We all love Google Chrome to surf the net. As an added fun and functionality, Google Code Labs have came up with something very interesting called “Google Chrome Extensions” and there is an array of such extensions available to suit your kind-a-needs.

Now, what are Google Chrome Extensions?

Extensions are small software programs that can modify and enhance the functionality of Google Chrome. You write them using web technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.

Though there are hundreds of Chrome Extensions are available from the Google Chrome Extension Site, still we have handpicked some 12 Extensions to share with you.

Lets Check them out !

Google Mail Checker Plus:

Displays the number of unread messages in your Gmail and Google Apps inbox. Preview mail, read, delete, archive and mark as spam!

Google Translate:

This extension translates entire webpages into a language of your choice with one click. This extension adds a button to your browser toolbar. Click the translate icon whenever you want to translate the page you’re visiting.

The extension also automatically detects if the language of a page you’re on is different from the language you’re using for your Google Chrome interface. If it is, a banner appears at the top of the page. Click the Translate button in the banner to have all the text on the page appear in the new language.

Learn more about Google Translate at http://translate.google.com/support/?hl=en

Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer (by Google):

Automatically previews pdfs, powerpoint presentations, and other documents in Google Docs Viewer. This one is one of the very popular extensions of Chrome.

Google Buzz Notifier:

With the launch of Google Buzz, here comes quickly the Chrome Extension as well. This one is one of the coolest new member of Google Chrome Extensions. With this check your Buzz right from Google Chrome!

Webpage Screenshot:

Fast & Simple solution to save JPG screenshots of any webpage. The first extension that captures the whole page. Fast & Simple extension to capture the whole webpage. Even long pages are saved in one image file. This extension lets you save PNG image of any webpage. Designers can choose to resize the window before capturing.

It works as a local extension. It means that the extension doesn’t send ANYTHING to any server. It can work even when there is no internet connection.

Feedly:

Feedly organizes your favorite sources in a magazine-like start page. A magazine-like startpage. A fast and stylish way to read and share the content of your favorite sites and services. Provides seamless integration with Google Reader, Twitter, Delicious, YouTube and Amazon.

RSS Subscription Extension:

This extension auto-detects RSS feeds on the page you are reading and upon finding one will display an RSS icon in the Omnibox, allowing you to click on it to preview the feed content and subscribe.

The extension comes with 4 feed readers predefined (Google Reader, iGoogle, Bloglines and My Yahoo) but also allows you to add any web-based feed reader of your choice to the list.

Google Dictionary:

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.

Both features are configurable via the options page.

One Number:

This “One Number” checker extensions and you think that your Chrome toolbar is just a little too crowded, and you want to free up some of those buttons but you can’t bear to sacrifice the functionality.  What if you could gather your favorite Google services into one button… the unread counts into One Number?

One Number offers previews of unread items, a UI that fits with Chrome, the ability to selectively choose which services you want to check with One Number, and two-click access to open all services with unead items at once.

Orkut Chrome Extension:

The orkut chrome extension allows you to receive orkut updates and scrap notifications. The popup menu allows you to quickly jump to a friends’ page, search on orkut, visit your home/scrap/photos pages and share sites on orkut.

Have fun really! With Chrome Orkut Extension, your Orkut friends are even more closer, Isn’t it?

Blog This (by Google):

Add a BlogThis! button to the browser toolbar, which lets you post to your Blogger blog from any webpage with just one click.

Once you add the BlogThis! button to your browser toolbar, blogging will be a snap (or rather, a click). Click the button to open Blogger in a new application window. The new post is pre-populated with a link to the web page you’re on, as well as any text you’ve highlighted on that page. Edit the post to your liking and post it instantly to your blog!

Google Voice Extension (by Google):

Notifies you of new messages and gives you quick access to calling and free SMS via Google Voice. It adds a button to the toolbar, which displays the number of unread messages in your Google Voice inbox.

Please note that SMS is only available for accounts with a Google Number. SMS is not available in voicemail only accounts.

