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Tonido Allows Remote File Access & Cloud Sync Across All Major Platforms [Review]

by Fatima Wahab on January 24, 2013

Syncing files between two computers isn’t a novel concept and services like Dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Drive and many others have simplified it greatly. If you want to able to access files from your PC on your smartphone; you can sync them over one of these services. The only problem here is that given the limited storage space, you can’t sync all your files; and you will always have to choose the files to sync by adding them to your cloud storage folder, or setting a custom folder to sync (offered by only a few such services). Tonido is service with free apps available for Mac, PC, and Linux and free mobile clients for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Blackberry that allows you to access all your files on any device from another. Additionally, it lets you sync 2GB of files between your devices for free. Though instead of offering both these services from the same apps, Tonido splits file access and file syncing between two different apps. Here is a simple breakdown of how you can set it all up. Read More

How To View & Edit Google Drive Presentations While Offline

by Fatima Wahab on January 24, 2013

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Google Drive makes sure you have access to your important files no matter where you are. Though the primary concern with any cloud storage service is losing access to your data when you don’t have an internet connection, which can and does happen at times even when you are least expecting it. For reasons like this and many others, Google Drive has been offering an offline mode that allows you to access your documents in Google Chrome even when you’re not online. In its latest update, Google has added support for presentations to this offline mode, allowing you to edit, view and present them without requiring an internet connection. It requires you install two Chrome apps and change a few of your Google Drive settings. The process is simple and detailed below. Read More

Create Natively Syncing Notes In Google Chrome With Papercuts

by Fatima Wahab on January 23, 2013

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There are countless note-taking extensions available for many popular web browsers, but the ones that save and sync your notes across computers usually rely on a third-party service at the back end for the purpose and if you don't have an account on the service already, you end up having to sign up for it just to be able to sync your notes across different browsers and devices. Some extensions lack a sync feature altogether, and the notes are only accessible from the browser you made them in. Papercuts is a Chrome extension that relies solely on Chrome’s own sync feature to sync the notes you create between different installations of the browser. The notes themselves can be of any length, and each one has it's own title. Papercuts adds its button next to the URL bar, and lets you work on multiple notes at the same time under different tabs in the extension’s popup window. You can also copy the entire text from a note with just a single click. Read More

Get Notifications For Twitter Feed, Mentions, DMs & More In Chrome

by Fatima Wahab on January 22, 2013

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Twitter can be a distraction and keeping up with it while trying to work can itself be quite a challenge. Apps like TweetDeck are one easy way to keep up with your feed by providing you notifications for all Twitter activity that involves you, eliminating the need for you to manually keep checking twitter for them again and again. If you would rather not use a desktop client, Notifications for Twitter is a handy Chrome extension that will give you almost every benefit that a desktop app does, right in your browser. The extension offers desktop notifications for new tweets in your timeline, new Direct Messages, @mentions, new results in a saved search, and whenever someone adds you to a list. You also get to choose which of these notifications the app displays, giving you control over them. The extension adds a speech bubble next to the URL bar that changes color when there is new activity, and allows you to quickly post a tweet as well. Read More

Mute Hulu Ads In Chrome & Get Desktop Notifications After Ad Intervals

by Fatima Wahab on January 21, 2013

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If you enjoy Hulu as a free service, you probably know that using ad blocking extensions means you can’t stream content from the video hosting site. It asks you to disable them before streaming a show or clip. That fact aside, ads are a major source of revenue for websites and web services, and to block them is like using a service without paying for it. No Hulu Ads is a Chrome extension that mutes the ads, blacking the player out for the interval that an ad is played. This doesn't necessarily mean you’re skipping them entirely; if you click on the player during the time an ad is supposed to be displayed, you will be redirected to the associated product or brand’s page. The extension also offers the option to pause a video and notify you as soon as an advertisement is over, so that you can resume watching the video from the exact spot you'd want to. Read More

Find & Remove Duplicate Bookmarks With Ease In Firefox

by Fatima Wahab on January 21, 2013

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Bookmarks are hard to organize if you haven’t always kept them that way from the start. Once a mess starts to build up in the bookmarks library, there is little that can keep it clean if you aren't willing to invest the time to do it yourself. One of the by-products of poorly organized bookmarks is links saved multiple times in different folders. They contribute to the volume of the bookmarks and make it difficult to keep them sorted. Bookmark Duplicate Cleaner is a Firefox add-on that finds and cleans these duplicate bookmarks. It analyzes all bookmarks that you've saved and lists the links with their duplicate locations. You can choose to remove the duplicate bookmarks from select locations or delete them all. Read More

