Chrome – Tech Savvy Life

How to Use Bionic Reading in Chrome

We are all constantly absorbing information online. Bionic Reading is an approach to reading that can help you read faster, retain more information, and boost your productivity in your favorite web browser, like Chrome.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
June 6, 2023

This is for desktops using Chrome or other browsers. Screenshots are from Windows 10

We are all constantly absorbing information online. Bionic Reading is an approach to reading that can help you read faster, retain more information, and boost your productivity in your favorite web browser, like Chrome.

Bionic Reading Explained

Bionic reading is a method of reading that combines traditional reading with technology-assisted tools. This helps readers increase their reading speed, improve their comprehension and retention, and ultimately become more productive in their reading activities.

Was the above paragraph easier and quicker to read? If you said yes, then you have just experienced some of the benefits of Bionic Reading. Now, imagine that but for a whole article, essay, or book.

Your brain does not always read every letter of every word. It only intakes enough information for you to understand a word, and then it moves on to the next one. The bolding of the first half of each word lets your mind fast-track through paragraphs.

The bolding aspect is the most notable factor in Bionic Reading, but there’s more as well. A lot of apps and extensions also remove colors from images and change white or black backgrounds to gray. These changes help your eyes focus on the text.

Why Use Bionic Reading

Using Bionic Reading in Chrome, or any other web browser, can offer several benefits.

It can help you read faster and more efficiently, which allows you to cover more material in less time.

Bionic Reading can also help you retain more information by training your brain to focus on the most important parts of any text.

As a result of the two above-mentioned benefits, it can improve your productivity by allowing you to process information more effectively. This can be particularly useful in academic or work-related settings.

Bionic Reading in any browser can be a valuable tool for anyone looking to optimize their online reading experience.

Think of Bionic Reading as akin to Speed Reading but they are different in their approach. Speed Reading is the process of rapidly recognizing and absorbing phrases or sentences on a page all at once, rather than identifying individual words.

How Bionic Reading Helps You

Bionic Reading helps you read faster and more efficiently with techniques including skimming, scanning, chunking, and altering images to be easier on the eye. Refer to the below image:

Bionic Reader 1 — Bionic Reading example from Chrome Web Store

For example, when you skim a text, you quickly glance through it to get a general idea of the content without reading every word. Similarly, when you scan a text, you search for specific keywords or phrases that are relevant to your reading goals.

By using these techniques, you can save time and energy. Bionic Reading tools like web browser extensions or apps can help automate some of these techniques.

Bionic Reading Trains Your Brain to Retain Information

By using Bionic Reading, you can begin to retain more information by training your brain to focus on the most crucial parts of any text, such as key concepts, arguments, or evidence.

Through using techniques like skimming or scanning (as mentioned above), you can quickly identify the main points of the text and decide what information is relevant to your reading goals. In turn, this uses less mental energy.

By consistently applying these techniques, you can train your brain to become more efficient at processing and retaining information. Studying, researching, and editing your own work can become easier as a result.

Bionic Reading Improves Your Productivity

Before we go into how Bionic Reading increases your productivity, you need a frame of reference for how your productivity can suffer through everyday means.

Using your eyes takes up about 50% of your brain power. That’s more than any of your other senses. We, as humans, heavily rely on our vision for pretty much everything we do.

As your brain becomes able to retain more information, you will need to re-read the same text less often.

Reading faster and more efficiently drastically cuts down on the stress your eyes and brain suffer while researching, writing, and doing similar work, especially when you are mentally digesting new information.

To summarize, by improving your reading efficiency and training your brain to better retain information, your productivity should increase.

Bionic Reading Chrome Extension

You can get the Bionic Reading extension for Chrome on the Chrome Web Store. See the below image:

Bionic Reader 2 — Adding Bionic Reading Chrome extension

At the top of a Chrome window, click the Menu icon (the 3 dots) to open the Menu. Now, click More Tools > Extensions to view the extension. See the following image:

Bionic Reader 3 — Bionic Reading Chrome extension

After installing it, you can manage the Bionic Reading extension through the Extensions menu at the top-right of your window (click the little jigsaw piece icon). Refer to the below image:

Bionic Reader 4 — Activate Bionic Reading

You are now ready to begin using the Bionic Reading extension! When you want to activate it on any given webpage, all you need to do is click the jigsaw piece icon at the top-right of your window and then click the Bionic Reading icon. To turn Bionic Reading off, do the same thing again. See the below image:

Bionic Reader 5 — Bionic Reading example

Everything is removed from the web page but the text. That’s all there is to it! Start saving your energy for tougher tasks by letting Bionic Reading do the heavy visual lifting.

