Like I said in my article on Browsers, we have one Google Chrome advocate here in the office that will defend his browser of choice no matter what. Well today has been a good day for the guy. Chrome is now in third place for browser choice in the United States.

Chrome has been growing nonstop since it was released back in September of 2008. So much so that somewhere between June 21^st and the 27^th Chrome passed up Safari browser for third place in the United States. Chrome has managed to gain 9.31% of the United States market share in browsers putting it ahead of Safari’s 9.16%. Internet Explorer still sits comfortably in first with nearly 51% market share in the U.S. and Firefox in second with 29%. Worldwide, NetMarketshare reports that Chrome is in third over Safari by a solid three percentage points (7% to 4%).

Dell may want to jump on Chrome’s bandwagon after this news. Google’s browser strives to be fast, secure, and simple. And like any other Google project, Chrome has tons of add-ons and extensions to make your browser personalized to only you. Some of the most popular include Google Translate, RSS feed in the toolbar, and a URL shortener. An update to Chrome 5.0 became available for Macs, Linux, and Windows just a few days ago, June 24th, 2010. The update may give some reason to why the browser surpassed the third place contender so suddenly. Chrome shows no signs of slowing in growth.

I have always thought the U.S. was one of  leading countries (if not the number 1 country) when it comes to the Internet. Maybe it’s because I was raised with this sense of national pride and so my country should be the best in everything we do. Back in 2000, the U.S. was ranked third in the world in Internet speed according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Now, a decade later, we have fallen into the number 15 slot because of our slow moving Internet connections and lack of wireless enthusiasm.

A few countries who currently sit above us include Germany, Iceland, South Korea, Denmark, and Hungary. The Federal Communications Commission is proposing to spend $16 billion over the next ten years to hopefully help our ranking. The FCC also said they would give out $100 million worth of high speed internet to U.S. homes. And not just any high speed internet, the same as is being used in Japan and Portugal right now.

It’s amazing that we have dropped so far behind our peers, especially since we used to be up there with the big hitters. Another test run by a Seattle based service called Speedtest.net found that the U.S. ranked 29^th out of 178 countries, this time behind others like Ukraine, the Netherlands, and Bulgaria.

BusinessWeek reports that 91% of Americans say they are satisfied with the speed of their Internet, and yet four out of five Americans do not know the speed of their Internet. So, I guess you really don’t know what you’re missing out on until you’ve seen other possibilities.

With satellite radio and DVD players already in cars, the next best thing to come to the roadways is the Internet. As if drivers need one more distraction behind the wheel, Ford has announced plans of bringing Wi-Fi to its cars.

Japan has successfully used Wi-Fi in cars since 1997 and has seen a drastic improvement in traffic and gas mileage. So bringing this concept to the United States could provide some major advantages on roads. Ford won’t be the first to provide the cyber world in motor vehicles; they will actually be joining BMW, Chrysler, and Mercedes-Benz. However, Ford is approaching the idea in a different way. They are proposing to let customers plug their own modems into cars. But to make some money, Ford will also have the option of a dealer-installed system. The dealer system will costs about $200 after a $200 mail-in-rebate, and then $29 a month for the Internet service and will create a 300 feet-in-diameter circle of Wi-Fi around the car.

 Having Internet in cars will provide many luxuries like music streaming from your personalized radio station on Pandora, access to up-to-date gas prices, 3D imagery when getting directions, not to mention e-mail access, Web surfing, and so on. The long-term goal of having Internet in cars is to allow car-to-car communication. A car-to-car connection could allow real time traffic reports or even a braking warning when approaching a stop.

 The cars of the future (like in Back to the Future or Minority Report) are becoming more attainable. Cars more intelligent than some humans. Can’t wait.

The Internet is a huge reference source full of information on any topic. A tool that helps sort through all the confusion of the different news information is called an RSS feed. RSS feed stands for “Really Simple Syndication,” or “Rich Site Summary.” The RSS feed is a tool that delivers constantly updated information, like in a blog or news source, to a reader. Any new blog article or news story is sent to your feed in an RSS feed reader like NetVibes or Google Reader. When you choose to use an RSS feed, you’re really deciding between hunting out your own news and gathering up the news that is sent your way.

Receiving RSS feed verses going out and collecting news has be a long debated topic here at Keystone. Jamie Holland, Keystone’s leading Graphic/Website Designer, compares the opposing ideas of an RSS feed to the difference between having multiple P.O. Box’s and a regular mailbox. Holland is one of the few here at Keystone who prefers to not use RSS feed, instead he checks his favorite Websites daily for updates that he might find interesting.

