10 Things to Try in Google Chrome 5 Beta

If you're using the stable version of Google Chrome, the latest beta release (Google Chrome 5.0.375.29 for Windows, Mac and Linux) will be a pleasant surprise. Here are 10 things you should try after installing Chrome 5 beta:

1. Google Chrome remembers zoom settings for each domain. Go to http://www.nytimes.com, zoom using Ctrl+ or Ctrl-, close the tab and reopen it.

2. Remove individual items from the history. Go to the History tab (Ctrl+H), click on "Edit items", select the pages you want to remove and click on "Remove selected pages".

3. The new bookmark manager is an HTML page that opens in a new tab. It looks better than the previous manager and it has the advantage that extensions will be able to add new features.


4. Google Chrome can synchronize themes and preferences, in addition to bookmarks.


5. Google Chrome includes Adobe's Flash plug-in, so you no longer have to install it or worry about keeping it up to date. Open a site that uses Flash, right-click on a Flash object and select "About Adobe Flash". You should see the message "You have version 10,1,53,22 installed".

6. Disable individual plug-ins. Go to chrome://plugins/ and disable the plug-ins you don't need. You can disable Google Gears, Adobe Flash, Google Update or any other plug-in installed on your computer.

7. Extensions in incognito mode. Chrome disables all extensions in incognito mode, but you can manually enable some of them from the Extensions page.

8. Native geolocation. The previous Chrome versions used the Google Gears implementation, but Google Chrome now supports HTML5 geolocation, so that more web applications can easily find your location. Go to Google Maps, click on the small circle above the Street View logo and you'll see an infobar: "maps.google.com wants to track your location".

"If you allow Google Chrome to share your location with a site, the browser will send local network information to Google Location Services to get an estimate of your location. The browser can then share your location with the requesting site. The local network information used by Google Location Services to estimate your location includes information about visible WiFi access points, including their signal strength; information about your local router; your computer's IP address," explains Google.

9. Manual translation. Now you can disable the auto-translation feature and still be able to use the built-in translator. Even if you disable the Google Translate integration from Settings/Under the hood, you can still right-click on a page and select "Translate to English".

10. Reorder extension buttons. You can change the order of the buttons installed by Google Chrome extensions using drag & drop and even hide some of the buttons.


Bonus enterprise feature. Google Chrome now supports Integrated Windows Authentication. If you have access to an intranet site that uses Microsoft IIS and requires NTLM authentication, open it in Chrome 5. This is one of the most requested Chrome features, after the support for Core Animation NPAPI, extensions and a bookmark manager.

Time to celebrate as Wikipedia turns 10

I hope you all had a great time celebrating the New Year! What’s  more interesting is that your favorite information guide on the Internet, is very close to its 10th birthday on 15th January, 2011. Still confused? I am talking about none other than Wikipedia.

Today, Wikipedia doesn’t need a description. Still I will like all of you to know that recently it completed its fundraiser and successfully raised about US$ 16 million. Whuf… that’s a huge amount of money! What’s more important to know is that Wikipedia has its local chapters all throughout the World today with volunteers all across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Folks, it’s just not news this time, but various local chapters of Wikipedia all throughout the world have planned of organizing events and meetings to celebrate the 10th birthday.

I am even planning to attend the Pune event which is planned as follows:

Venue: Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies & Research, Atur Centre, Model Colony, Pune.

Time: 1800 Hours

Date: 15 January, 2011

Link: Wikipedia’s 10th Birthday

Online Calculator for Electricity consumption in Units

I just received the Electricity Bill for my apartment this month and it was a considerably high amount than what it used to be. I immediately checked the “Units consumed” section on the bill and I could not understand that number’s history. So I decided to see online if there is any tool available to calculate my Monthly units consumption in units, as usually all such calculators display the consumption in kWh and writes a line at the bottom of the page – “Find out the per kWh cost from your local Electricity company”. Now if we had to do all that, why will we be looking for information on the Internet.

I found out a Bill Calculator today which is available to calculate the Electricity consumption in Units. The calculator takes inputs in 6 pages as follows:

Page #1

• Bulb – 4 categories of Power rating to select from viz. 25, 40, 60 and 100 Watts
• Tubelight – standard Power rating is considered
• CFL – 2 categories of Power rating to select from i.e. 8 and 9 watts

Page #2

• Fan – 2 categories of Fan diameter is available to select from, 36” and 48”
• Table Fan – standard Power rating of 40 Watts

Page #3

• Iron – 2 categories of power rating: 550 Watts and 750 Watts
• Geyser – Generally known for high power rating and hence three categories available to select, 2000 Watts, 3000 Watts and 6000 Watts.

Page #4

• Air Conditioner – Capacity-based categories like 1 and 1.5 Tons
• Refrigerator – The usage has been assumed and kept fixed at 12 hours a day, however you have to select between 155 Litres or 300 Litres capacity
• Washing Machine – No power rating or consumption duration mentioned

Page #5

• Oven – Power rating options are 3000 Watts and 5000 Watts
• Toaster – I didn’t know that a small-sized toaster could have a 1000 Watt rating
• Mixer – A power rating is fixed at 200 Watts
• Cooker – Power rating mentioned as 1500 Watts. Don’t confuse it with the traditional Gas cookers.
• Cooking range – Gosh! A Cooking range has such a high Power rating of 5000 Watts.

Page #6

• Radio – Radio has a low power rating of just 50 Watts
• Television – It has a fixed power rating of just 150 Watts
• Tape Recorder – Though replaced with MP3 players and Home Theatres, Tape Recorder is mentioned with a power rating of 50 Watts.
• Computer – And finally the thing we all use the most, the Computer has been taken with a fixed power rating

The Result Page!

So now after long list of specifications and selections, we get our result in Units per month. I can even give you a tip to calculate your bill using the data from your last received bill. In the last bill, just see the section where you Usage charges are mentioned. Don’t combine the Fixed and other charges. Divide this amount (usage charges) with the number of units in the then bill and you can have a general idea about the per unit charges prevalent in your area.

Do post your comments if you know of any other online calculator for Electricity consumption, find something relevant to India and even put your suggestions whether such topics are of any interest to you. I would be glad to hear from you all.

Link: Online Electricity Calculator

“Traffic Travis – SEO tool to discover profitable keywords”