For the first time in the history of the web, Internet Explorer has lost it's crown as the most used browser in a major territory; Europe. That's right, more Europeans as of late 2010 are using a browser other than IE.

For years Internet Explorer's dominance (and at first somewhat solitary existence at the top) has been chipped away at. Firstly by Mozilla's Firefox browser which was the first real alternative to IE worth using and more recently by Google's ever growing in popularity Chrome browser.

Towards the end of 2008 IE had a share of about 51% in Europe compared to 37.5% at the end of 2010. It's clear from these figures that in Europe at least IE is taking something of a beating. According to StatCounter a popular website statistics company Firefox took 38.11% of the browser market in Europe during December 2010 making it for the first time the most used browser, although only just. However the picture isn't as clear as it may first appear to be. In the last year despite now over taking IE, Firefox has also lost a very small fraction of it's market share, down 0.5%.

Where IE has taken a real hit is in the amount of people now using Google's Chrome browser. In the last year a alone, Chrome has seen a surge in the amount of people using it, up approximately 10% to 15% overall market share. This means people have left IE for Chrome and not Firefox.

StatCounter CEO, Aodhan Cullen said "This appears to be happening because Google's Chrome is stealing share from Internet Explorer while Firefox is mainly maintaining its existing share". The uptake in Chrome usage may be down to the EU requiring Microsoft to present to users a browser ballot screen, thus offering a choice of browser to the user to install. Quite why people are choosing Chrome over IE or Firefox isn't clear, but it can't be a coincidence that since being forced to offer this ballot screen IE has taken a hit in Europe.

Despite this bad news for IE, it is still by far the most widely used browser on a global scale. IE accounts for 45% of all browser usage on the web, compared to 31% for Firefox and 15.5% for Chrome. However on a global scale like in Europe the real winner is Chrome. It's usage globally is up approximately 10% over the last year while IE and Firefox have both experienced drops with IE dropping around 10% of it's share over the last year which is somewhat inline with the increased usage for Chrome. Over the coming year expect IE usage to fall further, despite IE9 being released and Chrome usage to storm upwards as in 2010. By the end of 2011 it could be close or in some territories be the 2nd most popular browser out there.

Interestingly this article has no mention of Opera so far. That's because Opera is still mulling around somewhere at the bottom at around 5% market share. A pit it's been in for a number of years now. Despite all the fuss and complaining Opera made about having a ballot screen, it seems to have done nothing to help them out and instead may even have helped Chrome get to where it is now. To put things into a little perspective Chrome was released almost two and a half years ago and already has 15.5% of the global browser market. Opera on the other hand has been around since the end of 1996 and can still only muster up 5% of the market.

It's fair to say that Google is on a mission, a mission of speed. For a while now Google have been announcing audacious projects which aim to speed up everyones web viewing experience. Over the last year they have announced plans to introduce 1Gbps fibre to the home and a more efficient and faster web protocol, SPDY. Speeding up the web doesn't stop there however as both these technologies focus on the transmission of data and not the actual data being transmitted. With images accounting for around 65% of the data transmitted between web page views according to Google, it makes sense to improve upon the efficency of image compression while retaining a good degree of quality.

This is probably why Google's Product Manager, Richard Rabbat has announced via the Google blog that enginners at the company have been working on a new image format called WebP (pronounced Weppy) which aims to reduce file sizes while still retaining image quality. While testing the new format, Google looked at around 1 million jpg images and convert them to the new WebP format and noted on average a 39% reduction in file size. Images converted straight to WebP can expect even lower file sizes while retaining the same degree of image quality as JPG provides for most web images.

Although the new format doesn't support an Alpha channel (transparancy), Google say that a future update to the format will provide this feature, something that JPG can't do. Currently web designers have to use PNG or GIF for transparancy. The format is also flexible enough to allow a variety of meta data to be embedded into the image, something Googles search engine will no doubt make use of.

