Most Popular Chrome Extensions and Posts of 2012

2012 brought a lot of new people to Google Chrome as the browser has been toying with the top browser spot throughout the year. Alongside all the new Chrome devotees comes a slew of new Chrome extensions that enhance privacy, add functionality, and more. Here are the most popular Google Chrome-related posts for 2012.

Everyone's Trying to Track What You Do on the Web: Here's How to Stop Them

It's no secret that there's big money to be made in violating your privacy. Companies will pay big bucks to learn more about you, and service providers on the web are eager to get their hands on as much information about you as possible. More ?

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How to Make Facebook Infinitely Better with One Browser Extension

With each update, Facebook has gotten incrementally more cluttered, perplexing, and ornery-and I'm not even talking about all your annoying acquaintances flooding it with inane status updates. More ?

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How to Get Rid of Facebook Timeline and Actually Bring the Old Facebook Back

We think Facebook's new Timeline layout is pretty sweet, if only for its awesome customizability. If you're adamant about wanting the old Facebook back, though, a simple Chrome extension can abolish the Timeline for good. More ?

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How to Block Annoying Political Posts on Facebook

Election Day is over, and we all know what that means: tomorrow you'll wake up to an onslaught of annoying, ignorant Facebook posts from your friends (God love 'em) complaining about whichever candidate won. More ?

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Lifehacker Readers' Custom Chrome Themes

Google recently released a new tool that lets you create your own custom themes for Chrome, and it's pretty awesome. We asked you to share your custom themes, and a lot of you responded with some pretty snazzy ones. More ?

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Browser Speed Tests: Chrome 19, Firefox 13, Internet Explorer 9, and Opera 12

Firefox 13 is out and it's all about speed, Opera 12 has added a few new features, and Chrome is still cranking out new versions, so we thought it time for another browser speed test. More ?

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How to Banish Embarrassing or Annoying Autocomplete Suggestions from Your Browser

Stop me if you've heard this one: Once upon a time, you visited a web site that you're not exactly proud of. Let's say the content of said web site rhymes with "corn". More ?

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How to Fix All of Your Biggest YouTube Annoyances: Hide Comments, Turn Off Autoplay, and More

You probably use YouTube every single day, but it's not something you think about tweaking the way you do, say, Gmail. Yet YouTube is filled with annoyances, like obnoxious autoplay, intrusive ads, and mind-numbingly stupid comments (to name a few). More ?

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Browser Speed Tests, Mac Edition: Chrome 22, Firefox 15, Safari 6, and Opera 12.02

Now that Mountain Lion's out with a shiny new version of Safari 6, we thought it time to revisit our browser speed tests. As always, we're pitting the four most popular browsers-this time, on a Mac-against one another in a battle of startup speed, tab loading prowess, and lots more. More ?

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Privacyfix Shows Who's Tracking You on the Web, Gives You the Tools to Stop It

Chrome/Firefox:Everyone's trying to track you on the web, and it's hard to keep track of every privacy setting you need to tweak. Privacyfix is here to help, showing you which privacy-invading features you have turned on in Facebook and Google, plus how to keep other sites from tracking you. More ?

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HTTPS Everywhere Keeps Your Personal Information Safe on Over 1,400 Sites, Available for Firefox and Chrome

Chrome/Firefox: HTTPS Everywhere is a simple extension that, with just a one-click installation, can seriously increase your security on over 1,400 web sites by encrypting your connection. More ?

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Master Your Browser's Tabs with These Tricks and Extensions

There's a strange joy in keeping 20 tabs open and pretending like you have the ability to multitask and actually manage all of them. But in reality, most browsers buckle under the pressure of too many tabs and you start to lose track of what you have open. More ?

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How to Invert Your Browser's Colors for Easier Reading at Night

If you're a night owl, you know how much a regular white web page can hurt your eyes when you open it up. Here are two browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox that will make the web a little bit nicer at night. More ?

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How to Make Reading on Your Computer a Better Experience

A lot of us stare at a computer monitor for the bulk of our day and reading long articles or books is rarely a comfortable experience. With that in mind, here's a few steps you can take to make you reading experience less terrible.
The key to getting your computer monitor into shape is partially... More ?

