Does the World need another Browser?

Google has announced another new tool. It’s called Chrome and is a browser. Why on earth do we need another browser? If they’d do one for Android (their mobile platform) I’d understand - but for OSes?!
They use Apple’s WebKit as a base rendering engine and put some -admittedly good- fluff around it. But what I don’t get is why they make another one. They would have been much more effective teaming up with Apple and Safari or the FireFox guys. It would have left the browser landscape untouched. This now adds yet again another thing you need to test when developing web applications. The cost alone worldwide to web development projects will be in the hundreds of millions. Just because Google thought it would be cool to have their own browser. I wonder if they ever thought of the follow-on-effect of their actions.
The only hope I have is that the WebKit engine they use remains unchanged. That would mean testing Chrome would test Safari and the other way round. That remains to be seen once the browser is out in the wild.
The ideas Google have and what they are trying to do is great but it’s just the wrong way. This smacks of a Microsoft stratagem and I also believe it will have a Microsoftish feel to it aka somewhat stale and big monopoly like.
As a tester I hope they will still come to their senses. We have enough browsers to have healthy competition and we have more than enough browsers to give testers a royal headache. So please not another cool browser!!!

Source:  Erlewein

Download Google Chrome

This Tuesday September 2 (or Monday at midnight), you will be able to download Google Chrome, the new Web Browser made by Google. Availability in 100 countries.

Download Google Chrome: http://gears.google.com/chrome/eula.html?hl=fr

Official Website: http://www.google.com/chrome

See the post on Google official Weblog.

See also explanations with the Comics.

You can download and print a 37 page PDF Comic book created by Google that tells a very comical story while at the same time unveils technical information about the new Google Chrome web browser.

Google Chrome: Is Google planning to release a web browser?

 

Rumors that Google plans to release a web browser have been circulating for years. Personally I've never placed much stock in them, because it's always made more sense to tme that Google would continue releasing plugins for existing browsers like Firefox and Internet Explorer to allow users to take advantage of Google's web services. After all, that's what the company has done with the Google Toolbar, Google Gears, and the now-defunct Google Browser Sync.

But Philipp Lenssen at Google Blogoscoped has posted a comic book which he says comes straight from Google which seems to indicate that the search engine giant will indeed release a browser soon. Reportedly called Google Chrome, the browser will be based on the open source Webkit rendering engine. So what would Google Chrome have that you can't find in other web browsers?

• Includes a brand new JavaScript virtual machine called V8
• Tabs wil go above the window, not below the address bar
• Location bar will support auto-complete functions and suggests web pages you've previously visited as well as suggested sites you haven't
• Upon launch, you'll see an Opera-like speed dial with bookmarks and thumbnails for up to web sites
• There will be a privacy mode that allows you to surf without saving any personal history (Microsoft is building a similar feature into Internet Explorer 8)
• The browser will constantly download up to date information about web sites with malicious code

Chrome will also utilize Google Gears to allow you to save many web sites and applications for offline use. And web applications will be isolated from other browser tabs, so if Google Docs or another app crashes, your browser won't automatically close.

While I'm surprised to see Google getting into the browser space, I can't say I'm disappointed. It'll take a lot of work for any company to take market share away from Microsoft and Mozilla. But if anyone can do it, or at least offer some innovative ideas for the competition to copy, it's Google.

Update: It's official. Google is releasing a beta of Google Chrome for Windows tomorrow.

Source: Download Squad

5 Steps to Upgrade From a Hacked iPhone to an iPhone 3G

Source: Matt Cutts
 
"I know what you’re thinking: “Matt, I hacked my original iPhone. Now I want to share in the iPhone 3G fun, but I’m worried that something horrible will happen if I upgrade to the iPhone 3G.”
Buck up, fellow iPhone hacker. I’ll tell you how to upgrade from your hacked Apple phone and keep all the settings you love from your original iPhone. The good news is that it’s not hard and there’s a set of five steps that will combine the comfort of your old settings with the joy of the new 3G iPhone. I’ll lead you through the steps.

