With TinEye, you add a simple extension to your browser. It's a way to quickly search any image on your screen, and a bookmark to take you to the developer's site. Here, you can upload or copy and paste the URL of the image you're interested in. Use it to snoop for celebrity mugshots, and discover when they were first uploaded. Or make sure that the person on your dating app is a real person, and not just a fake user. Web developers can use it to discover the image with the quality they need, or to make sure that no-one publishes your image without your consent.
Features
Install the extension, mouse over the image you want to reverse search, and right-click. Choose the 'Search image on TinEye' option.
Click the button on your extension bar, en visit the developer's website. Now you can drag and drop local files to the tab, to start your search.
Privacy guaranteed, as TinEye doesn't save user search data.
Quick search with publishing history of the image.
You can find more information on their product page.
Benefits TinEye
It's definitely useful to be able to search your images. In fact, as TinEye works to make the visual world more manageable, it also publishes a host of other, mostly paid services. You can buy MatchEngine, to make sure the images in your own collection are current. Commercial organisations can set alerts, so they are notified the moment their images pop up somewhere else. The company from Canada even offers engines to build your own apps, like wine-apps, MobileEngine, and a MulticolorEngine. And there's still a free version available.
Drawbacks
Many of the benefits of TinEye seem obvious. They are in the business to make our images searchable, which can be helpful and informative. However, it can also be disturbing, as the reverse image search engine doesn't help you with the removal of unwanted copies of your images. They might help you with more information about the sites that might own you pages, but they offer no further assistance or help.
Alternatives
Google Images is the major player to compete with TinEye. They even offer similar images, which TinEye just doesn't really do. Still, it's great to see another company competing with the search giant we can't live without.
Final verdict
We like TinEye a lot, even though Google offers much the same functionality. You can right-click any image and search with Google, as with TinEye, but still, the results TinEye present are categorized historically. We prefer that. Why not? Try it out!
There’s nothing more annoying while traveling or working in your favorite coffee shop, than coming across a slow internet connection. What’s causing the delay? With this extension from the Chrome Web Store, you don’t have to guess anymore: one click, and you see precisely the speed of your connection.
Features
Runs in a pop-up once you click it.
You don’t have to wait for it, after clicking, it runs in the background.
Use it with or without an account.
Information about Ping, Upload, and Download speeds.
Bonus: see how fast the website loads.
Benefits Speed Test Ookla
With a separate website and an entire suite of apps for all devices, this extension is more than just a speed test designed by one lone programmer. Based in Seattle Washington, acquired by Ziff Davis in 2014, it once offered a stripped-down version of a paid, premium service. Now programmed in HTML5, it’s the industry leader, as far as we’re concerned.
They’ve served over 21 billion speed tests to date, which is no small feat.
Drawbacks
The website this extension leads to, speedtest.net, is filled with obtrusive banners, which doesn’t inspire trust. Still, they might keep the service free of charge, which is a beautiful thing. In the extension itself, you’re not bothered with any of this, so we can live with it.
When it comes to knowing more about the internet speeds you’re experiencing, there’s no real competitor. Ookla offers a free, reliable, and fast impression of everything you want to know. The company behind it seems legit and built for the future. You couldn’t go wrong here.
We’ve been looking for this screen capture extension a long time. In the Chrome Web Store there are several different options. We have tried them all, but only this one really worked for us. Of course, you can use the Snipping tool (Windows) or the built-in utility tool (Mac), but for an entire web page, you really need this one.
Features
Fast and simple: one click to capture a full web page.
Privacy minded: not too many permissions asked.
You get a Pacman animation during the process.
Multiple formats, but not too many.
Many users & positive reviews.
Benefits Full Page Screen Capture
What we look for when installing a new extension, is simplicity and speed. This extension delivers both, also for large webpages with complex floating headers or iframes. When you right-click the icon you get some options, for example about the download location, the image format, and page size of the PDF. You’ll find some additional information about the permissions here too, but you can even ignore these options.
It’s a free extension that gets regularly updated by Peter Coles, a software engineer, based in NYC. Over 3.4 million users trust him with this extension, which they do for good reason. In his blog, he comes across as a sympathetic guy with a sense of humor. He’d hate to be this guy, for example. And he likes cute puppies.
Drawbacks
We haven’t experienced any bugs, even though we’ve used this extension extensively. When you download the page you’ve captured, you get a default name, including date and time of the screen capture. This is useful if you’re just interested in saving the page. If you prefer another name or structure, you have to do this manually for every page.
Alternatives
We don’t really see an alternative to this extension. The only one that seems to come close, is Fireshot, with over 25.000 installments, but for us, this extension just offers too much functionality. Who would want to make a PDF, and then annotate it in the same extension?
