Tag Archives: Addons

Get Better Gmail Design Interface with Gmelius

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Would you like to hide Gmails’s sidebar advertisements? Are you annoyed with non-clickable Google logo in your Gmail? Do you secretly wish for a bit more colorful interface? Yes, you can make all the design improvements with a simple tool – Gmelius.

Better Gmail Design

Over the last few design updates, Gmail failed to awe us. I remember, when for the first time I saw Gmail in 2004. It was quite ahead design-wise and I loved its usability and functionality. Everyone wanted “the” invite. With time, Google made many new design changes that increased functionality but however worsen its utility. Most of these bad design changes came after Google+ integration like –

#. Non-clickable Google logo instead of default Gmail’s logo

#. Non-recognizable icons and no text for common actions (Archieve, Report Spam, Delete).

#. Useless people widget when you have Rapportive.

#. New Compose feature was last nail in the coffin.

Solution: Gmelius

It is a browser addon available for Chrome, Firefox and Opera. After installing, you are taken to Gmelius settings page where you can choose which functionalities to remove to gain space and tweaks to improve usability along with other features.

Some of the important Features are –

Gmail no ads#. No advertisements. Absolutely.
(If you want to remove ads and sponsored links without Gmelius, here is our handy guide.)

#. Remove Chat statuses, footer, widgets and “Consider including” when writing your emails to get that clean look.

gmail default fonts#. Use only default fonts, add attachment icons, highlight mails on mouse hovering and move labels to right.

#. Make common actions (Delete, Reply, Archive etc) more recognizable with colors and icons.

and many more.

One of my favorite features is to standardize or homogenize mail fonts and colors. With this option selected, you won’t see custom and often unreadable fonts but the default ones.

If you are looking for clean and uncluttered interface, then Gmelius should work out of the box for you. It is perfect for removing useless functionalities and its little tweaks add to the usability.

Note: Gmelius is not available for Safari and Internet Explorer.

Link: Gmelius.

Best Ways to Replay YouTube Videos Automatically in a Loop [Repeat Infinitely]

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Unfortunately, we do not have an automatic replay button in YouTube to keep video/song repeat in a never ending loop. Every time we have to manually click on that small replay button at the top of the video, which is both inconvenient and uncomfortable. The old trick of appending &loop=1 parameter was the easiest method and worked on all the internet browsers but lately it does not work anymore with the new revamped YouTube.

Let us look at some of the best ways to automatically replay YouTube videos in an infinite loop –

Chrome Extension – Auto Replay for YouTube

Chrome extension to replay youtube videos

This extension adds a checkbox at the bottom of videos, which lets you watch infinitely once you enable it. It also provides options to input the starting and ending seconds between which the video will be replayed. These input boxes also support keyboard shortcuts. Up and down arrows, increase and decrease the values by 1 second whereas pressing shift button along with arrow keys will change values by 5 seconds. Shift+Enter will take the current time of the video as starting point for next play.

Firefox Addon – YouTube Auto Replay

firefox addon for youtube replay

This Firefox add-on does the similar job except with better interface. Choose your starting and ending time or loop the entire video. Simple!

For IE or other browsers – Direct Websites

Sites like yourepeat, tubeencore, tubereplay and youtuberepeater lets you replay videos in any internet browser. All you have to do is replace the youtube word in the URL of the video with any of these sites.

repeater websites

These websites are almost similar with few different features like –

Tubeencore offers a slider from where you can adjust repeat duration and a download link at the bottom of the player.

Tubereplay offers you clean and distraction free UI though other features are not available. In addition, it provides a bookmarklet, which you can directly click while watching YouTube video to replace URL on the fly.

Youtuberepeater offers same functionality with precise position marking capability.

Use any of these methods to enjoy your favourite videos distraction free. If you have more ideas, tell us in our comments.

Xobni Smartr vs Rapportive for Gmail

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When you receive a common mail, which has other known/unknown respondents, it becomes difficult to know who is who and does what. Specially, in organisations and institutes this becomes a serious problem, as we may not know everyone. Gmail’s people widget provides quick relief at such point. It tells us about the associated people and their position in the organization that are present in the mail conversation. However, Gmail’s People widget is very basic and lacks necessary features.

Inbox contacts with full information

Enter Smartr (Beta) from the San Francisco based start-up company, Xobni (“inbox” spelled backwards). The company has already proved its salt in email and relationship management. Almost everyone using outlook is familiar with its blue sidebar, which brings variety of features along with it. On the same lines, Xobni has released Smartr that gives you rich information on the right sidebar of your inbox. It instantly tells you about person’s job title, company details, and updates from LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Simple information on Gmail right sidebar

Another option, possibly a better one is Rapportive, which does nearly a similar job. It has first mover advantage and it was the original tool to hide Gmail ads and provide useful information instead.

Smartr vs Rapportive -

#. Smartr has well organised and better interface for contact info. Rapportive has clean and minimal interface.

#. Smartr helps you to find that right contact effortlessly while composing a mail. It also has graphical stats and finding common contacts feature.

