Archive for the ‘Internet News’ Category



Firefox 3 Download Day - Are You Ready?

Today is the day that the official release of Firefox 3 becomes available and they’re going for a download world record. I’ve been using this browser for years, and it’s great. I’ve tried out the release candidates, and although they were not as stable as previous FF releases, they had some great features which will ensure that I will download Firefox 3 today.

If you’re new to Firefox or are wondering what the new features are, then check out the Firefox 3 field guide published by Dria. This walks you through the new stuff and shows why this browser is such a winner. Some 1.3 million have already pledged to download it today - are you going to be one of them?

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Weekend Reads 13 June 2008

It’s almost the weekend, so I thought I’d share some of the interesting posts I’ve read this week. The first is a post from a Guardian UK blog on the Future of Journalism. It looks at how microblogging can be used in this way. Once again, the question of citizen journalism is under discussion, with Twitter as the main means of ‘demystifying journalism’. I don’t know that I agree with the article, but it raised some interesting points.

It occurred to me that Twitter is often included in discussion about the changing news process, and there have been many discussions online about how to use Twitter as a reporting tool. But while Twitter has huge potential for publishers, it is, at its core, a communication tool. It’s like round looking at a phone, trying to plan some editorial that uses the phone - when actually the thing to do is just to use it to talk to people.

Next up is Darren Rowse’s analysis of the differences between Plurk and Twitter. It’s all about how conversations happen, and he illustrates with some screenshots of responses to the same question on both services.

The other thing that I like about Plurk is that conversations are contained and don’t get as mixed up as they do on Twitter.

I have to agree that following conversations is easier on Plurk.

Finally, as the browser wars hot up again, Lifehacker has done a speed test comparing the latest release candidates for Firefox and Opera with Safari and IE7. IE7 takes no prizes, but the other browsers each win in one category. Happy reading.

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Bored With Your Browser?

If you feel like it’s time for an upgrade to your browser, then you’re in luck. The next editions of three of the major browsers are now available for you to try.

Firefox has issued a release candidate for FF3, and the release version is due out in about a week. That’s something to look forward to, as FF3 is faster than before and has a host of improvements.

Not to be outdone, Opera has boosted its speed and made some improvments, issuing a fast, secure release candidate.

Finally, Microsoft has made a beta of Internet Explorer 8 available for download. I may be biased, but given the bugginess of most Microsoft software that’s been released, I won’t be trying this one out.

What’s your favorite browser?

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Interested In Internet History?

If you are, you may be interested in Vanity Fair’s oral history of the internet. It’s an oral history, because they interviewed lots of people to write the eight part article. It covers:
I: The Conception
II: The Creation
III: The Web
IV: The Browser Wars
V: Going Public
VI: Boom and Bust
VII: Modern Times
VIII: The Last Word

The article features excerpts from the interviews with a tiny bit of context, though as TechCrunch points out, a lot of people have been left out. See what you think.

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Firefox 3 Fave Features

Lifehacker has released a list of its favorite features from the new Firefox 3. Release candidate 1 of my favorite browser is now out and like many others, I couldn’t wait to try it out. Lifehacker’s list includes:

  • Better add-ons management
  • Better phishing protection
  • Better downloads management
  • Smart bookmarks (and better bookmark searching)
  • Better password management
  • Better performance

I have to agree.

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Social Networks Get More Open

If you’ve ever wondered how to keep up with updating profiles and statuses on all the social sites, then there’s good news. Hot on the heels of announcements from MySpace and Facebook about new openness in their formerly proprietary platforms, comes an announcement from Google.

Friends Connect, like the other services, will allow users to share data among different sites, and website owners will be able to put social features on their sites with a simple snippet of code. Don’t think that this openness is completely altruistic, though.  Social networks give social profiles, which mean the chance to fine tune ad targeting. Can anyone say Adsense and Adwords?

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