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Google cuts off Chrome extensions that don't come from the Web Store
A while back Google said that it would stop letting Windows users install Chrome extensions that didn't come directly from the Web Store. The company ended up delaying the plan, but there is no more fighting it. Today users of the stable channel of Chrome on Windows will no longer be able to install extensions from outside the Web Store. That won't impact too many users thankfully, but it could make it difficult for those that like to run experimental add-ons. If you've already sideloaded extensions from outside of the Chrome Web Store, those will be disabled starting today; if you want to re-enable them, you'll have to make the switch to the dev channel of the browser. The idea is to protect users from malicious extensions that haven't made it through Google's screening process. Of course, OS X and Linux users can continue to use all the unapproved extensions they want. Apparently only Windows users need to be protected (perhaps from themselves).
AlienTube lets you replace YouTube comments with Reddit threads
YouTube is a wonderful part of living in modern times. Right now with a few simple keystrokes you can find video of almost anything from a tiny hamster eating tiny burritos to news reports directly from war zones. There are two tradeoffs for using YouTube. The first, advertising, is just part of paying for all this free content, but the second is a bane to most reasonable human beings. I speak, of course, of the comment section. YouTube's comment section is notorious for its cruelty, racism, profanity, and general trolling. It's often an unpleasant place to be, but now you can banish it from your life. AlienTube is a new extension for Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Opera that replaces your normal YouTube comments with Reddit comments. Instead of YouTube's comments, AlienTube shows you the sub-Reddits a video has been on, with tabs for each different sub-Reddit. Users can comment and vote directly from the YouTube site. This makes it easy to find the sort of discussion you're looking for, while avoiding the riffraff that YouTube's comment section has become notorious for. You can download the extension right here for free.
This Chrome add-on lets you copy and erase text inside any image on the web
What would you say if we told you that it's possible to copy, translate, edit and even erase the text inside any image you find on the internet? Well, you can, and it's a lot easier than you might think. All it requires is a new browser extension, called Project Naptha, made by developer Kevin Kwok. It uses a number of optical character recognition (OCR) algorithms, including libraries developed by Microsoft and Google, which quickly build a model of text regions, words and letters from nearly any image.
White House agrees to fund International Space Station until 2024
The International Space Station just got another lease on life. The White House has approved funding that would keep the floating lab running until "at least" 2024, as long as other countries also chip in. The additional funding should help both general science research as well as the human endurance studies that NASA needs for voyages to asteroids and Mars. The extension is primarily good news for those who want a long-term human presence in space; it's the second extension past the original 2015 decommissioning timeframe. It's also potentially good for business, as the deal will give SpaceX and other private spaceflight companies a better chance at growing their fledgling operations. [Image credit: NASA]
Google tightens Chrome Web Store rules to prevent toolbar overload
Many web veterans can share horror stories of friends and family who installed a few too many browser toolbars, some of them by accident. Google is clearly eager to avoid those disasters in Chrome -- it's instituting a new Chrome Web Store policy that will limit extensions to a single purpose. From now on, new extensions can't sneak in toolbars, secondary extensions or other features that aren't part of the core functionality. The move will create problems for honest developers who simply want to make rich add-ons, but Google is giving these code writers until June to either slim down or split up their current extensions. Although we doubt that everyone will like the stricter measures, they may be worthwhile if Chrome stays largely clutter-free.
Google improves its Santa tracking with a Chromecast-ready Android app (video)
Microsoft may have NORAD's blessing for its Santa Claus monitoring, but Google has a few tricks of its own this year. The search giant's latest Santa Tracker centers on an updated Android app (launching mid-December) with Chromecast TV streaming support -- you'll soon get to follow St. Nick from the comfort of your living room. If you'd prefer to keep tabs on him from the web, the company is promising both daily game and scene updates as well as a refreshed Chrome extension. Head to the source links if you'd like to explore Google's take on the Christmas spirit.
Google's new Chrome voice extension lets you search hands-free (video)
Google promised that we'd get hands-free voice search in Chrome back at I/O 2013, and it's delivering today with the beta of its Voice Search Hotword extension for desktop Chrome 31 users. As long as you're either sitting at Google's home page or have a new browser tab open, the add-on lets you start a search by saying "OK Google," much as you would in Android 4.4 KitKat. Anyone eager to move beyond mouse-and-keyboard queries can grab the extension today from the Chrome Web Store.
