Why Hasn’t Safari Skyro...

The past few days, there’s been a lot of talk about web browsers. The report that Google will be paying Mozilla close to one billion dollars over the next three years to ensure that their search engine remains the default for Firefox is fascinating for a few reasons . The biggest is that Google now makes a Firefox competitor, Chrome. And it got me thinking about Safari. Remember Safari? While Chrome has skyrocketed from 0 percent market share in August 2008 to over 25 percent last month, Apple’s web browser lingers

Even though Safari got ...

Even though Safari got the share of 62.03 percent of the mobile market, it only has a 5.4 percent share of the desktop market. Still, with the popularity of Macs, I'm seeing the increase of its use. computer desks

Google Launches A Slick...

Now that Google Music Beta has been out there for a few months, it’s time to focus on how to  get people to use it . One key: mobile. While Google launched an Android app for Music Beta alongside the initial unveiling at I/O this year (it’s baked into the Music app), iOS users were SOL. Not anymore. Today, Google has rolled out an app so they can get in on the fun as well. But it’s not a native app, it’s a mobile web one. And it’s still pretty slick. While the app still has the Safari chrome around it, it functions smoothly. You can easily play all of your songs, search, shuffle, etc. Swiping left and right takes you between Artists, Albums, Songs, etc. The transitions are very well done. The music even continues to play in the background when you exit Safari. And it can be controlled by the iOS music controls. And yes, it all streams from the cloud. You can get to it simply by directing your iOS Safari browser at music.google.com. I’ve asked Google if there are any plans for a native app as well. That will be key for travel, etc. I’ll update when I hear back. Interestingly enough, while Amazon’s rival cloud music service works on iOS through the browser now , we hear there are plans of a native app… Update : Says Google on the topic of a native iOS app, “we’re considering all options to bring the service to more people, but don’t have anything official to share.” Click to view slideshow. Crunchbase GOOGLE Company: Google Website: http://google.com Launch Date: July 9, 1998 IPO: NASDAQ:GOOG Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of... Learn more

“Open” Web Browsers Now...

A month just ended, which means new stats. In the world of web browsers, there are two particularly interesting ones of significance. One points to “open” web browsers now in the majority amongst those that surf the web. Another points to WebKit browsers passing Firefox, to claim the number two position

Skyfire’s VideoQ Lets Y...

Until Adobe and Apple work out their differences (Yeah, right) or the entire Internet miraculously switches to using HTML5 for all video content, the Skyfire browser will always have one steadfast selling point: through some on-the-fly conversion magic, it can play back Flash video content on iOS devices. The problem: outside of its Flash shortcomings, Safari is great. Most people probably don’t want to replace it entirely. Skyfire gets pushed to the background, waiting for its moment in the sun when the user comes across a video that Safari just refuses to play. Realizing this, Skyfire has started to think outside of the browser. This morning they’ve released VideoQ, a standalone player for video content that Safari won’t touch. It’s like the Skyfire browser, minus the browser — or, in some sense, like a ReadItLater for mobile video. Here’s how it works: Download VideoQ, then send a quick registration email Browse around in Safari. One you’ve found a video that Safari can’t play, you tap Safari’s “Mail Link To This Page” button, and email that link to video@skyfire.com Launch the VideoQ app, and the video you sent over will be waiting in your queue for playback. Alternatively, you can also use a bookmarklet to send the link from your desktop computer to queue it up for playback on your handset. But that’s not all it does — in fact, one of its secondary features might just be cooler than its main, video queueing trick. Given that Skyfire processes something like 8 million video requests a day, they’ve got a pretty good idea what the masses are watching at any given second — so they list it. The “Hot” tab within the app pulls together a real-time list of the most popular videos from all around the web, and you can drill down to just the content you want by dropping in channel filters like “Technology” and “Animals”. Hurray! You’ll never miss an adorable cat video ever again! Skyfire’s VideoQ currently goes for $1.99 in the App Store (a buck shy of what they’re asking for with their full-blown browser). Video Demo: