Google has released the beta version of a new browser, Chrome. In its comic-book pre-announcement, Google stated correctly that watching videos, chatting, and even playing Web-based games didn't exist when browsers were first invented. For the user, Google wants the browser to disappear and to focus on the applications and pages users are viewing, rather than on the border with its tools, and such. Google has rethought the Internet browser--some of its basic underpinnings are quite novel--but users will recognize some features as they exist in other, open-source browsers on the market today.
At the moment, only the Windows version of Chrome is available for download. Plans call for Mac OS X and Linux versions in the near future. That said, Google has released Chrome in 43 languages and in 122 countries.
Chrome is based on the open-source project Webkit, the same rendering engine used by Apple Safari. If a page renders in Safari, it will render in Chrome. Webkit is also the basis for Android, Google's mobile platform, so it seems that Google is planning to use Chrome in mobile environments.
For more details, see the Chrome First Take on CNET.
The interface in Chrome is very different from other browsers and takes a little getting used to. Instead of the traditional Netscape/IE-style toolbar across the top, Chrome uses tabs. Moreover, the tabs are detachable, so the terms "tabs" and "windows" become interchangeable within Chrome. Detached tabs can be dragged and dropped into the browser, and tabs can be rearranged at any time.
(Credit: Robert Vamosi / CNET)
As has been repeatedly rumored, Silicon Valley legend Marc Andreessen will be taking a seat on Facebook's board of directors. In a press release issued Monday afternoon, the veteran entrepreneur--co-founder of Netscape, former CTO of AOL, and now co-founder of social site Ning--was announced as the board's fourth member. He'll join Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as well as two of the company's early investors, Accel Partners' Jim Breyer and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, now of the Founders Fund and Clarium Capital.
"Marc is an industry leader, and we're fortunate to have him join our board," Zuckerberg said in the release issued Monday.
Not surprisingly, the 24-year-old hopes that Andreessen can act as a sort of Obi-Wan Kenobi figure. "He has experience that is relevant to Facebook in so many ways: scaling companies that are experiencing extraordinary growth, creating successful technology platforms, and building strong engineering organizations. I know Marc will be a great mentor to me and our leadership team," Zuckerberg said.
Perhaps most interestingly, Facebook's release refers to Ning as "a complementary platform to Facebook." When rumors began to swirl about Zuckerberg wanting Andreessen on his board of directors, some critics suggested that he'd have a conflict of interest as co-founder and chairman of a potential rival. But Ning is more a Web 2.0 spin on the discussion forums of old (say, 1998), allowing members to create micro-niche communities centered around discourse. Facebook, for many, is the 21st-century edition of an address book: highly effective at what it does, but centered on maintaining connections rather than letting interest groups flourish. Facebook's own "Groups" feature, for example, is very stripped-down compared with Ning.
And it doesn't look like Andreessen sees Facebook as the competition either. "Facebook is one of the most innovative companies on the Web and it's an honor to join the board," he said in the statement. "I'm looking forward to helping the team as Facebook continues to grow."
As great as it is to have tools like Firefox and Thunderbird, backing them up can be a tedious process. MozBackup is a tiny program that makes saving and restoring all your bookmarks, extensions, and other personal settings a streamlined and stress-free experience.
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Normally we don't report acquisition news, but this one is pretty interesting. MSNBC has scooped up social news service Newsvine for an undisclosed amount. Both services are based out of Seattle and have been in talks for the last five months. Newsvine will continue to operate independently and serve up a mix of professionally produced and user-generated content, remaining a separate brand and entity from MSNBC.com. But content from Newsvine users could be making its way onto MSNBC.com in the near future.
This is a really solid deal for both parties. Newsvine and its users get a potentially larger audience with original stories being promoted to MSNBC's front page, and, at the same time, MSNBC gets a hotbed of writing and content from a fervent Newsvine user base. In its announcement, the company also quietly noted that the service would actually be better due to the hosting improvements provided by MSNBC compared to their currently "cost-conscious" setup.
Newsvine users shouldn't be too worried about listing the "indie" feeling of Newsvine though, contributing newsmakers to the service will actually have a potentially larger audience than before considering MSNBC.com pulls in a staggering 29 million unique visitors a month.
The acquisition of Newsvine marks one of the latest buy-outs of a social news service since Reddit in late 2006. While other corporate "answers" to popular social news services like Digg and Slashdot seemingly flounder (like Propeller.com, formerly of Netscape.com ilk), Newsvine is a different breed. Instead of submitting links and having a hundred or so characters to write out their opus, Newsvine is centered toward citizen journalism, and rewards its users with revenue sharing and story promotion that is bound to go up with this potentially larger audience.
