thechromesource – Google Chrome and Chrome OS News and Resources

Inside Chrome 6: Syncing

Posted on 23. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

This article on syncing is part of a series of posts that discuss the new features and technology that will come with the official newest release of Chrome browser – Version 6.

When someone thinks about syncing and Google Chrome, it doesn’t come as a surprise that not much comes to mind. But one needs to realize that being able to sync is an important step towards cloud computing. Syncing information from various devices is going to be important going forward, as hardware becomes less of an important element of mobile computing. It should no longer be the device we are using, but the platform by which we use the web. Because of this syncing will become an important, and hopefully transparent element to using Chrome.

Google realizes this, and they have made being able to sync profile information a priority in Chrome so that one can interface their personal data with several devices. One element of this is bookmark sync, whereby one can save a bookmark with their Google Account from one computer and easily transfer it over to a Chrome browser on another device.

Along with this comes extension sync. Since Chrome debuted extensions to offer a rival to Firefox add-ins, the Official Chrome Extensions site has seen over five thousand ways to extend the browser get approved for use. The great thing about Chrome extensions is that they are built using simple web standards – HTML, CSS and JavaScript. While I test many different extensions on a regular basis, take a look at my post about the top non-bloat non-annoying extensions that are useful to life on the web.

If you like using auto-form fills, expect a nice little surprise when Chrome 6 goes stable. That’s because you’re going to have the ability to transfer your information for various forms over to other devices. A useful feature for sure.

One thing I’d like to mention about syncing is security. Many people are concerned about their personal data in the cloud. Google takes this seriously, so here’s hoping that having the ability to transfer information using your Google Account is secure. After the Chinese hacking attacks last year, Google has implemented SSL on services such as Gmail, and they do take privacy with a serious state of mind. They should, since we are relying on them to protect us.

Google Ups the Reward For Chromium Security Fixes

Posted on 20. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

For the past six months, those who have been able to find a flaw in Chromium were awarded cash prizes for doing so. Now that this program has been ongoing for some time, the Chromium team has decided increase the amount given out for the most critical of flaws found, moving from $1,337 to $3,133.70. Most awards will remain at the $500 level, depending on the published severity guidelines.

The Chromium project has lead to Chrome being one of the most secure browsers on the market. The annual conference where researchers try to compromise browsers and other computer platforms, Pwn2Own, had no takers for Chrome browser this year. It could be because Chrome is still the newcomer on the market. Nevertheless all of the other major browsers ended up getting hacked at Pwn2Own.

It’s unknown whether or not the decision from the Chromium team relates to Mozilla recently raising their Security Bug Bounty Program award up from $500 to $3,000. With that being said, moving the amount just above Mozilla’s while keeping the cachet of the original award may mean something when thinking about Firefox versus Chrome: actions speak louder than words.

w3schools: Chrome Adoption Growing Fast

Posted on 12. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Back in January, I remarked about how quickly Chrome browser had been gaining share of the early adopter market. Back then, 10% of those who used the w3schools.com web developer site were browsing with Chrome. Now six months later that figure has jumped to over fifteen percent. Here is the month by month stats for 2010.

Those growth numbers are pretty impressive, don’t you think? They are markedly different from other browsers, whose numbers do move nearly as fast as Chrome.

So the data here tells one that those who develop for the web are increasingly interested in at least checking out what Chrome is all about. Recently Chris Blizzard from Mozilla told Gizmodo that they aren’t afraid of Chrome, and the data here suggests he’s right about that notion: Firefox has not lost any share to Chrome, it has mostly come at Microsoft’s expense.

NetApplications is reporting that worldwide use of Chrome is somewhere around 7%, so those who are using it to  develop and otherwise create for the web are double that amount. That seems pretty logical to me.

Firefox 4 Sure Looks a Lot Like Chrome

Posted on 08. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Firefox 4 Beta 1 certainly looks familar. I can’t seem to place where I’ve seen this interface before. Oh, I know, it’s the one I see every day when I use Chrome. You be the judge.

