Isaiah's Tech

LG looks like they have another Windows Phone 7 handset in the pipe and it's the E700. This leaked .xml file says that the smartphone will have Internet Explorer 9 which tells us that it could actually launch in the future with the "Mango" update pre-installed. Of course, it could have the improved browser without the actual update but we'll just have to see what happens.

[Unwired View]

If you love Windows Phone 7 then I hope you managed to catch Microsoft's MWC event earlier today. They showed off and announced a bunch of new things and I'll just recap them for you. First off, they showed off multitasking on the OS and it looked fairly good. The company also announced that Twitter integration (into the People Hub) along with Internet Explorer 9 Mobile would be headed to the OS later this - hopefully with HTML5 support. We do know that IE9 Mobile will definitely have graphics and hardware acceleration so that's great news.

Update: Another Engadget post has mentioned that this update is going to be coming in early March and that's not all it will bring. It'll also feature "Copy and Paste" which is great. Along with this news is finally word that CDMA support is coming in "early March" so you can expect Verizon and Sprint to announce their batch of Windows Phone 7 handsets in the very near future. Hopefully, the HTC 7 Pro will be launching soon.

[Engadget]

So much for no multitouch in the Internet Explorer browser. According to WMPowerUser, the HTC Leo / HD2 will actually be shipping with Opera Mobile 9.7 which will support multitouch. This was found in the latest HTC Leo ROM this morning. This definitely makes more sense, but of course, it's not confirmed yet.

[WMPowerUser]

It looks like the HTC Leo will really be launching as the HTC HD2 over in the UK on O2. This promo material has just confirmed that it will be launching for free on O2 1200, which means that you'll have to pay £45 ($72 USD) a month on an 18-month contract. We're also hearing that if you want to get it unlocked in Europe it'll cost around €550 ($806 USD) to €600 ($880 USD).

So, now that the HD2 will be launching early next month - rumoured to be October 12th - we've also got more details about the handset. It has been confirmed that the HD2 will have a 4.3-inch multi-touchscreen capacitive display, but the multitouch functions will not work in the Internet Explorer mobile browser, which definitely sucks. Maybe Microsoft will decide to update IE Mobile so that pinch and zoom will work. We can only hope. Below is a video of the HTC HD2's TouchFLO 3D UI with Twitter integration.



HTC Leo / HD2 Coming To UK On O2: Engadget, WMPowerUser, Phone Arena]
HTC Leo / HD2 Definitely Coming in October: Engadget Mobile
More HTC Leo / HD2 Details: WMExperts, Slash Gear
HTC Leo / HD2 UI Video: WMPowerUser

With Windows 7 launching in Europe, it was said that the OS would not have any browsers built-into the OS, since Internet Explorer truly sucks. Well, now it looks like it will be the default browser, but it will transfer you to a "ballot screen" so that you can easily install a "competing browser" of choice. We don't know what the other browsers on the "ballot screen" will be at the time, but the picture above should be the top five on the list. They should do this in North America too.

[Gizmodo]

It's been only 6 days since Firefox 3.0.9 came out and it looks like Mozilla is already working on Firefox 3.0.10. Apparently, Firefox 3.0.9 has actually been a little bit slower than its previous versions and that is something that Mozilla is currently trying to fix. Firefox 3.0.10 will bring back the good ol' speed and will also plug a couple of security holes.

Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 reportedly has a new "Recently Closed Windows entry in the History menu that will allow you to restore accidentally closed windows." This is definitely good news, since the undo closed tab option is a life-saver for me. On a side note, Opera and Google Chrome already have this feature; Internet Explorer 8, on the other hand, is terrible.

[Beta News (Firefox 3.0.10), Lifehacker (Firefox 3.5)]

If you have an SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) supported browser, you can now draw in Google Docs. So, if you're using Internet Explorer - even IE8 - you're going to have to use Firefox, Chrome, Opera or Safari. If you try to draw in Google Docs with a non-SVG supported browser (aka Internet Explorer), it will use VML (Vector Markup Language) instead, so you're not entirely out of luck. So, try out your drawings in Google Docs now! On a side note, Google Docs also implemented a "full-fledged find and replace toolbar", you can try that for yourself too.

