Posts tagged with "google chrome"

Due Clipper For Google Chrome

When there are no actual news or notable app releases, I prefer investing my time in creating something for other people.

Continuing my ongoing series of tips on iOS URL schemes, here’s an adaptation of my existing Due bookmarklet to work better with Google Chrome for iOS (which, as I’ve pointed out several times, has a very nice URL scheme). The following code (to install it, simply copy it and paste the entire string into a bookmark) grabs a webpage’s title and URL and sends them to Due (also powered by a great URL scheme). Read more

Chrome for iOS: Send A Webpage Back To Safari Via Bookmarklet

Sort of. Here’s a fun experiment.

Today, I wanted to quickly send a URL from Chrome for iOS – my default browser – back to Safari. I know there are ways to do Safari-to-Chrome, but I wanted the opposite: from Chrome back to Safari. I needed to install some custom Mr. Reader actions, and Chrome was giving an error when tapping on the downloadable files. I figured I could make a bookmarklet to take the current webpage in Chrome and send it to Safari.

Not so fast. There’s no documented URL scheme on iOS for opening web links in Safari, except, well, the http:// scheme itself. In testing various bookmarklet ideas, I thought that replacing googlechrome with http in Jon Abrams’ bookmarklet would force Chrome to send a link to Safari. But as It Turns Out™, doing this sort of trick in Chrome for iOS:

javascript:window.open('http'+location.href.substring(4));

…simply opens a new tab in Chrome.

What I ended up using is a hack – and a very curious one – to leverage Chrome’s support for x-callback-url to open a link back into Safari. I was inspired by Cormac Relf’s script, which I discovered yesterday when he showed me another script he made for Pythonista.

javascript:window.location='googlechrome-x-callback://x-callback-url/open/?url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&x-source=Safari&x-success='+encodeURIComponent(location.href);

As you can see above, we’re telling Chrome to open a new tab using…itself. The trick, at least theoretically, is to use an encoded location.href string to call back Safari, which is registered for the http:// scheme that Chrome, in this case, opens “externally”. Displaying x-source is needed per Google’s URL scheme specification; the name you give to x-source will be displayed as a “back” button in Chrome (as shown in the image above).

This is a profoundly inelegant and ultimately flawed solution. To make this “work” you have to:

  • Type the bookmarklet’s name, because Chrome has no bookmarks bar;
  • Nothing will happen.
  • Close Chrome;
  • Re-open it;
  • A wild new tab appears!
  • Tap the Safari button. It’s super-effective.
  • Safari will launch the link, closing the additional tab Chrome decided to open.

What is going on, exactly? Via JavaScript, we’ve forced Chrome to open a tab in itself, but doing so with x-callback-url inside a bookmarklet creates, for some reason, quite a strange behavior: the tab isn’t opened unless you close and re-open Chrome, therefore partially defeating the whole purpose of this bookmarklet, which is to quickly open a webpage in Safari. But, in spite of the clunky process, a new tab with a “Safari button” is created nevertheless, allowing you to tap it to launch Safari and close Chrome’s extra tab.

My conclusion is that we have three solutions: a) it’s not possible to create a straightforward Chrome-to-Safari bookmarklet; b) it’s possible in another way that I haven’t explored; or c) it’s possible with the x-callback-url hack, but in a different way.

If you have ideas, ping me on Twitter.

Google Chrome for iOS Now Available

Announced and demonstrated onstage earlier today during Google I/O’s Thursday event, Google Chrome is now available in the App Store for iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches running iOS 4.3 or above. Chrome for iOS, much like its Android relative, features draggable tabs and can sync preferences and bookmarks thanks to Chrome Sync support. This also means that credentials can be synced between desktop Chrome and your smartphone or tablet, letting you quickly log into your favorite sites. Easy to turn on/off Incognito Mode means you can browse the web privately — web history and session cache won’t be saved while it’s enabled.

Google Chrome for iOS is basically a web view — unfortunately you won’t get the performance of Chrome rendering or V8 as with the desktop versions. You will however, get the syncing features, style, and convenience of Google Chrome’s interface. Download Chrome for iOS from the App Store.