Overall, please note that when installing the extension it says “This extension will have access to all browsing history and private data on all websites” This is the default warning for any extension that needs content script access to all websites. These extensions does not collect any data about any website.

Guys, hope you will enjoy installing and working with these Google Chrome Extensions. Don’t miss out RSS Subscription to get updated with some more exciting stuff !

We all love Google Chrome to surf the net. As an added fun and functionality, Google Code Labs have came up with something very interesting called “Google Chrome Extensions” and there is an array of such extensions available to suit your kind-a-needs.

Rightly they say “The future is cloud” … and now we are seeing that everyone is using someway part or full of “Cloud Computing”. As you can find the detailed reading on Cloud Computing in another post, hence I am trying to give some more thoughts around one of the vendor service offerings on Cloud Computing from Amazon. They have bundled their cloud computing services under ‘Amazon Web Services’ (AWS).

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer ‘cloud computing’ based company providing different kinds of remote computing services over the web. Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon Simple Storage service (S3), Amazon SimpleDB, Amazon CloudFront, Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), Amazon Elastic MapReduce are to name few of them. Let’s have a quick overview on what these services are all about:

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2):

It provides resizable computing resources, all available in the cloud. By subscribing to Elastic Compute Cloud a user can create a virtual machine (an instance), which is nothing but an outline of a machine.

You can configure the instance based on the Operating system, applications, libraries, data, security and network access, etc you want to use.

The advantages:

• Elastic: The capacity of the server instance can be increased or decreased with in no time and you have the liberty to create as many instances as you want at the same time.
• Complete Control: You will have root access of the instances and have full control over it.
• Secure and Reliable: This service runs on a highly reliable and secured computing environment. Web Service interfaces are available to configure firewall settings.
• Economical: In line with advantages of cloud computing, for EC2 also you pay for only what you use and the kind of instance you create.

The Pricing:

The pricing depends on the time of usage and the kind of instance created.  Let’s see how:

• On-Demand Instance: The pricing for this instance is based on per instance-hour consumed, starting from the time when instance is launched until it is terminated.
• Reserved Instances: Reserved Instances can be purchased for the period of 1-3 years and pay a non-refundable fee only once. You get a discount on the usage charge i.e. the rate applicable when the instance is running.
• Spot Instances: Spot instances are the unused EC2 capacity whose charge is decided on the supply of and demand for Spot Instances.

The cloud computing area is still under the evolution and the changing scenario is very dynamic, so watch out for the happenings around this. I will keep you posted on that, so keep updating!

Blackberry Bold 9700 is here !

The buzz in the world of communication today is smart phones. Every company is vying the market potential of smart phone with their innovative product launches. From Apple to Google, iPhone to Android-based phones and with the latest iPad, options have more than doubled for high-end consumers. Indians get another option in the smart phone category as Canadian mobile phone manufacturer Research in Motion, the world leader in wireless technology, launched Blackberry Bold 9700 for the Indian market. The Smartphone arena is getting hotter!

Here are some specifications of a sleek and elegant Blackberry Bold 9700 that is packed with multimedia and mélange of communication features:

• Blackberry Bold 9700 has 2.44 inch TFT- LCD (Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display) with 480 x 360 pixel bright and high resolution.

• Similar to Blackberry Curve, Bold 9700 is equipped with track pad navigation system. It consists of Full QWERTY keyboard.

• It supports 3G HSDPA network and is powered by 256 MB on-board flash memory and 624 MHz processor. It is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology enabled. If you wish to expand memory you can insert micro SD card.

• One can click photos with 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and 2X digital zoom, multimedia player and video camera.

• Blackberry Bold 9700 comes with new operating system and that is Blackberry Messenger 5. However users need couple of upgrades to make it stable.

• Blackberry Bold 9700 measures 4.29 inches in height, 2.36 inches in width and 122 Gms in weight.

• Battery has standby time of 21 days and has talk time of up to six hours.