[Mashable, Lifehacker]

Earlier this week, at this year's Pwn2Own contest at the CanSecWest security conference, Safari was hacked in around 10 seconds. Mozilla's Firefox and Microsoft's Internet Explorer crumbled shortly after, under the abilities of a man named Nils. Google's Chrome was fortunately unscratched at this year's Pwn2Own contest. Surprisingly, this year no mobile devices were hacked. The iPhone, Symbian, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Mobile were safe from all the determined hackers. The hackers said that next year they would be more prepared to hack these devices, so watch out Windows Mobile 6.5 / 7 because my bet is that it will go down first.

[CrackBerry]

PC World asks if Firefox is Dead and Crunch Gear asks if Chrome will take over Firefox. I believe that Google's web browser, Chrome, will one day take over all of those Firefox users whether it be months or years from now (probably years). While Google Chrome's use is stuck at around the 1% mark, it has only been out of beta for only a couple of months. Firefox has been gaining  a ton of ground lately on Microsoft's Internet Explorer and that's all great and dandy. I once used Firefox, but I am finding it awfully slow compared to Google Chrome. At this year's Pwn2Own contest, Chrome is the only browser that hasn't been exploited yet. Charlie Miller has said that Chrome is a harder browser to exploit because of their sandboxing feature. He has found a security flaw in Chrome, but is having difficulty exploiting it because of the sandboxing feature and the way the OS's "security measures" work together. Maybe that's why Google is taking a while to release their Mac version, they're trying to get things [near] perfect. It seems that Chrome has the upper hand on security.

Google Chrome is really lightweight and that helps in beating out Firefox in a speed race. Personally, I love the sandboxing feature because some of my sites do crash and it does help that I can just close the tab and continue browsing. I feel that Mozilla really has to do something big to pull me away from Chrome. I rarely used extensions and that's why it was so easy to move from Firefox to Chrome. Obviously, I did use a couple of extensions, but Google has mentioned that they will be releasing extensions shortly; yes, they're still working on it. With the release of extensions it could definitely increase Chrome's market share. As long as Chrome doesn't ditch speed for so-called productivity (with extensions), I think that it will one day surpass Mozilla's Firefox.

My post may be biased, but only time will tell whether Chrome will overtake Firefox or not.

[PC World, Crunch Gear, Lifehacker]

It will finally be released tomorrow at noon EST. Microsoft is using the MIX 09 conference for Web developers "as the launchpad for IE 8." In the picture, IE8 will evidently have their own private browsing mode, called "InPrivate", which is no surprise. For more details, regarding Internet Explorer 8, go to the CNet News link here.

[CNet News]

Mozilla Firefox 3.1 was supposed to be released in early 2009, supposedly January, but it looks like things are being delayed over at the Mozilla Camp. Firefox 3.1 has been renamed to Firefox 3.5 to signify many changes and all of the mumbo jumbo. I'm excited for Firefox 3.5, but I doubt I will even use it, thanks to Google Chrome. Anyways, Mozilla just released Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 last week and it's fairly fast. I've used it a couple of times, but I feel that it's still lagging behind the likes of Google Chrome 2.0. Well, Mozilla evangelist, Chris Blizzard, has just said that after a couple more release candidates for Firefox 3.5 it is expected to be released in "two to three months." That means we'll see Firefox 3.5 in either May or June, which makes the total delay a good 6 months. With Opera touching up on their Alpha 10 version, Apple touching up on the new Safari 4, with Google modifying Chrome to finally get add-on integration, and with Internet Explorer slipping off the table it leaves one to wonder if Firefox will give up some of its share on the browser market. I don't think it will happen, but only time will tell.

[The Register, Maximum PC]

A new Chinese cellphone has surfaced. The Cool8800C (creative name) is a flip phone in disguise. At first glance, it appears to be a normal candybar phone, but then you realize that you can split the front part open, unveiling a 2.8-inch display with 2 different pads "just like keys of [the] PSP." This Chinese cellphone can actually play NES games, so that's kind of cool. Anyways, it also comes with an FM radio and will go for $140 USD. The bands actually don't work in North America, so you're out of luck if you really want this thing. Something that seems kind of off is that the buttons are on the sides, but i wonder how sturdy those side panels are. It seems like those will snap off and will fly everywhere while you play some old-school NES.


