Shahid Online - Tech Corner

It's nice to see the Press taking a much more keen interest in technology and gadgets. So I wasn't that much surprised when the Metro covered the launch of Microsoft Bling. Currently in beta Microsoft is obviously renewing their competition against Google. I've also noticed that Microsoft has recently replaced the Live search with Bing on their MSN page. But after using it, why do I get the impression that it's just copying Google with a more colourful interface?

Google has recently upped the ante for its presence on the web.  With the recent beta of Google Chrome, Google is contending against Mozilla Firefox and Micorosoft Internet Explorer. To quote from Google, it is intended to be a  browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier. After trying out the beta, I see that this goal is very realistic.  The first thing I noticed is the very fast start up time of the browser and to be greeted with a very nice (and easy) design of the interface. So don't wait any longer... go try it out. http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en-GB/features.html?hl=en-GB&brand=CHMG&utm_source=en-GB-hpp&utm_medium=hpp&utm_campaign=en-GB

You may have noticed recently a new search engine called Cuil (pronounced 'Cool'), a Irish word which means knowledge - so they claim on their website. This search engine intends on outgoogling Google themselves. Formed by former Google employees Cuil apparently 'combines the biggest Web index with content-based relevance methods, results organized by ideas, and complete user privacy' The founders boast that their 1.2 million web page index is larger than Googles and Microsoft, and that the index orders results by content as opposed to popularity (the Google way). But what really sticks it out is that Cuil does not keep any personally identifiable information, which is appealing to those who are concerned of Google's attitude to personal data. I am impressed by the method of how it lists out the results and allows you to filter them. Definitely, joining my bookmarks. Check it out at www.cuil.com

A while back, Google announced its acquisition of Zenter, an online slide presentation firm. So basically, Google can now expand on their arsenal of online office applications - Google Docs & Spreadsheets. They may as well call the suite Google Office, now that they can take on Microsoft Office. Especially when this is to be combined with Google's previous acquisition of Tonic Systems, which also produces presentation software. This new challenge to PowerPoint from Google is expected to be available sometime this summer.