Chrome takes its bite of the Market
The early release of the Chrome comic book may have altered the way Google released the Chrome it did not cause it any harm. The early success of Google’s Chrome has been astonishing. The Chrome ate up 1% of the browser market on the very day of its release. It has been on the constant rise and currently is close to 2% (4 days since its release). Some sites though are reporting percentages as high as 6 percent including Google itself.
So what was the key to the Chrome’s extraordinary success? Great timing, the chrome’s comic was released on labor day on an unofficial Google blog. Labor day is usually a very slow news day and Google took advantage of that. The chrome was available for download even before Google had completed its announcement which was streamed live all across the internet. Google has only released the windows version which is a beta and it has become the world’s 4th most used browser in the matter of 4 days. The future of Google’s Chrome seems very bright despite privacy concerns being raised.
Google has not yet announced a date for the release of its final version or for other operating systems.
Below are the test results of some tests carried out using different browsers:
Microsoft Kicks off Ad Campaign
Microsoft has started a new major ad blitz to regenerate its Windows brand, which has been overshadowed in the past years due to ads by its long time rival Apple. The campaign will be targeted mainly at the Windows Vista operating system.
The ad features Microsoft Company Chairman Bill Gates and Comedian Jerry Seinfeld, it has been 18 hrs since the ad is being aired on different TV channels and it’s left many viewers scratching their heads. Microsoft’s Brad Brooks is happy about that and he says “It’s got a lot of people talking and that’s exactly what we wanted,” . He claimed the ad was a “teaser” to a much longer campaign. The campaign has an estimated budget of about $300 million.
Brooks went on to say Microsoft wants to “engage customers in a conversation and dialogue in a humorous and intriguing way,”. He recognizes the fact that Microsoft needs more than just ads to restore its brand image. The Company is going to open store-in-store locations in major retailers like best-buy and Circuit City, a method Apple employed at Best-Buy and CompUSA. Microsoft will also be hiring “Windows Gurus” who are the equivalent of Apple’s Geniuses for Microsoft.
The Software Giant is also going to engage in other methods of promoting the Windows brand, which will come forward in the months ahead.
The MINI 9, the Internet Laptop
Meeting Expectations Dell has entered the netbook industry. The Company unveiled on Thursday the Mini 9. Weighing 2.28 pounds, with a 8.9 inch screen, and priced at $349 the mini 9 has been built for Internet related tasks, weather that be chatting, surfing, watching videos, uploading pictures or just listening to a webcast.
For many of us that is pretty much all we use a computer for, and that is why the big players in the Computer hardware industry should not ignore the new category of laptops. The truth be told, software makers should follow! Since these new lightweight, low cost computers don’t have the specifications for running heavy programs.
How successful this new breed of laptops are has to be seen, but the potential is immense and internet companies will be the first to benefit. The base model of Dell’s bran-new machine comes with a “mini” operating system produced by Ubuntu (the $399 model is powered with Windows XP Home). The mini 9 comes in two colors, “Obsidian Black” and “Alpine White,” (which is quite a lot of style for a low cost laptop).
The launch of the mini 9 is no big surprise, there was speculation that such a device was coming soon. Time will judge how far Dell gets with the Mini 9!
Chrome is not 100% Pure metal
Google’s Chrome has an imploring clean look and renders websites faster than any other browser. Google is giving all this to users free of charge, but there are strings attached. The browser will give Google access to valuable user data.
The Chrome comes with (so-called) Omnibox pre-installed, where a user types in a search query or a website URL. As long as Google is your default search engine and the suggest feature is left on, Google will capture 2% of the data entered into the Omnibox and keep it for its own records. If Google’s Chrome attains its much anticipated success, the internet giant will have an exceedingly valuable stream of new user data, not bounded to what users search but what websites they visit outside of the Google’s web space.
Google has made it clear that such “tracking Capabilities” can be switched off by the user. If the user switches on the “Incognito” privacy function, then Google will have no trace.
Forrester Research analyst Sheri McLeish believes that it would be “counter-intuitive for Google not to use Chrome to gain more user data”. She went on to discredit the privacy function “it doesn’t mean they don’t collect that information, or won’t.”.
The potential of tapping user data for targeted advertising is huge.
We all know that Google’s Chrome is not created solely as new stream of user data, Sheri agrees too. Google has Vowed to establish Chrome as the “central access point” of all of its internet services.
Chrome Google gets metal.
Tech fans have flocked to Google Chrome (including me), Individuals and small businesses are playing along.
The real Question is will enterprises fancy Google’s chrome after being pig-headedly loyal to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, in spite of Mozilla’s Firefox record breaking success. Chrome’s clean look and fast rending capabilities will appeal to developers, but will they put in the time and investment to rewrite their programs and test their compatibility with Chrome.
Greg Raiz, who is a developer and owns Raizlabs, a Mass. custom software maker, says “The only thing that would make me want to test on Chrome is if the client wants it or if Chrome gets significant market share, Honestly, it’s a business thing.” IT managers and CIO’s reckon browser performance as only one among many factors to take into consideration before initiating a new venture.