Cool8800C (and picture): http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/03/04/curious-flipphone-re.html

This chart says it all. The Safari 4 Beta is officially the fastest browser available. And, i'm also an idiot. Yes, there is a bookmarks bar, that is similar to Firefox and Chrome's. Although, i still can't find if there's the "restore last open tabs" feature. All-in-all this browser is amazing. Safari did pull a lot of stuff from Chrome, but that's okay. A lot of people are complaining about the lack of the "progress bar" or loading bar thingy that Safari used to have. But, they will probably give it a re-entry in the final build. For the beta there are currently no plug-ins, but that will also probably be implemented in a later build. It seems to me that some people don't even know that Safari can be used on Windows, since it's the standard browser on Macs. So, maybe Apple should emphasize that point more. Anyways, the Safari 4 Beta is a great browser and i'd advise anyone who reads this to at least try it out (especially if you're using Internet Explorer), this coming from a Google fanboy. I still prefer Google Chrome though, so don't think of me differently. Update: I thought i'd mention another thing that Apple should rip from Chrome. The fact that the tabs themselves are not transparent. Since my Windows 7 taskbar is transparent, this also causes Safari's tabs to be transparent (see through). This causes a problem because if the background is white, you can't read the similar white font on Safari. Chrome does a good job with this because the tab itself is not transparent, it uses a light blue background for the tab, plus the font is black and legible. It is a beta though, i'm sure they will further improve on some of their problems.

On a side note, sorry Microsoft Office fans but Office 14 will not be released this year. Ballmer was the one who announced this, so i think it's safe to trust his words.

A bunch of games are going to be released for the PSP this year, but i'll talk about LittleBigPlanet and Rock Band, mainly. Sackboy will hit PSPs this year in Fall. It will have the same gameplay, but will feature new levels for you to master and you will also be able to create your own levels. Basically, it's the same, fun LittleBigPlanet packed onto a UMD for your PSP. Rock Band will also be making its way to the PSP. Rock Band: Unplugged "will include Wi-Fi support and a 'fully-featured in-game store' for downloadable content in the North American and European markets." Primotech mentions that "the peripheral-free game as a beat-matching rhythm title that uses the PSP's directional pad and buttons to play along with guitar, bass, drum and vocal tracks." Does that sound like a good idea? I don't know, you tell me. Some other notable games are Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and Assassin's Creed.

Luckily, i was sleeping when this happened. But, this morning Gmail went down and the whole world just went crazy. Everyone resorted to Twitter when Gmail went down, even though it is usually the other way around mentioned Mashable. Google has fixed the problem, but it reportedly went down for about 2 and a half to 4 hours for some users. Google has apologized for the incident, even though everyone is still mad. Gmail -> Gfail, as some users have been calling it ever since the ruckus this morning.

Safari 4 Beta News: http://i.gizmodo.com/5159327/safari-4-first-impressions
Safari 4 Beta Is Fast (and picture): http://lifehacker.com/5159416/safari-4-beta-adds-cover-flow-runs-3x-faster-than-firefox
Office 14 Not Being Released This Year: http://i.gizmodo.com/5159541/office-14-wont-ship-in-2009-says-ballmer
Rock Band and LittleBigPlanet To Hit PSPs: http://kotaku.com/5159408/littlebigplanet-rock-band-assassins-creed-coming-to-psp
Gmail Goes Down (and picture): http://lifehacker.com/5159429/gmail-outage-lasts-two-and-a-half-hours
Rock Band To The PSP (and picture): http://kotaku.com/5159653/rock-band-psp-first-details-its-amplitude
Gmail Goes Down News: http://mashable.com/2009/02/24/gmail-down-panic-mode-on/

