Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Bill Gates promised frequent updates way back when they were doing the final testing of IE7. Yet somehow, it’s been almost two years before they finally released the beta mode of Internet Explorer 8 just today. Some will hurrah, some will cringe, some won’t care one way or the other. But...it’s out...and along with actually seeming to be an improvement over the previous version...it’s pretty clear that the folks at Microsoft are also using their latest browser as a clever little way to try to take over some Google ground.

I admit, I’m a diehard Firefox user. And when I checked out IE8 beta, I immediately recognized the same thing others seem to be seeing. The Smart Address Bar is very similar to the Awesome Bar in Firefox 3. When you start to type in the address bar, it tries to guess where you want to go, based on where you’ve been before. Although I have to give it to Microsoft, their Smart Bar seems to do the job even a little better. It shows history items, autocomplete suggestions, and your saved Favorites all in lists that you can collapse or expand with just a click. Also, you can delete an address from the Smart Bar with just a click as well, which is really handy for any addresses you may have in there that were typed incorrectly or if you have bookmarks you just don’t use anymore. 

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Mozilla Labs announced yesterday the release of the Initial Prototype of the latest project meant to connect the web with language - Ubiquity.  From a quote on their blog, the folks over at Mozilla Labs hope to “find new user interfaces that could make it possible for everyone to do common Web tasks more quickly and easily.”

Ok. So, what the heck does that mean? An example of what they are saying their program would be useful for could be this. You just snagged some concert tickets from a radio contest to a show happening tonight. Coolness. Only you haven’t been to this venue before, and neither has the friend that you’re emailing and inviting. Not so cool. Heck...you haven’t even heard of the band. Do you even know if you want to go? Is there anywhere to eat on the way? Now, normally, you’d have to be searching out the address on some mapping site, looking up the band for some info on them, copying all of this into an email (including either links or the map itself as well). Lots of typing, clicking, searching, copying, pasting, right? Well, this is some of what Ubiquity hopes to get rid of.

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With Android hitting later this year, you’d think Google would be content with it’s place in the cellular phone market.  Apparently they aren’t satisfied with just an OS.  A Reuters report shows that Google is in talks with Verizon to use Google as the default search engine for Verizon cell phones.

This probably seems like a small move at first.  But, the plan as of now apparently means adding a Google search bar to the homepage of Verizon phones.  It’s not clear what that could mean, but if it is the main screen on the phone, it could make for quite a few extra dollars for Verizon when people with data plans accidentally use it.  The plan would also have Google and Verizon sharing revenue from search ads when it is used on a Verizon phone.

The only small thing that could be bad with the deal so far is Google want to save the information from cell phone charges.  Google wouldn’t use that information against us, though.  Will it?

Read [Reuters]

Only ten days left of August. Microsoft claimed Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 would be out some time this month. Well, the countdown is on. And hmmmm...there are rumors flying around that it is going to be a special version. Private. Yeah, code name for “porn mode”.

Private browsing lets a user go anywhere they want without leaving any tracks. It’s like they were just magically never there.  Firefox decided not to go with it, and currently Safari is the only browser sporting this feature. The Mozilla Foundation, however does argue that “although while viewing pornography may be a popular use case due to the nature of content on the Web, assuming that this is the only reason that users need private browsing trivializes the overall feature. For instance, users may wish to begin a private browsing session to research a medical condition, or plan a surprise vacation or birthday party for a loved one.”

If trademark filings are any indications...the rumors of IE taking on private browsing may indeed be based on fact. July 30th filings by Microsoft:

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So you’re trying to explain to your girlfriend which nifty little gadgets are on your wish list for your birthday. She’s confused, well, probably because you have twenty of them and many sound very similar, but that’s beside the point. Problem solved. Now you can simply direct her to the Screen2 website and show her exactly what you are talking about. She can see in real time exactly what you are looking at on your screen. Pretty cool eh? What makes it even better is that absolutely no downloads or installation are required to run the program, so there are no worries of any invasive viruses attacking your system from a third-party site.  The only thing you have to do is make sure to allow pop-ups and cookies while you are on the Screen2 site. (delete ‘em later)

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My, my, Google. It seems the words “Google” and “Privacy” can be found in quite a few articles across the internet as of late. Quite a few falling on the non-flattering side. Perhaps that’s why Google finally made a point of updating their main page to a never-before offered link to their privacy terms AND posting about the update on their corporate blog.