Virgin Entertainment Group Inc. CIO, Robert Fork said “I’d have to make sure Chrome worked well with all of our other apps. What is the business value in that?” “I give Google all the credit in the world for innovative solutions … but to Microsoft’s credit, they’ve got a lot more of an enterprise attitude,”. Robert’s attitude is just what Microsoft wants, he went on to say “Google Chrome is definitely faster than IE 8 Beta 2. But there’d have to be astronomical performance improvements in Chrome for us to switch,”.
Personally I prefer Google’s Chrome over Internet Explorer, with Google’s innovation, a powerful search engine, tools like Youtube and Google Earth, and last and but most Google’s big wallet i can say with confidence that the Chrome will be something to take seriously.
Faizan Zakir, Cyberzest.com
Internet Explorer 8! Here! Well almost!
With days in hand till its self imposed deadline, Microsoft releases the second beta version of Internet Explorer 8. The company refused to set a date for the release of the final version.
The new IE8 is faster than the previous Internet Explorer and is apparently more stable. The Internet Explorer 8 also is equipped with several accelerators that help users search a street address, a definition or a translation. The visual search will also help find items on eBay, Wikipedia, Google or YouTube.
The InPrivate option is a new option saves none of the pages you visit and no cookies! Which received heavy criticism from the media, and was described as a ’porn-mode’, Microsoft replied swiftly and said it is a useful tool for moments like searching for a present without ruining the surprise.
After Firefox 3.0’s record breaking success the Internet Explorer 8 has to be beyond expectations to keep Microsoft’s name in the Internet Browser market.
Comcast Users Restricted!
Comcast, one of America’s largest Internet Providers, has announced that it will place limitations on users to prevent them from exploiting the service.
From the first of October this year comcast will place a limit of 250 GB per month per a resiential user. The limit should not really affect many since statistics show that only 1% of internet users exceed that amount every month. An average user is believed to use only 2-3 GB. Jennifer Khoury a Comcast spokesperson said 250 gigabytes was about 100 times the typical usage.
So whats the big fuss if it wont affect most of us! While it may be true that 250 GB is excessive at the time it may not be the case in a few years. As technologies advance over time, and internet entertainment continues to replace television the limit is going to affect a larger percentage of users. Cisco, a technology company, stated in a report “today’s ‘bandwidth hog’ is tomorrow’s average user.”
S. Derek Turner is the research director for the nonpartisan media policy group Free Press, he believes the limit is a method of restricting the increasing demand of online video. He said “As media companies put content online, consumers can bypass the cable companies and get their content directly from the Internet, a 250 gigabyte cap may seem very high — and it is for today’s Internet use. But it’s essentially the equivalent of four hours of HD television a day.”
This could be method used to restrict internet piracy, so lets hope for the best and prepare for the worst!
Faizan Zakir Cyberzest.com
Veoh Victory, a Victory for Most!
A federal Judge has dismissed an infringement of copyright lawsuit against video sharing website Veoh. The case was brought by the IO group, which accused the website of having content that belonged to the group. Veoh sought refuge under the DCMA’S safe harbour provisions. In order to be protected under the provisions, the service provider must: have no knowledge of, or receive no benefit from the infringing activity; have a copyright policy which is readily available to users; and have a method in place for dealing with copyright issues.
Judge Howard R. Lloyd words were “The record presented demonstrates that, far from encouraging copyright infringement, Veoh has a strong DMCA policy, takes active steps to limit incidents of infringement on its Web site and works diligently to keep unauthorized works off its Web site,”
Io also reasoned the DMCA safe harbor was irrelevant since Veoh transcodes every uploaded video into Flash. But Judge Lloyd rejected this too.
The news is good for Veoh and oddly even better news for its competitor Youtube, the world’s largest video sharing website. Viacom launched a lawsuit against Google after it took over the video sharing website on the basis of copyright infringement. The lawsuit seeks $1billion in damages, and yesterday’s ruling does indicate that Google will have a strong case.
Email Statistics
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According to IDC, over 6.62 trillion business emails will be exchanged this year. Given the dependence on messaging systems, it is increasingly being made the target for attackers to propagate spam (approximately 80% of email is spam),
Virus reaches space!
None of us doubt the potential of computer virus’s these days, but one virus has amazed even the most experienced computer users. It will be the first virus to cross the atmosphere into space. NASA has confirmed that some laptops on the international space station are infected with the W32.Gammima.AG virus, which is a worm and its function is to steal usernames and passwords for online games.
The virus will not affect any of the International space station’s operations. The W32.Gammima.AG was first discovered by Symantec a year ago. It affects Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP operating systems. Symantec says the virus spreads by copying itself to removable media.
NASA said the investigation about how the virus got onto the ISS laptops will be carried out but the cause may not be made public due to security reasons.
The potential a lot of virus’s have, and how vulnerable such large and sophisticated systems are, are the facts that have made the security industry the fastest growing in the IT field.
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