I could be wrong with some of my points, since i haven't exactly tested out the browser to it's full potential. But, after praising the Safari's lightning speed, i must point out it misses on a few key points for me. When i close Safari 4, there is currently no option to "restore the tabs" that were open last. This is key because on my laptop i always have at least 3 tabs open at all times: Facebook, Twitter and Gmail. I want them up as soon as i open my browser, so "restoring the tabs that were open last" should be implemented in a future build. One more key point is the bookmarks bar. Firefox and Chrome do the bookmarks bar well and, for me, Safari's is not too intelligent. Although the "Cover Flow" feature is good, it's also time-consuming and pointless. Apple should implement some kind of bookmarks bar at the top of the page where the so-called "Folders" can be placed because opening bookmarks in a sidebar is kind of old-school and slow productivity-wise. On the other hand, I now have Safari 4 as my default browser but that's because, for some reason, i can't make Chrome my default browser on my laptop. I think it's because of the Windows 7 Beta though. This is good because since Safari 4 is fast, it won't load up links i get from friends in the slow Firefox. Google Chrome is still my number one browser, so don't think that i've made a permanent move to Safari 4. Safari 4 now has an interface similar to Chrome. The address bar and all the information is crushed-up to the top of the browser's interface. They took out the "Menu Bar" and now utilize the same buttons on the top right side for the options and preferences that Chrome does. I haven't used Safari 3, so i don't know which features are new features. But, i should also point out that the Safari 4 Beta has an Autofill feature. I will probably do a "Part 3" of the Safari 4 Beta, but i'll do that when i've gone through everything the Safari 4 Beta has to offer.

Safari 4 Beta (and picture): http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/02/24/safari-4-finally-a-reason-to-come-back/

Meet the Safari 4 Beta. The Safari 4 Beta is now available and has a new JavaScript engine (Nitro), which is apparently 4.2x faster than Safari 3's engine was. Safari has finally decided to bring something to the table here, pulling stuff from Chrome and Firefox. They've made the move to putting the tabs on the top calling it "a more intelligent method for tabbed browsing." It also has a "Top sites" feature just like Chrome does, so those are both awesome features. "It's also got full history search, and you can use Cover Flow to search through it and bookmarks. Firefox-y features come in the form of a smart address bar and smart search field." You can now even use Ctrl + Tab to move between your different tabs, which should've already been implemented. This is a major overhaul for Safari and i must say that i am impressed. I actually like Safari better than Firefox now. It loads amazingly fast, rivaling Chrome's speed. I actually think it might be faster than Chrome [emphasis on might]. It could be a possibility. I've used it for the past 10 minutes now and am seeing blazing speeds. Apple is actually saying that Safari 4 is the "world's fastest and most innovative web browser for Mac and Windows PCs." It will be interesting to see the new speed tests results. Internet Explorer still lags behind and i think that Firefox is slower than this new Safari beta. Apple is quick to say that they utilize "the new Nitro JavaScript engine that executes JavaScript up to 30 times faster than IE 7 [not surprising] and more than three times faster than Firefox 3. Safari quickly loads HTML web pages three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3." They mentioned Firefox and IE, but they left out Chrome so Apple, themselves, may still know that they still have to catch up to Chrome's speeds. Safari is based on WebKit which is also used in Chrome. The Safari 4 Beta is mighty impressive and i'll give you more information on Safari 4 as i continue to test it out. It's a competitor. Look out Chrome and Firefox [and IE] because Safari is looking to spoil the party.

Safari 4 Download Link: http://www.apple.com/safari/download/
Safari 4 Beta: http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/02/24/safari-4-finally-a-reason-to-come-back/
More Safari 4 (and picture): http://i.gizmodo.com/5159260/apple-safari-4-beta-available-now-chrome+y-top-sites-cover-flow-and-nitro

After being scheduled to release on February 20, The Sims 3 will now hit PCs on June 2. The non-PC versions will be getting The Sims 3 after June 2, but those dates were not mentioned.

Panasonic's Z1 plasmas with WirelessHD will be hitting the Japan market on April 20. The Z1 is just 1-inch thick, comes with YouTube and has a 40,000:1 contrast ratio. These displays were mentioned at CES. There is no US ship date or price yet, but there are the Japan price tags. The 3 models: a 54-inch, a 50-inch and a 46-inch will go for retail prices of $7,835 USD, $6,715 USD and $6,156 USD, repectively. That's quite expensive, but with WirelessHD, how could you go wrong?

So, the new Internet Explorer 8 RC 1 is, reportedly, catching up to Google Chrome's market share. They are both currently hovering around the 1% mark. "These results aren't necessarily surprising, considering that web developers [all over the world] are likely downloading IE8 to get their sites up to spec before users start switching from IE7 en masse." This actually surprises me because i thought that IE8's market share would be higher than Chrome's. With so many people using Internet Explorer, it shocks me that more people haven't made the switch, especially those still using IE6.

