Use Click-free Browsing for Chrome if you are tired of clicking

By Martin Brinkmann on October 31, 2012 - Tags:Google Chrome extensions, mouse

Unless you are using a touch-enabled device, you are likely using a mouse to work on your computer. When it comes to web browsing, the mouse is used for a number of things, from activating menus and forms to scrolling or clicking on links to be taken to another destination.

Click-free Browsing is an extension for the Google Chrome browser that aims to reduce the number of clicks that you have to make when browsing the Internet.  The extension adds two features to the browser that you can make use of to reduce the clicks you make during your browsing sessions:

• Hover over links to open them automatically
• Use on-screen buttons to scroll or navigate without clicking

Once you have installed the extension in Chrome you will notice a set of icons on the right border of the browser next to the scrollbar on pages that you open or reload after the installation completes.

To load a link on a page in the same tab simply move the mouse cursor over the icon that appears next to it once you hover the link. Hold down the Ctrl-key if you want to open it in a new tab instead.

The icons next to the scrollbar serve a different purpose. You can use them to slowly or quickly scroll up or down the page by moving the mouse cursor on them. Here you also find back and forward buttons to navigate back or forward in history, and an x icon at the very top to close the tab and the page.

The extension preferences contain options to disable specific icons on the page, which can be useful to reduce the clutter that you may experience after installation. Here you also find options to change the appearance of icons including their opacity level, a http blacklist to block the extension from displaying its icons on sites configured here, a https whitelist to enable the extension on specific https sites, and the action delays menu which defines how link it will take before an action is executed by the extension.

The extension works fine on all http websites by default but not on https sites. You can use the whitelist to change that for select https sites to make available the functionality on those sites as well.

Click-free Browsing can be quite useful in situations where clicking is either not possible at all, for instance if you are disabled, or temporarily not the best option, for instance after a hand or trigger-finger injury.

Why Google Nexus devices do not have SD card slots

By Martin Brinkmann on October 31, 2012 - TAGS: None

The only Google Nexus device that shipped with an SD card slot was the Nexus One which came out in January 2010. All Nexus devices afterwards shipped without SD card slot. The latest Nexus devices that Google just announced, the Nexus 4, 7 and 10 - the numbers correlate to the size of the device - all ship without SD card slot as well.

This leaves Nexus owners with two storage options: internal storage that the device ships with and cloud storage.  Matias Duarte, part of Google's Android User Experience team, recently revealed why Google made the decision to ship Nexus devices without SD card slot.

Everybody likes the idea of having an SD card, but in reality it's just confusing for users.

If you’re saving photos, videos or music, where does it go? Is it on your phone? Or on your card? Should there be a setting? Prompt everytime? What happens to the experience when you swap out the card? It’s just too complicated.

We take a different approach. Your Nexus has a fixed amount of space and your apps just seamlessly use it for you without you ever having to worry about files or volumes or any of that techy nonsense left over from the paleolithic era of computing.

With a Nexus you know exactly how much storage you get upfront and you can decide what’s the right size for you. That’s simple and good for users.

While he is certainly right that some people may find it difficulty to distinguish between SD card and internal storage, removing the option to increase local storage using SD cards means that people will either have to compromise in regards to data use on the device, especially on the lower end devices with 8 Gigabyte of internal storage, or use cloud storage instead to move part of the storage to the cloud. The latter on the other hand is only of use if a reliable Internet connection is available at times when access is needed. It won't do you any good if you are living / working / visiting a location with bad Internet coverage, low bandwidth or transfer caps.

Depending on how cloud storage is integrated in the device, users may end up with a similar level of confusion as to where their data is stored on right now, especially if they work with multiple cloud storage services. Considering that Google Play is not available in many markets yet, at least not with all its offerings (music, movies and magazines), it is even more likely that users will pick other cloud based services to fill their needs in this regard.

A superior solution would be the automatic detection and integration of SD card contents whenever a card is inserted into a device which should get rid of the confusion Matias Duarte is speaking of.

For many users, other reasons make more sense. Shipping the device without a SD card slot not only saves some money directly but also indirectly due to license fees that apply.

How much storage space do you need on your smartphone? My Galaxy Note 2 shipped with 16 Gigabytes of storage, which I quickly filled with a couple of apps and lots of music. If it would have more storage, I'd certainly move additional audiobooks and albums on the device.

