Firefox 4 has a lot of new features (Read Firefox 4 Beta Review | Read Firefox 4 RC Review) which are pretty good. One of the feature which improves tab management in Firefox 4 is the ability to switch to open tabs from the Awesome bar.

This feature allows you to type a URL or title of the page and jump to an open tab instead of opening a new tab. Google Chrome does not have this feature in the current stable version. However, if you are using the development version of Google Chrome or Canary Build of Chrome, you can enable this feature in the browser.

To enable the Open Existing Tab feature in development or Canary build version of Chrome, open a new tab and type about:flags and hit Enter. Now scroll down to the bottom of the page and Enable the feature Focus existing tab on open.

Once you have enabled this feature, Chrome will take you to an existing open tab instead of opening a new tab. This is definitely handy when you have several tabs open and don’t want to search for the tab you are looking for or open another unnecessary tab. Kudos to Mozilla for thinking of this feature.

I have been using Google Chrome primarily for everything these days. However, I have had a peculiar problem with it where I could not load iTunes links in iTunes from the browser. This was causing me lot of headaches since I then had to manually open the links in another browser like Firefox or Internet Explorer to download the app or manually copy and paste the name in iTunes or the device itself to download it.

Considering that I download 30-40 apps a week, this was getting to be quite a pain for me, and for several other people too who have been complaining about this since a long time at this Google Chrome bug thread.

If you want to know whose fault this is? Well this is certainly not Google Chrome’s fault but a problem in a browser detection script from Apple. So that aside, how do you fix this? Well, I have quite a few solutions for you here, so you can pick and choose whatever you want.

Solution 1: Apple Browser Detection Fix Chrome Extension

This is the simplest fix that you can use. Just download this Chrome extension called iTunes Detection Fix and store it on your computer. The reason I asked you to download it to your computer is because Chrome will not directly install it. Once you have downloaded the file, either drag it and drop it on a Chrome window and install it or use the File – Open menu to open the file in Chrome.

Hint: Press "Ctrl + O" in Chrome and browse to the file you downloaded to open and install it.

Once you have installed the extension, don’t click on the "View in iTunes" button, instead you will see a new option above the app which will ask you to verify whether you have iTunes installed or not. Click on the "I Have iTunes" button and Chrome will prompt you to launch iTunes to open the app.

From next time onwards you will be able to open the app in iTunes by simply clicking on the "View in iTunes" button. If it stops working again, click on the "I Have iTunes" button to launch the app.

Tip: You might want to turn on iTunes Detection Fix extension to work in "incognito mode" so that you will be able to launch apps while you are in incognito mode.

Solution 2 – Changing User Agent for Chrome

If you are not comfortable with the previous solution here is the second one which works too. For this one you will have to change the user agent of Google Chrome to Firefox, Internet Explorer or something else.

To do that download the User-Agent Switch extension for Chrome. Once you have downloaded that, there are two ways in which you can fix the "View in iTunes" link not working.

The first one is temporary and will require you to choose "Mac Safari 4" from the available user agent list whenever you are browsing iTunes. Once you do that refresh the browser and the "View in iTunes" link will work properly and prompt you to open iTunes.

To make this fix permanent, just click on the "Add permanently" option under the User-Agent Switcher options and the extension will always send "Mac Safari 4" as the user-agent when you are browsing the iTunes web app store.

Tip: You might want to turn on User-Agent Switcher extension to work in "incognito mode" so that you will be able to launch apps while you are in incognito mode.

Solution 3: Use IE Tab Extension

Not satisfied with the above solutions? There is another solution for that.

As I had told you earlier iTunes properly detects the browser and works in both Internet Explorer and Firefox. So a workaround would be to use the IE tab extension and browse the iTunes store using it.

If you want to permanently fix this with the IE tab extension, open it and click on the settings icon as shown above and add http://itunes.apple.com to the Auto URLs section. This will ensure that the iTunes site always opens in IE Tab.

