One of the best browser till date: Google Chrome 9

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You may have noticed but your Chrome browser has been automatically updated. If not, click on the tools icon followed by "About Google Chrome" .Google released Chrome 9 this week.  

Get Google Chrome 

Some of the  features are Chrome Instant search, a speed enhancer that loads Web pages as you type a URL. Other notable upgrades include WebGL support for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, as well as access to Google's new Chrome Web Store.

Google Instant 

This feature will automatically load webpages as you type the URL in the addressbar. The option is turned off by default. You can turn it on by Option-Check "Enable Instant for faster searching and browsing". 

WebGL

By far the most compelling feature of the newly released browser is the integration of WebGL in the browser. WebGL support brings hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the browser without the need for additional software. Google's Body Browser, for instance, uses WebGL to employ a computer's GPU to speed up rendering of 3D graphics. Chrome is the first browser with this technology which should be soon available on Firefox and IE. Definitely a technology to watch.

Chrome WebStore 

The store offers a collection of free and commercial Chrome applications, extensions and themes. The Chrome Webstore  is now here for quite some time yet appeals masses with its over 100s of free and paid apps.  Though few of the web apps are optimized speciafically for chrome, many others can be used with their full potential for Firefox and safari. You can download web app, open it as new window or create shortcuts on desktop. Windows users can also pin web app to start-menu or create a quciklaunch icon for the webapp for quick and easy access. Chrome WebStore 

Cloud printing

With this feature you will be able to print from devices that cannot directly communicate with Printers. Cloud printing Allows printing from any app on any device, OS or browser without the need to install any software.When released later this January, the support was limited for Windows OS only. To put it simply you will be able to print Google docs  or any other document from your smart phone.

WebP files 

WebP is new image format that offers better compression for images over the web. This implies that image file size will substantially reduce resulting in faster download rate while the picture quality is maintained.You can download the image converter from here: WebP files

Overall, Chrome 9 adds some compelling upgrades while retaining the speed and simplicity that makes Google's browser so compelling. 

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Internet Explorer 9 Beta Review

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If you are something like me  list of things to do as soon as we get a new PC: Uninstall every piece of crapware, change the desktop wallpaper, and fire up Internet Explorer to download a new browser like Firefox or Chrome. Without fail, we've repeated that last step . Why is it that we almost instantly replace IE with another option? There are lots of reasons, but to name a few... the browser usually comes plastered with toolbars, which makes it painfully slow to load even just a simple news site. And even when those are uninstalled it feels sluggish in comparison to Firefox and Chrome. Also, it's just not as attractive or intuitive as the others and then there are the smaller items, like the fact that it lacks a download manager or uses more RAM than the competition.

Internet Explorer 9 could be a pivotal release for Microsoft. The Microsoft browser has been bleeding market share to rivals for a number of years: in January 2009 Internet Explorer boasted a worldwide market share of 70%, according to Net Applications; last month that share had fallen to 57%.

Whereas Firefox used to be Microsoft's main threat, Google Chrome has now emerged as the most serious threat to Internet Explorer's crown. Although still a distant third in the browser wars, Chrome's market share has doubled over the past year to 10%.

Internet Explorer 9 which is now available for download as a public beta  will try and mend all those issues. There are some  interesting features such as "Pinned Sites" and "One Box" that Microsoft's been less vocal about. So, does IE9 live up to the hype and will it finally give us a preloaded browser that's fast enough to run with the others? 

Design and User Interface 

"Unlocking the beauty of the Web." That's Microsoft's new tag line for Internet Explorer 9.The company's finally realized that, you know, web surfers want to see more web and less browser and toolbars.  Actually, Microsoft claims with the new design more of a web page can be seen than in Firefox even if it's only by a few centimeters. It appears that Chrome actually allows you to see a bit more of a page, but honestly the difference in space really seems insignificant.

The menu bar has been removed and the address bar are now at the forefront. It looks a lot like Chrome . The compatibility view, refresh and stop buttons have been just latched on to the address bar and there are dedicated favorite and tools buttons on the far right side. 

