Google made their web browser (Chrome) available on the 2nd of September and I have been using it for a couple of weeks now and I thought that a post describing how I find it might be in order.  Chrome, released not that long after Firefox 3, has similar features to Firefox 3 but with a couple of interesting new features.  

I have been reading a lot about it on the net before I actually got onto my machine to download and install it, and I must say that I found the lifehacker blog provided some extremely interesting reading material.  The posts that I found most useful were:

The Power User’s Guide to Google Chrome
Create Separate User Profiles in Google Chrome
How to block ads in Google Chrome
Portable Chrome puts Chrome on Your Thumb Drive

If you are interested in Chrome I would definitely read the Power User’s guide, it is a really good post about the features and functions of Chrome and if like me you have to share a desktop, laptop and life, then the create separate user profiles post comes in really handy!

Initial discussion about Chrome revolved around the privacy issues. Google introduced stricter privacy policies within 24 hours of the release, most of the controversy coming from the wording in section 11 of the terms of service documents (that’s the bit you never agree to but always check the box saying accept). According to the Enquirer google got 1.7% of the market share in the first week of release but that fell to 1% after a week.  

So my opinion…?

• I like its interface, it is totally clutter free and once you learn the keyboard shortcuts it becomes even nicer to use.  It works faster than Internet Explorer (but then what browser isn’t) and in my opinion loads pages at about the same speed as Firefox3 and Safari (no noticeable difference anyway).  
• An interesting option that you can enable on Chrome, say if you are shopping for your significant others birthday present , is the incognito mode.  By pressing Ctrl + Shift + N, Chrome opens up a new browser that will save none of your personal (dubbed by some as “porn mode”).  Interestingly Mozilla is now working on this feature for future releases of Firefox, although there is a plug-in available just now for Firefox 3 called Stealther which basically does the same thing.
• Chrome also gives you the option to open several pages at once when you load it, thus allowing you to have all your sites loaded without having to type them in (lazy, moi?).
• The Opera “speed dial” interface is also a nice touch when you open a new tab.
• I like being able to drag windows out of one browser window creating another.
• The Chrome task manager is very handy, it shows you exactly what you have open and allows you to shut any tabs/pages down very easily (Ctrl + Shift is the keyboard shortcut).  Chrome runs each tab on it’s own process, therefore if one plays up it will not affect the others.
• The create shortcut application (page drop down menu) is also a handy feature for creating shortcuts to the desktop, start menu or the quick launch bar.  Simple but effective option, especially if you have a lot of web based applications that you use all day.

There has been some discussion that this is Google’s first step towards it’s own operating system, here, here, and here.  While researching this story I found this article from Geeks are Sexy – German Government tells people not to use Google Chrome.  The German Government have stated that it is unacceptable to have all internet user information with the same company…hilarious as it is good free advertising for Google!   

I guess for me, I give it the thumbs up, I cannot complain about Chrome or how it performs for me.  I am interested in how the browser develops and whether how long it will be till google cranks out an operating system…

I read an interesting blog post today from Lisa Bettany, who was basically asking the question:

“Do we really need another NEW iPod?“

Apple launched another new iPod flavour yesterday, another nano, that has been re-designed with new features in 16GB and 8GB in a plethora of colors.  It also has the accelerometer built into (like the iPhone and iPod touch) which allows the screen to turn when you turn the iPod sideways (or get this – shake it and it shuffles the music).  This launch coincides with the launch of iTunes8, which comes with a genius feature, but I am digressing away from my point.

Lisa’s article was interesting and I liked the points she made, especially about “50% of recycled computer waste ending up in China and how toxic it is for the workers “recycling it”.  The post also attracted a lot of responses (mine being oneof them).  I get the feeling that she doesn’t feel the world needs another iPod (or iTouch for that matter), and most of her responses agreed with her to one extent or another.

I think you could, and perhaps should, re-interpret Lisa’s question:

“Do we really need technological advances?”

I admit that any release from Apple will have masses of people upgrading and Apple will no doubt make a lot of money from it, but that money (will hopefully) be ploughed back into the development of newer “shinier” Apple products.  Grasping at your iPhone or your iPhone 3G right now?  Do you think that this would have been developed without the iPod?  I am not saying that we should be crazy and buy every Apple product, but I don’t think we should bitch about it when they, as they inevitably will, update the product with better features functions and also make it more recyclable with less toxic crap in it…

Not on the same scale as Apple but the launch of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has been hailed as a success (so far) by the scientists operating the 5billion GBP machine. The LHC is hopefully going to give everyone a better understanding of the universe (although only a few of us will understand it).  It is for projects like this that we require technological advances, or new iPods. 

Some time ago (June) I was invited to test out the beta version of sliderocket. It is described as “a new application that will transform the way people create, manage, and share presentations on the web“. It is basically a better version of PowerPoint on the net, running through Adobe’s Flex platform. Now that I have a couple of days free time I thought I would write a small post on how I have found using it, as there has been a lot of talk about it, here, here, here.

