Summary
- Chrome has handy integrations, but extensions range from genuinely useful to hilariously useless.
- Useless extensions: Animalese Typing, AntsOnScreen, Falling Metal Pipe, Cornify – annoying or silly pranks.
- nCage+ can replace images for laughs and is oddly customizable; most novelties wear out fast.
Google Chrome is popular — it offers integrations with Google Drive, plus quick and easy access to your Sheets, Docs, and Gmail accounts. It also allows you to type searches into the address bar so you can eliminate opening up Google as a page in your web browser.
There are ways to make your Chrome browser run even more efficiently, and that’s with the help of some Chrome extensions. Extensions add extra features to your browser that help you customize it in ways that best suit your needs. Since I have to upload photos as PNGs for some of my work, one of the most used extensions I use is Save as PNG. This helps me click on an image anywhere and save it as such. I also love Save to Google Drive, which does exactly what it sounds like.
The Chrome Web Store is where you can find extensions to help your productivity. But you’re also going to find plenty that are just for fun. I did some digging and I found some of the most useless extensions out there. Here are the dumbest Chrome extensions you can install.
Animalese Typing drove me mad
It’s a headache waiting to happen
If you’re a gamer, you probably have heard of the well-known game Animal Crossing. The game features cute animals living in villages and just going about their daily lives. It’s an open-ended game that lets users relax and do mindless activities with particular characters. One thing about the games is that the animals speak a specific language to one another called Animalese. It’s a high-pitched squeaking language that is pretty much undecipherable.
Well, you can turn any letter that you type on a keyboard into Animalese with the Animalese Typing Chrome extension. Seriously, every single letter will elicit a harsh squeak and burst of audio out of your computer speakers. I have no idea why anybody would want to listen to this for more than 10 seconds, let alone always, though.
You can cater the extension to be higher or lower in pitch, as well as change the intonation of how it sounds. If you type in all caps, it gets louder and more aggressive. It actually drove me mad listening to it.
AntsOnScreen is just absurd
It’s good to prank people with, I guess?
You know what would be hilarious? If your coworker comes back from lunch to find their computer crawling with ants. That must have been the premise behind the making of AntsOnScreen. This Chrome extension simply makes it look like there are ants crawling all over your screen any time you open up a new tab. I will give the developers credit, as the ants do move in sporadic patterns, making it look more authentic. But I still am not sure why on earth anyone would need this.
Is the screen covered in some kind of food for the ants? Are you pranking a coworker that’s always eating at their desk, and it bugs you? This isn’t something that anyone would use regularly, as it’s annoying to try and work through. It’s definitely a one-time use.
Crank that volume up and let everyone worry
Falling Metal Pipe is kind of just what you think it might be. Every time you open up a tab, a loud bang sounds off just like a metal pipe has fallen somewhere around you. Wasn’t what you were expecting? Well, that’s what the extension is.
Falling Metal Pipe isn’t a one-trick pony though. If you close a tab, it makes it sound like a glass is breaking somewhere. This extension is clearly meant to disturb the people around you. But it gets old quickly. I can’t imagine many people are reusing Falling Metal Pipe over and over again. Then again, what do I know? People might love the sound of a metal pipe hitting the floor to greet them every time they open a tab.
Cornify your life with some unicorns
It might make your life a happier place
Want magical creatures to grace your web browser? Try Cornify. This extension allows you to press the button in your extensions bar and add unicorns and other creatures onto your web browser. There are rainbows, pots of gold, clouds, and more that pop up when you press the button. It adds a bit of joy to an otherwise dreary page experience.
But the real miserable part of the page experience is not being able to move the unicorns when they pop up. They just appear randomly on the screen — and then you’re stuck with them. You can’t drag them, can’t shift them out of the way. They’re just… there. Blocking whatever you’re trying to read.
Why wouldn’t they be movable? I have no idea. It seems like a basic feature that would actually make the extension useful. But, seeing as this is a list of useless extensions, that flaw is exactly what earns it a spot here.
nCage+ is for the true fans
It can get overwhelming
Are you a massive fan of Nicolas Cage? Who isn’t, right? Well, if you want him to take over your browser, you should install nCage+. This takes the images on any web browser and makes them Nicolas Cage. If you do this on Amazon, it even has his face instead of products that you might be looking at.
You can go into the settings and change how often you see Cage, making this a solid use for a prank. If you choose a low percentage, every once in a while, he’ll pop up on the browser, making it kind of mystifying experience. You can also change Cage to anime girls, rubber ducks, or you can create your own. I find this to be funnier than any of the other ones listed, as you can make it pop up every so often, just to either give yourself a laugh or confuse someone else. At the end of the day though, this, just like the others, isn’t really worth much value beyond goofy fun.
