Microsoft’s IE 9 could soon be the third most popular web browser, in spite of the fact that it’s only available on Windows 7 and Vista.

According to NetApplications figures for browser market shares, published on 1st January, IE9 now has 11.48% of the global market, and is closing in on second-placed Firefox 8, which has 12.28%. However, IE8 remains the market leader, with a 27.43% market share, as measured by logging visits to web sites by personal computers.

The December rankings are skewed because Google is currently upgrading users from version 15 (8.71%) to version 16 (7.07%) of its Chrome browser. Since Google more or less forces upgrades, Chrome 16 should soon have a market share of 16+ percent putting it in second place, ahead of both IE9 and Firefox 8.

Microsoft took a big risk by not developing a version of IE9 for the decade-old Windows XP operating system, which still has a large market share. XP users could easily defect to Chrome or Mozilla Firefox instead of upgrading to Windows 7. However, Microsoft decided to bet on the rapid development of IE9, IE10 and future versions rather than invest in XP, which is clearly in terminal decline.

Source: ZDNet

Google Chrome has now captured some 25.7% of web traffic. Firefox now slightly lags behind with a 25.2% share of the worldwide market.

Measuring such things online is an inexact science, and other analysts offer slightly different assessments. But all agree on the trends, prompting questions over Firefox’s chances of keeping pace with two fiercely competitive commercial rivals.

Google’s only remaining superior in market share terms is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the leader of the browser pack now on 40.6%.

When Google released Chrome in late 2008, Mozilla’s Firefox was the only serious rival to Internet Explorer, and for a year that remained true. Firefox’s market share peaked around November 2009, when more than 32% of web traffic came from its users. Since then the trend has been downwards, at an ever accelerating speed.

The force behind Firefox’s decline is clear enough. Soon after its peak, Google began aggressively promoting Chrome, which had mainly been used by only the early adopters and developers. Its alleged speed advantage was advertised on billboards and television, and crucially, users of Google’s dominant web search engine were encouraged to download and use it.

Google Chrome has finally overtaken Mozilla Firefox to become the second most popular web browser in the world, according to new statistics.

Chrome has only been available for three years, but now has a 25.7% share of the global market, according to StatCounter, compared to Firefox’s 25.2%.

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer remains way out in front with a share of 40.6%, but it’s expected that Chrome will continue to close the gap.

“We can look forward to a fascinating battle between Microsoft and Google as the pace of growth of Chrome suggests that it will become a real rival to Internet Explorer globally,” said Aodhan Cullen, chief executive of StatCounter. “Our stats measure actual browser usage, not downloads, so while Chrome has been highly effective in ensuring downloads our stats show that people are actually using it to access the web also.”

Chrome became the number two browser in Britain in August, although it has a larger gap to close on Internet Explorer than the global average. Some 42.8% of Britons online currently use Microsoft’s browser, according to StatCounter, compared to 45% in August.

Nearly one in four British internet users now use Google Chrome as their web browser just three years after it was launched.

It is now the second most popular browser, overtaking Mozilla’s Firefox and quickly gaining ground on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), the current market leader.

IE’s market share is still falling despite the programme being pre-installed on almost every computer sold in Britain.

According to new figures, Chrome accounts for 22 per cent of the British web market compared to 45 per cent for IE. Apple’s Safari is number four with a nine per cent share.

Chrome is also the number three browser worldwide, with one in five users preferring it, according to Statcounter, a web metrics firm.

Chrome’s growth comes on the back of Google’s domination of the search engine market, which it is led for years.

Google said Chrome’s surge in popularity could be explained by its speed, security and a new national advertising campaign. Chrome was the first Google product ever advertised on British television.

Lars Bak, the Google engineer responsible for Chrome, said the company’s aims was speed. He said users should “never be happy” with existing speed.

Source: The Telegraph

The Google Maps for Android app now includes stop-by-stop transit navigation for more than 400 cities worldwide!

Although it is still in beta mode, Google Maps 5.7 for Android already has over 12 billion miles of GPS-guided driving and walking directions on board.

The app utilises the smartphone’s GPS function to determine the user’s current location along a particular route. After the user inputs the destination, the app will publish alerts about possible transfers and when to disembark.

