If you’re a Google Chrome user (it remains my browser of choice), you already know how to reduce tab clutter with OneTab and add a clock and weather station to new tabs.
But if you really want to amp up Chrome’s tab acumen, install OneFeed. It turns new tabs (that is, those you open by clicking the new-tab button or pressing Ctrl-T) into a personalized portal, a page stocked with news feeds, e-mail notifications, social-network updates, and more.
Indeed, OneFeed goes beyond Chrome’s default new-tab options, which consist of thumbnails steering you to your most-visited sites or, if you scroll to the next “page,” links to Chrome apps.
Once installed, you still get the most-visited sites thumbnails, but with the option of dragging them together to create folders (similar to how you do on an iOS device). And there’s already a folder of Chrome apps, which saves you have to flip pages to access them.
But it’s on the next page that OneFeed becomes a news reader, turning the latest updates from your favorite sites into an attractive, scrolling page of story thumbnails. You can, of course, edit and add sources, either by searching for them or pasting in an RSS feed (which is how I added PC World, ahem: https://www.pcworld.com/index.rss).
OneFeed also integrates with various social networks and Web services: Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Instagram, and Twitter, for example. Once you’ve approved one or more of them, you’ll be able to get updates and notifications within that reader page, just by clicking the Social button.
This thing is really slick. On my system it was surprisingly quick to load (given all the information it’s fetching), and I liked both the look and organization of new tabs. OneFeed may well earn a permanent place in my Chrome home. Your thoughts?
Contributing Editor Rick Broida writes about business and consumer technology. Ask for help with your PC hassles at hasslefree@pcworld.com. Sign up to have the Hassle-Free PC newsletter e-mailed to you each week.