Google Chrome

Chrome expected to pass IE in the summer according to StatCounter

Google’s Chrome is yet to have been hacked at the annual Pwn2Own conference but that might be because it has flown under the radar for so long.  With its market share now approaching Microsoft Internet Explorer for the lead the global browser war, Chrome now has a bigger target on its back.

Still though, Google wants hackers to try to find vulnerabilities in Chrome and more importantly disclose them to Google and is now offering big rewards to anyone who can crack Chrome.

Originally, our plan was to sponsor as part of this year’s Pwn2Own competition. Unfortunately, we decided to withdraw our sponsorship when we discovered that contestants are permitted to enter Pwn2Own without having to reveal full exploits (or even all of the bugs used!) to vendors. Full exploits have been handed over in previous years, but it’s an explicit non-requirement in this year’s contest, and that’s worrisome. We will therefore be running this alternative Chrome-specific reward program. It is designed to be attractive — not least because it stays aligned with user safety by requiring the full exploit to be submitted to us. We guarantee to send non-Chrome bugs to the appropriate vendor immediately.

 
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Google’s Chrome browser has long released with a built-in Flash Player plug-in—the result of a technology partnership between the Internet giant and Flash maker Adobe. Though Adobe still allows customers to download a standalone Flash Player plug-in for Windows, OS X or Linux, the company announced today that the Flash Player plug-in for Linux after version 11.2 would only be available with Chrome browser distribution. The Linux plug-in will no longer be available as a direct download from Adobe. While one could suspect this news foreshadows broader policy changes on Windows and OS X, Adobe insisted that is not the case.

Flash Player will continue to support browsers using non-”Pepper” plugin APIs on platforms other than Linux.

Additionally, it will continue supporting Flash Player 11.2 on Linux for years to come. “Adobe will continue to provide security updates to non-Pepper distributions of Flash Player 11.2 on Linux for five years from its release,” wrote the company in a blog post…

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If you ever tried Google’s current line of 3G capable Chromebooks, Samsung’s Series 5, you might be pleased to know new Chromebooks with vastly improved performance are on the way. Google’s Senior Vice President of Chrome Sundar Pichai gave an interview to Cnet recently, and while noting Chrome OS improves with every update to the Chrome browser (every six weeks), he talked about the new, upcoming Chromebooks:

“We remain very excited about Chromebooks. We got a lot of positive feedback, and we are really looking forward to the next generation of Chromebooks. We will improve on the dimensions of speed, simplicity, and security.”

Overall improved performance on Chromebooks, as Cnet’s Stephen Shankland pointed out while talking in length about his experiences using the Samsung’s Series 5 Chromebook, is greatly needed to get the device up to the standards of the average notebook user:

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Just as you are getting content with Google’s latest Android offering Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, there are more rumors tonight on Google’s next version of Android. The sometimes-accurate Digitimes reported that Google might launch Android 5.0 Jelly Bean this summer.

This new version of Android will reportedly have a focus on tablet PCs, but hopefully not like the tablet exclusive Honeycomb. Ice Cream Sandwich hoped to pick up on Honeycomb’s mistakes by unifying both the handset and tablet platforms.

Digitimes said Android 5.0 would have a unique feature, because it will have a dual operating system approach. It will reportedly be able to boot into both Android and Chrome without having to shutdown. Perhaps Chrome will be part of the experience like it did with the launch of the browser as an app.

We will most likely hear more at Google I/O in June where Google does many of its big announcements.

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Get excited! Google teased a “big announcement” for the Google TV on its Facebook page last night. What in the world could this be? There is a chance tomorrow’s announcement by Google could surround the streaming home-entertainment device that was leaked last week, or it could be something entirely different. Perhaps it is new hardware out of an OEM, but we are not so sure that is Facebook-post worthy. We will know for sure tomorrow.

Get ready for Monday, we have some big announcements!

Update: It’s nothing special.

(via The Verge)

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Google rolled out its new black navigation bar in November 2011, and today it is seeing a small update. Google just detailed the change over on the Official Google Blog. The update includes links to top Google properties, a more unified look for the search box, and sharing to Google+, as detailed in the photo above.

