10 must-have Google Chrome add-ons

   Depending on which Web metrics firm you believe, Google Chrome either surpassed Mozilla
 Firefox in worldwide browser market share in late  2012, picking up the number two spot behind Microsoft's IE. Either way, it's clear that Chrome's star is rising.Here are 10 more essential add-ons, many exclusive to Chrome, that will please everyone from procrastinators to productivity buffs.

StayFocusd

When it comes to productivity, you are often your own worst enemy. StayFocusd can help. It lets you set a daily time limit for browsing time-wasting websites of your choosing; once your allotted time is up, the sites are blocked until the following day. You may be able to slip Facebook sessions past your boss, but StayFocusd's all-seeing eye can be disabled only by uninstalling the add-on, making this a nearly foolproof way to remain on task

Aviary

Revisionists, rejoice! The Aviary add-on lets you edit images right in your browser without being rerouted to another site or program.

When you're browsing, just right-click an image and choose Edit Image in Aviary from the context menu. Up pops the image in a simple widget that lets you adjust colors, crop, rotate, eliminate red-eye, add silly "stickers" and more, then save it to your desktop.

Session Manager

Never worry about finding websites from a previous browsing session again. Session Manager saves entire browser sessions in their current state, allowing you to revisit a series of websites accessed on a previous date, exactly as they were when you first clicked on them

Chrome to iPhone or Google Chrome to Phone

Running out the door is a lot less stressful when you pair your Android smartphone with Google's Chrome to Phone or your iPhone with myPhoneDesktop's Chrome to iPhone (shown at left). Both send links, images, phone numbers and other important information right to your smartphone when you click on an in-browser button. With push notifications, the ability to set default actions for different data types and multiple handset support, they help streamline your digital life.

Taskforce

Taskforce turns your Gmail inbox into a productivity nerve center for your digital life. The add-on converts emails into tasks, schedules those tasks and shares them with others, even if they don't use Taskforce. And it does all of that without forcing you to leave your inbox

Things to Do

Productivity tools with oodles of features work well for advanced taskmasters. But the rest of us may be better served by simple add-ons that actually encourage us to get things done

AddThis

AddThis is your one-stop shop for all things sharing. Click the in-browser AddThis button and you'll be able to broadcast content to over 300 different Web services. That simple browser button lets you tweet, share or email links without the hassle of switching between pages

FastestChrome

FastestChrome, a Chrome version of the popular FastestFox Firefox extension, is like steroids for your browser. Although it doesn't actually load pages faster, the add-on's numerous features make browsing faster overall. For instance, it automatically loads the next page of a website for minimal interruption while reading, and when you highlight a word or phrase on the page, its definition appears in a pop-up

SpeakIt!

Multitaskers, meet your new best friend. Install SpeakIt!, highlight on-screen text on a non-encrypted Web page and click the SpeakIt! toolbar button to hear the text read aloud to you while you get work done. It's the perfect way to listen to the latest celebrity updates from TMZ while, you know, doing important things. It's also a great add-on for eye-strained Web users in need of relief

Up

Good things come in small packages. With one click, the Up add-on sends users up one level in the currently loaded URL. It'll also display the path list back to the original website, making navigation among multiple URL levels quick and easy.

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The Earth on Your Desktop in Real Time!

 Desktop Earth is a wallpaper generator for Windows. It runs whenever you're logged on and updates your wallpaper with an accurate representation of the Earth as it would be seen from space at that precise moment.

Day and night is accurately represented depending on the Sun's overhead position (which depends on both the time of day and the day of the year) and both the snow cover and the foliage changes with the seasons.

Images are created from high-resolution textures (2560x1280) so it's perfect for that QSXGA display.

An image is generated every month to accurately depict snow and foliage changes, and the night view is simply stunning.

If you just want to stick with one view of the earth, there is a huge stash of wallpapers in the install directory that can be used permanently without being connected to the internet or having Desktop Earth installed.