Another way to save webpages is through Evernote, who offers a complete Web clipper functionality too. There are also other options, like historio.us out there, but usually, you have to pay to get the full functionality.
Final verdict
There is no real alternative to this browser extension. It’s proof that one coder with a passion for helping out can make a difference. You can see this also on his website: mrcoles.com. Highly recommended!
Evernote is one of the most useful note-taking services you can access with your browser. It’s excellent if you’re not only interested in surfing the web, but if you want to retain your research. It’s the second extension we’ve installed from the Chrome Web Store.
Benefits Evernote
Evernote aims to be a complete external memory solution, reliable like the mythical Elephants’ memory. Hence the logo. Anything you want to add to your electronic memory will be there forever: a handwritten note, an audio recording, a bookmark, or an article you’ve found online, and save with the extension. Just like with start.me you get more than an extension: it integrates a whole world into your Chrome browser.
Another huge advantage of Evernote is the way it integrates all devices and platforms. No matter the computer or smartphone, you can access the same data anywhere. And even when the number of notes amounts to a lot, you can still make sure it remains accessible. There’s a search function that even recognizes handwritten notes. You can organize notes into notebooks, into stacks. Even though it might take some time to understand the full depth of the product, you’ll find it’s worth it. And, did I mention that there’s a free tier too? Even if you’re strapped for cash, your notes will remain accessible.
Drawbacks Evernote
If I have to mention drawbacks to this product, it would be the fact that it can do so very much. You can make to-do lists, share notes with others, even integrate templates into your notebooks if you want to standardize your notes. We’re a long way from the simple notepad. As the product continues to evolve, it might just get too convoluted and complex.
One of the ways I tackle this problem is by integrating Evernote with IFTTT: the famous service that lets you design your own ‘recipes’, with triggers and processes. With it, I can finally take a note on the fly, clutter-free, and fast. It’s telling I feel the need to resort to this third-party service.
Final verdict
Intimidating, expansive, no longer the only player in town, with Microsoft OneNote, the Google Keep (free to use), and Notes by Apple, there are a lot of alternatives these days. Still, there’s no real competition, once you’ve started building your own Elephants Memory.
start.me is the first extension from the Chrome Web Store we present here. With it, you can add bookmarks and news feeds. With one click, you can import all your bookmarks to your browser, set the homepage, as well as the new tab page. But you can do a lot more with it. In fact, you can use it to build a personal web portal.
Features
You get many basic widgets for free: unlimited bookmarks widgets, pages, news feeds, to-do widget, notes.
Valuable PRO features, like a broken link checker, Google integration, Archived pages, and image gallery.
Teachers, business owners, or enterprises get advanced sharing and security options.
Fast loading experience.
Reliable Hosting in the cloud.
Accessible through any browser or device.
We love the modern, sleek design.
Fully personalizable.
Benefits start.me
start.me is a versatile product. You can use it to make a start page with bookmarks to all your favorite sites. Adding widgets with the Add content button is a breeze. There are a lot of curated RSS feeds to choose from, so you don’t have to check different websites or open new tabs to stay on top of the news. You can also add notes widgets, todo lists, weather forecast information, and more. The basic widgets are free, as well as the number of pages you can use to organize your data.
The UX design of the site can be called minimalist, which is a good thing since there are many ways to personalize your pages. You can choose color schemes, add photos or select images from a database, and change the appearance of bookmarks in your bookmarks widgets. It loads fast, especially on your homepage.
Drawbacks start.me
The many options start.me has to offer are both a strength and a weakness. If you don’t personalize your homepage, you’ll never really enjoy its main benefits: increased overview, productivity, information location. We see an apparent learning curve in this product: you must invest some effort to get to know it thoroughly. It looks to us, that the developer’s team is aware of this, as they offer both a tour and an onboarding process to help you to add valuable content to your page.
Pricing
start.me is a freemium product. There are four plans:
Basic: free to use. All essential widgets. Basic sharing options. Import and export your data.
PRO: $ 20 / year. Basic plan + premium widgets, archived pages, broken link checker.
Team: $ 30 / month, $ 300 / year. PRO plan + apply your branding, teams of up to 20 members, private sharing & collaboration.
Enterprise: custom pricing. Team plan + unlimited users, multiple teams, Single Sign-On.
You can find more information on their pricing page.
Alternatives to start.me
If you’re looking for an alternative to start.me, there are many options. None of them are as versatile and powerful, but they’re still worth your attention. This is the list we’ve tried ourselves:
In the entire New Tab extensions category, we consider start.me the most versatile, fastest, and most reliable option. A professional enterprise keeps on improving the product and offers responsive support in case of any problem. start.me is more than just an extension that runs locally, it’s a gateway to an entire universe of bookmarks, news feeds, and smart widgets you can access from any browser or any device.