1. Upgrade iTunes and sync your old hacked iPhone
Upgrade to iTunes 7.7 (or whatever the latest version is). Plug your hacked iPhone into your computer and make sure that you sync. When you sync, a backup of your iPhone’s settings data is stored in iTunes. Recharge the power in your old hacked iPhone and turn it off. If you want to be ultra-safe, see my post about how to backup iPhone data.

2. Buy an iPhone 3G
This step is time-consuming, but not hard. Apple has a page for its stores and after 9 p.m. you can check the Apple iPhone availability to find a store that has the new iPhone 3G. Hint: if there are multiple stores in your area, call each to see which has the shortest wait. When you buy the iPhone 3G, you don’t need to mention to the salespeople that your previous phone was hacked. Just buy the iPhone 3G and let them activate the phone in the store.

3. Restore the backup of your hacked iPhone to your iPhone 3G
(If you decide to “start fresh” with your new iPhone 3G and don’t want to restore contacts, bookmarks, music, etc. from your old phone, skip this step.)
Resist the temptation to start immediately customizing your iPhone 3G. You’re just going to override any changes when you restore your old iPhone’s settings anyway. In particular, make sure you keep the passlock (where you have to type a PIN to unlock your iPhone) off for the time being. Go home and plug your new iPhone 3G into the same computer with iTunes 7.7 where you did a sync on your old iPhone. iTunes will ask if you want to register your iPhone. I registered my iPhone, but I don’t think it was necessary -- looking back, I think iTunes asked me to register to get permission to send me email offers. Next, iTunes will ask if you want to try 60 days free of MobileMe. I didn’t want that, so I declined. Only after those two offers did iTunes ask if I wanted to set up the new iPhone 3G as a new phone or restore from a backup. The choice looks like:

Choose to restore from a backup and the last sync of your old hacked iPhone should be offered as a choice. Let iTunes restore the backup data and settings from your hacked iPhone to your new iPhone 3G. Once it’s done, pretty much everything should be like it was on your hacked iPhone. The iPhone 2.0 firmware adds some new options, so make sure you explore the settings menu and set any new options the way that you want. Also, if your iPhone is configured to fetch email, your email passwords on the new iPhone 3G will be empty. You will need to re-enter your email passwords.
Finally, if you want to use the Apple App Store, you may need to add a credit card or authorize your computer to purchase things, even if you only want to download free applications. I have a personal policy not to put my data where I can’t get it back out, so I tend to buy MP3s instead of buying music with proprietary Digital Rights Management (DRM) from the Apple Store. As a result, my computer had never been authorized to buy things from the Apple Store. To authorize your computer, in the iTunes program click Store->Authorize Computer... and enter your Apple ID. Once your computer is authorized, you might need to click Store->Check for Purchases... if you tried to download an application from the App Store before your computer was authorized.

4. Upgrade your old iPhone to firmware version 2.0
The iPhone running software version 2.0 has been hacked, so there’s no need to keep running old firmware on your old hacked iPhone. Plug your old hacked iPhone into the computer running iTunes 7.7 and make sure that iTunes is running. Under the “Devices” entry on the left hand side of iTunes, when you click on the iPhone device, you should see a screen with a “Check for Update” button. Click that button. I was running firmware version 1.1.1 and at first it offered me firmware version 1.1.4. So I exited iTunes, restarted iTunes, and clicked “Check for Update” again. Then it offered me firmware version 2.0. Click to install firmware version 2.0 on the old hacked iPhone.

5. Erase the settings and data on your old iPhone
One nice thing about the iPhone’s firmware version 2.0 is that it adds a “secure wipe” that attempts to erase all data completely from your iPhone. That means you can sell the old iPhone or give it to a friend without worrying about all those crazy pictures you took, the 1-900 numbers in your contacts, the SMS messages that reveal things you want to keep private, etc. Here’s how to erase everything on your old iPhone. Eject the phone in iTunes, disconnect the phone from the computer, then press Settings, then General, then Reset, then Erase All Content and Settings, then Erase iPhone. You may have to confirm a couple times that yes, you really want to wipe your iPhone. The process takes about an hour, so I connected my iPhone to a cable that was plugged into a power outlet to ensure that the iPhone wouldn’t run out of power in the middle of wiping it.
When the iPhone is finished erasing itself, it’s suitable for giving to a family member or selling on eBay or whatever."