Recently, Pixlr and all of its popular apps were acquired by the stock photo company 123RF. At that time the future of one of our favorite photo editors was unclear. No official word has ascended from 123RF but a new extension in the Chrome Web Store points to a bright future for Pixlr.
Pixlr Today
The new extension from 123RF is so much more than a web portal for the suite of Pixlr apps. Like many other extensions in the Web Store, Pixlr Today transforms your new tab page into a random, high-definition photo background but that’s just the beginning. You can spruce up your Chromebook and add some very useful tools in the process.
Along with the traditional Google search bar you will find a “stock photo” search option that will scour 123RF’s inventory of images straight from the search bar. No surprise there. 123RF is a pay-per and subscription stock image company. This is just another way to get their product in front of consumers.
The unique thing about this approach is the non-intrusive nature of the UI. There aren’t any annoying pop-ups trying to push you to 123RF’s site. The option is there to search and if you don’t want to use it, you’ll never notice it’s there. If you do find yourself in need of some stock images, the search will redirect you to 123RF’s website for your results.
Pixlr Today doesn’t stop there. Each random new tab also displays a quote from various sources along with the date and time above the search bar. At the top right of the display you will find a few more handy features to this extension. If you used Google Tasks, you will love the To Do button. It will sync your Tasks from Google and allow you to add Tasks directly from the page.
In the settings menu you can sync your Google account, toggle features like the To Do list or Quotes and even set your local weather information. Temperature, conditions and location are all displayed at the bottom right of the page.
This extension doesn’t do anything ground-breaking but it does a lot of really neat things and does them very well. I feel as if 123RF is really investing the Pixlr’s future. In just the past month we have seen a few UI tweaks in the Pixlr Editor app and it is clear that the company wants to keep Pixlr alive. We look forward to what they do next.
You can grab the Pixlr Today extension from the Chrome Web Store below.
Thanks 123RF for keeping the dream alive!
Source: Chrome Story