It was only a matter of time. Google Chrome, the internet browser they introduced in 2008, has been growing like crazy, passing Firefox to become the 2nd-most popular browser worldwide in the last quarter of 2011. Last week, it took the top spot from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which has held that position for what seems like decades. Global traffic analytics company StatCounter has been tracking the data for years. Following Firefox are Safari at #4 and Opera at #5. One asterisk on the numbers: Firefox allows users to block their usage data making it invisible to StatCounter. With some estimating…

The most dominant we browser within a continent is Google Chrome in South America. It isn’t even close. With nearly half of the internet usage on full web browsers in South America going being served on Google Chrome, it’s even more dominant than the 40.4% number that Internet Explorer puts up in North America according to Pingdom. Firefox is still the browser of choice in both Africa and Europe, while Oceania (around Australia) prefers IE. Asia joins South America with their preference towards Chrome. All three major browsers have been declared dead or dying at one point or another in the past,…

A few months back, website owners got extremely upset because Google Analytics stopped telling companies many of the keywords that people used to get to their website; specifically, they started marking all keywords used by people logged into Google accounts to be marked as (not provided), which is certainly frustrating.  Officially they swear this is for security, but what possible security breach is it for clients to see how people got to their webpages without any identifying information?  Users cried foul but, of course, Google did nothing to respond. Now, it’s been announced that…

Apple vs PC. Facebook vs Google+. Digg vs Reddit. There are always going to be wars that happen as competition over our technology preferences polarizes the users. One such war that has been raging for over a decade is the browser war. This drawing by Shoze has the war heating up between the two bruisers, Chrome and Firefox, while the old king of the playground eats glue. Classic. (h/t: Madison Chevrolet)…

As online privacy issues continue to pop up in the news, Firefox has officially joined the battle to make our browsing activities a secret from ad providers and malicious web trackers. “Technology that supports something like a ‘Do Not Track’ button is needed and we will deliver in the first part of next year,” Mozilla chief executive Gary Kovacs said. “The user needs to be in control.” Most websites, particularly those supported by advertising platforms, use tracking technology in your browser’s history to personalize both your experience as well as the type of ads that are presented to you….

On launch day Thursday, Opera 11 was downloaded 6.7 million times compared to 1.7 million a year ago with Opera 10.10. While these numbers are strong for the company that has put much of its focus on its mobile browser, one aspect of the numbers may catch many by surprise. 53% of the new downloads admitted to switching from Firefox while 43% were switching from Internet Explorer. Part of the success of the launch can be attributed to Opera’s appeal to the Reddit audience. The social news site is quickly becoming a force that drives tremendous traffic and holds a certain level of “intellectual superiority”…

Painfully unfunny Russian jokes aside, it’s also true – porn sharing site YouPorn is now under fire for having pulled a minor Google by sniffing users’ browser history. For those of you out of the loop, browser sniffing is not a website’s scanning of your internet activities for scent. A website, as you may have noticed, generally keeps track of links you’ve clicked by assigning them a ‘clicked’ or ‘have not clicked’ colour – typically purple for yes, blue for no. Browser sniffing works, essentially, by a website’s asking your browser which colour link to display. If your browser answers ‘purple’,…

I sat here for too long trying to come up with a headline about Firefox, and Chrome, and reflections. I got nothing. It’s the thought that counts. But it’s true – Firefox 4′s beta is out, and so far, it’s looking an awful lot like a certain other browser that’s been taking the Internet by storm in the last year. Immediately noticeable is the much-overhauled interface, the biggest change of which is the new tabs-above-address dealie, again, taken from Chrome. Personally, I always kind of preferred the tabs below – easier to get to via mouse, and all that. Though I guess as a definite ‘power user’, I should…

Mozilla is attempting to make inputting URLs on your iPhone a thing of the past with its new application, Firefox Home. The app was confirmed this morning on Mozilla’s Official blog. The group has confirmed that they have been working on an application for the iPhone, basing it on the Firefox Sync (formerly Weave Sync) technology. Firefox Home will give most iPhone users instant access to their Firefox history, bookmarks, and the tabs from their most recent browser session. Also, it will provide users with Firefox’s “Awesome Bar” capability, which will allow users to input their favorite…

If you’re online, watch TV or have kids, you probably know the name Justin Bieber, and hear it way more than you want to. One Firefox developer has the same feeling, and created a Firefox add-on to help achieve this goal, at least in internet searching and browsing. The extension, named Shaved Bieber will censor any mention of the despised one in your browser. A bookmarklet is also available to allow custom censoring of pages. The tool even helps hide images of Bieber so you don’t have to look at his adorable, despicable face. Developer Greg Leuch was also responsible for a Firefox extension that changes…