| | | Google Now Has a Free Browser - Get It Now
 Google Chrome, Google's unexpected open source web browser was announced over the Labour Day weekend and launched only a day later - it is now available for download in more than 100 countries.
Here are some excerpts from the Google Blog announcement on September 1st, 2008 "A Fresh Take on the Browser":
"On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn't the browser that matters. It's only a tool to run the important stuff -- the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go"
Under the hood, Google claims is a browser that runs today's complex web applications much better:
 - "By keeping each tab in an isolated 'sandbox', we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites."
- "We improved speed and responsiveness across the board."
- "We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren't even possible in today's browsers."
And Google claims (with a great deal of credibility) "Google Chrome is far from done." In fact, they are "hard at work building versions for Mac and Linux too, and will continue to make it even faster and more robust."
Google thanked the open source community because they "used components from Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox, among others -- and in that spirit, we are making all of our code open source as well. We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward."
Hear more about Google Chrome direct from Google in this video from Google outlining 10 Features of Google Chrome (updated from last video that turned out too short):
You can also see the Google Chrome comic book that was "accidentally" released a couple of days early explaining the technology. Big thanks to the always attentive Google Blogoscoped for picking up on the leak and breaking the story to the blogosphere. Here is the latest article from Blogoscoped providing a great walk through of browsing with Google Chrome.
Also here is a video from the Google Chrome development team providing additional insight into their reasons behind the product:
If you want to learn more just stay tuned to the blogosphere because there is no doubt Google Chrome will be on the top of many blogs for a while; especially with the inevitable add-ons and upgrades coming for the platform. Here is a link to my personal news feed for any news directly from the search engines themselves - check it out and feel free to use it as your touchstone.
| | So Long Yahoo Mash
Including features that are commonly found on other networks like Facebook and MySpace, Yahoo Mash was Yahoo's beta attempt at the Social Networking scene.
 I have to ask the question "where have I been?" It was not long ago that I reported on the demise of Windows Live Expo, a classified ad platform that I had never heard of until its doors were closed. Now, I hear of the loss of Yahoo Mash, another entity that, well, I didn't know existed until I read a twitter post from Lee Odden noting that its shutting down.
As of Sept 29, just a few short weeks from now, Yahoo Mash will no longer exist (according to the official Mash Blog. The post does not go on to note the reason for the closure, but does state that if you wish to retain any data within your account, you'd better grab it before Sept 29, because after then, it will be gone forever.
I may not use every program, application, and web entity out there, but I do like to think that I at least know of the existence of the important ones. Maybe that's the key, "important"? But, for me to have not even heard about Yahoo Mash, not even through the grapevine, this shouts out that Yahoo Mash was a failure for a reason, nobody knew about it, likely the same reason for the death of Live Expo.
Perhaps the "invite only" access was a killer right from the start, or perhaps the beta never really worked as they had planned, who knows, but had they done more to get the word out, Mash may have been the next big thing since potatoes.
by Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO | | Ad Views: MySpace Surpasses Yahoo
According to Reuters, MySpace saw more advertiser ad views in June than Yahoo! Yahoo may be the second biggest search engine on the planet, but when it comes to advertising it saw 34.7 billion ad views compared to MySpace which saw 51 billion views. (figures are from a press release issued by ComScore last week).
 Yahoo does have the power to draw more revenue out of their ads and still leads MySpace in terms of revenue. Typically in the realm of social media, ad impressions do not necessarily equal dollars.
"Social media gets all these ad impressions but not necessarily get the dollars," said Colin Gillis, analyst at Canaccord Adams. "MySpace's cost per thousand (CPM) page views are significantly lower than that of Yahoo", he said.
Back in June MySpace unveiled a redesign of their home page which has opened to doors to larger sponsors such as Wendy's and Sprint. While it is too soon to say that MySpace has overtaken Yahoo in the ad wars, this definitely shows that at this rate, they aren't far from it. Look out Yahoo!
by Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO | | Microsoft Acquires Ciao
 The Ciao shopping and price comparison sites, operating in seven European countries and languages, will now be the property of Microsoft. This follows the deal reached between the software giant and Greenfield Online, operator of Ciao, for $486 Million.Ciao allows users to create lists of their favorite items, rate products, and provide feedback. Microsoft plans to incorporate Ciao into its Live Search portal in Europe.Microsoft's VP for consumer and online products, John Mangelaars, said in a statement: "Integrating Ciao's capabilities into Live Search will provide a strong launch pad for our commercial search offer in Europe and enhance our e-commerce offering on MSN,"
by Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO
| The Net Reality: Brayden's Net Travels
Plenty of web news items to talk about this week:
Firstly, the winners are in for Best Global Designers of 2008. As you may expect, Americans cleaned up; yet, Europe and Asia didn't do too shabby this time.
Canadians celebrated their own web stars with PICK 20: the first and only national roundup of Canada's Web 2.0 pioneers and practitioners. Web 2.0 is defined as "the use of emergent online social platforms to link individuals to each other and, increasingly, to connect companies to partners and clients". (In other words, they want to celebrate Canadians who develop new forms of Social Media.)
Reported data breaches are up this year, so protect your identity! Apparently, the alphabet determines who gets the most spam. (Sorry, Adam Avery and Amanda Andrews, too bad your name isn't Zoe Zander.) Google Earth has got many nations concerned about potential security breeches (I guess they figure terrorists might Google them) and the internet may end up getting its very own bill of rights. (Why hasn't this happened sooner?)
Land-line business may soon go the way of the Dodo, as cell phone dominance continues. Yet, that might not be so terrible. Seeing as how cell phones have so much in common with the biological systems - according to the WINSOC project (hmmm, WINSOC. Hope that's nothing like INGSOC).
And following up on cell phones, the iPhone Girl has become an internet celebrity. (I guess goofing off at work has an upside.) Soon, your morning job will be all you need to power your cell phone. A company, by the name of M2E Power, claims they have the rechargeable battery of tomorrow.
Blue Ray technology's life-span may end up being a short one due to the popularity and flexibility of streaming media. Getting fat while sitting at the computer can be combated with some practical tips for getting fit. Robot fish may soon swim in a body of water near you.
For all you twitterers out there, a new tool is available: Twitter Grader. This one lets you grade how engaged a twitter user you are. (No, I don't get it either.)
Doctors can now see your heart beat in real-time from the outside. "The new unit includes an expert system and clinical database, allowing it to recognize patterns in your data, and perform new measurements automatically."
And finally, Microsoft's latest browser allows users to surf the net without leaving a trace. (Cookie free surfing, here we come.)
By Brayden Reger, Sales Associate | | | | | | | | Top Web Marketing Articles from StepForth
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