The biggest change is that we’ve replaced the drop-down Google menu with a consistent and expanded set of links running across the top of the page. 

Google said users should see the change soon; it will roll out in the next few weeks.

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Google released its latest update for Google+ for Android, bringing an array of new improvements. The update brings an overall speed increase that will make for a much more enjoyable experience, and the Google+ team added a ‘What’s Hot’ section to the app to see the latest buzz from friends. In the app, users can also see who +1’d posts and more. The full changelog is below.

1. Massive performance improvements across the app
2. What’s Hot!
3. View who +1′d a post or comment
4. Stream posts shortened to fit more per scroll
5. Infinite photos feed in ‘From your circles’
6. Stream no longer jumps to the top for an automatic refresh

You can download the update on the Android Market.

Google released a new version of Chrome today to the Stable channel. Chrome 17 [release notes] is an evolution bringing a couple nice enhancements, including new Extensions APIs, updated Omnibox pre-rendering, download scanning protection and some minor under-the-hood tweaks. Chrome’s download manager now checks executable files upon downloading by pinging Google’s servers for information on the originating site, which results in safer downloading. Omnibox, the browser’s address bar that doubles as the search box, has also been tweaked.

“When you start typing in the Omnibox and the URL autocompletes to a site you’re very likely to visit, Chrome will prerender the page, so it will appear faster–sometimes, even instantly–as soon as you hit Enter,” wrote Google in a blog post (this feature appeared in Chrome betas a month ago).

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Do you want to be paid to surf the web using the Google Chrome browser? A new Google program called “Screenwise panel” (first reported by SearchEngineLand) is apparently providing users with that exact opportunity. In exchange, Google requests that you give up your privacy and provide your personal browsing data to Google. There has not been an official announcement, but there is already a signup page available here.

A few requirements for users of the service are listed on the signup page. You have to be 13 years of age or older to sign up (for Chrome and a Google account anyway), and —as mentioned before—you will have to give up your browsing data. Participants will get a $5 Amazon gift code after installing a special browser extension, and another $5 Amazon code for every three month period they spend in the program. The signup page noted a maximum payout of $25; however, Google noted in fine print that it would consider giving out additional gifts to users who participate for longer than a year.

Amazon is not actually a partner in the program. Instead, Google has enlisted Knowledge Networks as its “panel management partner.” A Google spokesperson reached out with a brief description and clarification of the program:

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The impressive Google Chrome for Android launched today in beta for Ice Cream Sandwich devices, and people began noticing quickly that the browser did not include Flash. It is a very interesting move by the Android team, considering Android’s default browser includes Flash. Moreover, it is something that some Android users have prided themselves on, especially since Apple’s iOS Safari does not include Flash. It is evident that the Android team hopes to move Chrome for Android to replace the stock browser and keep Android flash-less. Adobe confirmed that the new beta does not contain Flash in an effort to move to HTML 5 technologies.

As we announced last November, Adobe is no longer developing Flash Player for mobile browsers, and thus Chrome for Android Beta does not support Flash content. Flash Player continues to be supported within the current Android browser.

Do not think Chrome for Android is completely Adobe-less. The new browser features CSS Regions and a few other Adobe products that did make it into the new browser.

You may remember in November when Adobe announced it was official killing Flash on mobile devices and choosing to favor HTML 5 instead. This new beta continues that push.

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Google is continuing its push on Google TV by rolling out Android 3.2 to Sony’s Google TV while the update to the Logitech Revue is on its way, GigaOm pointed out. The 3.2 update is not too major, but it does bring some nice updates, such as: Google TVs now boast hardware acceleration, HTTP live streaming that helps with HTML 5 live video, changes to the way Google TV identifies channels to make it easier for developers, and lastly a few user interface changes to Google Chrome.

