This clever Chrome collaboration tool deserves your attention

I’m always on the hunt for interesting new tools that can make our lives a little easier, and my goodness, have I ever got something that fits that bill today.

It’s a new add-on for Chrome that gives you a super-simple way to share anything on your screen with anyone and show ’em exactly what’s on your mind. And best of all? You don’t have to hop on a video call to do it. It’s asynchronous communication, as the cool kids like to say these days. Translated out of geek-speak, that means “a much less annoying way to get stuff done.”

The program is called Bubbles, and it’s one of those things that feels like such a smart and sensible addition to Chrome, you’ll wonder why it wasn’t already built in as a native browser feature. Don’tcha just love coming across creations like that?

So here’s how it works: First, you need to install the Bubbles extension in Chrome on your computer. That part’s easy. And it works the same no matter what operating system you’re using, so long as you’ve got some version of the Chrome desktop browser in place.

Once Bubbles is installed, you just click its icon in the Chrome address bar area (or click that funky-lookin’ puzzle icon in that same spot to find it). The first time you do that, you’ll have to follow a prompt to give Bubbles access to your system microphone so it can save the sound of your silky-sweet vocal vibrations. And then you click the big red Create New Recording button.

You can also skip all those steps and simply hit Ctrl-Shift-1 (or ⌘-Shift-1, for the highfalutin Apple-ownin’ folk among us), if you really want to be a show-off. Either way you go, at that point, you’ll be prompted to pick whether you want Bubbles to record your current Chrome window only or to capture everything from your entire desktop. Make your choice, and within another second, you’ll see a fancy-schmancy control panel and an enormous countdown show up on your screen.