Active Chrome Extensions with Keyboard Shortcuts

This tip is thanks to François Beaufort.

If you're like me, you love just about all things keyboard shortcut.  I present you with customizable Chrome extension shortcuts!

Go to chrome://extensions, and find the "Configure commands" link at the very bottom of the page.  (By the way, I think the shortcuts must start with Ctrl+ or Alt+.)

Behold:

Use your Chrome extensions with a keyboard shortcut of your choice.

I hope you enjoy it!

A Majorily Minor Chrome Discovery: Use "Tab" to Navigate Chrome's Omnibox Results

For a long time, I whined and moped about how in Firefox, I could tab down from the address bar to various search results, while in Chrome I had to use the arrow keys to navigate between them.  I imagine most of you will now grasp the meaning behind this post's title.

Well, fellow keyboard shortcut geeks, rejoice because we can now use "Tab" to navigate omnibox results!

As Salieri would say, "Finally! Such an immense joy. Diletto straordinario!"

Yep, go ahead and give it a whirl.  You might think it would conflict with tab-to-search, yet they exist in perfect keyboard shortcut harmony.  Ah, the world is saved.  The galaxy is at peace.  Samus may now relax until the next Metroid installment.

By the way, if you seldom visit my Google+ lair, you might enjoy an earlier post about an extension for searching only your bookmarks.

The Chrome Wrench Icon Morphs Into Hot Dogs

For those of you (fellow) Chrome fanatics, I think you'll appreciate a brief dip back into Chromeland from me.

You may already be aware the Chrome team is considering (or planning?) to change the menu/wrench icon into a hot-dogs-looking graphic.  Observe the difference, from my Canary and stable builds:

Maybe hot dogs simply taste better than monkey wrenches.

Maybe the wrench would taste better with some Franch fries, dressing, bread, or perhaps, a bottle of Peru.

What do you think?  Would you rather look for/click on hot dogs or a wrench?  I can see the concern of how the lines would help people think of a menu, while the wrench would invite inappropriate thoughts of tinkering and settings.

ChromeStory reader Gil points out that in giving tech support to family members, referencing the wrench is real a time saver.  On the other hand, what about those poor type-writer users who think clicking on the wrench will, at a minimum, blow up the computer, if not all of humanity and they're too afraid to ask for help?

What say ye?  "Long Live the Wrench!" or "Vive La Différence!"?  Please sound off.

Chrome 20 Has Landed On Chrome OS Dev: What Happen'?

I have a lot of mixed feelings, here. On the whole, I think I'm disappointed with how the OS has changed: I feel like a lot of precedence has been given to making the system feel like a traditional OS, rather than to ease of use . . . It's almost as though Google got freaked out it was too forward thinking and had to take a few steps back to a desktop-like feel.

Before, I could easily see what time it was, what my battery/network were like, and even if I had caps lock on. Now, if I want to see those things, I have to dedicate a solid chunk of my screen or flip my mouse down, anytime I want to see them (thank goodness for extensions like Cool Clock).

Why move the apps section to a spot only on the launcher? I liked before, how it was right on my new tab page, ready to go. I feel like I'm taking a step back, having to go all the way down to the tile icon, rather than typing ctrl+t.

Is the reworked OS a step forward or, ironically, a step backward?

What's with the hold and drag down to minimize a window?? Is that the revolutionary anti-desktop thinking in this version?

What happened to the keyboard shortcuts to re-size windows?

WHAT HAPPENED TO PANELS??!!? Panels were one of my favorite parts of Chrome OS. I gather that whole concept's been jettisoned. WHY OH WHY?

This is a smattering of my initial reactions. Maybe things will change or maybe I'll get used to the newfangled-ness.

At the end of the day, I feel like I'm using a glorified Linux without the native applications. What gives, Google?

Am I simply having a knee jerk reaction, or has anyone else had similar reactions?

Did the Chrome Team Ditch the Bookmarks Section and Bring Back the Bookmarks Bar?

Update:  I'm thinking this is a bug or Chrome OS specific, since my wife's Apple computer is running Chrome 16.0.891.1 and has the bookmarks section.

Is it just me, or has the Chrome team decided to shelve the whole bookmarks section of the new tab page?

As my daughter would say, "Wheeeeere'd ya go??"

From what I can tell, the bookmark section reverted back to the bookmarks bar, as seen, above.

Is this on all four platforms, or just Chrome OS 0.15.1011.43?