Update: Google Chrome for iOS now out in the US

Past the break, you’ll find Google’s latest video for their Chrome web browser, showing off the iPhone, alongside the previous desktop, Google Chrome OS, and Android versions. We’ll also continue updating this post with impressions and links as it finishes propagating worldwide. Stay tuned!

Read more

Chrome 19 Syncs Open Tabs Across Computers and Smartphones→

Chrome 19 Syncs Open Tabs Across Computers and Smartphones

Google Chrome 19: Tab Sync

Google Chrome 19: Tab Sync

From the Google Chrome blog:

With today’s Stable release of Chrome, you can. When you’re signed in to Chrome, your open tabs are synced across all your devices, so you can quickly access them from the “Other devices” menu on the New Tab page. If you’ve got Chrome for Android Beta, you can open the same recipe tab right on your phone when you run out to the store for more ingredients. The back and forward buttons will even work, so you can pick up browsing right where you left off.

Signing into Google Chrome synced items such as your bookmarks in the past, but this release brings us closer to the continuity many of wish for with our web browsers: tab syncing between our devices. Google Chrome should automatically update in the background, but you can visit About Google Chrome in the wrench menu to manually update to the latest stable version. Chrome 19 is available today, while the tab sync feature itself is rolling out over the coming weeks.

Also updated in the latest version of Google Chrome is the apps Settings. The new Settings view makes seeing history and clearing out browsing data a cinch by moving them to the first menu. The Extensions sub-menu has pretty much stayed the same, but the Settings sub-menu now contains an expansive list of options you can use to set how Chrome tracks privacy data and how Google Chrome will connect to the Internet (this is where you’ll make Chrome your default browser as well). The options themselves aren’t new, but rather the presentation has been updated to show you general preferences first, while making advanced options a simple extension of the more commonly used browser settings.

In other Chrome related news, Google could be gearing up to release their web browser on iOS according to a tidbit found by Macgasm. If gushing over this mockup was any indication, we’ve been wishing for Chrome to land on iOS devices for a long time now. While Google hasn’t officially announced Chrome for iOS (we’re talking mere speculation), iOS devices may soon be able to take advantage of the tab syncing that was introduced in today’s update.

Permalink

“Chrome Sync” for iOS Syncs Chrome Tabs, Bookmarks and History

After using Google Chrome for more than two years, I still find it rather amusing that Google hasn’t released an iOS companion app to access your browser history, tabs and bookmarks on the go. Mozilla does this, third-parties have figured out a way to do this, yet Google doesn’t seem to think an iOS version of Google Chrome with, perhaps, a minimal set of functionalities would be necessary. Fortunately, a developer in the App Store has figured out a way to sync your Chrome session (that is, history, tabs and bookmarks) from the desktop to an app, aptly named Chrome Sync Pro.

Priced at $0.99, Chrome Sync Pro runs as a universal app on the iPhone and iPad (the latter doesn’t support landscape mode for some reason), and has three sections at the bottom to switch between your bookmarks, open tabs and history. When I first heard about Chrome Sync Pro my first concern was security – it turns out, the app gets your Chrome information through an extension that doesn’t communicate with third-party servers, but copies your browser’s data into a Google doc in your account. The data in Google Docs is encrypted in some sort of way, I believe, so that only Chrome Sync Pro for iOS can read it and display properly on your device. I’d like the developers to explain this process better, for sure, but I’m not deeply concerned about security and privacy as long as my Chrome data is passed along through OAuth to Google Docs.

On iOS, the app is very simple and functional. When you open it, it’ll refresh with the latest data from your Chrome browser and allow you to tap on links. Chrome Sync Pro supports different third-party iOS browsers instead of just Safari, although some personal favorites of mine like Grazing and iCab aren’t supported yet. There is a refresh button to update the sync results from your desktop computer, but I’ve found the extension to be stable and fast at syncing back tabs and history to Google Docs.

Chrome Sync Pro is a simple utility that could use a prettier interface and more third-party browser integration; for now, it gets the job done. If you’re looking for a way to make your Google Chrome data portable, Chrome Sync Pro is only $0.99 on the App Store.

