Here is a nice plugin I found for Chrome called Incredible StartPage. It will either change the default start page or the page that is displayed when you open a new tab. The notepad is interactive and will save what ever you type in to it, the background in the big panel in the middle right can be customized with a background of your choice, the page background color and font can also be changed. It also appears any notes you type will be posted to Gmail, although i'm not a Gmail user so haven't tested that. Plugin Page: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ncdfeghkpohnalmpblddmnppfooljekh