I’ve been pondering the merits of Google+ recently, especially in light of the fact that Facebook has made some changes to their interface recently. Note that I said, “changes” and not any improvements. In fact, I think what they have done is more than a nuisance more than anything and serves to suggest that maybe Google+ is a viable alternative social network.

But enough about Facebook. One of the key elements that I have always found intriguing about Google+ is the fact that the idea of Hangouts is something that Facebook is unable to compete with right now. Indeed, the new Google+ Hangout Check will even indicate for you if anyone is actually hanging out.

Maybe I don’t have enough Hangout-centric people in my Circles, but it seems to me that the whole concept has petered out. Although I must say, the Hangout Check extension is actually quite useful because when you are not focused on Google+ you can still have an idea if there are people you want to chat with face to face.

Is Google Hangouts a linchpin of Google+ and the overall Chrome space? It’s too soon to tell. Something suggests to me that many people are still a bit uncomfortable with the idea of videoconferencing with friends, despite the fact that many companies already use some form of it for long distances meetings as well as for hiring people remotely.

Once people do use Hangouts and find that they are not uncomfortable or perhaps embarrassed in any way, however, when they use it maybe there will be potential. But there is going to be that hurdle that needs to be overcome, and it won’t be that easy.

via Chrome Story

I still love this picture, though.

In a move that shouldn’t really have surprised anyone, internet firm AptiQuant today went on record telling people that they shouldn’t take their Internet Browser IQ study seriously. Hey, I coulda told you that(oh wait…I did tell you that). The reason, though…the reason they aren’t to be taken seriously might actually surprise you. Turns out..the study was false. The whole thing was a hoax.

An elaborate, ultimately pointless hoax that even managed to fool such publications as CNN, the BBC, NPR, CNET andForbes. I’m not really sure what they were trying to accomplish- this whole fiasco might end with them getting sued-both by a bunch of pissed off IE users(though given that AptiQuant themselves reported that, I’d dispute the legitimacy), and from the actual, legitimate firm from which they *ahem* “borrowed” a rather significant portion of their fake identity.

The Hoax

Before we continue, I’ll give you folks an idea of just how elaborate this hoax actually was. Turns out, it wasn’t just the test that was fabricated- there was never a company called AptiQuant to begin with. The website was created on July 14, 2011, the Vancouver address listed as the firms head office doesn’t actually exist, AptiQuant’s previous press releases and studies were all lifted from another website-including staff photos and biographies.

I don’t think they really thought that last part through.

The whole thing was blown out of the water by a few astute readers of the BBC, who on Wednesday questioned why AptiQuant’s website was created just last month- even though the firm claimed to have been around since 2006. Sure enough, a bit of digging determined that most of the information on AptiQuant’s fake website was lifted from the French Web development firm known as Central Test. That’s not to say the folks behind the hoax didn’t have an actual, valid website. Those looking into Aptiquant found out that they most certainly did.

The domain name is Atcheap.com. It’s a comparison shopping website.

So…why’d they do it?

AptiQuant’s Reasoning

This pretty much sums it up.

…Apparently, it was all a joke. According to AptiQuant, ”this was all meant to be a lighthearted joke. We did not mean to insult anyone, but if we have hurt anybody’s feelings, we apologize for that. But what’s really funny is that everybody took the report so seriously.”Uh huh. You know, I never thought I’d actually get to say something like this over the course of my blogging career, but…I smell a troll.

Oh, there were a few lines about spreading awareness regarding IE6′s compatibility issues. Somehow, I get the feeling that wasn’t really their prime focus, though.

While spending about four paragraphs repeating over and over that they didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings, they also took the time to gloat a bit that people should have uncovered the hoax “in five minutes.” And really…I actually can’t argue with them there. The signs were all there…but apparently, nobody noticed them.

So, yeah. Those of you who thought that there might be some sinister motive behind this whole thing, those of you who were about to call AtCheap out for an underhanded viral marketing campaign…I assure you, their motives  weren’t anywhere near that complex. From where I stand, it honestly looks like this study was pretty much just designed to mess with people- a goal which they accomplished rather adeptly.