Tabs have been moved to the top of the window, the color scheme has changed accordingly and even the input boxes on the main toolbar area now have a rounded look to them. I can’t wait to download this and check out the generation-leaping JavaScript engine this thing is supposed to have.

WSJ: Chrome Browser Now at 7.24% Market Share

Posted on 08. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google’s Chrome browser worldwide share  is now at 7.24%. This is impressive to consider since Chrome was launched in September of 2008 and has blazed through versions and innovative features with new releases, currently at version 5.

The question at hand, now that Chrome is at number three of all browsers, is if it can challenge Firefox. NetApplications, the source for the Wall Street Journal Data, puts Firefox in second place to Internet Explorer at 23.81%. In an interview with Gizmodo, Mozilla Open Source Evangelist Christopher Blizzard said that the threat of Chrome overtaking Firefox does not seem to be one of his concerns. In fact, he believes that the fact Mozilla focuses solely on the browser will give his organization competitive advantage.

“What we’re gonna have, I think, with Firefox 4 is that we’re gonna have a Javascript engine that’s a generation ahead of everybody else, which will be pretty interesting. We’re the only one that makes browsers! We don’t sell ads, we don’t make operating systems. We don’t sell hardware. We just make browsers,” Blizzard told Gizmodo’s Matt Buchanon.

And in terms of competing directly against Google, “As long as we stand behind the technology that we have, and continue to improve and invest in it as a mechanism for getting the larger goals done, we’re gonna be fine. I’m not that worried about competing with them.”

That’s good to hear Mozilla has no qualms going up against Chrome. It will be for the best, in the long run, for there to be competing web browsers pushing technology forward – more like web platforms than browsers at this point actually. Firefox’s beta releases of version 4 have shown that they aren’t a afraid of taking something in Chrome and making it a feature in their browser to remain a worthy rival. Anyways, remember when it was only Microsoft that dominated the browser market? It was a black hole in terms of web innovation. Plus IE was hacked a lot, not really a fun time to remember.

By the way, NetApplications by all accounts must be the authority on browser share. In the past, there have been disputes over the validity of calculating browser share worldwide, but major publications seem to quote NetApplications most often in browser research.

thechromesource Daily: Links for 7/2/10

Posted on 02. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Google is looking to close a $3 billion credit deal very soon, more acquisitions on the way?

One has to be convinced that Microsoft is afraid of Google’s App strategy.

Maybe this is already common knowledge, but has Chrome’s growth come at Firefox’s expense?

Eric Schmidt on entrepreneurs: “They’re drop-outs, crazy smart people”.

The Chrome stable channel has been updated – improvements to WebGL, sandboxing and CSS style rendering.

From Zero to Almost Ten Percent: How Chrome Surpassed Safari

Posted on 30. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

It has been big news recently that Chrome has overtaken Safari as the third most used browser in the U.S. While this statistic is one that’s skewed towards the United States since Chrome and Safari have been neck and neck, the reality is that Chrome took third place worldwide over Safari back in September.

The main reason that America has lagged in this regard is probably the fact that Apple sells so many computers in the United States, coming with the well regarded WebKit-based Safari.

But the point of this post is to understand how Chrome got this far in a period of two years. When I first tried Chrome as an early adopter-type in the beginning of 2009, I liked the design interface and the idea of “sandboxing” where every tab was its own process. The problem with Chrome at that time was one of compatibility: there were sites that did not function correctly with Chrome, a surprise to me because of its WebKit roots.

Over time, which really isn’t long by Google’s measurement, Chrome evolved. Many sites needed to adapt some functionality to Chrome, but for the most part it was the folks at Google working fervently to make the best browser available. Perhaps they knew that they were making the foundations of an operating system at the time, who knows?

