Browser Bits

Fun Chrome extensions: new tab games and small tweaks

Not everything you install has to make you productive. This is the smaller shelf: a game that lives on the new tab page, an alert when a streamer goes live, stats for what you watched and played, and one switch for the sticky header eating a third of the screen.

4 of 6 are live on a store.

What to look for

A new tab game takes over your new tab

Sword Growth and Reaction Time Test replace the page Chrome shows when you open a tab. That page is also where your most-visited tiles are and where a lot of muscle memory lives, and only one extension can hold it at a time. Chrome will ask you to confirm the change, and uninstalling hands the original page straight back.

Progress is saved in the browser, not to an account

Sword Growth declares only storage; Reaction Time Test declares storage plus tabs, which its popup uses to open the game in a new tab. Neither declares host access, so your score and upgrades sit in that Chrome profile and nowhere else. Clearing browsing data, switching to a second profile, or moving to another machine all start you from zero. There's no login to recover from, which is a fair trade for a game you play in ten-second gaps but worth knowing before you get attached to a number.

Live alerts poll on a timer; they aren't pushed

SOOP Live Notifier declares alarms, notifications and access to sooplive.co.kr, which means it checks on an interval rather than receiving anything instantly. Expect a short delay between a stream starting and the badge changing. If nothing arrives at all, check Focus or Do Not Disturb and Chrome's notification permission in your OS settings first.

Be strictest with the extensions that aren't tools

A novelty extension has no reason to read every site you visit. Remove Sticky Header uses activeTab and scripting, so it only touches the tab where you clicked it, and the Letterboxd and Serializd exports declare only downloads. If something in this category asks for access to all sites at install, the question of why is worth asking before the fun part.

Questions people ask

How do I put a game on my Chrome new tab page?

Install an extension that overrides the new tab page — Sword Growth and Reaction Time Test both do. Chrome shows a prompt asking whether you want to keep the change, and once you accept it, every new tab opens the game instead of the default page. Nothing else in your setup changes.

How do I get my normal new tab page back?

Go to chrome://extensions and either disable or remove the extension that overrides it, and the default page returns immediately. Disabling is enough if you just want a break — it keeps the extension's saved data — while removing it deletes the stored progress along with it.

Can I get a notification when a streamer starts broadcasting?

That's what SOOP Live Notifier does for SOOP, formerly AfreecaTV. You add the streamers you follow and it checks their status on a timer, then fires a desktop notification and changes the toolbar badge when one goes live. It only covers that platform, since its host permission names sooplive.co.kr and nothing else.

Do the Letterboxd and Serializd exports need my password?

No. They read the page you're already signed into in your own browser and write a CSV, and their manifests declare only the downloads permission — there's no separate account or credential involved. The practical limit is that they can only see what's on the page in front of you, so what ends up in the file is what your logged-in session can already display.