Now that Google has brought its Chrome browser to desktops, laptops, Chromebooks (remember those?) and, just today, to Android 4.0 tablets and smartphones, where will Chrome appear next? For $60, it can be on your wrist, but don’t expect to browse for anything but the time. Read more »
For years, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) watchers have wondered why the company has used a unique browser on its Android software while maintaining a… Read more at paidContent »
Getting enterprise customers excited about Chromebooks can be an uphill battle – but for Google’s Rajen Sheth, it’s a deja vu. Sheth is known as the father of Google apps, and said at Net:Work Thursday that Google’s enterprise product was initially met with similar resistance. Read more »
Popular cloud-based notes service Simplenote has many useful third-party add-ons. One such add-on is Syncpad Webnotes, a Chrome extension that enables you to attach virtual “sticky notes” to any web page that can be synchronized across different browsers through your Simplenote account. Read more »
Google+ is already popular, and it isn’t yet showing any signs of slowing down. If you’re already in or if you’re eagerly awaiting an invite, there are a few ways you can improve the experience when accessing Google’s new social network from Mac and iOS devices. Read more »
Google’s Chrome browser is continuing to grow in popularity. According to StatCounter, a website analytics company, Chrome is now used by a fifth of Internet users worldwide, taking 20.7 percent of the global browser market in June, up from just 2.8 percent in June 2009. Read more »
Facebook is reportedly planning on launching an HTML5-based web app platform codenamed Project Spartan in order to take on Apple in the mobile app market. It’s the obvious play for a company that lives on the web, but here’s why it won’t work for mobile users. Read more »
Google wants to persuade end users, corporations and school that Chromebooks represent a new and better way of computing. But what about netbooks, Android devices and strapped school budgets? Chrome VP Sundar Pichai answers the question on everyone’s minds: Why should we buy a Chromebook? Read more »
Chrome now has 160 million users in 41 countries worldwide. That’s more than double the 70 million users reported at last year’s conference. In addition to new features in the Chrome API, Google also announced a special web version of Angry Birds for Chrome. Read more »
Google rolled out two new updates to its Chrome Web Store to allow application developers to reach more people — and make more money. Developers can enable simple in-app payments with one line of code, with Google taking only a 5-percent share of the revenue. Read more »
Google I/O sold out in just 59 minutes, meaning only the most rabid fans and developers will be in attendance this year. But for those who can’t make it, Google will be supplying a live stream as well as archived videos of sessions that aren’t streamed. Read more »
RockMelt is set to launch a mobile version of its browser, which integrates social media tools. RockMelt’s move into mobile this week comes just one month after the public debut of its desktop browser. Read more »
We’ve probably all had times when we’ve been so busy we didn’t have time to deal with an important email when we we read it. The danger is that it ends up being forgotten. Snooze Your Email for Gmail may be able to help. Read more »
A new beta of social browser RockMelt has been released, including better chat and Twitter apps. Perhaps the most interesting development, however, is the new Instapaper-like “View Later” stream, which allows users to easily save web pages for later viewing. Read more »
Firefox 4 is clocking huge download numbers ever since it was released yesterday, and that’s good news for Google’s open video format WebM: The new version of Firefox supports WebM HTML5 video playback, bringing the total market share of browsers with WebM support to 50 percent. Read more »
Microsoft has released IE9, the latest version of the venerable Internet Explorer browser. To check out how it compares to to its competitors, I installed it (which, unlike other browsers, required me to restart my machine) and ran it through a few different benchmarking tools. Read more »
Flash Player 10.2 is beta no more, and the general release promises better performance and less CPU usage through Stage Video. Stage Video provides for “a full hardware accelerated video pipeline,” reducing CPU utilization by as much as 85 percent. Read more »
Dropping H.264 may be beneficial for Google in several ways, but the move will have little effect on the broader online video market. Ubiquitous Flash usage and lack of hardware support means WebM has a long way to go before it’s a viable alternative to H.264. Read more »
Google’s backing of its own open source video codec at the expense of H.264 has many open advocates cheering. But with H.264 widely supported already, the result will actually be more use of the proprietary Flash player for delivery of Web video, not less. Read more »
Google is making a big push behind its open source video codec, announcing today on the Chromium blog that its web browser will soon do away with support for H.264. With existing support from Firefox and Opera, that could tip the scales in favor of WebM. Read more »
