Chrome for a Cause extension donating through Dec. 19

There's really only one more day to do this but that's still plenty of time to chrome for a cause.

The Google Chrome extension Chrome for a Cause sends a donation to one of five charities every time a user opens a new tab in the Chrome browser. The project is running Dec. 15-19.

After opening ten tabs, users can plant a tree or donate a book. Google listed the following information about donations of the Official Google Blog.

• 10 tabs = 1 tree planted
• 10 tabs = 1 book published and donated
• 25 tabs = 1 vaccination treatment provided
• 100 tabs = 1 square foot of shelter built
• 200 tabs = 1 person's clean water for a year

Click here to particitpate in Chrome for a Cause

Three Google videos for three new(ish) products

Ever wonder how to use a certain Google App? The company - who owns YouTube - has a complete catalogue of video tutorials and explanations aimed to educate users about new and future products. Below are three Google videos explaining three new or developing products.

Google Voice

Google Voice gives users more control over their phone calls. Spanning a full range of futuristic features, Voice allow users to assign multiple outgoing messages to specific callers (ie. professional outgoing message to work related phone numbers), voicemail transcriptionand the option to link several phone numbers (ie. home phone, work phone) to your cell phone.

What is Google OS?

The story of Google Chrome and how it inspired the creation of an operating system. Chrome OS is an open-source project in the process of building an operating system for users who spend most of their computing time in the Web browser.

Google Places: Case StudiesGoogle wants nothing more than to grab hold of local communities. Its "Google Case Studies" video follows small businesses who use Google Places to grow and succeed locally.
Google Places allows users to add their business to Google's listings. Business owners can add their company's description to a Places profile as well as opening hours, photos coupons and more.

Facebook announces new Pages Browser

In a post on the Official Facebook Blog, Ben Blumenfeld, communication design team manager at Facebook, announced the company’s new “Page Browser.”

No, this isn’t a new internet browser, instead it’s a new way to look for Facebook Pages to “Like.” Users can browse by musicians, sports, moves, TV shows, media, politicians and more by simply accessing http://www.facebook.com/pages/browser.

The service tells the user which pages they have already liked by highlighting the page’s icon in blue. Beyond searching for new pages to like, Facebook expects users will be please to find the pages they have Liked and forgotten about.


Today, while browsing the new service I noticed a few pages that I had Liked a while ago but since have completely forgotten about including “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” and “Google Chrome.”

While this is still only a minor improvement in Facebook’s infrastructure, it is certainly one both individuals and businesses will immediately find useful.

“As with all experiences on Facebook, the Page Browser will continue to evolve as we get feedback from you,” Blumenfeld said. “For now, we hope you enjoy connecting with your interests and maybe even find a few new ones.”

Four more Google Chrome extensions for bloggers

Last June, I posted a list of 5 social media extensions related to social media. This month, the topic is blogging. The extensions listed below are a blogger's dream - tools that make quoting, linking and productivity much easier.

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Amplify

Bloggers will love this extension. Amplify users can grab entire blog posts, images and quotes from any webpage and share that information to a long list of social networks including blogging platforms, Twitter, Facebook, Delicious and more.

To add someone's blog post to your blog, select the Amplify extension, select "clip this page" and select the portion of the post you would like to share. Amplify will then ask you to create an account using your Facebook or Twitter credentials. Finally, once you have created your account, you can create a post to share to the network of your choosing.

RescueTime

RescueTime measures your productive use of Google Chrome by monitoring what sites you visit and for how long. Sites like Twitter and Facebook are recognized as "very distracting time" - a minus two on the productivity scale while email services like Gmail are "neutral" - zero points on the productivity scale.

Now, say social media is part of your job. Users can tell RescueTime that visits to Twitter or Facebook should count as "productive" - one point - or "very productive" - two points.

Finally, the extension measures your productivity points and compares them to other Rescue Time users. Initially, users should expect their productivity to be very low, improving over time thus making RescueTime our favorite app to hate.

BlogThis

Blogs should always link to sources and articles of interest whenever possible. Chrome's BlogThis extension allows users to simply click a "BlogThis!" button whenever they want to add links to drafts on their Blogger account.

Unfortunately, the button only works with Blogger but Chrome offers a Posterous extension and several Wordpress extensions relating to comment moderation.

After the Deadline

This extension uses "artificial intelligence" to correct spelling, grammar and style while keeping an eye out for biased language, cliches, passive voice and redundant phrases.

The extension can copy edit everything from tweets to spreadsheets to blog posts. Perfect for the hurried blogger looking to post breaking news with minimum mistakes.

BONUS: Mini Google Maps

If you're consistently finding yourself hastily accessing Google Maps before you run out the door, then you know that every second counts. Chrome's Mini Google Maps extension saves time and patience in that the extension provides users with a one-click search bar above a mini-Google Map.

The extension even offers a "Get Directions" link which activates Google's location-a, location-b format again without asking users to load the Google Map's webpage.