Chrome is my new fav browser!

Lately I have been interested in Chrome (the web-browser by Google) because most of the Firefox features that used to make my browsing experience enjoyable are now available in Chrome. Not to say that Chrome is all powerful now or that I don’t use Firefox at all, but the balance has been tipped.

I have been mostly interested in Chrome because of its speed advantage over Firefox. But, that till now hadn’t convinced me to leave the Firefox camp. The reason was a few simple yet powerful browsing conveniences/features:

1. Search keywords
2. Extensions
3. Integration with Delicious

But all these have decent solutions now.

1. The first one, Search Keywords, was actually always available in Chrome. I just hadn’t noticed it. Because it’s hidden under Options->Default Search. In the dialog box that follows selecting that menu option, you can edit keywords for various “search engines” and add your own too. So, you can add a keyword “wp” for Wikipedia. How do you use this feature? In the address bar (called Omnibox in Chrome) type wp followed by text and the browser will automatically take you to the Wikipedia page for the text.
2. Extensions support is now available in Chrome and Google’s been starting to advertise that to developers. See also TechCrunch’s report on the same.
3. Integration with Delicious is available now through #2 above – extensions. This is so important to me that I wouldn’t have left Firefox if it weren’t for its availability in Chrome. I’m sure a lot of other developers feel the same. The extension is available here.

There are still some issues that need resolution, perhaps through extensions. These, once solved, will make me forget Firefox unless the Firefox team cooks up some new magic potion.

1. Adblock Extension
2. Flashblock
3. Google Toolbar

The next 6 months are going to be exciting. There’ll be a ton of improvements coming into Chrome in the form of extensions. Though we’ll have to wait a bit longer for Firefox 4.0. It’s scheduled to be released in Oct/Nov 2010 timeframe. I’ll be watching the news… on Chrome, of course.

Plant a Wiki! Join a Wiki Farm!!

I’d like to say I’m a heavy user of Wikipedia. I don’t have any stats to prove that. But, I’ll still try. How about the fact that a lot of times I hit Wikipedia before Google to do my research. How about, I even have a Firefox smart keyword for Wikipedia search? How about that I quoted Wikipedia extensively in my PhD thesis! OK, just kidding on the last one.

Wikis are fun. I, for one, am a wiki fan. Not long after I started using Wikipedia, I wanted to have one of my own. Wiki that is. What came next surprised me! It’s quite easy to start your own wiki. Easier than adding your own page to Wikipedia only to see it deleted almost instantaneously by a Beowulf cluster of Wikipedia editors. There are websites that provide you hosting for your very own wiki. They are called wiki farms. I confess I started with a Google search on this, and, ended up signing up at Wikidot.com. A Wikipedia search would have sufficed just fine, leading me up to this.

If you have tried out any of these and have anything specific to say, holler@me using comments below. As far as I am concerned, I have tried Wikidot and Wikia. I like Wikia more because it’s MediaWiki based, which means you don’t have to learn a new markup language. The biggest advantage I saw was that they allow you to download a database backup of your wiki (any wiki for that matter). That’s more than I need for now. Wikidot’s only feature that attracted some attention was its tag feature. You can attach text tags to any page you edit. This is a little step towards helping people find what they are looking for.

Having said that, there’s nothing like your own own wiki. Sometime ago, I installed my own copy of Mediawiki here. I do feel that wikis are a powerful way to make knowledge accessible. Wikipedia has already demonstrated that. It’s time for you to get your knowledge out there; planted as a wiki in a wiki farm.

Bing Ad Dollars = Google cha-ching?

Microsoft is said to be spending $80-$100 million on Bing marketing. I wish I knew how much of that is ending up with Google. If not that, I’d like to know how much the adword “search” is worth? Look at this link:

http://www.labnol.org/internet/search/better-yahoo-search-features-not-in-google/1690/

It’s an article about Yahoo and Google search and if things go the same way they did for me, you’ll see a Bing ad by Google at the top.