Google Chrome for Mac and Linux leaves beta

The title Pretty much says it all, Google Chrome for Mac and Linux has left beta and I have to say I'm pretty happy.

I used Chrome for about 3 months when it first came out in beta for Mac and was instantly blown away by the speed. More importantly for me it didn't use anywhere near the resources Firefox uses, however even when features like the bookmark manager and extensions started to appear, it still felt very much like a beta release (even for Google)
Eventually the speed couldn't save it and I went back to Firefox.
Funnily enough today as my leg was cooking with the seemingly random 98% CPU usage in Firefox I loaded up Opera and then Safari.
10 mins of browsing later fate steps in and I find out that Chrome has left beta.
I have to say so far so good.
With Chrome looking so good and Firefox becoming a serious CPU hog, Mozilla will really need to step up its game if it doesn't want to be beaten to 30% market share by Google.

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Source [The Google Blog]

3D Porn: Making the 'money shot' far more frightening

I can't say I'm a fan of 3D.

• You have to wear ridiculous glasses
• If you have a friend, they too have to wear ridiculous glasses
• In most cases it adds nothing to the experience
• It gives me a headache like DLP 

Unfortunately with the release of the first 3D porn flick 'Kama-Sutra' from European porn director Mark Dorcel, it seems the technology is hear to stay.

Google I/O Day Two: Google TV

So is this Marty Mcfly Junior's vision of T.V. realised??

Kind of...

Google I/O Day Two: Froyo

Didn't I tell you day 2 would be better??

Ok First up Froyo, What's new?:

Google I/O Day One: It's all about Day Two

So Google IO has kicked off and day 1 is a little disappointing, here's the rundown:

• Google Wave goes public, dozens rejoice.
• Latitude get's an API: Gets serious about location
• Google Buzz also gets an API, Seesmic and TweetDeck integration imminent.
• Google opens up the VP8 codec in the form of 'WebM' for 'truly open' web video, h.264 & Flash cry.
• HTML5 mass adoption cements future of internet salvation
• Chrome Web Store (for chrome) opens it's doors in dev channel, destined for Android convergence...maybe. 
• And according to Larry Page, if your Android device isn't lasting a full day then there's "something wrong"

Yes it all points to a friendly open web, where we can all hold hands and talk about how great life is when we all work together, however it isn't quite as exciting as the rumoured Google T.V. and Android's latest release Froyo.
It seems the shop stoppers will definitely be making an appearance tomorrow, however for now you can watch the opening days keynote here.

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Who says Games aren't Art?

Our friends over at That Guy's a Maniac (including yours truly) are doing a themed week exploring the memories of gaming incidents that have inflicted both emotional and physical pain.

While the 'Games as Art' debate remains unsettled, there can be no doubt that emotions portrayed in these posts were very much real.

The theme continues all week, check it out here

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Froyo: Quick as a Flash

Well well well, what have we here?

A couple of things actually:

Thing the first:

We have Adobe's Flash running very nicely indeed. In fact so nicely that it looks completely useable. While there has been a lot of debate around the future of Flash and it's relevance in a future HTML5 dominated mobile world, one thing that can't be ignored is that while Flash indeed may be one day usurped by HTML5 (especially for video), the reality of today's web is that Flash is everywhere.
So until the HTML5 utopia becomes a reality, yes I want Flash on my mobile browser and yes I want it to run well.
Given Steve Job's recent open letter of condemnation and in particular this line, Adobe must be feeling pretty good right now:

 "We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it."

Well you have now Steve, so how about putting it in the iPad and living up to that self appointed 'The best way to experience the web' moniker.

Thing the second:

It's Froyo baby

Sure there is a new App launcher, tutorial and Global Search bar, but I'm way more interested in the findings of the Android Police that are reporting with the new JIT kernel in 2.2 (Froyo) that the Linpack benchmarking tool is showing a 450% increase in overall speed over 2.1 (Eclair) on the Nexus One. This would certainly help to explain why Flash is running so well and will hopefully be an indication of the kind of performance boosts other Android handsets may receive.
However, I doubt the the patient Hero users out there still waiting for a (now Q2 release) 2.1. upgrade will be as excited.

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Yahoo in denial that Google Owns my Soul

Yahoo spent $85M dollars on this ad campaign, man someone should have really told them about iGoogle
They also mock the fact that you go to Google's minimalist homepage 'so you can leave' which to be honest is exactly what I want from a search engine, one that knows exactly what it is without trying to be everything at once. Yahoo by contrast is saturated with information and intrusive flash advertisements.
If however information overload is your thing, iGoogle at least isn't littered with annoying flash ad's and is completely customisable.
Yahoo seems to really be on the offensive at the moment (at least in theory) as the CEO Carol Bartz recently criticized Google for 'only being known for search'
Sure google is synonymous with search, but it seems like every day Google is releasing something new.
When you consider:

• Google Doc's
• Google Maps
• Gmail
• Wave
• This Blog
• Chrome
• Android

Not to mention future initiatives like Google TV, Chrome OS and Recorded Future, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a part of my life that Google isn't in.

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Facebook security causing trouble for Opera Mini?

It seems facebook doesn't play well with Opera mini, at least at first.
A security feature from facebook which locks out your account on mobile devices if it detects 'an unfamiliar location' and directs you to a desktop browser to prove your identity is causing problems on the mobile browser. This security feature is all fine and well, even quite prudent, however one of Opera Mini's selling points is it's server side decoding and compression of webpages. This of course results in the above image stating i was kicking it on facebook in Norway (Opera are Norwegian)
It seems that after verifying Norway as a 'familiar' location the two services co-exist peacefully now, however I'm not sure to what extent facebook would have locked down my account, if (like most people) I hadn't known about Opera's server side compression.
With the current uptake of Opera Mini at the moment, i suspect many users are being locked out of their facebook accounts, hopefully to no greater extent than I was.

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How should you vote on Thursday?

Having watched the majority of tv debates over the past few weeks, much has focused on the dreadful state of the public purse and the huge deficit our children and grandchildren will be paying back in the decades to come. This is quite rightly at the forefront of everyone's mind. But one area of the economy that hasn't been subject to tv debate is that of the digital economy.

Twitter for Android: Robots like to share too.....

  ...yanno as long as you have Android 2.1...




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