Starting today, Gmail users will finally get Folders. Gmail currently uses Labels to sort and organize your different e-mails. Labels is a really unique feature and may be quite confusing for new Gmail users to use. My bet is that they decided to add Folders because of the migration from other popular e-mail services, such as Hotmail. Those users wouldn't know how to sort their e-mails because they are so used to using Folders over Gmail's Labels. Some people dislike change and i used to fall into that category. But after a while, i got the hang of using Gmail's Labels. Adding Folders to Gmail would be an excellent addition and i can't wait to try it out because i've been wanting that option ever since i started using Gmail. Folders will give Gmail users even more organization, since they will be able to use Labels and Folders, simultaneously.

I've been hearing that Windows has confirmed five versions of Windows 7. But, i've also been hearing that Windows has confirmed six versions. The verdict will be that Windows has confirmed six versions, since this article on Gizmodo explains the functions of all 6 different versions. The 6 versions are: Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate.

Windows 7 Starter is the most lackluster version and you will only be able to run 3 windows at once. Starter will be the go-to version for emerging markets. It's the version that will be used the least for us; it sounds completely pointless to me.

Windows 7 Home Basic will also be targeting the emerging markets and lacks many important features.

Windows 7 Home Premium will be the standard OS and will have all of the "cool features." This includes: Aero Peek and Media Center, just to name a few. It will also have multi-touch capability. Like i said, it's the standard version of Windows 7.

Windows 7 Professional "has everything that Home Premium does, but with business and 'enthusiast' features like file encryption, location-aware printing and advanced backup."

Windows 7 Enterprise has "everything that Professional does, but with a few additions like BitLocker full-disk encryption and direct access capability, so you don't have [to] go through a VPN for remote access."

Windows 7 Ultimate. We all knew that there would be an Ultimate version of Windows 7. Windows 7 Ultimate will have every feature of Windows 7 Enterprise plus some more "advanced features." Unfortunately, Windows 7 Ultimate will have a limited availibility.

There you have it, all six Windows 7 versions explained for you. This was quite a long post, thanks to Windows 7 taking up most of the room. Time to finally start my homework because i have quite a bit to do.

The Sims 3 Release Date (and picture): http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172595
Panasonic Z1 Plasmas With WirelessHD (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/panasonic-z1-plasmas-bring-wirelesshd-to-japan-first/
IE8 Catching Up To Chrome's Market Share (and picture): http://lifehacker.com/5145514/internet-explorer-8-already-showing-stiff-competition-for-chrome
Gmail Adding Folders: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/02/gmail-adds-folders-by-improving-label.html
Windows 7 Versions Explanation: http://i.gizmodo.com/5145366/all-the-flavors-of-windows-7-explained
Windows 7 Versions List: http://www.pcworld.com/article/158870/Microsoft_Announces_Six_Windows_7_Editions.html?tk=rss_news

Earlier today, i mentioned the 12MP Samsung cameraphones that may be weeks away from being announced (here). Well, that's not the only news that Samsung is stirring up. Apparently, there is also a rumour of a new Samsung Omnia. It will have the same features as the 8GB Omnia, but it will instead have 16GB's of internal memory. I don't know why Samsung would do this, since the UI is pretty non-responsive. My friend got one for Christmas and it was kind of annoying to use. I only used it for a couple of minutes though, so i couldn't exactly do a thorough review. Yesterday, my friend Yang, finally got his Samsung INNOV8 for only $580 CAD. I thought that was a bit of a steal. Anyways, the phone is a bit bigger than my phone (Nokia N81) but it obviously packs a heck of a lot more features inside, such as having 8GB of internal memory and a 5.0MP camera. I didn't get to play around with the phone too much, since it was so new and i didn't really want to break it or anything. Hopefully, i'll be able to take some pictures and record some video with it, to see exactly how it is. I noticed that it's running a modified Symbian S60 OS though. I noticed this because it's the same OS as my phone. He told me that he uses Opera Mini for his browsing and that it doesn't save his passwords. He also mentioned that the browser is really fast. More on the INNOV8 when i get a chance to hold it some more. It's only missing a touchscreen.

If you're waiting for the Killzone 2 demo date, it will be on February 5. There will only be one demo, with the exception of Japan, of course. They will be receiving 2 demos. I don't know if the 2 demos will be released on the same day though.