Chrome users on Windows will soon have to get extensions through Google's store
Google already hopes to prevent security threats in Chrome by blocking downloads, and it's now planning a similarly cautious approach for extensions. The company has announced that all extensions for the browser's Windows beta and stable versions must be hosted in the Chrome Web Store as of January. While developers and corporate users will still get to install add-ons from local sources, the rest of us will have to go through the official portal. The safeguard should reduce the chances that deceptive extensions hijack the app, according to engineering lead Erik Kay. Google tells us that there aren't any plans to put similar limits on other platforms, since most complaints about bad extensions come from Windows surfers. The policy could go a long way toward protecting Chrome, albeit at the expense of choice -- developers who don't want to go use the Web Store will soon be out of luck.
Apple releases Chrome and Firefox extensions for Windows for iCloud bookmark syncing
Apple has quietly released extensions for the Chrome and Firefox desktop browsers for Windows. The extensions allow Windows users to sync their Safari iOS bookmarks across the two browsers. Prior to the Firefox and Chrome extension release, iOS Safari bookmark syncing was limited to Windows Explorer via the iCloud Control Panel 2.1.2 for Windows app. Users can download the Chrome extension from Google's Chrome web store. According to its release notes: Keep your Chrome bookmarks up to date with the Safari bookmarks on your iPhone, iPad and Mac. iCloud stores your website bookmarks, so they are everywhere you go -- on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC. So when it comes to your devices, you can switch things up without mixing things up. Note: iCloud Bookmarks extension for Chrome is for Windows 7 and Windows 8. Similarly, users can download the Firefox extension from Mozilla's Add-Ons site. Its release notes read: Keep your Firefox bookmarks on Windows up to date with your Safari bookmarks on iPhone, iPad and Mac with the iCloud Bookmarks extension for Firefox. Unfortunately, it looks like these extensions are Windows-only for the moment and will not work on Chrome or Firefox for the Mac.
NASDAQ extends Majesco's delisting grace period, new deadline Feb. 2014
NASDAQ has given Cooking Mama publisher Majesco another 180 days to raise its (beef) stock value above $1.00, after the company failed to meet yesterday's existing deadline for the same goal. Majesco now has until February 24 of next year to become compliant with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5550, subsection A, article two, which requires trading companies to have a "minimum bid price of at least $1 per share." Previously, Majesco had 180 days (starting last March) to increase its stock value, lest it be delisted from NASDAQ and forced to toil endlessly in the Salt Mines of Thælm on Baltharia 7's Dark Moon. Okay maybe not that second thing, but getting delisted from NASDAQ is pretty horrible on its own. As of press time, Majesco's stock is trading at $0.64 a share.
Yahoo Toolbar gets a redesign, reminding us to weep for toolbar users
Let's get this straight. Yahoo can afford to kill a dozen products at once, but the Yahoo Toolbar -- a relic from the days when only birds Twittered -- just got a full makeover? Go figure. At least the browser add-on has received the same sort of tender loving care given to other recent Yahoo apps, including a fresh look, speed improvements and Chrome support. If you rely heavily on Yahoo services, or just have trouble letting go of the past, the toolbar update is available today.
Push notifications come to Chrome and Chrome OS with battery life as a focus
The push notifications on our mobile devices aren't just for convenience's sake -- they let apps stay idle and conserve precious battery life. That would explain why Google Cloud Messaging is now integrated with all versions of Chrome and Chrome OS, then. While both platforms are usually online as a matter of course, GCM lets developers refresh a web app or extension only when there are noteworthy changes, such as new chats. All end users have to do is sign in. Developers will have to build the feature into their apps before anyone sees the benefits, but we wouldn't be surprised if our Chromebooks last for just a little bit longer in the near future.
Spotify's web player exploited by Chrome extension to download songs as MP3s
This is why we can't have nice things. Spotify's web player has been rolling out to more users since its closed beta launch late last year, but today an extension popped up in the Google Chrome store (it's already been pulled) allowing users to download songs as MP3 files. According to the notes left by its author, the company wasn't using any encryption on its HTML5 player, making it a pretty simple project to put together. We're waiting to hear back from Spotify about the breach, and while Google appears to have been quick on the ball to remove the extension -- in a similar manner to how it's treated YouTube download tools in the Chrome Web Store -- hopefully this won't give others pause on distributing premium content using HTML5.
New Chrome Beta extension from Google lets you view Office files directly in the browser
One of the more unique features of Google's web browser for Chromebooks has been the ability to open and view Microsoft Office files directly in the browser (as opposed to pushing them to Drive), but that's so far remained confined to those devices. Google's decided to change that today, though, releasing a new extension for Chrome Beta that allows the same functionality in the browser for Windows and Mac. There's no indication yet as to when it will make it to the stable release of Chrome, but beta users can install the extension now at the source link below.