Disclaimer

Technology is always changing and rarely is there static tech for smartphones and desktops. Thus, the contents of this post are only valid at the time of writing. Blog posts older than six months may have directions incompatible with your device or OS. Hopefully, older post content will continue to work as advertised. Thank you for reading TechSavvy.Life for Technology at Work For You.

Quote For the Day

I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact.
Elon Musk

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Author’s E-Book

You can access the e-book from a Kindle device, the Kindle App for the desktop or smartphone, which is a free app.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong Vietnam: Events and Aftermath

Using a Keyboard Shortcut to Clear Your Browser History

Want to clear your browser history quickly? There’s a keyboard shortcut for that. It works in any browser, including Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox (on both Windows PCs and Macs.)

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
May 30, 2023

This is for popular browsers on a PC or Mac

Want to clear your browser history quickly? There’s a keyboard shortcut for that. It works in any browser, including Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox (on both Windows PCs and Macs.)

Depending on your web browser of choice, you can speed things up in the future by activating the Clear button with a few keystrokes. You may have to tab through the interface to select the Clear button before hitting Enter.

Here’s how it works on a few popular browsers on a Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC:

Google Chrome: Press Ctrl+Shift+Delete and press Enter.
Mozilla Firefox: Press Ctrl+Shift+Delete and press Enter.
Microsoft Edge: Press Ctrl+Shift+Delete and press Enter.

You can now configure exactly what you want to delete. Your browser will remember the settings you pick here, so you will only have to set this up once.

You can pick a time range, or history from a time period like the last hour, last 24 hours, last week, or from all time. You can also pick the types of data: browsing history, download history, cookies, cached files, and more.

When you are done, click the Clear data or Clear now button. Refer to the below image for Chrome:

Clear Chrome 1 — Selecting to Clear data in Chrome

Incognito Mode

In the future, you can eliminate the need to clear your browser history by browsing in a private-browsing mode, like Incognito Mode in Chrome. You will just have to close the private-browsing window, and your browser will immediately forget the history associated with your private browsing.

You can use keyboard shortcuts to open and close a private-browsing mode window, too.

Google Chrome: Press Ctrl+Shift+N
Mozilla Firefox: Press Ctrl+Shift+P
Safari or Chrome on a Mac: Press Command instead of Ctrl; for example, press Shift+Command+N.

When you are done, press Ctrl+W to close a single tab or Ctrl+Shift+W to close an entire window. (On a Mac, press Command instead of Ctrl.)

Just remember that Incognito Mode does not offer complete privacy online. It only prevents your web browser from storing your browsing history locally. You may want to combine it with a VPN to boost your online privacy.

Disclaimer

Quote For the Day

Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.
Anton Chekhov

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How to Use Hidden Reader Mode in Chrome

Most web browsers have a built-in “Reader Mode” that converts web pages into a more reader-friendly view. Strangely, Google Chrome does not have this feature; unless you know how to find it.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
May 23, 2023

Most web browsers have a built-in “Reader Mode” that converts web pages into a more reader-friendly view. Strangely, Google Chrome does not have this feature; unless you know how to find it. Let’s find out where it is.

This is for devices running Google Chrome. Screenshots are from Windows 10

Google Chrome has included a hidden Reader Mode all the way back to version 75. However, it’s never been upgraded to a stable, standard feature. Even Microsoft Edge; which is also based on Chromium; has a Reader Mode. So let’s enable it in Chrome.

Enable Hidden Reader Mode

First, we will need to enable a Chrome feature flag. Open the Chrome browser on your computer, and type:

chrome://flags

in the address bar, and hit Enter. Refer to the below image:

Chrome Reader 1 — Accessing Chrome flags

Next, search for “Reader Mode” in the text box at the top and enable the flag titled “Enable Reader Mode.” See the below image:

Now, after enabling the flag, click the “Relaunch” button at the bottom of the screen to apply the changes. See the following image:

Next, when you now visit a webpage that has a lot of text, you will see a little book icon on the right side of the address bar. Click it to switch to Reader Mode.

