HashFlare

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

The 4 basic Chrome extensions

There are countless extensions, choosing which ones you must have will vary from user to user, but there are 4 that, no matter who you are, no matter what you browse, no matter what you do on your free time, you must have installed. There are also countless post showing which are the most important extensions out there, but those are for specific purposes, these ones are basic and all users must install.

Adblock Plus

The most important extension since the creation of extensions. This extension will hide intrusive ads, block some types of tracking, and even hide social buttons such as comment plugins, Like/+1/Tweet/Share buttons. Of course, this can all be changed in the options.

Adblock.

HTTPS Everywhere

Yes, HTTPS protocol is safer than HTTP. This extension will force a website to go into “Safe mode” or into HTTPS if possible.

HTTPS Everywhere.

Chromoji

Chrome doesn’t support emojis by default, so you need an extension to do it. Chromoji is what you need. (I already talked about it)

Chromoji.

Turn off the lights

Finally, the one that everyone loves but few people know about it. This awesome extension will darken all the exterior of YouTube videos to make it look like a cinema... or at least that’s the idea. Works in YouTube, Metacafe, Vimeo, TED, and more.

Turn off the lights.

Whether you like these or not, you need them, so, install them and you’re welcome.

YSK how to launch Chrome into Incognito Mode automatically

Incognito Mode, I love it, you love it, and there is even a way to create a shortcut to launch it automatically instead of the normal window by using a flag on Chrome’s shortcut.

Right click Chrome’s shortcut > Properties.

Chrome's properties.

Now, at the end of Target, type -incognito.

Chrome's incognito flag.

And that’s it, every time you click that shortcut Chrome will open as an incognito window. In most cases I recommend having two different shortcuts, a normal one and an incognito one to avoid confusion.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Shutting down Chrome, the fastest way possible

This is something you possibly don’t care or even consider, but Chrome takes a few milliseconds to shut down, in some cases a few seconds, well let me tell you that there is a way to boost this speed (decrease it) to practically zero.

Go to chrome://flags/#enable-fast-unload. Enable that flag.

Chrome's shutdown time.

Trust me on this one, the closing time will be amazingly decreased; hitting the button will show what’s behind at that precise moment. Not only that, the processes will also be closed quickly - Chrome takes one or two seconds to shut down it’s processes - and even that is not much, it’s just feels better.

Offline Installers: Skype, Chrome, jDownloader, Windows Essentials, Flash

Online installers are great, they provide the latest update for the program you’re installing and since they’re lightweight, the installer won’t take much space in your disk, sadly, all that comes with a big price: bandwidth and time. But don’t worry, I have some good news for you, some of these programs offer offline installers, also called Standalone installers.

Offline installers.Today I’ll provide to you the offline installers for Skype, Chrome, jDownloader, Windows Essentials 2012, and Flash Player 11.8.

  • Skype (http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-full)
  • Chrome (https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/index.html?system=true&standalone=1#eula)
  • jDownloader (http://jdownloader.org/afterdownloaddld)
  • Windows Essentials 2012 (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/essentials-install-offline-faq)
  • Flash Player 11.8 (http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html)

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Disable “Auto detecting optimal settings” in The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot

The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot is a game developed by Ubisoft that will launch to the puclic one of these days, it will be free and is currently in Beta state. Now, to the point, when opening the launcher, there are several steps it follows before actually launching the game; check launcher version, check for updates, check server status, and some other stuff... but the most annoying thing is “Auto detecting optimal settings”.

Mighty quest for epic loot.

This feature takes around 20 seconds, 20 seconds that you don’t want to waste when playing. To avoid this/disable it, you need to add a flag to the shortcut:

-JustLetMePlay

Just copy that text and paste it at the end of “Target” on the shortcut.

Mighty quest for epic loot.

That way, the launcher will skip some steps and enable the “Play” button as fast as possible.

Source | The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

3RVX: A volume indicator for Windows

One of my favorite things of Win8 is the volume popup... you’ll never realize how useful it is until you get it.

Volume meter.

Anyway, W7 doesn’t have this, and after a quick search I found a very simple and useful software called 3RVX.

3RDX.

The programs works like an overlay that shows you volume as you push your keyboard/headphones to rise it or lower it. It has 7 skins, and can be customized to appear anywhere you want. Also, if you click the tray icon, a little fader will appear that you can click to modify the volume (just like function of the volume icon) or move the volume meters.

3RDX.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Get the old New Tab page on Chrome

Did you check the new Chrome new New Tab page? In my opinion it looks great. Yes, I miss the apps shortcuts, but still looks very nice. Anyway, if you want to change it back, it’s very easy.

New tab page.

Go to chrome://flags. Go down, search for “Enable Instant Extended API”, and disable it.

Chrome flags.

After restarting the browser, voila!

 

New tab.

Half-Life 3 confirmed (not really)

Today I was on reddit when this popped up:

Half-life 3 trademark.

Trademark link here. (search for 012180394)

Of course, at the moment I was more than excited - I yelled, I jumped, I popped a champaign bottle, and even danced a little - before I read the comments and went back to my previous sad and melancholic state.

The thing many don’t realize and most media sites won’t care to explain is that this is only a trademark filling request, aka, they’re just asking for a reservation of the name (not granted so far). Now, assuming that the trademark gets approved (most probable outcome), and according to US Patent and Trademark office, you need a product in the first six months after been granted the trademark to keep it. If you don’t have it in these months, you can extend these period for another six months, but only five times, for a total of 3 years before actually showing something...

But that’s the US law, the request was filled on Europe, specifically in Spain, where the rules are different, and I quote /u/faderprime:

You have 5 years to actually use it and if you don't you essentially get weakened protection where someone could challenge you and cost you the mark. But you won't lose it outright like in the US. Nevertheless, I am correct in saying that this is only an application. The trademark is still to be granted and it is possible we will see applications popping up in other countries.

Source.

So, in conclusion, what does this tell us?

  • NO HALF-LIFE 3... so far.

Even though the name is being reserved, Valve doesn’t have to show any actual proof of the product they’re naming, at least in the next 5 years.

  • HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED.

Even though there is no other proof of Half-Life 3, even less of Half-Life 2: Episode 3, it still means that there is a development/project related to Half-Life at Valve’s. Meaning that, yes, Half-Life 3 will come, maybe in 40 years, but eventually will come.

Just don’t hold your breath.