Hide Unwanted Google Search Results In Firefox

If you’ve ever been bothered by unwanted websites or keywords in Google search results, there's now a Firefox extension called Hide Unwanted Results of Google Search that aims to provide a little bit of help by hiding results from particular websites, or any related content that you specify. As its name implies, the extension only filters out unwanted content from Google's search results, so it will not effect any other search engines such as Yahoo! or Bing. According to its developer, the add-on is basically an alternative to Google’s now disabled ‘Block Sites’ feature that kept certain websites or keywords from showing in the results. Since the official offering by Google is no longer available, this add-on can really save the day for those who used that feature and now miss it. Read More

Hands-On With Google Keep: Notes & To-Do Lists For Web & Android

Google’s new note-taking web service Keep is now live, along with its Android app. Keep lets you create notes and to-do lists that sync over Google Drive. Notes may contain text, voice or images. Notes and lists can be color-coded, and are searchable. With Keep, Google aims to let you collect and consolidate all your thoughts, ideas and useful information together that will be synced and accessible across all your computers through your browser, and across all your Android devices using the Keep app. Let's take both the web service and its Android app for a spin and see what it's all about. Read More

Chrome App Launcher From Chromebook Comes To Windows On Dev Channel

Chromebooks have been gaining significant popularity lately. These Chrome OS-toting computers basically use Google Chrome itself as a computing and app platform, and require continuous internet connectivity to run all these web-apps. Chromebooks rely solely on the Chrome apps but since the browser itself is always running as a part of the OS itself, you do not need to launch it every time you want to run an app. Instead, you get an app launcher similar to the Start Menu for accessing all these apps. Today, Google has released a developer preview of its app launcher for Windows that allows you to launch your installed Chrome apps directly from Windows desktop. As of this writing, the app launcher is only available for Windows on the Chrome Dev Channel, but Google plans to push it to Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux soon. Read More

Easily Switch Google Accounts & View Gmail Alerts From Chrome Toolbar

Google supports signing in to multiple accounts and switch between them across all of its online services. Though there is a limitation to this switching - you can only switch accounts while on Google's websites, and not while on any other website. Google Multi-Account Launcher is a Chrome extension that adds multiple account support to your browser, letting you you add multiple Google accounts and switch between them from anywhere in Chrome. It also provides a short preview for the 20 latest messages in each Gmail account, along with a whole tab of shortcuts to popular web services. The extension is perfect for opening Gmail or any other Google services in your preferred account without having to launch their site first and then switch account from there. Read More

List Of Google Now Commands & Smart Cards

For the recently concluded Google I/O 2012, big G had quite a few tricks up its sleeve, and, rather unsurprisingly, most of the announcements made at the event were based around Google’s fast-flourishing mobile OS, Android. In terms of hardware, the Android community relished the arrival of the 7-inch Tegra 3-supported Nexus 7 tablet, whereas on the firmware front, it was the latest iteration of Android, Jelly Bean, that snatched the limelight. Besides all other new features and performance tweaks, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean brought with it a much improved, smarter and informative search assistant in the form of Google Now. Initially exclusive to only the aforementioned Nexus 7 tablet and a handful of other Android devices rocking Jelly Bean, a fully functional - yet unofficial - build of Google Now can now be installed on almost any rooted device running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (and above). The specialty of Google Now lies in its knowledge-packed Smart Cards. Based on your location, calendar events, search queries and personal preferences, these cards automatically keep appearing at regular intervals throughout the day, keeping you apprised of whatever information you need to have at hand at that particular instance. Although using the Google Now feature is no rocket science, there are a few phrases, query formats and voice commands that can help you maximize use of its Smart Cards. To reveal the list of all such useful commands, continue reading past the break. Read More

Google Mobile Search Becomes Smarter, Integrates Google Now-Like Cards

With the introduction of Google Now in Jellybean, Google really showed the world what really makes Android a “smart” platform. Where there is a functional Google Now port available for ICS devices, but all Android phones running versions older than that haven’t had a chance to get a taste of the amazingly intelligent search assistant. Now, however, the interactive cards that appear in Google Now's search results have been made available to the masses through Google mobile search. The rollout of information card integration with Google search has taken effect for most smartphones, including iOS and Android devices. Thanks to this integration, you will be able to get direct answers to your questions, rather than just getting links to webpages. Ranging from instant solutions to calculations, currency/unit conversions, details regarding stocks, routes to destinations of choice, weather and sports information and general Knowledge Graph-based queries, you can now view all these on interactive cards without having to navigate away from the search results page. Read More

