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Chrome extension adds 'Animal Crossing' music to every website
In Animal Crossing, life isn't supposed to be stressful. Whether you're catching bugs, rearranging furniture or simply chatting with your fellow townsfolk, each game has always offered relaxing and utterly charming moments of escapism. The soundtracks complement the laid-back gameplay perfectly, and now you can listen to them through Google's Chrome browser too. As Polygon reports, a fan-made extension adds a tiny K.K. Slider to the toolbar which, once activated, plays tunes that correspond with the time of day.
Can I Stream It makes movie night simpler
The way we watch movies and television is evolving, as more people adopt on-demand video. But still, the old question remains: "What's on that's worth watching?" The free web service Can I Stream It can help provide an answer. It lets you search for your favorite shows and movies to see if they are available on popular streaming, rental and digital purchase services. Can I Stream It will notify you when a currently unavailable program or film later becomes available on your selected services. Can I Stream It is available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and as a Chrome extension. Just today, I was poking around and discovered Snatch, one of my favorite Guy Ritchie flims, available on YouTube for free. Being so used to watching streaming content via Netflix and Hulu Plus, I had forgotten YouTube streams many full-length movies because of large content providers like Crackle. The next time you find yourself in the mood for some Aaron Sorkin, Charlie Kaufman or Ernest P. Worrell, Can I Stream It can whisk you away into the cinematic worlds of The Newsroom, Synecdoche, New York or Kamp Kikakee.
Browser extension enables SkyDrive attachments within Gmail
Gmail users who envy Outlook's SkyDrive integration will find that the proverbial grass is now a little greener on their side, thanks to fresh features in Attachments.me's Chrome and Firefox browser extensions. With the plugin installed, files residing in Microsoft's cloud service can be attached to emails from within Gmail. Also included in the update is support for user-created rules that can direct attachments to SkyDrive as they flood into inboxes. Can't wait for Gmail to gain similar support with Google Drive, or just prefer Redmond's storage solution? Hit the source link below to infuse Mountain View's web mail with some of Microsoft's storage locker mojo.
Google's Language Immersion Chrome extension translates random text to teach foreign lingo
Berlitz may be the best way to learn a foreign language, but most of us have neither the time nor the ability to fully immerse ourselves in the vocabulary of another country. Hot on the heels of Gmail's automatic translation feature hitting the big time, Google's Translate team has crafted a Chrome extension to make language learning a bit more accessible. The extension does the trick by translating random portions of text to any of its 64 supported languages, so that your native tongue is interspersed with the lingo you're learning. Users have a sliding scale to set their knowledge level from novice to fluent, and can roll over translated words to hear how they should be pronounced. Interested? Peep a video demo after the break to see it in action, or take the plunge and install it at the source below.
Download APKs from the Android Market with a Chrome extension
APK Downloader is a Chrome extension that does exactly what its name advertises -- download APKs from the Android Market site. Getting the tool up and running takes quite a bit more work than your average browser add-on, requiring you to edit the Chrome shortcut to disable SSL error warnings, but it's hardly rocket science. This should make sideloading apps much easier and give you a chance to try software yourself, even if a developer seems to think its app wont work with your device. There is, of course, room for abuse and it does violate the Market's ToS -- so try it at your own risk. If you're unfazed, hit up the source link for complete instructions.
Google tests the 'do not track' waters with a Chrome extension (Update)
Well, that didn't take long. One day after agreeing to implement a do not track button as part of a new consumer bill of rights, Google has given the people what they want... sort of. Keep My Opt-Outs is a Chrome extension, developed by the Mountain View team, that will prevent advertisers from using your browsing history against you. Presumably, this function will get built straight into the browser one day but, for now, you have to go dig it up in the Chrome Web Store -- far from an ideal solution. Still, a tepid step into the shallow end is better than no step at all. You can install the extension yourself at the source.Update: As a few of you have noted, this extension has actually been available for quite some time, since Google originally announced the ad cookie blocker back in 2011. Check out the details in the team's original Public Policy blog post and combine it with a dose of web history cleaning to keep your activities to yourself.
Disconnect browser extension keeps pesky cookies in check, blocks third-party tracking requests
Internet Explorer 9 may block 'em in 2011, and the US government's on the case too, but you don't have to wait for Microsoft or bureaucracy to keep your privacy paramount if you browse with Rockmelt or Chrome. That's because former Google developer Brian Kennish just released Disconnect, an extension for either one, that banishes Digg, Facebook, Google, Twitter and Yahoo tracking requests (more companies are on the way) as you make your merry way across the web. Install and you'll find a nice little "d" icon on your browser's status bar, with a drop-down menu exposing exactly how many requests you've blocked from each service, and the option to manually disable blocking at will. Why bother? Don't you want to keep that secret love of Thanko products all to yourself?
iPad and Chromium OS dance on video
Oh Hexxeh, you sly tease. Yesterday, we saw the Chromium OS impresario post up an image of Google's browser-centric environment running around inside Apple's iPad and today he's followed it up with a video. Unfortunately, it's not the best performance demo in the world and is all too brief, but it does show touch sensitivity (kinda) functioning and -- the strongest evidence that we're no longer using iOS -- a mouse cursor! Join us after the break as we follow the fascinating journey of an attempted Spotify Extension installation in Chrome. [Thanks, Aaron]