Google Chrome Updates to Support Multiple Users by “Signing In to Chrome”

Before today’s Google Chrome update, the browser was limited to a single user and a basic syncing feature that kept apps, extensions, and bookmarks mirrored between different computers. Today, the sync feature is getting attention in the form of a “Chrome Sign In” that enables Chrome users to instantly sync their session in real time to Google’s cloud. As a replacement for the previous sync, Signing In to Chrome allows you to maintain your own personal Chrome workspace without interfering with someone else’s browser preferences.

Multiple users can Sign In to Chrome, and instantly the browser changes to reflect their setup. However, this doesn’t protect your significant other or nosey roommate from snooping around in your stuff. Signing In to Chrome simply makes convenient the ability to quickly load one’s settings, but it doesn’t protect the workspace from being used by someone else (as anyone can simply click to switch between users). It’s certainly intended to be used in a family setting where multiple people are sharing the computer, not on a public computer in a library.

You’ll likely have the latest Google Chrome update when you either restart or launch your browser this afternoon, and you can manually check for the update by visiting About in the Wrench menu. You can read more about Google Chrome’s latest update on the official Google Chrome Blog.

Latest Chrome Stable Gets Redesigned “New Tab” Page

With the latest stable version of Chrome, released today, Google has set out to improve the design of the “New Tab” page, while providing users with a better way to access their most visited websites and apps at the same time. Those who use Canary, Google’s bleeding-edge version of Chrome for users willing to try the latest features and improvements ahead of their stable release, won’t be surprised by Chrome’s new tab page design: along the bottom, a Chrome logo sits next to two new tabs for most visited pages and your installed apps. These apps can be obtained from the Chrome Web Store, which also got a makeover today. Switching between top sites and apps is easy, and if you don’t feel like clicking on the tabs you can always use the arrow icons at the side to navigate, or perform a two-finger flick on your multitouch trackpad.

Apps can be opened as regular or pinned tabs, launched in full-screen mode, configured through the Options or removed from Chrome. It’s nice to see full-screen mode for apps takes advantage of Lion’s native full-screen, which was also recently introduced in Chrome. Websites’ thumbnails in the first tab can be removed and right-clicked as “normal” browser tabs, whereas app icons can be dragged and rearranged on screen. Furthermore, this new tab page comes with a “Recently Closed” menu for tabs and sites in the bottom right corner, too.

Google wrote about the new Chrome Web Store:

Apps and extensions are now presented in a wall of images that’s updated every time you visit the store. We hope this will help you quickly scan the store and find interesting things to try out. In addition, apps and extensions are easier to install—just hover over an image on the grid and click “Add to Chrome.”

Getting additional information about an app or an extension is just a click away. When you click on an app, extension or theme, you’ll see a panel featuring screenshots, videos and other relevant information neatly organized into separate tabs. The store also includes a brand new reviews interface that links to the Google+ profile of each reviewer. (To protect your privacy, we made sure to anonymize any reviews that you previously submitted.)

The latest Chrome version can be downloaded through the browser’s software update checker, or from Google’s website. Check out Google’s video detailing the refreshed Web Store and New Tab page after the break.
Read more

Latest Chrome Canary Build Has Fullscreen for Lion Built In

Want native Lion support in Google Chrome? The fast updating browser has an early Canary build out with native Lion support, including native fullscreen mode you’ve always wanted. Sure you can use fullscreen right now in Chrome, but it overtakes your current desktop and doesn’t show up as a fullscreen app in Mission Control. With native integration on its way, we’ve got plenty of screenshots past the break.

Read more

Google Chrome’s Latest Stable Turns Instant Pages on by Default for Faster Googling

If you want faster Internet browsing, be sure to hit the About section in Google Chrome to check for the latest update if Chrome isn’t getting you up to speed automatically: the latest stable version of Google Chrome turns Instant Pages (Google’s take on pre-fetching) on by default so as you type, Google figures out which web pages you want to visit and begins loading the search results up. Yes, your Google searches just got supercharged. The omnibox (that universal address and search bar) has been upgraded with some new tricks as well, including being able to jump back to previous web pages you’ve visited if you begin to type that website’s address. Start typing, hit the down arrow if you want to select something from your history, and immediately the webpage is loaded into view. If Google made the call, they’d argue it was faster than clicking the back button. Video after the break.

[via the Google Chrome Blog]

Read more