Conclusion

As I told you earlier, the "View in iTunes" link not launching the iTunes application is not a problem with Google Chrome. It is a problem with how Apple detects browsers. Opera users face a similar problem and I will write a separate post detailing how to fix it for Opera. However, one of these solutions will definitely fix your problem with Google Chrome. If it does not, feel free to leave a comment about it and I will try to find another solution for you.

I think it’s safe to say that most people use Google Image Search when it’s time to look for images they want. There are many other image search engines, such as Imagery, Yahoo Image Search, Ask Images Search, MSN Live Image Search, AltaVista Image Search, but Google Image Search is the most widely known.

I haven’t seen very many complaints about the way Google Image Search works, but any trick I can use to find images there is always welcome. Now I’ll tell you about the latest trick I’ve learned. There’s a cool Chrome browser extension called clickGOOGLEview which lets you quickly see full size images you’ve found.

Normally while searching, you’ll see rows of image thumbnails for the search results.

When you click on a thumbnail, you are taken to another thumbnail image and a copy of the web page it is displayed on. You have to click a link labeled See full size imageto see the full size version of the image.

Once you’ve installed the clickGOOGLEview extension in the Chrome web browser, clicking on the image thumbnail on the results page opens up the full size image in a new tab. This saves an extra click and it also makes it easier to return to your search results.

Get the clickGOOGLEview extension.

That may not sound like a big time saver, but if you use it often, you will save big chunks of time. This is true, especially when you consider that you normally have to hit the back button in your browser to return to your search results.

If you use Google’s Chrome browser and Google Image Search, the clickGOOGLEview extension is something you’ll learn to love. If this extension isn’t something you need, be sure to check out our list of the Best Google Chrome Extensions and our reviews of other popular Chrome Extensions.

If you have just migrated to Chrome from Firefox, you may have noticed that there is no Chrome version of NoScript the popular Firefox add-on to block JavaScript on web pages. NoScript blocks JavaScript, Java, Flash, Silverlight and several other executable contents by default and gives users a choice to allow these content from trusted sources only. Hence, it makes browsing faster and safer. I can’t imagine web browsing without NoScript, and this is one of the many reasons to stick with Firefox.

If you miss NoScript in Chrome, I have good news for you: Google Chrome will have similar content filter options soon. The latest Dev channel v5.0.317.0 for Windows has an option to selectively control cookies, images, JavaScript, plug-ins and pop-ups. Users can either block this content or opt to allow only certain trusted sources.

How to block JavaScript and other contents in Chrome?

If you are using Dev channel of Chrome on Windows, you can access these features by updating it to latest release. Move to Options->Under the Hood->Content settings. This setting window provides better management of images, JavaScript, plug-ins, and pop-ups.

The recommended option is to block all JavaScript and add trusted hosts as Exceptions. Although, blocking JavaScript may result into unusual rendering of web pages. You can set options for cookies, images, popups and plug-ins similarly.

You can also control your content settings from the address bar. If there is any blocked item on the current web page, a small icon will appear in the address bar, and users can manage settings by clicking on it. This feature is similar to NoScript, where you can control settings from the status bar icon.

I hope to see this feature in stable version of Chrome soon. :)

Recently,  Google Chrome introduced extensions for stable channel using which all users can enjoy extended power of Chrome. One annoying thing about Chrome extensions is that if you install even five or six extensions, your toolbar area will be crowded. This decreases the address bar’s width too.

Right now, there is no option to hide or disable icons for some (or all) extensions. If you are looking for a solution, your wait is about to over (though not that early!). Google Chrome will soon have an option to hide extension buttons and to adjust button area width.

This feature is not integrated with any channel of Chrome yet. If you are interested to try this feature, you need to download latest build of Chromium, the open source browser behind the Chrome.

Once this feature gets ported to Chrome, you will be able to hide the extension buttons. While I am at it, I wish for another useful feature: ability to re-order extension buttons. This will help users to prioritize the extensions. Chrome extensions are getting mature day by day, however they are still far away from attaining the capabilities of Firefox add-ons. :-(

Google Docs is the best online office suite with powerful features of editing, collaboration and sharing. There are many Firefox add-ons already available to integrate Google Docs with Firefox. But a Chrome extension was missing, and finally we have a cool Google chrome extension for that.