Every one who uses the web could benifit from this new format particluarly those who use bandwidth strangled mobile networks. If Google can get the likes of Firefox and Microsoft on board there's no reason why WebP should't be a big success in the future. The mobie ISPs might also thank Google for reducing their costs since less data has to be transmitted to mobile devices. It will probbly be some years before this new format takes off but Google is already planning a patch for it's WebKit based browser Chrome that will see the browser have native support for the new format.

Link: Google WebP Gallery

In a move that many developers will raise an eyebrow at, Google have decided to omit the showing of http:// in the address bar of their latest dev build of Chrome. Although this is quite a change to make it seems that Google decided to not express much info about the change publicly as the lack of http:// in the address bar was filed as a bug by one sharp eyed user.

One developer replied to the bug report stating that the apparent bug is in fact a feature of the browser. Naturally this invoked a lengthy discussion regarding the removal of http:// the workhorse protocol of the web that has been around since year dot.  Naturally many developers and comments made  aren't in favour of the omittance and I can understand why.

Many fear that omitting http:// will break a lot of applications when people try to copy and paste a URL, or when some web apps try to autoparse a URL. Some need http:// in the URL to do whatever it is they're trying to do. However Google say that this should not be the case, as http:// is added to the clipboard when the URL is copied. This is not a perfect solution though, as some systems may not fully support using the clipboard in this manner. It remains to be seen how effective this solution will be if Goolge decide to keep it. It will be interesting to see if this feature will be seen in Googles Web centric OS, Chrome OS when it is released later this year. Other protocols such as ftp:// and https:// seem unaffected and remain viewable in the address bar.

My view on this is that Google should revert back to showing http:// as not including it will cause people to be come lazy when typing URLs, not to mention that fact that it breaks years of standardisation that we have all become used to as users, never mind it being technically correct to add http:// to a web url. Some  applications as stated previously require http:// and having a system where people don't have to type it will induce a situation where usability is affected.

Source: OSNews.com

So you have the luxury of running a secondary monitor next to your primary one, which is great for dumping reference material on to while you work on something on the primary monitor. However by default when you set up two monitors in Windows, the wallpaper of the primary monitor will also be applied to the secondary monitor.

This can be annoying for two reasons: 1) You want a different wallpaper on that second monitor as a preference and 2) The two monitors may have different aspect ratios and so on the secondary monitor the wallpaper will either get squashed or cropped. The settings don’t appear to allow you to change the wallpaper of the second screen when you set up dual monitors, but in this short tutorial you will be shown how to achieve just this within Windows XP. It doesn’t involve any hacks to Windows or extra software. The process described below may be different for Windows Vista and 7...

1. After you have the two monitors set up, right click the desktop and go to 'properties'.
2. Click the 'Desktop' Tab
3. Click 'Customize Desktop'
4. Click the 'Web' Tab
5. Click 'New' and then 'Browse'
6. Navigate to where the wallpaper for the second monitor can be found, Click 'Open' and then 'OK' on the original screen.
7. Keep clicking 'OK' until all the windows are closed.
8. On the primary desktop you should now have the wallpaper displayed. Hover the cursor towards the top of the wallpaper and a menu bar will appear. Click and drag on the menu bar to move the wallpaper over to the secondary monitor.
9. On the left of this menu bar there is an arrow, click it and in the drop down menu click 'Cover Desktop'.
10. Job done, now you have a wallpaper for each desktop. Nifty eh?

You could of course have anything displayed here, even a web page such as iGoogle or the like without having to have your browser open all the time.

