Hasta La Gadget!

This week it’s been a real all-out brawl very much behind the scenes when it’s come to the FTC cutting down Google for their supposed privacy infractions with the Apple Safari web browser – and today they’ve spoken up. Google has sent out an extremely tiny statement to CNN which essentially has them refusing the idea that they did anything wrong as far as privacy is concerned with Apple’s Safari browser. In addition, CNN has gotten some confirmation of the privacy fine Google faces, though they’re currently unwilling to share their sources on the matter.

The fine you may already have heard of racks up to $22.5 million dollars USD – just a few hours work for Google, in other words. This information, again, comes from a source with knowledge of the settlement speaking with the news source mentioned earlier. This information is crowned by a lovely little blip you’ll see here, as spoken by a Google spokesperson earlier today:

“We cannot comment on any specifics. However we do set the highest standards of privacy and security for our users.” – Google

This bit of information does not do one whole heck of a lot for the credibility of either the FTC or Google’s claims in this case, but it does let us know that Google is, at least on the surface, trying to remain true to their claim to not be evil in the world of public privacy. Have a peek at our timeline below to check out what Google actually may have done to deserve this case and its outcome:

Google refuses wrongdoing vs Safari, privacy fine confirmed is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week at Google’s developer conference, Google I/O 2012, they’ve released the next big bump for the Chrome universe: iOS compatibility. A brand new Chrome web browser made for the iPad and the iPhone. This version has all the thrills of the Android version that preceded it, and comes forth with the first non-beta release of the Android version as well: will Apple‘s mobile device users take the time to download Google’s web exploring king?

This web browser is a replacement for Safari, the built-in web browser on both the iPad and the iPhone. Strangely enough, both browsers are built on the same model, with their shared base being iOS WebKit, a bit of Apple software which brings on web browsing much in the same way that Google’s Android WebKit browser (with that same general name) has up until this Chrome release. So this Chrome will not be bringing you a whole new experience on the backend, the user interface is a step up without a doubt.

As this is a modern web browser, you’ll find that there isn’t a whole lot a developer can do to make it unique – unless they want to attempt to convince the whole world that a whole new interface is worth the trouble of learning how to browse the web all over again. In this case, it’s one simple flip of the browser tabs from hanging below the URL bar (in Safari) to sitting above it (in Chrome). Of course like Chrome on your desktop then, too, you’re able to search for items in the same text space as you enter URLs – Safari has two spaces for this.

You’ve got the full Chrome experience here from the tabs to the syncing to the new blank tabs having your most visited sites ready to go. Syncing occurs when you’ve got a Google login with which you’ve logged-in to Chrome with in any of its many iterations before. Your Chromebook working with Chrome OS is also synced with your mobile Chrome browser in Android and your Chrome browser on your desktop computer. Your settings transfer between each of them instantly, as we saw demonstrated this past week at Google I/O 2012.

Chrome has an incognito mode that’s just as effective as Safari’s similar function, the difference here being that you’ll be able to get to it a whole lot easier. In Safari you’ve got to head back down to your iPad or iPhone settings outside the app itself, while Chrome has this option in the menu list in the upper right inside the app. Chrome also allows you to wipe out your browser history and set options for webpage pre-loading and text prediction from inside the app as well.

Chrome is also able to save your passwords for any and all places you visit on the web that need a password to function. Chrome also, strangely enough, makes use of the iPad and iPhone’s speech recognition functionality while Apple’s own browser does not. You’ll just have to tap the microphone icon in the right of the URL bar, speak a url (like slash gear dot com) or say some keywords and you’ll either be brought straight to that URL or you’ll be brought into a Google search – simple!

All of this is fabulous and of course makes us want to head to Chrome without batting an eye, but there’s one rather significant factor in play that’ll hold a lot of hardcore web browsing folks back: benchmark performance. In the JavaScript benchmark SunSpider (version 0.9.1), we found Safari to average right around 1840ms – with Chrome hitting the mark just about 7000ms: and smaller is better in this test.

The difference in real-world tests, on the other hand, have been showing little difference as far as webpage load speeds. Subjectivity comes into play here heavily when a user is deciding on one of the two of these web exploring apps as far as speed goes. In other words – it’s the unique features each of these apps have that you’ll be wanting to pay attention to most.

You can download Chrome web browser for your iPad and iPhone today for free from the iTunes app store right over here: [download Chrome for iOS now!] Be sure to have a peek at our big collection of Chrome-related news bits from this past week at Google I/O 2012 in the timeline below as well!

Chrome for iOS Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’ve been keeping an eye on Firefox Beta for Android at all, you’ll know the browser has seen a flurry of updates over the past few weeks bringing performance improvements as well as additional features. Mozilla now say that that the stable version has now been updated to add all those improvements, which includes Flash and HTML5 support, a tab redesign, and revamped welcome page.

Mozilla say that the speed improvements are the real star of the show, and from using the Beta version, we have to agree. Initial load times are “lightning fast”, and the company says that the browser was created against a new benchmark called Eideticker, something it claims helps achieve performance that’s twice as fast as the stock Android browser.

The new “Awesome Page” displays your favourite websites in addition to the most recently visited tabs, and the URL bar has been tweaked to display the most recent searches and visited websites to cut down on awkward typing time. Desktop users will also be able to sync bookmarks between the regular Firefox and mobile version. Tabbed browsing has been tweaked too, allowing users to easily switch between open windows without too much fuss.

The new Firefox update doesn’t seem to have quite the Play Store just yet, but Mozilla say it will definitely land today. Keep an eye out in the meantime, and definitely give it a try.

[via Engadget]

Firefox for Android leaves beta with improved performance is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Ready to waste the morning away? Google has partnered with Lego Australia to allow users to build objects using the popular plastic blocks right from within their browser. You can choose from a multitude of different building blocks, and build anything that you can think up. Not only that, but your creation isn’t randomly floating around the internet, instead assigned a virtual plot of land in Australia using Google Maps.

Once you fire up Build you’ll be able to see a zoomed out map of Australia. As you search the continent and zoom in to different spots, you’ll see different creations from netizens that you can interact with or simply observe. If you want to go about building your own creation, you can choose your own plot of land or have the map randomly select somewhere in Australia.

After you’re finished, your final build is submitted to Google for approval, just to make sure anything naughty doesn’t slip through. Build has launched in Australia first, with New Zealand next on the list. After that, Google will open it up to even more countries so that you can build on more familiar territories.

[via The Next Web]

Google Build lets you play with Lego in Chrome is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.