Today @ PCWorld

Happy 2nd Birthday, Google Chrome

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:55:00 +0000

Illustration by Mike Lemanski and courtesy of Google's Chrome blog.Today marks the second anniversary of the release of Google's Chrome browser. While Chrome hasn't completely taken the world of Web browsing by storm, it has made a lasting impact on the market for Web browsers -- a decent accomplishment for a two-year-old. Google is celebrating Chrome's birthday by releasing a brand new stable build of Chrome, which is already available for download, but let's mark the occasion in our way: by looking back at the ways in which Chrome has shaped the Web browsers we use today.

A New Look

The first beta of Google Chrome made its debut on September 2, 2008, and most reviewers instantly lauded its streamlined, minimalistic design. PCWorld blogger J.R. Raphael noted, "Calling the design of Chrome's interface streamlined is an understatement. The program barely looks like a program, and the vast majority of your screen space is devoted to the site you're visiting -- with no buttons or logos hogging space."

Google's hallmark is a clean, uncluttered interface -- remember what search engines looked like before Google came along? -- that many of its search rivals have tried to emulate. Since the launch of Chrome, Google's browser rivals have tried to copy its minimalistic look, with varying degrees of success. Whether they succeed or not, I applaud the effort -- and I thank Chrome for reminding others that we're browsing the Web in order to look at a Web site, not to look at a browser.

Frequent, Easy Updates

Google is famous for keeping products in a beta stage forever (and ever), but the company did not do this to Chrome. Just a few months after the release of the first version of Chrome, the browser exited beta -- and has been steadily updated since then.

The stable build released today is the sixth stable release of the Windows version in the past two years, but Google does not call it Chrome 6 -- the browser is still just plain old Chrome. Rather than revving up for big releases, Google simply adds functionality on an ongoing basis -- something Microsoft, in particular, might do well to emulate.

Increased Competition

After just one day of availability, Chrome managed to account for 1 percent of the browser market. While its rise since then hasn't been quite as meteoric, Chrome has seen a steady increase in users. Chrome held 7.5 percent of the browser market in August 2010, putting it in third place behind Internet Explorer and Firefox, according to the most recent numbers from Net Applications. Even though Chrome hasn't pushed IE -- or even Firefox -- to an early demise, this kind of competition is good for everyone. It gives users more choices and forces rivals to innovate.

App Store

Google plans to release what it calls a "Web Store" for Chrome next month, which will offer a place for Chrome users to find and download Web apps. The idea is a bit unusual, and we've yet to see the store in action, but it has the potential to do for Web browsers what Apple did for smartphones. Apple's App Store was the first true easy-to-access mobile marketplace; now every major smartphone platform offers one. It seems pretty likely that we'll be saying the same thing about all major Web browsers sometime soon.

These are just a few of the ways Google Chrome has shaped the browser market. What do you think its lasting effects will be? Sound off in the comments.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: "Peace Envoy" Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent.

Five Reasons I Won't Be Using Ping

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:09:00 +0000

Despite all the hardware Apple introduced at its press event Wednesday, the most radical news was Ping, a social network for music that's launching as a feature of iTunes 10. I've taken a brief test drive of Ping to see what it's about, but even before updating iTunes, I knew Apple's new social network was not for me. Here are five reasons I won't be using Ping:

Song Samples, Not Songs

Some people have heralded Ping as MySpace's undoing, but MySpace still does one thing extremely well: it lets you listen to a handful of the artist's best or latest songs, in their entirety. Ping does not. Apple says Ping is all about finding new music, but it's also about selling you more iTunes songs. That's a hard sell when you can only listen to 30 seconds of any track.

It Runs in iTunes

At least on my PC, iTunes is an abomination. I will avoid opening it when possible because of how long it takes to load and how chunky it feels to operate, and that's not going to change because of a social network. Also, people whose work computers don't have iTunes installed won't be able to use Ping for the great American pastime of slacking off at work.

It Doesn't Run on the Web

Social networks belong on the Web, simple as that. You click on someone's Twitter account from another Web page, and you're there. You visit an outbound link from someone's status update by popping open a new tab. One step -- pressing a bookmark button or typing a URL -- is all it takes to get to the social network of your choice. All of these actions get a lot sloppier when you add another layer of software, especially the painful iTunes. Also, the lack of Web access shuts out users of Android, BlackBerry and other non-iOS smartphones. That's lame.