Why do some people choose to seek out their own news when they can have it delivered to themselves? Or why do people sort through all the news sent to them in an RSS feed when they can check their favorite site, knowing they will find something that interests them?

It almost sounds like a question of laziness. Those who go out looking for news are taking more initiative than the other guy who reads over his RSS feed? But the reality is both people are sitting at a desk, moving nothing but their hands and wrists. So it’s a big fat no to the question of laziness.

Convenience is the answer! The convenience of having something delivered is what an RSS feed satisfies. I mean, most Americans get food conveniently delivered to their car window at least once a week. Yet, others could argue that when you find a reliable Website, it may be more convenient to go directly to the source as opposed to sifting through articles of other sites only to be disappointed.

We could go on all day. Basically, it is a natural instinct to identify as either a “hunter” or a “gatherer,” in every aspect of life. To be a “go getter” or a laid back “roll with the punches” sort of person. Amazing how your personality might affect your everyday decisions.

Google has announced their newest, coolest, and biggest project yet. To keep up with the tough competition (Microsoft), Google is now entering the operating system field. Google Chrome Operating System is the newest idea in the works.

Like Windows or Linux or MacOS, Google Chrome OS will be a host of applications, coordinating activities between programs and users. Google says that the operating system will focus on speed, simplicity, and security. One goal in the security of the OS is to achieve an underlying security system hidden from users, allowing users to avoid viruses, malware, and security updates.

Believed to hit stores in the fall of 2010, Google Chrome OS will be for PCs only. The new OS will be built around the relatively young Google Chrome browser that was released in December of 2008. The baby browser has already attracted more than 30 million users, claims Google. By centering the OS around the Google Chrome Browser, Google is aiming to redefine the operating system. They are trying to keep the real focus in mind, Internet use with as few obstacles as possible. Google says in their announcement, “the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web… It’s our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.”

Google has already been thought of as a huge force in the Search Engine world, maybe we’ll be talking about them in the OS and computer making business in a few years. The possibilities are endless!

Hopefully you have heard the news of the death of Michael Jackson. It’s pretty hard to miss. But one thing you may not have heard on celebrity gossip news is his dramatic increase in sales.

Michael Jackson had 2.7 million sales in the entire year of 2008. That may seem like a big number, but since his death back on June 25^th, he has had 2.3 million sales! Talk about a difference! In one week, Jackson’s sales almost reached the amount of sales in one year. This arises a question; where will all the revenue from these sales go? Even today, the day of his memorial service, 80 movie theaters across the country are showing live feed of the service. Where will the profit from those shows go? Just two weeks ago, Michael Jackson was well in debt and it took his death to put him in the black.

You will agree that this record breaking amount of sales in one week is only possible because of the Internet. Online marketplaces are the epitome of instant gratification. They have taken the traditional theory of a marketplace and turned it virtual. Not only is it more convenient because you don’t have to leave your home to go to it, but the marketplace of the Internet also utilizes its virtual nature. 

As the writers of the great show Gilmore Girls wrote in their character Logan in the last season of filming, “This is the real dot-com renaissance. Everything’s changing from the way media is sourced to the way we buy things to what we buy. All the restrictions of the brick-and-mortar retail mall are gonna be a thing of the past… It’s way beyond Amazon and eBay now. It’s kind of like what’s going on with these simulation games, like ‘Second Life’ or ‘World of Warcraft.’ Actual currency is being exchanged for virtual goods,” (Kirshner).

Apple has adopted the same concept in iTunes. Yes, the songs you buy took a lot of work and money to create, but each is still only an audio file on your computer- a virtual item. Amazing sales rates, such as those of Michael Jackson, can only be attained with the help of the Internet.

China is one of the last communist countries in our world along with Cuba, North Korea, Laos, and Vietnam. Known mostly for their trade relations with the United States, the Chinese have become one of the top thriving technology sources in the world. The Chinese government recently passed restrictions for all computers in the country, announced to take effect last Wednesday.

The restriction called for all personal computers in the country to be sold with software called Green Dam Youth Escort. Computer producers worldwide started installing the software for computers going to China hoping to meet the deadline, July 1. Some companies feared scrutiny from the media in their home countries for enabling censorship in China, something that happened in America in 2006.

The government claims that the software is needed to keep children from looking at inappropriate sites on the Internet. They also claimed that Google was promoting sites of such inappropriate nature back at the end of June. On June 24^th and 25^th Chinese citizens were blocked from the Google main page and the Chinese version at google.cn.

Hours before the restriction was to be enforced on Wednesday, July 1, the government announced a delay in the new computer requirement. A government official said that the plan would be carried through eventually and that it is only a matter of time. However, no new deadline has been set for the restriction.