Trouble is, they could very well have caused some very real damage to their own business.

The Backlash

No word on whether or not there are actually IE users suing AptiQuant/AtCheap. If there are, well…good for them, I guess? Suing Atcheap isn’t really going to accomplish all that much, at this point- not that it would have in the first place. Far more real is a lawsuit on behalf of Central Test.

“Central Test noticed the fraudulent use of its identity by Aptiquant, a Canadian company and deny any direct or indirect link with the above mentioned company,” the firm said in a blog post. “Despite the removal of the contents, Central Test and ongoing investigations reserves the right to sue the webmaster Aptiquant.”

Maybe having the ‘lighthearted joke’ involve borderline identity theft took things a bit too far. Seems to me we’ve got a clear example of not thinking things through.

Final Thoughts

via http://www.fasterpony.com

Truthfully, I never really looked into whether AptiQuant was actually a legitimate firm or not because..I honestly never took the study all that seriously to begin with. It was an amusing little story poking fun at some of the folks who still insist on using an outdated version of Internet Explorer. Plus, there was the whole internet IQ test thing.  Ah, well. Guess we should take this as a learning experience, eh? Don’t believe everything you read.

Or something to that effect.

Via AptiQuant, CNN

Via http://whiteafro.tumblr.com

Hoo, boy. This one’s ruffling some feathers. According to a report published by “psychometric consulting” firm AptiQuant, chances are good that if you’re using Internet Explorer….you’re kind of a putz. Hey, don’t shoot the messenger- I’m just relaying what the study said. Now, you folks are probably wondering two things- what sort of study it was, and how Chrome ranked, right? Let’s have a look.

IE6 users were at the bottom of the barrel, with those who’d upgraded to IE 8 scoring a little better- but not by much. Firefox, Chrome, and Safari were all pretty evenly matched- with Chrome a little higher than Firefox and Safari a little higher than Chrome. Now, while Internet Explorer users are apparently rather stupid, those who use Chrome frame aren’t- IE with Chrome Frame had the second highest overall IQ score on the list. Camino scored exceptionally high as well, but the browser that took home the gold in this study was Opera.

Yep. According to the study, Opera users are, on average, the most intelligent web denizens around. Of course, that’s assuming this study even holds water. Let’s take a closer look at it, shall we?

How Did They Do It?

So. Method of study. Aptiquant, a firm that provides hiring exams for many businesses, gave free online IQ tests to more than 100,000 people. Each time an individual took the test, Aptiquant took note of what browser that visitor was using. Right away, a few of you are probably crying foul- Internet explorer has a larger share of the market, so naturally, there’ll be more stupid people using it, right? 

You’d think so, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

See, AptiQuant evidently predicted that some people might make such an assumption; so they released their results from a simliar 2006 study-pictured above next to the results from the 2011 survey. Apparently, the average IE user has gotten stupider. Why the shift? What could be behind this seeming “dumbing down” of the IE populace?

“The study showed a substantial relationship between an individual’s cognitive ability and their choice of web browser” stated Aptiquant. “From the test results, it is a clear indication that individuals on the lower side of the IQ scale tend to resist a change/upgrade of their browsers.”

That, or they don’t know how to upgrade. See, Internet Explorer is the default browser on Windows operating systems- so a lot of people who purchase a PC or laptop might be using it simply because they either don’t know how to upgrade, or aren’t aware that any alternatives exist. That might not even be a matter of stupidity, either- it could simply be ignorance. Of course, it may well be that the test is right on the money, and IE users are, as Matt Rosoff of Business Insider put it “kind of dumb.”

The Lawsuit

Via http://www.lawsuitloansblog.com

Apparently a few IE users took AptiQuant’s study straight to heart. They decided, they didn’t much like being called dumb. So instead of trying to find some means of disproving or invalidating the study, guess what they did? Can you say “Lawsuit”? That’ll learn ‘em right good!