Extensions

In December 2009, Google launched the Chrome Extensions web site, an opportunity for the company to better compete with Firefox’s vaunted library of add-ins. Not only did they take an existing idea, they improved on it by putting security limits around extensions at their site, making sure that proper measures are taken to make sure that personal data and important computer processes cannot be compromised through the browser. Clicking around at the Extensions site the other day it appears that there are over five thousand now available.

Translate

In the beginning, Google offered an extension that you could install into Chrome and translate different languages of the web. Then they started adding it into the development Chromium builds, and finally it was released with the launch Chrome 5 to users a few months ago embedded in the browser itself. This feature is so easy to use, and it unlocks the web for everyone to read no matter their language. Google took an existing service they had and put it right into the browser where it’s the most useful.

No Messing With Flash

Maybe Google sees something in Flash that Apple doesn’t, but they decided to take a very different approach to handling Adobe Flash than Cupertino. Instead of eschewing it completely, Google has embraced the technology. Flash is used in YouTube videos, for some streaming music sites and I’ve recently noticed it needs to be installed to use Google Analytics. So, unlike other browsers that require you to install it and then update to newer revisions manually, Google preempts any inconvienence and risk by making it a part of Chrome.

In the End

Relentless innovation has gotten Chrome browser this far. This is due to Chromium as an open source resource as well as the amount of manpower that Google has thrown towards it in anticipation of Chrome OS. I didn’t even get to talk here about interesting features like the omnibox, bookmark sync and geolocation, but they are an aside to these three major developments that are propelling this browser’s growth. How much market share can this browser take from Internet Explorer and Firefox in the months and years to come?

Does Chrome Only Have “Perceived” Speed Superiority?

Posted on 18. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

It was brought to my attention today that another intrepid blogger has taken a highly technical view on the Firefox versus Chrome debate. Since we’ve put up articles and videos directly related to this topic, it seems that we should give these thoughts a fair view here. The contention here is whether Chrome is really that fast, or if it is simply a perception from its user interface.

Here are some graphs and videos, check out the link to get more information on the terminology. I learned a lot from this post, and here’s hoping that you do too.

thechromesource Daily: Links for 6/17/10

Posted on 17. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

There is a way to do encrypted searches from both Chrome browser and Firefox; here’s how.

Adobe’s PDF format will be integrated into Chrome browser, just like Flash already has been.

Google Docs collaboration has been made easier with some new features, no doubt just in time to compete with Microsoft.

The Chrome browser dev channel has been updated. Looks like it is mainly user interface issues.

It’s not looking good for Microsoft in terms of competing with Google Apps.

thechromesource Daily: Links for 5/26/10

Posted on 26. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Google’s Chrome OS user interface design team developer Glen Murphy talks to Lifehacker Australia in a brief Q&A session.

Early adopters are increasingly making a move from using Firefox to Chrome browser, according to an analysis by ReadWriteWeb.

It seems pretty clear that the Chrome Web Store will have applications that run code using Native Client.

An anonymous CEO from a public company tells Business Insider that Microsoft’s Outlook mail client will never be able to compete with Gmail.

Google VP of Engineering Vic Gundotra talks to TechCrunch about location based services and Google’s plans in the tablet market.

thechromesource Daily: Links for 5/25/10

Posted on 25. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

There is now a browser add-on for IE, Chrome and Firefox that allows people to opt-out of Google’s Analytics tracking.

The Mac and Linux versions of Chrome browser are catching up to Windows; it was announced today that they have now moved to stable release.

Google Wave has been moved into the Google Apps suite of software for organizations, moving it out of its experimental stage in Labs.

Here’s a look at the challenges that Google TV faces when it enters the market this fall in the U.S. on DISH Network.

Intel will be showing off dedicated chips specifically for tablets at Computex, which starts next week.

thechromesource Daily: Links for 5/13/10

Posted on 13. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

The Chromium Blog has a sneak peak at how their Native Client software development kit will allow for development of Chrome applications.

ARMDevices speculates that the Native Client SDK will allow complex web applications to run on ARM processors.

