Google Calendar Checker - Review

This extension is a busy person's friend. Indeed, it pops up your Google calendar in a new tab with a click of a button. Here you are presented with various tools to help plan out every half hour of the day.

Need that important meeting checked? This extension is for you!

The improvements I see is that the calendar have a quick display when I click the button so I don't need to navigate away from the tab I am working with. This way I can simply quickly check my calendar without disturbing my work. I hope this can be taken into consideration in the future.

Google Mail Checker - Possible Improvements

The Google Mail Checker extension is a useful tool for conveniently checking your email. You can click on the icon and be taken straight to your inbox which opens in a new tab. The icon displays the number of unread messages in your inbox.

There is, however, a minor bug which fails to update the Unread Messages icon after you have read those messages. This can be annoying as immediately after reading an email and "checking" your email you still get the icon telling you that you have Unread messages.

You can fix it by simply clicking the icon and updating the unread messages. However it would be nice that have a dynamic updater so that after reading all the messages you would feel satisfied that it is all done.

Chromey Calculator - Extension Review

This extension is a very versatile tool, helping you get almost any mathematical result.

It is connected to the powerful Google and Wolfram|Alpha calculators.

For example, typing 10! gives you 10 factorial which is 628800.


You can even immediately calculate 100! = 9.33262154 × 10

^

¹⁵⁷


Overall this is a great extension for all math lovers.

Chrome vs Firefox

Among the top giants of browser market I prefer Google Chrome over Firefox. Here is why:

1. Faster cold start  - On my PC Chrome takes only 1 second to launch after I have just turned on my PC. However, I have noticed that Firefox usually takes around 4-5 seconds.
2. Streamlined look - I enjoy the minimalist design of Chrome that focuses on the webpage rather than taking up useless space. Also the interface is more aesthetic.
3. Ease of making apps, extensions and themes - Chrome has a much more intuitive extension development facility. There are a lot of room for flexibility as well.
4. Less memory hungry - Chrome does not make your PC freeze when you open many tabs. This has happened many times when I used Firefox.
5. More stable - Generally I have experienced less crashes and better debugging for errors with Chrome.
6. Better sense of humor - Google as a company creates awesome accessible tools and Chrome is one of them.

The Chrome Marketplace

This exciting new store will open in late 2010 according to Google. Here developers can publish apps, extensions and themes for users to buy or download for free.

If you are selling your app, the minimum price tag is USD 1.99. Google will take 5% of your earnings as well as a 30 cent surplus.

The Chrome Web Store

How to create your own Chrome Extension

It is simple to create and publish your own chrome extensions if you know some basic html, css and javascript.

1. Create a Google Chrome Extension Developer Account.
2. You need to pay $5 to be able to upload your extensions on the google site.
3. A "Hello World" program here is a good place to get an idea of how a chrome extension works.
4. Read the documentation here to learn about the feature chrome supports.
5. Also see some source code examples.

After these steps you should be all set to develop your own extensions and put them up for the world to see.

Top Chrome Extensions

Google Chrome is one of the latest to hit the browser market. The state of the art browser first released in 2008 has grown to become the 3rd most popular web browser with a market share of almost 10%.

Like its contender - Mozilla Firefox - the browser boast a wide assortment of extensions that add extra functionality (similar to Firefox add-ons).

Here are some of the most useful Google Chrome Extensions:

Mail Checker - This adds a button near your address bar from which it displays the number of unread emails and takes you to your mail when you click the button.

My IP -  Allows you to easily and quickly see your IP address online.

Google Calendar Checker - Easily see the time left to your next meeting or event. Click the button to open the calendar.