I’m honestly not even sure what to think of this. It’s almost like these putzes are trying to validate what AptiQuant’s saying about them. After all, it doesn’t exactly take brains to file a lawsuit- particularly one where there’s no clear victim. I only hope that this case doesn’t hold up in court, or I’ll have lost what little faith I have in the American Justice System.

Because at the end of the day, all the firm did was gather some data, then publish it. Granted, they might have been a little harsh on IE users, but…that doesn’t by any stretch excuse a lawsuit.

Final Thoughts

Honestly? It’s an internet IQ test.

I mean, how many people do you suppose were linked to the test and simply passed over it? It also doesn’t seem to take into account the fact that many people tend to use multiple web browsers, each one for different tasks. I know I myself have Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Opera all installed on my system. Though I primarily use Chrome, there are some tasks for which the others tend to be better suited, at times.

So, what am I trying to say here? I guess it’s that, ultimately, this study shouldn’t be seen as some life-changing, inarguable revelation. Those of you getting all bent out of shape over this news…don’t bother. While there could certainly be something to what AptiQuant’s saying here…it’s also just a statistic. And believe it or not, those aren’t always as reliable as you might think.

Those of you who are interested in learning more can download the study here.

What do you guys think? Are the folks who do their browsing on Internet Explorer really that dense, or is the study simply blowing smoke? And what do you make of the lawsuit against AptiQuant?

via Telegraph, PC World, AptiQuant

Well, looks like Google’s doing well. Recently, Google CEO Larry Page announced Google’s second quarter earnings, as well as some usage statistics. Fans of Google will be happy to know that pretty much every one of the primary platforms is booming. Let’s take a belated look at what Larry shared with us, shall we?

Earnings:

Google’s earnings have gone up 32% from last year, netting Google around $9.03 billion dollars in gross revenue, with 6.23 of that being generated from Google-owned sites. Though Page asserted that search and advertising are still Google’s core businesses, products like Chrome, Youtube, and Google + are part of a long term goal and should generate “huge new business” for the company, which is quickly moving from a search-engine giant to a multimedia empire. Think that’s a hyperbolic statement? Take a look at some of the other stats Page has released.

Google +:

True to Paul Allen’s prediction, Larry announced on the earnings call that Google+ had broken the ten million user mark, with one billion items shared each day, and Google’s +1 button being clicked up to 2.3 billion times a day. And just think- if Mr. Allen was right about Google + having ten million users on Thursday, might he also be right in predicting that it’s ballooned to over twenty million by now?

Chances are good that he is.

Android:

Android now has 550,000 devices activated each day, with one hundred sixty million devices(and over four hundred unique models) worldwide. Something tells me Apple might be getting a bit nervous about this one.

Chrome:

And here’s the news you’ve all been waiting for. As of Thursday, Chrome has one hundred sixty million users- and they’re still going strong. Unless Microsoft or Mozilla manages to pull out some incredible feature that leaves Chrome in the dust, something tells me that it might just be the dominant browser on the market in a few years time.

And I see absolutely nothing wrong with that.

via All Geek

Bit of a slow week this time around- it appears I was rather mistaken when I estimated we’d be seeing some major updates. We’ll actually be seeing a major update to the stable channel next week. For now…I don’t hvave all that much for you guys. Aside from the Canary channel (which updates every day, regardless) the only changes we saw were to the Beta channel and the Dev channel- and even then, there was nothing particularly major. Chrome’s Beta channel’s gone from 13.0.782.55/13.0.782.56 to 13.0.782.99 on all platforms.  The Beta channel for Chromebooks also received pretty much the same upgrade, going to 13.0.782.99(Platform version 587.80). Finally, the Dev Channel’s been updated to 14.0.825.0 from 14.0.814.0. Safe to say that’s the largest update in the list, and it brings a number of changes to WebKit with it.

Chrome Developer Channel Release 14.0.825.0

Like I said, some pretty considerable changes to WebKit in this one, in addition to a few reverted features and functions. The majority of these reversions are rather technical in nature, and aren’t entirely likely to affect the end user in any considerable fashion. The most noticeable of the changes to this version- reversions first- are listed below.