That is all fine and dandy, of course, but what we really want is Ice Cream Sandwich to roll out to Google TVs soon. Android 3.2 will be the last major update before Ice Cream Sandwich operating system lands, but smaller updates will obviously ensue. We should be seeing ICS land by the end of the year, hopefully. Perhaps Google will give us a little more info at their Google I/O conference, so stay tuned!

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Following Apple’s big education announcements, Google is at the annual FETC ed-tech conference in Orlando to discuss some highlights of its education initiatives and to give out nearly 27,000 Chromebooks to students.

It’s great to see this positive momentum for Chromebooks in classrooms. It’s similar to where we were about five years ago when Google Apps was just getting off the ground. At that time, educational institutions were the most interested and it was inspiring to hear the different ways schools and districts had begun using Gmail, Calendar and Docs. At FETC we’ve been similarly excited to see how teachers have formed communities around professional development for Chromebooks, districts all across the US are piloting Chromebooks in their classrooms, and more and more reach out to us to learn about Chromebooks for Education every day.

During Google’s keynote, the company announced three new school districts will be offering 1-to-1 Chromebooks for as many as 27,000 students including 4,300 for Iowa’s Council Bluffs Community School District, 3,500 for Illinois’ Leyden Community High School District, and 19,000 to the Richland School District Two in South Carolina. Google noted Chromebooks are now deployed in 41 states across the U.S. in hundreds of classrooms. (Chromebook charging cart is pictured on the right).

Executive Director of Information Systems at Council Bluffs Community school district said the following regarding the announcement:

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After being introduced in August, Google just announced improvements to its Gmail offline Chrome app. The first improvement, which the Chrome team called their favorite, is the ability to choose whether you want to synchronize 7, 14 or 31 days worth of mail. The second improvement includes attachment support, keyboard shortcuts, and enhancements when it comes to performance. You can download the Gmail offline Chrome application in the Chrome Web Store.

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The specifics of the agreement are not being disclosed at this time, but it is likely Microsoft’s latest license agreement with LG is similar to those signed with just about every other major Android vendor including Samsung, HTC, Huawei, Acer, and over 10 others. Microsoft is already collecting millions from Android vendors in patent agreements stemming from an original deal to collect a $5 royalty per device from HTC in May, and will now begin to profit off LG’s line of Android-based tablets, smartphones, and televisions as well.

Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Intellectual Property Group Horacio Gutierrez made the announcement on the company’s website:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC303x2XqWw]

Specs and price are similar to past models, but these are much better looking with an aluminum shell and thinner profile.

Perhaps most interesting (and fitting to the mission of Chrome) is the Chrome Box. It is a Mac Mini-looking ChromeOS device with two separate outputs for lots of Web browsing on up to two monitors.  You do not have to worry about losing an Internet connection on the ChromeBox because you are stationary and hard-wired to the Web. This is going to hit more of the target kiosk/corporate environment than the previous models of ChromeBook.  Samsung would not give a price but mentioned the loss of a display and keyboard/trackpad could save customers around $100.

All three hit stores in April, and we will be looking for a demo.

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Google announced on the Chrome Blog today that the latest Chrome Beta release rolled out with a number of new improvements to speed and security. When it comes to speed, the beta release of Chrome will now pre-render pages you visit most often. When typing a URL into the omnibox, URLs that auto-complete will now also start loading before you hit enter.

To get you where you want to go even faster, Chrome will now start loading some web pages in the background, even before you’ve finished typing the URL in the omnibox. If the URL auto-completes to a site you’re very likely to visit, Chrome will begin to prerender the page. Prerendering reduces the time between when you hit Enter and when you see your fully-loaded web page–in some cases, the web page appears instantly.

The release also includes a number of security improvements including updates to Chrome’s Safe Browsing feature that allows executable files, including “.exe” and “.msi”, files to be scanned after downloading. If the file is found to be malicious, Chrome will warn the user to delete it. Google further explained the matter below:

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The latest Android platform versions distributions chart was announced yesterday after the Android Developers’ website collected data for two weeks, and the share results reaped a few surprising figures.