ReadWriteWeb has an article out that is about Mozilla’s plug-in checker, which now works with all browsers.

It’s clear that Google Apps plans to offer more than just the document and spreadsheet package common with productivity suites.

Those behind the Linux-based Ubuntu OS are contemplating switching from Firefox as the default browser over to Chromium.

What It’s Like to be a Successful Google Apps Software Company

Posted on 08. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

MindMeister is a company that provides a special tool for organizations called “mind mapping”. Being a software as a service company, it was logical for them to be included when the Google enterprise Apps Marketplace when it was launched last March. In this interview, I talk with MindMeister COO Michael Hollauf and CTO Till Vollmer about their software, the recent changes Google has made to Apps as well as what it’s like working with the search engine giant.

Can you tell me a little bit about MindMeister?

Michael: We’ve been online for about 3 years now.  About a month ago, finally, we launched on Google Apps Marketplace.  This came out of a relationship with Google.  It started pretty early on, almost three years ago now.  We realized the product we have fits nicely with what Google has.

It’s a nice add-on for their Apps.  I’m explaining more our relationship with Google.  Since our integration, we are doing more things integrated with the Docs.  We have a regular relationship with them.  It seems they’re really pushing Apps now with the introduction of the Marketplace and the enhancements to Google Docs.

Would you say your product is similar to something you would do in Visio or is it something out on its own?

Michael: Yes, it’s certainly something that’s on its own.  Visio is something that can draw everything. You can draw pictures, flow charts. I think we’re a subset. We focus on a subset of what Visio does.  We are very good at that.  Our software basically gives it all, focuses very quickly and doesn’t worry about the drawings, it just brings in all of your structures.

So, I think someone that uses our mind mapping product wouldn’t be very happy with Visio.  More similar to drawing in a PowerPoint presentation, something like that. It’s a similar space though. We often get requests for things like flow charts and so on. It’s all graphical, visual presentation. They have something in Docs which is now called Google Drawings with a separate bar.

Is this just something that is part of the Apps marketplace? I assume that your pricing model is set up so it’s a monthly user fee or something? Anything of that nature?

Michael:  Yes, it’s a monthly user fee. It’s a monthly fee per user or teams of users so you can have two people up to however many you want. You can pay by the month or can pay by the year. The way it works in Google Apps is they don’t have a billing infrastructure. So the way we do it, we let users sign up for free without even entering their credit cards. They just go to MindMeister in Apps and get a 30 day free trial.

If you want to upgrade, you can pay and purchase. That’s going to be the way it works until we launch billing. According to Google, it should be in a couple of months when  the users will only use their credit card once – when they sign up to Google Apps. Then they will be able to do everything at the Apps Marketplace: just add the app.

Better for us and better for users. They don’t want to enter their credit cards more than they have to.

I think that’s a fantastic idea. What are they getting out of setting up all of this entire infrastructure? Is it just that they’re getting the value of added features to Apps?

Michael: Yes, now that’s the only thing they are getting, but with the billing, they are going to take twenty percent I think it is.

Twenty percent of everything then?

Michael: Yes.

I ask these things because Eric Schmidt keeps talking about how a lot of revenue is going to start to come from this. There really hasn’t been an explanation, but that right there, when you’re dealing with percentage of fees per month that really adds up.  What they’re trying to do is get away from just advertising because you really have to diversify when you’re a company that large.

Michael: They still do 97% (something like that) or 95% just with advertising. So, they are searching for other ways for (revenue).

A few weeks ago there was an announcement that went out relating to some changes they’re doing (which included no longer supporting Gears).Is it just Docs? Maybe you guys could talk a little about that.

Michael:  It was just Docs with their announcement. We’ve had to find all sorts of explanations and guidelines for our users (about Gears). It works fine for older ones; it’s just not supporting the new ones. Now I think of all of the programs and suppliers will have to do the same thing. A lot of people use it and I think if everyone is persistent, it will send out messages that it (will not be) working anymore.

