CHROME
32 5 - 18 February 2020
Control media playback
in Chrome
We’ve all been there – scrabbling
around, desperately trying to identify
which of our 20 open tabs is playing
music, or flipping back and forth to
YouTube to pause or skip tracks and
videos. Now, a new update to Chrome
introduces built-in playback controls
to the browser.
First, make sure you’ve got the latest
version of Chrome by opening the
three-dot menu and clicking Help,
About Google Chrome. Once the update
is installed, relaunch the browser and
head to YouTube (or any other site that
plays audio).
With your video or music playing, look
in Chrome’s top-right corner, next to
your profile icon, and you’ll see a
musical note. No matter what other tab
you’re on, you can just click this button
to open the integrated playback
controls.
For all the convenience it offers, the modern-day web is filled with
annoyances such as cookie notices and pop-ups – and it’s often
up to extensions like Consent-O-Matic (bit.ly/consent494) to remedy
these frustrations.
This handy add-on, which is also available for Firefox (bit.ly/
consentfire494), is designed to automatically consent to – or withhold
consent from – GDPR-enforced forms on websites. Set your privacy
preferences once within the browser tool, and it will automatically
apply them to any request for cookie and tracking consent.
Consent-O-Matic has an interesting history. Developed by students
at Denmark’s Aarhus University, the team studied nearly 700 types of
pop-ups, looking at what types of data they typically request. These
were then combined into five separate categories, which are the
options you’ll set in the extension’s settings. Commendably, the
developers state that: “Sometimes our categories don’t perfectly
match those on the website, so then we will choose the more privacy
preserving option”.individual saves and switch between
different walls.Add text-to-speech
in Chrome
Reedr (bit.ly/reedr494) delivers one
of the most flawless, easy-to-use
text-to-speech options we’ve seen
yet, which is handy for those who
struggle to read on-screen text or
just want websites read aloud to
them while they potter about.
To get started with the extension,
visit any website with ‘readable’ text.
Highlight the text you want Reedr to
read, then press the extension’s icon.
This displays a playback control
panel at the foot of the screen. Click
Play and Reedr will then read your
text aloud.
Controls are simple, and there’s a
speed setting at the far end of the
toolbar – just click to speed up, then
hit stop and restart playback for the
new setting to take effect.Create a wall of everything
Walling Web Clipper (bit.ly/walling494)
lets you store notes, links and
downloaded media as ‘bricks’ that fit
into your ‘wall’ – by which it means tiles
on your Walling Web Clipper home
screen. For instance, If you’re on a
website you want to return to, click the
browser tool, give this ‘brick’ a heading,
add a note if required, then select
‘Embed current tab’. Next, choose which
‘wall’ to add this to – you can have
multiple walls for different
categories, which makes it
easier than trawling through
your bookmarks folder.
Finally, click Save. If you just
want to make a note on the
fly, follow the steps above but
skip past embedding links.
Head to walling.app to view
and add ‘newbricks’, modifyBest New Browser Tools
Respond to cookie-consent forms automatically