Do you think this change is permanent or temporary?

If intentional, why the change?

A Potpourri of Updates in Chrome OS 0.15.1011.0

Chrome OS dev 0.15.1011.0 landed, tonight, and I'd like to share a few observations:

File manager gets, well, a file cabinet icon (rather than the empty box logo)

The bookmark manager now has (or has had, and I'm just  finally noticing it) a link in the
Bookmarks section of the New Tab page

Extensions are now included in and redirected to the settings page, with a fun makeover, recently sighted by Dinu
Correction:  Wrench>Tools>Extensions navigates to the old page, rather than this one -- I assume this will change

Synced tabs and search engines are almost here!
(Well, technically, they are here, as flags)

Lazy Background Pages -- some extensions can be prevented from running until they are called upon -- cool
Update:  I tried this out and it seems to disable LastPass and possibly other extensions, too:
you might want to wait for this one

What else have you guys noticed?  Thoughts/comments?  Again, I also want someone to tell me what happened to multiple profiles, as a flag . . .

OH, I almost forgot to mention the boot up screen now has a Chrome-y animation and white background.  Okay(?).

Omnibox History Sync Now Available in Chrome

P.S. I forgot to mention Dinu spotted this in Chromium, back in May: http://chromestory.com/2011/05/google-chrome-to-sync-typed-urls-and-browsing-sessions-now-in-chromium/

Omnibox History Sync, now available

Well, folks, the picture and caption say it all.  I updated my Cr-48 this morning to 0.15.950.0 and saw a message on the new tab page, telling me omnibox history sync is now enabled.  Hurray!

Now all I need is for Alex, Dinu, or someone else to explain or find out exactly what this means.  :)

Automatic Sign-in for Google Sites in Chrome 15

Update:  I want to tip my hat to Dinu of ChromeStory, for spotting a glimpse of this in the Chromium code, back in June:  http://chromestory.com/2011/06/using-chrome-sync-you-are-already-logged-in-to-google-account/

Over the past couple days, I've stumbled across what I believe is a new feature in Chrome 15:  Enable automatic sign in for Google sites.

The functionality is a little less automatic than advertised, as it appears the feature allows me to manually click on "Sign in," which will enable me to avoid typing in my username/password.

Neato for people who want to avoid using LastPass.  For me, I prefer the full automation LastPass provides (I land on a site and LastPass fills in my credentials and logs me in).

Chromebook Google Talk Launcher Explained (Kind of)

About a month ago, I wondered aloud what the Google Talk Launch[er] app was or did.  Now, I believe I can confirm that the whole point of the app is to launch another program, now an extension, rather than an app, Google Talk . . .

The app launches the Google Talk extension.

Here's the extension.

Another screenshot I wish I had taken yesterday, at work, is that Google Talk is now a browser extension, which can load at startup (on at least XP), absent even opening Chrome.  The new extension appears to do what the native program does:  Allow users to chat, etc., outside of Gmail.

So far as I can tell, if I have uninstalled the Google Talk extension, or for whatever reason, if it's just missing, the Google Talk Launcher app will send me to the Google Talk extension page in the Chrome Web Store, where I can install it . . .

At the end of the day, I think I've still find the answer to the question, "Why?"  In other words, why have an app where all it does is lead me to the functionality of an extension.  So, while I feel a little more in the know than last month's post, I'm still grasping at straws for the logic behind all this.

Print Preview Missing from Chrome OS???

This morning, I'm discouraged and rather hacked off to discuss something I finally realized, to my embarrassment as a proud Cr-48 owner, just yesterday:  Print Preview and its beloved print to pdf functionality are missing, ausento -- no where to be found in Chrome OS . . .

If it's ballyhooed in Chrome 13 stable, where in the world is Print Preview in Chrome OS?

At first, I assumed I was simply overlooking the Print Preview action button, somewhere.  Alas, after doing some research in the Chrome OS bug reports, I'm convinced the functionality is glaringly absent:  http://code.google.com/p/chromium-os/issues/detail?id=16082

On the other hand, from the looks of the same report, there are, thankfully, a number of people requesting (expecting?) this feature.

Another thing I'm confused about is the priority the Chorme OS team (as noted in the bug report, above) has given Print Preview:  "2 - Normal.  Desired for, but does not block, the specified milestone [14] release."  I'm perplexed that the Chrome team proudly declared Print Preview with print to pdf "finally" available in Chrome 13, yet it might miss Chrome OS 14 . . .  The Chrome team declared over 900 "users [from] around the world" (I'm glad this is an international concern) indicated, with stars, their interest in print preview for Chrome.  Maybe Chrome OS will start to get similar numbers, unless this functionality is added soon.