Popular Mobile Twitter App TweetCaster Gets A Web Interface [Review]

by Fatima Wahab on January 19, 2013

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If you’re active on Twitter and often tweet from your Android, iOS or Windows Phone device, it’s likely you’ve heard of TweetCaster by OneLouderApps. It’s a popular Twitter client that is rich in both features and customization options, and allows users to cross post to Facebook. TweetCaster has launched a web interface, expanding its reach to desktop platforms as well. It’s still in beta and you can use it only if you’ve used the TweetCaster mobile app. Whether you've been using the mobile app for a while now or this is the first time you’re hearing of TweetCaster, you're bound to love the web app. Of course, there’s more to TweetCaster than just looks; the web service mimics most features from its mobile counterpart and borrows a few from Slices For Twitter, another versatile OneLouderApps Twitter client, which also happens to have a companion web app. Join us after the break for a detailed look at what the TweetCaster web app has to offer. Read More

Snap Guides To Measure Website Elements With Tape For Chrome

by Fatima Wahab on January 19, 2013

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Good web design relies on several factors, one of which is the right placement of every element. Tape is a Chrome extension to help web designers with this by allowing you to add rulers to a web page. Tape goes beyond what common pixel-measuring extensions offer; it doesn’t just tell you the area occupied by a particular element in pixels, but also lets you add as many rulers to the browser interface as you want, to measure and outline the relative distance of different elements from each other. You can add rulers both horizontally and vertically, define origin points (yes, more than one), and set the pointer to automatically snap to different elements in a web page as you move over them, much like in Photoshop. Tape is enabled on a webpage through a button and is controlled solely through your keyboard. Obviously, the web page itself does not remain functional while Tape is enabled, so you won’t miss the normal key functionality. Read More

Search & Download Torrents Right Within Chrome With BitTorrent Surf

by Fatima Wahab on January 17, 2013

Torrents are one of the oldest ways of sharing files. They are somewhat controversial as they can (and do) open the way to piracy, but nevertheless, they are still one of the best ways to find and share files. Currently in alpha, Surf is a Chrome extension by BitTorrent that lets you search for and download torrents directly from within the browser. The files are saved to your Downloads folder by default, but you can change the location. You can also specify websites that you want searched for torrents. With Surf, you don’t need to have a desktop torrent client running as it can download from torrents on its own. It makes finding torrents extremely easy as well, allowing you to search for them across multiple websites of choice simultaneously. Read More

Have Chrome Remember Playback Position For YouTube Videos With Video Resumer

by Fatima Wahab on January 15, 2013

Last year, we covered a Firefox add-on called ResumeLater that allowed you to pause a YouTube video and resume it from the same point even after restarting the browser. Think of it as dog earring the page of a book. Video Resumer is a Chrome extension that does the same thing but it is far more convenient to use. The Firefox extension required you to manually save the point to resume playback from. Video Resumer works in the background and you will never know it’s there. You can watch videos at your leisure and close them without a second thought. When you next open that same videos, it will load from where you left off. Read More

MagicScroll Brings eBook-Style, Clutter-Free Reading To Your Browser

by Awais Imran on January 15, 2013

Do you ever feel like your attention span isn’t the same anymore? Do you find yourself leaving 'tl;dr' comments under long articles? Ever since we started consuming 'bite-sized' content on the Internet – short jokes, 140-character tweets, image memes, 30 second video clips, news headlines with brief summaries and what not – we have become accustomed to losing our focus when it comes to long, detailed articles, posts or comments. Developer Richard Wallis is of the opinion that this reduced attention span isn’t due to websites like reddit, Facebook or Twitter, but rather because of the way we scroll. Wallis believes conventional scrolling just doesn’t work for text; it moves the text, which breaks your reading momentum, which – in turn – reduces comprehension of the article and prompts you to switch tabs. Seeing this, Wallis has developed a great solution that addresses this issue. Read More

150 Best Browser Extensions & Web Apps Of 2012

by Fatima Wahab on January 13, 2013

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Chrome and Firefox came a long way in 2012, as did the web itself. The year saw Google try its hand at cloud storage with Google Drive, offering users 5GB free storage and integration with Gmail. Then there was the usual number of apps that integrate with Dropbox to add a certain functionality to the service better and a few extensions that helped you make the most of your Google Drive. Among other highlights were apps and extensions for social media management, making Facebook cover pictures and keeping your treasure trove of Instagram pictures safe. What follows is a compilation of the best web apps, Chrome extensions and Firefox add-ons that were covered here at AddictiveTips during the past year. Read More

