Google’s browser, Chrome, is officially leaving beta today.

Yesterday at the Le Web 08 conference in Paris, Google VP Marissa Mayer told TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington that the move would be happening, but she did not say when. Google representatives have confirmed the Thursday change of status for Chrome.

How to get it
The first people to get the non-beta version will be new users who download the browser directly from Google. Also Thursday, a small proportion of existing Chrome users will automatically get the update. On Friday, all the remaining Chrome users (10 million, according to Google) will get the download.

If you want to know whether you have the update, check Chrome’s About page. If you don’t have the current version, you can force the update from the dialog box. Normally, Chrome checks for updates every fifth hour of use.

The update system has been used for 14 updates of the beta product so far. This 15th update will be the first non-beta release.

Chrome’s privacy options are now in one place.

What’s included
Sundar Pichai, vice president of product development, told me that this release of Chrome will have “tons and tons of bug fixes,” especially around audio and video playback, which should now be “more stable.” Chrome will also be faster. Pichai said Google’s browser is 1.4 to 1.5 times faster (depending on which benchmarks you use) than it was at launch.

There are new features, as well. The bookmark manager is being revised to do a better job for people who have lots of bookmarks, and for those who want to import or export bookmark lists. Privacy options have all been consolidated into one dialog box. And there are improvements in the security features of the browser.

Features that the team is still working on include autofill for forms, native support for RSS feeds, “and so on.” But the top three features that Pichai says he and his team are working on are extension support and Mac and Linux versions.

“All the developement is in the open,” Pichai said. Curious users can monitor Chrome’s progress at Chromium.org, or download the Google Chrome Channel Chooser, which will tell their installation of Chrome to download either the betas between major updates of Chrome, or even the nightly (and often buggy) builds of the browser as it is developed. Pichai recommends that last option for those dying of curiosity about Chrome’s upcoming extension support

For a Google product, Chrome is leaving beta very quickly — 100 days after public launch. Pichai said that Chrome now meets Google’s “internal standards for stability and performance” and that its heavy use inside Google before its public release has contributed to its rapid graduation to released product status.

But clearly there’s more at play here than that. For comparison’s sake, only recently did Google remove the beta tag from Picasa, and it was years old and in its third major version. Gmail is still in beta, despite being relied on by tens of millions of users.

Google has big plans and goals for Chrome. Truly widespread adoption of the product won’t happen in businesses or on the pre-installed software suites of new computers until the product is not just known to be stable by users but vouched for as production-ready by Google — and that means taking it out of beta, even if the word itself means less than it used to.

Top 50 Properties

October saw the top 10 properties remain unchanged from the previous month, with Yahoo! Sites holding the top position with 137 million visitors. AT&T Inc. gained 5 positions to number 15 with 33.7 million visitors, while Glam Media jumped 9 spots to number 23, attracting nearly 25.5 million visitors. YellowPages.com Network moved up 5 spots to number 25 with 24.9 million visitors. Connexus and WorldNow-LMN Sites both entered the ranking this month at positions 46 and 49, respectively.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking

Advertising.com remained atop the Ad Focus ranking in October, reaching 87 percent of the more than 182 million Americans online. Tribal Fusion catapulted three positions to grab the number two spot, reaching 76 percent of the Internet population, while Google Ad Network also rose three spots to capture the third position in the ranking. Blue Lithium and Casale Media Network both moved up one spot in the top 10 to capture positions seven and nine, respectively.  ADSDAQ by ContextWeb (23) and IMDB.COM (49) both entered the ranking this month reaching 41 percent and 13 percent of the online audience, respectively.

TABLE 1

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in October 2007

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A flaw has been found in Windows Vista that could allow rootkits to be hidden or denial-of-service attacks to be executed on computers using the operating system.

The vulnerability was found by Thomas Unterleitner of Austrian security company Phion and was announced Friday. Unterleitner told ZDNet UK on Friday that Phion told Microsoft about the flaw in October but that he understood a fix would only be issued in the next Vista service pack.

