How To: Enable Google Chrome’s Built-In Reader Mode

Google’s Chromium team has recently introduced a few enhancements to its beloved Chrome web browser. One of the features it added albeit hidden is the experimental “Reading Mode“ for Windows and Mac, which essentially strips off unnecessary web elements and gives you a simplified view of a web page.

Google Chrome’s Reader Mode is disabled by default. So you’ll have to enable it yourself. Here's how:

Activating Reader Mode on Google Chrome

1. Ensure you’re using the latest Google Chrome’s Canary version

2. In your Chrome address bar, type chrome://flags/#enable-reader-mode

   

3. Enable it and restart your browser

Now, every time you lands in a page and you want a simplified view of it, just go to Settings > Distill Page. It should declutter the page, removing background web clutters such as banners, ads, etc.

While it’s good Chromium team finally brings the long-overdue Reader Mode for desktop without installing a third-party extension, Google Chrome’s default Reader Mode is still in its infancy and begs a facelift. Currently, you can’t change the font size, styles, and colors. Such reading mode features are sure a delight once they’re made available in the next iteration of Google Chrome’s version

LOOK: Upcoming Google Chrome Feature Lets You Organize Active Tabs into Groups

So, if you spend a couple of minutes a day glued on addicting BuzzFeed articles and whatnot, then, Google Chrome’s built-in Reader Mode will do you a favor.

Chrome Bookmarks On iPhone Not Syncing Properly? Here's How To Make It Work

Ever had a problem syncing your Chrome bookmarks from your Desktop to your iPhone?

Lately, I ran through this trouble trying to sync my Google Chrome bookmarks from my computer to my iPhone (and vice versa). The problem, specifically, was that my newly added Chrome bookmarks on my PC doesn't reflect back to my Chrome on my phone (and even web history, login information, etc). Same is true with my phone's web data; it doesn't appear on my Chrome on my PC.

Access Your Chrome, Firefox Bookmarks On Any Computer Anywhere

From that point I'm sure that Chrome sync is not working. I'm sure as hell synchronizatio" is enabled on my phone. I even tried disconnecting my Gmail account to my phone, reconnecting, and redoing the Chrome syncing process but still no luck! I turned to Google and forums, hunting for possible solution but none of the solutions they offer seemed to work.

And yes it really drives me nuts!

Chrome Bookmarks, Web Data Not Syncing Between Computer and iPhone? Here's the Fix

Until I accidentally disabled Chrome's "Sync Everything" option & selectively turned on the web data that I want to get synced, as seen on the screenshot below. And that did the trick! Pretty neat, huh?

I'm not sure if you're having the same problem as mine but just in case you do, you may want try that out! Hopefully Google will roll out an update for their Chrome for iOS very soon!

How To: Access Your Firefox, Chrome Bookmarks On Any Computer Anywhere

This short tutorial will show you how to make your Firefox and Chrome bookmarks accessible anytime and anywhere. The process is simple: export all Firefox and Chrome bookmarks to the cloud so you can access and manage them anywhere using any browser of your choice.

Why export Chrome and Firefox bookmarks to the cloud?

How To: Password Protect, Lock Google Chrome Bookmarks And Access Them Anywhere

Obviously, the prime advantage of putting all bookmarks to the cloud is accessibility. For people who work on multiple machines/computers, the availability of most favorited links is definitely a big help. Exporting all your bookmarks to the cloud is also good for safety. If you're on a shared computer, you can freely remove all bookmarks saved on your desktop so others will not be able to access them.

Access Your Chrome, Firefox Bookmarks On Any Computer Anytime, Anywhere

Follow this simple guide on how to make your Chrome, Firefox, Opera and even IE bookmarks available anytime and anywhere with just a few clicks:

Step 1 Signup for Google Bookmarks here

Step 2 If your bookmarks are saved in a browser other than Firefox, export them first as .htm/.html file. For instance, to export Chrome bookmarks to Firefox just go to Settings > Bookmarks > Bookmarks Manager > Organize > Export Bookmarks.

Step 3 Import the exported bookmarks to Firefox. To do that, open your Firefox and then go to Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks (shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+B) > Import and Backup > Import HTML.

