Have you ever try my new tab extension? It's look the Google Now way with a high level of customization. https://chrome.google.com/w...
are you not concerned about all the extensions that have access to all site data? freaks me out.
I did something quite similar without strings attached and it's open-source: http://launchbot.michaelxan...
Maybe it fits your needs. Keyboard shortcuts is something I'm looking into, too.