By now, just about everyone and their grandma who actually does any sort of product research online before buying any gadget knows that Apple is going to introduce a new iPad -- let's just called it "iPad 2" -- sometime in early 2011. It may even be as soon as late January, because that's when Apple introduced the first iPad, and Apple likes to introduce new generations of products once a year or so. Makes sense. It's also clear that a new iPad will sport front and back cameras, and you don't have to see grainy photos secreted out of some manufacturing facility in Asia to believe it.
2. The Gawker Has Become the Gawkee
Hackers struck at the Gawker blog network's servers over the weekend, stealing more than 1 million rows of data, including cracked passwords. Gawker has been scurrying to revamp security on its servers as a result, and has put up an FAQ page on this issue. Meanwhile, Twitter has been hit with a wave of spam attacks that it blames on the Gawker hack. The hacker or hackers who struck at Gawker go by the name of "Gnosis" and say their attack is retaliation for the blog consortium's mocking of previous attacks.
3. Chrome Beta Testers Get Their Hands on Google's Little Black Book
Google's testing program for its open source Chrome operating system is no ordinary beta. The company is inviting applications to be one of the reportedly 60,000 users who will be part of the beta test and receive a Cr-48 netbook loaded with Chrome OS. Google reportedly is signing up beta testers by U.S. ZIP code -- rather than on a first-come-first-served basis -- to get broad input. The Cr-48 black netbook has no logo. The package comes with a card from Intel, which suggests it contains an Intel processor. The Cr-48 is built for cloud-based computing, so there is no indication of the size of the hard drive.
4. OpenLeaks: A Kinder, Gentler WikiLeaks?
Dissident staff members at WikiLeaks, led by that site's former spokesperson Daniel Domscheit-Berg, reportedly plan to launch a spinoff to be named "OpenLeaks." This may be unveiled as early as next week. Like WikiLeaks, OpenLeaks will let whistle-blowers anonymously submit information to a secure online dropbox. Unlike WikiLeaks, however, it won't dump all that information directly onto the public Web; instead, it will let contributors designate any media or non-governmental organizations they select to check the facts, redact sensitive information, and publish it themselves.
5. Military Gives External Media Devices Marching Orders
In the wake of Pentagon-based U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning's leaks of thousands of files from SIPRNET -- the Defense Department's internal version of the Internet -- to Wikileaks, all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces are ordering troops to stop using portable or removable media. Military personnel caught using CDs, DVDs, thumb drives or other removable media risk court martial, reads a Dec. 3 order from Major General Richard Webber, commander of Air Force Network Operations.
6. Google Shows Off Sweet Tablet Prototype
In a figurative googolplex of names and programs, Google and Motorola unveiled a tablet computer Monday night at the D: Dive Into Mobileconference that runs on Google's Android 3.0 operating system, aka "Honeycomb." Only the tablet remains without a name. Conference gawkers claim the Google/Motorola Honeycomb tablet has about the same footprint as an Apple iPad, though Android head Andy Rubin -- who offered the prototype peek -- provided few details.
7. An update on Chrome, the Web Store and Chrome OS
On the Chrome team, we’re constantly amazed by the speed of innovation on the web. We designed Chrome to make the web shine, and we hope our upcoming efforts will help support this vibrant ecosystem even more. By making the web faster, helping people discover great apps, and making computers more fun to use, the next year of computing should be even more exciting than the last one.
Chrome
This year, the number of people using Chrome has tripled from 40 to 120 million. Speed is what people love most about Chrome, and we’re always working to make the browser even faster. Therefore we’re bringing Google Instant to the Omnibox, showing search results and loading web pages as you type. We’ve also overhauled V8, Chrome’s JavaScript engine. It now runs complex JavaScript programs up to twice as fast as before. These two features are available in our early access channels and will be rolling out to everyone soon.
Chrome Web Store
Today the Chrome Web Store is open for business. Developers have already started uploading apps, and we expect the number to grow over time. Right now the store is only available in the U.S., but will expand to many countries and currencies early next year. The store will be featured prominently in Chrome, helping people discover great apps and developers reach millions of users around the world.
Chrome OS
Last year, we announced our effort to design an operating system that is built and optimized for the web. Many people already spend all their time in a web browser, and by building an operating system that is essentially a browser, we can make computers faster, much simpler and fundamentally more secure.