Step 4 Download and install Google Toolbar. Once installed, you should be able to see in your Firefox something like this:

Step 5 Import your bookmarks from Firefox to Google Bookmarks. In Google Toolbar, click on Bookmarks > Import Firefox Bookmarks.You're done!

Now, go to Google Bookmarks, you should see your Chrome and Firefox bookmarks in the list!

Lazarus Is Your Time-Saving Chrome Add-On That Saves Anything You Type On A Web Form

Making your bookmarks accessible anywhere is really that easy. Just export your Chrome, IE and Opera bookmarks to Firefox and let Google Toolbar installed on your Firefox does the magic.

Let Your Browser Talk - Awesome Webpage Reader Plugins for Chrome, Firefox

One notable feature of Opera that is missing in Chrome and Firefox is that you can let the browser to read out loud texts found in webpages for you. The process is simple: just highlight the texts you want Opera to speak for you, right-click, then hit "Speak". You should immediately hear Opera talking about the webpage you're browsing -- be it about news articles, emails, tweets or Facebook updates. Safari Browser also comes with this builtin text-to-speech (TTS) function, making it easier to catch up news and updates.

If you're looking for similar webpage reader or read-out-loud function for your Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and even Internet Explorer, you might want to check out these voice plugins/text to speech browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox and IE.

Awesome Webpage Reader Add-Ons To Make Your Chrome, Firefox and IE Talk

SpeakIt - Let Google Chrome, Firefox Reads Out Loud Webpages For You

SpeakIt reads out loud selected text in a webpage using native Google TTS (Text-to-Speech) engine. This Text-to-Text plugin for Chrome can auto-detect language used in a webpage and in fact it supports languages supported by Google except Bulgarian, Japanese and Arabic. This TTS extension of Chrome is still in early Alfa so you may encounter bugs. For downloads and information on how to use, visit SpeakIt for Chrome website.

Send SMS text message? Don't type; just say it and let your iPhone, Android or Symbian auto-type your message

Similar webpage reader browser extension is also available for Mozilla Firefox. Speak-It for Firefox reads pages or selected text using Microsoft TTS engine. For more information, click here.

IESpeaker - A Text-to-Speech, Webpage Reader for IE

IESpeaker is a free webpage reader for Internet Explorer that speaks selected texts on a website for you. If installed, you should see extra menu with title "Speak" in your Internet Explorer and a Speaker Button on the toolbar. Just open the IE browser, open any website with any content, select text, and right click on it or click on speaker button on the toolbar. A small window will then pop up speaking everything you've selected. Download IESpeaker here.

These Text-to-Speech (TTS) browser extension for Firefox, Chrome and IE can be useful if you want to read something on the web but can't be present in front of the computer. With SpeakIt or IESpeaker, you can cook a meal or clean a room while your browser is reading web or news articles for you.

How To: Password Protect, Lock Google Chrome Bookmarks And Access Them Anywhere

Previously on this blog we have talked about Browser Lock, yet another awesome browser extension that lets you lock, password-protect Google Chrome browser. If you haven't had the chance to check it out, head over HERE.

Now if you're wondering about how to password lock and restrict others from accessing your Chrome bookmarks on your shared computer, you might want to check this password-protecting browser extension called LockMyFavs.

Prevent Others From Accessing Your Bookmarks - Protect Your Bookmarks With A Password (Chrome)

LockMyFavs (link) is a handy browser extension for Chrome that lets you lock, password-protect your bookmarks on Chrome. With this extension you can create a separate list of bookmarks  right on your Chrome and make them accessible only to you.

Burn Note: Send Password-Protected, Self-Destructing Email Messages

Here's how it works:

Step 1 Download and Install LockMyFavs from Chrome Web Store HERE.

Step 2 Once installed, click on that tiny "favorite" icon that sits next to your address bar, as seen below.

Step 3 If you're using the extension for the first time you may need to complete the one-time registration by simply filling out a valid email address and password, and you're good to go. Otherwise, just login.

Step 4 Once logged in you should be able to see all your web favorites/bookmarks listed under "Library" tab. From there you can search, filter and manage all your saved bookmarks.

