Just a Memo

As I was trying to confirm my hunch about Chrome and the Pokemon ball looking the same, I ran into a search result in Flickr which led me to Cole Henley’s image above. Awesome. I am not alone^[1].

1. Although, I don’t know about the Simon Says part but it wouldn’t hurt. [↩]

As announced in their blog yesterday, Google released its open source web browser today at 12pm PDT. It is called Google Chrome (Beta). It was built with the help of components from Apple’s WebKit and Mozilla’s Firefox, and some others. It is only currently available on Windows; though they are working on the Linux and Mac versions supposedly.

I took it for a quick test run earlier and I can say its fast and “minimal” as to what they say. Although most of the key features are already in Firefox, I do like the “crash control“. Here are the ones that have been highlighted:

• One box for everything - Web search. Web history. Address bar. Suggestions as you type. One unified box serves all your browsing needs.
• New tab page - Every time you open a new tab, you’ll see a visual sampling of your most visited sites, most used search engines, and recently bookmarked pages and closed tabs.
• Application shortcuts - Use web apps without opening your browser. Application shortcuts can directly load your favorite online apps.
• Dynamic tabs - You can drag tabs out of the browser to create new windows, gather multiple tabs into one window or arrange your tabs however you wish — quickly and easily.
• Crash control - Every tab you’re using is run independently in the browser, so if one app crashes it won’t take anything else down.
• Incognito mode - Don’t want pages you visit to show up in your web history? Choose incognito mode for private browsing.
• Safe browsing - Google Chrome warns you if you’re about to visit a suspected phishing, malware or otherwise unsafe website.
• Instant bookmarks - Want to bookmark a web page? Just click the star icon at the left edge of the address bar and you’re done.
• Importing settings - When you switch to Google Chrome, you can pick up where you left off with all the bookmarks and passwords from your existing browser.
• Simpler downloads - No intrusive download manager; you see your download’s status at the bottom of your current window.

So after giving it a spin, would I use it in my daily workflow? Not quite yet. As noted, it is still in Beta and only available to the Windows-user demographic. It will be interesting to see where it goes for sure, or how people react to it as it approaches more and more to mainstream. That, and how Google would market it with their other applications and services.

That being said, I overheard through the grapevine that Google’s intention for releasing this is due the fact that Mozilla Firefox makes 85% of its revenue through Google Search. It does makes sense though. Whether that is totally true or only partial, its still a good idea if that’s the case. Why make someone else money when you keep that money for yourself—right?

Another question that came to mind was: is it bad for everyone else, the everyday users? Not quite… yet. Unless everyone has been following Google’s blog, or are technically savvy and keep track of Tech news, the reach of Google Chrome’s release would most likely be by word of mouth between those in the Tech industry (for now). But when it does make its stake in the browser market share, it can be bad and good at the same time. Bad, that there will be another browser to add to the list to support and care for by websites. And good, that it can be the one true browser to rule them all^[1].

Update
Kevin Purdy of Lifehacker.com recently released some Beta Browser Speed Tests earlier today comparing IE 8b2, Firefox 3.1b and Google Chrome 0.2. There are 3 important findings from his tests:

1. In terms of startup time, Chrome wins. On a cold start^[2], Firefox leads the pack. However, on a warm start where the browser has just been closed and reloaded, Chrome surprisingly takes the decisive lead.
2. In loading JavaScript & CSS, both Firefox and Chrome are near half of that of IE’s.
3. Last but not least, with regards to memory use, Firefox is undoubtedly the winner. But this might be arguable as can be noted in Chrome’s feature set. That is, its ability of “crash control” which makes each tab load its own process, rather than a sole Chrome process like that of IE and Firefox.

1. Will there ever be one? I really don’t think so. That’s what’s good and bad about Technology, there’s always improvement to be done and it is widely open for everyone to innovate. [↩]
2. Referring to a computer that just has been turned on or restarted. [↩]

With the recent announcement of SF Reverse Engineer, Mike Perry, intending to release his Gmail Account Hacking Tool to the public, there is no better time than now to secure you Gmail connection by using the Google’s provide SSL.

To do so, do the following:

1. Click on SETTINGS (top-right of the Gmail page). It will look something like this:

   

2. Scroll all the way down, or try to find “Browser connection”
3. Select “Always use https”, and the “Save changes”

   

You might have to refresh/reload your Gmail page. To verify, you may look at your Address Bar and it should similar to the following:

You will also notice that the browser window’s SSL connection icon has been enabled/locked. In FireFox, its on the bottom-right of the Status Bar.

Do note that if you are also using Gmail via Google Apps for work, or what have you, forcing SSL connection is currently not available. But alas, Google does have it on their to-do list last month. Hopefully, they can see the urgency and add it on sometime soon due to Mike Perry’s announcement.

But for now, you can just manually change the URL from having “http” to “https“. Or, if you are using FireFox (which you should), you might grab this Greasemonkey plugin called GMailSecure. You will just need to add your Google Apps’ Gmail URL to its “Included Page” list under GMailSecure’s options. For example,

http://mail.google.com/a/company-domain.com/*

Further reading about this subject can be done via Webmonkey’s article, Why You Should Turn Gmail’s SSL Feature On Now.

I hope that helps.

piclens.com

Be sure to check this visualization plugin (for most “modern” browsers). It gives a nice way to navigate through photos (i.e. flickr, google image results, etc.) and videos (i.e. youtube). Not too shabby indeed.

Thanks goes out to Mik for the link.

spreadfirefox.com/worldrecord/

Sounds like a good deal, right? All you have to do is get Firefox 3 during Download Day to help set the record for most software downloads in 24 hours - it’s that easy. We’re not asking you to swallow a sword or to balance 30 spoons on your face, although that would be kind of awesome.

By the way, the official date for the launch of Firefox 3 will be posted here soon - so check back! Join our community and this effort by pledging today.