Google Maps for Android as well as mobile and desktop browsers was updated in June with live public transit information about real-time and scheduled departure times, route maps and service alerts. The full list of cities available using the app can be found here – http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/transit.

Source: ZDNet

Google is planning to break into the business space with new admin tools for its Chrome browser.

While Chrome is slowly growing in popularity, IE still dominates, especially in businesses, large and small. IE8 has the largest piece of the business pie, with a 34.1% slice globally, while IE6 still holds 10.3%, according to Net Applications.

To battle that impressive dominance, Google has unveiled new configuration and deployment tools to make it easier for administrators to roll out Chrome across multiple business PC’s. “We’ve created an MSI installer that enables businesses who use standard deployment tools to install Chrome for all their managed users,” product manager Glenn Wilson and software engineer Daniel Clifford explained in a post on the Google Enterprise blog. “We’ve also added support for managed group policy with a list of policies and a set of templates that allow administrators to easily customise browser settings to manage security and privacy,” they said.

Google also added group policy support to Chrome Frame, the plug-in that lets Chrome run applications that are still dependent on Internet Explorer. The tool could help businesses running Windows XP, as Microsoft’s next browser, IE9, won’t work on the ageing but still popular OS.

The new policy controls are only the first step, Google said. “We have some interesting ideas that we’re working on, including more policies to manage everything in the content settings and authentication protocols, and interesting new ways to deploy policy cross-platform,” said Wilson and Clifford.

Source: PC Pro

Google has for the first time released a version of its Gmail application in the Android Market, in a move that will see the ‘app’ being updated more frequently than ever before.

The email application has been a key feature of Android since the mobile operating system became available in 2008. However, as Gmail was tightly integrated into the Android Operating System rather than available as stand-alone app, it was only updated with each new version of Android. The stand-alone Gmail app announced in a blog post on Tuesday changes all that, while immediately adding new functionality such as Gmail’s Priority Inbox.

“Gmail updates aren’t tied to Android version releases anymore. Now you can get new Gmail stuff faster without having to wait for system updates,” Gmail for Android team members Simon Arscott and Paul Westbrook wrote in their post.

Despite not being tied to the core OS anymore, the decoupled Gmail app released on Tuesday does requires Android 2.2, which is the latest version.

In addition, the Gmail team noted in an update to their post that HTC phones running Android 2.2 are experiencing a glitch with notifications of important Gmail actions. A Google team are now working to fix this.

Arscott and Westbrook also pointed out that the Android implementation of ‘Priority Inbox’, an email sorting system introduced for desktop Gmail at the end of August, is “limited” for now, but will be fully implemented soon.

Source: ZDNET

To find out what Google thinks about your website, perform a “similar” search for your websites domain name.

Enter the following in Google’s search box:

related:www.yourdomain.co.uk/ ~yourdomain.co.uk

For example if I was to check my website I would type the following into the Google search box:

related:www.qbs-pchelp.co.uk/ ~qbs-pchelp.co.uk

If the resulting websites on the search result page are directly related to your website’s content then everything is okay.

However, if the websites are about totally different topics, then you have a problem and Google probably won’t display your website in the search results for the right keywords. If this is the case, you should start optimising your website for the right keywords as soon as possible. I use the Free version of Web CEO to optimise the QBS PC Help website as it helps me choose the right keywords for this site.

Web CEO is free, so there’s no reason not to Download the free edition of Web CEO and give it a try. Of course, there are a few restrictions in the free version but it’s not time-limited and Download the free edition of Web CEOeven the free version of Web CEO is much better than most commercial tools you can buy.

Fourteen hours into a 24-hour experiment with background imagery, Google’s homepage is once again stark white.

Design guru Marissa Mayer confirmed that Google was ending the experiment early due to what she called a “bug”. The bug erased a link underneath the search bar on google.com that explained why Google’s famously spartan home page had taken on a colourful look. Apparently many searchers on Thursday morning missed the company’s blog post on Wednesday, and were confused and annoyed at the change, turning “remove google background” into the seventh-most-popular search on Google on Thursday.

