Archive for 'Features'
Mozilla Challenges Google: Open Source Chrome Isn’t Good Enough
Posted on 27. Jul, 2011 by Wolfgang Gruener. 
1 Comments
Editor’s note: this article originally appeared on our partnership site ConceivablyTech.
There are people who claim that Mozilla does not have the guts to openly challenge Google in the same way the company attacked Microsoft in the mid-2000s. Mozilla’s official competitive strategy can be described as almost being mushy in a time when the company needs to be more aggressive than ever to make its case. But the company gets more confident and its chairman has just told us that, while Google is the lesser of two evils, Firefox will have to evolve to sustain its role as the Robin Hood of the open web.
Mozilla’s direction for Firefox has been quite confusing lately. Firefox 4 was a catch-up play that ended up to be, more or less, damage control in a market environment that is problematic for Firefox: It is caught in the middle of a cut-throat competition for market shares between Microsoft and Google.
The role of a future Firefox has not been clear as its consumer and business roles were questioned, as its capability to handle web applications are still blurry and some of Mozilla’s employees engaged in self-destructive measures in which Mozilla products are openly criticized by its own staff. Thankfully, a recent blog post by Mozilla’s chairman, Mitchell Baker provided a bit more clarity on the Firefox of the future: Firefox will be more than a browser down the road (this is, by the way, the most significant update on her vision for Firefox since her strategy that included a mobile browser for 2010.)
The blog post itself is little more than the fluff you would expect from vision statements. Baker argues that Firefox needs to expand:
“For one thing, even if I use Firefox, I use it today to create information about myself that lives in multiple data silos (or “websites” or “apps” or “services”). These are often inter-operable, subject to different rules, and usually difficult or impossible to combine. Access to information I’ve created about myself is fragmented. The set of values that we have built into Firefox is not yet present in this information / data layer.
Chrome 14 Takes A Cue From IE 9, Adds Insecure Script Blocking
Posted on 22. Jul, 2011 by Nicholas Greene. 3 Comments
Insecure Script Blocking In Chrome 14....
Close adherents and fans of Google’s Chrome browser will insist that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is good for nothing except downloading a far superior browser- the one that they themselves use, naturally. I’ll admit, that view is something I myself am guilty of- but come on! Back when Chrome released, it was eons ahead of the other browsers in terms of performance and raw power- plus, its system footprint was lower than Firefox, if I recall correctly. Of course, ever since Chrome’s release, Google’s competitors have thrown down their own respective gauntlets- it’s a battle royale in which the consumer is the only clear winner.
Gotta love capitalism.
Anyway, we’re getting off topic. Browser performance has sort of equalized in recent days- most browsers have been on at least somewhat of a level playing field as raw might is concerned. As such, everyone’s shifted their focus to the next elephant in the room- browser security. And yet again, it’s been something of a digital arms race, with each company doing their damndest to outdo the others. And yet again, you’re wondering what this senseless rambling has to do with the actual subject of this article.
...And Internet Explorer 9
Google has added Insecure Script Blocking to Chrome 14. In relatively plain English, that means that the browser will, by default, block all Javascript which attempts to run via an insecure connection. In plainer English, it means that if there’s a risk of the javascript containing malicious code or the like, it won’t run. If you’re confident in you ability to avoid damage to your system, you can override the feature. Just the same, Google wants to ensure that their browser is as secure as possible- and why shouldn’t they?
But why is that a shock? Well, as Microsoft is ever so keen to point out, they did it first with Internet Explorer 9, which launched all the way back in March. So…basically, Google is observing their competition, figuring out what advantages the competition has over them, and working to eliminate those advantages. I see nothing wrong with this- it seems like an intelligent move on their part, to me. Plus, anything that makes the browsing experience safer for Chrome users is alright in my books.
You can grab a copy of Chrome 14 Canary for yourself here.
via Extreme Tech
Google+: How Paranoid Are You About Privacy?
Posted on 21. Jul, 2011 by Wolfgang Gruener. 1 Comments
Editor’s note: this article originally appeared on our partnership site ConceivablyTech.
Summary, response, follow up and criticism – We recently ran an article in which we offered an opinion, not just Kurt’s opinion, but an opinion that has been created among our writers, about the security and especially a lack of security in Google’s social network. Of course, it was an editorial opinion, and you may have a different opinion. Google certainly has a different opinion and agreed to give us some of its time today to explain the approach of privacy in Google+. We still do not agree with it in its entirety, but admit that Google has – from its perspective – a case. In the end, it may all come down to the philosophy of how open your information can be and how paranoid you need to be about your privacy.
