Opera Browser Adds Free VPN Service

The Opera Browser has added a free VPN (virtual private network) service, built directly into their web browser.

Currently available on the Opera Developer Build, the VPN service provided by SurfEasy Inc. creates an encrypted tunnel from the users computer directly to the VPN server at the switch of a button. 

A VPN service is also used to shield a users real IP address allowing them to bypass firewalls, enhance privacy on public Wi-Fi, and access blocked content. Eg: region blocked content. 

Opera's free VPN can currently change your IP address's location to mimic either Canada, Germany, or the United States. 

How to Enable Free VPN Service in Opera Browser (Developer Build): 

1. Download and install the Opera Browser Developer Build. Then open the browser, if it doesn't automatically open. 

2. Click "Opera Developer" in the Mac Menu bar, and then click "Preferences."

3. Under the VPN heading, check on "Enable VPN". 

4. Now open a new tab and navigate to a website.     

5. In the address bar, click the VPN button, then switch it to on. Then select the country you wish to mimic the geo-location of. 

You can read more about the Opera Browser and the addition of the VPN service, on their blog. 

First Look At Material Design on Google Chrome For Mac OS X

Google has been updating all their products to their new Material Design look for awhile now, and recently, the Material Design has been worked on for the Google Chrome web browser for Chrome OS, Windows, Linux and now Mac!  

To get a live look at the new Material Design makeover in progress, you'll need to install Google's test build version of Chrome, designed for developers and early adopters - Chrome Canary. Note: This program is NOT recommend for your everyday use - it is an experimental build and can completely break down. 

To switch on the new Material Design look, type into the address bar:  chrome://flags

Then find the title "Material design in the browser's top chrome". Then from the drop down menu, select "Material".   

At the moment on Mac, the main differences implemented are to the Navigation Bar with lighter and flatter colors and a new sharper edged shape on the tabs. There is also a new darker theme added to Incognito mode.  

Hating the new Material Look to Google Chrome? Don't worry, remember, this is a work-in-progress and far from the final look and version that will ship out at a later date in the stable Chrome release.

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UPDATE (March 10th 2016): A progress report - here is what Material Design on Chrome Canary for Mac currently looks like:

How To Preview Links In Safari Without Opening A New Tab

Ever wanted to preview a link without actually opening a new tab? Well there is actually this very feature built into Apple's Safari web browser on OS X El Capitan, that you probably didn't know existed!  

To load a weblink in a preview window, all Mac users need to do in Safari is simply use a Three Finger Tap on the hyperlink (without actually clicking down on the trackpad).

To get this feature to work, you may first need to switch on a feature in System Preferences. 

Open System Preferences, then click Trackpad and then on the Point & Click tab, switch on the feature "Look up & data detectors". 

iOS 9 Safari Relocates 'Find On Page' & 'Request Desktop Site' Buttons

iOS 9 has relocated a couple of features (or buttons), 'Find on Page' and 'Request Desktop Site', in Apple's web browser, Safari. These two buttons have been relocated to under the Share menu. To access this menu, tap the button with the arrow point up out of a square, in Safari.

Website in image: thosewhofromheavencame.spreadshirt.com

Find on Page allows you to search for any text on the current webpage you are on. This is handy for when you are searching for a certain word or phrase on a page with a lot of writing. Simply type in the word you are looking for, then you can use the arrows to switch between every usage of that word on the page.

Request Desktop Site is for when you just aren't happy with the mobile version of a website and want to see the 'proper' desktop version. Sometimes web sites do not display all the features or buttons on a mobile site, so this feature again makes it helpful to change to the main web version. 

Other buttons that you can access from this menu include; Add to Favorites, Add Bookmark, Add to Reading List, Add to Home Screen (which places an app icon shortcut to the webpage on your home screen), Copy, Print, and any other third party app buttons that are available.    

How To Hide 'Frequently Visited Sites' In Safari on OS X El Capitan

Safari 9.0 has added a way to hide those frequently visited sites on the Favorites page.

The favorites page in Safari displays your favorite bookmarks with big icons. After surfing the web for a while, frequent sites that you have visited will also be listed.

To hide frequently visited sites in Safari 9.0, right click on the Favorites page, then unselect "Show Frequently Visited Sites".