Access Your Firefox, Chrome Bookmarks On Any Computer Anywhere

To add new site on your list, just right-click anywhere on the page you're currently browsing and select the Add To LockMyFavs option from the context menu. Or you can click on the LockMyFavs icon on the top.

It's that easy!

Easiest Way To Block, Restrict Access To Unwanted Websites - No Additional Software Needed

The real cream of the crop of LockMyFavs is that your bookmarks will be stored in the clouds. This means that anywhere you go, in any computer, you will have your bookmarks with you!

5 Best Memory-Saving Chrome Add-ons to Help You Manage Tab Overload

A single browser tab opened on Chrome can consume an average memory of around 30MB. Can you imagine what happens while you’re working on the internet (web development, SEO, etc.) and you open up, say, 20 or more browser tabs?

This might result in your browser getting bogged down. Worse, you might suddenly experience performance issues, unresponsive webpages, unexpected crashes, or the computer just freezes over. That’s because some webpages can consume a lot more memory than 30MB.

It’s a good thing someone thought about Tab Managers.

Since we’re talking about Chrome, we picked the Top 5 Chrome Add-on or Extension Tab Managers and picked at it to see how each one worked:

Manage Tab Overload with this 5 Best Memory-Saving Chrome Add-ons

Tab Manager (link)

Tab Manager Is an open source add-on that allows you to handle your tabs fast. The add-on allows practical functions such as displaying all tabs and windows, allowing new tabs and windows, selecting of tabs using Ctrl + Shift, moving  tabs between windows, deleting tabs and windows, pinning and unpinning of tabs, and searching tabs by title or URL.

Page Snooze (link)

Even with so many tabs open, Page Snooze can help manage tab overload by allowing you to snooze tabs for up to 2 weeks. This can pop back up once the time is up. You can view all your snoozed tabs and manage them on the Page Snooze options page.

The Great Suspender (link)

With Great Suspender, you can unload, park, or suspend tabs to reduce the memory load of Chrome. Tabs can be configured with auto-suspend after a set period of time or they can be suspended manually. You can whitelist tabs to be excluded from automatic suspension. Suspended tabs are retained after closing and reopening the browser, preventing the tabs to reload even after restarting the computer. Tabs are restored using a very simple and intuitive interface.

OneTab (link)

With this extension you save up to 95% memory by reducing tab clutter. You simply click on OneTab to convert all your tabs into a list. When you need to access any tab, you can either restore them individually or all in one go. This can also reduce the CPU load on your computer.

TooManyTabs (link)

Developed by Visibo Ltd, TooManyTabs was first used with great success on Firefox. This version for Chrome carries virtually all of the same features when you open a lot of tabs on Chrome. The extension helps you manage your tabs even when too many are opened and you can’t anymore identify the tabs or favicons. You get a bird’s eye view of all opened tabs; clear preview of each tab’s content; instant tab search; tabs sorted by opening time, domain, or title; and ability to restore recently closed tabs; suspend idle tabs to save memory, and import tabs data from TooManyTabs unto Firefox.

Split Screen: Splits Your Web Browser into Multiple Resizable Windows

LOOK: Upcoming Google Chrome Feature Lets You Organize Active Tabs into Groups

The Google Chromium team is currently brewing a new feature to its beloved Google Chrome browser that lets you mitigate tab overload, or at least that's what they try to solve.

Judging from the above screenshot, the upcoming release of Google Chrome enables users to declutter and organize multiple active tabs into one or more groups.

Add Chrome-Like Multiple Tabbing Support To Windows File Explorer With Clover

Such a feature is sure a relief for those power user who constantly juggles between multiple tabs. You can simply move your work-related active tabs into one group and separate the others, creating a less messy working environment.

Google Chrome is not the first browser that implements such Tab Groups feature. In fact, Firefox used to incorporate it first but later discontinued because only a small number of Firefox users were actually using the feature and that maintaining such unpopular feature turned out to be costly for the Firefox team.

5 Best Memory-Saving Chrome Add-ons to Help You Manage Tab Overload

Tab Group is one of the biggest updates of Google Chrome so it might take a couple of months to finally hit the online shore. For the meantime, check out these third-party Chrome extensions that help you manage tab overload.