It seems a little strange to me because you’d think they’d have a solution ready to go.

Michael: Our users I think, it used to work better (same with all browsers, even Firefox). It doesn’t support it anymore and you can’t even install it anymore. There are other features as well.

Till: Obviously the drawing is one of the things that are new. There are a couple of changes to things, and the API as well. The big thing was the drawing actually.

Michael: I think there is one thing talked about that real time is not being liberated enough. With this EtherPad, a document could be worked on (with others) at the same time. You could do things in real time. Like when you typed in the character, it would show up on the other person’s screen like in the same second. The real time collaboration, I think that’s what’s built into Docs now.

Well, that’s great.  Could you tell me the name of that company again? I’ve never heard of this before.

Michael: Etherpad. I think it was two or three Google employees a year ago when they started that company.

It sounds like they’re trying to make collaboration better but at the same time, the offline access (via Gears) thing is a little distressing especially when you’re thinking about moving everything to the cloud, it seems there’s going to be some sort of solution through HTML5, right?

Michael: There’s an issue, yeah. I mean real time, I didn’t see anything about that in HTML5.  Is it http or something? Or some offline mode supported in HTML5?

So, they’re going to use HTML5 for that? I don’t think they have a choice, if you lose that functionality it just seems like a really bad idea. I think the cloud is a great thing but, what happens when you make these kind of changes?  And I just don’t know what kind of solution it’s going to be that all these companies now have to make all of these changes?

Michael:  That’s because all of us use these, really out of necessity. This is something that could happen with Flash, I don’t know.  Now we have to wait. It’s not a great situation but the market shows it’s a young market and technology is new. Otherwise, this is “growing pains”, I would say.

It’s just to be so disruptive in so many areas that they’re starting to do these types of things, to be honest with you. It’s just I hear a lot about all of the benefits but I think what most people are concerned about where this is going. The idea I think, when they started this was to compete with Microsoft but now it doesn’t seem like that what they want to do. Instead, it’s to be a compliment to that. Although I do think their solution is better.

Michael: I think in our discussions they never admit Microsoft is an issue for them. They’re more like “we’re trying to offer the best experiences and solutions to our users and if that hurts our competition, so be it”. I think it’s more not having to really talk about their competitors and so on. At least I think with Google Apps, that they’re trying to be the “next generation Office Suite”.

I think they’ll have a lot more to offer than Microsoft because of what they’re doing with you guys and all the other developers out there, that they have good ideas to make products better.

Michael: Great people are on it and (there is) a lot of enthusiasm. I haven’t really looked into Microsoft recently and what the rumors are about an online version of this. And because, sooner or later, they’ll have to go this way. All I’ve seen so far is some online office thing that allows you to share some uploaded documents with others but that’s all there is, right?

What about the people who are concerned about making the jump to the cloud?

Till: There are certain levels of security of course in (our) product. One thing is the channel hosting of the solutions in the computer to the data center and everything has access controls, cameras, access cards and all these kinds of things. Everything is redundant, their internet access of course, and the server part and all these kinds of things. So that’s the secure environment.

On the other hand of course, we offer for our premium customers encryption, so that the communication that is between the server and client is encrypted because a lot of people are working are just going there and connecting to their services and are often transmitting their plain passwords and this is not clear to all of them. That’s why we use SSL for the premium customers to not show their passwords somewhere or their passwords don’t get sniffed.

And on the application level, we have certain guard mechanisms where we protect certain actions people can do like password resetting, map access and personal data access.  Just two hours ago a customer called me up and said, “I want to use your product,  I was thinking about an in-house destination.”  I said, “we have a service solution, there is no in-house solution”.  They asked, “what about security?”

