Google's Chrome team has reason to break out the bottles of champagne and fling corks through the office, something Dwight Schrute would never approve of. Why the celebration? Well, according to StatCounter, Chrome managed to unseat Internet Explorer to become the world's most used browser for the first time for a full calendar month in May. But if that's the case, why are corks flying in Microsoft's office as well?
Fresh off Facebook's acquisition of Instagram for a whopping $1.17 billion and following a lackluster initial public offering punctuated by more fizzle than sizzle, Mark Zuckerberg and company are reportedly interested in scooping up Opera Software, the Norwegian outfit behind the semi-popular Opera browser, and the only browser maker that puts out entertaining press releases.
In an effort to be more transparent about copyright removals in search, Google this week expanded its Transparency Report with a new section that discloses precisely how many requests the sultan of search receives from copyright owners, including organizations, to remove allegedly infringing search links. That number now stands at over 1.2 million requests per month, or over 250,000 per week, which is more than it received in all of 2009.
Strange things happen on the Internet all the time. The art of RickRolling was -- and for some, still is -- one of them, whereby for a short period of time it became vogue to trick people into visiting Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" video on YouTube. Even more strange than RickRolling becoming a thing is the fact that AVG Technologies managed to convince YouTube to pull the popular video yesterday.
If there's one thing the Web isn't lacking, it's social networks. Between Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Twitter, and a host of others, there are plenty of options for sharing your personal, professional, and even private life with others, if you so choose. Microsoft apparently feels there's room for at least one more and has quietly launched So.cl (pronounced 'Social'), a supplementary social networking service of sorts.
The funny thing about surveys is you always end up wondering who exactly participated, particularly when the responses are quirky. Perhaps some of you will think exactly that upon learning that a new study of nearly 900 Americans supposedly reveals just how dependent we've become as a nation on Wi-Fi connectivity. How dependent? Well, three out of every 10 survey takers said they simply can't go even just a full hour without a Wi-Fi connection. Exactly what would happen to them at the 61-minute mark is a mystery -- spontaneous combustion, perhaps? -- but what's interesting is just how important Wi-Fi has become in people's daily lives.
Microsoft is dipping its search brush into its paint bucket and getting ready to swipe it across Bing, the world's second most popular search engine behind Google. The new-look Bing will take on a three column design that Microsoft says is "the most significant update" to the search engine since it launched three years ago. Microsoft is looking beyond simple keyword searches and putting a big part of its focus on sharing search results by incorporating a Facebook column on the right-hand side.
Optionally, the latest version of Opera Software's online browser, Opera 12 (just released in beta form) is Opera like you've never seen it before. That's because Opera 12, or "Wahoo" if going by its codename, supports themes in case you want to change what's already a redesigned interface. From Cookie Monster to a cat wearing sunglasses, there are a bunch of themes to choose from, or you can 
If you haven't been paying attention to CISPA, or Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, it's time you started doing so. It's a bill that, according to many, is every bit as controversial as SOPA and PIPA were, and that was before a proposed amendment written by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) upped the ante by giving the Department of Homeland Security's Janet Napolitano a scary amount of authority to "intercept" online communications.
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