One of the advantages of having early access to Google+ is not so much the fact that you can engage with others, simply because there isn’t that much engaging happening right now. However, there is quite a bit you can learn about your personal preferences how a social network should work for you as you can compare Facebook and Google+ side by side in a relatively harmless way: There may be an almost silly volume of interest in Google+, but your exposure on the network is still very limited. If you have read Kurt’s article, you know that we are concerned about Google’s approach to handling privacy (as we are about the protection of privacy in all social networks, by the way.)
Not surprisingly, Google believes it has an approach that is reasonable and appropriate to secure privacy in Google+. Google argues that its social network privacy is much more flexible than the tools provided by its “competition” (we assume that would be Facebook.) Google+ privacy relies on (1) your general Google account settings, (2) the settings in your Google Profile, (3) the use of Circles and (4) your ability to understand your conduct and potential impact of the data you post online.
Even More Chrome Addons To Make Google + Awesome
Posted on 19. Jul, 2011 by Nicholas Greene. 3 Comments
Google + is pretty awesome, isn’t it? But you know what makes it more awesome? Some of the addons for Chrome that have been circulating about the internet since its release a mere two weeks ago. Developers have been hard at work putting together applications and extensions to expand and improve upon the Google + experience. The prospects are most definitely looking good. Given that I’ve already shared ten addons with all of you; you’re probably wondering how much more there could possibly be.
Fact is? As Google + evolves and expands, there are going to be more and more applications and extensions designed to improve upon the Google + experience. So…there’ll probably be much, much more to come. Look forward to it. After all, if this is the sort of stuff the devs are making for us now, imagine what we’ll be seeing a few months down the line?
Anyway, here’s a few more applications and extensions I’d recommend if you’re looking to get a bit more ‘oomph’ out of Google +.
Five Chrome Addons That Make Google + Better
Posted on 11. Jul, 2011 by Nicholas Greene. 11 Comments
I’ve gotta say, Google + is pretty awesome. Google’s privacy foibles aside; I’m loving it, and I’m immensely looking forward to when it finally launches. Just the same though…no matter how good something is, there are always improvements you can make to it. No, I’m not talking about changes to the platform itself- Google’s not yet released the developer’s kit, to my knowledge. I’m instead referring to improvements upon the experience, by integration of Google’s newest social networking platform with its excellent web browser, Google Chrome. And not just simple integration, either.
I’m talking about a lot more.
See, even though G+ has only been out for about two weeks now, a number of hardworking independent developers and designers have already released a number of extensions that not only bring the Google + experience closer to Google Chrome, but improve upon that experience in some rather excellent ways. If you’re using Google + with the Chrome browser, these addons are inarguably all worth a look. Now, those of you not using Chrome don’t have to feel left out, either- there are a number of addons like Greasemonkey, Stylish, and Greasekit that’ll let you run these extensions even if you don’t want to bother taking a few minutes to download and install Chrome. Anyway, let’s have a look, shall we?
First Impressions: Google+
Posted on 05. Jul, 2011 by Julian West. 1 Comments
Tired of Facebook? You are not alone: according to a recent survey, Facebook is the 10th most hated company in America. Facebook’s membership is decreasing as well.
Perhaps Google+ is arriving just in the nick of time.
Andy Hertzfeld, one of the designers of the first Mac and hired by Google to work on Google+’s Circles explains “Everything on the Web can be improved by knowledge of your social connections, so Google+ is an effort to…add a social layer to Google, to YouTube, to Google Search, to every Google property.”
What is the nature of this improvement exactly? Personally, I don’t want “social” to add bloat to my experience of the web. No Farmville for me, thank you very much. (Though I understand that social gaming will be a feature that will be added later.) Google cuts the bloat and aims for intuitive and full social integration with Google services.
I can access all my Google services within the Google+ interface via the black bar at the top of the page. Imagine if your whole photo library was just a couple of clicks away from sharing with your friends and family? That’s what you get with Google+. The all important Google search also received some social integration as well. Just do your regular searching on the Google+ homepage, and if you find something you’d like to share, click “share” and you have the choice of which of your circles to share your particular article of interest.
People in my circle who aren’t on Google+ but in my gmail contacts list can be notified of my update stream via email if I add them to one of my circles. A very nice touch and personally very helpful in keeping touch with some of my family. This is also a clever way for Google to promote the service to others as well.