I think that it’s a good point that they ask this question.  The answer is very simple. I say, “Do you have a laptop?”  They usually say, ” Yes I have a laptop.”  I ask, “Do you have all of your personal data and all that stuff on your laptop?” They say, “Yes.”  So I ask, “What happens if someone just grabs it and runs?”  They say, “Yes you’re right.”  This isn’t going to happen with software as a solution because it’s much harder to hack into a T3 data center or get physical access into a data center than just grabbing your laptop.

Could give me an idea of who are your demographics when you’re talking about customers and who are the people that come to talk to you about these types of things?  If you could just give me an idea of what type of people we’re talking about – who are becoming your customers?

Till: When we started off, we were a European company and we had just implemented the English language and we always wanted to address the whole world market. It was always our goal when we started. We had about 30% US customers and, actually it’s the same number I think today and maybe even more.

Actually, now we support nine languages, including Japanese and Russian and with customers from about 140 countries working on MindMiester now, about a half million or so of them. We have five hundred thousand users and we have individuals and freelancers as well as a very large base of real business customers like SAP for example or Symantec. We even have Microsoft as a customer. Microsoft China, actually at an innovation center there.

It’s basically around the world from individuals to businesses. We have a lot of universities and schools.  This is in a lot of countries in terms of schools and universities in Shanghai or in Hong Kong or (even) in the US. So, that’s also the interesting thing. If you’re starting a business on the Internet there really is no real border anymore. It’s all about localizing the content and the user interface.

MindMeister is a software as a service. So we’re talking about something that runs in the browser. What tools have you used to create this, what technology are you running this on?

Till: So, basically we are using Ruby on Rails. We are using MySQL right now. We are using Apache for example, Linux as our platform. I think that’s it from the technology web we are using.

So do you recommend that your users have Chrome or Firefox? Or what is it about the browser that’s changing that? That’s going to help you guys? We touched on HTML5 and how you guys are working on it. Could talk a little bit about that?

Till: We made recommendations, we put out these for our users only. If they have to, we’ll continue to support IE6 for a little longer.  Firefox, Chrome, and Safari, these are all great and open really fast.

How many people are you in total?

Michael: Ten to twelve right now, with a couple of freelancers, not a huge company.

Is the plan then to just focus on this is another thing. Other companies I’ve talked with are working on several different apps.  Are you just going to focus on this?

Michael: For the time being, yes. We have discussions all the time. To the extent that they could go further? No concrete plans as of yet. The market is good for that. We’re in a really good position. I have so many ideas for this. I do want to start something else with that small group of people.

I have just one more question. Since the Marketplace has gone live, has it been a good tool in getting new customers? Has it been a marketing vehicle for you guys?  Have you seen a good influx of customers who’ve come through Google to connect with you guys?

Michael: Definitely, yes. So, I think it’s worth the effort to integrate to get a lot of exposure. Of course, you get new customers out of it, for us I think it’s a good thing. And, so, Google hasn’t really started to promote the whole thing. I had a call yesterday with them and they told us they would start promoting apps more aggressively.

Even so, they haven’t really started marketing. We already see the results.  We’ll see what happens if they really start pushing (Apps) through their distribution channels and through the marketing, etc.

Thanks to Michael and Till for taking the time to talk to me. You can sign up for a free basic membership of MindMeister to check out their mind mapping product.

thechromesource Daily: Links for 4/30/10

Posted on 30. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

The fact that ARM-based smartbooks and tablets will support Flash acceleration could be one of the key strengths of Android and Chrome OS.

Here is a post that outlines some technical details on how Google collects WiFi information from driving down streets.

Ghostery, a popular privacy extension for Firefox, is now available for Chrome with a limited feature set.

Did you know Chrome 5 Dev has geolocation? I wrote about how to turn this on, but CNET has done an article now that it’s on by default.

The Speed Dial Extension looks like a really great way to spice up your new tabs for those who like customizing their Chrome experience.

