easy to use, it’s comprehensive and it’s balanced because we show you the tradeoffs in the decisions you make,” he said.
To give PrivacyFix a go, click here and install the plugin. (Just remember: It only works for Chrome, at the moment.)
Google has released updates for Chrome across the board with a new version for Windows, OS X and Android respectively. On the desktop, Chrome, now updated to v22, gains the Mouse Lock API, which lets you play games inside the browser window without having to worry about the mouse pointer escaping the window or bumping into the sides. Basically the pointer will be locked to the window of the browser. You can try it out with this demo.
Other changes include additional enhancements for the upcoming Windows 8 and improvements for HiDPI or Retina display users on the new MacBook Pro.
On the Android side, Chrome, now updated to v18, adds support for devices running on Intel’s x86 architecture. Right now there are only a handful of those, with the Motorola RAZR i probably being the only one running Ice Cream Sandwich right now (and thus can support Chrome).
Although not a particularly fresh piece of news, Google also updated the iOS version of Chrome a few days ago and added support for iOS 6 and the new iPhone 5.
Apple may be working hard to get rid of preinstalled Google apps on iOS devices iPhone, but Google is pushing the other way with high-quality apps like YouTube and Chrome. GOOG just updated the Chrome for iOS to make it compatible with the new iPhone 5 and it also fixed a Gmail-related issue.
The latest version of Chrome for iOS is 21.0.1180.82 is out and you can update from the App Store (the app itself will also notify you when there’s an update available). It adds fullscreen compatibility with the new iPhone 5.
Some users had also reported that the Gmail site doesn’t work properly after updating to iOS 6 and this update should fix that too. The app update also brings stability and security improvements.
Apple breaks iPhone sales records, Google Chrome gets "Do Not Track," Twitter turns over Occupy protester tweets to court, social media fuels fake reviews, and the Winklevoss twins return to the world of social media.
To RPG fans, the game Bastion is no stranger. Released back in 2011 for the Xbox and PC and eventually for Chrome, OS X and Ubuntu, the game was an instant hit with gamers and critics alike.
Developers Supergiant Games have now brought the same experience to mobile and the game is now exclusively available on the iPad. We decided to take a look.
Title
Bastion
Developer
Supergiant Games
Platform
iOS
Release Date
August 2012
Content Rating
12+
Size
540MB
Price
$6.99
Premise
The game takes place in the city of Caelondia, which has been destroyed by an event known only as the Calamity. The antagonist of the game, known only as the Kid, is one of the few survivors, along with an old man named Rucks who also narrates the game. The game has you travelling distant lands and collecting shards to rebuild the city of Caelondia.
Gameplay
Bastion is a 2D, third person game with an isometric camera view. To move the player around, you have two options. Either tap at a point on the screen and the Kid will move there or use the traditional controls, which include an on-screen joystick.
In your quest to find shards, you will come across many different types of enemies. To fight them, you have two primary weapons. You get a choice of multiple weapons as you collect them, from hammers, to crossbows and guns, but you can only carry two at a time. You collect objects within the game that can be used as currency to upgrade your primary weapons.
You also get a special ability that you can perform a limited number of time, such as dropping a mine or doing a 360 degree spin attack while surrounded. Once again you have multiple choices but you can only choose one. You get the option to change your weapons before a level and occasionally also within a level.
Other than these, you also get several magic potions that give you special abilities, such as inflicting additional damage after your health reaches a certain point.
Attacks are done automatically as soon as the enemy is within reach of the particular weapon but the attack will be focused on the enemies the Kid is directly facing.
The gameplay in Bastion is very simple, in that there is not a lot of variety in the things you have to do. You move the character around and once he is close enough to the enemy he attacks. You can dodge enemy attacks or use your shield to deflect them. The game makes up for this simplicity by having a variety of enemies with different attack types and often by throwing a lot of them at once towards you. This can lead to some very tense battles, especially when there is a chance that the floor you’re standing on could collapse any second. While some have criticized Bastion for lacking depth in gameplay, for me, it just had enough variety to not feel repetitive or boring.