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Supercharge Google Reader with Styles and Extensions

Despite the increase in the variety of ways you can consume media and learn about news, Google Reader is still the default news reader for many. While you can always find a good desktop RSS reader to suit your needs, many people still prefer the plain old web experience. More ?

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How to Hide Ads in Gmail

If Gmail's ads-especially the new, experimental image ads-are annoying you but you don't want to go all out and install a sledgehammer ad blocker like AdBlock Plus, here are a few ways to keep Gmail ads from infiltrating your inbox. More ?

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Make Chrome Less Distracting with Vimium (and These Settings)

Coders love text editor Vim because you can do everything from the keyboard, avoiding detours into into slow, distracting mouse-click work. Here's how a single Chrome extension can change your browsing habits in similar get-what-you-came-for fashion.
We've previously posted about Vimium, and... More ?

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Chat Undetected Prevents Others From Knowing When You've Seen Their Facebook Message

Chrome/Firefox/Internet Explorer: Facebook Chat now includes a feature that lets you know when a friend has read your message-or when you've read theirs. More ?

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Collusion for Chrome Shows You Who's Tracking You on the Web, As You Browse

We've mentioned Collusion for Firefox in the past, but the folks at Disconnect have rebuilt the plugin for Chrome users as well, giving them the same live view of how the sites you visit on the web are tracking and transmitting data about you as you browse. More ?

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There you have it! 2011 was a big year for privacy and Facebook-related extensions, but a few other extensions and tricks slipped through as well. As Google Chrome expands to mobile we'll likely see a lot more users adopting it, and it's still our favorite on both Mac and Windows. If you're looking for more Chrome goodness, check out the most popular posts from 2011 and 2010.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/vHEP0ys3RF4/most-popular-chrome-extensions-and-posts-of-2012

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Green steel inventor wins innovation award | Eco News ...

Leading Australian researcher Professor Veena Sahajwalla has won the $30,000 top prize in the Innovation Challenge awards run by The Australian newspaper.

A passionate recycler, she was honoured for her patented ?green steel? process, in which old rubber tyres and plastic are used to replace some of the coke in the electric arc furnaces that generate power for the production of steel.

The revolutionary approach has been commercialised locally and overseas by Australia?s largest manufacturer of long steel products, OneSteel.

As a result it has already prevented more than a million tyres from ending up in landfill and helped reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Scientia Professor Sahajwalla is director of the University of New South Wales Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology.

Her interest in mining the mountains of rubbish and waste materials produced by modern society and re-using them in industrial processes or to create new goods was sparked early in life.

?As a child growing up in India I walked to school past huge waste dumps picked over by desperately poor communities,? she said.

?I always wanted to turn that waste into something we could absorb back into industrial production.?

The Australian, a News Limited publication, reported that the innovation competition attracted hundreds of entries, including a folding flat-pack house; a DNA test that would help breed horns out of beef cattle; a wave energy converter; a computer program that allows students to conduct laboratory experiments on the internet; and do-it-yourself hearing aids.

Professor Sahajwalla won the $5000 prize in the Manufacturing and Hi-tech Design category of the competition as well as the overall $25,000 prize.

She is Associate Dean Strategic Industry Relations of the UNSW Faculty of Science and is one of Australia?s best-known engineers and scientists, having been a judge on the ABC TV program The New Inventors.

She has received many awards including the 2011 National Nokia Business Innovation Award at the Telstra Business Women?s Awards and the Banksia Environmental Foundation?s 2012 GE Eco Innovation Award for Individual Excellence.

In May she was appointed as a commissioner on the Australian government?s Climate Commission.

Source: http://econews.com.au/news-to-sustain-our-world/green-steel-inventor-wins-innovation-award/

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Source: http://lawrenceaubrey275.typepad.com/blog/2012/12/green-steel-inventor-wins-innovation-award-eco-news.html

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Slate Is Looking for a Tech Blogger

Slate is hiring a part-time, freelance technology blogger to contribute to ?Future Tense,? our blog about emerging technologies and their impact on society and public policy.

