Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Google Chrome

REPORT: Google Chrome Passes Internet Explorer As The Top Browser

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:41:22 +0000

Google Chrome has surpassed Microsoft Internet Explorer as the most used browser according to a report by Statcounter. Chrome took the lead over IE last week. IE is now #2 followed by Firefox, Safari, and Opera. Android Robot has also become the most popular option for mobile based web surfers in March as well. It is nearly impossible for data to be 100% accurate when it comes to measuring web browser market share. Usually it is decided based on small measurement surveys. Regardless, Google Chrome’s growth and adoption rates are undeniable and it is coming at the expense of Firefox and IE.

Mozilla and Google Concerned About Windows RT Not Supporting Chrome and Firefox

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:53:53 +0000

Windows RT (RT is for runtime) will be a version of the Windows operating system for ARM device like tablet computers with a touch screen interface will only run software available through the Windows Store or included in Windows RT. Google and Mozilla are not happy with this because they believe that they will be locked out. Mozilla said that Microsoft is preventing them from bringing a competitive version of Firefox to Windows RT. Other browsers will not get the same access to the same operating system abilities that IE10 gets. Google has also given their opinion on the issue in the statement below:

We share the concerns Mozilla has raised regarding the Windows 8 environment restricting user choice and innovation. We’ve always welcomed innovation in the browser space across all platforms and strongly believe that having great competitors makes us all work harder. In the end, consumers and developers benefit the most from robust competition.

According to Mozilla spokesman Asa Dotzler:

First, Microsoft has a browser that runs in Classic mode on Windows ARM. They are not allowing us that same access to run our browser on Classic. Second, Microsoft has a browser that runs in Metro mode on Windows ARM that has access to rich APIs that they are denying to third-party Metro browsers on Windows ARM. So, we are denied the ability to deliver any browser on Classic, and we are denied the ability to build a competitive browser on Metro.

Google and Apple have both allowed other browsers on Android and iOS. Firefox and Opera Mobile are among the browsers available for Android. Opera Mini is on iOS devices, but they do not have their own browser engine so it uses Opera’s servers to render websites.

Google Chrome OS Looks More Like Windows and OS X Hybrid Now

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:18:59 +0000

Google has updated Chrome OS and it has a massive visual upgrade that makes it look a lot more like a hybrid of Windows and OS X. Previously it look like a more advanced version of the Google Chrome browser.

The new version of Chrome OS is code-named Aura. It looks like a traditional desktop operating system with stacked windows, a task manager, and an app launcher. Aura has support for hardware acceleration, which means that it uses the GPU instead of the CPU for tasks that are intensive. Google said that the new framework will offer “large-scale animated transitions and effects.”

Aura will not be available as an update for the Cr-48 Chromebook prototype, but it will work on the Samsung Series 5 and Acer AC700 Chromebooks.

Internet Explorer Gains A Bit Of Market Share In March

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:05:03 +0000

Microsoft Internet Explorer’s market share has been on the decline for the last few years, but it has gained a bit more market share in the last month according to research from Net Applications. When Internet Explorer is measured by Net Applications, it includes all of the versions. IE gained a full percentage point in the past month and it is now sitting at 53.83%, which is the highest level since September 2011. Firefox and Chrome each dropped less than a percentage point to 20.55 and 18.57%, respectively. Note: Net Applications recently tweaked their method for measuring browser usage, but it is unclear whether this would shift favor for IE.

Google Giving Away $1 Million For Hackers To Find Flaws In Chrome

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 06:33:30 +0000

Google is passionate about how secure their web browser Google Chrome is. The search engine company is also paying a reward to keep their browser secure. Google told attendees at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver that starting next month they will offer $1 million in cash and Chromebooks in exchange for finding some flaws.

“The aim of our sponsorship is simple: we have a big learning opportunity when we receive full end-to-end exploits. Not only can we fix the bugs, but by studying the vulnerability and exploit techniques we can enhance our mitigations, automated testing, and sandboxing. This enables us to better protect our users,” said the Google Chrome security team in a blog post.

Here is how the prizes are categorized:

$60,000 – “Full Chrome exploit”: Chrome / Win7 local OS user account persistence using only bugs in Chrome itself.

$40,000 – “Partial Chrome exploit”: Chrome / Win7 local OS user account persistence using at least one bug in Chrome itself, plus other bugs. For example, a WebKit bug combined with a Windows sandbox bug.

$20,000 – “Consolation reward, Flash / Windows / other”: Chrome / Win7 local OS user account persistence that does not use bugs in Chrome. For example, bugs in one or more of Flash, Windows or a driver. These exploits are not specific to Chrome and will be a threat to users of any web browser. Although not specifically Chrome’s issue, we’ve decided to offer consolation prizes because these findings still help us toward our mission of making the entire web safer.

