Archive for the 'Internet & Online' Category

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The new version of Google Chrome has a few strong points which are really worth mentioning. It would warn users before downloading malicious files, as a result of Google developers having upgraded security features in the latest stable release.  So, in order to protect users of certain malicious websites and phishing, Google Chrome now warns us before downloading certain types of malicious files.

According to a memeber of the development team, this security feature has been carefully designed, so that malware can be detected without Google Chrome storing the visited URLs or the downloaded files.

Also, Chrome now gives users more control over data downloaded from Web sites and stored on the computer . This includes Flash Player’s Local Shared Objects (LSOs) as a result of a collaboration with the Adobe development team.

Besides improvements in security and privacy, the most recent version of  Google Chrome includes support for hardware-accelerated 3D CSS, which means users will get a better experience on web pages and applications that use 3D effects.

The latest version can be downloaded here: http://download.chip.eu/en/Google-Chrome_3653130.html.

Internet Explorer is a highly customisable web browser, allowing a high degree of personalisation. Most internet users spend considerable time setting theirs up exactly how they like it – in terms of favourites, shortcuts, viewing preferences, default behaviour and the choice of browser itself.

Sometimes it is desirable to reset the browser to its original state, either for privacy reasons, or to troubleshoot any problems that are occurring during operation. Read more.

Flash (well, Frash) came to jailbroken iPhones yesterday. But if that eight-step process was a little bit complicated for you, there’s a new three-step method available right now.

It’s actually the same basic scenario, just streamlined into a single Cydia package for your downloading convenience by the GermanAustrian-based Applephiles at Benm.at. According to iThinkDiff, on your jailbroken iPhone 4, 3GS, or iPad:

1. Open Cydia > Manage > Sources
2. Edit source and add http://repo.benm.at
3. Search Frash and install it.

And voila! Flash content should play to your heart’s desire (though you’ll need to tap the Flash component to get it to play). The whole thing takes just a few minutes, but won’t work on your 3G due to processor architecture incompatibility. As always, proceed with caution!

JailbreakMe 2.0, a mobile Safari-based jailbreak app for iPhones and iPads, has just gone live and pretty much opens up any iOS device you have handy, all the way back to the iPhone 3G.

As a browser-based app, all you need to do is direct your device to the Jailbreak Me website at http://jailbreakme.com (currently very busy) and successfully load the page.

If you’re antsy about such a maneuver, wait a while and various sites, including the technical tipsters at Redmond Pie, will have some how-to guides handy for your enjoyment

From Google’s Blog

When you think about “information,” what probably comes to mind are streams of words and numbers. Google’s pretty good at organizing these types of information, but consider all the things you can’t express with words: what does it look like in the middle of a sandstorm? What are some great examples of Art Nouveau architecture? Should I consider wedding cupcakes instead of a traditional cake?

This is why we built Google Images in 2001. We realized that for many searches, the best answer wasn’t text—it was an image or a set of images. The service has grown quite a bit since then. In 2001, we indexed around 250 million images. By 2005, we had indexed over 1 billion. And today, we have an index of over 10 billion images.

It’s not just about quantity, though. Over the past decade we’ve been baking deep computer science into Google Images to make it even faster and easier for you to find precisely the right images. We not only find images for pretty much anything you type in; we can also instantly pull out images of clip art, line drawings, faces and even colors.

There’s even more sophisticated computer vision technology powering our “Similar images” tool. For example, did you know there are nine subspecies of leopards, each with a distinct pattern of spots? Google Images can recognize the difference, returning just leopards of a particular subspecies. It can tell you the name of the subspecies in a particular image—even if that image isn’t labeled—because other similar leopard images on the web are labeled with that subspecies’s name.

And our “Similar colors” refinement doesn’t just return images based on the overall color of an image. If it did, lots of images would simply be classified as “white.” If you’re looking for [tulips] and you refine results to “white,” you really want images in which the tulips themselves are white—not the surrounding image. It takes some heavy-duty algorithmic wizardry and processing power for a search engine to understand what the items of interest are in all the images out there.