The blogger will be responsible for writing three posts per week on topics like technology policy, social media, video games, cybersecurity, privacy, and tech culture. We also cover the intersection of science and technology, like geoengineering, synthetic biology, and nanotechnology. We don?t review gadgets, but we do discuss how they change our lives. You?ll need to be able to spot great stories before everyone else?and you should have strong opinions about them, too. It?s essential that you be able to write clearly and quickly.

For now, it is a six-month position, with the potential for extension. You will be able to work from home.

To apply, please email your r?sum?, a cover letter, and three writing samples to futuretenseblogger@gmail.com (Word docs preferred). The deadline for receipt of applications is Wednesday, Jan. 9.?

Future Tense is a partnership of Arizona State University, the New America Foundation, and Slate. In addition to the Future Tense channel on Slate, we host live events in Washington and beyond on the most pressing technology questions of the moment. Learn more about Future Tense here.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=aba6d8a1b05e955428e93315da24bc16

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DLF Fitness Blog: Improve Your Personal Training Business

I am a Certified Personal Trainer, Nutritional Consultant, and owner of DLF Fitness Personal Training Studio, located?in the Penn Quarter section of Washington, DC. I train busy professionals looking to balance their diet and exercise, safely and effectively.? I have been a personal trainer since 1996 in both the military and private?sectors.? I have had some?incredible results with my clients.? From improved body composition to improved health?and?performance. My mission is to change lives, by helping my clients balance their diet and exercise with their busy schedules.?

Source: http://wdctrainer.blogspot.com/2012/12/improve-your-personal-training-business.html

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How to set up your new HDTV

1 hr.

Geoff Morrison , HD Guru

It?s not possible for a TV to be set at the factory with the best settings possible for your home. Take 20 minutes or so on your end, and you can drastically improve the picture quality. If you just bought a TV, or just haven't found the time to mess around with your set,?here are tips for doing it right.?

If you really?want to nail it,?we suggest a?setup Blu-ray. They?re cheap, and the?Disney WOW?disc is especially helpful and easy to follow. (A step-up from that would be the $30?ISF HDTV?Calibration Wizard.)

Straight?out of the box
All HDTVs generally?have a start-up?screen that lets the user to choose between a home mode and a store demo mode.?This is extremely important. The store mode is designed to produce the brightest image ? at the expense of black level, contrast ratio and energy efficiency. To obtain the best picture select the home mode. You will still be able to make fine-tuning?adjustments to maximize image quality.

The screen will also ask you to choose your?language, and will ask about using over-the-air antenna or cable/satellite. If you don?t use an antenna, make sure you select cable/satellite.?You don?t want the TV to go into the tuner mode,?because?you won't see an image.

Special instructions for smart TVs
If your new HDTV has Internet connectivity for streaming movies and other content, the next step should be connecting to the Internet. All smart TVs have an Ethernet connection if you want to wire the TV directly. Many also have Wi-Fi for wireless set-up. Follow the on-screen instructions or the?owner?s manual for the proper steps.

Once completed, you should make sure you have the latest version of the TV's software, by performing a firmware update as per your TV's instructions. The update may add new features, Internet services and even apps, and will assure you have the latest and best version of your new HDTV. Don't skip this:?Nearly every TV we test has newer firmware waiting for it when we connect it to the Internet.

Picture modes
Nearly all TVs have picture modes that adjust multiple settings to create a certain look to the image. The best idea is to start with the most accurate setting, then adjust as you see fit. With nearly all TVs, this mode is called ?Movie,? ?Cinema,? or something similar. If these aren?t options, ?Standard? is likely closest.

If you?ve already?been watching your TV for more than a few minutes, switching to one of these modes is going to be a shock. It will seem red (warm) and soft. It isn?t, which I?ll explain as we go.

Contrast
This control adjusts the bright parts of the image: Clouds, white shirts, snow, etc. The idea is to set this control high enough that the image ?pops,? but not so high as to mask detail, like cloud?textures or shirt?wrinkles. All TVs have a maximum contrast setting, above which you?re not making the image any brighter,?you?re just making near-white objects totally white.

If you?re using a setup disc, the contrast pattern will have a ramp of progressively whiter bars. The idea is to be able see most of these (but not those labeled ?above white?).

