Saturday, September 06, 2008

Google scares me now

The more I use the new Chrome browser... the more I feel scared... Google has always backed up Firefox.. and now secretly develops its browser (by hacking one of Firefox developer).

But what really scares me is the amount of information that Google has at its disposal currently. I have always had issues with Google keeping an eye on my browsing, for me thats serious breach of privacy... I know EULA is something I accepted but.. this could be dangerous...Now we dont have google toolbar, but the browser records everything and anything according to EULA... Damn it...

With this kind of information and some backdoor business moves.. dunno how much of "Do no Evil" still stands true... Another microsoft in the making....

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Chrom(e)atic Browsing

I just downloaded the New browser from the Google stable - Chrome. Being a Firefox loyalist for 3 years now, I generally keep looking out for a reason to give up the loyalty but extensions just keep me hooked. But the first look of chrome, I got to say, I'm really impressed. With whatever time I played with it.. these are some of the really user friendly features:

- Dynamically moving tabs: The tabs can be dynamically moved on the taskbar. Although this has been a feature on Firefox for long, The visual impact is more in chrome.
- Speed of site rendering: The moment I opened a URL it appeared in no time at all... like in a flash. I dunno how they have achieved this, but I was amazed
- Task manager for crash control - In case your tab freezes or hangs up on you, the browser wont be affected as each tab is independent of the other in Chrome. Just right click and you have a "task manager" for browser... Beat that. Perhaps thats how they get the maximum speed of page rendering as each tab works independently. Wo ho..



- History on blank tabs and all the recently opened and closed tabs withing the browser window (Some like me, would call that a breach of privacy)



- Suggest feature in the URL bar: Just when you are typing, Google suggests the URLs popular or date and other relevant Keywords. Something we saw in the new Version of the Opera Browser.



- Instant bookmarking - just press the star button and you are done.
- No sharing info mode: Something that Google calls the "Incognito Mode" where the page would work in the same way but nothing from the session would be stored by Chrome. (I take back the breach of privacy statement :))
- Other standard features like - Phishing control, safe browsing, instant download bar (no extra download window- just icon at bottom)

Google recently stopped the Browser Sync extension on Firefox - where users could have copy of their bookmarks and browser settings on Google servers .. I wonder if Chrome has anything to do with it. Hmmmm...

Anyways download your copy of Chrome and learn more.... I'll keep updating with new discoveries or enhancements in near future