You can also click:

Menu > Enter Reader Mode

to activate it. Refer to the below image:

Chrome Reader 4 — Selecting the Reader Mode icon

Now, you are now looking at a much simpler, less cluttered view of the webpage. Images still appear, but ads and some other items are removed. To adjust the view, click the “A” icon in the top right. See the below image:

Next, from here you can change the font, text size, and background color. See the following image:

Chrome Reader 6 — Customizing appearance

That’s all there is to it! You can now minimize distractions while reading long articles in Chrome. It’s strange that Google has kept this a hidden feature for years, but at least you know how to enable it yourself.

Disclaimer

Quote For the Day

Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all.
John F Kennedy

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How to Make Google Chrome Fast

Google Chrome is a very popular browser despite being infamously greedy with your computer’s resources. If you feel like Chrome is starting to get slow, let’s speed it up.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
May 16, 2023

Google Chrome is a very popular browser despite being infamously greedy with your computer’s resources. If you feel like Chrome is starting to get slow, let’s speed it up.

This is for devices running Google Chrome. Screenshots are from Windows 10

Update Chrome

The simplest thing you can do is make sure Chrome is up to date. This will ensure that you always have the latest improvements and optimizations for Chrome. The browser will usually install updates automatically, but you can update manually to be sure.

To manually update Chrome, head to:

Menu (3 dots) > Settings > About Chrome

If not up-to-date, Chrome will automatically update. Refer to the below image:

Preload Images

Chrome has a feature that allows it to “predict” which links it thinks you might open and preload in the background. That way, if you do click the link, it will already be partially loaded.

If you want to enable this feature. First, head to:

Menu (3 dots) > Settings > Privacy and Security > Cookies and Other Site Data

Next, toggle the switch ON for Preload pages for faster browsing and searching. See the below image:

Tabs Under Control

Chrome has some built-in tools to help mitigate the performance impact of having a lot of tabs open, but keeping your tabs tidy on your own will help even more.

There are a couple of things you can do if you are someone that constantly has tons of tabs open. The easiest thing to do is use Chrome’s Reading List and Bookmarks features. That way, you can save pages for later without actually keeping them open in a tab.

Use Energy Saver

As the name implies, Chrome’s Energy Saver feature is intended to help improve battery life when your laptop is unplugged. However, it can also be used to speed up performance in a pinch.

Energy Saver limits background activity, visual effects, and video frame rates. Limiting those things helps stretch out your battery, which is a result of Chrome not asking your computer to work as hard. You can only use Energy Saver if your computer is running on battery or below 20% power. Head to:

Menu (3 dots) > Settings > Performance

and toggle ON the Energy Saver switch.

Memory Saver

With the latest release of Chrome on the desktop, there is a new performance setting so Chrome uses up to 40% and 10GB less memory to keep your tabs running smoothly.

If you have a bunch of tabs open in Chrome that you plan to come back to later; Memory Saver mode frees up memory from tabs you are not currently using so the active websites you are browsing are fast. This is especially useful if you are running other intensive applications, like editing family videos or playing games. Any inactive tabs will be reloaded when you need them. Head to:

Menu (3 dots) > Settings > Performance

and toggle ON the Memory Saver switch. See the following image:

Hardware Acceleration

Hardware acceleration is a feature that allows Chrome to take advantage of your computer’s GPU to speed up processes. Hardware can perform some functions faster than software running on the CPU alone.

When enabled, Chrome will utilize your computer’s GPU for graphics-intensive tasks, like playing games and watching videos. It’s typically enabled by default but can be disabled if there are driver compatibility issues. You can ensure it’s enabled by heading to:

Menu (3 dots) > Settings > System

and toggle ON the option Use hardware acceleration when available. Refer to the below image:

Fast Chrome 4 — Select to Use Hardware Acceleration

Check Task Manager

If you feel like Chrome is particularly sluggish, there might be a rogue extension causing it. Chrome has its own built-in Task Manager that lets you see what’s running in the browser; extensions, web pages, and apps; and how many resources each individual thing is using.

Chrome’s Task Manager shows each tab and all the extensions that are currently running. You can see the memory footprint and CPU usage. If a process uses too much CPU, you can simply tap the End Process button and see if that fixes the problem.

