Elliott C. Back: Internet & Technology

Google Chrome, Google’s new web browser is out, and you can download it! Gizmodo earlier posted some screenshots (as did TechCrunch and Walter Mossberg), but I thought I should post a few of my own captures of the fast, new browser in action.

The first screen you see shows your recent history and a bookmarks bar

The about:memory page shows memory usage of Google Chrome, and any other browser you might have open (Firefox, IE, Opera, Safari). It’s a nice, sneaky feature that makes you feel better about how Chrome manages system resources.

Google Chrome stole Firefox’s Awesome bar. In fact, the Google “do anything” bar is less usable than Firefox’s, and uglier to boot.

As Reisigner noted, Chrome is faster than other browsers. It shows this off with its own task manager.

Chrome seamlessly imports bookmarks, passwords, and browsing history from Firefox

For those afraid Google might do some evil, and watch what you’re surfing on the internet, Matt Cuts in Preventing paranoia: when does Google Chrome talk to Google.com? writes about how Chrome will contact Google:

I knew that as soon as Google Chrome launched, some readers would ask tough questions about privacy and how/when Google Chrome communicates with google.com. So I decided to tackle this issue head-on. I talked to the Chrome team to find out if there’s anything to worry about. The short answer is no. For the long answer, read on.

So, Chrome is a gorgeous, fast, simple, and secure browser. Why not use it? No more crashing, lightning-fast page loading and rendering, faster javascript, a standards-compliant renderer, nice import features… there’s really no reason not to switch.

Apple has become notorious for removing applications from the iPhone app store, generating huge amounts of controversy as each application is removed. This post aims to aggregate the controversy into a single page, for reference.

The infamous I am Rich application sold 8 copies of the above glowing jewel for $999 a pop. The author, Armin Heinrich, said “I am sure a lot more people would like to buy it, but currently can’t do so,” Heinrich said. “The App is a work of Art and included a secret mantra; that’s all.” The application was pulled from the iTunes store on August 7th after reviews like

“I saw this app with a few friends and we jokingly clicked ‘buy’ thinking it was a joke, to see what would happen. … THIS IS NO JOKE…DO NOT BUY THIS APP AND APPLE PLEASE REMOVE THIS FROM THE APP STORE”

began to appear for the application. There is still no official comment from Apple as to why they removed the expensive, artsy application. According to the L.A. Times, Heinrich is also baffled: “I have no idea why they did it and am not aware of any violation of the rules to sell software on the App Store.”

Slasher, an iPhone app which “displays a common kitchen knife on the screen and plays a horror sound when you make a stabbing motion” was pulled from the App Store for violating section 3.3.12 of the iPhone SDK agreement covering objectionable content:

3.3.12 Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgment may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.

The Author is still trying to get clarification about what this means and get his application back into the App store. However, it sets an unfortunate precedent that any application (think about Religious apps, bound to offend other Religions…) can be pulled simply because someone, somewhere claims to be offended.

Carling Brewery’s iPint application was removed from the Apple store after a mistake in classification caused the enormously popular application to be listed internationally, instead of in the local UK market. iPint is still available for UK iTunes users.

Erica Sadun’s light-making application apparently made the iPhone’s LCD brighter than the default brightness. Somehow this was a violation of Apple SDK, and the App has vanished from the App Store. If you know more about “Light”, please leave a comment. I can find little on it.

PhoneSaber was an iPhone application to emulate swinging a Star Wars lightsaber around. As you swing your phone, it would emit various sound effects. According to this post, Mac Box took down the app voluntarily after a THQ rep communicated that they violated Lucasfilm’s mobile licensing.

As you all know, Netshare, the innovative app that let you use your edge or 3G cellular as a local wifi router, essentially tethering for the iPhone, was pulled by Apple after AT&T leaned on them. Nullriver notes that “we’ve received no communication from Apple thus far. NetShare did not violate any of the Developer or AppStore agreements.”