Apple has released an update for Snow Leopard today which fixes many issues with the Operating System. Update v10.6.3 as it's known fixes various security, compatibility and stability issues with the OS and includes amongst many others the following updates and fixes that:

• improve the reliability and compatibility of QuickTime X
• address compatibility issues with OpenGL-based applications
• address an issue that causes background message colors to display incorrectly in Mail
• resolve an issue that prevented files with the # or & characters in their names from opening in Rosetta applications
• resolve an issue that prevented files from copying to Windows file servers
• improve performance of Logic Pro 9 and Main Stage 2 when running in 64-bit mode
• improve sleep and wake reliability when using Bonjour wake on demand
• address a color issue in iMovie with HD content
• improve printing reliability
• resolve issues with recurring events in iCal when connected to an Exchange server
• improve the reliability of 3rd party USB input devices
• fix glowing, stuck, or dark pixels when viewing video from the iMac (Late 2009) built-in iSight camera

To update Snow Leopard to the latest version simply go to Software Update in the Apple menu. Your system will then be scanned for any updates that are required. Any updates that exist will then be listed in the update program. Depending on what's required the update download size will vary from machine to machine.

Some updates are required before others can be applied to Apple recommend that Software Update is run several times to ensure that all the updates have been applied.

You can also download and apply the update manually using the update installer. This is quite a hefty download at just over 700MB but at least the update can be applied to multiple machines without having to download it all the time.

For more details see the official About the Mac OS X v10.6.3 Update page.

Google Street View was launched in the UK last March with many of the UK's most prominent Cities having Street View mapping. According to CNET the initial roll out covered about 28,000 miles of British roads.

Since then I had always wondered when my local area would show up on the service. However I didn't have to wait long, as late  last year (maybe the Autumn I can't quite remember), I spotted a Street View car making it's way down my street. Ever since that day, I have been waiting and expecting Google to update their Street View maps to include my area.

Well today, that has happened, and its happened in a lot of other places to. According to CNET, Google have added almost 219,000 extra added value miles to their UK Street View service. A number which covers about 96 percent of the country. There's not much else to say about the roll out other than to say, go check out your area because it's more than likely on there now.

In other somewhat related news, Google have also added more than 12,000 miles of trail data to their maps service in the US. The new feature that allows you to plan and customise your cycle routes as per your requirements. Whether it's the daily commute to work, or a leisurely freeride through your favourite woodland trail. Amongst other things you can tell the route planer to make use of bike lanes for safe commuting, calculate routes that avoid hills and calculate routes that are safe for bikes to travel on. These are routes that avoid car swamped roads, which are always dangerous for cyclists. Just go to http://maps.google.com/biking to plan your routes.

Sources: Cnet.co.uk and the Official Google Blog

Ubuntu certainly aren't afraid of change. After announcing that the soon to be released Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid) is to default to using Yahoo as the the search engine of choice, they have also announced that it will also receive a fresh new look and UI called "Light". The new theme, style or whatever else you want to call it looks far more mature and professional when compared to the current default theme,  "Human".

The theme will become the face of the Ubuntu desktop for the next several years and may indicate that Ubuntu is entering a new phase with their product. It's possible that Ubuntu will be advertised more vigorously in the coming years and with a far more professional and clean look, could make it more attractive to those who wouldn't otherwise consider it. More information about the facelift can be found on the Ubuntu web site, but here are some screenshots of how 10.04 will look.

Boot Splash

Ubuntu 10.04 Boot Splash

Desktop Theme

Ubuntu 10.04 desktop theme

In addition to overhauling the way the Operating System looks, the Ubuntu brand and all it's assets will also get a face lift. Ubuntu are going for simple yet effective styling in their new brand as you can see from some of the images below. In the coming months expect to see changes to the logos, community sites, merchandising and the official Ubuntu website.

Logos

The new look Ubuntu logos, clean and efficient.

Merchandise

Ubuntu will likely update its merchandising to.

The changes have come about after Ubuntu felt it was time they updated their image and identity to bring it more in line with their key business values and practices..."We're drawn to Light because it denotes both warmth and clarity, and intrigued by the idea that "light" is a good value in software. Good software is "light" in the sense that it uses your resources efficiently, runs quickly, and can easily be reshaped as needed. Ubuntu represents a break with the bloatware of proprietary operating systems and an opportunity to delight to those who use computers for work and play. More and more of our communications are powered by light, and in future, our processing power will depend on our ability to work with light, too. "

All images credited to Ubuntu.