This Google Docs extension is actually the iGoogle gadget transformed as a Chrome extension. Using this extension, you can access your Docs account just with a single click. Users can also create new documents, presentations, spreadsheets etc. right from the extension popup. By default, it lists your recent documents, but you can filter files from the showmenu.

Some other Chrome extensions for Google Docs

• QuietRead: QuietRead is another useful tool for Chrome users. Users can bookmark web pages using QuietRead, and it saves these links in a separate Google Docs spreadsheet. Hence, you can collect links into a spreadsheet. It has option to sort and search links.

• Import to Google Docs : It provides an easy way to view supported files in Google Docs from the Google search result page. Unfortunately, this extension is not working as expected and developer needs to work on it. :(
• Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer and gPDF : we have already covered gPDF in our popular post: Best Chrome Extensions You Should Definitely Download. These extensions open PDF (and other supported formats like PPT) in Google’s Docs Viewer. You can view these files in an online application, without any desktop tool.

Some Google Chrome extensions add a menu or icon to the extension toolstrip, at the bottom of the screen. On some PCs and netbooks, this may turn out to be space consuming.

You can hide or show the extension toolstrip using a simple shortcut key  in Google Chrome. To hide or show the toolstrip use the key combination, Ctrl + Alt + B.

Using the above key combination will either display or hide the extension toolstrip, depending on whether it is visible or not.

Hopefully this should help you reclaim some extra screen real-estate on netbooks and laptops with smaller displays.

Google Chrome is improving day-by-day. None of the browser has evolved so fast. With recent changes like themes and bookmark sync Google Chrome has raised many eyebrows. Today I will show you how to enable bookmarks toolbar button in Google Chrome.

Follow These Simple Steps

1) Right-click on Google Chrome shortcut.
2) Select Properties.
3) At the end of target box, just add

4) Click on OK.

Now you will be able to see bookmark button in your toolbar situated next to the Google Chrome Omnibar. It works on Google Chrome versions 2.x – 4.x

Though we have already told you about a excellent Google Chrome extension manager, for the past few days I have been getting questions from people on how to uninstall Google Chrome extensions.

I did point out many people to the Google Chrome extension manager but you can still uninstall extensions in Chrome without having to use a additional tool.

Here are some of your questions answered with regards to using extensions in Google Chrome.

Where Are Google Chrome Extensions Installed?

Google Chrome installs all extensions into the user profile, you can find it under the default installation folder. Once you are inside the installation directory, go to User Data folder and then to your profile directory, if you don’t have any profiles it will be the Default folder.

You will find all the extensions inside the Extensions folder inside your profile folder, deleting will delete the extension.

Uninstall Extensions in Google Chrome

To uninstall extensions in Google Chrome follow the steps listed below.

Step 1: Open a new tab in Chrome and type in chrome://extensions/without the quotes in the Omnibar, this should open the inbuilt extension manager in Chrome.

Step 2: On this page you will find options to uninstall extensions that are installed for your profile, click on the Uninstall button to remove the extension you want to.

As easy as it gets once you know where to look :-), hope this helps you out.

There are so many ways in which you can update your twitter status, however some things are just so easy that we cannot help but let you know about them.

To update twitter from Google Chrome Omnibar, follow the simple steps given below.

Step 1: Right click on the Omnibar and select Edit search engines.

Step 2: Add a new search engine and enter the following text into it http://twitter.com/?status=%swithout the quotes.

Step 3: Give it a easy to remember name and set a keyword for it, click Ok and your step.

Step 4: To update twitter status from the Omnibar type the keyword followed by your message and hit enter, your message should now appear as a twitter status entry, take a look at the animation above to see how it works.

You can also use this on other browsers like Firefox that support keyword based searches.

Hat tip to Life Hacker.