Thursday, January 14, 2010

Chrome dome


I remember when I first heard the expression "why don't you just Google it?", as someone who studied English literature to O'level standard (and I don't care what they say, the GCSEs are clearly a lot easier than O'levels - so by today's standards, I've probably got an A'level), the verbing of nouns always raises the hackles. But you've got to see the funny side, Googling stuff does sound like the sort of quip Julian Clary or Graham Norton might come up with in reference no doubt to some sort of kinky bumsex.

But Googling has entered the national lexicon, and fair go, Google has single handedly revolutionised the Internet. And no more so than in the art of grumbleology. I remember the early days of the 'Net were a little bit hit and miss, I didn't have a computer back then, I had to use Internet cafes and searching for smut seemed to take an age, then the computer would crash or be blocked or something but then along can Google and all of a sudden looking up filth was like being able to use Stephen Fry and Albert Einstein as your friends to phone on Millionaire. Ask Jeeves never truly recovered did it?

The thing I struggled to get my head around was how the people at Google ever planned to make any money by simply giving something away that enabled people to discover porn. Well, I suppose that's why scratching a living selling advertising on a human resources magazine, and not a multi-billionaire with a permanent spot on Millionaire and Messrs Einstein and Fry on speed dial.

The thing is, Google is continuing to give stuff away and it's continuing to get rich. That's the crazy world of capitalism for you, and one that I suppose I'll never truly understand. I've been giving away Newsdesk posts for one year now and I haven't made a fucking penny. And it's not for want of trying.

The latest thing Google has given away is Chrome. Not the metallic element, that's already been invented by the Dmitri Mendeleev. No, Google's Chrome is something called a browser. That's the piece of software (which is the code that makes computers work) that lets you and me use the Internet. Again, I couldn't really see the point much in this invention, there are loads of these so-called 'browsers' on the Internet and they all seem to do the same thing.

Well, not so apparently, I was handed a copy of London freesheet Shortlist recently, I'm usually a Metro man as you know, but it was during the snow and so the trains were heavily delayed in London, so I started reading Shortlist (which I usually call Shitlist, because it's not really a patch on the Metro), anyhoo, it was advertising the Google browser Chrome, so I thought, in for a penny in for a pound. I have to say that the boffins at Google Towers have come up trumps yet again. Chrome is extremely quick, and I can have loads of different tabs open at the same time and if one of the tabs crashes, the rest all stay open.

Chrome is a clear market leader I would say, and that's Citizen Journalism. Chrome is without doubt the optimum browser on the market for looking at porn and for that Google should be applauded.

If you've not tried it, go and get yourself a Chrome and Google yourself into a frenzy!

Yours in technology

Barry

4 comments:

  1. I love my Google Chrome. I've been using it for ages and it's way faster than my old Firefox. The only thing I notice is that my blog looks COMPLETELY different in Chrome. It looks the way I want, yet in other browsers the font is ENORMOUS. WTF?

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  2. I like Firefox. I also like Thunderbird as my mail software, but Virgin doesn't like it. I may download chrome just to really piss Virgin off.

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  3. I think it has to do with the reality of the digitial world where giving stuff away has never been cheaper. Digital products are products that cost virtually nothing to replicate (although they cost a fortune to develop).

    I think the only conventional model that broke here is how money invested in a product is not recoved directly by said product itself. In the case of google, the more apps and online services it gives away, the more people it gets into its network. The more people on its network, the greater its intelligence becomes (because of the information it can mine from the activity within its network), and the wider it can disseminate even more stuff (specifically the breadth of its ability to deliver ads).

    The value returned is twice- or thrice-removed from the actual product invested in.

    I could be wrong though. Is Google cash-wealthy? Or is it just market-cap wealthy?

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  4. I, too, have tried to resist gratuitous verbing, but the first time I heard someone say "I Googled him" (at a funeral, actually) I took it to heart. It's just too perfect a word. I am happy with Firefox, but I may try Chrome on the strength of your recommendation: "the boffins at Google Towers have come up trumps yet again."

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