Google Chrome Making Strong Case for You to Switch Browsers

In past issues of Avatar, we’ve documented some of the productive and user-friendly features of Mozilla’s Firefox Web browser; however, Google Chrome is positioned nicely to get their share of this space. With the recent rollout of Google Chrome 12, Google has also put forth a strong marketing campaign in the form of this video: http://hcp.lv/luk7Kr. Go ahead, take a minute to watch it.

As you probably already know (and as you can clearly see in the video above), Google has built up an impressive portfolio of online resources. They come in the form of Gmail, YouTube, Picasa, and, of course, that search engine we all use daily. Although Chrome has been around for a while, it never really had the overwhelming improvement of functionalities for users to really consider switching from Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari. But now Google has taken the time to fully and seamlessly integrate all of their offerings through their browser, and their marketing video does an excellent job of showing just how powerful it can be. But the fact is that you can’t just download Google Chrome with all of these functionalities already built in. That would be counterproductive considering that we all use different applications on the Internet. Not to mention that the foundation of Google Chrome is built on speed, and having so many add-ons and extensions built in would definitely bog your browsing experience down.

That said, if you are feeling adventurous and care enough to spend a little bit of time downloading and customizing Google Chrome (it can be downloaded at http://hcp.lv/m1LnKJ), it can certainly be worth your while. And if you do, here are some key add-ons that you’ll want to consider installing once you are up and running (you can peruse the vast library of add-ons at http://hcp.lv/jNJVNO):

Shareaholic – This extension syncs up with all of your social networking and email accounts that you choose and offers you a quick and easy way to share your discoveries on the Web. Download it at http://hcp.lv/jy0d2D and start syncing and sharing today.

TooManyTabs – Similar to Firefox’s Tab Candy (read about that add-on here: http://hcp.lv/darGyQ), TooManyTabs helps to organize your browsing if you run into a situation where you’ve opened, well, too many tabs. Simply download the add-on, and if you run into this problem you can click the icon that appears in the upper-right hand corner of your Chrome window. Doing so will open up a screen that shows you all of your tabs, and you can then organize them accordingly and hide tabs that you would like to come back to later. When that time comes, simply click the icon again and you’ll be able to revisit what you were looking at. Read more and download TooManyTabs at http://hcp.lv/kei5If.

Chrome to Phone – If you are an Android owner, then you’ll find even more ways to integrate Google’s offerings on the go. One of those options is Chrome to Phone. If you’ve found something online that you’d like to check out on your mobile, you can send it directly to your phone’s browser in one click. This could be especially useful if you are looking up directions or information that you’ll need on the go because it can be sent right to your device and then you can navigate to the location or reference the information quickly and easily without having to go through all the tedious steps to bring it up on your mobile browser. Of course, you’ll need the Android app installed on your Droid as well; integration is easy and user friendly. Check out the Web add-on at http://hcp.lv/mNwXQE and read more about the mobile app at http://hcp.lv/mNwXQE.

Of course, there are many, many other add-ons, plug-ins, and extensions out there, and if you are looking for something in particular there is likely already something out there that can accomplish what you are looking to do. Just head over to the library and begin searching.