I’ve been a little fed up with the last version of Firefox so I went to the download site to see if there was an upgrade. And there it was Firefox 3!
I did a two minute download, a two minute install and everything is shiny and new. I went over the Guardian website and the headline read “Firefox 3 launch overwhelms servers”.
Was I the lucky one - or did I break something? 
In a calculation that isolates sales driven by a company’s brand, Google has once again come out tops, says Sarah Arnott in today’s Independent.
The article states, “The search engine’s marque is worth more than $86.1bn (£43.5bn), up 30 per cent on last year, according to the Brandz list from Millward Brown Optimor published yesterday”.
Other in the top five brands are GE, Microsoft, Coca Cola and China Mobile.
Having patted myself on the back for using Google Mail and thus massively reducing my spam levels, I then read a horror story on the Matt Cutts blog about a company that sells software so you can back-up your gmail.
Apparently when you install the software to back up your email it asks for your username and password, fair enough you might think - Wrong! It also sends your details to the software developer!
Read the full story here
I had a wonderful day yesterday - a friend had recommended that I use Google Mail to cut down on my spam email problems. I have so many email addresses that even with several barriers in place I was still receiving many hundreds every day.
After a few hours setting the whole thing up - and changing my mail package to sync with my iPhone - I saw what was quite frankly a miracle. Google Mail cut 99% of the spam instantly!
I seem to remember Mr Gates making claims a few years ago about tackling the spam email issue, but not heard much since…
So, hats off to Google - saviour of the Internet
With an amazing offer of £15.50 per share (62% more than the closing price of Yahoo shares on the US stock market on Thursday) Microsoft is offering £22.4bn for Yahoo one of the web’s largest portal/search destinations.
Big enough to upset Google?
More on the Forbes site here
As a huge fan of both Google and Apple I am beginning to worry about my interest/obsession of all things i - iMac, iPhone, iGoogle, etc. And since purchasing my iPhone just before Christmas I seem to be spending more and more time on it surfing the web.
Why, I wonder, having a choice of desktop and laptop computers to play with, do I choose to surf on a mobile phone. I don’t understand it - it makes no sense, but I can’t resist it - it’s like a drug. Sure the iPhone has a host of sexy features and is a delight to use but the screen is a fraction of the size of even my smallest laptop.
Do they have rehab for i?
News on today’s Guardian website is that Gordon Brown is to seek the help of major multi-nationals, including Google.
At least twenty of the world’s largest companies are being approached to help tackle the development emergency in poor countries.
In the spring of 2008 Brown will call a conference of heads of private sector businesses, with the G8 meeting in New York in the summer and a UN session next autumn, he is to appeal for help with this crisis.
With billions of dollars in profits, Brown will attempt to solve the problem of the developing world with the backing of Google, Vodaphone. etc.
News in today’s Guardian that 23andme, a start-up company based in Silicon Valley has launched a personal genotyping service. Anyone providing a sample of saliva, and a fee of around £500, can have their DNA run through a gene-reading microchip, the results of which are uploaded to the web.
Using various tools clients can explore their ancestry/origins - and also find out the chance of contracting any hereditary diseases.
So why am I writing about this in an SEO blog? Because they have Google backing them - and Sergey Brin’s wife, Anne Wojcicki, is one of its co-founders.
Hmmm, let me think, what would I do if I had Google bank-rolling my next project? It would probably involve luxury motor yachts in the Mediterranean Sea…
News in the Guardian technology section that Google’s shares reached $700 on wednesday, putting it into the top five American companies beating the likes of Bank of America, Procter & Gamble and Citigroup.
The other members of the top five are ExxonMobil, General Electric, Microsoft and AT&T.
News on the Guardian website this morning that MySpace is doing a deal with Skype to offer free phone calls to MySpace members.
MySpace chief executive, Chris DeWolfe, said: “Our network has no geographical boundaries - internet calling is the natural next step for how our members communicate.”
Both Skype and MySpace parent companies, eBay and News International are under pressure to make money from their massive online presence.
Read the story here
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