Those are just a few of the technologies we’ve built to make Google Images more useful. Meanwhile, the quantity and variety of images on the web has ballooned since 2001, and images have become one of the most popular types of content people search for. So over the next few days we’re rolling out an update to Google Images to match the scope and beauty of this fast-growing visual web, and to bring to the surface some of the powerful technology behind Images.

Here’s what’s new in this refreshed design of Google Images:

• Dense tiled layout designed to make it easy to look at lots of images at once. We want to get the app out of the way so you can find what you’re really looking for.
• Instant scrolling between pages, without letting you get lost in the images. You can now get up to 1,000 images, all in one scrolling page. And we’ll show small, unobtrusive page numbers so you don’t lose track of where you are.
• Larger thumbnail previews on the results page, designed for modern browsers and high-res screens.
• A hover pane that appears when you mouse over a given thumbnail image, giving you a larger preview, more info about the image and other image-specific features such as “Similar images.”
• Once you click on an image, you’re taken to a new landing page that displays a large image in context, with the website it’s hosted on visible right behind it. Click anywhere outside the image, and you’re right in the original page where you can learn more about the source and context.
• Optimized keyboard navigation for faster scrolling through many pages, taking advantage of standard web keyboard shortcuts such as Page Up / Page Down. It’s all about getting you to the info you need quickly, so you can get on with actually building that treehouse or buying those flowers.

And for our advertisers, we’re launching a new ad format called Image Search Ads. These ads appear only on Google Images, and they let you include a thumbnail image alongside your lines of text. Check out our Help Center for more info on how try them out; we hope they’re a useful way to reach folks who are specifically looking for images.

These upgrades are rolling out in most of our local interfaces worldwide over the next few days. We hope they not only make it easier to search for images, but also contribute to a better aesthetic experience. We see images as a major source of inspiration, a way of connecting the world—and their growth is showing no signs of slowing down. We’ll work to make sure Google Images continues to evolve to keep up.

Finally Skype have got their act together and have embraced all that is iOS4.  As far back as March, Skype was see as one of the apps to benefit from the new multitasking expected in iOS4.  But, while it’s taken a little time to make it happen iOS4 compatibility is finally available on Skype.

The most obvious improvement is a crisper, more retina display friendly interface but most of all background VoIP.  A notification window pops up whenever you’re called or messaged and you can stay connected even when using other apps.  It works just like the native phone and messaging apps in that even from the lock screen you’ll be notified of a call or message and by simply swiping the the unlock, you’ll be taken to the call or message.  Video calling is still no an option.

Skype have said that they will not be charging a supplement to make Skype calls over 3G, but this is a bit unclear as to whether this means there will be no 3G VoIP or that there will and tey’re just not charging.   Fingers crossed it’s the latter.

How To: Renew Your Computer’s  IP Address: It happens to the best of us.  You’re surfing away and up pops the dreaded “Page Not Found” error.  After checking your connection and modem and everything seems good, do you really have to make that dreaded call to your ISP?  The answer is more than likely, No.  Often the problem is that your computer’s IP (Internet Protocol) Address needs to be renewed.  This is not as daunting a task as it sounds, just follow the step-by-step instructions and you should be good to go.

How To: Renew Your IP Address

YouTube have just rolled out a new version of their mobile site. You can find it at m.youtube.com and it features what is definitely a better interface and higher quality video playback than what is available on the native iPhone YouTube app.

YouTube Mobile Video

In what maybe seen as a bit of an “in-your-face” from Google , the iPhone app lacks a lot of features that are now available on this new mobile version, plus the new site actively prompts you to to add it to your iPhone homescreen.  The mobile app is available on both iOS and Android platforms and has support for HTML5.

Features that are now available to mobile users, that aren’t accessible on the native app include auto-suggest search results and playlist creation. More importantly, though, web apps can iteratively upgrade in small doses at any time, so YouTube’s main access point (the site) remains universal across devices and consistent with the desktop site.

The new YouTube mobile site is being pushed on their servers so you should to be able to access it now, but if not you won’t have to wait long.  Give it a try and tell us what you think, is it better than the native iPhone app?