OK, we're not going to get a Hulu clone for a while, but Seven's announcement of plans to expand the range of content you can watch on its site means we're getting a lot closer to being able to watch a reasonable selection of programs online. (more…)
Moments after we heard reports of Facebook's new URL shortener, Google launched its own service, aptly called goo.gl.
At the moment, its only being used for Google Toolbar and Feedburner. Google just announced the new service as a sharing feature of Toolbar that will let you share a web page directly from Toolbar. The shortener is not a stand alone service and is not available for "broader consumer use." That is, at least for now. Google assures that its shortener will be stable and secure to help protect users from clicking on malicious sites. And unsurprisingly, Google promises a speedy service for links.
Google's foray into the URL shortening world isn't surprising; many platforms are developing their own shorteners in house, such as Digg and Facebook.
Facebook's new URL shortener is being used for URLs in its mobile interface. It's unclear if Fb.me will be rolled out to the entire platform.
Of course both Facebook and Google's venture into this space will threaten bit.ly, the most widely-used URL shortener and default service on Twitter and many Twitter clients. Up until now, bit.ly has moved quickly to become the standard shortener. But the sheer volume of short links which both Facebook and Google can produce could soon overwhelm the number of bit.ly links. It's the data behind the links, however, which is valuable. Whoever can gather the most unified view of all shortened links will end up winning.
You've got to think that Google will eventually roll this out more broadly to extend its reach but it's unclear at the moment if this will happen. (Although Google's Matt Cutts Tweets that the restriction to Google's own products is only "for now," with the possibility of the service "opening up" in the future).
Hat tip to True Pic for the headline.
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Just last week, Google finally released official betas for its Chrome browser for Mac and Linux. That release had a nice effect on market share for the browser, propelling it past Apple's Safari and into third place.
Of course, third place — according to Net Applications — means 4.4 percent market share (Safari's market share is 4.37 percent), but that's still 0.4 percentage points higher than Chrome's stats for November. The releases for Mac and Linux, plus the official Chrome Extensions rollout, might be enough for the browser to finally gain some traction against competitors Firefox and Internet Explorer.
In terms of platforms, Chrome's biggest area of growth actually came on the smallest platform — Linux. Linux represents an interesting opportunity for Chrome because its browser space is virtually dominated by Firefox (Yes, I know Konquerer and Opera are alternatives, but Firefox is far and away the biggest browser for Linux). That means that it is the area most ripe for growth.
Indeed, Chrome usage almost doubled from 3.81 percent in November to 6.34 percent last week. Google's Chrome OS, which is based on the Linux kernel and is essentially a system-wide version of the Chrome browser, is scheduled to appear on netbooks and smartbooks next year.
Have you given Chrome a try? What do you think about it compared to Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer? Let us know.
Tags: chrome, Firefox, Google, google chrome, safari
Since the dawn of Bing, it's been exceptionally good at one thing: Finding porn. Its new iPhone app, which launched tonight in the App Store, is no different.
By default, the app has a Safe Search setting of "Moderate." Searching for "porn" this way yields several promising results. However, with just two clicks, any kids can turn off safe search and off they go! The porn results are nothing, if not impressive.
I love this for two reasons: 1) The app is rated 4+, yet it's super simple to gain access to hardcore porn in a few clicks. This continues to highlight Apple's hypocrisy when it comes to the App Store. Apps that allow you to lift up Asian schoolgirl's outfits are just fine. Apps that make satirical references to public figures are banned. And now, apps that gives you hardcore porn at your fingertips are rated 4+. Sure, this content in on the web, and not in the app itself, but to a viewer, what's the difference? 2) Bing continues to be a great resource for porn.
To be fair, Google's iPhone app also allows you to search for porn. But, 1) It's not as easy to search for just images with the Google app (image search is a plus for the Bing app) 2) the results are much less hardcore, and 3) It's much less obvious as to how to turn off the safe search settings.
All that said, the Bing app is actually quite nice. The voice search feature (just like Google's on the iPhone) works quite well. The app also features the standard Bing daily images complete with hover-over factoids. It also has a nice overlay on the main screen to easily search for Movies, Maps, Businesses, News, Direction, and yes Images. Find the app in the App Store here. It's a free download.
Both images below taken on a search for "porn" with safe search turned off. As you can see, Bing returns many more great results. Badda Bing.
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