#. Rapportive has raplets through which you can customize gmail with your favourite apps and CRM tools.

#. Xobni is also available for Android, Blackberry and iPhone.

#. You don’t need a Rapportive account but just authorize Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn to use its power. For Xobni Smartr, you will have to make a separate account.

#. Smartr is still in beta. Rapporative is a fully functional stable product.

#. Rapportive integrates with Gmail People Widget. Smartr replaces this.

Analyse for yourself. You can choose only one of them, as both cannot be installed side-by-side. Smartr is the new way for mailbox productivity, enhancing your work style and making your inbox more intelligent. Rapportive, with its customization capability is carving a new way for the future inbox.

Note: Both, Xobni Smart and Rapportive are browser based third party addons and works only for Firefox, Chrome and Safari.

Best Proxy Managers for Internet Browsers

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Switching internet connections is always a big pain. Fortunately, we have proxy managers that take care of this complicated job. More thankfully, we have browser proxy add-ons and extensions, which makes this job easier than it sounds.

When do you need a proxy manager?

If you are the type of user that work on different networks simultaneously (e.g. one for company intranet, other for internet and other for home network) then each time you have to change your configuration to connect to different servers. If you need a quick way to way to switch between different proxy servers, without going to different screens then these managers will be of great help.

Let us see some of the best proxy managers, which work within browsers -

#. For Google Chrome – Proxy Switchy Extension

proxy switchy ruleschange proxy with single click
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Proxy Switchy is an Advance proxy manager for Chrome that gives you freedom to change between multiple profiles with a single click. You can also make URL based rules with this Chrome Extension. Since Chrome doesn’t have its own network configuration settings, this extension changes systems settings. As a result, it works for IE in the same manner. It also supports Socks v4 and v5, and LAN and VPN/Dial-up proxy settings. Another good feature of this extension is that you can backup and restore options or export switch rules as PAC/RuleList file.

#. For Firefox – FoxyProxy Standard Addon

foxy proxy change connection with single clickEdit proxy pattern based on URL
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FoxyProxy Standard Addon adds power to the limited inbuilt proxy capabilities of Firefox. It automatically switches to different connections based on URL patterns. So, you don’t have to fiddle with Firefox’s Connection Settings dialog each time.
This addon combines proxy.pac maintained by network administrators with an explicit proxy. It is also fully compatible with portable Firefox and it keeps logs of all the proxies that were used and when.

#. For Internet Explorer – Advance Proxy Manager

Change proxy in IEtray popup
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Currently you need to play with several screens to change proxy in Internet Explorer. There are lot of settings to reconfigure. Advance Proxy Manager allows you to make multiple proxy settings and you can easily switch them from tray icon menu.

The only disadvantage is that it is still in beta phase and was last updated on December 30, 2008.

Alternatively, you can try IE7Pro that also supports tabbed browsing capabilities.

4 Easy Ways to Find Meaning of Any Word with Google

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Ofter while reading online, we need to find simple meaning of some complex word. For example, while reading about unfamiliar topics or in-depth article from McKinsey Quarterly, we may find some unfamiliar words in course and then we leave/misunderstand them due to lack of time. This is not at all advisable as a little misunderstanding with a word can change the complete meaning of the sentence.

Being a Google oriented blog, we will solve with this concern with available Google tools. Here are 4 easiest ways to find meaning of any word:

1. The Easiest Way – Using Google Dictionary

Google Dictionary

For any word, the simplest tool to use Google Dictionary. It is a dedicated site for finding word meanings, definitions, related phrases, synonyms and pronunciations. It also offers word bookmarking for remembering complex words and translations for better understanding.

Note: Dictionary may not work in all countries. In that case try - http://www.google.ca/dictionary

2. Using define Operator in Google Search

Define Keyword in Google

Do you know that you instantaneously find the web meaning of any word by searching it on Google with define prefix. For example, try define:endogamy .
To use this method, just write define: before your search word in Firefox Search Box or Chrome Omnibar (Address bar)and press Enter. You will be surprised to see its simplicity and usefulness.

Related: Google Search Prefixes for better redefined results.

3. Use Browser Addon or Extension

Chrome Dictionary Extension

This method is quite preferable as you don’t have to leave the page to check any word meaning. You can keep on reading and to find any word definition, just double click on it for fancy in-page popup.

For Chrome, here is the official extension available from the Google team which works perfectly.

For Firefox, try “Google Dictionary and Google Translate” addon. Though it is a third party addon, but words equally great.

4. Hack Firefox Address Bar Default Behavior

Firefox about:config Hack

Previously, we have written about turning Firefox address bar into word lookup dictionary. You can use this hack to directly jump to result page of Google Dictionary.

Mostly I use define: prefix in Google. Its easy, convenient and fast. Which method will you use? Tell us in your comments.

24 Official Chrome Extensions by Google for Safer Browsing

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Have you ever installed untrusted softwares in your computer? If not, then why install third party extension on Chrome when there are 24 official extensions from Google to choose from.