Pinned Sites
With Pinned Sites, you can get to your favorite sites directly from the Windows taskbar without having to open the Internet Explorer first. Pinning a site takes seconds: click the icon to the left of the web address in One Box, the tab for the website, or the website's icon on the New Tab page and drag it to the taskbar. That's it. Once a site is pinned, it shows up as its own thumbnail, separate fromInternet Explorer. Now all it takes is one click to get to your favorite website.

Download Manager:
Finally IE9 adds a real download manager that lets you see what you've recently downloaded as well as see the progress of a current download.  It also has a SmartScreen Filter, as it's been dubbed, that alerts you to security issues. Alerts appear within the browser window now rather than as a pop-up.

Enhanced Tabs 
Tabs aren't new to Internet Explorer, but Microsoft's added a few new tricks. They're really easy to snap out of place now, and even if you're doing something like playing a video in YouTube, detaching it doesn't lose your place as content is continuously rendered. Like Chrome, there's now the ability to just shut down one tab when a website starts to hang.Instead of having to shut down the entire browser, you can go into the task manager and just kill that particular tab. The new tab page shows frequently visited sites along with a meter of how actively you visit them. 


Search in address bar:

You can now search directly from the address bar. If you enter a website's address, you'll go directly to the website. If you enter a search term or incomplete address, you will launch a search using the currently selected search engine. Click the address bar to select your search engine from the listed icons or to add new ones.

When you search from the address bar, you'll have the option of opening a search results page or the top search result (if your search engine supports the feature). You can also get optional search suggestions in the address bar—but they are off by default, in case you don't want to share what you type with a search provider.


Add-on Performance Advisor
Add-ons, such as toolbars, can enhance your browsing experience, but they can also slow it down. Add-on Performance Advisor tells you if an add-on is slowing down your browser performance, and then allow you to disable or remove it.

With all this information the question still remains:do we still need to replace IE with Firefox and Chrome ? It's certainly not mandatory anymore, or at least it shouldn't be by the time IE9 is ready to ship with new PCs. The interface is attractive and clean, the new features robust and the speed greatly improved. Microsoft has sped up and cleaned up Internet Explorer 9 to a point where it's not only usable, but actually a real pleasure to use.

source: www.engadget.com

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Firefox, Chrome to add "Do Not Track" tools soon

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Firefox and Google Chrome browsers are getting tools to help users block advertisers from collecting information about them. This is similar to "Do Not Call" feature available on phones.

Mozilla is reportedly exploring putting anti-tracking features on its popular Firefox browser so that users can keep their online activities from being monitored. The bad news?  Mozilla recently rejected a more powerful privacy protection tool under pressure from the advertising industry.

Alex Fowler, a technology and privacy officer for Firefox maker Mozilla, said the "Do Not Track" tool will be the first in a series of steps designed to guard privacy. He didn't say when the tool will be available.

Google Chrome users can now download a browser plug-in that blocks advertisers - but only from ad networks that already let people decline personalized, targeted ads. According to Google Inc., these include the top 15 advertising networks, as rated by the research group comScore, a group that includes AOL Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Google itself.

The next version of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser, which is still being developed, will include a similar feature, though people will have to create or find their own lists of sites they want to block.

Google and Mozilla, however, are developing tracking-protection tools that will work automatically - once people decide to turn on that privacy feature, that is.

Microsoft, Google and Mozilla's promises of stronger privacy comes on the heels of government complaints that online advertisers are able to collect too much data about people in their quest to target ads.

Last month, the Federal Trade Commission recommended the creation of a "Do Not Track" tool that would invite consumers to restrict advertisers from collecting information about them, including the websites they visit, the links they click, their Internet searches and their online purchases.

Google product managers Sean Harvey and Rajas Moonka said the new Chrome tool will allow for more permanent ad blocking. Before, opt-out settings were typically stored through small files known as cookies; when users clear cookies, however, the opt-out settings get erased, too. Another benefit is that the new tool allows users to opt out of all participating ad networks at once, rather than one at a time.

Google eventually hopes to develop a similar plug-in for other browsers as well, Harvey and Moonka added.

Thus the dilemma of Web browsers caught in the crossfire between their audience, Internet users and regulators seeking to protect user privacy, and their revenue, online advertisers who want more information on users’ preferences.

source: ibnlive.in.com, socialtimes.com

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