According to Unterleitner’s disclosure of the flaw, the issue lies in the network input/output subsystem of Vista. Certain requests sent to the iphlpapi.dll API can cause a buffer overflow that corrupts the Vista kernel memory, resulting in a blue-screen-of-death crash.

“This buffer overflow could (also) be exploited to inject code, hence compromising client security,” Unterleitner said.

Unterleitner told ZDNet UK via e-mail that the “exploit can be used to turn off the computer using a (denial-of-service) attack.” He also suggested that, because the exploit occurs in the Netio.sys component of Vista, it may make it possible to hide rootkits.

Using a sample program, Unterleitner and his colleagues ascertained that Vista Enterprise and Vista Ultimate were definitely affected by the flaw, with other versions of Microsoft’s operating system “very likely” to be affected as well. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are vulnerable. Windows XP is not affected.

Asked about the severity of the flaw, Unterleitner pointed out that administrative rights were needed to execute a program calling the function that would cause the buffer overflow. However, he also said it was possible–but not yet confirmed–that someone could use a malformed DCHP packet to “take advantage of the exploit without administrative rights.”

“We have worked together with Microsoft Security Response Center in Redmond since October 2008 to locate, classify and fix this bug,” Unterleitner wrote. “Microsoft will ship a fix for this exploit with the next Vista service pack.”

Microsoft told ZDNet UK on Friday that it had investigated the issue, but was “currently unaware of any attacks trying to use the vulnerability or of customer impact.” It could not, however, confirm the inclusion of a fix for the problem in the next as-yet-unreleased service pack for Vista, nor give the release date for that service pack.

• Saved

If Google delivers useless search results, just erase them and you won’t see them again.

That’s possible under a new system Google unveiled on Thursday. Hoping to give its search engine a more personal touch, Google now lets users reshuffle results so their favourite websites get top billing and disliked destinations get discarded the next time they enter the same request.

It marks the first time that the internet’s most popular search engine has allowed its audience to alter the order of search results.

Although the revisions won’t affect Google’s closely guarded formulas for ranking websites, the company isn’t ruling out eventually tapping into collective wisdom of the crowds to tweak its internet-searching algorithms.

For now, Google simply wants to make specific sets of results more useful to each individual that comes to its search engine, said Marissa Mayer, who oversees the company’s search products. Users will have to have a personal login to take advantage of the editing feature.

“It should make the search results more dynamic,” she said.

The decision to let people tinker with their results is a tacit acknowledgment that not even Google’s seemingly omniscient search engine can possibly divine which websites will appeal to specific users. It also underscores how frequently people use Google to search for the same thing, such as “San Francisco hotels,” over and over again.

Google’s search recipe relies so heavily on automated ingredients that a variety of startup rivals such as Mahalo, Hakia and ChaCha have tried to carve out a new niche by relying on humans to vet and point to results.

But none of those have made a dent in a market that is increasingly controlled by Google, which processes more than 60 per cent of the search requests made around the world.

Here’s how the new system, called SearchWiki, works. If you’re logged into Google when doing a search, you’ll get results with a series of buttons below the links.

Clicking on arrow pointing upward moves a result higher on the results page. That link will come back in that new spot the next time you search on the same term. Clicking on an “X” will delete the link so it doesn’t appear the next time you make the same search.

Users will also be able to open a box to make notes about different sites so they can be read again in the future. The comments also will be shared with others who are logged in, if they click on a link for “See all notes for this SearchWiki.”

Shortly before it ran out of cash, it won a $150 million cash infusion from Intel in a patent dispute and in fact was able to secure an investment from AMD in 2007 and recently convinced Nvidia to license its tech for $25 million. Following an announcement in September that the company had begun looking for a buyer, Transmeta today announced that Novafora will acquire Transmeta and its assets for $255.6 million in cash. Novafora is a privately held fabless semiconductor company in San Jose that develops a series of digital video processors.

