Celebrate Labor Day by making every other day of the year less laborious. Rated as the top web browser for both Macs and Windows, Google Chrome has tons of cool features and extensions for everything from making surfing the Internet even faster, more secure and productive (gasp!), to adding a much-needed dash of unicorn magic and rainbow sparkles.
MORE on GLOSS: A Newer, Shinier Chrome 6 Browser Arrives!
Not only did it perform the best in speedtests conducted by Lifehacker, but Chrome also supports HTML5, making features like video playback and drag-and-drop possible without having to download annoying third-party plug-ins. Chrome users also enjoy a wide array of features, including a customizable New Tab page, designer browser themes, password manager, Autofill, automatic translation, an extension gallery (more on that later), and Omnibox which combines Google search with your address bar.
One of Chrome’s coolest feature though is the “sandbox,” a security mechanism that prevents a webpage from interacting with the rest of your system. Each Chrome tab or window has its own separate sandbox that runs the applications required to properly load a webpage. So, if an attacker exploits your browser with malicious code, the sandbox acts like an inexplicable force field during a lightsaber duel in “Star Wars: Episode 1″ to contain the threat, keeping it isolated from the rest your entire system (or Jedi).
Both Mac and Windows users can also customize Chrome in a number of ways such as choosing a browser theme (pictured below) designed by the likes of Vivienne Westwood, artist Jeff Koons and band The Gossip among others, and downloading any of the thousands of Chrome Extensions currently available to improve your browsing experience.
Most visited sites are laid out for easy access, and recently closed pages are listed below just in case.
In a nutshell, extensions are extra features that are downloaded to add ease and functionality to your Chrome browser. Icon buttons for each extension will appear in the upper right-hand corner of the browser, allowing you to access favorite websites or services with just one click, and saving you a few extra steps.
When browsing the Extension Gallery, check out the ratings and developer info. Anyone can submit an extension they’ve created so the quality can be uneven, so your best bets will be the ones by Google or a verified author, or that have a high rating and download rate. Extensions or plug-ins tend to slow down other browsers, but Chrome, even with a dozen extensions, can load pages without skipping a beat or using up too much memory. It’s highly configurable, too – easily manage extensions and clear out clutter with Chrome Extensions Manager (chrome://extensions/).
Of course, Google Chrome Extensions require Google Chrome, so if you don’t have it yet, download it for Windows, Mac and Linux platforms at google.com/chrome. You’ll want to get Chrome 6, Google’s latest version and first stabile build of Chrome 6. It’s packed with even more cool features – read the rundown here for more info.
For a visual demonstration of Chrome’s capabilities, check out Arcade Fire’s customizable music video “experience” at thewildernessdowntown.com. It was designed with the help from the Google Chrome team and is pretty much one of the coolest things I’ve seen online lately.
There are more than 6,000 extensions to choose from but here are my top 21:
Productivity
- FastestChrome Chrome is pretty awesome as it stands but with FastestChrome, you will be unstoppable (as far as web browsing). Just like the Firefox plug-in, this top rated extension adds extra search options to the Omnibar, automatically loads the next page so you don’t have to click “Next,” and turns text URLs into links for quick navigation. Highlight text on the page and it pulls up a Wikipedia definition as well as a list of search engines so you can look-up related articles.
- Extensions For Google Fans Display the number of unread messages in your Gmail Inbox or quickly access your Google Calendar, Flickr or Picasa account, Blogspot, and Google Maps — there are even buttons for composing a new Gmail message, and for sharing a webpage via your social networks, e-mail and blogs.
- Remember the Milk for Gmail I admit: I have difficulty accomplishing everyday essential grown-up tasks. Thanks, Robot Unicorn Attack and Keyboard Cat. But using RTM, I can at least try to manage a list of to-dos (complete, postpone, and edit tasks), add new ones (and connect them with your emails, contacts, and Google Calendar events), and much more, right in my Gmail. With ChromeMilk, view your tasks from the browser in the form of a handy pop-up menu for quick reference.
