Ambient Information Display with Google Chrome

For a while I've been doing a little bit of ambient information testing DIY style by loading up webpages that I want to see information from and then automatically moving through the tabs after ~20 seconds.  

These sites are loaded on an external display and then running in the "ambient" background most of the day.  I have been accomplishing this using Firefox and an add-on called Tab Slideshow.

Ambient information displays and displaying information in a meaningful way seems to be a growing area of interest within new products and computer science research circles.  The new version of Windows 8 is going to have some of these features that Microsoft has already brought to Windows Phone.  

There is also a company called Ambient Devices making alarm clock size devices that show you what you want in a very customizable way.  Another major player in this market is chumby with a complete line of options including support for Android.

Today, I was wonder what options were available for replicating this DIY browser approach with Google Chrome. In Firefox, I've been using the feature Full Screen after launching Tab Slideshow. There is a similar feature called Enter Presentation Mode in Chrome which seems to do a better job IMHO of getting more of the computer out of the display.  

To get the tabs you want to autmoatically cycle through there appears to be three plugins to check out for Chrome:

• Tab Slideshow Plus
• TabCarousel
• Revolver - Tabs

I think I'm going to start with Resolver - Tabs and see how it works.  Anyone have any other suggestions?!?

 

Comments

[Greg Yamane]

Displaying this ambient information on a Philips Ambilight display would add a wow factor!