SharondaWoodfin.net

Feedly for Chrome: It's a Beautiful Thing

This should've been a part of Keeping Connected with Chrome. If it had been, though, that page would still be loading for some of my dial-up buddies. And I would've been jumping my own gun, since I didn't actually try Feedly for Chrome 'til after that post was published.

I haven't tried in Feedly in any environment other than the Google Chrome browser. I don't intend to, for the time being. And if you want more technical info, you can always drop by the Feedly site; but, for my intents and purposes, nearly everything that needs to be said can be said via screen shots:

Some small voice in the back of my head is wanting to scream something about privacy, but in this case, that little voice is on its own. And it would appear, dear reader, that so are you. You'll have to research, without me, any privacy issues that may or may not exist with Feedly. My feed-reading has never been this organized, this clean, or this pleasant, at any point in my online life. So, if you do find something amiss in the way Feedly operates, post it somewhere else. Unless you also have a better suggestion for making my feed-reading experience as smooth as Feedly has made it, I really don't want to know.

Get the Chrome extension here.

Keeping Connected with Chrome

A few months ago, I became impressed with Google Chrome's handling of streaming video. Now, on my new machine, which has a helluva lot more memory than my XP box had, I find that I'm using Chrome more often than any other browser. One reason for this switch is that my friends -- who really should know better, because they're painfully aware of my tendency to obsess -- got me hooked on FarmVille. That's right. I spend my days raising cranberries and rice on Facebook, and it's been my experience that Facebook is just less glitchy in Chrome than it is in Firefox. And since I'm spending all that time using Chrome, anyway, I might as well dig the hooks a little deeper, right?

Done. A few extensions later and Chrome is that bad girl who just won't play safe (no script control), lets me do pretty much what I want, and looks good the whole damned time. The extensions I've installed are Chromed Bird, Google Mail Checker Plus, and Google Voice (by Google). The icons for these extensions appear just after Chrome's address/search bar, and they really are kind of pretty:

Yeah. That's right. I've got 504 unread messages in my Gmail inbox. In fact, as I write this, that count has grown to 507. And it would probably grow exponentially if not for one little thing: The extension I've installed in Chrome lets me delete emails directly from the pop-up panel:

 
I can also hop straight to an e-mail, archive it, or send it to spam, directly from that pop-up. This thing is a saviour of both time and space, man. But I still keep Google Notifier running, too, so that I can actually hear when a new e-mail arrives.

Next up is Chromed Bird, my new favorite Twitter thingy. Note that it has a pop-up similar to the Gmail checker's:

It's pretty much a standard Twitter client, but it's the first one I've used that has a column just for my lists. (Yes, that last tab does say "Xena-related".) I'm sure that's an old experience for some of you, but keep in mind that this is my second Windows machine, and that I sometimes learn from my mistakes. I tried out heavy-ass desktop Twitter apps, most of which ran on a heavy-ass platform I also had to install, on my old machine. But the new box won't be subjected to install-a-go-go. Twitter thingies have to be either gadgets, browser extensions/widgets, or Windows-native apps to even get a consideration. 

And the last extension is only rarely useful. I don't call people very often, and most of the people who call me don't use my Google Voice number. You can see by the datestamps that there's just not a lot of urgency in my Voice inbox:

 
 What's truly useful about this extension, though, is the ability to make calls from the pop-up:

 This is especially handy if, like me, you have a phone in another room, and some of the buttons on that phone are stubborn, but people insist on making calls with the other-roomed, stubborn-buttoned phone, and they want you to do the dialing.

A summary of what we've learned so far:

1. Google Chrome is pretty, and its extensions are, too.
2. Some of Chrome's extensions are actually really useful.
3. Chrome extensions enable folks like me to get roped into being other people's FarmVille neighbor and/or telephone dialer, without it putting major crimps in my online lifestyle.
4. As enjoyable as Chrome's company is, for security's sake, one should probably stay married to Firefox.
5. There's a strong chance that your Facebook friends are evil.

Giving Google Chrome One Final Chance to Shine

I've tried Google Chrome before, and contrary to almost every review and comment I've read about the browser, found it to be resource-heavy. But yesterday, I was exhausted. On the days when I'm too tired to write a coherent blog post or string together passable product descriptions, I tend to download and try out applications. After a quick run with Seesmic for Windows (via Lifehacker), I decided to try Chrome for what I'm guesstimating is the third or fourth time.

I hemmed and hawed, trying to choose between the stable version, the beta version, or a standalone installation, but ended up going with build 4.0.223.16, discussed here. And Chrome is now set as my default browser. I still have the same concerns about Chrome's security that I mentioned late last month, and am still using both Firefox and Opera for particular purposes (including POD, browsing with TOR, and, yes, general surfing); but this build of Chrome impressed me with its lightweight performance.

What impressed me the most, though, was how Chrome handles streaming video. Last night, I watched Heroes on Hulu. The episode had to buffer a grand total of one time, and then, only for a few seconds. Video was crisp, snags in playback were nonexistent, and -- just for a while -- I managed to forget that I was watching the show online. From there, I went to Netflix for my nightly dose of Xena, and the improvement vs. playback in Firefox was remarkable, there, too: no freezes, and, what delighted me most, no heavy pixelization in the action scenes.

This post will be the test to see how well it performs with TypePad, but I already know that Chrome works with Zazzle. I was able to create and edit products with the browser, but -- although its form autofill feature is nice for logins -- I can't see Chrome as a POD workhorse until it has something similar to Firefox's InFormEnter and  ColorZilla. 

While I have my doubts about the features of those two Firefox extensions being added directly to Chrome, what I could see happening is beefing up user control of security a la Opera. If NoScript-style functionality isn't doable, then please, let me disable JavaScript but re-enable it for specific sites through site-specific preferences. If Opera is any indication, that sort of functionality can be included in a browser without weighing it down like Firefox's extensions sometimes do.

Please, Google, I want to love your browser! I already love its speed and simplicity. I adore its video performance. I get that you're trying to do something different with the browsing experience. But security is crucial. Give Chrome that one little piece of peace-of-mind polish, and I'll actually start recommending it instead of Firefox.

California Assembly Bill 1176, Google, and Browsing Security

I had just finished reading Schwarzenegger letter: read it vertically! at Ossome!. I wanted to know what the bill that Arnold Schwarzenegger had returned unsigned was all about, so I searched for "California 1176" (minus the quotes) on Google's Caffeine. I clicked the first link in the results...

And up popped Avast's primary-colored warning bar! Sirens began to wail! I was presented with the option to abort the connection. I took that option. I closed Firefox. I ran CCleaner. And a couple of targeted Avast and Malwarebytes scans later, no malicious code was found.

But what if I hadn't been running an anti-virus with Web Shield? What if I hadn't been running Firefox with NoScript or Opera with its built-in per-site JavaScript and plug-in controls? Would a quick click on a link in Caffeine's search results have resulted in a drive-by infection if I had been using a less secure browser or a less proactive anti-virus?

I don't want to know. Layered security means I don't have to know, either.

Google, please man up on this. You dominate the search market. That means that experiences like I've had this morning -- going from a Google search result link to an infected site -- probably isn't all that uncommon. Granted, you can't be responsible for what people add to their sites, what assholes add to other people's sites, or what surfers ultimately choose to click on.

But you can make your own browser more secure. Please add some sort of granular, shift-on-the-fly, scripting control to Chrome!