• Security feature in Blackberry Bold 9700 includes screen lock, password protection and sleep mode.

Blackberry bold 9700 is available in India through Blackberry, Airtel and Vodafone retailers.

However, to woo customers, I personally felt that it lacked exciting features. Let’s see how Blackberry penetrates Indian Smartphone market with Bold 9700. It is priced just around Rs 32000 in Indian market.

Apple iPad tablet launched to change the world of gadgets

Steve Jobs is in news and so is Apple Inc… Yes, you guessed it right, we are talking about Apple’s much awaited and much hyped iPad tablet that has been launched with an amazing price range. Apple iPad is expected to revolutionize how people read newspapers, magazines, books and even how they watch television.

Besides creating an upheaval in the gadget market, Apple’s share prices showed an upward trend. So, after iPhone and the Macbook, it is iPad tablet that is the buzzing phrase and is being considered as the third category gadget. The aim of Apple Inc is to put iPad tablet into the hands of the masses.

Let me make one thing clear and that is iPad is not a mere replacement of iPod Touch or iPhone and it is also not a device away from laptop. This iPad sits right in the middle and is not for making phone calls and it has no mouse or keyboard, but it provides with excellent web browsing experience. The iPad users will be able to send email, read e-books, create albums and enjoy videos and all that at an affordable price.

The iPad is definitely lighter and thinner than any netbook or laptop as it is just half-inch thick and weighing not more than 1.5 pounds. One can work with this device both in landscape and portrait mode. The users of iPad can definitely download to read the latest novel and book e-ticket for the forthcoming movies, but it cannot make a phone call or click a photo at least for some time now.

The first generation of Apple iPad will be available in the market by the end of March 2010. The 16 GB model is priced at $499 while 32 GB and 64 GB will be available at $599 and $699 respectively.

There are two versions of iPad. One that is available with Wi-Fi and the other supports both Wi-Fi and 3G.

Wall Street Journal says, “Apple focused on the role the gadget could play in homes and in classrooms,” the WSJ reported, envisioning “that the tablet can be shared by multiple family members to read news and check email in homes.”.

Experts put their comments about the gadget in their own way:

• TechCrunch — MG Siegler provides pictures of the tablet that are so realistic-looking that they might even be pictures of the tablet.  There’s also a commercial floating around this morning created by someone looking for a job. Eyeballs beware today.

• Circuit Breaker (CNET) — Erica Ogg collates rumors about iPod-like docking connections, 3G connections, and publisher connections.  (Yes, yes, and yes, in case you’re in a rush.)

• Gizmodo — Dan Nosowitz adds that iPhone apps will likely port to the tablet easily.

• TechCrunch — Like a Barnes & Noble bookstore app, maybe?  Maybe.

• Boy Genius Report — Speaking of 3G rumors, Verizon apparently has told its employees to expect big news Wednesday.  Of course, that could merely be an ancillary rumor about iPhones appearing on other networks soon.  Silly, forgotten iPhones… don’t confuse matters!

• TUAW — The tablet has already been tasked with saving the entertainment industry as well as publishing, but did you know it’ll also resuscitate education in America?  There’s an app for that, apparently.  Michael Grothaus wonders if we’ll see a tablet on every desk soon.

• ReadWriteWeb — Of course, that will come after it’s done reducing health care costs and improving quality, according to Mike Kirkwood.  Don’t get pushy, kids… the tablet will heal all!

With lots of promises and expectations, we will have to wait and watch to what level the Apple iPad can meet this. I will keep you posted on this !

pics credit: AP

Mashups in Action

We have heard enough of Web 2.0 and with it the various sorts of terminologies like Blogs, Wikis, RIA and obviously Mashups.

Though I covered Mashups in detail is one of my earlier posts, but I cant resist to share with you all the power and level where we can now see the Live Mashups in action.

We have shown Real estate to Shops to office building to landmarks etc through the Mashups using the powerful Ajax technology under RIA.

