Mappy is a Google Chrome extension that integrates with Google maps to give you fast, direct access to a map of the first address you encounter on a webpage. It is extremely fast, efficient and (as it was made by Google as a sample Chrome browser extensions) error free.

Many of the addons that we have begun to see for the Chrome browser are about taking ‘steps’ out of the process of data retrieval for users. With Mappy, we can see that Google recognizes many people go to a website, find an address, open a new tab, go to Google Maps, paste in the address and then access the information they need.

With Mappy, when you go to a website which contains an address, the little red symbol pops up in your Omnibar (address bar) and when you click on it – voila – the map appears for you to view.

One drawback of the plugin is that you can not interact with the snapshot after it appears on your screen – there is no dragging or double clicking to open the map in a new tab, you can look at the location and another click will close the window. Perhaps this is meant to keep it simple, but it seems that an opportunity was missed to create a true ‘killer’ app here.

For all of its faults, Mappy is another fantastic example of what Chrome extensions will be abler to do in the future, and we should recognize it as such. Download it below and try it out in your browser now.

Mappy Chrome extension

Direct download – Mappy download link

Homepage – http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/samples.html

When Google first announced that it was opening up Chrome to developers so that they could create extensions for the browser, they also included a few examples of the possibilities that would be on offer. These included several extensions that they had coded themselves, including one for adding a website to your RSS reader and a Google News checker.

Their Google mail (Gmail) checker extension was also one of these ‘first wave’ of sample plugins. It installed instantly, and inserted a small red button in the top right of the Chrome browser which had the familiar Gmail logo on it, along with a number on top which denoted how many emails were waiting in the user’s inbox.

As most people who use the Chrome browser (and the upcoming Operating System) use Gmail, it’s a very sensible addon to download and install.

It is a simple addon, but it shows how developers can hook in to Google’s own APIs and pass information to their software. It also had a nice animation which would play (a spinning envelope) to show that a new mail had arrived. It’s not rocket science, but it is an extremely useful extension nonetheless!

Google mail checker extension

Direct download – Google mail checker extension

Homepage – http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/samples.html

Another of Google’s first ‘sample’ extensions was one which showed off a couple of the capabilities of the plugins, but also added a useful function to news junkies everywhere. The Google news top stories extension is very simple – it adds a button to the top right hand corner of the Chrome browser, and when this is clicked it brings up a box which lists the current top five News stories taken directly from – you guessed it – Google News!

As you can see, all of the stories have a little plus sign next to them. When the user clicks on this the individual item is expanded and shows more information, including photos taken from the stories. This resizing and data retrieval all happens in real time, but it is very smooth.

It’s a basic plugin as far as the general development of Chrome addons goes, but it does give a good idea to website owners and developers about what the potential of these addons might be. You can imagine every website trying to clone this one and have its users install the plugin so that they are always one click away from a feature-rich RSS feed of their latest content.

You can find more information about the Google News top stories extension over at the Google developer samples page, or click below to download and install it right now.

Google News top stories

Direct download – Google news extension download

Homepage – http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/samples.html