Hasta La Gadget!

Oh, IE, it pains us to do this to you. You who once so mightily won in the battle against Netscape Navigator now seem to be losing your war against a battalion of upstarts, relatively fresh faces like Firefox and Chrome. According to StatCounter, IE’s global usage stats have fallen to 49.87 percent, a fraction of a tick beneath half. Firefox makes up the lion share of the rest, at 31.5 percent, while Chrome usage tripled since last year, up to 11.54 percent. Two years ago IE had two thirds of the global market locked down, and even if Internet Explorer 9 is the best thing since ActiveX, well, we just don’t see the tide of this battle turning without MS calling in some serious reinforcements.

Update: If you needed more proof of Chrome’s increasing popularity, we got a tip on this report from Softpedia confirming that Chrome is the fastest growing browser of the moment. Firefox is more or less flat and, well, you know all about how IE is faring.

Continue reading Internet Explorer falls below 50 percent global marketshare, Chrome usage triples

Internet Explorer falls below 50 percent global marketshare, Chrome usage triples originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 07:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We all knew today was the day, but just in case you’ve been zoned out in Kauai the past few weeks, Microsoft’s getting set to release its refreshed build of Internet Explorer to the general public today. IE9 Beta is said to be a beta that’s essentially done, so you shouldn’t have too much to fear when the download links go live later today. The crew at Redmond claims that it’s far more compliant with HTML5, CSS3 and SVG2 standards, and that it’s the only game in town with full hardware acceleration. Keep an eye on that source link for a shot at downloading your copy later today, and if you’re terrified of offending your existing Firefox or Chrome installation, we’ll do you one better — our own in-depth review will be going live in a matter of hours.

Update: It’s out! Check out our review if you’re still feeling antsy.

Internet Explorer 9 Beta seeing public release later today (update: it’s out!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Sep 2010 11:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s terribly difficult to get reliable statistics, as numbers tend to vary drastically depending upon whom you ask, but if you’re inclined to believe that Android is mopping up Apple and RIM’s declining mobile mindshare in the US, you’ll find nothing but corroboration from Quantcast. The analytics firm reckons a full one-quarter of mobile web traffic stateside comes from devices running Google’s OS, though it’s important to know that the iOS tallies apparently don’t include the web-friendly iPad. You also might want to note that this is mobile web traffic here — these days, we spend an increasing amount of our internet time in apps — and since we’re on a roll with the disclaimers, let’s just add that these numbers have nothing to do with a company’s financial success. Nokia can attest to that.

Android accounts for one-quarter of mobile web traffic, says Quantcast originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 19:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your eyes are absorbing this webpage. They’re passing over this, this, then this word, right now. That’s how reading works, online: you take this for granted. But what if you couldn’t? More »

Bill Gates just might be the world’s most famous college dropout (sorry, Kanye), but lest you think he’s changed his mind about the educational establishment, he’s got a few words of reassurance for you. As the closing speaker of the Techonomy 2010 conference, Bill dished out his vision of how learning will evolve over the next few years, stating his belief that no single university will be able to match the internet when it comes to providing the learning resources a student needs. Describing traditional studies as “place-based” and inefficient, he forecasts that university education will become five times less important within five years, with online lecture sources picking up the reins of enlightening our youth. In other news, Bill’s pen-based tablet PC idea is going great!

Continue reading Bill Gates expects the web to be the best single source of education within 5 years

Bill Gates expects the web to be the best single source of education within 5 years originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 05:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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