Now, something more interesting…. guess what ! tracking live aircraft movements in the sky using Mashups. There are couple of sites offer this, but like to refer here 2 good ones.

pic credit: Gmaps

and another, which tracks the flights in Netherlands area.

pic credit: casper.frontier.nl

Check out these and let there be no boundaries on what is possible now, maybe we soon we all will be tracked similarly though some technology areas. Keep reading and commenting !

Also, dont forget to subscribe to my RSS Feed To automaticlly remain updated !

Smartbooks: The perfect hybrid of a Netbook and Smartphone

After smartphones, it’s Smartbooks now.

Smartbook is a mobile device that is a fusion of a smarphone and a netbook, they are the netbooks with the connectivity and battery life of a smartphone.

Though there aren’t much details available on its exact tech specs, let’s try to find out the features that makes it smart:

• Instant-on access: When switched on, the device turns on instantly, much like smartphones.
• 3-g connectivity: You can enjoy mobile broadband speed provided by your network carrier.
• Battery life – Week long standby and 8-10 hours charge
• Built-in GPS – Helps you in locating places and directions.
• CPU Configuration: A 1 GHz CPU and 600 MHz DSP
• Screen Resolution : A high definition WXGA( 1280 x 768)
• The OS is anticipated to be a Linux-based Instant-On operating system.
• It will possess a display having a size of somewhere in 10-12 inch (diagonally) range.
• It will come with a QWERTY keyboard.

The Tech giant, Lenovo will be the first one to launch a smartbook powered with a ARM (Advanced Risc Machines) based chip called Snapdragon, manufactured by Qualcomm.

AT&T has tied up with Lenovo taking up the role of distributor and they use a chip called snapdragon manufactured by ARM (Advanced Risc Machines). The first Smartbook will be seen in market in JAN 2010.

Pegatron, an Asus copany, is working towards their Smartbooks using Freescale ARM Cortex- A8 processor and 512 MB DDR2 RAM, 1024 X 600 LCD screen.

Acer also has joined the race of Smartbooks and is expected to come up with one of it’s very soon. The price tags are predicted to be around $200.

As we see days nearing for Smartbook’s launch, it would be interesting to see how well this concept seeps into consumers.

Google Voice: An internet based telecommunication service

Its telecommunication, that Google has been experimenting with in recent pasts. Google voice is a service or application that integrates all your phone no.s into one and takes away the worries of managing many contact no.s. Originally, it was GrandCentral, who started the service but Google acquired GrandCentral in 2007 and re-launched the service on 11^th March 2009 with the name Google Voice.

This service is available as invite only. When you sign up for Google Voice first time you can choose between your any of the present numbers and a new Google number as the single point of contact. The calls coming on this no. are forwarded to other phone numbers that user configures while signing up. Depending upon the caller group, calling time and calling number you can decide which number should ring when.

With this as the basic feature let’s have a look at what else Google voice has to offer us:

• It offers free calls and SMS in US and Canada
• International calls are US $ 0.02 per minute. Can it get cheaper than this?
• Call Screening :

1. You can divert calls directly to voicemail box.
2. Notification or announcement of callers based on their numbers.
3. Blocking calls from specified numbers and automated identification for blocked numbers.

• You can record your calls and archive it online.
• Voicemail transcripts: You can view your voicemails as messages online or you can listen to them on any of the phone numbers.
• Voicemail messages are notified through SMS and e-mail.
• Voicemails can be forwarded and downloaded also.
• Based on the calling number we can set personalized greetings for the caller.
• It also provides the facility of conference calls.
• While a call is in progress you can switch phones without disrupting the call.
• Caller’s id is also forwarded along with the incoming call to your various phones.
• When you make a call, you need to make it through the Google Voice service by calling Google Voice no. and using menu choices or by using the web-based portal to place a call.

This unique concept of centralized number is only available in US as of now but Google has given indications about launching it in other countries as well.

Microsoft, as an answer to Google Voice is planning to launch Bing Ring in January 2010 in a limited beta version.

Keep reading to know more about Bing Ring….