Blogs

Google Chrome: fast browser, slow on the uptake

November 2, 2009

internetThe launch of the Google Chrome browser a little over a year ago brought with it a mountain of hype and expectations, with some suggesting it could be as instantly disruptive and beneficial as Gmail was to the webmail market.

After all, here was Google opening another front against Microsoft with a big and bold move, and also turning into a competitor to its close partner Mozilla, maker of Firefox, the darling browser of techies worldwide.

Juan Carlos Perez | Read more...


Happy 40th birthday, the internet

October 29, 2009

Internet & BroadbandWhy do we today celebrate today - October 29 - as the internet's 40's birthday? Because on this day in 1969, what would later became known as the internet was used for the very first time - and crashed.

Here is what happened. The first network had four nodes: the first at UCLA, and the second at Stanford Research Institute. The other two - at the University of California-Santa Barbara and the University of Utah - were not yet installed.

David Coursey | Read more...


Web 3.0: the shopping centre web

October 26, 2009

InternetIf Web 2.0 was the two-way, user generated, cool internet, Web 3.0 will be the era of post-search rationalisation. The shopping centre web. The big brands are taking over.

It may not be cool, but it's the way it's going. And it's the web we made ourselves.

Matt Egan | Read more...


Website aims to stop office tea-round chaos

October 23, 2009

Internet & BroadbandWhen it comes to office life, there's one activity guaranteed to put even the most confident of employees on edge. No, I'm talking about your appraisal, or even the day the big boss comes to visit - I mean the tea-round.

It's a minefield for even the longest-serving employees, and can make or break a new starter's chances of cementing friendship with other office members - whether it's felt that you don't pull your weight and make enough rounds, or that you're too stingy or enthusiastic with the milk. The tea-round has even caused the occasional gripe at PCA towers.

Carrie-Ann Skinner | Read more...


YouTube in review: the history, hits and misses

October 17, 2009

Online videoYouTube has celebrated the third anniversary of its acquisition by Google with the announcement that it's now streaming a full billion video views a day.

Most, I assume, consist of cats playing music and teenagers dancing awkwardly. Still, a billion views a day is nothing to say "Numa Numa" to. YouTube has come a long way in a short time - evolving much, you might say, like the dance moves shown in its most viewed video of all time.

JR Raphael | Read more...


What's your favourite social introduction website?

October 16, 2009

Internet & BroadbandWe're looking for recommendations of romantic, dating and social introduction websites. Help us out and you could win a great prize.

Let us know where you go to meet that special someone, whether it's one of the more famous sites or somewhere more obscure, and try to explain what's so good about that particular site. Is it easy to use, free, full of great people to meet or just the site you're used to?

David Price | Read more...


Is Google too big for the internet's good?

October 16, 2009

Internet & BroadbandGoogle is popular. There's probably not an internet user who hasn't accessed its services for search and mapping, and Google has even achieved the distinction of turning its name into a verb. But enormous popularity and global reach place an unexpected burden on the search giant: when it goes down, the entire web is shaken.

That's exactly what happened on Thursday, May 14, when Google suffered a major failure. A routing error sent traffic to servers in Asia, creating what Google called "a traffic jam". No kidding. According to the company, 14 percent of its users experienced slowdowns or outages. Many accounts put the number of those inconvenienced quite a bit higher. And we can't even guess at how many people were seriously put out by subsequent outages including the Google Gmail failure last month. But this isn't the day to beat Google up or fret about the implications Google outages have for cloud computing.

Bill Snyder | Read more...


Slash and Berners-Lee

October 13, 2009

Internet & BroadbandThe inventor of the worldwide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has revealed in an interview that he wishes he had slashed the double-slash, used in all URLs, in the first place.

In an interview with The New York Times, Berners-Lee points out that paper and trees could have been saved if people had not had to write or type out those slashes on paper over the years - "not to mention the human labour and time spent typing those two keystrokes countless millions of times in browser address boxes".

Jasper Spadley | Read more...


Facebook and its Google-esque social dominance

October 13, 2009

FacebookNew figures reveal that Facebook gets almost 59 percent of US-based web traffic among the top social networks. And Facebook's dominance of social networking is so complete that those figures aren't even shocking.

Metrics firm Experian Hitwise recently released its social networking website traffic report for September 2009, measuring a total of 155 online destinations. While Hitwise comes to some unsurprising conclusions, like Facebook's prominence, the report does make some interesting suggestions. By the numbers, Facebook looks like it really is the Google of social networks, but MySpace may offer more activities, and Twitter is proving impossible to measure.

Ian Paul | Read more...


Bing vs Google: is Microsoft losing its grip?

October 2, 2009

Steve BallmerDon't look now, but Microsoft's search engine may be starting to lose its momentum. Following a few months of modest growth, the search engine formerly known as Live seems to be reverting toward its pre-Bing levels.

