Get Your Chrome Now

As noted in yesterday's post Google has announced the release of it's new browser dubbed Chrome. This morning the Official Google blog is indicating that the beta version is available for download. At the moment Google Chrome Beta is available for Windows XP and Vista users. My First impression is that it is sleek looking with a simple google-esq interface and renders pages quickly. The install was fast and provided the option to import my Firefox bookmarks and prompted for the preferred search engine, it recognized that Google was my default but asked if I wanted to choose another anyway. I'm an avid Firefox fan but will be giving Chrome a chance. Click here to go to the download page! Send us your comments!

Firefox Goes For The Record

With the release of Firefox 3, Firefox is attempting to set a world record for most downloads in a day. As I type the Spread Firefox site is registering 7,303,823 downloads with a few more hours to go, pretty impressive considering the target was 5 million! CNET news is reporting "Firefox 3 is spreading fast, claiming more than 4 percent of the share of Web browser usage less than 24 hours after its release." Being the curious sort that I am, I wondered what the current record was and to my glee Firefox has had the foresight to guess that I might ask... "This is the first record attempt of its kind so there is no set number. We'd really like to outdo the number of Firefox 2 downloads on its launch day, which was 1.6 million. Let's shoot for 5 million--the sky is the limit!" So when will we know if the record is set? "This will take approximately a week after our attempt date. Our judges and Guinness World Records™ need to review our download logs and validate our record attempt."

MPAA Says Sorry, My Bad!

In a 2005 study commissioned by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) college and university students were blamed for 44 percent of all illegal downloading of movies. The MPAA has now admitted to "human error" in calculating those figures saying that students only account for about 15 percent of revenue loss to association members but claims the number is still significant. Mark Luker, vice president of campus IT group Educause, says "The 44 percent figure was used to show that if college campuses could somehow solve this problem on this campus, then it would make a tremendous difference in the business of the motion picture industry," and that "any solution on campus will have only a small impact on the industry itself." Perhaps the authors of the study should have spent more time studying and less time downloading when they were in school!

AP article here.

How indie bands make it big online

Wired Magazine's Geekipedia (with a name like that you know I had to post from it!) has a list of Indie bands gone big, with a little help from the Web! It's brief, but it goes to show you that don't need to sign with a big record label to promote your talents, and you are probably a lot better off in the end! hmm, is there a lesson to be learned here for bloggers? ;-)

Led Zeppelin and Apple make nice music together

Engadget is reporting that Led Zeppelin is finally embracing iTunes. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones have personally selected a number of songs to be sold as a "best of" type collection. "Mothership," will include 'Stairway to Heaven', 'Whole Lotta Love,' 'Dazed and Confused' and other personally selected tracks. This at the same time that Apple announces it's 3 billionth download! No one screams like Robert Plant!