The issue was brought to the light in the first place by NY Times reporter Saul Hansell, when he asked if the company was violating California law by not posting a link to its privacy policy on its home page. The answer? Yes. That is when privacy advocates jumped in and became involved. Although in what is seeming to become an “oh so Google” move...it wasn’t done until Day 31 when the legal time frame following notice is 30 days. 

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It would appear that not even the internet is free from the ever tightening boundaries of free speech. And I am not talking about terrorism plots, or speech which ‘incites racial hatred’. Oh no. It would appear that not even calling someone a ‘douchebag’ is ‘politically correct’.

This follows the case of 16 year old Lewis Mills High School senior Avery Doninger (shown above with Mum) who, in exasperation over the schools inability to help matter overs a ‘battle of the bands’ delay, wrote on her blog that “jamfest is cancelled [SIC] due to douchebags in central office”. Apparently, according to the school, this “created a foreseeable risk of substantial disruption” and they banned her from being re-elected as a class officer. So the teenager and her mum took this to a federal district court judge who rejected their claim of an infringement into her First Amendment rights, a view which was concurred to by an appeals court.

So, if a 16 year old girl can’t express her anger on a blog, then what has the world come to? Surely it is not even that much of an insult, and nothing that a ‘polite conversation’ could not solve, and the fact that it took place out of school grounds also raises questions as to what authority a school should have. So a word of warning, if you have a blog and don’t like your boss… you know what not to do!

Via [Courant]

The Microsoft-Yahoo! game goes into extra innings, but the Kings of Search motor along as if they were, indeed, the only game in town.

The Official Google Blog’s latest post from VP of Search Product Marissa Mayer lets slip a few R&D goodies stemming from an “informal gathering - a factory tour of sorts.” The company also took its Google Health service public, allowing users to store their medical records and information online and share them with authorized parties in what Google promises to be a safe, secure setting. Microsoft’s Healthvault promises the same level of privacy; yet another battlefield for the two tech giants to play on. I can’t wait to see which brand convinces the most consumers that their data servers can indeed be trusted with this extremely sensitive user information.

Mayer’s blog post points to coming innovations in user intent search, geographic search, “as well as how ads might work to enhance the user experience in image search.” That last point will no doubt stir the pot now bubbling over with talk of Microsoft buying Yahoo’s search ad business, or Google and Yahoo partnering up in that category. And tell me again how a potentially unwanted advertisement will add to my user experience when I’m searching for a photo on Google?

Read [Google Blog]

An Apple Store employee whose apartment she was sharing with two roommates was recently victimized by burglars, however they had a happy ending thanks to the help of her stolen Mac’s screen sharing feature and built-in webcam.

After the house was burglarized by thieves, the Apple Store employee received a call from a friend asking if she was online, since it appears that she is online on her friend’s computer. The victim immediately logged on to the Internet and used the Back-to-My-Mac program and found out that her Mac was indeed connected to the Internet. Not wasting any time, the victim quickly activated her Mac’s built-in webcam and the screen sharing feature in order to take a snapshot of the thief who was currently using her notebook. The victim’s friend recognized the man in the picture as someone who had been at her apartment during the recent get together. 

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Encyclopedia Britannica, through its Britannica Webshare program, is giving web publishers free subscription to Britannica Online that includes complete volumes of encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries, thesaurus and other online resources. By web publishers, Britannica is referring to anybody who regularly publishes on the Internet, including bloggers, webmasters and writers.

To qualify for the free subscription, web publishers will need to sign up, register their blogs/websites and wait for Britannica’s approval. Once approved, they can start linking to Britannica content on their sites. When readers click on the links, they will be presented with the full content of Britannica resources. However, readers will not be able to access other parts of Britannica Online, only the linked content. Full access to the online content will still require a subscription.

In addition, web publishers can also opt to embed the particular Britannica information on their blog or sites. I think this is better than providing links, as they can make their readers stay on their site longer and at the same time add information value to their blogs/sites.

So, what’s in it for Britannica? Is this a gradual shift towards becoming like Wikipedia? I would have to think so. Encylopedia Britannica may be more authoritative as an information resource than Wikipedia, but Wikipedia is freely accessible, and offers almost the same kind of information. This is a good start towards opening its information resources freely towards a larger consumer base which is what made Wikipedia such a big success.

Via [TechCrunch] Read [Britannica Webshare]