1. Downloaded items have been moved from download helper back to tab contents
2. ERR_CONNECTION_CLOSED will once again be treated as a successful download.
3. On Linux, externally stored passwords are now profile specific. More details can be found here.
4. On Chrome OS, status icons are hidden when they aren’t supposed to be shown.
5. A number of changes have been made to Autocomplete. Searches of less than one word will not be autocompleted “if they’ve only been visited once and the user has not yet typed more than one word). (92778) Past Searches now autocomplete when in Keyword Mode. (92360)
6. Focus has been moved from the Omnibox when opening a new tab with alt+enter
7. The Keyboard shortcut ctrl-shift-o now shows the bookmark manager on Linux and Windows

Most of the other changes are either more technical in nature, or simple bug fixes and updates. Unfortunately, this release brings with it a few new bugs for those of you on Chromebooks- the bugs are listed below, straight from Google’s own update post.

• Some File Browser actions crashes the browser (17728)
• Browser crash on login after kernel crash (17731)
• Getting black regions while displaying NBC site (17727)

Anyway, that’s more or less all there is to say about the dev channel update. Those of you who want to find out more can, as always, take a look at the SVN Revision Log.

Chrome Beta Channel Release 13.0.782.99

After looking through the SVN revision log, it seems as though virtually every single change in this release is a bugfix-there’s only three that aren’t, and those are mostly technical changes to background processes and the like. There’s not a whole lot to see- or say- about this one, truth be told. If you want to see precisely what the Chromium team’s fixed with this one, you can take a look at the SVN revision log. The good thing about this update is that it doesn’t come packaged with any new issues- it only repairs old ones. Good coding, that.

Chrome Beta Channel Release 13.0.782.99(587.80) for Chromebooks

Chrome OS releases aside, it isn’t often that we see a separate Chrome update designed specifically for the Chromebook. A lot of you are probably wondering exactly what differentiates this release from the standard Beta channel update. Unfortunately…I have absolutely no idea. Google didn’t actually link us to a changelog for this one. With that in mind, I think it’s safe to work on the assumption that, for some reason, the latest Beta release for Chrome OS just happened to lag behind the standard browser update, for some reason. Again, I’m not entirely clear on the details- anyone have any idea what to make of this? I’ll be looking into it, myself; I’ll keep you posted on what I find out.

That’s it for the updates this week. See you folks next Sunday.

It’s always a bad sign for a platform when developers start jumping ship. Seems like that might be just what’s happening with Firefox. See, for years, there was this extension known as Firebug. If you’re a web developer or programmer, you’ve probably at least heard of the plugin.  Apparently, it’s one of the best out there; allowing inspection of HTML elements, real-time modification of style and layout, analysis of network usage and performance; and offering a powerful Javascript debugger. All in all, it was a rather excellent tool, and kept a lot of people onboard the Firefox boat.

Back when the browser market consisted pretty much of Firefox and Internet Explorer, Firebug played a rather significant role in pulling programmers and developers away from Microsoft’s formerly dominant web browser. So, yeah…the extension is (or rather, was) kind of a big deal.  But all good things must end- and it looks like Firebug’s time in the sun might be coming to a close. John J. Barton, former lead programmer of the Firebug team, explained the challenges faced in the current day by the team behind the prolific web debugger:

“Working on Firebug with this great group of contributors was fun and I believe we had a tremendous impact on the Web over the years when Firebug was the only decent Web debugger

Now all of the browsers have (or will soon have) their own debuggers. Basing next gen work on Firebug is not practical. The pace of change in browsers is too fast for our team size. Firebug hasn’t really been able to keep up with Firefox, let alone compete with other tools. Moreover, the shift from desktop to mobile and from one high-tech browser (Firefox) to three or more requires additional development effort.”

