Google to launch new browser

Google announced today that they will release a new Internet browser tomorrow – Google Chrome.

On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn’t the browser that matters. It’s only a tool to run the important stuff — the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.

Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today’s complex web applications much better. By keeping each tab in an isolated “sandbox”, we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren’t even possible in today’s browsers.

This is just the beginning — Google Chrome is far from done. We’re releasing this beta for Windows to start the broader discussion and hear from you as quickly as possible. We’re hard at work building versions for Mac and Linux too, and will continue to make it even faster and more robust.

We owe a great debt to many open source projects, and we’re committed to continuing on their path. We’ve used components from Apple’s WebKit and Mozilla’s Firefox, among others — and in that spirit, we are making all of our code open source as well. We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward.

I’m a huge fan of open source and Mozilla Firefox. Don’t know if Google’s new browser will take the place of Firefox – but I’ll be downloading it for sure. I can guarantee it will beat Microsoft’s new IE8.

What do you think?

Zac Browser

This is a cool example of finding a way to make things work – when there’s not (many) other options available.

From USA Today:

John LeSieur is in the software business, so he took particular interest when computers seemed mostly useless to his 6-year-old grandson, Zackary. The boy has autism, and the whirlwind of options presented by PCs so confounded him that he threw the mouse in frustration.

LeSieur tried to find online tools that could guide autistic children around the Web, but he couldn’t find anything satisfactory. So he had one built, named it the Zac Browser For Autistic Children in honor of his grandson, and is making it available to anyone for free.

The browser is geared towards kids with autism but looks like it could be a good way for other kids to learn the web and computers as well.

Download the software here.

Firefox is acting funny

Firefox seems to acting very funny like.
I type a word or two and then it will go back one space and start typing in the middle of the word I’ve already typed. Very weird.
Appears to only happen in Firefox.
Could it be a Firefox problem or a problem with the antivirus program I’m running right now?
Here’s what the above paragraph looked like without corrections.

Fireox sees o be actinvery fu liek.
I typ a wordr twoan t wilto back one space and star ting int eh midleof the word I’ve lready typed. Very weird
Appears to only apen i Firefox.Could it b a Firefox prbem r a problem with the antivirus prgram Im running igh now?
Hee’s hat the above paragraph looked like ithout corrections.waa wrtr’oeoloenphhp.a dpyt lid o eynn gtmf