Firefox Lorentz Emulates Chrome’s Stability Features

Posted on 09. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

ReadWriteWeb is reporting that the beta of Firefox 3.6.3, dubbed Lorentz, is testing a new feature in the browser where plugins are isolated by tab in the event that it crashes. This allows for a singular unstable tab to crash instead of the whole browser. This may sound familiar to those who use Chrome, and will be a new feature in a future stable release of Firefox.

What’s funny is that rival browsers are making no bones about taking Google’s browser ideas and turning them into their own. Microsoft’s IE8 InPrivate, which is the same thing as Chrome’s Incognito mode, comes to mind. Witness the crash screen in Lorentz compared to Chrome’s:

Heading down this path is great for browsers overall, but it seems funny at times when you see competing browsers copying Chrome’s functions in order to keep up with its frenetic pace of development. Indeed, Chrome has quickly gone from version 1.0 in 2008 to 4.0 stable a few months ago.

One of the reasons for early adoption has been Google’s decision to auto-update Chrome. While initially this was heavily criticized, you can see here how fast Chrome has migrated to newer versions because of this functionality:

While Firefox also pushes updates, users are prompted to install them. This may be less obtrusive in terms of privacy than Chrome, and still allows for a regular schedule of updates to the browser:

Microsoft does not prompt for IE updates leaving some users still stuck on IE6, although that metric is slowly changing:

You can try out the new Firefox Lorentz by downloading it from here. Lorentz only isolates QuickTime, Flash, and Silverlight as their own processes. You can, however, customize it to do so for other plugins such as Adobe Reader through these instructions.

Play Asteroids in Chrome – Thanks to HTML5 Canvas and JavaScript

Posted on 08. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Ah, the virtues of the HTML5 standard paired with JavaScript – so many innovative applications for it. Not to mention those applications that include gaming. Over on the Chrome Experiments site, an enterprising UK developer by the name of Kevin Roast recently release a browser-based port of the classic Asteroids game, where you buzz around in a spaceship and shoot asteroids and enemies that shoot back:

According to the notes included with game, this was created as a studious experiment in an attempt to learn how to use the relatively new HTML5 canvas technology.

With this and the news that some Google employees ported Quake II to the browser, these are great developments for gaming. No longer will users need to worry about downloading, system requirements and graphics latency, they can just use a browser to play games which no doubt will become more graphically complex as time goes on.

The Asteroids game works with Chrome, Firefox 3 and Safari 4 browsers. You can even download the source from the site as well if you’re interested.

Microsoft Takes Issue With Chrome Feature That Can be Turned Off

Posted on 01. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

In a video that is meant to show off the security features of Internet Explorer 8, Product Manager Pete LePage takes aim at the Chrome browser, claiming that because IE8 allows users to search in a separate box rather than doing so in an all-in-one inbox box that Google is possibly compromising a user’s security by reporting every term back to Google.

“By keeping these boxes separate, your privacy is better protected and the addresses of the sites you’re visiting aren’t automatically shared with Microsoft, or anyone else,” LePage says in the video.

“As I start to type an address into the address bar, Fiddler [a Web debugging proxy] shows that for nearly every character I type, Chrome sends a request back to Google,” LePage says. “I haven’t even hit enter yet to load the website and Google is already getting information about the domain and sites I’m visiting.”

This only partially true. You are capable of changing your search provider in Chrome, and when you do the information that you search for in the Omnibox will send it back to the engine of your choosing. Just because IE8 has two separate boxes for these functions does not make it safer.

The option for sending information back to Google when you start typing into the Omnibox can be turned off by following these instructions. I know this because I downloaded Fiddler myself and tried it to make sure.

LePage also goes on to promote the virtues of IE8’s InPrivate feature, which allows users to surf the web anonymously. Interestingly, this feature sounds eerily similar to Chrome’s Incognito mode which has been a part of Google’s browser since 2008.

Look, there’s no doubt here that Internet Explorer is facing a decline in market share. A recent graph out by Net Applications shows that Internet Explorer is dropping while Chrome is gaining. At the same time, competitors like Safari (which can be traced to Mac adoption), Firefox and Opera are filling in the space where users once had Internet Explorer as their preferred browser. If Microsoft does not go on the offensive with videos like this they risk losing even more market share.