INSTRUCTIONS

After installation DesktopEarth will start automatically and display the following configuration dialog:


This should be pretty self-explanatory, but here are some pointers: 

• Image Options control basic image parameters such as what the wallpaper is centered on and how to deal with an image that does not match the aspect ratio of the source: add black bars or crop. You can also choose to add clouds to the image - more on this topic a bit later.
• Display Options allows you to select between wallpaper styles. The Regular Wallpaper setting should work well for everyone, even in multi-monitor environments. When your destkop's size or shape changes the Earth wallpaper will change with it in a few moments. 

Desktop Earth will start automatically every time you log in to Windows. There's a system tray icon that you can use to bring up the configuration dialog again: 



This brings us to the final point: clouds. The cloud image bundled with Deskop Earth is (obviously) static, but selecting "Cloud Updates" from the systray menu and enabling automatic updates will retrieve a semi-realtime cloud image from the Internet. Since cloud formations big enough to show up on these images move very slowly, it does not really matter that the images are a few hours out of date. 

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Dont hope..

  While waiting to pick up a friend at the airport in Portland, Oregon, I had one of those life-changing experiences that you hear other people talk about — the kind that sneaks up on you unexpectedly. This one occurred a mere two feet away from me.

Straining to locate my friend among the passengers deplaning through the jet way, I noticed a man coming toward me carrying two light bags. He stopped right next to me to greet his family.

First he motioned to his youngest son (maybe six years old) as he laid down his bags. They gave each other a long, loving hug. As they separated enough to look in each other’s face, I heard the father say, “It’s so good to see you, son. I missed you so much!” His son smiled somewhat shyly, averted his eyes and replied softly, “Me, too, Dad!”

Then the man stood up, gazed in the eyes of his oldest son (maybe nine or ten) and while cupping his son’s face in his hands said, “You’re already quite the young man. I love you very much, Zach!” They too hugged a most loving, tender hug.

While this was happening, a baby girl (perhaps one or one-and-a-half) was squirming excitedly in her mother’s arms, never once taking her little eyes off the wonderful sight of her returning father. The man said, “Hi, baby girl!” as he gently took the child from her mother. He quickly kissed her face all over and then held her close to his chest while rocking her from side to side. The little girl instantly relaxed and simply laid her head on his shoulder, motionless in pure contentment.

After several moments, he handed his daughter to his oldest son and declared, “I’ve saved the best for last!” and proceeded to give his wife the longest, most passionate kiss I ever remember seeing. He gazed into her eyes for several seconds and then silently mouthed. “I love you so much!” They stared at each other’s eyes, beaming big smiles at one another, while holding both hands.

For an instant they reminded me of newlyweds, but I knew by the age of their kids that they couldn’t possibly be. I puzzled about it for a moment then realized how totally engrossed I was in the wonderful display of unconditional love not more than an arm’s length away from me. I suddenly felt uncomfortable, as if I was invading something sacred, but was amazed to hear my own voice nervously ask, “Wow! How long have you two been married?

“Been together fourteen years total, married twelve of those.” he replied, without breaking his gaze from his lovely wife’s face. “Well then, how long have you been away?” I asked. The man finally turned and looked at me, still beaming his joyous smile. “Two whole days!”

Two days? I was stunned. By the intensity of the greeting, I had assumed he’d been gone for at least several weeks – if not months. I know my expression betrayed me.

I said almost offhandedly, hoping to end my intrusion with some semblance of grace (and to get back to searching for my friend), “I hope my marriage is still that passionate after twelve years!”

The man suddenly stopped smiling.

He looked me straight in the eye, and with forcefulness that burned right into my soul, he told me something that left me a different person. He told me, “Don’t hope, friend… decide!” Then he flashed me his wonderful smile again, shook my hand and said, “God bless!”

- By Michael D. Hargrove and Bottom Line Underwriters, Inc.
Copyright 1997

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