Under the terms of the agreement, stockholders are expected to receive between $18.70 and $19.00 for each outstanding share of Transmeta’s common stock. An interesting footnote in Transmeta’s Q3 refers to the 713,470 shares of Transmeta Series B stock currently held by AMD. 700,000 shares will be converted into 499,429 shares of common stock and transferred back to Transmeta – in exchange for a non-exclusive license of Transmeta technologies granted to AMD and its future Foundry Company.

Commenting on the acquisition, the president and CEO of Transmeta, Les Crudele, said he “was pleased with the value that [Transmeta] will be able to return to [its] stockholders as a result of this acquisition agreement with Novafora.”

“We believe the deal is a win for all our stockholders. We have spent the past several months extensively exploring our strategic options and believe that the agreement with Novafora best serves the interest of our stockholders,” he said. Zaki Rakib, CEO of Novafora, added that “Transmeta’s innovative technology and the expertise of its employees are valuable additions to Novafora.”

“Adding Transmeta’s power management technology to our video processor will advance our vision of making our products applicable across the broadest range of video-oriented devices,” Rakib said.

Transmeta reported sales of $25.3 million for the third quarter, which included $2.9 million of income from two previously announced agreements with Intel made during the quarter. Third quarter operating expenses also included $5.9 million of income from the December 2007 settlement and licensing agreement with Intel, and non-cash stock compensation charges of $887,000. Its stockpile of cash brought a Q3 interest income of $1.8 million. Transmeta’s cash, cash equivalents and short term investments at September 30, 2008 totaled $255.2 million.

Tags: linux

Four years ago today, Mozilla announced the release of Firefox 1.0. and delivered a better Web experience to millions of users.   Top features included pop-up blocking, fraud protection, integrated search and tabbed browsing. What made you decide to give Firefox a try?  And what were your favorite features in Firefox 1.0?  2.0?  3.0?  If you’re interested in what’s coming next for Firefox, you can download and help test Firefox 3.1 beta 1.

Source of story

The reason for this is the lack of venture capital. Banks starved of cash will also be more reluctant to help smaller companies stay afloat during a recession.

Mahalo has cut some 10 percent of its staff. Mahalo, who is a kind of human powered search engine, is now outsourcing much of its editorial department to freelancers instead of in-house staff.

In a blog post Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Mahalo, writes:

Although we’ve got a significant amount of cash on hand, and the business is ahead of schedule in terms of traffic (4m uniques a month, double where we thought we would be at this point), we’re fairly certain that the advertising climate for the next two years will be severely depressed. To ignore this obvious fact would be irresponsible.

He writes that market conditions are much worse than he thought they would be.

Another human search tool, Wikia, is getting rid of a third of its staff. Wagging the Long-Tailed Dog: Search Behavior & The Economy

Tags: startups, Mahalo

The version released for free download is only at the beta – testing – stage, but users and critics have been quick to pass early judgment. The consensus? Google Chrome is attractive, fast and has some impressive new features, but may not – yet – be a threat to its Microsoft rival.

Here is a selection of reviews from some of the most respected technology blogs and writers on the web. Click on the links to read the full reviews, or post your first impressions of Google Chrome in the box at the bottom of the story.

All in all, Google Chrome, after just a little time using it, is superb. It’s not only fast, but it’s useful. It’s not only elegant, but it understands what you really want to do with a browser. And although it suffers from some setbacks that shouldn’t be overlooked, it’s still a highly-capable browser. Download Chrome. You won’t regret it.
TechCrunch

Google has produced an excellent browser that is friendly enough to handle average browsing activities without complicating the tasks, but at the same time it’s powerful enough to meet the needs of more-advanced users. The search functionality of the Omnibar is one of many innovations that caught my attention.
PC World

While Chrome’s performance is a little better than that of Firefox, in practical terms, it is far less useful, because it lacks the broad array of third-party add-ons programs like Flashblock that make Firefox so customizable. With time, it might catch up, but in the meantime, I’d recommend giving the new Internet Explorer a spin.
The Associated Press