It might be hard to believe, but could this have been due to pressure put on the government? An honest answer may never be revealed.

Firefox seems to always be striving to keep up with their big rival, Internet Explorer. With the release of Internet Explorer 8 just 3 weeks ago, Mozilla returned with an updated version of their current browser, now called Firefox 3.5.

The Mozilla Web browser is second most popular in the world, even though Firefox has the market share of about half that of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Firefox 3.5 has adopted a lot of the same features as Internet Explorer is so well known for. A new tab feature allowing you to manage your tabs easier than Firefox 3. Also like Internet Explorer, Firefox 3.5 offers a Private Browsing feature allowing you to conceal all history, cookie, search information, etc. for a particular site like your were never there. You can also manage your history much easier on the new Firefox by offering easy to use select history erase. Probably the most talked about improvement of Firefox 3.5 is its speed. Because Mozilla created a new JavaScript engine, they claim it has improved Firefox’s speed times three from Firefox 3 and times ten from Firefox 2.

Being available for Windows, Mac, and Linux gives Firefox a leg up on Internet Explorer (which is not available for Mac users). The new Safari 4 claimed 11 million downloads after just three days. Today, Firefox 3.5 hit 4.3 million downloads and still rising. That might seem like a huge number but Firefox has seen much bigger before. When Mozilla launched Firefox 3, it received 8 million downloads in the first 24 hours setting a world record.

Mozilla has done a great job at keeping up with its competition, but the new Firefox 3.5 isn’t much different from Firefox 3. Speed, privacy, and tabs are really the only new features worth talking about. Only time will tell if this new version is as great as Mozilla claims.

The internet is starting to appear more and more common in our lives these days. If you need the show times for a new movie, you can turn to the internet for a list of times. If a plant of yours is being eaten by a mysterious bug, you can turn to the internet for a remedy. Even if you missed your favorite TV program and didn’t TiVo it, you can go to Hulu or TV.com to watch the episode at your convenience. But would it be surprising to find out that it costs more to advertise on The Simpsons online than on regularly broadcasted television? Well, that statement is true. A difference of $20 to $40 per one thousand viewers is found between an online broadcast versus a television broadcast.

Online advertisements run for about $60 per thousand viewers on average. As opposed to the $20 to $40 charge per thousand viewers on a television broadcast, this seems a little ridiculous. However, online ads are more expensive because of less allowed advertising time and guaranteed viewing. The average advertising time for an online show is about 37 seconds. That is nothing compared to the 9 minute average for television. Also, once a viewer has clicked on an online episode, that viewer is guaranteed to watch the episode. Now I know that some people may get bored in the middle of the particular episode, but when you want to watch something online you typically know what it is that you want to watch and you seek it out. This process gives some assurance that you will watch the show and the ads embedded in it, instead of changing the channel while the commercials are on.

If all these numbers hold true, why don’t advertisers switch over altogether? This hasn’t happened yet because the internet still isn’t the most used source of show viewing. With other resources like TiVo, DVR, and even timers on TVs, online viewing is a long way from being the most popular form of viewing. March Madness, for example, attracted about 7.5 million viewers online over the entire tournament. Compared to the 17.6 million viewers of the championship game alone on regular TV, the internet was a small opponent.

It may be possible for online viewing to be the default way to watch shows one day. But that day is still very far in the future.

Are you a photog?  Do you take digital pictures and upload them to Flickr to share with the world?  Did you ever wish that someone would come along and see one of your pictures and instantly think you deserved money for it?

Well, your dreams are about to come true.  Maybe.

Actually, it would be more accurate to say that your dreams now have a better chance of coming true.

In a long-awaited deal, Flickr is partnering with Getty Images to help their amatuer photographer users get their photos licensed.

From the article:

“Under a partnership announced this week, Getty’s editors will peruse Flickr to find pictures that may appeal to newspapers, magazines, book publishers, advertising agencies and other businesses.  Getty will then contact photographers who posted shots with sales potential to see if they’re interested in licensing the pictures.”

Oh, you’ll have to split your profits on the pictures licensed 50/50 with Getty Images, but that seems pretty fair considering they’re doing all the legwork to get your pictures noticed.  I mean, it was money you weren’t going to make before, right?  So it’s all gravy.

This is going to be hugely popular with Flickr users, who are already a pretty passionate bunch.  I also think it will drive some photographers to Flickr from other similar sites.

Just don’t expect all your photos to be selected for licensing.  In fact, I’m betting a very small percentage of users are going to make money.  But it’s a fantastic way for some phenomenal-yet-undiscovered shutterbugs to get noticed.