I found that sliderocket provides everything I need to design professional presentations and that it was easy to manage and share libraries of slides and assets. For me being able to manage assets that I use frequently in presentations allowed me to make presentations a lot easier, it took the stress out of hunting through disks for diagrams/photographs etc.  Sliderocket can also search Flickr and Yahoo Images from inside the application and can add images it finds to the asset library, it would be nice if it could also pull assets from istockphoto (using the users istock account)… 

One of the more useful aspects of sliderocket I found was that I could deliver a presentation without being at the meeting (using a speaker phone) but also that I could edit the presentation almost up to the point of delivering it as I need not forward it on ahead of me! This allowed me to work from my favourite place, home.

Sliderocket also provides that sense of security, that you have a backup of your presentation and that you need not worry about what version of PowerPoint the conference facilities have! How many time have you went to a conference and they haven’t had the newer version of PowerPoint that you require? Being able to import PowerPoint presentation into sliderocket made PowerPoint (for me at least) redundant.  This does assume that the conference facilities have a internet connection and lets face it, would you really want to use a location that doesn’t have internet access?  There is also talk of an export to PowerPoint function coming soon…

Anyway, there is a small four slide presentation here, this is obviously a small part of what it can do and how it can change the way you prepare and make presentations.

My morning emails are generally a dull affair with amazon trying to sell me more DVD’s or catching up with the latest news from the new country.  This morning was more of a shock as an avid twitter user based on their UK SMS number.

Twitter is no longer delivering outbound SMS over their UK number, they are still supporting Canada, India and the US.  They have taken this step to cut costs, they suggest that even with the 250 limit on texts this can cost about $1000 a month per user.  Basically the problem being that although you send one text (which you are charged for) it can be replicated to 10 other users (which twitter pays for).   I feel a bit annoyed that they would cut the supply off with no notice whatsoever, but I am more annoyed at the British operators not being able to strike a deal with twitter.

Twitter has posted some good news though (although it is more made up good news rather than actual hard fact good news) “Twitter will be introducing several new, local SMS numbers in countries throughout Europe, in the coming weeks and months. These new numbers will make Twittering more accessible for all the folks who have been using SMS to send long-distance updates through our UK number“.  So no actual hard dates then…and you’re cut off NOW!

They have also posted some alternatives for mobile phones:

Personally I use the betwittered gadget from 32hours, you can stick it into your google home page as well as using the mobile web page.  It is quicker and easier than using twibble mobile…(sorry twibble).

A few choice reactions from the user community:

• Kilobox
• Man with no Blog
• Michael Specht
• Vizekongin (for the German readers amongst us).

So there you have it, August 14 2008, the demise of twitter begins.  It has turned itself from be a useful tool for conversation microblogs into, well, email.  A nice large step back in evolutionary terms.

Recently I have been spending alot of time with a friend that uses facebook quite a lot.  He spent most of last night uploading photographs and replying to people in his profile.  I have never been taken with the idea of facebook for many reasons, in fact the only one reason that interested me to join facebook was so that I could play chess against a colleague more easily, although there many websites that allow online chess anyway. 

I think the attraction to facebook for many people is that it does everything for you, keeps all your contacts, all your photos, does instant messaging and many other applications that you can install into your profile.  It is almost a one-stop shop for the internet.  It allows other facebook people to search for you and you can catch up with those kindergarten friends that you haven’t spoken to since your were seven.

The thing that really interests me is, once you get that request from someone saying “add me as a friend” and you tell facebook how you know this person, how do you say no?   It must be such a slap in the face to people when you say no I’d rather not add you as a friend.  Of course it is also a great way to meet back up with all those people from school and kindergarten… 

For me, if I wanted to hang on to those people as friends I am pretty sure that I would have or perhaps I am just a solitary person that doesn’t need an ego massage by having three thousand, two hundred and ninety seven friends on my facebook profile (if I had one).  I am also sure that having my ex-girlfriends as friends on facebook wouldn’t clear my conscience therefore would not allow me to sleep any easier at night (not that I have trouble sleeping, what with all the whiskey I drink), although messaging Elly Wilkinson telling her that “Hah! Mulder and Scully did get together after all!” would make me smile.  And continually harassing Em Sykes for the 800 pounds that she still owes me would certainly make looking at my bank balance easier. 

The other more intriguing side of facebook that does somewhat alarm me is the connections they have with the Central Intelligence Agency, The Department of Defense and the Information Awareness Office.  The agreement you sign with facebook is also worth looking at: “By posting member content to any part of the web site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, perform, display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such information and content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing”.  In simple terms, when you post it, it’s ours and it better not be copyrighted.  I hear that there is also a clause that allows them to ask which color of underwear you are wearing, but I cannot confirm this.  The first of my two points are well made in the video on this website.

I am impressed by the facebook online community spirit that seems to band people together, I found a few ‘controversies’ in my, erm, ‘research’ of this post.  Amusingly Brody Ruckus started a group with the aim of attracting 100,000 followers.  Why?  The commonwealth times reports that  “his girlfriend agreed to have a threesome if he got to 100,000 group members”.  Apparently Brody got to have his threesome, but if you post images of breastfeeding mums this is classed as “obscene material”, reported here and here.  Now call me liberal but I have no problem with breastfeeding in public places, but apparently facebook has strict guidlines about “obscene material”.  But, hey, they are ok if you are trying to have a threesome…

So to those that have asked me to join facebook so we can keep in touch more easily, I guess facebook is not for me, and I prefer keeping my contacts in outlook, my pictures in flickr and my messaging confined to twitter…but that’s ok.