Control YouTube & Vimeo Playback In Chrome From iOS Or Android

by Fatima Wahab on January 11, 2013

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Being able to play videos on your computer's large screen while controlling their playback from your phone or tablet can be a great convenience, especially if you have a desktop PC and you want to relax on your couch or bed while watching the videos. YouTube Couch Mode is a Chrome extension that works with the de Mobo app for iOS and Android (free on both platforms) to deliver just that, by turning your smartphone or tablet into a remote control for YouTube. It lets you search for YouTube videos, play one of the related videos, go to the next/previous video in the channel, toggle full screen mode, and increase/decrease the volume. YouTube Couch Mode works on Vimeo as well, and its smartphone app has a link that will open Vimeo in your browser. Read More

Reeddit Is A Responsive Reddit Web App For Desktop & Mobile Browsers

by Fatima Wahab on January 10, 2013

Dubbed 'The front page of the Internet', Reddit is possibly one of the most popular websites for shared content you will find, but it lacks official desktop clients for all major desktop platforms and mobile websites. It may even seem astounding why there aren't any official apps for the website, as pretty much every borderline-famous web service has rolled out its apps for major platforms by now. Though there is always the developer community that we can rely on to fill the gap. Reeddit is an HTML5-based web app that can serve as excellent Reddit client for multiple platforms. In addition to being based on HTML5, the app also has a responsive design meaning you can use it on any tablet or smartphone with a modern HTML5-supporting web browser. Reeddit does not support Reddit accounts and you will therefore be unable to reply to comments and vote content up or down. Reeddit is essentially a Reddit reader and the interface is designed as such. Read More

Get A Wider, Grid-Like YouTube Layout & Hide Watched Videos [Chrome]

by Fatima Wahab on January 10, 2013

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YouTube went through a design overhaul twice last year, and both times, the difference was significant. While there wasn’t much added in terms of features, the interface changes that were made both solved and created problems. With the design change in the Summer of 2012, extensions that let you black out the background were no longer needed since the darker interface provided an excellent alternative. With the design change at the end of 2012, extensions to center the YouTube layout were rolled out to 'fix' the new left-aligned design. These small interface problems aside, what YouTube consistently ignores is the addition of better or new features and does, at times, sacrifice viewing space for the sake of design and aesthetics. Better Tube is a Chrome Extension that helps you utilize wasted YouTube space to the maximum while you're signed in. It also makes it considerably easier to browse through your subscriptions feed by letting you weed out the videos you’ve watched or don’t care to see in the feed. Read More

Encrypt Facebook Posts, Tweets Or Any Online Message For Select Contacts With Scrambls

by Fatima Wahab on January 09, 2013

Sending coded messages can come handy either for fun or out of necessity. The common way to share a message publicly while ensuring that only a few people in that public forum/group can view it is to use services that encrypt them and require decryption on the other side. Services like this have a drawback; they leave it to you to share the password/decryption key with your intended audience. Scrambls is a browser extension that works with a service at the back end and lets you easily scramble your message across any public or private online medium including social media services, forums, blogs, comments and the like. You can create groups using email addresses of your intended recipients, allowing them alone to unscramble the message. In order to unscramble the text, the recipients will have to install the Scrambls extension and sign up for a free account with the service. Read More

New In Firefox 18: PDF Viewer, Retina Support & More

by Fatima Wahab on January 08, 2013

The next iteration of Firefoxwill be arriving a little later than usual; when it arrived on the Aurora (Firefox Beta) channel, Mozilla announced that Firefox 18 would be available one week later than the normal release schedule. You should be able to upgrade from 17.0.1 to 18 some time this week, but the new Beta variant of Firefox 18 is available for download right now and that's what we’re going to use to detail its new features. This release is fairly modest compared to the older ones with little to offer end users. As always, developers will rejoice with support for additional CSS3 elements, and the improved Java rendering engine IonMonkey that has been implemented in this version. End users will now be able to view PDFs without having to rely on plugins or add-ons and selectively disable insecure content when viewing a website over an HTTPS connection. Read More

Share Any Web Image To Facebook Wall Or Page From Chrome Context Menu

by Fatima Wahab on December 31, 2012

Facebook may be a social network for most of us, but we often overlook that it is also used as an online identity. It lets us sign in and use web apps, services and participate in online forums. Most, if not all of us benefit from our Facebook ID in this regard; we can share articles that we find interesting and our friends know when we’ve left a comment on a website or forum. For websites that have mostly, if not purely, picture content, we can use our Facebook ID to share images. Now imagine wanting to share an image from anywhere on the web, without having to copy and paste its source URL. Upload Photos To Facebook Pages is a Chrome extension that lets you share images on your Facebook profile or to one of the pages you manage from any webpage via the right-click context menu. Read More