Material Design Implementation Has Begun on Google Chrome Desktop Browser

Material Design was announced back in June of 2014, and is Google's latest visual design language. It aims to provide good design with innovation that gives users a unified experience across platforms.

Google has slowly been implementing Material Design to all their products. We seen changes most notably on Android Lollipop, Google Now, recently to the YouTube app (iOS update coming soon), Google's Inbox mail app, Google Drive and Google Docs, and the Chrome web browser on iOS and Android.

Now work has also begun to implement the Material Design look and feel to the Google Chrome web browser. While at the moment the changes are still very minimal, users and developers who want to check out and follow the changes can do so on the Developer Google Chrome Canary channel.

Note, Google Chrome Canary, is a developer build and is not recommended for use by the general public, and definitely not for everyday use. Only install, if you are familiar with very beta software and understand the risks.

Chrome Canary on Windows 7

To check out the changes in-progress to add Material Design on Google Chrome, type: Chrome://flags into your address/search bar. Then search for Material Design and look for "Material design in the browser's top Chrome". There will be a drop down with a few options; Non-material (standard), Material, and Material Hybrid (a mix of the two).

The biggest changes so far are on the Chrome OS version, with some new flatter buttons, but even on Windows 7 you can see small changes like extra spacing around the navigation buttons.

Remember, this is a work in progress, so expect a lot more to change in the future. Nothing here is anywhere near final.

At the moment, it seems the Material Design changes for Google Chrome are being worked on for Windows, Chrome OS, and Linux. But, I'd expect changes to Mac OS X as well, sometime in the future.

Google Chrome for iOS Gets Swipe To Go Back/Forward Gestures

Google Chrome for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad has received an update recently that adds a much welcome feature to the web browser; the ability to swipe to navigate back and forward through pages. 

iOS users would know of the handy gestures in Safari of simply swiping from the right side of the screen to the middle to go back to the previous page (or the opposite way to go forward). Google Chrome on iOS was missing this gesture previously, as swiping the screen instead used to switch to different open tabs.  But now with the latest update, you can navigate with gestures - just like in Apple's Safari.  

-> Google Chrome for iOS is available as a free download from the iTunes App Store. 

How To Disable Adobe Flash Player In Apple's Safari & Google Chrome Web Browsers

Are you tired about hearing about all of these Adobe Flash exploits? Do we really even need Flash Player in our web browsers these days? Flash used to be used in a lot of websites, but these days Flash has been used a lot less, thanks to the iPhone and iPad not supporting Flash, and because of other tools becoming popular, like HTML5. Not even YouTube needs Flash player anymore.

If you think you don't need Flash on your web browser anymore, maybe it's time to remove or disable Flash altogether.

To make this transition, lets start with just disabling Adobe Flash from your web browser(s). As this is mainly a Mac / iOS website, I'll mention how to, for the two most popular browsers; Google Chrome and Apple's Safari.

To disable Adobe Flash Player in Google Chrome: 

1. Type into the address bar: chrome://plugins 

2. Find on the list "Adobe Flash Player".

3. Click "Disable".

Or the other option is to set all plugins to disabled by default and to ask you to enable them when detected. To access this setting;

1. Type into the address bar: chrome://settings/content

2. Scroll down to, "Plugins".

3. Select option, "Let me choose when to run plugin content".


To Disable Adobe Flash in Apple's Safari:

1. Launch Safari, then click "Safari" in the in the Apple Menu Bar.

2. Click "Preferences".

3. Click on the "Security" tab.

4. Under heading "Internet plug-ins", click "Website Settings".

5. Click "Adobe Flash Player" on the sidebar.

6. Configure sites (if any) listed in the box, then below on title "When visiting other websites", change option to, "Block", or "Ask", if you still want the option to enable Flash on some websites.

Play Google Chrome's 'Easter Egg' Dinosaur Game

There's a mini game built into your Google Chrome web browser that you may not of known existed. The hidden 'Easter Egg' built into the Chrome browser is a endless Dinosaur runner game.

The game appears on the 'Unable to connect to the Internet' page - so to play the game, you'll need to disable your internet connection - or switch off your Wi-Fi - and then try loading a webpage.

To play the game, on the 'Unable to connect to the Internet' page, press the "Space Bar" key on your computer's keyboard. The little Dinosaur image will begin to run.