I'm really disappointed.  I definitely enjoy Print Preview and I love print to pdf.  Is this omission a department disconnect or something else?  If the functionality is baked into Chrome, itself, as a trumpeted and much awaited feature, why is it truant from its namesake OS!

Chromebooks (finally) get file unzip!

That's right, chromebook, aficionados, the ability to unzip zip files has arrived (experimentally) on chromebooks, with perhaps minus the Acer, at the moment, via the latest dev build 0.14.811.15:  Press ctrl+alt+t (this is called "crosh") and type in experimental_storage enable and press enter.  Voila, I can now unzip files!  Big thanks to William for pointing this out to me:  http://chromeos-cr48.blogspot.com/2011/08/cr-48-dev-channel-update-01481115.html

See the Open archive action button on the right?

Same archive file, unzipped.

I assume this will land on the next stable release, so, in about six weeks (probably a touch longer, since Chrome OS 0.13 is still baking).  I'm really glad to have this obstacle removed.  While I rarely deal with zip files, I absolutely loathe having to do the back and forth of downloading/uploading.

Next, I really hope we'll get the ability to save files from a random site directly to Google Docs and unzip them (rather than just view and open certain files) there -- which seems to me would go nicely with the whole "new thought"/cloud computing concept.

Scratchpad Gets a Makeover

I was hoping this day would come.  The Chromium team has given scratchpad a makeover.  Now all we need is offline Docs . . .

I'll give you a sprinkling of what I've seen and let the big guns give you the full run down.

Polished interface

I'm impressed with how slick the new interface looks.  Before, with the red, green, and blue dots, I felt like I was jamming on something a 1st grader put together.  Sorry, devs.  Also, the previous version just listed the given notes, while this release gives a date.  Nice.  See the turning throbber icon next to my NEW NOTE?  I was impressed with how fast notes would automatically sync up with my Google Docs.

Old v. New

More Old v. New

I like how the new version gives more formatting options, including font type, size, strikethrough, color, and highlighting.  Looks like the new version lacks a quick delete button . . .  I wonder if people were accidentally deleting their notes?

Scratchpad opened with new Panels flag turned on in dev chanel

I'm less than a huge fan of the new Panels flag, with the Scratchpad app, although I did see a comment or two in the app installation page that sang its praises.  Seemed pretty glitched out, to me.

Oh, three other awesome new features are the ability to search for notes, sort them, and open notes/list in full-tab view.  +1.

Hopefully, I'll avoid anyone hacking my system via this app:  thechromesource.com/chrome-os-hacked-via-scratchpad/

Now if I could just get some keyboard shortcuts (other than ctrl+b for bold, e.g.) . . .

Google Talk Launch App(?) and New Window Switcher on Chrome OS 14.0.751.0

Update:  Upon further discovery, it turns out the []]] button (next to the full-screen button) has been transformed from a window switcher (alt+tab) to a window maximizer (alt+spacebar+x on Windows).

Okay, as I've said, recently, I usually let these kind of posts go because someone's generally already covered them.  Maybe I've failed to see anything on this one (yet) because it's late on a Friday night . . .  Such is my geekdom.

When I saw on Jee Lee's blog feed that there was finally a new, 14.0 Chrome OS build, I had to try it out and test the waters.

Sure enough, I got what I wanted:  At least two new morsels.

1.  Google Talk Launch App(?)

A Second Google Talk App??

So far as I can tell, all this "new" app does is add another button, with the word "Launch," which does what the previous Talk app already did . . .  Someone want to let me in on the secret?

2.  New Window Switcher Icon and Functionality:  Multiple (Side-Side) Windows with New Keyboard Shortcuts, along with Extended Click for Window Switcher Icon

A new icon, double windows, and more clickable space, oh my!

That's right, folks, the Chrome team appears to have ditched the old window switcher icon in favor of what I consider a more svelte and attractive option.  To be candid, I just figured out it's functionality, so sit down for this one:  When the top-right icon has multiple windows, this means that clicking it will show me my other window(s), behind my current window.  Next, when the icon is solid, clicking it will maximize my current window, covering up the other one.