Google Handwrite: Enter Search Queries By Scribbling On Your Smartphone

After yesterday’s GTalk outage, Google appears to be on a roll today. In addition to the huge Google Earth update for iOS, Handwrite has also been unveiled a few hours ago. Handwrite is not an app, it is just a feature that has been added to Google’s web interface for smartphones. For now, Handwrite supports iOS and Android devices, and if you enable it on your phone, you will be able to write your queries in the search engine rather than typing them. This use of freehand scribbling certainly improves the time in which you can search for a particular keyword, and is more convenient than typing. If you are already making up your mind about Handwrite and all its potential downsides (not the least of which is the fact that people will have trouble entering longer queries), then wait a little more and read the rest of the article. Google has thought of just about everything. Read More

Install Official Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on Nexus S And Fully Root It

Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean has finally started arriving on Google Nexus S in form of the JRO03E OTA update starting with select regions of the world but if you haven’t received the automated over-the-air update yet but can’t wait to get Jelly Bean on your Nexus S, we’re here to help! In what follows, we will guide you through installing the latest Jelly Bean up and running on your phone in no time. Read on for more details and the complete instructions. Read More

Get Voice Enabled Google Now On Any Android Device Running ICS

A couple of weeks ago, we posted a method to get Google Now on devices running Android 4.0 or higher. Although said procedure was effective enough to give your rooted Android device a taste of the revamped and intelligent version of Google Search (now popularly known as Google Now), it lacked a very important feature: voice search. However, as is so often the case in the Android realm, a workaround is never too far away. XDA member SilentStormer has managed to come up with a solution that lets you use Google Now through voice recognition, too. As with the previous method, this latest solution is also meant to be working with just AOSP-based ICS ROMs, and hence requires a rooted Android device. It must be mentioned here that the solution mentioned in this particular post requires a couple of additional steps in order to get things sorted out accordingly. That said, should you be able to follow the process correctly, rest assured that you won’t be missing Jelly Bean on your device a great deal – not at least in terms of availing the much-revered Google Now functionality. Read More

DuckDuckGo Zero-Click Info Adds Instant Answers To Google Search [Chrome]

If you have heard of Knowledge Graph already, it's a new feature being worked on by Google that enables you to search for things, people or places  relevant to your query. If Google is your favorite search engine and you want something similar to Knowledge Graph before it becomes available, then you might want to try out a Chrome extension called DuckDuckGo Zero-Click Info. The extension uses DuckDuckGo's methodology of grabbing information from crowd-sourced websites (e.g., Wikipedia) to augment traditional results with auto-generated content and improved relevance.  The extension offers you zero-click information boxes that are automatically integrated at the top of Google search results for your queries, just like DuckDuckGo. These boxes generally display multiple meanings  for your query, and provide direct links to the main article pages, so you don’t have scroll and click around to find what you’re looking for. Read More

Search Plus: Search Tabs By Keywords & Sort Them By Title, URL & Time [Chrome]

One of the bigger nuisances associated with working with a large number of tabs, is the tab handles getting squeezed so close together that favicons disappear. Then, at other times, you might want to quickly search a word or phrase across all opened tabs, close a set of tabs or shift existing tabs into a new window. Search Plus is a browser extension for Chrome that offers you a set of useful features that improve your tabbed browsing experience. The extension acts like a search engine for the tabs that you have open. It helps to find the tabs you’re looking for provided you can enter the name of the site you are looking for. Search is done across windows so it matters little which window a tab is open in. The extension will let you preform various operations, such as search a specific text string through all tabs, collect tabs into a single window, insert text to the titles of tabs, capture images from tabs and more. Read More

Google Schemer For iPhone Released; We Go Hands-On

If you haven’t heard of Google’s social activities sharing and recommendation service Schemer, we don’t blame you. It hasn’t received as much press as it deserves (ironically, we missed out on covering it as well). Better late than never though, and what better time to check this gem out in detail, than upon the launch of its iPhone app. While the Android app has been around for a while, Google has just released the iPhone app for Schemer a few minutes ago, and we’re here to take it on a spin for you. Read on for our full review. Read More

