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!
sh.We think ZenMate might just be the best the VPN extension in the Chrome Web Store. The interface is simple and straightforward, just like you would expect from an extension with the word ZEN in it. Even with the free version you can change the location you appear to come from.
Features
Installation is easy and fast.
Change the location you appear to surf from with one click.
Design is beautiful.
Based in the European Union.
Speed is capped in the free version.
No logs.
Benefits ZenMate
There are many VPN providers out there, and not all of them inspire trust the way ZenMate does. It’s clear from their website that this isn’t a one-man operation. It’s also clear that their mission is to make it easy and safe for everyone (and their Mother) to surf online. This is commendable, even though it might just be a matter of marketing. Since they also offer clear pricing plans, and an affiliate program (which we didn’t apply for) it looks like they’ve got their act together. This wouldn’t be sustainable without offering a great product that millions of people around the world rely upon.
Drawbacks ZenMate
As always: once you decide to use a VPN, you hand over your data from your provider to a third party. They better protect your data with their life! How can you be sure that they do just that? This is a matter of faith, unfortunately.
Other drawbacks are the gentle reminders to upgrade to their paid plan, while on Free. It’s usually not more than a single click, but it gets annoying.
Pricing
Basic: free to use. Four locations, no logs, speed cap of 2MB/s
Unlimited: starting from $2,05 per month (2 year contract).
You can find more information on their pricing page.
Alternatives to ZenMate
If you’re looking for an alternative to ZenMate, 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:
TouchVPN (this appears to be the most widely used VPN extension, but the reference site doesn’t lead to an active site. It doesn’t inspire trust at all).
Hotspot Shield VPN (this is the free version of their VPN. It offers much the same functionality of ZenMate, but more cluttered).
ExpressVPN (more expensive than ZenMate, but marketed aggressively, based in the BVI).
You’ll find more options with reviews on this site: TechRadar.
Final verdict
When looking for an extension to shield your traffic destinations, you can’t go wrong with ZenMate. We consider the user experience, the business model transparency, and the team behind the product trustworthy. And even when you’re not interested in all the perks of the Ultimate subscription, this VPN will do the trick when download the odd torrent file now and then. Power Users better for fork over some money, but even this amount doesn’t seem unreasonable.
With the browser extension Whatruns, you can click to discover what makes a site run. Which platform do they use, serverside or clientside? Do they use a CDN? Google Analytics (hint: always!)? A necessary tool for any developer or anyone interested in knowing more about the Web.
Features
As always with an extension from the Chrome Web Store, the installation is a breeze.
Use it on any site, including Whatruns.
Do you blog yourself? See the themes and plugins your competitors rely on!
Useful for competitor analysis, sales intelligence, and website profiling.
Benefits Whatruns
The major benefits of this Chrome Extension are easy to divine: you get to pop the hood and take a peek at the machinery. Now you see just what technology your prospective new client or the company relies upon, so you can prepare yourself for that important first contact. Or the job interview. You know just where to invest your time and effort. And if you want to learn from their success: this is a quick and dirty way to stay ahead of the game.
Drawbacks
The information you get isn’t always easy to interpret, especially for someone without a background in coding. And for a real coder, there are a lot more informative ways to get to the heart of a strangers website: Devtools, for example. And also, if you really want to learn about alternatives to the products Whatruns discovers: don’t rely too much on their categories or background information. It seems arbitrary at best. You’re better of checking Alexa or the discover section of start.me.
Alternatives
There aren’t many alternatives to Whatruns, but the Chrome Web Store does mention Snovio web technology checker. With no more than 4000 installations, they can’t really compete with Whatruns, though. They clock over 175.000 installations. This inspires trust.
Final verdict
So there you have it: again an extension we propose to anyone who wants to get a quick look at the Internet that’s hidden in plain sight. Whatruns will astonish you, and help you become a better coder, if you’re so inclined. At the very least it will help you see through the CSS and visual spectacles, to get at the bottom or heart of things.
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!