The TV and the PC continue to bump heads. It was mentioned at CES 09 that the distinct line between TV and PC will disintegrate in the upcoming years. Silicon Mountain just pushed out it's first LCD TV-PC, the Allio. The Allio will have 2 models: a 1080p 42-inch and a 720p 32-inch model going for retail prices of $1,599 USD and $1,299 USD, respectively. Both models will have the same internal hardware. A dual-core Atom 330 processor, a 250GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM, a DVD drive and it will run on Windows Vista Home Premium. Engadget also mentions that there is "no Blu-ray option, it seems." Interesting. No? Tell me in the comments if you like that the TV and the PC are coming together as one.

Rambus has been getting into a bit of trouble lately, but if we push that aside, they may have something interesting to mention. They are calling it the Mobile Memory Initiative, "a 4.3Gbps phone-oriented variant of the XDR RAM used in the PS3 that requires just 100mV of power. That means companies can either build super-powerful phones that take advantage of a complete MMI system's estimated 17GBps throughput, or build cheaper devices that offer performance equivalent to today's memory with fewer MMI parts." A long quote, but it is very informative. Basically, the message is: super-powerful phones can be made by utilizing MMI. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until early 2010 for the first products.

What a delightful introduction to this article on ZDNet. "The reign of IE is coming to an end." I love that line. Internet Explorer's market share has dropped 7% over the last year. This is because those users still using IE6 are dumping that browser for newer browsers, such as Firefox, Safari or Chrome. This is really interesting because 20% of people cruising the Internet are still doing so using IE6. Those people must be out of their mind, in my opinion. If you enlarge the chart you will notice that IE's market share is on a steady pace downwards, while Firefox, Safari and Chrome continue to gain market share. Firefox is projected to grow at least 4% from March 2008 - 2009, Safari should gain about 3% from March 2008 - 2009 and hopefully Chrome can stay above the 1% mark by March. I hope that Chrome releases their extensions / themes soon because they should start to make their move now, while users are trying to make the switch from IE6 to a better browser.

Samsung Rumours (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/02/16gb-samsung-omnia-shows-itself-other-samsung-rumors-surface/
Killzone 2 Demo: http://ps3.qj.net/Killzone-2-demo-coming-February-5/pg/49/aid/128589
Silicon Mountain's Atom-based Allio LCD TV-PC (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/02/silicon-mountain-debuts-atom-based-allio-lite-lcd-tv-pc/
Rambus' 4.3Gbps Mobile Memory: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/02/rambus-introduces-4-3gbps-mobile-memory/
Internet Explorer Losing Users (and chart): http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=1116

You have to love Google and i have more from them today.

If you use Gmail, like me, you are in luck. Today, Gmail Labs gave Gmail a new feature. It allows you to use your Gmail even if you are not connected to the Internet, Offline Gmail. How this works is beyond my knowledge. Even after watching a video on it, i still never entirely understood. Anyways, you will be able to use almost all of Gmail's features even if you are not connected to the Internet, thanks to Google Gears. "Composing emails in offline mode puts them in your outbox, and those emails are automatically sent once you're back online." This will really be useful to those Blackberry users or people on-the-go. I think it will affect more American users than Canadian users, but it's still useful, nonetheless. I think that Americans have a faster-paced lifestyle than us, in Canada. For me, the ability to use Offline Gmail is still not an option in my Labs menu, so i still have to wait for that.

Just when you thought Google owned the search engine category, they still managed to increase in 2008. From all of the search queries in 2008, Google's market share increased from 58.5% to 63.5%. As you can see from the chart, Google is the purple line, which steadily increases. The other 3 lines are other 3 search engines and it looks like their lines just go straight through the graph, with no increase. "What's even more impressive is that nearly 90 percent of all the growth in search volume was also captured by Google." This is world domination at its finest.

Yet, another chart. This one also shows Google's dominance, but this time in the browser department. The smaller the bar, the faster it is, in this case. Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox were the 2 kings in this test. Internet Explorer, obviously, came in last place here. Opera 10 Alpha was oh-so-close to snagging that last place slot, but they just edged out Internet Explorer RC 1. Kudos to my 2 favourite browsers, Chrome and Firefox, for dusting those other 2 browsers.