Death in the game is not a big deal when you consider you reanimate instantly after you die and continue from where you left off. This happens for a limited number of time, after which the level restarts, although you can enable infinite lives from the settings. I must say, though, the most number of times I died was not due to an enemy but rather by falling of an edge. Believe it or not this is a problem in the game and you can just walk off any edge and die, often repeatedly and frustratingly. Also, in one level where the floor was collapsing, the Kid would reanimate on a tile with missing surrounding tiles (that is, they had already fallen off) so you had no way to move until the one beneath you also collapsed, after which point he’d hopefully reanimate on a tile that did have surrounding land.
Graphics and Sound
The visuals in Bastion are one of its most praised features. The game features beautiful designed levels that look as if painted using watercolor. The game features floating levels that often form right under your feet as you move your character. Each level has a distinct style that is conveyed even through that small view you get of the world at a time.
Complementing the level design are the character design and animations. The enemies all look significantly different and while some look menacing others are endearing, that is, until they try to kill you. All their attacks are also well animated.
But what takes the cake for me is the sound and to be specific, the narration in the game. As mentioned before, the narration is done by an elderly character and this has to be the best narration I’ve heard in any game. The narration not just fills you in on whats’s going on and often, what happened before the game but it’s also extremely interactive, which means it reacts to whatever the character is doing on the screen and not just a fixed narration for a level. Every tiny decision you make in the game is mentioned and it just feels absolutely wonderful to hear it. Completing that is the terrific background score (on sale here) that just complements the action so well and sets the right mood for every level.
Going back to the graphics of the game, the game supports both the iPad 2 and the new iPad (sorry original iPad owners). The game boasts of Retina graphics for the new iPad but I noticed the visuals weren’t as sharp as they should be, which meant the game was running at a resolution somewhere between the resolution of the iPad 2 and the new iPad, as some games do. This did detract a bit from the amazing visuals of the game as it made things a bit fuzzy, which puts more strain on your eyes.
Conclusion
I never played Bastion on other platforms before, mostly because I’m not a huge fan of RPG games but having played the game on the iPad I now realize why it is so heavily praised. The game has a lot going for it, from the amazing visuals, brilliant sound and narration, an engrossing story that makes you want to keep playing to find out more and exciting gameplay.
The only downsides as such are the slightly blurry visuals on the new iPad’s Retina display and the annoying ease with with you can just fall off the edge of most levels. Also, the game is only available on the iPad for now, that too just the iPad 2 and the new iPad. Then again, this is a game for the big screen and it’d be no fun even on the biggest smartphone display. Considering the developer’s penchant for being multi-platform, you can expect a version for Android tablets soon.
Bastion is currently being sold for $6.99 on the App Store ($4.99 in some markets) and although it might seem a bit steep, it’s well worth the price, even if you’re not a fan of RPG games in general. There is not much new to see here if you have already played it on the PC or console but for others this is a must buy.
Rating: 4.5/5 Pros: Great visuals, brilliant sound, fun gameplay, engrossing story Cons: Slightly blurry visuals on the new iPad, makes falling down the side of the level very easy
Google has released an update to the Chrome browser for iOS, which brings it to version 21.0.1180.77. The major change in this update is the inclusion of sharing option. Now you can tap the Share button in the drop down menu on the top right and it will give you options to share the page on Google+, email, Facebook and Twitter.
For email and Twitter the app pops up the built-in editing box and for Google+ and Facebook it launches the respective applications, if they are installed on the device. Otherwise it takes you to the App Store page to download them.
Other changes include stability and security improvements and bug fixes. Unfortunately, Google still hasn’t done anything about that hideous icon. Fortunately, you can change it to something better, such as this one. You can download the app itself from the link below.