Perhaps the coolest feature that Google+ offers is “Hangouts.” This is the feature which isn’t offered by any other “social network.” This allows for video chatting with multiple people in your circles. Just invite people from your circle of friends and in your “stream” there will be a button in which those invited people will be able to join you. I tried it out with Daniel and was delighted how well it worked on my Cr-48. Crystal clear and smooth.
Do you think that Google+ will catch on?
I believe so.
Let’s not forget, it took years for Facebook to become the social behemoth it is. Google+ may take some time to catch on and chip away at Facebooks’s dominance. Google isn’t exactly starting from scratch. There are millions already using Google services and Google+ is an extension of them and the features that Google+ sports has the potential to inspire them to use their Google services more exclusively.
Announcing Our Partnership with ConceivablyTech
Posted on 30. Jun, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 4 Comments
ConceivablyTech is an independently-owned and edited blog that focuses on cloud computing technology. Its focus is more wide ranging than this site, yet still offers a great deal of insight into the Google Chrome and Chrome OS universe. Today, I am happy to announce that thechromesource will be partnering with ConceivablyTech and its editor, Wolfgang Gruener, to provide even more Chrome-related content than ever before.
This means that you will start to see posts on this site from ConceivablyTech’s staff writers on this site. This includes analysis from contributors such as Kurt Bakke, Daniel Bailey and of course Wolfgang Gruener. The focus of this site will not change, but you will start to see more content that pertains to the subject matter we write about here.
On a professional level, this is an important step in the evolution of this blog. And personally, I have respected Wolfgang for some time and the angle with which he writes and edits, so the readers here can only benefit from the fact that even more high quality writing will be posted here than ever before.
I look forward to hearing everyone’s comments on this.
An Ecosystem Can Be Built Around Chromebooks and Customer Service for Companies
Posted on 30. Jun, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 2 Comments
In an increasingly digitized society that we live in, the announcement today of the offering of Chromebooks on Virgin American flights as well as availability at the NYC Ace Hotel property strikes me as a total win-win between customers and businesses. And I’m not just talking about these two companies. Previously, I have waxed a bit upon how Chromebooks and traveling could become key companions. In my own experience, I’ve found that my Samsung Series 5 is indispensable when I’m on the road.
Yes, the Series 5 cannot do everything that I need. But what it can do is just enough. Just enough for me to be able to get five hours of work done in an airport terminal, send off a quick email late at night in my hotel, and lightweight enough to carry around in a slipcase like the total technology-driven person that I am.
This type of activity described above is the use case I’ve been talking about ever since Chrome OS was first open sourced and when I started this blog. I personally believe in this technology. There are critics for these devices, and the concerns are warranted. But when I hear more and more about use cases and the example that the director of IT for the city of Orlando, who is piloting Chromebooks, saying that he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to take back Chrome OS device now that they have been deployed sounds extremely promising.
Sure, we may be entering a world where you see a lot of people in public places and in business establishments with their noses in Chromebooks, but that’s the world we live. That’s digital progress. That’s human beings being more productive – and getting more things accomplished than we ever could before. Yes, some of these things that can be done on Chromebooks can also be done on smartphones, but I believe the screen real estate combined with a full keyboard lends to a much better user experience. I would really struggle to write this 300-plus word post on my smartphone, that’s for sure.
Bottom line here? With Chromebooks being offered by companies they can improve customer service with a great communication tool, increase their sales and overall have much more customer satisfaction all by offering the use of these devices on the temporary.
How do you feel about the synergy between companies, customers and Chromebooks? Share with us your thoughts.
Want To Do More With The Google Music Beta? Download This Extension
Posted on 30. Jun, 2011 by Nicholas Greene. 2 Comments
Even though Google Music is still in its beta stages (which it entered only recently), there’s already extensions appearing for it- albeit unofficial ones. So, basically, this is one of those ‘install at your own risk’ scenarios- though I can hardly see how this app would be harmful. Then again, I guess all it takes is a few mixed up lines of code to lock up a program. Plus, it’s still in beta, just like the API it’s attached to.
Developed by Level 2 studios, “Better Music Beta” allows you to listen to your Google Music from your browser without needing to open the Google Music website. You can also song scrobble (a rather bizarre word that essentially translates to you sending information about a song you’re enjoying to a website where it’s added to your profile), “love” songs on Last.FM, give songs a thumbs up/down, show desktop notifications, switch playlists and so on and so forth. Sounds pretty cool, right?