Firefox has taken the number one spot in browser market share in Europe, pushing past Internet Explorer for the first time, according to StatCounter. But the real battle for Firefox is with Chrome, the Google browser that continues to gain market share at a rapid pace. Read more »
Google’s future computing vision appears focused on Chrome OS devices, but is it really about the hardware? The physical device actually matters less as Google divests our personal data, preferences and even apps from the hardware, placing the “soul” of our computing experience in the cloud. Read more »
Google launched Chrome OS today, but it won’t be available for sale on consumer devices until mid-2011. Instead, Google used today to tout improvements of its browser and share news on the features it will bring to Chrome OS while businesses and consumers beta test it. Read more »
With Gist for Firefox, you get a Gmail widget that brings up information about all the individuals mentioned in the “To:” or “Cc:” fields of an opened email. You can choose to view their social media feeds, their profile, interaction stats, and notes. Read more »
In recent days, a new tool called Firesheep has become available to “sniff out” login information that’s being sent over wireless networks. Such tools have always been available, but this one makes it easy for anyone to collect other people’s private data. Read more »
If you’re like me, and would prefer Faceboook not know about your every move, you might like Facebook Disconnect. It’s an extension for Chrome that does pretty much exactly what you’d expect: stops websites from reporting back to Facebook via Facebook Connect. Read more »
TinEye Reverse Image Search is a service that can search for similar images on the web. Give it a source URL and it’ll return where that image came from, if modified versions of the image exist or (usefully) if there is a higher resolution version available. Read more »
Research in Motion finally unveiled its much-rumored BlackBerry tablet yesterday, and it looks a lot more impressive at first glance than the company’s most recent handset, the Palm Pre-like Torch. But is this a game-changing device, or will it stumble out of the starting gate? Read more »
I’ve used Safari as my default browser since 2008, but lately I’ve decided to give Google Chrome a shot at becoming my new standby. I made the switch owing to Chrome’s reported performance advantages. Would they prove convincing enough to make the change permanent? Read more »
When I hear from the folks at Springpad about changes to the service, I always read with interest. Even as my usage has waned, I really have always been very impressed with the service, and the possibilities of what it could become. Read more »
Firefox-using “taboholics” may have been enjoying Tab Panorama, a feature introduced in Firefox 4b4 that enables users to arrange their tabs into groups. Chrome-using tab addicts may have been a little envious, but they now have Tab Sugar, an extension that replicates Tab Panorama in Chrome. Read more »
Kyle Dreger responded to a Lifehacker article comparing Windows browsers based on pixel-usage by making his own version with Mac browsers. What struck me was how few browsers he used: only four, and all of them were cross-platform. Read more »
Google’s new Chrome to Phone extension makes it possible to send YouTube videos from your laptop to your Android handset with the click of a single button. That’s clever – and also gives us an idea of how Google TV could work in concert with browsers. Read more »
optimizeLegibility is a CSS declaration that improves the handling of kerning pairs and ligatures in the browsers that support it; it makes text easier to read by spacing the letters correctly. It makes quite a bit of difference, particularly on larger fonts: Read more »
Google open sourced its WebM video format in May, and more and more applications as well as video vendors are starting to support the new format. However, how do you actually play back WebM videos? This handy little guide tells you all you need to know. Read more »
HTML5 isn’t yet fully ratified, but browser vendors are nonetheless starting to implement some of its features. This presents a huge opportunity for forward-thinking web app developers, which in turn will spell good news for ever-growing number people who uses web ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
By installing a few carefully-chosen extensions, you can turn your browser from a simple tool for surfing the web into a collaboration workhorse; making the tasks of communicating with your team, sending them useful links and sharing files with your colleagues just a mouse click away. Read more »
Google Chrome is now used more than the Apple Safari browser in the U.S. for the first time on record with an 8.97 percent share, according to StatCounter. But both browsers are built on WebKit, which is becoming more important on desktops and the mobile web. Read more »
Flock, the popular socially-based browser built on Mozilla, has a new Windows beta that rides atop Chromium, the same code base used by Google for the Chrome browser. Speed, extensions and a proven track record on mobiles are the main reasons for Flock’s browser engine swap. Read more »
Google first introduced its WebM Project a few weeks ago at its I/O developers conference, launching the royalty free, open source video format with support from Firefox and Opera web browsers. But notably missing from the list of supporting applications was Google’s own Chrome browser. Read more »