Split Screen: Splits Your Web Browser into Multiple Resizable Windows

Here’s the thing, you’re doing research on the net and you need to take notes. What you’re doing is you’re either switching screens continuously from the website to your notes or you just minimize Microsoft Office Word or Notepad to take notes, which can be very tedious and annoying.

Now, there’s a simpler way to facilitate research work and learning. Google Chrome introduces Split Screen, a Chrome extension for convenient note taking.

Split Your Chrome Browser into Multiple Resizable Windows With Split Screen (link)

Split Screen is a free add-on for Google Chrome. It simply splits the screens on your PC browser into multiple re-sizable windows. Its default feature is its two windows, the left window opening up as a notepad for taking notes.

Another feature of Split Screen is that it can be set so that two websites open side by side. This is useful if you need to do multiple sources research or site comparisons. The user can even split the screen horizontally, another great option feature. If the user decides to split two notepads with one website, it can be done.

How To: Password Protect, Lock Google Chrome Browser

Split Screen is easily customized. All you need to do is select from the “Options” or just type the appropriate command into the address bar of a window.

Installation of the Google Chrome extension is fast and easy. It just gives another good reason to stick with, and use, Google Chrome.

New Chrome Extension Lets You Preview Virtually Any Files (e.g. PSD, AutoCAD) On Your Web Browser

We are a big fan of anything that makes things less of a hassle. Whether it's about extracting text from an image without using image editor or moving around large files from FTP server to your DropBox account, we constantly hunt for the best apps and methods to make the process a little less painful.

And today, we are thrilled to share with you yet another interesting Chrome extension that you might want to add in your arsenal.

Preview Almost Any Kind of File In Your Browser (e.g.PSD, Word, AutoCAD, Video, Audio, etc).

Introducing... FilePreviews.io. It's a nifty browser add-on currently available for Google Chrome designed to generate previews of almost any kind of file including, but not limited to PSD, AI, AutoCAD, Excel files, and much more. And the real cream of the crop? It works straight from your web browser; no need to launch third party apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, AutoCAD apps, etc.

When is it useful?

FilePreviews.io may not be something you use all the time, but in case you want to have a quick look of that large PSD or AutoCAD files you stumbled on the web, you can turn to this app to quickly generate snapshots of those files.

How it works?

As with any other Chrome extension, all you have to do is to install FilePreviews.io from the Chrome WebStore. Once installed, just right-click on a link and from the context menu, select “Preview from source...”. The add-on should automatically take you to a new tab displaying the file preview without ever leaving your browser. How cool is that?

Lazarus Is Your Time-Saving Chrome Add-On That Saves Anything You Type On A Web Form

Go check out FilePreviews.io.

Lazarus Is Your Time-Saving Chrome Add-On That Saves Anything You Type On A Web Form

Almost everyone has been through this nerve-racking experience before. You are filling out an online form, and it is a long one. Perhaps it is an online Auto Loan or Mortgage Refinancing form. You are finished so you click on the ‘Submit’ button. Only, what happens is that you get an error message, and when you click the 'Back' button, the form is blank. So, what do you do, start over again?

Password Protect, Lock Google Chrome Bookmarks And Access Them Anywhere

Now you can install a Google Chrome add-on called Lazarus. Simply put, Lazarus saves everything you typed into that form, so if anything should happen, all the data is saved and can be recovered from the Lazarus menu.

Lazarus: Autosaves Everything You Type On A Form From Form-killing Timeouts, Crashes (link)

Lazarus is a simple form recovery add-on for Chrome browsers. In case you experience those nasty network errors, crashes, and other form-erasing timeouts, this app automatically saves and recovers everything you typed on an online form.

There is even an option wherein all the data you typed can be encrypted and saved on your computer, safely.

Lazarus is free and can be automatically installed on your Google Chrome. To date, more than 500,000 have downloaded Lazarus.

Learn How To Automatically Send Email Messages At Later Time (Gmail)

A new 3.0 version will be released soon for compatibility with Mozilla Firefox and Safari.

