So Google Chrome has now been available for download for a number of months now, so you’re maybe thinking that isn’t particularly new information. However, what a lot of people don’t realise is that there is a 3 stage process to a Beta release:
Stable
Developer
Final Beta
The latest version of Chrome is supposed to be considerably faster than it’s predecessor, it’s unique user interface is now packed with additional features. One of the features I thought was particularly nice was the ability to view tabs of pages side by side. This is great when I’m in the office and I’m working from a single monitor, or using my laptop as it allows me to view multiple pages simultaneously, and relatively easily.
After taking a quick look on YouTube we found loads of videos where users had screen captured their experiences with Chrome, and demonstrated some of the nicer features. Here is a video showing a few of them:
Whereas I don’t think Chrome will be my primary browser just yet, it’s showing a lot of potential and is slowly catching up with Firefox (for me personally - not worldwide!) in terms of it’s likeability. The latest version of Chrome is available for download (for free), so if you haven’t tried or heard of it yet, give it a try. Additionally, if you have an older version of Chrome make sure you update to the latest version. A lot of bugs have been ironed out, and the speed improvements are a big plus.
YouTube has recently made the decision to block nearly all of its music videos to UK visitors, after failed negotiation attempts with British Royalty collectors for the PRS (Performing Rights Society) for music. Both are holding each other to blame for this decision, but they are still hoping to come to an urgent agreement.
The result of this decision is going to leave a great number of users in the UK very disappointed, and is one of the key key selling points to YouTube’s service. However, Patrick Walker of YouTube said that their hands are simply tied by PRS, and that all videos will be blocked until they can strike up a new contract that is “economically sustainable” for both parties.
Patrick Walker said:
“But PRS is now asking us to pay many, many times more for our license than before,” he wrote. “The costs are simply prohibitive for us - under PRS’s proposed terms we would lose significant amounts of money with every playback.”
YouTube isn’t the only company that has struggled with licence agreements in the UK. The popular music genome project “Pandora” also blocked UK viewers after being unable to afford the licensing costs.
When PRS were asked to comment, they seemed more interested in talking about how much revenue YouTube were making per quarter than actually explaining the justification behind their changes in costs. PRS most likely want to increase their costs because they see how much money YouTube is making with their videos. What they must also consider is that YouTube is a great service for the music industry, helping to get as much exposure as possible to their artists. If the videos are removed from YouTube permanently, then users will go elsewhere and often to illegal downloads where both parties will miss out on money making opportunities.
Despite spending most of my working week sat in front of a computer, I have been spending much of my saturday on my laptop in my front room. While searching for some new fonts, I noticed that ALL the websites shown in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) had the warning “this site may be harmful for your computer”. One of the websites in the list was well known to me, so I knew that it was safe to continue. This took me to a warning page where I had to paste the link of the page into my address bar, as it wouldn’t let me continue any further.
Slightly perplexed as to why this site had been marked as potentially harmful, I checked Google for a few other keywords. Indeed all the websites that appeared in the SERPs (including my own and some well known sites such as the BBC website, the Met Office etc) all had the same warning. The only sites that weren’t marked included YouTube and other Google owned sites.
So it would appear Google’s algorithm for checking the trustworthiness of a website had temporarily gone down - possibly signalling an update or some downtime. It will be interesting to find out what changes were made and how many people were affected during the downtime.
You may already have seen the advert on TV with Samuel Jackson, but Virgin Media have announced their new 50Mb broadband package! This is made possible by optical fibre cables, but also means that for now this service is going to be limited to just a few based on their area.
So what’s so good about 50Mb broadband? Most people can get up to 8Mb connection speeds, so will you notice a big difference? The answer in no uncertain terms is yes. Check out just a few of these statistics:
- Estimated time for downloading a music album in MP3 format is 11 seconds
- Estimated time for downloading a movie is 3 minutes
- Standard videos such as YouTube can be watched with no need to buffer the video
- HD quality video can be streamed online
- Demanding sites will run super fast
- Online gaming performance will be uncomprimised
The connection also allows multiple users to take part in demanding online activities at the same time within a home. This is something I would have very much appreciated in my student days, sharing a 512Kb connection with 3 friends!
The service starts at just £35 a month, although after using the postcode checker I have yet to find an area that supports the service. I have been offered a 20Mb service as an alternative which is fast, but a bit of a shame after they got me so excited about the 50Mb service. I think it’s a great offering, but it will be a while before we all get to enjoy streaming HD videos online.
In a recent government report, it has been announced that every home in the UK will have broadband (or faster) by 2012. Astonishingly, there is still a high percentage of homes (around 25-30%) that don’t have a PC to date. So what does this mean for the internet? Basically it means that websites can be more media rich, with videos, larger / higher quality images etc as well as a much greater level of interactivity.
However the government opposition has announced that it is very disappointed with the report. The report does not highlight any new actions, and compared to the likes of France which is current laying optic fibres for increased broadband speeds (Japan already has it), the speeds predicted for the UK homes is less than the current average of 3.6Mbps at 2Mbps.
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