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This week’s featured app is Chrome. I know. You’re probably thinking, “Chrome isn’t anything new.” Or maybe you’re thinking, “I’m totally happy with the browser I’m using.” Well, at least hear me out. I have no vested interest to get you to switch. I really don’t care. However, this blog is dedicated to helping people. I just feel that I’m not being a very good friend to you if I don’t share what I know. So here it is.

Chrome is fast. Really fast. Just install it and try it. Open the browser you normally use and see how long it takes to open. Now try Chrome. Faster, huh? It’s faster at browsing the web too. Just give it a try.

However, here’s the really big thing. Chrome recently added extensions to it’s stable release. I’m not sure about exact times, but I’m pretty sure that both Mac and Windows users can use extensions… and they are AWESOME! It changes your whole browsing experience.

When viewing the most popular extensions, I’ve found many of the plugins I use on Firefox. Up until this point, plugins has been the only thing keeping me on Firefox as my primary browser. I’ve had a few Chrome bugs crash my tab when editing wordpress from time to time, but once that gets sorted out, I’ll probably make Chrome my primary browser and Firefox secondary.

When you install extensions on Chrome, it adds little buttons on your browser toolbar. I like the way it looks and it gives me immediate access to all my tools. Sometimes Firefox required me to go into the menu to access the plugins, so I like having the exposure that Chrome gives me. However, I wonder what happens if I go extension crazy. It looks like I might run out of room. Overall though, I love it.

So here’s a listing of the extensions I’m using:

Google Page Rank: Tells me what rank Google gives the page I’m viewing. I used to have access to this little tool when I had the Google toolbar on IE years ago.

GMail: Tells me how many unread messages I have and serves as a quick link to my gmail.

SEO: Tells me all kids of Search Engine Optimization details about the page I am on. Useful tool for SEO work.

Facebook: Seriously, this little extension may significantly keep me out of Facebook. It allows me to view my feed, friend’s feeds and notifications all from a little drop down box.

Wave: Tells me how many unread Google Waves I have.

Chromed Bird: Keeps track of tweets. From it I can view tweets, mentions and direct messages. I can also tweet right from it.

Google Reader: I can link directly to unread feeds  from the drop down box or access my Google Reader account from the button.

Google Tasks: I can access the tasks in my Google Task list right from the drop down box.

Eye Dropper: I use photoshop daily. Sometimes there is a color on a picture on a webpage that I want to use for a graphic I’m putting together. Usually that would mean taking a screen shot of that picture, importing into photoshop and then using the eye dropper tool in photoshop to get the color details. With this extension, I can get the color information right from the web page.

Google Talk: I can chat right from the tool bar. No longer do I have to have Gmail open.

Shorter URLs: It’s an URL shortener. Simple.

Picasa Web Albums: It’s designed to let me see comments left on my web albums, but I have it her to give me quick access to my albums.

Tab Saver: I can save all my open tabs at any time. If my browser gets shut down on accident, I can restore the saved tabs.