You're not supposed to see this video. Unless you work at Microsoft. It's a fake Chrome ad that's part of Microsoft's ongoing "Scroogled" campaign against Google, but it was supposed to remain internal. It appeared first on a blog called iCosmoGeek and has now been picked up by the Los Angeles Times. The Times says it has confirmation from Microsoft that the video was made for internal purposes. The video plays up many of the same charges that Microsoft has been making throughout the Scroogled campaign -- tracking users to target ads, not respecting users' privacy and so forth. He [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google | Google: Business Issues | Google: Chrome | Google: Critics | Microsoft | Microsoft: Business Issues | Top News

Is Google simply trying to create a better user experience on the iPhone and iPad or is it trying to "colonize" iOS with its apps? It all depends on your point of view -- though, it's probably a bit of both. When the new Gmail app for iOS was released May 6, immediately, inflammatory headlines appeared, suggesting that Google was "taking over the iPhone." However, that's not exactly the case. Users of the new Gmail app have the (default) option to go directly to the native versions of YouTube and Google Maps, as well as open Chrome via links in email. Previously, such links would have op [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Apple: iOS | Apple: iPhone | Apple: Safari | Channel: Industry | Google: Android | Google: Chrome | Google: Gmail | Google: Maps | Google: Mobile | Google: YouTube | Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Top News

According to a recent report published by Radware, load times for the top U.S. retail websites are 22 percent slower than in December 2011, continuing to go well beyond the ideal three-second load time. For their Spring 2013 "State of the Union" report, Radware evaluated load times for the top 2,000 U.S. retail websites as ranked by Alexa.com. The sites were tested using three different browsers: IE 9, Firefox 17 and Chrome 23, all on a DSL connection. The study found that the median load time for first-time visitors to a retail website's home page was 7.25 seconds, a 22 percent increase [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Firefox | Google: Chrome | Microsoft: Internet Explorer | Statistics: Web Browsers | Top News

Google's early fantasy about mobile was that apps would eventually lose favor in favor of HTML5 and the browser. This is consistent with Google's outlook and competitive history vs. Microsoft and Apple: the Internet and the cloud vs. proprietary operating systems and software. Yet, to date, apps have largely won out over the mobile Web. According to Nielsen, US mobile users spend just under 80 percent of their time with mobile apps vs. the mobile Web. And, comScore has said that "four out of five" mobile minutes (roughly the same amount) are spent in mobile apps. Last week, we discovered [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: Chrome | Google: Mobile

Google has decided to break up the unit that formerly combined mapping and commerce in a mini-reorganization coinciding with the transfer of Android to the leadership of Chrome SVP Sundar Pichai. Jeff Huber who formerly ran the combined commerce + local group is now becoming part of Sergey Brin's "Google X" team. According to the Wall Street Journal: The mapping unit will become part of the Google search team, led by Alan Eustace, and the commerce unit will be tucked into the advertising group, led by Susan Wojcicki.  The change may have been prompted by some tension in the combination o [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Business Issues | Google: Chrome | Google: Maps | Google: Wallet

The Verge is now reporting that Google's virtual assistant Google Now is coming to the Chrome browser and Chromebooks. Google Now will apparently be part of a new notification center in the Chrome OS. There's no question that Google Now is a compelling product. Whether we call it a "virtual assistant" or "predictive search" or "ambient search," it is to Android what Siri is to the iPhone -- a differentiator. Last year, it won the "innovation of the year" award from Popular Science. It's not entirely clear how Google Now on PCs would manifest, perhaps a notification box or pop-up i [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Chrome | Google: Mobile | Google: Nexus

Here's more stuff for Google to sell through its forthcoming retail stores: touchscreen Chromebooks. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google and unnamed hardware partners are developing new Chromebooks with touchscreens: Google Inc. has developed the first touchscreen laptops powered by its Chrome operating system to be sold later this year, according to people familiar with the matter, as the Internet giant tries to go toe-to-toe with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system. Interestingly, the new Chrome devices also would compete with devices powered by Google's other operati [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: Chrome | Google: Mobile | Google: Nexus

Google has been inching closer to opening its own retail stores for the past three years. It opened a Google schwag store on its own Mountain View campus in 2010. Then it tested a “store within a store” or "pop up store" concept in London, called “The Chromezone,” to sell Chromebooks for holiday 2011. In 2012, Google sent a supply of Chromebooks to BestBuy in the US and Dixon's in the UK to create an offline retail presence for the product. In addition, last year, Google was running a novel promotion with Virgin America at several US airports. Users got to try out Chromebooks on Vir [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Google: Business Issues | Google: Chrome | Google: Google Play | Google: Marketing | Google: Mobile | Google: Nexus | Top News

Those trying to reach major websites ranging from The Huffington Post to CNET and using Google's Chrome browser may be getting blocked, as Chrome puts up a "Danger: Malware Ahead" warning. I first noticed this last night, when I tried to reach an article at The Huffington Post, and got this warning screen: The warning said that content from Buddy TV, a "known malware distributor," had been inserted into the Huffington Post site. Oh dear. The culprit? A little box at the Huffington Post that pulled in headlines from the Buddy TV website, which Google yesterday considered to be ma [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Google: Chrome | Top News