Hojoki: Unified Workspace For Group-Management Of All Your Cloud Apps

For those who work with a multitude of cloud services, especially if they all cater to a different type of online content (social media vs. online storage, for instance), sifting through those all at the same time can become really annoying. That is perhaps the main reason why there are so many web apps that let you keep track of all the activity on all your cloud services, and get a real-time vision of, say, a team’s input for a project. Recently, we covered a service called BusyFlow that allowed you to manage all your cloud-based apps in a single interface. Hojoki is a similar web application that retrieves content from a range of services and displays them in a central, unified workspace. Supported services can then be accessed directly from the news feed, which can be shared between a number of team members. Additionally, content can be filtered by different categories, and individual files can be accessed with a single click. The feed updates whenever someone in the team updates a file, creates a new one, or performs any other action. Hojoki lets you access all your tools and team members on one page, so you can always discuss important points and stay informed. Update: Hojoki is now available on Android, iPhone & iPad as well. Read More

Hands-On With Google Drive For Web, Windows, Mac & Android [Review]

The wait is over – after years of speculation, Google Drive is finally here, with apps for Windows PC, Mac and Android available for download and iOS apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch coming soon. So what does Google’s long-awaited and much-anticipated cloud storage service have in store for you? Does it have what it takes to make a significant impact in today’s cloud storage market riddled with countless others? Read on to find out all of this and more after the break. Read More

Beta-Searchable: Highlight Text On Websites To Search On Google, YouTube & Current Page

Beta-Searchable is a Chrome extension that provides you with super fast search results for highlighted text on almost any website. It lets you save a lot of time when you have to search the same term on multiple websites. With it, you can get Google search results, Google images, YouTube videos and social results from Topsy. All you have to do is select some text on a website, and a tiny pop-up will appear with Google Search, YouTube, Google Images and other buttons. Additionally, you may also lookup the same term on your current domain. Clicking the tiny arrow at the top of the pop-up lets you switch to social pages that are retrieved from Topsy. Moreover, the extension lets you view most used, recent and related websites. Read More

Manage & Remove App Permissions For Facebook, Twitter, Google & More [Web]

If you’ve granted permissions to loads of apps on multiple personal accounts over time, it can be quite difficult to figure out exactly where to go and delete them. A few days back we covered a web application called Bliss Control that provided us with a single directory of links to manage all our social networks' settings. MyPermissions is a similar tool that gives you one-click access to the app permissions page for multiple social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Dropbox, Flickr and more. While Bliss Control allows you to access multiple settings, MyPermissions is specialized for managing your apps on social media sites. With it, you can spend only a few minutes, and get rid of all the random apps that have access to your personal information. The service doesn’t require your login information to work, and merely points you to the right settings page on the appropriate website. It does, however, require you to be signed in to your social networking accounts. Read More

Briteclick: Search, Reference & Shopping Through A Customizable Sidebar [Extension]

Wouldn’t it be great if we never had to leave our email or current webpage to access relevant information from various sources? Briteclick is an innovative search tool that makes finding information and completing tasks on the internet much easier and faster. After installing the extension, all you have to do is highlight keywords and get intelligent search results, neatly organized in a slick sidebar. This Chrome and Firefox extension lets you instantly view results from popular sources, like Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, eBay and much more. Briteclick tailors results based on the keywords you search and presents them in a convenient sidebar, so you never have to leave the current page to open multiple tabs. Read More

noodzy: Hashtag-Based Control For Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & Gmail [Web]

noodzy is a smart bar that lets you add simple tags to manage popular social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, YouTube and more. By having all your favorite and most frequently used social media services added to a single Noodzy account, you can easily share your messages and status updates with your online buddies without having to open multiple tabs. Using this nifty web app, you can perform multiple functions, like update your status, open Google to enter a query, view your wall or your friends wall right within the same interface, play YouTube videos directly on the bar and more. Read More

Get Instant Google/ Bing Search Results For Highlighted Text [Chrome]

The Search Google For option in the right-click context menu for selected text is useful but limited to only your default search engine. Should you ever want to search on Bing or Yahoo, you will have to first open it by manually entering the URL or by Googling it. Search Highlighter is a Chrome extension that unifies this search for Google and Bing. At any given time, you can select text and it will automatically be added to the search bar added by the extension. You can then choose whether to search it on Google or on Bing. Related search words are also shown on the search bar. You can change the location of the search box and place it either at the top or bottom of the page. Search Highlighter provides you with Google or Bing search results. You can access the previously used search keywords by clicking the arrow located at the end of the toolbar. Read More