If you?re not using a setup disc, find a TV show (ideally a live sporting event) that takes place outside. Skiing works great for this, though baseball does as well (fly balls, any shot of the sky). The idea is to be able to set the control so that you can still see detail in bright white objects. There should almost never be bright white blobs on the screen. If there are, turn the contrast control down until those blobs get their detail back.

There is no average number to use as a guideline for setting?contrast, but it?s almost never 100 percent,?or anything close. Start somewhere around 80 percent and go from there.

Brightness
This is the opposite of the contrast control. Despite its name, brightness control adjusts the dark parts of the image: Shadows, black hair, black leather jackets. The idea here is to set it low enough that the picture has lots of contrast (as in, the difference in the light and dark parts of the image), but not so far that there?s just huge swaths of blackness on screen during any night scene.

If you?re using a setup disc, the brightness pattern will have a ramp of progressively darker black bars. The idea is to be able see most of these (but not those labeled ?below black? or similar).

If you?re setting this by eye, any night or darkly lit scene will do. Set the control fairly low, down?past the point where you lose detail. Now gradually increase it until you see detail in the darkness. If the picture looks gray or washed out, you?ve brought your brightness too far up.

Color?and?tint
Generally speaking, you shouldn?t have to adjust these at all. These are holdovers from the old tube (CRT) TV days. With component and HDMI connections, the TV shouldn?t need adjustment to color or tint.

But so you know, color is color saturation. Set too high, people will look sunburned, and everything will seem cartoony. Tint adjusts the green/red in the image (Martian/lobster). Without specific color filters (that usually come with setup discs), you can?t adjust either of these settings these correctly. Skip.

Sharpness
This is a highly misleading control. Generally speaking, sharpness control adds enhancement to the image to make it appear sharp. Ironically, by doing so, it?s actually masking true fine detail in the image. This setting should be set as low as possible. Some TVs actually?soften?the image if you set it too low (bizarre, to be sure), so watch out for that. Look for dark lines on a bright background, like the?edges of buildings for instance. Lower this setting so there isn?t any ghost line next to the dark edge. This ghost line is called ?edge enhancement,? and goes a long way in making the image look artificial.

Once you get used to the naturalness of the image without edge enhancement, you?ll never go back.

Color temperature
This one is going to be tough. Not because it requires any labor on your part, it?s just going to do something to the image that at first is going to seem bad.

Color temperature is how bluish or reddish the image looks. Picture a typical scene of people walking down a street. Set the color temp too cool, and it will look like they?re walking down the street in winter, with that season?s normal bluish tones. Set the color temp too warm, and it will be a reddish warm day instead.

With most TVs, the ideal setting is ?warm? or ?low.? In some cases, this is too warm, and ?normal? is closer. If you?re changing the settings for the first time, and the TV was set in the ?cool? color temp mode, everything will look wrong, and even??normal? will appear to your eye as too warm. Give your eyes time to adjust. Watch on ?normal? for a few hours, and then ?cool? will seem incredibly blue.

Backlight
This is an LCD-specific control ??plasma TVs don?t have backlights.?Think of the backlight setting as a volume control for the image. Turn it up, and the entire picture (bright whites and dark blacks alike) get brighter. Turn it down, and everything gets darker.?

If you leave this turned all the way up, not only are you wasting energy, but at night your TV can be hard to watch. Modern LCDs are extremely bright, and watching such a small bright object in a dark room can create severe eye fatigue.

For critical viewing, or watching at night, the idea is to get the best black levels, while still creating a watchable image. Once you set contrast and brightness correctly, turn the backlight control all the way down. This will likely be too dark for most viewing. Turn it up to the point where it looks the best. Often, at night, this could be as low as 20 percent, depending on the TV.?During the day, you can?set this as high as you want.

Interestingly, no setup disc offers instructions on how to set this control.?Read more on this in our?buyer-beware article on TV backlights.

For more on what your HDTV?s controls do, read our?Guide to HDTV Settings.

You can catch up with?Geoff Morrison on Twitter at?@TechWriterGeoff. His novel, "Undersea," is now in paperback.

More?from HD Guru:

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/how-set-your-new-hdtv-1C7657756

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Egypt constitution passes with 63.8 percent

CAIRO (AP) ? The head of Egypt's election commission says the new constitution has passed with a 63.8 percent "yes" vote in a referendum.