In a move that will surely confuse rather than help most Windows users', Microsoft has rolled out it's browser ballot screen at the behest of the EC. This brings an end to a long standing dispute between Microsoft and developers of other web browsers who feel that Microsoft was abusing it's market leading position with the Windows platform by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows.

From yesterday anyone using Internet Explorer as their default browser, who updated their Windows machine would have been greeted with a message asking them if they would like to choose a different browser. With IE still dominating the browser market, it is likely that many millions of people in the EU will be greeted with this pop up screen.

When the popup presents it's self it will tell users that there's "An important choice to make: your browser". When the user clicks "OK" the screen will change so that twelve browsers are shown to the user. The most popular browsers, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE will be presented at random on the first screen while the other browsers in the ballot, Green Browser, Maxthon, Avant, Flock, K-Melon, Slim and Sleipnir will be shown at random on the next screen. Each of the browsers will have a button that will provde more information about the browser when the suer clicks the button and one to install the browser. When the browser is installed it will automatically become the default browser and will append it's self to the users Start Menu.

With twelve browser choices the move will surely confuse and in some cases anger many people who aren't that tech savvy. Many will probably end up blaming Microsoft even though it's others that have brought about these changes. Some might even see the pop up as a threat to their system as they may think their computer has been taken over by a virus. It is not yet clear if this solution will do anything to entice users away from Internet Explorer and have an impact on it's market share.

Source and Images: Microsoft Blog

In an official Windows 7 blog post, Microsoft has stated that in the near future it will be rolling out a new activation system for Windows 7. The new activation technology's will detect more than 70 known activation exploits and loop holes that allow pirate copies of Windows 7 to bypass or trick the activation procedures currently in place, say Microsoft.

Microsoft is committed to keeping consumers and partners alike secure from the potential risks of running dodgy versions of Windows 7. The software giant says that one in four web sites offering illegal downloads of Windows attempt to install malicious code or programs such as Trojans and other unwanted junk.

If you suspect your copy is not legitimate after buying a new computer from reseller you should check the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) to verify that the PC is running a genuine copy of Windows. Users can also seek further help from Microsoft's 'How to Tell' web site.

The voluntary update (which can be un-installed) is designed for all editions of Windows 7 and will be available at www.microsoft.com/genuine from February 16th and on the Microsoft Download Center from February 17th. Following this the update will be available via Windows Update as an 'Important' update later in the month.

If any activation exploits are found after installing the update, Windows will alert the user periodically and offer further guidance to resolve the issue, which includes how to acquire a genuine copy of Windows. Their desktop wallpaper will also be switched to a plain one with a persistent watermark in place to alert and remind them of the situation. Users with genuine copies should not be aware the system is running in the background.

Microsoft's General Manager Joe Williams stresses that the customer will not see any reduced functionality of their system and that all their applications will function as they would normally do. He also stressed that the update will not transmit any personally identifiable details to Microsoft.

However the update will run periodic validations every 90 days initially and when doing so it will download the latest 'signatures' that are used to identify new activation exploits and use them to ensure the integrity of Windows licensing files remains intact.

In an email I received today (and no doubt countless others have to) Google has stated that it will be dropping support for Microsoft's archaic Internet Explorer 6 browser. Google say that to continue improving the user experience of it's applications and services they will have to ditch support for older browsers such as IE6, Firefox 2.x, Chrome 3.x and Safari 2.x. Google are aiming to improve the performance of JavaScript within  their applications and provide wider support and implementation of HTML5 within their applications. Wave for example makes extensive use of HTML5 elements.

Initially Google will begin by phasing out support for these browsers in their Docs suite and Sites editor on March 1st 2010. Followed by Gmail and Google Calender later in the year.