The interface in Chrome is very different from other browsers and takes a little getting used to. Instead of the traditional Netscape/IE-style toolbar across the top, Chrome puts tabs across the top. Moreover, the tabs are detachable, so the terms “tabs” and “windows” become interchangeable within Chrome.
CNET

Will Google Chrome shape the way Web browsers are developed and designed? It is too early to tell, but Google has certainly come up with something appealing and unique. Will Chrome replace Internet Explorer or Firefox? Perhaps not in its present form, and not for a very long time. Overall, Chrome is a killer little application to have and offers a nice break from tradition when surfing the Web. While there’s plenty of room to for growth and improvement, the first beta release is impressive.
The Tech Herald

Chrome is a smart, innovative browser that, in many common scenarios, will make using the Web faster, easier and less frustrating. But this first version — which is just a beta, or test, release — is rough around the edges and lacks some common browser features Google plans to add later. These omissions include a way to manage bookmarks, a command for emailing links and pages directly from the browser, and even a progress bar to show how much of a Web page has loaded.
Walter S Mossberg from the Wall Street Journal

It munches through media sites with ease, streaming music and video and handling Flash very smoothly. PDFs open so suddenly that you might not even realise you’re using them. Opening a new tab brings up not your home page (although you can switch to that) but a thumbnail view of your nine most visited sites, plus recent bookmarks and a box to search your history. Overall, my first impression of Chrome is 9/10 for speed, 8/10 for ease of use and 7/10 for stability. And those figures should have Microsoft and Mozilla very, very worried.
TechRadar

What I discovered was a product that has some clear advantages over Microsoft’s, but also some shortcomings that, overall, hardly make it a killer – at least today. To be sure, Chrome is a work in progress. In addition to being a test version, outside developers are invited to make improvements. But it faces a stiff challenge from Microsoft, which also is making improvements with its latest iteration, which includes some of the same features as Chrome, like tabbed browsing.
San Francisco Chronicle

Our first impression of Chrome is that it’s nice and fast. There’s very little lag opening pages and the entire interface feels very streamlined. Dragging tabs in and out of windows is awesome, with a transparent version of the page pulling away with your mouse. The fact that you can pull tabs out of windows as well as combine windows is a great touch. Everything involving the tabs feels very, very smooth.
Gizmodo

Google stated that it considered search-based ads more targeted than content ads, and that they therefore generated more clicks and revenue for advertisers. However, Google did realize that some content ads perform as well as search-based ads. As a result, “Smart Pricing” was born.

Smart Pricing adjusts the value of clicks based on a number of factors such as time of day, type of content, and conversion tracking. The latter, conversion tracking, measures how often a click on an ad produces a desired action for the advertiser, such as a product sale, newsletter signup, etc. It was at this time that Google announced it would be lowering the price of ads (i.e., charging AdWords() clients less) that appear on the sites of Adsense publishers. Susan Woodcock, Director of Product Management for Google, stated that this change came from requests of advertisers who wanted different pricing on clicks from search and content ads. The example Google gave for Smart Pricing was that “a click on an ad for digital cameras on a web page about photography tips may be worth less than a click on the same ad appearing next to a review of digital cameras.

While web forums are filled will AdSense publisher complaints about Smart Pricing, it is actually a fair system – publishers get paid based on the quality of the traffic they provide to Google advertisers.

While the switch to Smart Pricing has decreased revenues for many Adsense publishers, there is still a massive opportunity to generate significant revenues via the Adsense program. Smart Pricing adjusts the value of clicks based on a number of factors such as time of day, type of content, and conversion tracking. The latter, conversion tracking, measures how often a click on an ad produces a desired action for the advertiser, such as a product sale, newsletter signup, etc. The example Google gave for Smart Pricing was that “a click on an ad for digital cameras on a web page about photography tips may be worth less than a click on the same ad appearing next to a review of digital cameras. The key is to identify valuable/expensive keywords, attract qualified customers to your site , and provide compelling text that gets visitors really interested in a product or service. This will ensure that the visitors click on the appropriate Adsense ads and buy that advertiser’s product or service. A true win-win-win.