For more, see the story on CNET News.com
Of all the days to relaunch its Digg clone, Netscape has funny timing. Propeller, the new face and name of the otherwise identical social news service, went live today. As we wrote about earlier this month, Netscape.com now redirects you to the cobranded AOL/Netscape start page that serves up a regular assortment of news stories and links, along with plugs for Propeller. Netscape.com and AOL.com users also get a new box with five of the most popular stories on Propeller.
The news comes the same day as a huge overhaul to Digg's user profile system. A move that brings in a handful of social networking and bookmarking features to the popular social news site.
Already previous users of Netscape.com seem pretty happy with the move, although there were scattered reports of some having difficulty logging in with their Netscape credentials. On a side note, a Propeller user dug up the domain history of Propeller.com, noting it's been owned for 4,567 days--making it more than 12 years old.
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CNET Networks)
Well that was quick. Just a few days after Netscape's announcement that it was shelving its social news service away from the hallowed Netscape.com domain in place of what is essentially AOL's front page, the service has already been given a new name and URL. It's called Propeller.com (link dead ends right now), and that's about all Netscape's Director Tom Drapeau was willing to divulge about the rebranded site in his announcement post on the official Netscape blog.
The new logo is arguably well done, but what's missing here are some details about any tweaks or changes to the rudimentary functionality of the site, and what really separates it from Digg besides a layer of editorial funneling. If it's just a new logo and domain, Netscape has an uphill battle ahead in attracting new users, even with the free traffic that's bound to come from whatever promotion or integration it gets with the new portal site--which in my guess is going to be far fewer free eyeballs than Netscape got before.
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CNET Networks)
Jason Calacanis' personal project, Netscape's Digg clone, has officially closed up shop. When it was initially introduced, Netscape drew a lot of criticism for the site's similarities to Digg and for trying to bribe its top users to switch over to Netscape.
There have been rumors of Netscape closing down the site for a few weeks, but now it's official. On Netscape's blog, Tom Drapeau noted the reason for the shut down as being that, "...we specifically heard that our users do have a desire for a social news experience, but simply didn't expect to find it on Netscape.com." Going forward, Netscape will be focusing on a more traditional portal site, which can be found here, but will apparently also be releasing a new social news portion of its site.
So, goodbye, Netscape social news. It was a valiant attempt, but you just can't buy strong communities.
Firefox is the second most popular browser on the Internet, and with good reason--it rocks. Want to try out some specialized versions of it? Here are six flavors of Firefox, ranging from Mac-centric all the way to bird-themed music jukeboxes.
Firefox Campus Edition
The Campus edition is the most recent of the branded/sponsored/partnered Firefoxes. There's nothing particularly special or amazing about this version of Firefox that's different from the regular one, besides a bundle of extensions and add-ons that give Firefox a notably "social" feel. Campus edition ships with a trifecta of extensions, including Zotero, StumbleUpon, and Foxytunes. Clearly the most useful one of the bunch for education is Zotero, a note-taking tool that lets you collect sources while doing Internet research. StumbleUpon and Foxytunes remain in the entertainment realm.
Firefox eBay edition
Firefox eBay edition actually came out before the Campus edition, but the idea is similar--it's just Firefox with a smattering of themed add-ons. In the case of eBay edition, you get an integrated eBay sidebar that lets you keep track of your profile and any auctions you're watching. Likewise, you get an Alert Box tool, which will let you know if you've been outbid. These are solid tools if you're a heavy eBay user, and if you're already a Firefox user you can download an extension bundle that gives you the same functionality. Also coming soon for eBay buffs: an eBay buying and selling application that runs sans browser on Adobe's AIR platform.
Netscape Navigator 9
Don't let the name fool you--Netscape 9 looks and plays just like Firefox. It even works with Firefox add-ons and extensions. So what's the big difference? For one, the browser shares tight integration with Netscape's social bookmarking and news site, along with some cool tweaks such as URL correction and built-in integration to Netscape mail. We took a look at the service when it launched in early June.
Flock
Flock is probably the most specialized of the customized browsers built off of Firefox. It calls itself the "social" browser, which is somewhat true, considering Web browsing is almost always a one-person affair. Flock ties into several social Web services, like Del.icio.us, Flickr, and Technorati. There's also a customized way to bookmark content you like, using a starring system similar to that of Gmail. If you find anything you like, give it a star, and you'll be able to come back to it quickly without having to bother saving it to your bookmarks folder. Similar to Netscape Navigator, Flock will still work with most Firefox extensions, although some are unsupported and can cause instability.
Songbird
Songbird is probably the most experimental browser of the bunch, in the sense it's not really a browser as much as a music player. The service is still built with Firefox technologies, and lets you browse the Web as you would on Firefox. The easiest way to explain it, is that Songbird is a marriage of your Web browser with a music jukebox of the likes of iTunes. If you run into any page that includes music files, Songbird will pull them out and let you listen to them in any order you want with its built-in player. The service is still growing and adding features on an almost daily basis. While stable it may not be at all times, it's a great way to mix browsing the Web with other activities.