Expect Microsoft to heavily market IE8 and eventually IE9. They will also do well if they keep copying key elements of other popular browsers if they hope to stay relevant, one of the other “industry standard” practices LePage talks about in the video.

Chrome the Only Major Browser Not Hacked at Pwn2Own

Posted on 28. Mar, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

While news has been sparse since Day 1 of Pwn2OWn, word is that Chrome was the only major browser to make it through the entire competition unscathed. That means it even got through the vaunted Windows XP Day 3, where many expected that Chrome would be exploited by using some of XP’s inherent holes. Not to mention withstanding the service packs that XP is nine years old.

Major browsers such as IE8, Safari and Firefox were hacked within minutes of the start.

Pwn2Own, by the way, is a contest that awards “researchers” cash prizes for successfully hacking computer platforms – prizes in the range of $10,000 to $15,000 plus the computer that they are hacked on.

OK, so Chrome made it through. But let’s think about this. Chrome has only been out since 2008, and there still aren’t that many users who have adopted it yet. W3schools, a web developer site, cites an 11.6% rate of users who visit their site as running Chrome for February 2010. And that is a site for early adopters of web technology! The real number for the entire web population is probably closer to five percent. That may be one of the reasons that researchers have yet to find vulnerabilities in it: they hack what they know, which are the other browsers out there.

Of course, there is also the idea that the other browsers on the market are simply weaker than Chrome which is also a possibility. There was some stir in the days leading up to the contest that Google quickly patched up a slew of security flaws in what was seen as a pre-emptive move. But when you are actually awarding outside experts with cash when they see a flaw in Chrome, it’s probably easier to patch up things that may be hard to see when they are right in front of you.

Anyone else ever had that problem before?

Chrome Still Standing at Pwn2Own

Posted on 25. Mar, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Yesterday’s first day for the Pwn2Own contest came and went literally for the Chrome browser. The competition, which pits security minded hackers against web browsers, operating systems and mobile phone platforms did however do a number on Apple products. Apple’s Safari browser was hacked on both Snow Leopard and the iPhone, while Charlie Miller, a previous winner, snagged ten grand by remotely taking control of Safari on a MacBook Pro. Miller is the one who was quoted a while ago saying that Chrome 4 without Flash on Windows 7 was the most secure computing environment out there today.

Also, IE8 on Windows 7 was successfully hacked on the first day of Pwn2Own, with researcher Peter Vreugdenhil getting past Windows 7’s data execution protection (DEP) and address space layout representation (ASLR) to exploit IE8. An hour after that, a freelancer named Nils was also able to use those same Windows vulnerabilities to also hack Firefox 3.6.

Yesterday was the day for Windows 7, and today the competition will face Vista, with tomorrow highlighting XP. Will Chrome fall on a less secure system? We shall see. Here is the complete three day schedule for Pwn2Own:

Day 1

The target pairings for day one are:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7
• Mozilla Firefox 3 on Windows 7
• Google Chrome 4 on Windows 7
• Apple Safari 4 on MacOS X Snow Leopard

Day 2

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista
• Mozilla Firefox 3 on Windows Vista
• Google Chrome 4 on Windows Vista
• Apple Safari 4 on MacOS X Snow Leopard

Day 3

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP
• Mozilla Firefox 3 on Windows XP
• Google Chrome 4 on Windows XP
• Apple Safari 4 on MacOS X Snow Leopard

Most top prizes are in the $10,000 range, plus the hardware that is hacked on is also awarded. There is also a focus on these mobile platforms (and as we said that the iPhone has already been hacked):

• Apple iPhone 3GS
• RIM Blackberry Bold 9700
• Nokia E72 device running Symbian
• HTC Nexus One running Android

We’ll keep you posted, especially on the Google-related products.