The Future Web: 3D Envionments

Below is a video of a 3D environment being explored in a browser....super cool!! This definitely looks like the future of video games. For more details on this visit The Chromium Blog.

Chrome Market Share Increases Again, IE Drops Again

Google Chrome's market share increased by 0.08% to 1.23% for the month of March while IE decreased by 0.62% to 66.82%. This trend has been occurring for Chrome since it's release and for IE since July 2007 when it had a 79.26% market share. So, these numbers indicate that people are getting tired of IE's slowness and are starting to install the faster browsers like Chrome and Firefox (now 22.05% market share, increasing trend). 

I have been using Chrome since day 1. Initially some webpages would not load properly and plugins were working, now all of that seems to be fixed and the speed is blazing fast. Sometimes I try out newer versions of IE and FF, after a few slow page loads, especially for IE, I switch back to Chrome. Google Chrome rules!!

Google Experiments With Chrome Experiments

As everyone knows, Google Chrome contains a very powerful JavaScript engine. Google has decided to to show off this with Chrome Experiments. To get a sense of what this actually is, check out the video below this post. Basically, it shows what the Chrome Browser is capable of doing (I find it kind of trippy, definitely need some Pink Floyd music playing). The Chrome team decided to put this interesting note in their blog:

Although you don't need Google Chrome to view the site, some of the experiments may run slower, or incorrectly, in older browsers. To download Google Chrome, click here.

Personally, I find it kind of cheesy that Google mentioned this; I tried a bunch of them in FF and they worked fine. Anyways, these experiments really show the power of Chrome, hopefully (and Google is really hoping for this) their market share will continue to rise from the low 1.15%. 

New Beta Version Of Google Chrome

Today the folks at Google released a new beta version of Chrome. This new version is much faster, check out the graphs below: 

Also, they have added features such as: form autofill, full page zoom, support for autoscroll, and a better view for dragged browser tabs (check out video below): 

There is also a new blog, titled the Google Chrome Blog. This will post feature releases and announcements for Google Chrome; the original Google Chrome Blog still exists though.

I have been using Chrome since day #1, and I love it. Occasionally I go back to FF and rarely I'll IE, I really dislike the smaller viewer and especially the slow browsing speed. Chrome rocks!!

Google Chrome on the Mac

I just got this screenshot from the chromium developer group of the Chrome browser for Mac. So, it seems as if they are on track to get it released within the first half of 2009, maybe a browser version could be next?

 

Chromium Updates Dictionaries; Google Gets More Social

As most of you may know, spell check can sometimes be wrong in browsers which means they are in need of an update. Over at the Chromium blog, they recently announced that they have been updating the dictionaries for the Chrome browser. They have added more than 1000 words and the recent dev-channel release has these updates. Now when you type in words like antivirus or webcam, they will appear as correct spellings. 

Now to the second part of the heading, Google is definitely getting more social. Google Friend Connect has been out for a while now, yesterday Google announced a new social bar and a new social web blog. This can be placed at the top or bottom of your page and will basically allow visitors to interact with each other. For more details check out the video below. I think this is going to be big for Google. People are getting tired of being social on just a handful of sites that, for the most part, remain very static and have very little customization. Also, similar people look at similar websites, this will allow people to socially connect easier. Great work Google. 

Google Chrome's Market Share Increases Again

At the expense of Internet Explorer, Google Chrome's market share has increased to 1.12% in January from 1.04 in December. IE is at 67.55% (a drop of 7% in 1 year), FF is 21.53%, and Safari at 8.29%. These numbers came from Market Share and are considered very reliable. Hopefully the numbers will continue to increase for Chrome, the fastest browser (according to benchmark tests).

