Tuesday Tidbits: Chrome Extensions

Google Chrome Extensions are a great way to utilize the web and save time based on what task you are trying to complete. Extensions are browser extensions that modify the Google Chrome browser. These extensions are written using web technologies like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Google Chrome Extensions are downloadable through the Chrome Web Store. These extensions allow for users to get information quickly, be notified in a timely manner, and do things with fewer clicks.

Below you will find a list of extensions I learned about from the TCEA TechNotes along with some of my favorite extensions.

Announcify: Text to speech is easy with Announcify. It converts web articles into speech, opens them in a new tab, and reads without having to select any text. The key feature is that it blurs out the text that is not being read, making it easy to track while listening. Options for the extension include adjusting speech volume, pitch, and rate.

Clearly:  Clearly eliminates all distractions from your online reading experience, and even allows you to browse multi-page articles in one, seamless view. Connect Clearly to your Evernote account to clip and sync articles, automatically tag articles sent to Evernote, text to speech, add annotations, or highlight text and it updates in Evernote.

Google Voice Search: Search the web hands free when using Google Chrome by saying "OK, Google" and then ask your question. This is a great feature for elementary students who may not be able to spell at this time. The microphone appears in the search box when you have Google Search open; computer must have microphone to work.

OneTab:  Whenever you find yourself with too many tabs, click the OneTab icon to convert all of your tabs into a list. When you need to access the tabs again, you can either restore them individually or all at once. When tabs are in the OneTab list, you save up to 95% of memory because reduced the number of tabs open.

Pocket:  When you find something on the web that you want to view later, put it in Pocket. It automatically syncs to your phone, tablet or computer so you can view it at any time. Features: one-click saving of any page, right-click menu item to save any link, quickly add tags, and syncs across all devices.

Save to Google Drive: Save web content or browser screenshots directly to your Google Drive. The extensions give users the right-click feature/save to Google Drive. You can automatically convert Microsoft Office files or comma separated files to Google Docs format.

Screen Capture (by Google): Use this extension to capture visible content of a tab, a region of a web page, or the whole page as a PNG image. You can also edit your captured image before saving it as a PNG image. Highlighting, redacting and adding text are supported.

JUST FOR FUN:

Santa Tracker:  Before Santa takes off on Christmas Eve, his elves have cooked up a countdown timer to keep precise track of his departure. You can play around with his blimp, elf bus, and write messages on a frosty browser window.