Browser

browser

I was wrong, Turns out Chrome Extensions aren't ready yet

I'm attending the Developing Extensions for Google Chrome session right now, which is hosted by Aaron Boodman who is noted for being the creator of the Greasemonkey Firefox Extension and who now works at Google, and is working on Chrome Extensions.

Shut down for an hour

For the second year in a row, my wife and I participated in Earth Hour. At 8:30 I hit the main breaker in our apartment shutting everything down for an hour. During that time we read together by candlelight and reflected on just how much energy we use on a day to day basis. It was amazing to us how quiet it was without the ambient hum of electronics running, serving our whims, and it was humbling to think how hard it seemed to read by candlelight and how much we rely on technology for every aspect of our lives.

Google Chrome Extensions Coming Out by May!

That's right, I said it, and so far I'm the only one who has. Google has announced that extensions are coming to Google Chrome but have been mum on when. However I saw something today, that indicates the timetable may be short. Google officially opened up registration for Google I/O 2009, their third annual (first one was just called Google Developer Day) Developer's Conference.

Google Chrome Extensions Session at Google I/O 2009

Like last year, it will take place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Along with the open pre-registration, they've also posted a list of Sessions (subject to change). High up on the list is a session entitled "Developing extensions for Google Chrome" which contains the following description:

Learn how Google Chrome makes it easy to write extensions using the web technologies you already know. This talk will cover the basics of the extension system (distribution/packaging, installation, updates), as well as the different APIs to enhance with the browser.

I'd say this is a safe bet that if Extensions are not released BEFORE Google I/O, then they will be released as a new feature AT Google I/O. Extensions are coming, but what about Mac Support?

Google Chrome will probably support Firefox Extensions! - UPDATED

Well I feel like an idiot, as the commenter below pointed out, the link I mentioned was a bookmark itself, not a "get bookmark plugins" link, but it was showing up in my list of bookmarks, which means that, as the commenter said, this bookmark had been imported from Firefox, and was not actually an indication that Google Chrome was intending to support Firefox Extensions.

The truth of the matter is I was so surprised to find the link, that I didn't think about logical reasons why that link might have been there. I spun up a fresh copy of Windows on VMWare after the commenter posted, and did an installation of Google Chrome where Firefox had never existed. The link I mentioned below did not exist, which means the commenter was right, it did indeed come from an import of Firefox bookmarks. I'm big enough to admit that I'm wrong.

For archival purposes, my original, incorrect, blog post is after the break. My review of the things I like about Chrome still stands, although my foolish thought that Chrome will support Firefox extensions does not.

All Primed Up - Amazon is Brilliant

I've been a member of Amazon Prime for over about 2 years now, and I was just thinking today what brilliant marketing it is. By paying a nominal yearly fee, I get free two day shipping, or really cheap next day shipping on everything I buy from them, but does it save me any money?

Keeping in Step, how to Sync your iPhone's Calendar with Google Calendar

I love Google Apps for Domains, I use it for all of my domains, I've even setup holodeck3.com with the Partner edition so that my users can get @holodeck3.com email accounts and services through them. Google does a lot, for free, and they do it well. I'm also a Mac an an iPhone user. I am never without my iPhone, and only rarely without my laptop.

Google has, over time gotten a lot better at providing me with services I need in order to keep my world more in sync. I was glad to be in the early adoption crowd of users for IMAP on GMail, and the first person among my group of friends to get IMAP support on my Google Apps for Domains accounts. This has helped a lot as my iPhone is now what I use for email when I'm away from my laptop, and in fact I find myself not going to the computer quite as often when I'm "off duty" because of it.

I love Google Calendar and prefer to have my calendar events in Google as opposed to simply a local Calendar on my computer or phone, however when I am at my computer, using iCal is so much easier then using Google Calendar (and having to keep yet another browser window open), and then of course there's the little matter of keeping my calendar on the iPhone so I have my events easily at hand. Google has long allowed you to subscribe to a Google Calendar using iCal's ics format, but this was one way, only allowing you to read your Google calendar in iCal, not make changes to it. Until very recently the best way to keep iCal in sync with Google Calendar is to use Spanning Sync, a $25 program (use this link and you can get $5 off!), that keeps your calendar in iCal in sync both ways with your calendar on Google.

GMail Down

GMail Down
In the latest in my ongoing series of Major websites experiencing outages, GMail has been down for at least the last hour. Google's Mail service is excellent and over all I've always been pleased with it.

Google I/O - Part II - The Opening Keynote

Google is following it's trend from last year's Google Developer Day by posting up videos of all of the sessions on YouTube, but so far I can only find the Opening Keynote. They promised that they would upload them all within a week, so expect more parts of my reviews of Google I/O as they become available.

Syndicate content