Browser Usage (Source: Market Share)

Google Chrome's Market Share Above 1%

Preliminary figures released by Net Applications show that Chrome's market share increased from 0.83% in November to 1.04% in December. FireFox increased from 20.78% to 21.34%, Safari increased to 7.93% to 7.13%, and IE fell to 68.15% from 69.77% (in Feb. 2008, this number was 74.88%),  that's a decrease of 1.52%. Net Applications noted that results may not be accurate because of a lower amount of workplace internet usage, browsers such as FF and Safari have a higher proportion of home usage. I think that these numbers are showing that users are finally realizing there are excellent alternatives to IE, hopefully one of these will come prepackaged with Windows and more people will realize that IE is a terrible (and slow) browser. 

No more Beta for Google Chrome!!!

Update: It looks like the rumors were true, Chrome is now out of beta!! I think this is the fastest time that a Google product has come out of beta. You can get the details on the Official Google Blog posting, highlights include its speed increasing by 1.5 since its initial release, Mac and Linux versions on the way, eventually extensions will be available, and this latest versions has most of the bugs worked out. This looks like another winner for Google. 

According to rumors, Google's Chrome Web browser will be coming out of beta. There is no word on when this is happening, but people are expecting it soon, possibly as early as Thursday at the Add-on-Con, which is a conference about browser extensions. This timing would set up computer makers to bundle Chrome with their systems in the New Year. Before this occurs, there are still a few bugs in Chrome that must be worked out such as  errors with some Java scripts, general website incompatibility issues, and the biggie for me, only being able to resize an image by going into the HTML (this really sucks for Google Docs users). Also, there are no versions of Chrome for Mac or Linux. Personally, I find Chrome the superior browser over FF and IE. I find it extremely fast and easy to use. Occasionally I have to switch back to FF or IE, waiting for the long webpage loads is like watching paint dry. So, if the Google Chrome People can get their product out and 99% bug free, it will definitely strengthen their position in the web browser war.

Google Roundup for September 21-28

Hello everyone, welcome back for another weekly summary of Google news, lets get started:

• Google Earth is amazing for checking out the solar system. For example, check out the Google Earth add-on for Mars. More great solar system addons can be found at the Google Earth Blog.
• Download this KML file to get a geo-biography of Sen. John McCain. Also, check out this Google Earth blog post for the top 10 games in Google Earth.
• If your into the US presidential election, and want to search quotes by Obama and McCain, check out In Quote.
• If your a chemist like myself, get the periodic table for google desktop gadget.
• The latest version of Google Toolbar for Firefox is now released and available in 29 languages. I probably won't be downloading it because all is use is Chrome these days.
• Adobe and Google have teamed up in Adobe Creative Suite 4. Google Site Search allows users to search for product help, tutorials, notes etc.
• Happy Birthday Google!!
  
  

Coolest Feature of the Week: Well, this won't actually be released until next week, but it should be so good. I am a huge Google Docs fan (using it now to type this blog), and this week the Spreadsheets interface is going to get a big makeover, check out the screenshot below. This was badly needed, no matter how many times I used it, I could not get used to the interface. Way to go Google Docs team!!!

Google Chrome is Now Available for Download

I've been trying all day, but Google Chrome is now available for download here. Enjoy this new product and let me know your opinion of it.

Update: Chrome is super easy  to install, one of the easiest programs ever. I've only been playing with it for 15 mins but it is so fast, blazing fast. I'm trying to get use to the tab above the address bar view, its different but I kind of like it. Also, it recognizes previously viewed pages very well. I always had a problem with FireFox recognizing Google Docs, I would have to type in http://docs and it would pop up. With Chrome I just type in Do and I can easily select docs. Have fun playing with this new browser. 

Google Is Going to Have it's Own Browser: CHROME

I just got this breaking news from CNET news. Rumors have been floating around about a Google Browser, but today some European writers and developers received a 38 page comic of what the new browser will be like. Visit this site to see all 38 pages, I took a quick glance and it seems pretty awesome (increased stability, speed, and security). Let me know what you think. Note that the comic was drawn by cartoonist Scott McCloud, I love Google.

UPDATE!! Tomorrow a beta version of Chrome will be available in 100 countries.