You can control the Dinosaur character by pressing the "Up" arrow key to jump, and the "Down" arrow key to duck. The game ends when you hit an obstacle.

How To: Stop iTunes From Automatically Opening From Websites In Chrome [Mac Tip]

Is iTunes automatically opening when you go to certain webpages in Google Chrome? This may because of an option you chose when this first happened. You may of check an option from a pop-up, to auto-open iTunes when you visited certain  websites - like the iTunes Preview webpages.

This option can be reversed! But not as easy as you probably would of liked. It is a little advanced for the basic user, but if you follow the steps right, you should be fine.

How To Stop Google Chrome From Auto Opening iTunes (Mac Tip):

1. The first thing you'll need to do is quit Google Chrome. So it may be a good idea to copy down the instructions, or open this page in a different web browser.

2. From your Desktop home screen, click "Go" in the Menubar.

3. Then hold down the "Option" key. "Library" will appear in the list. Click "Library". Then you can let go of the "Option" key.

4. Next open the folder "Application Support", then "Google", then "Chrome".

5. Find the file called "Local State", and open in Text Editor. You can do this by 'Control-Clicking' (right click) the file and selecting "Open With" - then "Text Editor".  

6. Find the line with "itms" it will probably say "false" / or "true" after it. (Quick way to find the term: press 'command+f' and enter the term).

7. Delete that whole line. (example; " itms: false, ")

8. Close the files / folders. Now next time, instead of iTunes opening automatically, you'll be prompted with a "External Protocol Request". You can choose to open the application - or say "Do Nothing".

For More Mac and iOS Tips and Tricks - See Our Search Keyword: Tutorials.  

How To Fix: "Google Safe Browsing Service is Unavailable" Error in Safari - Mac Tip

If you look in your Security settings in Safari on your Mac computer, and see a warning that says, "The Google Safe Browsing Service is unavailable."  You'd probably feel a little concerned. This feature is apart of the Fraudulent sites protection in Safari. The list is provided by Google. 

I'm not sure why Safari gets this error, but it seems to be a problem with the database file, and there's a fix you can do, to get the Google Safe Browsing Service updated and working again. 

The culprit is the SafeBrowsing.db file. If you delete the database, Safari will reset the file. 

How To Fix: "Google Safe Browsing Service is Unavailable" Error in Safari 

1. On the Finder Menubar, click "Go".

2. Then click, "Go to Folder..."

3. Type in: /private/var/folders 

4. There will be a few folders, open them up and look for a folder with com.apple files.

5. Find, and open the folder named, com.apple.Safari. 

6. In this folder, there should be a file named, SafeBrowsing.db.

7. Send the SafeBrowsing.db file to the Trash. This will force Safari to rebuild the file. 

8. This should fix the problem. But check back again, a few days later, and see if there are no more errors. *Note, the file doesn't seem to be updated every day. 

Twitter Web Tip: How To Quickly Scroll To Top Of Page

Here is a quick little Twitter web tip:

After scrolling down a page, to quickly return to the top of the page, click the Twitter logo. 

How To Not Leave Browsing History On Your iOS Device By Using Safari in Private Browsing Mode

If you share a iOS device with someone else, you may not want them seeing what you've been searching for on the web - because you know, maybe you were buying them a Christmas present and don't want to ruin the surprise or you don't want to stay logged-in to a web page ...or something like that.

There is a way built-in to iOS to keep your browsing history cleared.

Just to make clear - this does not hide your browsing history from your internet service provider, or hide you on the page you visit. This will just make your device not keep a history.

Private Browsing mode in Safari is controlled in the Settings app. Unfortunately there's no quick way to switch it on or off, or have say one tab open normally and one in private.  Also switching to Private Browsing Mode will close any open tabs.


To activate Private Browsing mode in Safari on either iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, follow these steps:

• Open the Settings app on your Home Screen.

• Scroll down and press Safari.

• On the page will be Private Browsing. Switch it to 'On'.

On this page is also other settings you may want to change like your default search engine, auto fill options, and whether or not to open new links in a new page or in the background.

It's easy to tell when Safari is in Private Browsing mode as the interface will appear in a cool dark theme. (like the image above).