The Task Manager can be found in:

Menu (the 3 dots) > More Tools > Task Manager

Just click on the option from the drop-down menu. See the below image:

Check Extensions

Similar to how you might have apps on your phone that you do not use anymore, there are probably some Extensions in Chrome that you could get rid of. They could be running in the background and eating up resources.

Regardless of performance, it’s generally a good idea to routinely check up on your Extensions. Chrome gives you the option to “Disable” by turning the Toggle to OFF or “Remove.” Disabling will keep the Extension installed, but it cannot run. To check your Extensions, head to:

?Menu (3 dots} > More Tools > Extensions

See the following image:

Clear Your Browsing Data

Chrome collects a lot of data while you are browsing to improve your experience. All this site data, cookies, and cached images and files can add up over time. Occasionally clearing this data can potentially lighten up your browser, but it also means you will need to re-sign into websites.

There are two ways to do this. First, head to:

Menu (the 3 dots) > More Tools >Clear Browsing Data

Second, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Del. Both methods will bring up a menu with options (Basic or Advanced) for clearing the data.

Checkmark any option(s) and click Clear data. Refer to the below image:

Fast Chrome 7 — Clear your Browsing Data

Reset Without Uninstalling

The “nuclear option” for speeding up Chrome is performing a browser reset. This will essentially bring Chrome back to the way it was when you first installed it while still saving some of your personal stuff.

A browser reset will reset the search engine, homepage, startup tabs, new tab page, pinned tabs, content settings, cookies, site data, extensions, and themes. However, it will not erase your bookmarks, browser history, or saved passwords.

To perform a browser reset, head to:

Menu (3 dots) > Settings > Reset settings > Restore settings to their original defaults

See the below image:

Just click the option. Next, you will see a confirmation screen. Here, click on the Reset settings button. See the following image:

Fast Chrome 9 — Reset Settings confirmation. Use with caution

Disclaimer

Quote For the Day

“While we’re all very dependent on technology, it doesn’t always work.
Bill Gates

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Author’s E-Book

You can access the e-book from a Kindle device, the Kindle App for the desktop or smartphone, which is a free app.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong Vietnam: Events and Aftermath

How to Enable iPhone Pop-Ups

Open the Settings app, tap Safari, and toggle Block Pop-ups to OFF. This allows pop-ups in Safari on your iPhone. You can also allow pop-ups in other browsers like Google Chrome. Open your browser app’s Settings to find this option.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
February 14, 2023

Summary: Open the Settings app, tap Safari, and toggle Block Pop-ups to OFF. This allows pop-ups in Safari on your iPhone. You can also allow pop-ups in other browsers like Google Chrome. Open your browser app’s Settings to find this option.

This is for the Safari and Chrome. Screenshots are from iPhone 14 Pro running iOS 16+

Dilbert and Love — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Allow Pop-Ups in Safari

To allow sites to open pop-up windows in your Safari browser, first, open the Settings app on your iPhone.

Next, in Settings, scroll down and tap Safari. Refer to the below image:

Now, on the Safari page, scroll down and toggle Block Pop-Ups to OFF.

Tip: To turn on Safari’s pop-up blocker in the future, re-enable the Block Pop-Ups option.

See the below image:

Allow Pop-Ups in Chrome

To enable pop-up windows in Chrome, first, launch the browser on your iPhone.

Next, when Chrome launches, in the bottom right-hand corner, tap the three-dot Menu and choose Settings. See the following image:

Now, in Settings, scroll down and tap Content Settings. Refer to the below image:

Next, tap Block Pop-Ups. See the below image:

Now, toggle Block Pop-Ups to OFF. Then, in the top right-hand corner, tap Done.

Tip: To re-enable pop-ups in Google Chrome in the future, activate the Block Pop-Ups option.

See the following image:

Disclaimer

Technology is always changing, and rarely is their static tech for smartphones and desktops. Thus, the contents of this post are only valid at the time of writing. Blog posts older than six months may have directions incompatible with your device or OS. Hopefully, older post content will continue to work as advertised. Thank you for reading TechSavvy.Life for Technology at Work For You.