- StayFocused One second, you’re answering work e-mails, and the next, you’re playing FarmVille. For 5 hours. Now it’s already 2PM and you have yet to get any actual work done. For those who lack the discipline to merely abstain from time-wasting websites, StayFocused restricts the amount of time that can be spent on particular websites. Once you use up your allotted time for the day, you’ll be blocked from the site, forcing you to focus on the work at hand.
- LastPass Keep track of all your passwords! After adding this extension, you can create a secure LastPass account that will import your existing passwords from other browsers or other password storage vendors, and fill in default data for autofill forms (name, address, birthday, etc.), including credit card info. Automatically logs you off after an idle session and shares your log-in state with other browsers. LastPass is free but iPhone service is available for only $1 a month!
- Stop Autoplay for YouTube Prevents YouTube videos from automatically playing but will still allow for pre-buffering — crucial for anyone lagging on a slow network! UPDATED: YouTube has recently made a few changes that have effected a few of the extensions. Try SmartVideo for more control over YouTube buffering, quality and playing options, but they may be a bit buggy until the developers update the extensions.
- WOT A circle of trust for the Internet by using a stoplight system to let you know if a website has been rated by as safe to use.
- ChromeyCalculator For me, pulling up the calculator function on my computer is far too taxing and annoying – probably because it’s pretty lousy. This uses a printer-tape function to show your history, convert units and currency, and pull up a source link on Google, should you question Chromey’s abilities. Want to kick up your heels with a few vector calculations, derivatives and integrals? You can do that, too!
Social Networks and News
- Facebook This extension uses Facebook Connect to let you read your new messages, notifications, news feed and Wall, as well as post status updates.
- Tweetbeat Get first-hand Twitter updates from people or organizations mentioned on a website.
- Combine Your Social Networks If you don’t want a separate extension for every social network, Yoono, Firefox’s top plug-in, or AOL Lifestream lets you read and update your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Digg, and more – all in one place.
- Feedly Customizes your Chrome start-up page with all your favorite content from sites and services including Google Reader, Twitter, Delicious, YouTube and Amazon.
- NPR I spent almost every afternoon of my childhood with my parents, Michele Norris, Melissa Block and Robert Siegel – I’m pretty sure time stops if “All Things Considered” doesn’t air every afternoon. With this extension, I can listen to NPR stories as I surf the web, set up custom feeds based on a keywords and read the latest headlines, at peace knowing life still goes on.
- Huffington Post Get up to-the-minute reports, headlines, and analysis with quick-view articles from all sections of the Huffington Post. You can share to your social networks, leave comments, and more.
Just For Fun
- Turn off the Lights Fade the background to black when you watch a video online for that cinematic, darkened theatre feeling – even if it’s just that sneezing baby panda video on YouTube.
- Invisible Hand This discreetly notifies you if the product you’re looking at is available somewhere else at a lower price then pulls up a link that takes you right to it.
- Photo Cats Who knows how why or how, but the Internet is obsessed with cats. For your amusement, this pulls up photos of whatever furry feline it can locate on Flickr. Cheers all around!
- Upside Down Your friend is using your computer to check her e-mail and all of a sudden, the text is flipped upside down. Is she insane? In the Matrix? It’s just Upside Down, an extension with functions that let you play planks on the unsuspecting by flipping a webpage, all of the images or everything but the images. Execute a flip immediately or delay it using the ‘time bomb’ timer. Just be sure to avoid using the world “Punk’d.”
- Cornify! The world’s #1 unicorn and rainbow sparkle service – you’ll wonder how the Internet ever ran without it.
- ExtensionFM Turns the Internet into your personal music library. This indexes every MP3 file you come across as you browse the web to build a music library. It will also check the sites you’ve already visited, adding new tracks every day.
Do you have a favorite that didn’t make the list? Share it with us in the comments section — if it’s a truly major oversight than I’ll update the post to include it!
Share your tech questions, comments, Internet discoveries, or any unicorn-related anecdotes via e-mail to Jennifer Latkiewicz at geekgloss@mygloss.com.
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geekGLOSS’ Jennifer Latkiewicz loves all things Google. She currently resides in Los Angeles where she remains undecided about the Singularity. Reach her via e-mail at 
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