According to official results announced Tuesday, 32.9 percent of voters participated.

The announcement turns the Islamist-drafted charter into the country's first constitution after the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak out of office after nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule.

The opposition had campaigned against the constitution, charging that it will usher in Islamic rule in Egypt and restrict freedoms. It has vowed to challenge the results.

Judge Samir Abou el-Maati, the head of the electoral commission, denied allegations that judicial supervision was lacking in the vote.

The official results closely mirror unofficial results announced by the Muslim Brotherhood, the main group that backed the charter.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-25-Egypt/id-5bd2cb103ae44584ad714ce30e9844c0

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Russian parliament approves ban on American adoptions

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A bill banning Americans from adopting Russian children went to President Vladimir Putin for his signature on Wednesday after winning final approval from parliament in retaliation for a U.S. law that targets Russian human rights abusers.

Putin has strongly hinted he will sign the bill, which would also outlaw some U.S.-funded non-governmental groups and impose visa bans and asset freezes on Americans accused of violating the rights of Russians.

The Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, voted unanimously to approve the bill, which has clouded U.S.-Russia relations and outraged Russian liberals who say lawmakers are playing a political game with the lives of children.

U.S.-Russia ties are already strained over issues ranging from Syria to the Kremlin's treatment of opponents and restrictions imposed on civil society groups since Putin, in power since 2000, began a new six-year term in May.

The bill has also drawn unusual criticism from senior government officials including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Olga Golodets, a deputy prime minister who warned the Kremlin that it may violate an international convention on children's rights.

Lavrov said last week that the ban would be "wrong", and that Russia should stand by a long-awaited bilateral accord that improves its ability to keep tabs on children adopted by Americans, which entered into force on November 1.

But Lavrov appears to have backed down. Foreign Ministry officials said on Wednesday that the bill would not violate the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Russia would take steps to halt the bilateral agreement.

Putin has described the bill as an emotional but appropriate response to U.S. legislation he said was poisoning relations.

U.S. President Barack Obama this month signed off on the Magnitsky Act, which imposes visa bans and asset freezes on Russians accused of human rights violations, including those linked to the death in custody of an anti-graft lawyer in 2009.

The ban on American adoptions takes Russia's response a step further, playing on deep sensitivity among Russians - and the government in particular - about adoptions by foreigners, which skyrocketed after the 1991 Soviet collapse.

MORAL ARGUMENTS

The bill is named after Dima Yakovlev, a Russian-born toddler who died of a heat stroke when his adoptive American father forgot him in a car. He is one of 19 Russian-born children Moscow says have died "at the hands of U.S. citizens" in a decade, in cases that have been prominently featured in Russian state media.

In a poll conducted on December 23 by the Moscow-based Public Opinion Foundation, 75 percent of respondents said Russia should ban or place additional restrictions on foreign adoptions.

"It is immoral to send our children abroad to any country," Valery Shtyrov, a Federation Council deputy, said in a one-sided debate peppered with hawkish rhetoric before the 143-0 vote.

Children's rights advocates say the law, due to take effect on January 1 if signed by Putin, will deprive children of a way out of Russia's overcrowded orphanage system.

"This is the most vile law passed since Putin came to power," opposition activist Boris Nemtsov said, saying he was certain the president would sign it. "Putin is taking children hostage, like a terrorist".

Police said they had arrested seven people protesting against the law on Wednesday outside the Federation Council.

Nevertheless, lawmaker Gennady Makin said the Magnitsky Act demanded a tough response.

"He who comes to Russia with a sword dies by that sword," he said.

The Russian bill would outlaw U.S.-funded "non-profit organizations that engage in political activity", which Putin accuses of trying to influence Russian politics.

Russia ejected the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which funds Russian non-governmental groups, in October, and Putin has signed a law forcing many foreign-funded organizations to register as "foreign agents" - a term that evokes the Cold War.

Americans affected by the visa ban could include those involved in the prosecution of Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year prison term in the United States after an arrest and trial condemned as unfair by Moscow.

(Editing by Peter Graff and Andrew Osborn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-parliament-approves-ban-american-adoptions-105350779.html

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