Download: Lazarus Form Recovery [Chrome link]

How To: Password Protect, Lock Google Chrome Browser

As with other web browsers, Google Chrome records your login information, passwords, sessions and cookies everytime you visit a website. These are bits of information web browsers store and use so that you don't need to re-login and provide the same information all over again when you visit the same website. The feature is useful, but here's the ugly side: anyone who sneak use your laptop/computer can access the same webpages using your login/cookie information. And this is pretty dangerous if the saved web information has something to do with money.

If you don't want this to happen, one best way is to lock and protect your Chrome browser with a password so that no one else can access the internet without your permission. Take control over who access the internet through your browser; learn how to lock and protect your Chrome browser quickly and easily.

Browser Lock - Restrict People To Use Your Browser

Browser Lock is a free Google Chrome extension that disallows people to access the internet through your browser without your permission. If the plugin successfully installed, you can quickly lock your browser by simply pressing Ctrl+Shift+Lock keys.

Trigger an alarm when someone moves your computer mouse

With Browser Lock, no one can click or use the Tab button to highlight any element when it is locked, scrolling is not allowed either. Even if you open a new tab, reopen the browser or go to another website, it will still be locked and no one will be able to use it.

For download and installation instructions, visit Browser Lock at Chrome App Store.

Protect your USB stick with a password

If you're using Mozilla Firefox and want the same browser lock protection, you may check out this "How To Lock Mozilla Firefox With A Password" eHow tutorial.

How To: Access Mobile Websites Like MJoy In Chrome, Firefox Browser

Ever wondered how to access MJoy and start sending free SMS text message anywhere in the world using Mozilla Firefox or Chrome?

MJoy is one of my favorite free SMS texting sites, not because it's my own mobile number that goes in receiver's inbox but because of it's incredibly fast and reliable worldwide SMS service. But as with many other web services out there, free SMS service of MJoy can only be accessed thru phone's builtin or third-party mobile browser.

This exclusive-only-to-mobile restriction is not only limited to MJoy. There are a handful of exciting free web services out there which can only be availed/accessed thru your phone's mobile browser. Some websites offers free VOIP calls (trial) which can be availed by visiting its websites thru your phone's browser. The only requirement to avail such services is to grab your mobile device and point your mobile web browser to the wapsite URL.

Fast and reliable websites to send free SMS to Philippines and anywhere in the world

In situations when you realize that mobile web browsing is way too expensive or your smartphone is out of power, how would you access MJoy.com and similar other exclusive-only-to-mobile websites using Firefox or Chrome?

This short tutorial will teach you how to fool web servers so that you can access webpages that are optimized and exclusive only to mobile phone users.

Access MJoy & Other Mobile-Exclusive Websites Using Firefox, Chrome

TagTag is a free web-based emulator you can use to view or access mobile pages on your computer using Google Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer web browser. TagTag may not be the first of its kind service but I just love how seamless this emulator works.

Jump to specific time, minutes while streaming YouTube video

Just type the wapsite address (e.g. MJoy.com) on the bottom of TagTag Emulator and click GO. TagTag will immediately browse the page like you would on your mobile phone.

Unable to access MJoy and similar mobile websites because you're on your computer and not on your phone? TagTag is for you!

Learn how to access, watch YouTube video not available in your country.

TabFloater Adds Picture-in-Picture Support to Any Tabs (Chrome/Firefox)

If you’ve been using Chrome for a while, you probably have noticed that nice PiP icon that sits on your toolbar when you’re on a page that plays a video. As soon as you hit that PiP icon, a sleek, resizable floating window will popup within your screen. That’s Picture-in-Picture (PiP) in action, a feature recently added built-in on Chrome.

Now, what if you want to achieve the same feat for virtually any tabs, not just for videos? Well, that’s basically the premise of this brand new extension called TabFloater.

How To: Use iOS 14 Picture-in-Picture on YouTube App (No Jailbreak)

Currently, available for Chrome and Firefox (Windows for now), TabFloater lets you easily multitask & interact with other tabs. You don’t have to switch between tabs to copy or compare stuff.

"I created a browser extension called TabFloater, which can replicate the picture-in-picture functionality with any website. It moves a chosen tab into a smaller window, which is going to remain always on top, so you can interact with both websites at the same time." — Balázs Gyurák, Creator of TabFloater

Getting Started with TabFloater

Just like any browser extensions, getting started with TabFloater is straightforward. Just get your copy at their website and install the companion app. And you’re good to go.