Those of you in the know will remember that Barton was, at one point, and IBM employee. You’d think IBM would step in and lend a hand to the Firebug team, given that it made Firefox its default browser over a year ago, but..apparently not. “”I think our current drive to re-architect Firebug is on the right track, but I could not obtain another year of support from IBM to contribute to that work,” Barton told Cnet. I guess it all just ended up being too much to bear, and eventually, Barton gave up the cause, and switched sides.  He works for Google now.

Could IBM be ditching Mozilla as well?

“Monday, I start work on next-gen Web dev tools at Google on the Chrome browser team. Consequently I will no longer be contributing routinely to the development and maintenance of Firebug for Firefox,” wrote John J. Barton, in an email to members of the Firebug Mailing list. Bad news for the Firebug team, and potentially worse news for Mozilla. Given how fast Chrome’s been climbing its way up the pecking order in the browser world, Mozilla can’t afford to give their competitors any quarter.

Final Thoughts- The Future of Firebug

One of the problems with Firebug is that the internet has changed- rather considerably. As the ‘net’s evolved, so too has web design. From Cnet: “Web programming is a hot area as the era of static Web pages gives way to the era of dynamic Web applications with animated elements, interactive user interfaces, and heavy-duty software written in the JavaScript language. That makes the task of creating developer tools harder.” This reality coupled with Mozilla’s new rapid release schedule was evidently too much for the Firebug team to handle.

So is this it for the once great web debugger? Is Firebug dead in the water? Things certainly aren’t looking good, but it’s ultimately too early to say. Dion Almaer, a former developer at Mozilla, put it better than I could:

“Firebug used to be the way you debugged your sites, but that is changed. It is too early to claim that Firebug is zombied, but all eyes will be on that…especially as we see other browser tools continue to blossom.”

Looks like the folks at Google have been busy. The Developer Channel updated to 14.0.814.0, Beta is now at version 13.0.782.55(Windows/Mac/Chrome)/13.0.782.56; and the Stable Channel’s current build is now 12.0.742.122(Windows/Mac/Chrome)/12.0.742.124(Linux). The Chrome OS Stable channel also saw an update, going from R12 to0.12.433.231 R12 release 0.12.433.257. It’s been a pretty big week for the Developer channel, and an even bigger week for Adobe Flash- every channel that’s been updated-with the exception of the Developer channel- got itself a shiny new Flash player.

Mostly pretty minor updates- bugfixes and such- but still worth taking a look at. Let’s start with the browser.

Chrome Developer Channel Release  14.0.814.0

Nothing major about the Dev channel update this week- but hey, what do you expect? It is a minor release, after all. Aside from a few minor bugfixes and modifications to the base coding of the browser, the new Developer Channel’s going to bring us some of the following changes:

• Modifications to session restore. It’s now going to be restoring to the existing browser and only close an active tab if it’s the new tab page. Basically, this’ll help ensure that any tabs the user had open before hitting the ‘restore’ button will stay around.
• The remote computing background page is gone, and the Javascript+Webapp have both gotten a significant restructuring
• Chrome now hides the “Other Bookmarks” button if that folder is empty, matching the behavior of Windows.
• The indexeddb-use-leveldb command line flag is gone; replaced by LevelDB, which is now the default back end.  In addition, the flag indexeddb-use-sqlite was added; to be used for debugging.
• A new ProfileInfoCache tool exists to get information about Google Account Profiles. The user’s avatar is now hidden on the Google bar if they only have one local profile.
• Folder buttons on bookmark bar now have tooltips if their name is too long

Aside from that, it’s mostly just a few bugfixes and minor technical changes. As always, interested parties can find the changelog here

Chrome Beta Channel Release 13.0.782.55/13.0.782.56

Nothing to see here, folks. This week’s Chrome Beta Channel Release only contains a new, updated version of the Adobe Flash Player. No word on what else- if anything- was fixed in this update, and Google’s rather scant on the details. I’m going to look into the matter, see if I can’t find a bit more information on what flash player the Beta Channel’s using now. I’ll keep you folks posted.

