One of the best things about Google Chrome is the addons. A trip through the Chrome Web Store can yield a vast array of useful, entertaining, or simply quirky applications or extensions. Furthermore, as a long-time gamer, even I’ve gotta admit there are some pretty decent games on there.

Of course, the web store can feel kind of overwhelming, too.

There are just so damn many addons out there. It’s really easy to lose sight of which ones might actually serve a purpose, and which ones are gimmicks, junk code, and malware.

To that end, I’m compiling a list. While these aren’t the only addons I use, they’re some of the additions to Chrome that I myself have found most useful, either for productivity or general browsing.

Tineye

As a blogger, this extension is a godsend. It basically adds a context menu(the menu that appears when you right click on something) that lets you search out an image or a page on TinEye’s massive search engine.

Here’s where it gets really cool. See, unlike Google Image search, which seeks out images based on criteria like title and/or keywords, TinEye actually assigns a sort of digital ‘fingerprint’ to an image. When you search for that image, it’ll look for every single image that matches that ‘fingerprint’- regardless of whether or not they’ve been resized or modified. Very cool, and very useful.

Want to find out where a picture came from? TinEye. Want to find out if someone stole your photo? TinEye. Want to see if you’re accidentally plagiarizing someone’s work? TinEye.

Honestly, I’m a touch ashamed I didn’t discover this one sooner.

Google Chrome Adblock

You know, at least advertisements on TV have the courtesy to occasionally be amusing. And, y’know, the whole not grossly invading your privacy or brazenly intruding on your browsing practices. I don’t think I’ve met a single man or woman (who wasn’t in marketing) who liked pop up ads. I know that for me, personally, I’ve seen several ads that actually made me vow not to buy a product on principle.

Google Chrome Adblock to the rescue. While it won’t eliminate all ads, it goes a long way towards making one’s browsing experience safer, more secure, and generally more pleasant.

And all you have to do is click ‘install.’

Google Related

If you follow the Official Google Chrome Blog, you’ll already know about this one. Basically, it’s one more step by Google to make their browser better. What it does is make a note of what you’re viewing at any immediate moment…then display results it feels are relevant to the content you’re viewing. Presumably, it taps into Google’s powerful search engine to do so.

Incredibly useful if you’re doing research of any kind, and pretty fun otherwise- combine it with StumbleUpon and watch the links fly.

Tweet Button

I use Twitter almost religiously these days. You’d be surprised what you can find on there(INSERT LINK TO “TWEET, TWEET AWAY” ARTICLE HERE). I look for freelance job openings, keep my ear to the ground for the latest news in the tech and gaming industries, and shamelessly promote myself to millions of fellow “tweeps.”

Occasionally, I’d see an awesome page, link, or website, and want to share it. Trouble was…there was no tweet button. Sure, I could have just copypasted the URL into the site and been done with it…but that takes effort. As most of you well know, we designed computers specifically so that we wouldn’t have to put effort into anything ever again. Or something like that.

The Tweet Button for Chrome fixes that. It adds a context menu button that allows you to tweet whatever page you happen to be viewing at the time directly to your stream. It even includes URL shortening, in order to preserve your precious character limit. All you need to do is install and link it to your account, and you’re good to go.

So, yeah. If you use Twitter, download this extension.

Flixster Movies

I figured I’d top off the list with something completely different. If you’re a movie goer, you’ll love this application. It aggregates reviews from several websites(RottenTomatoes is chief among them), allows you to look up show times, theater locations and information, release dates, trailers, and movie information…

Basically, it’s an encyclopedia for movies. I started using this back when I was asked to review it for one of my first articles at The Chrome Source. I’ve been using it ever since, because, hey – it’s an awesome application.

I’ll probably release a few more of my favorite apps and extensions later. For now, enjoy the selection I’ve made known to you.

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