So that the changes don't come as a surprise to anyone Google will later this week start to issue on screen messages to those users still using older browsers when accessing Google Docs and Calender.  The message will be to basically ditch your old browser for a newer one.

With a company such as Google behind a push to finally and with out any sorrow, say good by to IE6 forever it could well encourage many other organisations to ditch the browser to. IE6 is still quite popular amongst businesses and places of education as many of their internal systems rely on IE6 in order to function. However it's shoddy support for web standards and myriads of security holes has down the years caused IE6 to become the thorn in the side many of web developers and security firms alike.

Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux has announced that Firefox under Ubuntu Lucid will default to using Yahoo as it's Chrome search engine. Chrome is the name Mozilla have given to the search box to the top right of their Firefox browser.

The announcement has come about after Yahoo seemingly out bid Google to be the default search engine for the Ubuntu Linux distribution and the two companies as a result of that deal have entered into an agreement. The agreement means that Firefox will be configured from installation to search Yahoo and not Google when the user uses the browser's search box.

In effect this deal means that Ubuntu will be siding with Microsoft and it's Bing search engine as Yahoo and Microsoft have entered into a deal that will see Yahoo being powered by the Bing search engine. No doubt this will raise an eyebrow or two among the opensource hardcore that are out there, who are less than best buddies with Microsoft and their products..

The change will be made as soon as possible to the development version of Ubuntu and will definitely be implemented by the time Ubuntu 10.04 (code name Lucid) is released in April. Full details of the agreement have not been disclosed and it is not known as of yet if prior versions of Ubuntu are subject to the agreement.  

Rick Spencer, Ubuntu's desktop engineering manager, ensured users that the default search engine could still be changed to whatever their preference was. Meaning they can change the default search engine back to Google if required.

In his announcement he said "I am pursuing this change because Canonical has negotiated a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo! and this revenue will help Canonical to provide developers and resources to continue the open development of Ubuntu and the Ubuntu Platform. This change will help provide these resources as well as continuing to respect our user's default search across Firefox".

Having previously announced that Firefox 3.6 was in Beta, Mozilla have finally finished Firefox 3.6 and released it for Windows, Mac and Linux. Having already download it I can say that is feels somewhat more responsive and snappier than 3.5 felt. 

Having seen how fast Chrome can process JavaScript, Mozilla have been hard at work trying to catch up to the level of JavaScript performance that Chrome has. There is still some way to go yet but as you can see from the graph FF 3.6 is roughly 20 percent faster than 3.5 when tested in SunSpider. However Chrome is still 50 percent faster than 3.6 at running JavaScript so it remains king of the hill for now. IE 8 is nowhere as usual and we'll just have to wait until version 9 comes out to see what Microsoft can do here, they have a lot of work to do as you can see. They're not even close with IE 8.

Other notable improvements and enhancements in 3.6 over 3.5 include:

• Persona's - These allow you to change the style or look of the browser with a single click.
• Out of date plugin alerts - When an installed plugin is outdated Firefox will alert you to that fact and direct you to somewhere where you can get an update
• Improved CSS, DOM and HTML support - Developers can now make use of color gradients, background sizing and pointer events. Also support for the Drop and File APIs have been added which should provide a more engaging experience for web users.
• Improved page load times - Developers can tell scripts to load asynchronously
• Full screen Native Video support - HTML 5 embedded video can now be played full screen.
• Screen orientation support - Firefox can now determine the orientation of your screen and adjust it's self accordingly

Developers can check out the nitty gritty details of what's new and approved over at the Mozilla Developer Center. If you're just a bog standard Firefox though, you can go straight to the Firefox 3.6 download page and get it right now.

PS - The rumours of Firefox 3.7 being shelved and Mozilla going straight to version 4 are said to be "greatly exaggerated" according to Mike Beltzner, Firefox's director.