Last week Google announced that it would begin providing its users with the option of setting their own background image behind the home page, but last night it forced an image to appear for all users signed into a Google account to highlight the feature. That didn’t sit well with many grown used to Google’s clean white design, especially when Google’s explanation of why it was forcing this look vanished from the homepage.

It also gave fans of Microsoft’s Bing search engine a chance to crow, given that one of Bing’s most noticeable features is a striking background image behind Bing.com that contains links to searches about the image.

Source: ZDNET

Google’s Chrome browser continued to carve away a share of worldwide browser usage from rivals in May, new statistics show.

Chrome rose 0.3 percentage points to 7.1 percent of share, said Net Applications, which monitors browser usage on a network of Web sites. The statistics reflect activity, not the number of people using a browser, as people load up about 160 million pages each month on sites Net Applications monitors. Because web usage is still rapidly increasing, the absolute number of people using a particular browser can increase, even if its fractional share of usage drops.

The share losses came from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which dropped 0.3 percent to 59.7 percent, and Mozilla’s Firefox, which dropped 0.2 percentage points to 24.4 percent. Fourth-place Safari from Apple rose 0.1 percentage points to 4.8 percent, and Opera rose 0.1 percentage points to 2.4 percent.

The browser market has become hotly competitive with new features being built in to support new Web standards. Even Microsoft, long considered a technology laggard, is back in the game with aggressive work developing on Internet Explorer 9.

Source: CNET

Fake anti-virus software that infect PC’s with malicious code are a growing threat, according to a study by Google.

Its analysis of 240m web pages over 13 months showed that fake anti-virus programs accounted for 15% of all malicious software.

Scammers trick people into downloading programs by convincing them that their PC is infected with a virus. Once installed, the software may steal data or force people to make a payment to register the fake product.

“Surprisingly, many users fall victim to these attacks and pay to register the fake anti-virus software,” the study said. “To add insult to injury, Fake anti-viruses often are bundled with other malware, which remains on a victim’s computer regardless of whether a payment is made.”

More than half of the fake software was delivered via adverts, said Google.

Source: BBC Tech News

Google, BT, PayPal and a number of other partners have launched a campaign to get 100,000 small UK businesses onto the web by the end of the year.

Get British Business Online (GBBO), launched last Thursday, allows businesses to set up a free website by entering basic information about the company. Features include Google Maps business listings, website data via Google Analytics and telephone support from BT. PayPal said it will shortly allow the free websites to accept e-commerce payments.

The campaign is an initiative of core partners BT, Enterprise UK, e-Skills UK and Google. It is supported by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), as well as by PayPal and the Institute of Directors. The partners said they are also working with a number of regional business advice organisations around the UK.

Google UK managing director Matt Brittin said consumers are increasingly turning to the web to find information on local businesses, yet he estimated 1.5 million businesses do not have a web presence. Small businesses tend to view the web as complicated or costly, or do not see the advantage in having a website, he said.

Source: ZDNet

Google released Chrome back in 2008, and although it received a lot of good reviews, it never became widely used… until recently. The update that everybody was hoping for finally happened a couple of weeks ago, with Google announcing Chrome would fully support extensions.
The biggest appeal to Firefox is the extensions – as you are able to completely re-skin, extend and improve. Now that Chrome is copying suit, has it become a genuine contender in the browser market? We believe so, and here’s why.

Google Chrome Advantages over Firefox

Speed – Originally, Firefox was a refreshing change from Internet Explorer and other browsers due to how fast it was. From opening the program to opening web pages, Firefox seemed to have got it right, but now Chrome has taken it a step further. Chrome is the ultimate in fast browsing. With Internet connections getting faster and faster, a browser should be able to keep up with the pace of rendering images and content, which is what Google have managed to do perfectly (as you would expect being such an Internet giant).

Simplicity – Firefox can often seem a bit cluttered due to various buttons, options and information bars. Chrome on the other hand has arranged everything in an organised manner, meaning the focus remains entirely on what it should be – browsing the Internet.

Extensions – The extension support in Chrome has been done fantastically. The ease of installing new plugins means no restart is needed, and the browser speed doesn’t suffer when lots of extensions are installed. The functional support for addons means full support for Grease Monkey scripts too, which is a great added bonus.