Caveats

Unlike those PiP videos that play on a sticky window regardless of which app screens you’re on, TabFloater will only be active within the parent app of course. So, if you close or minimize your Chrome or Firefox, TabFloater will exit too.

Additionally, TabFloater currently works on Windows. So for Mac users, it will come up soon. The add-on creator does invite interested party to develop TabFloater Companion for Mac. Just comment on the official GitHub repo.

How To: Speed Up Your Chrome By Enabling Hardware Acceleration

Unless you're using the latest version of Google Chrome, you're not probably enjoying the nice speed boost of turning on hardware acceleration. Hardware acceleration, in its simplest term, is a technique used to improve both the speed and quality of playback of flash/media files embedded on web pages. Hardware acceleration makes your web browsing whole lot faster by utilizing Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) of your computer instead of CPU -- that definitely is the advantage of hardware acceleration.

Give your Mozilla Firefox a speed boost - easiest way to speed up your Firefox

This short tutorial will walk you through to 5 easy steps to speed up your Google Chrome browser by enabling Hardware Acceleration and Pre-Rendering of webpages. If you used to frequent a lot to graphic-intensive websites (e.g. YouTube) at slow shared internet connection, this post is for you.


Follow this step-by-step guide on how to speed up your Chrome browser by enabling hardware acceleration and pre-rendering:

Step 1 On the address bar, type "about:flags" (without quotes) and hit enter.

Step 2 Scroll down and click on enable link under GPU Accelerated Compositing

Step 3 Just below that, also click on enable link under GPU Accelerated Canvas 2D.

Note: If you're using Chrome 11, 'GPU Accelerated Compositing' is activated by default. For Mac users, you can only enable GPU Accelerated Compositing; GPU Accelerated Canvas 2D is not yet available.

Step 4 Scroll down a little, and click on enable Web Page Prerendering.

Step 5 Finally, hit the Restart button at the bottom of the page.

You're done!

How To: Watch YouTube, Netflix on Sticky, Floating Window While Keeping Other Apps Opened

Ever wanted to watch your favourite movies and TV shows on Netflix or YouTube while opening other work-related apps? Well now, you can continue to look busy and pretend working while enjoying your guilty pleasure movies on Netflix and YouTube.

Being able to dock YouTube or Netflix videos on a nice, overlay window that floats over other opened apps is one great feature Google Chrome and Firefox could introduce to its core. Sadly though, that picture-in-picture (PiP) feature is currently not supported in their recent version for both Windows and Mac. So we are all left in the dark, given the classic option of staying within the browser to continue watching your favorite stuff.

But, someone decided to change that.

A Chrome extension called Picture in Picture for YouTube & Other adds an unofficial PiP support for Chrome that works well with YouTube, Facebook and Netflix. Which means, you can pop out virtually any active playing video into a small, draggable mini-mode window that sits nicely on top of other opened apps.

Watch Netflix, YouTube in Foreground While Keeping Other Windows Opened

Picture in Picture for YouTube & Other promises to give you the best viewing experience (and distractions) on popular sites like YouTube, Netflix and Facebook. Essentially, it lets you watch Netflix or YouTube videos on overlay mini-window that floats over other opened windows.

Here's How to Watch Netflix In Floating, Resizable Windows

1. Launch Google Chrome and install Picture in Picture for YouTube & Other. Installation should take no more than a minute. Once installed, you should see this icon:

   

2. Now, go to Netflix or YouTube and play a video of interest.
3. Once a video begins to load, click on that tiny PiP icon. Netflix or YouTube video player should automatically dock at the bottom right of your screen as an overlay. Feel free to drag or resize it.
4. Now, head back to whatever it is you're working and continue juggling emails or pretend you're busy writing stuff, etc.

Get Instant Lyrics for Grooveshark, Spotify and YouTube Web Players with This Cool Add-on

The really nice thing about this Chrome add-on is that it continues to play your Netflix or YouTube videos in a nice resizable floating overlay even if you're opening other apps like office apps, CRMs, code editor, and just about anything. Just make sure the video is actively playing in a tab.

Here's me watching Polar on Netflix while opening my code editor.