The Google Chrome Extension gallery contains 1000’s of extensions. But are they credible enough to use? Since some of the extensions have access to user-data and can even read password fields, we don’t know how safe they are. The best way to safeguard your private data is to use authenticated or official Chrome extensions. Thanks to the Google employees who probably have spend 20% of their time to develop these awesome extensions.

Offcial Chrome Extentions by Google image

These Google certified extensions or addons are basically meant to use Google products and services in tandem with chrome. They are officially released by Google and are available at extension gallery, however they are difficult to search amongst other hundreds. Let’s have a brief look at best of these.

Complete list of Official Google Chrome Extensions

(1) Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer: gdocs icon
This extension helps you to automatically preview PDF’s, power point presentations and TIFF files in Google Docs Viewer.
This means you don’t have to download these files in your computer and then open them. Instead you can directly preview them in the browser.

(2) Google Translate: gtranslate icon
One of the most useful extension for Google Chrome. This extension automatically detects the type of the language and translates the whole webpage to your native browser language in a click. Highly recommended.

(3) Favorite Doodle: doodle icon
If you love doodles (customized Google logos) then you will definitely love this extension, which replaces mundane Google logo with artistic logos available at the doodle gallery. This add-on will also take care of new logos whenever they are released and display them at your homepage for the day.

(4) Google Calendar Checker: gdocs icon
This reminds of your next meeting in Google Calendar by displaying the remaining time for the event.

(5) Google Dictionary: gcalendar icon
A very useful extension which lets you find meaning of any word by simply double clicking on it. A small pop-up is used to display definition and it also supports multiple languages.

(6) Google Mail Checker: gmail icon
It is one of the most popular and top rated extension. It displays the number of unread mails in your inbox. And it also acts as direct shortcut to Gmail.

(7) Google Quick Scroll: quickscroll icon
Another popular extension from Google which lets you jump directly to the search snippet. With this, you can easily find the most relevant text that you have searched on a page filled with unrelated information.

(8) Google Reader Notifier: greader icon
Just like Gmail Checker, this extension displays the number of unread items in your Google reader account.

(9) Google Share Button: gshare icon
Use this for sharing the web page via email, blog and various social networking sites.

(10) Email this Page: email icon
This is a very simple yet powerful extension. What it does is – mail the current page or the selected text using default mail client. If you like mailing URL’s or storing some interesting stuff from websites in mailbox, you will love this extension.

(11) Google Voice: gvoice icon
This extension shows number of unread messages to your Google Voice inbox . It also gives you quick access for calling and sending free SMS from your Voice account.

(12) Orkut Chrome Extension: orkut icon
It shows new scraps, updates from friends and other notifications in a small pop-up near the address bar. With this you can easily jump directly to the friends profile page by searching his name in extension box.

(13) RSS Subscription Extension: rss icon
This one automatically detects feeds for the web-page you are viewing and lets you subscribe to it with a single click.

(14) Send from Gmail: google mail icon
This extension makes Gmail your default email client i.e. whenever you click on email address in a website, it will open a new tab for composing a new mail for that address.

(15) Slideshow: slideshow icon
Another beautiful and useful extension form Google which lets you view images from Flickr, Picasa, Facebook or Google image searches into gorgeous slideshow.
From Google support.

Other official yet not-so-cool extensions include –

16) Blog This! – To post to blogger with a click.
17) Google Checkout Promo Notifier –To see relevant Google checkout deals.
18) Google Sidewiki – To share or read Google sidewiki entries for any webpage.
19) Google Similar Pages – Finds the similar websites like the one you are visiting.
20) Knol Buddy – Discovers relevant knols to the page you are currently viewing.
21) News Reader – Finds the latest and top stories from Google news.
22) Secbrowsing Plug-in Version Checker – It checks for plugin aka extensions updates.
23) Select to Get Maps – Converts addresses to map links so that you can easily find it on Google maps.
24) Speed Tracer – Tells about web application performance.

With these extensions you can be sure that your private data will not be compromised with some anonymous developer. Happy safe and secure browsing. :)

Similar : Official Google Product Blogs List

AdBlock Plus Trick in Google Chrome – Block Advertisements without Addon

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Update: Since Google Chrome has stared using extentions, you can use Adblock or AdThwart Chrome Extentions for blocking those annoying advertisements. And if you still prefer to use no addons in chrome, then you can always use the below trick.

If advertisements keep you bothering in Google chrome and wished that you could block these ads as you do in Firefox by Adblock plus addon, then you can use a simple trick with chrome to remove these ads.
Continue reading →

How To Add HTML And Images In Gmail Signature

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UPDATE: WiseStamp is now available from Firefox, Chrome, IE and Safari. With it you can include HTML and images seamlessly in Gmail signature. Its free and gives you better control over mails.

Signatures save your time by automatically appending your name at the end of the message. Not only name, you can insert your location, rich text and HTML in your Gmail to make it more flashy. Continue reading →