Quote For the Day

We refuse to turn off our computers, turn off our phone, log off Facebook, and just sit in silence because in those moments we might actually have to face up to who we really are.
Jefferson Bethke

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Author’s E-Book

You can access the e-book from a Kindle device, the Kindle App for the desktop or smartphone, which is a free app.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong Vietnam: Events and Aftermath

How to Download/Save Images Using Google Image Search

Google’s Image Search results are sometimes so impressive that you want to save some of those images to your device.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
February 2, 2023

Google’s Image Search results are sometimes so impressive that you want to save some of those images to your device. If you have found yourself in this situation, let’s explore how to download those images from your search results.

This is for mobile and desktop devices. Screenshots are from Windows 10 and iPhone 14 Pro running iOS 16+

Dilbert and Batteries — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Save Images On Desktop

To download an image on a desktop, you just pick your image, click an option, and your image is saved to your computer.

First, launch your favorite web browser on your computer and open Google Image Search. There, find the image you want to save to your machine. Refer to the below image:

Google Image Search 1 — Search Google Images

Next, on the search results page, access the image that you want to download. See the below image:

Now, right-click your image, and from the menu that opens, choose to Save image as. See the following image:

Google Image Search 3 — Check the option to save your image

Next, your browser will open your computer’s standard Save As window. Here, select a folder to save your image in, type your image name in the File Name field, then click Save. Refer to the below image:

Now, you have successfully downloaded your favorite image from your Image Search results. If you are not sure exactly where the image file went, check your Downloads folder from File Explorer.

If your downloaded file is of low resolution, then try downloading that image directly from the source site. To do that, on the Image Search results page, click the link, beneath the image, and not the image, to be taken to the image site. There, right-click the image and choose Save image as.

Download Images On Mobile

On your mobile phone, you can download images from Google’s Image Search results using Google Chrome, Apple Safari, or Microsoft Edge. Mozilla Firefox does not offer the option to save images.

To start, first, open your web browser (we are using Safari) and launch Google Image Search or type into the search box “images.google.com”. Find the image you would like to save to your phone.

Next, on the search results page, tap the image to download. See the below image:

Google Image Search 5 — Tap an image you want to download

Now, on your image full-screen page, tap and hold the image. See the following image:

Google Image Search 6 — Press and hold your image

Next, on iPhone or iPad, from the menu that opens in Safari, tap Save to Photos. Refer to the below image:

Google Image Search 7 — Select the option to save your image

Your iPhone will download and save the image on your local storage or in our example using Safari, your Photos app. See the below image:

Disclaimer

Technology is always changing and rarely is static for smartphones and desktops. Thus, the contents of this post are only valid at the time of writing. Blog posts older than six months may have directions incompatible with your device or OS. Hopefully, older post content will continue to work as advertised. Thank you for reading TechSavvy.Life for Technology at Work For You.

Quote For the Day

The technology you use impresses no one. The experience you create with it is everything.
Sean Cerety

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Author’s E-Book

You can access the e-book from a Kindle device, the Kindle App for the desktop or smartphone, which is a free app.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong Vietnam: Events and Aftermath

How to Enable Google Chrome Dark Mode

Google Chrome has had a built-in dark theme like Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge since Chrome 74. You can even apply a dark theme to every web page you visit using third-party themes or an extension.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
January 26, 2023

Google Chrome has had a built-in dark theme like Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge since Chrome 74. You can even apply a dark theme to every web page you visit using third-party themes or an extension. Let’s explore this dark mode feature.

This is for devices running Windows 11 or 10. Screenshots are from Windows 10

Dilbert and Robot — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Chrome offers a built-in dark mode on Windows 11 and Windows 10. It even makes all of Chrome’s context menus dark, too.

Dark Mode for Windows 11

First, open the Settings app and navigate to:

Personalization > Color

Next, click the drop-down menu to the right of Choose Your Mode and select Dark. Refer to the below image:

Dark Mode 1 — Setting Dark Mode for Windows 11

Next, close out the Settings app and launch Google Chrome. Unless you have manually set Chrome’s theme, it will match your system.

Dark Mode for Windows 10

First, head to:

Settings > Personalization > Colors

and select Dark under Choose your default app mode. See the below image:

Dark Mode 2 — Setting Dark Mode for Windows 10

Apply a Dark Theme

Chrome supports user-created themes, which you can download from the Chrome Web Store. To give Chrome a dark interface, all you have to do is install a dark theme. Google even provides a helpful collection of editor-selected dark themes. This will give your Chrome browser a dark mode on Windows 7, Linux, Chrome OS, and any operating system without a native dark theme.