Google's updated Chrome browser finally adds support for the "do not track" (DNT) standard. This was previously reported and confirmed by Google but is now rolling out. All other major browsers support DNT. The Internet Explorer browser is set to DNT by default. The other browsers require consumers to affirmatively indicate DNT as a preference. Microsoft's position in particular has angered ad-industry trade groups (and irked its partner Yahoo). The Digital Advertising Alliance, a kind of meta trade group comprised of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the IAB, the DMA, th [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Google: Chrome | Legal: Privacy

A new study on mobile browser speed offers mixed results when comparing iOS and Android devices, and shows that it's not just the device/platform that you're using, but also the cellular network that you're on that matters. Strangeloop Networks has just published its 2012 State of Mobile Ecommerce Performance report, which looks at how fast the top 200 e-commerce websites load on mobile web browsers. It's a companion report to the desktop browser speedy study that Strangeloop issued last week. For this study, Strangeloop measured 200 e-commerce sites over 3G and LTE networks in July and [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Apple: Safari | Channel: Content Marketing | Features & Analysis | Google: Android | Google: Chrome | Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Web Browsers | Top News

The top retail websites are slower to load than they were last year, and the problem is at its worst on Google's Chrome browser -- the slowest of three browsers measured in Strangeloop Networks' Fall 2012 State of the Union study on page speed and web performance. Strangeloop measured the performance of the top 2,000 retail websites (as ranked by Alexa) during July and August, and found that the median page load was nine percent slower than its last study, which was done in November 2011. That's measuring first-time page views, which slowed from 5.94 seconds last year to 6.5 seconds this ye [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Firefox | Google: Chrome | Microsoft: Internet Explorer | Statistics: Web Browsers | Top News

As expected, Google launched Chrome for iOS and it is now available for free download in the Apple App Store. The app currently has 3,615 ratings with an average rating of four and a half stars. Not only is it available and have that many positive ratings, it is the top free app in the app store right now. On the desktop version, Google announced at Google I/O that Chrome has 310 million active users, which is almost twice as many active users as last year. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Google: Chrome | Google: Mobile

A couple of recent articles have looked at the current state of browser usage, but they don't agree on which browser is No. 1 right now. On Wednesday, Shareaholic -- the social media button provider -- shared a chart showing browser usage in April across more than 200,000 publisher sites that use its buttons. According to their data, Chrome has a five percent lead over Internet Explorer, with Firefox a very close third. Shareaholic puts Safari at about 13 percent overall market share -- a number that includes iOS traffic. Android browser usage is also on the rise as you can see abov [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Safari | Channel: Content Marketing | Features & Analysis | Firefox | Google: Chrome | Microsoft: Internet Explorer | Top News

This may come as a surprise to a lot of Chrome users: A new study about page speed and website performance says that Google's Chrome web browser performed slower than both IE9 and Firefox in a recent analysis of retail website home pages. The findings come from Strangeloop Networks' annual e-commerce page speed and website performance report, just released today. The company tested the home pages of the top 2,000 Alexa-ranked retail websites and found that both IE9 and Firefox 7 were about five percent faster than Chrome. In its report, Strangeloop doesn't claim that its study "d [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Firefox | Google: Chrome | Microsoft: Internet Explorer | Statistics: General | Statistics: Web Browsers

The Kindle Fire is a deeply flawed tablet -- yet it has disrupted the nascent tablet market and especially other iPad challengers. Indeed, it may have even motivated Google to develop its own branded tablet, similar to the Google-branded Nexus series of smartphones. By pricing its heavily skinned Android device at $199 and taking a slight loss on each one sold Amazon is making a bid to dominate the Android tablet market. And the company appears to be well on its way, with millions of Kindle Fires already sold. Millions of Kindle Fires Sold Amazon said that it sold more than 1 million [...]

Related Topics: Amazon | Channel: Retail | Features & Analysis | Google: Android | Google: Chrome | Mobile Marketing | Top News

How important was it to Google to remain the default search engine in Mozilla's Firefox browser? Important enough that Google agreed to pay three times more in this deal than it did in 2010. AllThingsD is reporting that Google's new deal with Mozilla is costing a cool $300 million per year. That's about triple what Google paid in the previous deal: According to Mozilla's 2010 annual report, Google accounted for about 84% of Mozilla's $123 million in revenue, which comes out to about $103 million. Why did Google agree to triple its costs on Firefox when it has Chrome, its own growing web [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Firefox | Google: Chrome | Google: Partnerships | Search Marketing | Statistics: Web Browsers | Top News

Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser is still the most popular in the world, but a new number two has emerged: Google Chrome. According to StatCounter, Chrome now commands a fraction of a percentage point more share than Firefox on a global basis. In the US however, Firefox is still ahead of Chrome: 20 percent to 17.3 percent. Recently IE has gained share and now stands at 50.7 percent of the market. Finally, in terms of mobile browsers, Apple has the greatest share (combined iPhone and iPod Touch), followed by Opera and Android. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Firefox | Google: Chrome | Microsoft: Internet Explorer | Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Market Share