I Don't Care What You Like

Even among my best friends, there are only a few people whose musical tastes overlap my own. This presents a dilemma for using Ping: Ostensibly, it's a network for music discovery, so do I shut out the friends whose music I don't like, or follow everyone and try to filter out the awful stuff? This, of course, assumes my friends will even use Ping, which they won't.

More Versatile Social Networks Are Better

Steve Jobs once said that multipurpose devices will always win the day over single-purpose ones, because people don't want to pay for something that only has one function. I think the same is true of social networks. Even though people don't pay money to use Facebook or Twitter, they invest time in cultivating an online presence. Ping is another potential investment, but it's only meant for sharing music. I'd rather stick with social networks that offer much more.

Meet the Galaxy Tab

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:04:00 +0000

Samsung debuted the Galaxy Tab on Thursday, a portable tablet computer that just might be the first significant challenger to Apple's iPad. The Galaxy Tab features a 7-inch multitouch display, rear- and front-facing cameras, 1Ghz processor, 1080p high-definition video playback, maximum 64GB storage and Android OS 2.2. The new tablet device will also come with 3G, Bluetooth 3.0 and 802.11n Wi-Fi connectivity. Samsung says the Galaxy Tab is only the beginning of the company's foray into touch-based tablet devices.

Let's take a closer look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

7-inch Display

The Samsung Galaxy Tab features a 7-inch WSVGA TFT-LCD color display with 1024-by-600 pixel resolution. The device is capable of 1080p HD video playback for all kinds of video formats including XviD, MPEG4 and h.264. The Galaxy Tab is also the first DivX-certified tablet, which means you can play and store DivX video on the Galaxy Tab with no need to convert files to another format.

You can also use the Galaxy Tab to connect to other DivX-certified devices, such as HDTVs, to display copy-protected content, according to DivX Inc. The Galaxy Tab is compatible with DivX paid content from providers such as Roxio CinemaNow and The Warner Bros. Shop.

Android OS 2.2

The Galaxy Tab is based on Google's Android 2.2 (froyo) mobile operating system including support for Adobe Flash 10.1. Samsung has included Exchange Active Sync Support, along with a social hub that brings together your SMS, IM, calendar and e-mail. Calendar support includes Facebook events, Google Calendar and Outlook. Supported Google services include Google Maps, Latitude, Places (Google's not Facebook's) and navigation.

Samsung has also thrown its TouchWiz overlay onto the Galaxy Tab, an interface that has garnered mixed reviews for being attractive but sluggish. Other UI tweaks include the Swype text input technology and the Layar augmented reality browser. The Galaxy Tab includes access to the Android Market as well as Samsung's own application store.

Slim profile

The Galaxy Tab offers a very slim 0.47-inch profile, which is just slightly thinner than the iPad's 0.50-inch figure. Samsung's new tablet measures 7.48 inches wide and 4.74 inches tall, and weighs in at 0.84 pounds. But there's a lot of power packed into this small package. The Galaxy Tab features an A8 Cortex 1.0GHz processor with the PowerVR SGX540 3D graphics processor.

The Tab comes in 16GB and 32GB sizes, and both models feature a microSD expansion slot capable of supporting an extra 32GB of storage space. Samsung claims the Galaxy Tab's battery provides 7 hours of video playback.

The Galaxy Tab features a 30-pin dock connector on the bottom of the device; a volume rocker, power button, and microSD and SIM card slots on the right side. However, it's not clear if the U.S. version will include a SIM slot as rumors suggest the device may be headed to Verizon's CDMA network.

3-Megapixel Camera

The new Galaxy Tab features a 3-megapixel rear-facing autofocus camera with an LED flash for low-light environments. Samsung hasn't indicated whether the rear camera includes zoom capabilities. The camera captures still images and video with 720-by-480 pixel resolution at 30 frames per second.

Samsung says you can use the Tab to "edit, upload and share" photos and videos, but it's not clear if that means you will be able to do onboard image editing as you can with the iPhone 4 and newly announced iPod Touch.

1.3 Megapixel front-facing camera

The front of the device includes a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera for video chat capability over 3G and Wi-Fi. It's not clear if Samsung's Galaxy Tab video chat will let you switch between the rear and front cameras, but the hardware capability is certainly there.