Note! Google now offers some official Chrome browser themes, including a “Just Black” dark mode theme. You may want to give that a try.

We recommend Morpheon Dark, which is the most popular dark theme in the Store. Unlike some other dark themes, it provides a decent amount of contrast between your active tab, which is a bit lighter, and your inactive tabs, which are darker.

This theme turns darkens the Tab Bar, Title Bar, Toolbar, and New Tab page. That’s all you can theme in Chrome. You can not make Chrome’s Context Menus or Settings page dark, for example. See the following image:

If you ever want to switch back to Chrome’s default theme you can. Head to:

Menu > Settings

Look for the Themes option under Appearance and then click Reset to Default. Refer to the below image:

Disclaimer

Quote For the Day

Even the technology that promises to unite us, divides us. Each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone.
Dan Brown

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Author’s E-Book

You can access the e-book from a Kindle device, the Kindle App for the desktop or smartphone, which is a free app.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong Vietnam: Events and Aftermath

How to Delete/Hide Chrome Shortcuts From New Tab Page

Google Chrome keeps shortcuts to your most visited sites on its home page. If you do not find this list useful, you can either individually remove these shortcuts or hide all the shortcuts at once.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
September 29, 2022

Google Chrome keeps shortcuts to your most visited sites on its home page. If you do not find this list useful, you can either individually remove these shortcuts or hide all the shortcuts at once. Let’s explore how to do this.

Tip: When you delete a shortcut, that item’s gone forever. However, you can bring back all your hidden shortcuts at once with a few clicks.

This is for devices running the latest version of Google Chrome. Screenshots are from Windows 10

Dilbert and Office — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Delete a New Tab Shortcut

To individually remove your site shortcuts from the New Tab page, first, open a new tab in Chrome. You can do this by pressing Ctrl+T (Windows) or Command+T (Mac).

Next, on the New Tab page, find the shortcut you want to delete. Hover your cursor in that shortcut’s top-right corner, then click the three dots (the Menu icon) that appear. Refer to the below image:

Chrome Shortcuts 1 — Accessing the shortcut Menu on the New Tab page

Now, in the three-dot Menu icon, choose Remove. See the below image:

Chrome Shortcuts 2 — Selecting to Remove the shortcut

Instantly, Chrome will remove the selected shortcut from your New Tab page.

Note: If you accidentally delete a shortcut, you can restore it by clicking Undo in the confirmation message that opens at the bottom left-hand corner.

Hide All New Tab Shortcuts

If you do not wish to see any shortcuts at all, you can hide all of them with a few easy clicks.

First, launch a New Tab in Chrome. Then, in the New Tab screen’s bottom right-hand corner, select the Pencil icon for Customize this page. See the following image:

Chrome Shortcuts 3 — Selecting the Pencil icon

Next, in the left sidebar of the open window, click Shortcuts. Refer to the below image:

Chrome Shortcuts 4 — Selecting the Shortcuts option

Now, on the right pane, toggle the Hide Shortcuts option to ON. Then, at the bottom, click Done. See the below image:

Note: Later, to unhide your shortcuts and bring them back to your New Tab page, toggle the Hide Shortcuts option to OFF and click Done.

Chrome Shortcuts 5 — Enabling to Hide shortcuts

Back on the New Tab page, you will find all your site shortcuts are gone.

Quote For the Day

Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The fog of information can drive out knowledge
Daniel J Boorstin

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How to Use Text to Speech Tools

Reading is great, but sometimes you want or need to listen. Let your computer or phone do the reading for you.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
June 23, 2022

Reading is great, but sometimes you want or need to listen. Let your computer or phone do the reading for you. Let’s explore some tools to do this.

This is for the mobile or desktop

Dilbert and White — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Some people struggle with reading text on a screen, or physically can not. Others might want their computer to read something to them aloud while they do something else. There are plenty of reasons to use a text-to-speech tool, also called a “screen reader”.

Although there are standalone text-to-speech apps, you probably do not need them. That’s because every operating system, and several well-known pieces of software, offer a text-to-speech feature, and they are all quite good.