Court extends claims period on $27 million EA Sports settlement
The United States Federal District Court for the Northern District of California has sent word that it has modified the settlement distribution plan and certified the ongoing lawsuit against Electronic Arts and its exclusive NFL, NCAA, and AFL licenses. Because fewer than expected claims have been filed, the court has extended the claim period from this past March to May 15, 2013.If you've already filed a claim, you're good to go, and the court says this agreement won't decrease your portion of the settlement. If you haven't filed a claim yet, aren't an EA employee, and bought a Madden NFL, NCAA Football, or Arena Football game for Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 or 3, the GameCube, or the Wii between January 1, 2005 and June 21, 2012, you can file a claim on the website and still be eligible to receive some compensation.This decision does not mean the court has agreed to any wrongdoing on EA's part, and EA itself still denies the claims that these exclusive licenses were anything but "legal and proper," according to the notice. But EA says that it is filing this settlement "solely to eliminate the uncertainties, burden, and expense of further protracted litigation."
Add to Wunderlist extension brings one-click web clipping to your to-do list
Wunderlist users rejoice! Your favorite to-do list just gained a major new feature with the launch of the Add to Wunderlist extension -- now available for Chrome, Firefox and Safari. The extension lets you save content from your favorite websites directly into Wunderlist with just one click. It automatically scans web pages for links, email content, prices, descriptions and ratings, clips any highlighted text, then adds it to your list of choice. Web developers also have the option to embed an Add to Wunderlist button directly into websites -- the company's already teamed up with Outlook.com, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Amazon, eBay, Twitter, Youtube, IMDb, Asos, Etsy, Wikipedia and Hacker News to enable this functionality. It's never been easier to be obsessive-compulsive while surfing the web -- you just have to follow the source link below.
Google plays privacy catch-up, adds Do Not Track option to Chrome
Google's had one foot in the web privacy door for a while, offering Chrome users the Keep My Opt-Outs extension in its browser's Web Store since 2011. Still, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari already offer a Do Not Track option directly in their browser settings. Mountain View is now working to close that gap by bringing that same privacy configuration to Chrome. Do Not Track will let users opt out of tracking cookies and targeted advertising (from ad networks that comply with the standard, that is), and is currently live on Chrome's developer channel. The option will reportedly be baked into the stable version of the browser by the end of the year.
Firefox 15 to arrive in finished form on August 29th, promises truly stealthy updates for all (update 2: stand-alone, Android too)
Mozilla has been keeping to a tight schedule of having a completed Firefox release every five to six weeks, and it's very much on track. The browser team's Ehsan Akhgari has confirmed that a properly polished version of Firefox 15 should reach the download servers on August 29th. When it does arrive, the new release will primarily expand the silent updates that Windows users first saw in Firefox 12: future iterations on all platforms will install themselves in the background and should be truly ready to go the next time the browser starts. Beyond this deliberately subtle change, the finished version 15 upgrade should still support Opus audio as well as clamp down on out-of-control memory use from add-ons. We're looking forward to not noticing the differences very shortly. Update: Although it's not on the front page yet, both Mozilla, reader Josh and this writer can confirm that Firefox 15 is rolling out sooner than expected -- there's no reason to wait. Update 2: It's now easier to get a stand-alone copy if you're not updating, since Mozilla just updated the Firefox front page to reflect the new version. Android users are also getting an update through Google Play that brings earlier speed updates to tablets, a personalized start page and a whole host of extra fixes, some of which come directly from the desktop Firefox 15.
HBO and Fox cut a deal to keep the movies flowing through 2022, HBO Nordic launches soon
Just in case you only thought Amazon, Netflix and Redbox were working the studio deals, HBO announced today it's worked out an extension of its agreement with 20th Century Fox. Already the "premium network home" of Fox flicks for more than 30 years, this deal is long enough to keep it going into the next decade. The LA Times reports from its sources the original deal would have expired in 2015, while the extension pushes it out to 2022 at a price of over $200 million per year. One key adjustment that's been made for the digital age gives Fox the ability to continue to sell its movies over digital stores even while they're airing on HBO unlike the previous deal, although we're told this provision does not extend to rentals during that time. That's on top of a previous tweak negotiated months ago that let Fox and other HBO partners provide digital copies of their movies on services like iTunes from the Cloud and Ultraviolet during the HBO pay window. One other note is that on the same day Netflix revealed its service is coming to several Scandinavian locales, HBO announced it's doing the same, launching HBO Nordic in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.
Send to Kindle comes to Chrome, Safari and Mozilla support promised 'soon'
Between clients for the PC and Mac and functionality on mobile devices, Amazon's got no shortage of methods for helping users get content onto their Kindles. Just in case you still weren't happy with the available options, however, the mega-retailer has extended the list to include a Send-to-Kindle Chrome extension that lets users send posts, stories and various other content to their e-readers. The extension lets users preview content and limited it to selected text, as well. Amazon's also promising similar functionality for Firefox and Safari "soon." Check the source link below to download the offering.