Just want to emphasize, though- this app isn’t going to work for you if you aren’t already in the Google Music Beta. Sorry, folks. If you were hoping for an app that would approximate the beta experience for those without an invite…this isn’t it.
If you’ve got a Google Music account, swing by the Google Webstore to grab yourself a copy of the extension.
via Chrome Story
Chrome OS Brings A Task Manager Into The Browser
Posted on 29. Jun, 2011 by Nicholas Greene. 4 Comments
It’s no secret that Google’s trying to make a completely browser-centric computing experience with their Chrome OS- and, to a lesser extent, the Chrome browser. They’ve just taken a rather considerable stride towards accomplishing that, by incorporating a task manager user interface. Now, while it’s pretty clear what the task manager would be used for in the Chrome OS, some of you are likely wondering just what sort of purpose it might have within the Chrome browser. Have a look. It pretty much does what you’d expect of a task manager- except it only operates within Chrome. Basically, it lets you view processes and applications running within the browser, and pick and choose which ones to terminate. Pretty convenient, and makes it a lot easier to track down a misbehaving plugin or app and get rid of it.
Unfortunately, this function isn’t live in Chrome just yet. It’s going to be coming fairly soon-probably in the next release/update- but for the time being, it’s only live in Chromium. If you want to give the task manager a try and don’t want to wait, you’ll need to download the latest version. There, it’s currently only available via command switch. Once you’ve got it enabled, you can visit chrome://taskmanager to view it.
via Chrome Story
Is WebGL Really Harmful?
Posted on 23. Jun, 2011 by Nicholas Greene. 2 Comments
For the uninitiated, WebGL is a rather revolutionary API developed by the nonprofit Khronos Group. It allows plugin-free hardware-accelerated 3D graphics in HTML5 web browsers. It’s a pretty big deal, as it allows for rich 3D in any openGL-supporting browser or OS platform. Google and Mozilla both love it; Chrome and Firefox come prepackaged with WebGL support(And there’s exactly what this article has to do with Chrome). It opens up a vast arena of new software innovations for software developers the world over, particularly video game devs. Angry Birds in Chrome, anyone?
All in all, it’s pretty damned cool. And Microsoft doesn’t like it- with good reason.
What’s more, they aren’t the only ones. Context Information Security, an independent computer security firm, released a pair of reports calling out webGL on a number of design flaws and security issues. There’s actually some pretty serious stuff in those posts- The ease of stealing user information through a webGL-supporting browser, how malicious code could be used to overload a graphics card-causing a BSOD, DOS attacks…the list goes on and on. All in all, it’s rather disheartening for anyone looking forward to the prospects of WebGL. As if all this wasn’t enough, Microsoft itself has weighed in, stating that WebGL graphics technology is too dangerous for Windows.
Instant Pages Come To Google With Chrome 13
Posted on 22. Jun, 2011 by Nicholas Greene. 3 Comments
Google’s Instant Pages feature for their search engine is now a reality with the release of Chrome 13 on the Beta Channel. It’s pretty clear what the feature’s intended to do, judging from the name. Now, those of you who use Google’s search engine have probably noticed that it’s able to predict what you’re searching for, right? How it was able to present you results as you were in the process of telling it what you were looking for? This is a functionality that’s along the same lines- making searches a lot faster and more streamlined. How it works is that Google basically pre-caches the most likely outcome to your search- meaning that when you click on the link, the page loads instantly.
This isn’t the only new feature coming to Google, either. There’s two more, Voice Search and Search By Image. Both are pretty much what’s written on the box- the former lets you speak into your computer’s microphone rather than type in your search data (I’m actually a little leery of this one, given that voice recognition software’s always been a touch finicky, in my experience). The latter is…really damned cool. Pretty simple to use, too- you just need to go to images.google.com and…well, I’m sure you can figure out the rest.
There’s a bit of bad news here too, however. The Instant Pages feature isn’t available to everyone, I’m afraid. Actually, it’s only available in the beta build of Chrome 13, released on Thursday. So if you’re not using Chrome, looks like you’re out of luck in this case. Same’s true if you don’t feel like upgrading to the Chrome 13 beta- though in that case, all you’ll need to do is wait a few days.
For those of you who use Chrome and are looking to give this new function a try, you can nab the beta build of Chrome 13 through the beta release channel, as always.
via Pocket Lint
