As I stated in the first review of Google Chrome Backup it came in 2 versions. Free and a paid version with bonus features. This post will center around the bonus features.

First off the Bonus Features version will cost you $5.08 USD. (also in 3.49 € & £3.06). Compared to many other products I’ve seen that price is really reasonable.

The first of the bonus features are enhanced bookmarks support that allow you to export them to html or csv as a backup. You can also copy your bookmarks to Google Bookmarks. One of the more important bonus features are that you can lock/unlock your profile to deny access too it but that’s not all…  more features will be added over time free of charge to paid customers.

The price is well worth it if those features appeal to you and I look forward to future added features.

Screenshots
Bookmarks Extras

Profile Locking

Tags: Backup, Bookmarks, Chrome, Export, Google, Lock

I was annoyed how Chrome stores the profile in a non standard location making backing it up hard. I did some research and found Google Chrome Backup from Parhelia Tools.

The application has a simple UI but packs lots of features. For those who want a easy way to backup/restore their profile there  is a wizard mode to make it easy. You can also manage multiple profiles using the same tool including adding extra command line parameters. The backup routine is fully customizable you can set the compression rate, protect with a password.

The program comes in 2 versions… a free one and one with unlocked features such as bookmarks export to html and csv, upload your bookmarks to google bookmarks service, and you can also password protect your profile. The great part is the developer has set the price at a reasonable of $5.08 USD. (also in 3.49 € & £3.06).

I use this great app to backup/restore my chrome setup that I use for web testing.

You can download your copy @ https://www.parhelia-tools.com/products/gcb/googlechrome.aspx

Tags: Backup, Chrome, Google, Review

While many are happy with the Bookmarks bar always visible some don’t like that it’s always shown. Here is a tip to add a Bookmarks button to the toolbar. As a bonus this also enables the bookmark sync function too. You will need to get your windows username for this to work.

Note: This is ONLY tested on the 4.0 developer branch, I am not responsible for any damages caused by the following of this tip

Edit Shortcut

1. Add the following parameters to your chrome shortcut (you will need to un-pin/re-pin your win7 taskbar entry)

–bookmark-menu –enable-sync

Open Registry Editor

Windows 2000/XP: Click Start then Run and type regedit and press enter
Windows Vista/Win7: Click Start (Orb) then type regedit and press enter (you will need to confirm via UAC)

Change the Entry’s listed below

1. Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ChromeHTML\shell\open\command
   Change

   -— “%1?

   To

   –bookmark-menu –enable-sync — “%1?

2. Navigate to:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ftp\shell\open\command
   Change

   -— “%1?

   To

   –bookmark-menu –enable-sync — “%1?

3. Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\http\shell\open\command
   Change
   

   -— “%1?

   to

   –bookmark-menu –enable-sync — “%1?

4. Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\https\shell\open\command
   Change

   -— “%1?

   to

   –bookmark-menu –enable-sync — “%?

5. Navigate to:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ChromeExt\shell\open\command
   Change

   -–install-extension=”%1?

   to

   -–bookmark-menu -–enable-sync -–install-extension=”%1?

Tags: Bookmarks, Chrome, command, Google, line, Sync, toolbar, Trick

This is the semi-return of my mini digest form of post… I couldn’t let this news from Google go without post on it.

1. Google Chrome OS

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

From Google Blog

2. Google Apps out of Beta

We’re often asked why so many Google applications seem to be perpetually in beta. For example, Gmail has worn the beta tag more than five years. We realize this situation puzzles some people, particularly those who subscribe to the traditional definition of “beta” software as not being yet ready for prime time.

Ever since we launched the Google Apps suite for businesses two years ago, it’s had a service level agreement, 24/7 support, and has met or exceeded all the other standards of non-beta software. More than 1.75 million companies around the world run their business on Google Apps, including Google. We’ve come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn’t fit for large enterprises that aren’t keen to run their business on software that sounds like it’s still in the trial phase. So we’ve focused our efforts on reaching our high bar for taking products out of beta, and all the applications in the Apps suite have now met that mark.

From Google Blog

Tags: Beta, Chrome, Gmail, Google, Netbook, OS

Background Info

• Standard – 448×336, Flash 7 video @ 900Kbps; audio @ 44.1KHz 96Kbps Mono CBR.
• High Quality -  480×360, H.264 video @ 512Kbps; audio @ 44.1KHz 128Kbps Stereo.
• HD – 1280×720 (720p), H.264 video @ 1024Kbps; audio @ 44.1KHz 232Kbps Stereo.

YouTube Quality Chart

I have done more looking into YouTubes HD setup and it seems they store the video at FULL res of the upload for HD even tho the player applet is limited on size.

I made this size comparison chart using a 1280×800 test upload.

Left to Right: Standard -> High Quality -> HD Player Size -> Raw HD Size (May vary depending on video)

Test Video (From earlier post)

Watch normal size HD video here… (Yes the embedd is HD source)

Download/View Youtube HD and high Quality

Drag the bookmarket links below to your browsers bookmark bar.

Save Res YouTube High Quality
Save Res YouTube HD
Watch YouTube  High Quality
Watch YouTube HD

Embedd HD/High Quality Videos

For High Quality add “&ap=%2526fmt%3D18” to the end of both urls in the embedd
For HD add “&ap=%2526fmt%3D22” to the end of both urls in the embedd

Tags: Embedd, HD, High Quality, Youtube