Google Chrome Disadvantages

With advantages comes disadvantages – but that isn’t to say there are many. The biggest disadvantage could be simply ‘why switch?’. Chrome is fantastic at what it does, but if you are already using Firefox then there isn’t that much of an incentive to make the jump over to Google’s browser.

To succeed in gaining a higher market share in the browser market, it may be best for Google to target Internet Explorer users as opposed to directly taking a slice out of Firefox usage – and ultimately play the long game. Google have already taken strides to target IE users with the Google frame work that plugs straight in to IE6 – directly transforming it to the Chrome engine for free. They are also working on their own operating system, which will of course be shipped with Chrome as the default browser.

So which browser to use? This guide might be best: Using Firefox? Maybe stick with it for the time being – but don’t rule out Chrome for the future. Using Internet Explorer? Switch to Chrome and don’t look back – it’s the future of web browsing. Using Safari or another browser? As with IE users – it is probably best to make the switch to Chrome.

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The above post is courtesy of Axon-IT – Manchester IT support experts, specialising in outsourced IT for small and large businesses across the UK. If your business needs help making the switch, or could benefit from IT support and consultancy, then visit Axon-IT.com today.

Google Docs users will soon be able to upload any file type to a new online storage facility, the company announced on Tuesday.

It is already possible to keep certain file types in Google’s cloud for collaboration purposes, including text documents, forms, spreadsheets and presentations. The new facility -to be rolled out over the next few weeks – will make it possible to store and share ZIP archives, large graphics files and any other file type.

Each user will get a gigabyte of storage, and the maximum supported file size is 250MB, which is 10 times the maximum size limit for email attachments on Gmail.

Enterprises and organisations that subscribe to Google Apps Premier Edition will also be able to use the Google Documents List Data API for batch uploading, and third-party applications are available for the migration and synchronisation of files to Google Docs.

According to a blog post by Google Docs product manager Vijay Bangaru, Google Apps Premier Edition customers will also, at some point in the coming months, be able to purchase additional storage for €3 (£2.70) per gigabyte, per year. Bangaru described the new storage facility as a “great way to collaborate on files with co-workers and external parties”. “Instead of using cumbersome email attachments, you can upload files to a folder and share it with co-workers, who can then access and edit the files from a single place,” Bangaru wrote. “You can even have your sales team securely share contracts with external clients for review.”

Under EU data-protection legislation, European companies have to keep their sensitive and personal data on EU servers. At the time of writing, Google represenatives were unable to confirm that European business customers taking advantage of the new storage facility will not have their data stored elsewhere.

Lets see what Google come up with to fall in line with this ridiculous section of the EU data-protection rules.

Google is being inundated with complaints about its Nexus One phone.

The touchscreen smartphone was launched on 5 January and can be bought directly from Google and used on almost any phone network.

But confusion over who should answer customer queries has led many to file complaints on support forums.

Many people are unhappy with Google only responding to questions by e-mail and are calling for it to set up phone-based support.

Americans can buy the Nexus One directly from Google for $529 (£331) or on a contract with T-Mobile for $179 (£112). In the UK the phone will be available via Vodafone but prices and launch dates have yet to be released.

The support forums that Google has set up for the Nexus One are filling up with complaints from many of the first to buy the phone who need help.

The top query, with more than 500 responses, is about how much people should pay for the phone and whether existing customers of T-Mobile can get the device at a reduced rate. Only new customers of T-Mobile will be able to pay $179.

Almost 500 people have logged problems with the Nexus One’s support for 3G wireless networks. Others reported bugs when synchronising contacts or getting the handset to work with existing Google accounts.

Source: BBC Tech News

A Canadian company behind a search engine called Groovle.com has won a case filed against it by online search giant Google.

Google said the domain name used by the small business, 207 Media, was too similar to its own, but mediators the National Arbitration Forum disagreed.

In the complaint, Google asked for the judges to rule that 207 Media transfer the domain name over to it.

But three judges appointed by the forum refused the request. They said the name was not similar enough to confuse people and the word ‘groovle’ was more closely linked to “groovy” or “groove” rather than Google.

Source: BBC Technology