50 Comments / Nathan J. Brauer on Mar 11, 2010
in Tools

The beauty of the Google Chrome Extension gallery is that it is virtually uninhibited by any sort of approval process. This allows tons of extensions to be uploaded into the wild in real time. Every couple weeks, I go through and find the best and/or the most promising extensions that have recently been added.
The following extensions are no more than a few weeks old, and thus, it’s highly unlikely that you’ve seen them yet (unless you have no life, like me). Keep in mind that since these are brand new, some of them may have bugs here and there. The good thing, though, is that extensions from the gallery automatically update in the background without the need to restart the browser, and extension developers are usually more receptive to adding/removing/fixing features when their extension is newly released!
There are twenty-three extensions and two themes to try out. Feel free to give any of these a quick try! If you decide you don’t like it, simply right-click the extension and select “Uninstall” — Simple as that! No restarts or anything!
Ready? Here goes!
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25 Comments / Nathan J. Brauer on Feb 14, 2010
in Tools

Google Buzz’s launch week is about to come to a close. And with that, we’re going to start seeing just how buzzed people are about it. But just in case you’re not buzzed yet, here’s a quick round up of the best tricks, resources, and tutorials that have sprung up in the last few days.
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133 Comments / Lam Nguyen on Feb 11, 2010
in Popular

So. Google just recently announced Google Buzz. I’m not sure about you, but I didn’t see this coming. Sure, Google was bound to start a social network of some sort at some time; but, I didn’t think it’d be this soon!
After spending a few hours on Google Buzz, we’re proud to present you with 12 simple tricks to help give you a better Buzz. Before you start drinking the Google juice, though, make sure you choose a designated driver! (Ya, I know. Bad joke.)
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17 Comments / Nathan J. Brauer on Feb 10, 2010
in Web Development

Recently, a blog post by Michael Gray called “Is Google Stealing Your Content and Hijacking Your Traffic” caught my attention. If you haven’t read it yet, here’s the low down: The blog suggests that Google is “stealing” traffic (and thus revenue) from other companies by providing more information to its searchers upfront, instead of requiring searchers to click through and see the content themselves, among other claims.
I understand where Michael Gray is coming from, but to say that what we see from Google is unique or condemnable compared to traditional practice, common practice, or web 2.0 ethics is far from reality. Here I will challenge that frame of thought then cover a few very common examples of widely accepted and lauded businesses who practice similar techniques.
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13 Comments / Nathan J. Brauer on Feb 07, 2010
in Giveaways

Hello everyone!
This is a quick post to remind everyone that there are exactly 48 hours left until the deadline to qualify for the Free Custom 18×24 Poster Print.
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30 Comments / Nathan J. Brauer on Feb 05, 2010
in Graphics

I love branding. I absolutely LOVE branding. Seriously.
I can spend a whole day salvating over brands on Brandstack, LogoPond, LogoMoose, 99designs, and so many others, just wishing that I could startup a business simply to bring the brand to life. Â Whether to inspire new brand ideas or to inspire you to build a business for one of these, I present you 16+3 of my favorite brands that should should be brought to life. Continue Reading
18 Comments / Nathan J. Brauer on Feb 03, 2010
in Giveaways

I’m proud to present our first giveaway since our announcement to launch AEXT.net as a magazine.  As celebration, today we’ll be giving away your choice of a High Gloss or Semi Gloss Custom Poster Print hosted courtesy of OnlinePosterPrinting.com. Continue Reading