Gingerbread gobbled 55 percent of the share, and Froyo landed at second place with 30 percent. However, according to last month’s results, Gingerbread increased from 50.6-percent while Froyo decreased from 35.3-percent. The statistical difference may be due to Froyo smartphones receiving an upgrade or Gingerbread smartphones seeing an increase in activations over the holiday season. Google recently announced it added 3.7 million devices on Christmas.

Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich, is making the biggest amount of noise with these latest results. Ice Cream Sandwich devices -only the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S for now- account for just .6-percent of the share of all of the devices that have called the Android market in the last two weeks.  If that total is near the 200 million that Google announced in November, that means over a million Galaxy Nexus Devices have been activated in the few weeks since release.

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Google searches for “browser” no longer reveal the Google Chrome homepage, because the globally popular search engine decided to apply a penalty against the browser’s website after coming under fire for its sponsored post campaign.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company actively fights paid links and junk content under its Webmaster guidelines. However, earlier this week, SEO Book’s Aaron Wall noticed a Google search for “This post is sponsored by Google” displays over 400 websites written by Google marketing campaigns.

Bloggers were found posting low-quality content related to Google Chrome to promote Google content, and at least one of the posts had a hyperlink to the Chrome download page. Hyperlinks can help a website rise in Google search results through Google’s PageRank algorithm.

According to The New York Times, Google penalized JC Penney, Forbes and Overstock last year due to paid links and similar guidline violation issues. Search Engine Land suggested that Google should penalize its own Google Chrome download page to be fair.

Well, that is exactly how Google responded.

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A new application available on the Android Market called “ICS Browser Plus” adds a bit more functionality to the Galaxy Nexus’ stock browser. ICS Browser Plus is currently available in beta on the Market and includes two main features. The first feature, as you can see above, adds a quick launcher to the side of the screen where you can reload the page, open a new tab, stop the page from loading, and add the page as a bookmark, and more. For those of you who have used Honeycomb, this will feel very familiar.

The second feature will allow you to change the user agent of the browser. In other words, you can tell a website you are loading the page from an iPad, rather than a Galaxy Nexus.

ICS Browser Plus is currently only available on the Galaxy Nexus and other devices that support Ice Cream Sandwich. The developer hopes to continue adding more features, but in the mean time you can download the free app.

Update: Google provided the following official statement to All Things D:

“Google never agreed to anything more than online ads. We have consistently avoided paid sponsorships, including paying bloggers to promote our products, because these kind of promotions are not transparent or in the best interests of users. We’re now looking at what changes we need to make to ensure that this never happens again.”

Google has not officially responded to accusations that they are going against their own paid link policies by running a sponsored ad campaign promoting Chrome. Now, the company apparently behind the campaign has spoken to All Things D to clarify the matter.

We told you about a discovery made by SEO Books yesterday, detailed by Search Engine Land, that Google appeared to be sponsoring over 400 pages of content promoting Google Chrome. The content is revealed through Google search for the phrase “This post is sponsored by Google.” As Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan pointed out, the campaign goes against Google’s own policies on paid links and it is attached to the type of poorly generated content they are trying to combat.

Google has not officially responded, although Vice President of Chrome Linus Upson commented on Sullivan’s Google Plus post claiming he was unaware of the problem and would investigate the issue:

“News to me. Looking in to it…”

Scott Button CEO of video advertising firm Unruly —Google’s ad company behind the campaign– claimed the only thing wrong is “one link in one post that was not marked nofollow.” Here is what he said regarding the matter:

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SEO Books (via Search Engine Land) discovered today that a Google search for “This post is sponsored by Google” reveals that Google may be sponsoring over 400 pages worth of publications who have written about Google Chrome. This is interesting, because Google has never allowed paid links inside their search results. The discovery has not been confirmed with Google — probably due to most of the Google staff being off today for the holiday — but this seems to be real nonetheless.

Search Engine Land pointed to one page where there is a direct link to download Chrome, and a link that poses as a video that connects to Google Chrome’s download page. Under that, you will find a “Sponsored by Google” disclaimer. We will keep you posted.

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