An analytics firm has uncovered a network of more than 200 sites that appears aimed at defrauding the online ad industry. The network tricks marketers into serving billions of “targeted” ads to bots every month. Read more at paidContent »
Microsoft was naughty and got caught, and now it has to pay handsomely. Here’s the rundown on what happened, why it mattered, and why it may not happen again in quite the same way. Read more »
RockMelt, a startup co-founded by Tim Howes & Eric Vishria burst on the browser scene two years ago with a social browser. Today the company is launching a brand new iPad app that marries browser and a reader. It is part of company’s growing focus on mobile. Read more »
Smartphones can enable an amazing level of connectivity, but they can also allow that activity to be monitored and used in controversial ways. But for mobile marketing to realize its full potential, consumers may need to sacrifice their privacy to one degree or another. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Facing a fresh investigation from EU regulators over its failure to promote a choice of browsers to Windows 7 users, Microsoft has swiftly blamed a ‘technical error’. But will that be enough to save it from a gigantic fine? Read more »
Zsa Zsa Gabor may not have been able to remember anyone’s names, but a great monicker can make a big difference to a startup. But how you do make sure you pick the right one? And how do you stop yourself wasting time choosing? Read more »
Motorola has won an injunction in Germany on key Microsoft products involved in a patent dispute. But in a confusing and complex judgment, the chances of Motorola actually trying to get Microsoft’s key products removed from shelves are slim. Read more »
Sometimes Windows is just what the doctor ordered, and with OnLive’s new Desktop app for iPad, I suspect it’ll be the prescription I’m looking for much more often. Here’s a look at what the fresh new Windows virtualization app for iPad offers. Read more »
In the mobile browser world, one Apple’s mobile Safari is unmatched in terms of reach. New data shows the iOS version of Safari as easily beating out even the closest competition by a wide margin in terms of mobile browser usage share. Read more »
In a blog post, Google has announced that it will soon discontinue support for older browsers in Google Apps. Beginning Aug. 1, Google Apps will only officially support the current and prior major release of Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari, on a rolling basis. 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 »
In the past few days, the final versions of Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 4 have both arrived. We haven’t seen any major issues yet, but here is a short list of tests you’ll want to make when a new browser becomes available. 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 »
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 »
RockMelt, a Mountain View, Calif.-based start-up with backing from the likes of Marc Andreessen, has made a new socially-aware, media-consumption-centric browser that’s available in beta soon. The company says its browser is optimized for the modern web and focuses on making sharing easy. Read more »
Over the years, IE has fallen some way behind its competitors in terms of raw speed and standards compliance. So has the the new version done anything to make up that lost ground? I ran it through some benchmarking tools to find out. Read more »
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser, seems to be reversing its misfortunes and showing microscopic gains in browser market share. it grew 0.42% worldwide in July 2010. Safari grew 0.24% while Opera gained 0.22% market share. Mozilla Firefox and Google’s Chrome showed marginal declines in market share. Read more »
There is a lot of talk about Firefox losing to Chrome. And that may be true in early adopter circles, this exclusive data about Firefox’s daily active users and the number of downloads shows that Mozilla’s game changing browser isn’t out of the game just yet. Read more »
Microsoft has taken a big step toward standards-based web video by announcing support for HTML5 and the H.264 encoding format in Internet Explorer 9, the next version of its web browser. At its MIX10 developers conference, Microsoft became the latest company to throw its weight behind […] Read more »
Since early March, some European versions of Microsoft Windows have been delivered with a “browser ballot screen,” designed to give users a choice of 12 web browsers instead of forcing Microsoft’s Internet Explorer on them. The ballot screen is working, but there are problems arising. Read more »
Firefox Mobile for Maemo arrived last month, but without many devices to take advantage of it, people are wondering which platform will be the next one to see Mozilla’s browser. Microsoft’s clean break with Windows Phone 7 just might push Mozilla to Android first. Read more »
Mozilla Firefox has passed Microsoft’s Internet Explorer to become the world’s most popular browser, according to StatCounter. Firefox 3.5 had 21.93 percent market share at the end of last week, compared with 21.2 percent for IE 7 and 20.33 percent for IE 8. Read more »
The European Commission is dropping its long-standing antitrust case against Microsoft involving browsers after the company agreed to offer users easy alternative choices to Internet Explorer, even as its market share continues to dip. The announcement was delivered in Brussels by Europe’s competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes. Read more »
Microsoft is closing in on sealing a far-reaching agreement with the European Commission that would end an antitrust battle that’s been simmering for more than 10 years. “We believe this is an answer,” European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, who has taken a hard line with […] Read more »
When Mike reviewed social bookmarking, research and collaboration service Diigo last year, he liked its simplicity, its connections with other services, and its wealth of features. Since then, the social bookmarking field has continued to mature; witness the recent purchase of Friendfeed by Facebook, and the […] Read more »
Statistics from the exo.performance.network indicate that over half of computer users (50.6 percent) are now using the Firefox browser, InfoWorld reports. Despite this, Internet Explorer is still widely used, with 84 percent of users still turning to it “regularly.” These numbers indicate that a large number […] Read more »
This week brings several pieces of significant news on the browser front, about Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 8. As covered on the OStatic blog, Google has announced a new, stable version 3.0 of Chrome. It’s downloadable here, and if you’re already […] Read more »
As web workers, sometimes we have to walk a fine line between keeping clients happy, and providing the best possible services. For web developers like me, the issue of whether to continue supporting Internet Explorer 6 is becoming a major headache. It would seem to be […] Read more »
In recent years, virtual worlds (also known as massively multiplayer online games, or MMOs) have shown tremendous growth in terms of user numbers and revenue. However, the market for them is currently in tremendous flux, with the most well-known sub-genre — the subscriber-based fantasy role playing games (MMORPGs) — suffering a growth plateau, due to the dominating success of World of Warcraft. At the same time, user activity in “freemium” virtual worlds continues to explode, most especially in the tween/adolescent market, which is likely to reach a market saturation point soon, though monetization prospects for all but the established players remain uncertain. The explosion of social networks, which share numerous traits with virtual worlds, have created a new potential audience for this genre, while the mass adoption of web plug-ins and smartphones like the iPhone have opened up new markets for the genre.
In this transitional period, many of the best investment and growth opportunities to watch are not the worlds themselves, but the solution providers offering developers the means to better monetize their existing MMOs. Opportunities also exist in niche MMOs that appeal to consumers seeking entertainment outside the established fantasy and kids social MMO space. However, new players that would enter this already crowded market must foster a community of users by rewarding user-created content and continued engagement, while also being architected with multiple revenue streams and play platforms. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
For much of this decade, Mozilla and its Firefox browser were the upstarts, out to beat the big, bad Microsoft and its Internet Explorer browser. Firefox, the descendant of Netscape, the browser that helped jump-start the web revolution, was nimble and it was secure — something […] Read more »