Google is fighting for Net Neutrality and they are going to "give users the tools to figure out whether internet service providers are interfering with their broadband connections by blocking or 'throttling' certain applications." Google partnered up with the New America Foundation and Planet Labs to "further develop Measurement Labs, an open-source platform that researchers can use to find out information about broadband connections." Google looks like it is really backing up Net Neutrality and it is a good thing. "One of the tools Google plans to provide users on its M-Lab site is called DiffProbe. It will help users detect whether an internet service provider is giving some traffic a lower priority than other traffic." The more information the user has, the more control they have. This article on TechCrunch was very well-written, that's why i pulled so many quotes from it.

I'm about to show you a video of Google's highlights throughout the years. It goes through pretty much everything Google has done for the first 10 years and it really is amazing. It is also a well put-together video. Here it is, via YouTube.



Offline Gmail (and picture): http://lifehacker.com/5140668/gmail-goes-offline-with-google-gears
Google's Search Growth (and chart): http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/28/google-gobbled-up-90-percent-of-all-us-search-growth-in-2008/
Google Chrome's Speed (and chart): http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10151584-16.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
Measurement Labs: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/28/google-introduces-a-new-weapon-in-the-fight-for-net-neutrality-measurement-labs/
10 Years of Google (and video): http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/01/ten-years-of-google-video.html

I lied, sorry. As of right now, there will be at least 3 blog posts today. Just because i love writing blogs. =D.

First off is the MSI gaming laptop, dubbed the GT627. This laptop will be packed with a six-cell battery, "an optional Blu-ray drive and a Core 2 Duo CPU." Along with these features, the laptop itself will have a 15.4 inch screen with a 1680 x 1050 resolution. "It's also the first MSI laptop to feature the 1GB NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS GPU, and there's even a 320GB HDD, 4-in-1 multicard reader, twin USB 2.0 ports, HDMI / VGA outputs, gigabit Ethernet, a two megapixel webcam and an ExpressCard slot to round things out." To end the epic spec sheet off, this laptop will weigh around 5.8 pounds. This MSI gaming laptop is packed with a bunch of good features, as you can see. The red outline on the laptop is kind of annoying though (visual-wise), for me at least. I like the Dell Adamo's looks better than this, but that makes sense, since the Adamo is all about the looks.

Internet Explorer's RC (Release Candidate) 1 is now available for download. If you follow my blog, you will know that i'm not too fond of this so-called Internet Explorer. But, just because i'm in a good mood today, i'll summarize PC World's review of Internet Explorer RC 1. Basically, RC 1 fixes all of the bugs in Internet Explorer Beta 1 and 2. Internet Explorer RC 1 is pretty much the code for the final release and it runs faster than Beta 2. If you are going to download the RC 1, just remember that the normal precautions apply, much like anything else pre-released. Just download Google Chrome or Firefox, seriously.

If you have a Mac, you should mark tomorrow on your calendar. iLife '09 is going to be available tomorrow. iLife '09 was presented at the slightly boring Macworld 2009. iLife is "Apple's bundled application suite that brings facial recognition to iPhoto and piano and guitar lessons to GarageBand." "A new license will set you back $79 [USD], unless you bought a new Mac after January 6. New user upgrade's are going for $10 [USD]." So, iLife '09 tomorrow. Go get it, if you want to.

If you are waiting for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for the Nintendo Wii and DS / DSi, i have the release date for you. It's not too far away. It's release date is actually under 2 months into the future. March 24 will be the release date. "Echoes allows Wii and DS gamers to play alongside one another with a bit less hassle than the original Crystal chronicles."

Just in case you wanted to get EA's 'The Sims 3' it may be delayed. The Sims 3 was scheduled for a February 20 release date, but on its official web site, the date now says "TBA." A recent EA statement also hints at a possible delay. The Sims 3 is "already so close to complete it's hard to imagine the company delaying it for very long." So, it may be delayed, but you probably won't have to wait too long. On the other hand, Starcraft 2's release date still hasn't been mentioned.

MSI Gaming Laptop (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/26/msi-gets-official-with-gt627-gaming-laptop/
Internet Explorer RC 1 Now Available (and picture): http://lifehacker.com/5139534/internet-explorer-release-candidate-1-now-available
Internet Explorer RC 1 Review: http://www.pcworld.com/article/158337/explorer_8_rc1.html?tk=rss_news
iLife '09 (and picture): http://lifehacker.com/5139331/ilife-09-hits-shelves-tomorrow
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/26/final-fantasy-crystal-chronicles-echoes-of-time-clocks-in-march/
The Sims 3 Delayed? (and picture): http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172467