Camino
Camino (formerly known as Chimera) is an open-source Web browser that uses Mozilla's Gecko rendering engine (the same used in Firefox) to create a Mac-optimized browsing experience. At first glance it doesn't seem too different from the Mac version of Firefox, but there are a handful of Mac-centric additions, such as using the operating system's built-in Cocoa programming environment, a dictionary application for spell check, and the use of OS X's key chain application instead of Firefox's proprietary system to save site passwords. If you really love your extensions, don't ditch Firefox for this, but if you'd like to use some of your native Mac services, Camino makes for a great secondary to Safari or Firefox.
Yesterday Netscape released a public beta of their new Navigator browser, and brought back the "Navigator" moniker. Firefox users will feel right at home, as the browser has been built off the same architecture and even works with Firefox extensions. Netscape has introduced several neat new features with version 9 that I think make it a fairly compelling browser choice.
The first thing users are likely to notice is the integration with some of Netscape's services. Users of Netscape.com, Netscape's redesigned start page that features user-submitted, and ranked stories by its users (similar to other social democracy sites like Digg and Reddit) get full integration with news stories and their site mail. When reading any story, anywhere, the browser will "phone home" to see if the link has been submitted to Netscape.com. If it has, users will get a graphical menu in the address bar that lets them vote on the story, or jump straight to the comments. If it hasn't, there's a "share" button that will take them straight to the submission page.
If you're visiting a page that's been submitted to Netscape.com, you can vote or discuss it. If it hasn't, you can submit it to the service.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Another feature, and one users aren't likely to notice until they make a typing mistake, is URL correction. This will automatically fix spelling or punctuation mistakes like typing "con" for "com," or forgetting a "." somewhere. This is a little detail that most people aren't likely to notice until it fixes their mistake automatically.
One new feature that's sure to quietly become valuable to power users is the option to resize forms. Say you're writing a long e-mail or filling out a blog entry. When it gets to the point where you need to scroll to look over your work, you can just grab the bottom edge of the form and drag it down to make it larger. This can be incredibly helpful in forms where you simply aren't given enough room to see what you've written.
Netscape has included a handful of other new features, like a mini browser within your browser (for viewing sites side by side), a sidebar for Netscape's News Tracker service, and a special drag-and-drop sidebar for saving and accessing bookmarked links. Navigator has also been given a face-lift from version 8, with smaller and cleaner buttons.
Ultimately, Netscape Navigator 9 is just a specialized version of Firefox, akin to other niche efforts such as Flock. I can't recommend making the switch from Firefox to Netscape Navigator 9, unless you're a fervent user of Netscape's services. That being said, those users are going to enjoy this browser quite a bit, as it's been tailor-made to enhance their browsing experience.
Single page aggregators, also known as personalized home pages, can be a helpful way to keep tabs on your favorite Web content without having to visit each site. With nearly all of them able to display content from popular Web sites, choosing one comes down personal taste. We've run down some of the most popular aggregators, citing what works and what doesn't.
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CNET Networks)
My.Netscape relaunched today, providing users with an Ajax-driven drag-and-drop interface to add and customize newsfeeds. There are about a hundred premade feeds to choose from. If you want to add a site that's not on there, you can plug in the site's RSS feed. See also Google Personalized Home Page and My Yahoo, which offer nearly identical functionality.
What works: No ads, quick loading content modules, simple to use.
What doesn't: A limited selection of add-ons, lack of visual customization.
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CNET Networks)
YourMinis is a page aggregator that feels a little bit like Mac OS X's Dashboard with tons of customizable widgets that are both beautiful and useful. YourMinis lets you create several different pages full of content, which can be navigated using tabs or by viewing each page in a live thumbnail preview. You can also share your customized page with other people, who can then rank and comment on it. Previous coverage here.
What works: Gorgeous design, easy to use, tons of widgets to choose from.
What doesn't: The pretty widgets can't be popped out on the desktop.
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CNET Networks)
Netvibes is the most popular single page aggregator. With its popularity comes easy availability of modules for any site you're likely to be looking for. Like YourMinis, the look of your Netvibes page can be fully customized, even down to how wide you want each column of modules to be.
What works: A large catalog of sites to choose from, simple and slick design.
What doesn't: Sometimes slow to load.
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CNET Networks)
Pageflakes provides similar functionality to Netvibes and YourMinis, but places more emphasis on community-created pages. These are pages with preset modules that can be added as new tabs on your Pageflakes interface. They provide similar utility to what you would get using meta-aggregator sites like Original Signal and Popurls. Watch our interview with Pageflakes CEO Dan Cohen here.
What works: Fast-loading and dead simple to use.
What doesn't: Some of the community content could be sorted better. Foreign language items are mixed, and there's not a way to browse by genre, which can lead to confusion.