Here's yours truly listening to TED Talks on YouTube

New Browser Extension "Turn Off The Lights" Gives YouTubers The Feel Like They're In A Cinema

Now feel free to share the good news below using social buttons below or subscribe via email to get notified for goodies like this in the future.

New Chrome Extension by Google Scans All Your Leaked Passwords Online, Alerts You To Update Your Credentials

Google launches Password Checkup, a Chrome extension that alerts you if your login information appear in a data breach known to Google.

Several months ago, the internet is awash with news of data breaches and scandals perpetrated by bounty hunters, ransomware and bored security scientists. A handful of apps and services have been affected including Yahoo, Spotify, Netflix, Facebook among others.

The incident expectedly sparked outrage, prompting tech companies to revisit and beef up their cybersecurity and alert its millions of users to change their passwords immediately.

Yours truly wasn't spared from these leaks. A few months ago I discovered that my Spotify account had been used somewhere by a device I don't recognize, which fortunately had been patched up by Spotify. And of all the horrors of data leaks affecting my own personal account, the one that takes the cake: I discovered that my Gmail login information was publicly being dumped in a public domain for everyone to see.

Apple's New Patent Gives iOS Quick Access to Camera, Bypassing Passwords & Biometrics

That's where I began to take a serious look and acknowledged that there was indeed a data breach going on, prompting me to add few more security layers to all my online accounts including setting up two-factor authentication (2FA). Lucky to those who constantly monitor their online activities, but for those uninformed users who remained clueless of their exposed credentials, they might be in big trouble.

And that's what inspires Google to launch Password Checkup, a Chrome extension that alerts you when your passwords are no longer safe and prompts to re-secure your account.

How does it work?

As soon as you install Password Checkup from Chrome web store, every time you sign in to any sites, a hashed and encrypted copy of your login information are sent to Google in the background and it alerts you when your username and password are publicly exposed on the web. Password Checkup will then prompt you to reset your password immediately if it's deemed unsafe to use.

How does Google know if my passwords are no longer safe?

Google keeps a copy of virtually any dumped usernames and passwords publicly accessible online. And that makes it possible for Password Checkup to do a quick lookup against Google's internal database of around four billion usernames and passwords crawled from popular dumping sites like Pastebin and Github.

Google's Password Checkup is not the first of its kind that helps you identify if your accounts have been compromised. Popular password manager app 1Password previously gets Watchtower integration that compares your credentials against Have I Been Pwned's database.

BitLet: Lets You Download Torrent Files Using Only Your Browser

Previously on this blog we have talked about Torrific, a free web-based torrent downloader that allows you to download torrent files using only your Chrome, Firefox or any browser of your choice. Torrific generates a direct link of any valid .torrent link and then present that torrent in a single, manageable zip file. Torrific also is a good alternative if you're looking for ways on how to download torrent file using only your iPhone, Android, Symbian or any mobile handsets.

Download Specific Parts, Portions Of YouTube Videos

Torrific is already awesome, but just as no one is saint to give anything free with no flaws, Torrific also poses limitations and may not always work over time. Thankfully, there's such a good website that works almost similar to Torrific; it lets you download torrent files using only your web browser.

BitLet: Download Torrent Files Using Chrome, Opera, or Firefox Browser [link]

BitLet is a web service that gives torrent downloaders a new option to share, download torrent files online. BitLet can be a good alternative to Torrific as it can download torrent files using only your web browser -- no BitTorrent needed.

BitLet is very easy to use; you just have to enter a valid .torrent URL and allow BitLet to connect to the swarm on behalf of the end user. BitLet will then prompt you for download folder where you want to save the file.

Download, Save Files Straight To Cloud Storage Providers With CloudSave

BitLet is also available as browser extension on Google Chrome. Once installed, Chrome automatically
detects all the links to torrent files within the pages you're browsing and it will make those links open BitLet's download popup, allowing you to start downloading in a few clicks.

How To: Automatically Logout Of Facebook After Certain Time (Chrome)

Sounds absurd but this kind of application can be useful too.

An app that can automatically log you out from Facebook after certain time may not be something you'll use everyday. But just in case you're on a shared computer and you don't want others to mess around with your account, this category of app is proved useful.

