Google are doing their bit for charity in the run up to Christmas with a funky little extension for Google Chrome. The extension allows you to donate to one of five charities simply by opening tabs in Chrome. It sounds a bit barmy and I am not sure how it actually works at the moment, but considering I currently have 20 tabs open, and probably get through well over 100 a day, I guess it is worth installing just to learn more about it, while also doing my bit for charity! Here is some information from Google about their charity extension for Chrome. The Lucky Charities That Google Chrome Supports: The Nature Conservancy is a conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. Read more or donate directly. charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Read more or donate directly. Doctors Without Borders is an independent, international medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid in nearly 70 countries to those most in need. Read more or donate directly. Un Techo para mi País is working in 19 countries across the Americas to improve the quality of life of impoverished [...]

Google Chrome really could be the Nemisis for Microsoft’s Windows. Google has been playing with Android for a couple of years now, and has Android on mobile phones and is talking about using it on Google TV and its own handheld tablet device. The latest news is that Google is putting Chrome on notebooks. Chrome’s aim is to provide high speed Internet functions to any computer. One of the restraints on any mobile computer device is the power required to run operating systems, browsers and applications. This all means less battery life, and less usage. Chrome is designed with minimalism at the core. It is designed to be fast and conserve resources while being very functional. Chrome is a logical extension for Google. Google is all about the Internet. Many people think of Google as just a search engine, but Google’s products and service go far beyond search – in fact they cover the world (Google Maps and Google Earth) and space (Google Sky). Instant Boot Up However, what really sets Chrome apart from all competitors at the moment is that it has an almost instant boot up process. One of the bugbears of many home PC users is the time that [...]

Google has finally revealed the code of its Chrome operating system to the public. Chrome OS is an open source operating system, much like the Linux operating system. This essentially means that users do not have to purchase it, and there is no advertising built into it. More importantly, as it is open source, it is much easier for computer programmers to develop their own enhancements to the software.

Yes, after months weaiting for the big news to be released, Google have finally announced that the deskop / laptop / netbook operating system will be called Chrome OS, and it will be available soon.   Really we all new as soon as Google released Android that a pc operating system must have been in the pipeline. We suggested that they would called it GUnix, basing the OS on Unix, but they have chosen the build the Chrome brand.  “Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.” Google official blog. Although full details of when it will be released or what it will be capable of doing have not been announced yet, it will certainly rival Windows 7, Apple’s OSX and the various [...]

I posted a blog a while ago with a possible fix, which involved changing some registry settings to prevent the internet connection being dropped when Vista goes into sleep/hibernation mode. However, this did not work for me after all. After some more digging (there are tens of thousands of websites discussing the Vista internet problems) I found some new possible solutions. I tackled them in a totally unscientific way, so am not sure what worked – but something certainly worked for me.  To recap: Dell Inspiron PC Netgear 834 router Windows Vista Home Edition Firefox 3 Chrome On a regular basis I was losing internet connection while browsing. At first I thought that it was a Firefox problem as on losing the connection, Firefox would crash, and End Task did nothing. The only solution was a reboot. However, it then happened in Chrome too, so I stopped blaming Firefox. Some forums said AVG was the problem, as it did not know what the new .sqlite file types are that Firefox uses to store cookies in. So I uninstalled AVG, and installed Avast Home edition instead. But I do not think that this worked as Chrome later crashed. I then found [...]

Rumours are strife that Google is on the verge or releasing its new cloud technology to the public – the Google GDrive. For several years now Google have been focussing new developments on software that runs off their own servers, and stores data on their own servers. They running blogging platforms, email, discussion groups, photo editing, video sharing, documents, calendars, advertising solutions, document viewers etc. All of these are run off their own servers. In fact, the only Google products that can be downloaded are Google’s browser, Chrome, and Google Earth, Google Desktop and Google Toolbar. No doubt Google Earth will eventually be fully “clouded” at some stage. But what is next? The next step is to open their servers so that anyone with a Google account can store any of their own data on the Google drives. This will allow you to access your data from anywhere in the world, and more easily share with friends and family. To do this, Google are developing the GDrive (short for Google Hard Drive) which will allow users to store photos, videos, documents, emails, music – anything. All that will be needed to access the information is a browser and internet connection. [...]