Availability

The Galaxy Tab will be available in Europe within the next two weeks, and Samsung promises a U.S. launch in the coming months. Rumors suggest the 3G-capable Galaxy Tab will launch on Verizon. Samsung has yet to announce pricing or whether there will be a Wi-Fi only version of the Galaxy Tab.

Ping on iTunes - Not So Hot

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:59:00 +0000

Apple's big overhaul of iTunes, announced Wednesday, turns the media management software into a fledgling social network thanks to a newly introduced feature called Ping. I would have expected more from Apple with this first attempt at building a community around iTunes. It's not all bad, but if Ping doesn't improve soon this music-oriented social network will bomb faster than an American Idol wannabe.

Click to zoom in on image and explore what's new with the iTunes 10. Of course iTunes also received a facelift with an improved interface and new logo. But with Ping baked into the new iTunes 10, the software is so much more than media management, offering now a music discovery service powered by recommendations from your friends and favorite artists. You can use Ping to share albums or songs you like, display your iTunes purchases and concerts you plan on attending.

To get started with Ping you set up a user profile and then find other people to follow including friends and artists. The activity for everyone you follow shows up in an activity feed where you can comment, like or re-post items to your followers.

I've only been trying out Ping for a few hours, but here are some early impressions of Apple's new social networking service.

Friend Discover: Not so good

Your profile picture must first be approved by Apple before appearing on Ping. (Click to Zoom)Ping lacks an easy way to find out who among your friends is already using the service. You can't integrate with Facebook Connect, Twitter or an address book to find people you know. Perhaps Apple is concerned about the privacy headaches that type of contact integration would entail. Importing contacts could raise questions about how long Apple is storing your information, where it is storing it, how secure its storage practices are and so on.

But Ping really needs some sort of discovery mechanism that allows people to easily find their friends. The only option you have right now is to send out e-mail invitations to specific people.

Ping in iTunes App: Not so Good

Ping is integrated right in iTunes with no Web-based alternative. That prompted Twitter user Jason Mauer to comment that Ping feels like "a social network in prison." That may be a little harsh, but there's no question that Ping is a walled garden where little external information can get in or out.

You can, however, share album information out to Facebook and Twitter, just like you can through the iTunes Store. But with Ping being so locked into iTunes instead of a browser, I have to wonder how many people will become frequent Ping users.

Privacy: Good

Apple's privacy settings are very straightforward with three simple options. You can set up your account so that everyone can follow you and see all your iTunes activity including album likes, comments and iTunes purchases. If that's too public, you can authorize anyone who wants to follow you, but your name, photo and the city you live in will be made public. If you want to go completely private, you can lock down your Ping profile so that no one can see you or find you on iTunes, but you still have the ability to follow others.

Artists can update profile with pictures, concert updates, and suggested music. (Click to Zoom) Sharing: Pretty Good

On Ping, you can make comments on someone else's iTunes' activities, such as what albums or songs they purchased. Correspondingly, Ping displays your iTunes purchases. If you discover music through someone you follow, you can also re-post that music to your activity feed so that the rest of your followers can see it.

Right now, Ping is solely for music so you can't add likes for videos, podcasts, audio books, or mobile apps. However, considering that iTunes is all about helping you discover content and make purchases on the iTunes Store, I would expect to see Ping's focus expand over time. It would also be nice if you could share albums and songs stored in your personal music library.

One other thing to note is that Ping is a tiered service in the sense that there are two levels of users: artists and consumers. If you're just a regular consumer, you can't submit content such as photos and videos from recent concerts you attended.

Ping offers a way of sharing recent activity on iTunes with your Ping Friends. (Click to Zoom)Photo Approval: Strange

When you sign up for Ping, you are given the option to upload a profile photo, but it won't show up right away. For some reason, Apple says it has to approve your profile photo. I assume Apple does this in case you try to post something the company considers obscene or infringes copyright claims. Perhaps, and this is only a guess, since Ping is inside iTunes, Apple has to take greater responsibility for user activity than they'd have to with a Website. Whatever the reason, I have to wonder if approving every user photo isn't overkill on Apple's part.

Overall, Ping is an interesting service, although it's nothing to get excited about. If I had to guess user adoption for Ping won't be that high. It's a nice service, but it just doesn't have the sharing flexibility that are a part of other social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

Connect with Ian on Twitter (@ianpaul).