Top Windows 8 shortcuts you should know to speed up your work

By Martin Brinkmann on October 29, 2012 - Tags:Windows 8, Windows tips

If you have spend some time getting to know Microsoft's newest operating system Windows 8 you have without doubt noticed the major differences to previous versions of Windows. The start screen is without doubt the most prominent change with its new environment to run specially created applications. The new nature of the start screen and other features of Windows 8 have brought along new keyboard shortcuts that you should know to speed up your workflow when you use the operating system.

This guide looks at the top new Windows 8 shortcuts that you may find useful when working with the operating system. Please note that I'm concentrating on new shortcuts, not existing ones. I suggest you check out the top 20 keyboard shortcuts you should know for a broader list of shortcuts that you may find useful.

Right Click Enhancer

The program displays a number of options on start which may be confusing at first. There is for instance a right click editor and a simple right click editor, and it is not really clear what the difference is between the two tools. Here is a quick rundown of all tools and the functionality they make available:

• Right Click Tweaker - This tool enables you to add new commands to the Windows Explorer context menu. From opening an administrative command prompt over printing a file list, taking ownership or copying the selected contents to the clipboard.
• My Computer Manager - Enables you to add files or folders to the My Computer context menu.
• Right Click Shortcuts Creator - You can use this tool to add file or folder shortcuts to the right-click context menu in Windows Explorer. All shortcuts are placed into the root folder automatically.
• Right Click Cascading Menu Creator -  Does the same as the Right Click Shortcuts Creator, only that you place the file or folder shortcuts into subfolders which may improve visibility if you plan to add several shortcuts to the menu.
• Right Click Editor - Displays all existing file types and their associated actions. You can add, remove or edit actions here
• Right Click Editor IE - You can edit Internet Explorer's context menu here.
• Send To Manager -  Add or remove devices, folders or services in the Send To folder.
• New Menu Editor - Add or remove files that you can create when you select the New option in Windows Explorer.
• Simple Right Click Editor - Displays context menu commands and their actions. You can use it to remove actions from the menu.

Right Click Enhancer offers an incredible set of features for Windows users who want to manage Windows Explorer context menu entries. From removing entries that are not used to optimize the context menu to adding shortcuts to often used programs or commands, it is all there and not difficult to use.

Photo Sphere for Android 4.2 is like Microsoft Photosynth, still great

By Martin Brinkmann on October 30, 2012 - Tags:Image

If you use the digital camera built in to your smartphone to record the moment, you have two main options to do so. You can shot single photos of a scene or record a video. What I liked so much about Microsoft Photosynth which is a program that creates a larger panoramic image from a number of photos taken from the same object. You basically take a lot of photos, preferably all in the right angle, and use the software afterwards to stitch them together to create this larger photo.

Google is brining Photosynth to Android 4.2. The company calls it Photo Sphere, but it is basically the same thing. The app displays a three dimensional room to you when you start it. You fill that room by taking photos from the scene while the application is displaying the resulting image right on the screen. The gray areas in the room indicate areas that you still need to take a photo of to complete the panorama.

You start with a single photo and go from there.

You add photos to the image, which may not look aligned and all at first, but that's only before the processing.

The panorama gets rendered in the end once you are finished taking the photos. The different photo angles get aligned properly in the process so that it is less likely that you can spot transitions between two photos on the panorama.

It is probably best to take a look at the app in a video as it is better suited for a demonstration. Below is Google's official demo video of the Photo Sphere feature.

Photo Spheres that you create with your phone are stored as jpeg files, with the information required to view them stored as XML data in the image itself. Images can be published on Google+ or Google Maps, and probably also other locations. This remains to be seen once Android 4.2 rolls out though.

It is interesting to note that Photo Sphere is not the first app for mobile devices of its kind. 360 Panorama for instance is available for Apple devices and on the Android store, MicrosoftPhotosynth for iOS and Windows Phone. Those are solid options if your phone does not get the upgrade to Android 4.2 any time soon - or at all.

I do like the new feature and think that it can be a great addition for Android users who like to take more than snapshots with their phones. The option to publish the results on Google Maps can be interesting for businesses, travel agencies, hotels and individuals as well.