Chrome Stable Channel Release 12.0.742.122/12.0.742.124

As with the Beta channel, the only thing that seems to have changed about the Stable channel this week is the new Flash Player. Again, I’m going to look into this and see if i can find a bit more information on it. If I can’t; take heart: I’ll definitely have more for you next week- since there’s likely a major update coming from Google. We’re getting close to the end of their six week release cycle.

Chrome OS Stable Channel Revision 12 Release 0.12.433.257

And the new Chrome OS Stable channel update includes….a new flash player. In addition, the new Chrome OS Stable channel has received a huge suite of bugfixes as well as improvements to functionality. Basically, Google focused their efforts for this update on  making the Chrome OS run better; with less chance that it’ll implode during day to day use. Those of you with a mind to see exactly what they changed with this update can find the full list of fixes here.

And that’s pretty much all I’ve got for you. Like I said, I’ll see if I can dig up a bit more information on the Stable/Beta channel releases for you. See you guys next week.

via Google

Bing users who are fans of Chrome should exercise caution in their searches. Turns out a few rather enterprising malware distributors have purchased sponsored links on Microsoft’s search engine. For those of you who don’t know, sponsored links are those that appear at the top of the page when a search engine displays search results for you. Said results are usually legitimate, and carry little to no risk of containing security threats. You’d think that whoever was in charge of the search engine might, I don’t know…screen the results, particularly with sponsored links. I don’t know about you, but if someone paid me to host a link at the top of a search engine I was running, I’d make damned sure that link was safe for my users before allowing it to be posted.

Truthfully, I’d say that something like this was allowed to get through reflects rather poorly on whoever’s in charge of Bing. To that end, I’m not sure whether this is a bad thing or a good thing for Google. Could be good, because it might push a few users away from Bing. On the other hand, it could be bad, because of the means by which the malware infects one’s system.

The Security Threat

See, usually, searching for “Chrome” in a search engine displays the site to download the Chrome browser in the sponsored links. Google themselves paid for it to have such a prominent position, because hey- they want their  Such is the case on Bing, except that now; the top link leads to a spoofing site, designed to resemble Google’s own download site as closely as possible; with one tiny exception. Instead of Chrome, users who click the download link will receive a rather nasty surprise.

“…if you clicked the Download button, which is the big blue one in the upper right-hand corner, your Internet Explorer (IE) browser would interfere, telling you that this download is suspect of infection.

And if you would not pay attention to this, you’ll end up having an infected system. Trend Micro threat response engineer Kathleen Notario noted that once the file is downloaded, it is saved as chrome_11.0.696.68.exe (currently detected as TSPY_ONLINEG.MU) in your system. This spyware then drops cleanhtm.exe and cleanhtm.dll into the%Application Data% directory. These files have rootkit capabilities that enable them to hide processes and files. TSPY_ONLINEG.MU also modifies the HOSTS file by adding the following entries:

• {BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.118.187 www.google.com
• {BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.118.188 search.yahoo.com
• {BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.118.188 www.bing.com

This will eventually direct the user to the IP addresses owned by the perpetrators whenever the listed sites are accessed.”

The reason for this? Apparently the perpetrators have a search engine of their own, and instead of actually competing; they’re using the malware as an underhanded method of generating search traffic. I guess if you’ve got nothing to offer consumers, that’s one way to make them use your service. Now, you’ll notice that- and this is to Microsoft’s credit- via its Smartscreen Application Reputation software; Internet Explorer is aware of the risk of infection, even if the folks in charge of Bing’s ad server are blissfully unaware. It flags the download as dangerous (something which it doesn’t do if you’re downloading Chrome through legitimate channels), and attempts to warn users away from it.

So what this basically comes down to is that the folks who run Bing are the ones at fault here.

How to Avoid Infection

This is a pretty simple one. If you’re looking to download/install Google Chrome, and when you click the download link, it attempts to give you an .exe file instead of taking you to an install page…get the hell out of there, because you’re not downloading Chrome. Lack of awareness/lack of caution is one of the most considerable tools in the arsenal of malware distributors. By being aware of stuff like this and practicing safe browsing, users can significantly reduce the risk that they’ll leave their browsing session with a few unwanted guests on board their system. Exercise caution. And in this case, caution involves no longer trusting Bing’s sponsored links- at least until they pull their head out of an undisclosed location and fix their damned search engine.