The Chrome team also (kind of) added some functionality I'd been hankering for, for a long time:  The ability to flick my mouse to the top-right of the screen, click, and have the window change back and forth.  What the Chrome team produced is actually different from what I was expecting -- the new icon switches between maximized and full-screen view, rather than flipping between windows.  I'm confident this new development will really please people who want to see multiple windows at once, and I can always use the alt+tab combo to get between various windows.  Something I'm a little bummed about is that if I want to just maximize a window, rather than making it totally full screen, I think I have to click the window switcher icon, which I dislike because it's a lot more time consuming to target than to simply flick my mouse to the corner or press alt+tab.  So, in other words, if I'm seeing things correctly, there is no keyboard shortcut to maximize a partially opened window.  :(  Ah, well.  I suppose I have a hard time getting everything I want in a new release . . .  ACTUALLY, upon snooping around a little, while Chrome decided if Blogger was going to crash or recover, I discovered a keyboard shortcut to re-size windows:  alt+. and alt+, Going all the way with alt+. is equivalent to maximizing the screen, although slower than one keystroke or single combination.  As I said, it can be hard to get everything we (geeks) want.  I do generally appreciate a friendly work-around, though, so thanks Chrome team.  :)

What else have you guys noticed in the 14.0 build?

P.S.  I seem to have my ctrl+(window switcher icon) screenshots showing up outside my screenshots folder in my File Shelf folder . . .

Acer Wifi Chromebook Arrives (Finally)

Well, chromebook aficionados, it looks like Acer's wifi-only chromebook has finally arrived (just under a month after it was scheduled to join the party) and it comes in at $80 less than Samsung's wifi-only model, or a round $350.

Here are the specs of both available chromebooks, from Google.

The Cromia, as it's called, is a tad lighter than the Samsung Series 5 (2.95lbs v. 3.26), has a slightly smaller screen size (11.6" v. 12.1"), runs out of battery about 30% faster (6 hours v. 8.5), and is, some complain, less stylish.  Here is the Cromia on the left, with the Series 5 to the right.


Moreover, some believe the Series 5 has a better keyboard, which we'll actually find out, after we get some real hands-on reviews.

Finally, I believe the Cromia has a higher screen resolution and supports HDMI output, rather than the Series 5's VGA.

Cromia v. Series 5

My principal questions for comparison would be how much smaller do the screen and keyboard feel, and is there any difference in performance?  If any of these three factors is significantly poorer on the Cromia, I think I'd very well lean toward the Series 5.

Further on performance, the processor/RAM specs are, to my knowledge, identical.

Also, while the Series 5 battery life is notably better, I'm almost always right next to a power outlet, anyway, so that and other features, like a tiny difference in weight and video output, would hardly impact my personal decision.

In the final analysis, maybe the biggest difference between the two is the $80 (or about 18.5%) discount the Cromia offers over the Series 5(?).

What do you think?  Will you buy one over the other, or either one, at all?  Why?

Please sound off in the comments section or chime in on my Google+ post.

I first saw this announcement on Dinu's Chromestory.  Thanks for the news, Dinu!

(Updated at 12:21pm eastern, changing the Cromia weight, based on this eWeek article.)

Chrome OS Stable on Cr-48 Has Arrived(?)

FINAL UPDATE;  Okay, I tried the stable build for like five minutes, yesterday, got annoyed with how slow Pandora made my Cr-48, coupled with the fact that both Chrome OS flash plugins failed to work with Google Music (ironic, for the stable build?), and I disliked how slow the build felt, in general.  Maybe these are some of the reasons why the 12.0.433.231 "stable" build is missing from cros-omahaproxy.appspot.com/.

Update:  After downloading a new Chrome OS recovery image, and according to my chrome://settings/about page, I am indeed on the stable channel.

See where it says "stable-channel x86-Mario"

Funny thing is, I'm failing to see the build listed on the http://cros-omahaproxy.appspot.com/ page.

I see a Samsung (Alex) stable channel, but where's the Mario (Cr-48) stable channel listing?

I'm curious to see how this turns out . . .

I mainly want to see if Chrome OS stability = increased speed/performance (while unstable Chrome OS = slow).  We'll see.  [Original post follows.]

Well, I'm confused on this one, folks.

Supposedly, a stable channel release of Chrome OS on the Cr-48 has been released.  From my experience (see my comment at Jay Lee's blog), it may be available only as a system restore image . . .

I'll try again, tomorrow.

Any thoughts?