Google has announced that it will launch what it’s calling the Chrome Web Store as a place for developers to showcase their various web-based applications.

The potential tie in certainly makes Chrome OS that bit more appealing

The idea of a web apps store is an interesting one, given that so very many web-based applications are either free or have free counterparts undercutting them. It’ll be interesting to see if Google app store style arrangement can tempt people into paying for web-based services they might not normally have considered. TechCrunch reports that, for the moment at least, Google says the store isn’t quite ready to be shown off, but there are still some very interesting questions raised by the idea of a Chrome Web Store.

Continue Reading

Dutch open source developer Maya Posch has moved to build a version of Firefox that includes technologies not bundled with the main releases due to concerns over patented technologies.

We'll be curious to see the differences between the two...

According to a posting to Slashdot, one of the most notable differences between the two centres around the fact that the standard build of Firefox has so far opted to stick with open source solutions for HTML5 video, namely the Ogg Theora codec. By contrast, the alternate browser, named quite simply Wild Fox, simple offers H.264 decoding. Thanks to the fact that patent rules vary the world over, there are plenty of countries in which technologies that may be distributed vary, and that’s a fact that Wild Fox aims to capitalise on.

Continue Reading

In what sounds like an overly-officious move to us, Germany’s top criminal court has ruled that those who fail to secure their wireless connections by password, in order to prevent unauthorised people from using their web access to illegally download data, will be fined up to €100.

Those crazy Germaniacs, hope they haven’t left the wifi unsecured while they’re out on the town.

“Private users are obligated to check whether their wireless connection is adequately secured to the danger of unauthorized third parties abusing it to commit copyright violation,” the court said.

Continue Reading

You Tube has finally gotten around to rolling out its redesign to the world at large, moving from a long running opt-in beta test affair to a more unified site design.

Smart move, changing everything on April Fools Day...

YouTube announced at the beginning of this year that there was a fairly heavy-duty bit of work being done on its video service that would see the page redesigned substantially so that the various pages that users encounter (between browsing profiles, their own homepages and videos) would seem more like one big service, rather than a series of pages with different layouts. It’s a bit of a shift, and one that does indeed help make things seem a little more uniform, but it’s also fairly likely that there will be complaints about the new look for YouTube.

Continue Reading

It seems that Facebook is planning to roll out its “like” button to the rest of the web, offering other sites the ability to boast a little more Facebook integration.

Facebook is fast becoming a Google level of scary

It’s an interesting move, and one that could well strengthen Facebook’s position as a practical filter through which people access web content. Indeed, statistics have already shown that some sites see significantly more traffic from Facebook than from search engines, as people are more likely to visit content that’s been shared by a friend using Facebook’s “share” button (which content producers can already add to their own pages to encourage interaction across the social network).

Continue Reading

Microsoft’s browser ballot approach in the EU seems to be doing very well for the smaller browsers out there, with Opera seeing its user base grow with the introduction.

If nothing else, it's a very interesting development...

While many have questioned the need for a browser ballot at all, it seems that, for those who had lodged complaints with the EU commission in the first place, things are working out very well indeed. Opera, the “smallest” browser of the ‘Big Five’ included in Microsoft’s browser ballot, has done very well for itself out of the whole business, with what it’s calling a “dramatic uptake on downloads,” with Microsoft’s Browser Ballot page sending the vast majority of new users its way.

Continue Reading

It seems that Amazon has taken to heart negative comments about the web browser bundled with its Kindle ebook reader line, and is now looking for people to develop a new version of the browser.

A new browser would only make the Kindle a more attractive prospect...

The word of the new development on Amazon’s Kindle browser comes via Amazon’s own job listing for developers, who it’s hoping will be able to develop “an innovative embedded web browser” for a piece of consumer electronics. Certainly, that description makes it sound very much like the Kindle is looking for a new web developer.

Continue Reading

It seems that the tried and tested method for users who have forgotten their passwords, the “security question” or, as it’s sometimes known, “secret question,” could well be the weakest link in online security.

The whole 'secret question' thing has always seemed a little strange...

According to research carried out by a team from the University of Edinburgh, one in eighty accounts could be broken into if attackers were given three guesses at the answer to a security question. Indeed, this number is even higher than the researchers had initially supposed, which in itself is fairly worrying. Indeed, the more you look into the research, the worse things get.

Continue Reading

Microsoft is fast moving into the cloud with its various web-based services, and its CEO, Steve Ballmer, knows it could be a risky move, describing Microsoft has “betting our company” on the cloud.

I was going to post a picture of Ballmer, but I did that yesterday

Indeed, with the upcoming release of Microsoft Office 2010, and its free-to-use web-based versions of Word and Excel, it seems that Microsoft is very much moving towards the cloud. According to a report from PaidContent, Ballmer indicates that this is a move that’s been partial until now, but is to become a total shift towards the cloud. Ballmer seems of the opinion that we’re moving towards a world in which products like Microsoft Office aren’t offered with cloud-based options, but as cloud-based services.

Continue Reading

Microsoft has finally put the finishing touches to its browser ballot page for Windows 7 users to choose a browser when they first boot a machine with the operating system.

Microsoft's browser ballot screen seems to have shaped up very well indeed

The “browser ballot” as it’s come to be known was the result of a long running investigation by the EU commission into allegations that Microsoft’s browser, Internet Exporer, being tired into its near-ubiquitous Windows operating system constituted an anti-competitive act. The case took some interesting turns before Microsoft opted to go with the browser ballot option though.

Continue Reading

A “startling” number of web professionals are currently using pirated software according to new research. The report, which comes via web design mag, .Net Magazine and UK web-hosting giants, FastHosts, saw 500 designers and developers surveyed, with just a shade under two thirds (59%) reporting regular usage of unlicensed software.

The report points out that unlicensed software can be a “false economy”, with users facing bugs and not able to lean on support services – and that it is employers who need to take a fresh look at their budgets.

Continue Reading

Opera, not content with being the lightweight browser in the mobile space for not-so-smartphone users, has shown off a version of its mobile browser built for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch.

This will go down well with the Apple people

While it might seem a relatively straightforward move to make if you’re already in the business of making mobile browsers, Opera moving to get an app onto Apple’s App Store could well be fraught with issues. The fact is that Apple seems not to allow any app through it’s by now infamous App Store approval process that’s seen to “duplicate an existing function of the iPhone,” the very excuse it used to not block but hold Google’s Google Voice app in “review” for so very long (indeed, it remains in “review” limbo to this day).

Continue Reading