According to some new data, Bing's market share slipped downward in September, marking the first blip in what had been a very slow but consistent climb for the recently rebranded site.

JR Raphael | Read more...


Medion Akoya E3211 13in laptop

October 2, 2009

Medion has launched the Akoya E3211 - a 13in laptop with a CULV processor to ensure a lengthy battery life.

Medion says the Intel Pentium SU2700 CULV (consumer ultra low voltage) processor will add as much as four hours usage to the netbook.

Carrie-Ann Skinner | Read more...


Google Wave: Holy Grail or another disappointment?

October 1, 2009

Google WaveGoogle Wave is another grab for the Holy Grail of collaborative computing. But will it be more successful than previous attempts?

Whenever you see something compared to Lotus Notes, as Google Wave has been, you know to expect an uphill slog. Add a comparison to Microsoft Groove, which I haven't seen but seems reasonable, and you can expect deep trouble.

David Coursey | Read more...


Happy birthday Google. I can't live without you

September 29, 2009

Internet & BroadbandGoogle turned 11 yesterday, and it's hard to believe the company is so young. Long ago it became its own verb and permanently etched itself into internet culture. Now, with its many offshoots, Google is an institution.

Nowadays it's hard to imagine where we'd be without Google. Here are five reasons why I cannot live without it.

Brennon Slattery | Read more...


Twitter earns $100m, but loses wow factor

September 28, 2009

Internet & BroadbandTwitter is the talk of the web at the moment, with word that its latest round of funding could be worth as much as $100m. That would bring the company's total value to a whopping $1bn.

But not all is well in the world of microblogging. Despite the added attention directed toward the service lately, it looks like its once-unstoppable growth may have started to slow. So what's going on?

JR Raphael | Read more...


Bonkers broadband and call centre hell

September 24, 2009

Internet & Broadband"If you know your account number, are calling from the moon, and can recite the words to the second verse of the national anthem, backwards, press 1. For all other enquiries, press 2, get a duvet and settle in for the duration." Call. Centre. Hell.

I'm about to move house. Dutifully, I've given my phone, broadband and TV providers four weeks' notice of this fact, in the hope of enjoying total connectivity from day one at the new country pile. Fat chance.

Matt Egan | Read more...


Facebook drops Beacon, hopes nobody notices

September 23, 2009

FacebookWhat type of tech news is released late on Friday, long after most bloggers, reporters, and readers have signed off for the day? Bad or embarrassing news, of course. In Facebook's case, the news concerns Beacon, the controversial people-tracking platform that the company rolled out in 2007.

Privacy activists and ordinary users who were uncomfortable with the prospect of Zuckerberg et al monitoring their digital footsteps - even when they're signed out of Facebook - will be overjoyed at the news that Facebook is finally about to kill off the last traces of the program, which a few partner websites are apparently still using.

Ian Lamont | Read more...


The Beatles really are bigger than Jesus

September 22, 2009

Internet & BroadbandIf John Lennon was alive today, he could be safe in the knowledge that just 43 years after proclaiming to the Evening Standard that The Beatles were bigger than Jesus, Google says they actually are.

It was March 1966 when Lennon caused uproar by telling the newspaper: "I do not know what will go first, rock'n'roll or Christianity... we're more popular than Jesus now."

Carrie-Ann Skinner | Read more...


Wacom Drawtweet app

September 18, 2009

Wacom has launched a doodle-sharing app for users of graphics tablets and cordless pens. Drawtweet shares doodles on Twitter.

Graphics tablets and pens allow users to draw and write on the tablet then save them files direct to their PC. The Drawtweet application, which works with the Bamboo Dock, can be downloaded on to a PC's desktop. Images drawn using a graphics tablet and pen can then be shared with followers on the micro-blogging service.

Carrie-Ann Skinner | Read more...


Microsoft Bing can beat Google. Here's how

September 18, 2009

Microsoft BingMicrosoft Bing is making progress in its bid to dislodge the reigning search leader, Google. But Bing faces a long, steep road ahead if it's ever going to beat Google. Here's how it can do it.

Bing was the fastest growing search engine for the month of August, metrics firm Nielsen says. Bing expanded by 22.1 percent to claim 10.7 percent of the U.S. search market. Google also grew, by 2.6 percent to take a 64.6 percent market share, while Yahoo continued its decline shrinking by 4.2 percent to hold a total of 16 percent of all US-based searches.

Ian Paul | Read more...


What's your favourite price-comparison site?

September 18, 2009

Internet & BroadbandWe'd like to hear your recommendations of price-comparison websites. Which ones do you use, how effective do you find them and what's the most you reckon you've saved by doing so?

We're just as interested in mainstream and obscure sites - the main thing is that you tell us why you'd recommend the site in question.

David Price | Read more...


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