[Google Chrome Blog]

Google Starts Rolling Out Chrome Browser For Android

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:25:44 +0000

Google has now created the Google Chrome browser for Android. The app that Android has been using up until now was simply called “Browser,” an open-source based browser that was decent. For a certain number of people, the Google Chrome browser is now available on Android devices.

The Google Chrome browser has a “stack” system for collecting and sorting websites. Tabbed browsing on larger screens is supported. The stacks allow you to organize pages on a phone or tablet. The Google Chrome browser on Android has an “incognito mode” for hiding browsing history.

Tabs and bookmarks can be synchronized among various devices and desktops using a single Google log-in. Chrome works only on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and it is in beta mode. The Chrome browser on Android is an upgrade from the standard Android browser and it will roll out to newer Android phones and devices as it becomes more stable. You can download the beta version from this link: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.android.chrome

Aaron Wall Discovers Google Appears To Be Sponsoring Paid Chrome Links: “This Post Sponsored By Google”

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:34:46 +0000

Aaron Wall of SEO Book has written a blog post about how a simple search for “This post is sponsored by Google” returns over 400 pages of results as part of a marketing campaign for the Google Chrome browser. This is surprising because Google has discouraged bloggers to be “influenced” to write about specific services or products. My guess is that Google hired a PR company to market Google Chrome and may not have been aware that these bloggers were being paid to promote Chrome.

In Google’s Webmaster Tools Help section about paid links, they have written about how “Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results.” However Google said that links purchased for advertising should be designated by adding a nofollow tag to the link.

Danny Sullivan pointed to a that was pointing directly to Google Chrome’s download page, but that article has been deleted now.

In the past Google penalized JC Penney, Forbes, Overstock, and BeatThatQuote for manipulating the Google PageRank algorithm. Google had also penalized Google Japan’s PageRank score for 11 months for reportedly buying blog posts in a promotional campaign.

Google Chrome Update Now Has Multiple User Profiles

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:42:52 +0000

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has updated the Google Chrome browser to support multiple profiles. Google has been testing this feature for quite a while now, but now it has been added to the latest stable Chrome build.

There is now a feature called Sign in to Chrome, which was previously known as Chrome Sync. You can find this option within the browser’s wrench menu.

“Signing in to Chrome lets you take your Chrome stuff with you, so you can always have your personal Chrome experience on all of your devices,” stated Google. You can use multiple user profiles on Chrome which I recommend using for your personal account and business e-mail if it is an option.

Every user profile contains bookmarks, sites visited, saved forms, and passwords.

[9to5Google]

Google Chrome Is The Most Secure Web Browser [STUDY]

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:33:09 +0000

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has something to be proud of. Google Chrome is now the number two most used browser in the world and security research company Accuvant named Chrome the most secure browser out of the top three.

“Both Google Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer implement state-of-the-art anti-exploitation technologies, but Mozilla Firefox lags behind without JIT hardening,” said Accuvant in their study. The Google Chrome plug-in security and sandboxing architecture have been implemented in a more thorough and comprehensive manner according to the study.

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was ranked number two due to their deficiencies in implementing sandboxing and JIT hardening. Firefox came in third because they have no implemented these two key features together. The study also found that the average patch time for Chrome was 53 days whereas Firefox was 158 and Internet Explorer was 214 days.

The interesting part of this study is that it was funded by Google themselves. Despite this potential conflict of interest, I still like the Google Chrome browser the best myself. It has been the fastest for me and it has rarely crashed for me. Microsoft Internet Explorer and Firefox crashed on me all the time.

[Forbes]

Rough Times Ahead For Firefox As Google Deal Expires

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 07:29:40 +0000

Mozilla Firefox has been rapidly losing market share ever since Google released a browser called Chrome. Mozilla has also lost a lot of their enterprise customers. On top of that, Google’s contact with Mozilla is expiring. Google supplied Mozilla with 84% of their revenue.

Firefox’s market share plunged from 25% to 22% and Chrome rose from under 5% to over 18% in the last two years. Firefox has been accelerating the development of their browser and has been neglecting their enterprise customers lately.

Mozilla’s biggest source of income has been their search deal with Google. That deal expired in November 2011. However Mozilla has partnerships with a number of search providers that differ by market. It is unconfirmed whether Mozilla is renewing their deal with Google, but they said that “We believe that search providers will remain a solid generator of revenue for Mozilla for the foreseeable future.”

In 2010, Mozilla made $123 million revenue and 84% of it came directly from Google. If Google does not renew, then Mozilla will instantly see $100 million in revenue drop. When Google signed their three year partnership with Mozilla in 2008, Google Chrome was still nothing more than just a project.

More details to follow once we find out whether Google renews or not.

[ZDNet]