Until then, you could always just use Google.

via Softpedia, Trend Micro

Chrome’s growing larger by the day, it seems. According to a web analytics company known as Statcounter, who collected the data from a sample exceeding 15 billion pageviews per month; Google’s increasingly popular web browser grew to encompass 20.7 percent of the global browser market this past month. Does that not seem like a lot? Consider the fact that just two years ago, the then-fledgling browser had a measly 2.8 percent. Kinda puts it into perspective a touch, doesn’t it?

That isn’t all there is to the story, either. Not only has Chrome been gaining strength; it’s been doing so at the expense of both its chief competitors. Microsoft Internet Explorer dropped from 59 percent of the market to 44 percent, while Mozilla Firefox dropped from 30 percent to 28 percent. Granted, both Mozilla and Microsoft have both got a bigger piece of the pie than Google at the moment, but that might not last much longer, if the current trends are anything to go by- even with both companies stepping up their game.  Chrome’s still got a ways to go, but another couple years like this past one and it’ll hold dominance over the browser market.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Via San Francisco Business Times

I did say something like this was coming very soon. Granted, it’s not an official extension or update from Google, but just the same, it’s something to tide users over until such an extension releases. Hey, I’m still standing firm in my belief that it will. Call me crazy, but I think integrating + into Chrome is something Google’s definitely going to be looking into as we draw ever nearer to the inevitable Google + launch date.

Anyway, there’s now a Chrome extension that allows you to stay connected to Google + anywhere on the net. You can share with your circles, respond to posts made by friends, switch between multiple Google accounts and set up notification sounds and desktop notifications. Pretty cool, right? Surplus was created by the rather talented young Antimatter Fifteen. Kid’s only sixteen years old, and already he’s got a pretty damned impressive portfolio of apps. Take a look at this excerpt from his Google + page:

I’ve written several chrome extensions including Surplus, Cloud Save, CrOS Save, drag2up, Offline Dictionary, stick2, the non functional cross platform Music Beta upload app MusicAlpha, and an Offline Wikipedia dump reader. I made Ajax Animator, a web based animation authoring tool, VectorEditor, a Raphael-based vector graphics tool, and the Khan Academy scratchpad.

Yikes. I get the feeling he might just have a bright future ahead of him designing apps and extensions.  At the very least, he’s got some potential. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. Let’s take another look at Surplus. After all, that’s what we’re all here for, right? Now, while this extension’s pretty nifty, it does have one minor design flaw. Emphasis on the word ‘minor’ here.

See, for link sharing, Surplus doesn’t pull the link directly from the page you’re on. Granted, you can fix the problem with a simple copy+paste; but just the same, it would have been a nice functionality to add on. Oh, one more thing- depending on what build of Chrome you’re using, Surplus apparently has the potential to be something of a CPU hog, according to this user review on the extension page:

As soon as I enable the extension, every tab I have open starts using 3-10% CPU, even if I then disable the extension. I have to shut down Chrome completely and restart it to get the tabs to stop hogging the CPU. I’m using 14.0.803.0 dev-m.

So…basically, if you’re using that particular build of Chrome, you should probably be careful. Otherwise, this is one extension that Google + users should definitely at least try. You can grab it here.

Update: Seems there’s a few more problems with the extension. A couple more users are reporting rather considerable memory leaks, and I myself have noticed a rather…well, bizarre glitch. For some reason, the extension now brings up Google Images in the dropdown menu, almost cropping out the functional features.  I’m currently using the latest dev build (Yeah, I know, I know, I told you guys to exercise caution when using this app with that build); no word yet if these problems also occur in the Stable and Beta releases.  I’ve contacted Antimatter about the issue, I’ll keep you guys posted when I Get a response.

Via Lifehacker