We’re not done yet, but Chrome OS is at the stage where we need feedback from real users. Some of the features of Chrome OS require new hardware, but we didn’t want to sell pre-beta computers. Instead we’re launching a pilot program where we will give test notebooks to qualified users, developers, schools and businesses. We're starting with the U.S. and will expand to other countries once we get the necessary certifications. To participate in the pilot program, visit the Chrome notebook website.
The test notebooks exist only to test the software—they are black, have no branding, no logos, no stickers, nothing. They do have 12.1 inch screens, full-sized keyboards and touch pads, integrated 3G from Verizon, eight hours of battery life and eight days of standby time. Chrome notebooks are designed to reach the web instantly, are easy to share among friends and family, and simply by logging in, all of your apps, bookmarks and other browser settings are there. Setting up a new machine takes less than a minute. And even at this early stage, we feel there is no consumer or business operating system that is more secure.
In the first half of next year Chrome notebooks will be available for sale from Acer and Samsung. More manufacturers will follow. Also, Chrome OS is designed to work across a wide range of screen sizes and form factors, enabling our partners to deliver computing devices beyond notebooks.
We’re excited to get Chrome notebooks into the hands of users. The data from our test pilots is key to building something wonderful. We look forward to working together to make computers better.
Update 12/8: You can now watch the full video of yesterday's Chrome event on YouTube:
Update 12/14: We've received many questions about when the Chrome Web Store will be available internationally. We're working hard to quickly launch localized versions of the Web Store and collaborating with developers around the world to ensure the Web Store has high quality local apps for all our global users. Additionally, while the Web Store is currently only available in English on our .com domain, it may, like most websites, be accessible to people in other countries.
On the Chrome team, we’re constantly amazed by the speed of innovation on the web. We designed Chrome to make the web shine, and we hope our upcoming efforts will help support this vibrant ecosystem even more. By making the web faster, helping people discover great apps, and making computers more fun to use, the next year of computing should be even more exciting than the last one.
Chrome
This year, the number of people using Chrome has tripled from 40 to 120 million. Speed is what people love most about Chrome, and we’re always working to make the browser even faster. Therefore we’re bringing Google Instant to the Omnibox, showing search results and loading web pages as you type. We’ve also overhauled V8, Chrome’s JavaScript engine. It now runs complex JavaScript programs up to twice as fast as before. These two features are available in our early access channels and will be rolling out to everyone soon.
Chrome Web Store
Today the Chrome Web Store is open for business. Developers have already started uploading apps, and we expect the number to grow over time. Right now the store is only available in the U.S., but will expand to many countries and currencies early next year. The store will be featured prominently in Chrome, helping people discover great apps and developers reach millions of users around the world.
Chrome OS
Last year, we announced our effort to design an operating system that is built and optimized for the web. Many people already spend all their time in a web browser, and by building an operating system that is essentially a browser, we can make computers faster, much simpler and fundamentally more secure.
We’re not done yet, but Chrome OS is at the stage where we need feedback from real users. Some of the features of Chrome OS require new hardware, but we didn’t want to sell pre-beta computers. Instead we’re launching a pilot program where we will give test notebooks to qualified users, developers, schools and businesses. We're starting with the U.S. and will expand to other countries once we get the necessary certifications. To participate in the pilot program, visit the Chrome notebook website.
The test notebooks exist only to test the software—they are black, have no branding, no logos, no stickers, nothing. They do have 12.1 inch screens, full-sized keyboards and touch pads, integrated 3G from Verizon, eight hours of battery life and eight days of standby time. Chrome notebooks are designed to reach the web instantly, are easy to share among friends and family, and simply by logging in, all of your apps, bookmarks and other browser settings are there. Setting up a new machine takes less than a minute. And even at this early stage, we feel there is no consumer or business operating system that is more secure.
In the first half of next year Chrome notebooks will be available for sale from Acer and Samsung. More manufacturers will follow. Also, Chrome OS is designed to work across a wide range of screen sizes and form factors, enabling our partners to deliver computing devices beyond notebooks.
We’re excited to get Chrome notebooks into the hands of users. The data from our test pilots is key to building something wonderful. We look forward to working together to make computers better.
Update 12/8: You can now watch the full video of yesterday's Chrome event on YouTube:
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