Facebook Auto Log Out: Automatically Logs You Out From Facebook After User-Specified Time (link)

Meet Facebook Auto Log Out, a nifty Chrome extension designed to do just that. Using the add-on is pretty straightforward; just install the add-on from Chrome Web Store, log in to Facebook, set a timer, and you'll be logged out automatically when your time is up. It's that simple

This is particularly helpful for people who have this hobby of leaving the computer opened/unattended.

New iPhone App Automatically Captures a Photo of Anyone Who Touches Your iDevice

Another, rather more advanced, Chrome extension is Auto Logout. It automatically logs you out of all logged in accounts including Gmail when your browser is closed, recommended for use in shared computers to help keep different accounts safe.

How To: Find Who Deleted, Removed You As Friend On Facebook

Ever wanted to know who deleted you on Facebook? Ever wondered why the number of your Facebook friends has changed? Want to get notified when someone removes you as friend on Facebook? Facebookers who're curious (and hurt) about those who took time removing you as friend on Facebook can now take advantage of a handful of tools that tell you whether someone unfriends you on Facebook.

At first, I thought of it as a scam. Who would ever thought this is possible when Facebook has this restrictive policy especially when it comes to privacy thing? But again I was wrong; it is actually possible to find out who unfriended or removed you as friend on Facebook, and am going to show you how:

Find Out Who Deleted, Unfriended You On Facebook

The first method that we're going to use is Unfriend Finder, a browser extension designed for major web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera. Unfriend Finder, as what the name goes, tracks your friend's list and notifies you for any irregularities or "unfriends" made by your friends.

For Mozilla Firefox Users:

If you're using Firefox, you need to install Greasemonkey first, it's a Firefox add-on, to make Unfriend Finder work for you. By the time you have Greasemonkey installed, download Unfriend Finder for Firefox. Once Unfriend Finder is installed, close the tab with Facebook, or/and open a new tab and go to Facebook.com. You should be welcomed with the introduction to Unfriend Friend, where it will take you through the necessary steps, and tips you need to get started.

For Google Chrome Users:

For non-Firefox users like Chrome, the process should be fairly simple. Just search for Unfriend Finder in Google Web Store or you can download Unfriend Finder for Chrome here. Once installed, go to Facebook.com and you should get the same welcome screen.

NOTE: Be sure to uninstall all previous extensions of Unfriend Finder to make it work.

"Who Deleted Me?" also is worth a try. This is a free service that notifies you via email whenever a friend removes you as friend on Facebook. The only downside for this is that email notification is delivered weekly, bi-monthly or monthly. And "unfriends" made prior to the installation/integration of "Who Deleted Me?" are not recorded.

Buttonizer Gives You Cleaner and Neater Viewing Area by Turning a Toolbar Into a Button (Firefox)

Many who alternate between using Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox know that the latter always comes with many toolbars. Unfortunately, as more toolbars and extensions are used, Firefox can become cluttered, so your viewing area for webpages become less and less in time.

A Firefox extension called Buttonizer solves this problem.

Remove, Uninstall Browser Extensions, Toolbars All At Once – For Chrome, IE and Firefox

If you use small screen PC, you can get more space in your browser with Buttonizer without having to hide the toolbars from view and without sacrificing the viewing area. This Firefox add-on converts a complete tool bar into a simple button on the address bar.

How it works?

All you need to do is download and install Buttonizer from the Mozilla add-on site (link). Once installed, you will need to restart Firefox. After this, you will see Buttonizer as a button on the right side of your Address bar. All you need to do is to right-click on it and then select which toolbars can be converted to a button.


Once a toolbar is selected, it becomes hidden. When you mouse over the Buttonizer, you can access the hidden toolbar again.

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However, you can only set one toolbar at a time to a button. When you right click the Buttonizer button and select another toolbar as a button, the previous toolbar will revert to normal. The advantage of this app is that you no longer need to click so many buttons just to retrieve a hidden toolbar on the browser. The app works sort of like a button shortcut.


According to its developer, Byungwook Kang from South Korea, Buttonizer works great if you are using a small screen such as from a laptop or netbook. The next step for Kang and Buttonizer is adding multiple button support.

Download: Buttonizer (Firefox)