Spoken Content for iPhone

The iPhone’s text-to-speech feature is very easy to use. First, to turn it on, head to:

Settings > Accessibiltu > Spoken Content

and enable Speak Selection and Speak Screen. Once enabled, any text you highlight in any application will have a Speak option, which you tap to activate. We have highlighted some text from the Notes app to be read to us. Refer to the below image:

Read Aloud for Browsers

Read Aloud is an extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge that can read whatever website you currently have open. First, you will need to download the extension. After downloading, in Chrome, right-click on some highlighted text and choose the Read aloud selected text option. See the below image:

Text to Speech 3 — Read Aloud for browsers

Immersive Reader for Office and Edge

Microsoft Office applications have a built-in text-to-speech feature but it’s a little hard to find. First, in any document, click the Immersive Reader tab. If you do not see it, search for it, and from then on it should appear in your interface permanently. Highlight some text, then right-click and select Read Aloud to hear your document read back to you with the corresponding word highlighted as it goes. Immersive Reader is perfect for copy editing and reviewing long documents. See the following image:

Microsoft Edge has this feature, too. Highlight some text, then right-click and select Real aloud selection. Refer to the below image:

Text to Speech 4 — Immersive Reader for Edge

Natural Reader

First, download the mobile version (ours is for the iPhone). Then head to

NaturalReaders.com/online (note the plural in the URL)

and paste some text, highlighting it to hear it read on a mobile device. See the below image:

Text to Speech 5 — Natural Reader on mobile

You can also drag documents into your browser window if you prefer. Natural Reader has a variety of voices, and you can control the speed of reading. Just click the Gear icon on the upper right-hand corner for options. See the following image:

Text to Speech 6 — Natural Reader options

You can upgrade for features like a Chrome extension, OCR for scanned documents, higher quality voices, and the ability to create MP3 files; these features cost $9.99 a month. The paid version also supports uploading documents, including Microsoft Word, Apple’s Pages, and even image files with text on them. The free version is perfect for quick listening. Refer to the below image for an example of listening to a webpage:

Text to Speech 7 — Natural Reader for web pages

Quote For the Day

Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The fog of information can drive out knowledge.
Daniel J Boorstin

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How to Turn Off/On Live Captions in Google Chrome

Are you not a big fan of Google Chrome’s Live Captions, which displays the text version of your media files? If so, it’s easy to turn this feature off/on both temporarily and permanently.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
June 16, 2022

Are you not a big fan of Google Chrome’s Live Captions, which displays the text version of your media files? If so, it’s easy to turn this feature off/on both temporarily and permanently. Let’s explore this feature.

This is for devices using Google Chrome. Screenshots are from Windows 10

Dilbert and Key — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Temporary Disable Live Captions

You can turn off Chrome’s Live Captions for a specific playback session while keeping it enabled for all other sessions.

First, open a video containing a voice. The speaker’s voice will be displayed as Live Captions. To close this Live Captions, in the top right-hand corner of Chrome’s Live Captions box, click the “X” icon. Note! We are assuming the Live Captions option has been disabled (see below section). Refer to the below image:

Live Text 1 — Live Caption being displayed

Live Captions will immediately disappear from your screen, and you can enjoy your media playback without any interruptions.

Permanently Stop Live Captions

If you do not wish to see live captions for any of your media playbacks in Chrome, turn the feature OFF permanently and it will not bother you anymore.

First, from Chrome’s top right-hand corner, select the three dots icon (the Menu icon). See the below image:

Next, in the Menu box, click Settings. See the following image:

Now, on the Settings screen, from the left sidebar, select Advanced. Refer to the below image:

Next, in the expanded Advanced menu, click Accessibility. See the below image:

Now, on the right, in the Accessibility pane, toggle the Live Caption option to OFF. See the following image:

If you want to enable the option again, toggle the Live Caption option to ON. You may see the message “Speech files downloaded” below the Live Caption. Refer to the below image:

Going forward, Chrome will not display any captions for your media playbacks in the browser.

Quote For the Day

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, allowing us to do things more quickly and efficiently. But too often it seems to make things harder, leaving us with fifty-button remote controls, digital cameras with hundreds of mysterious features and book-length manuals, and cars with dashboard systems worthy of the space shuttle.
James Surowiecki

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