The next generation of web browsers

August 5th, 2008 • Internet, Search

Aurora (Part 1) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

Too many experiments with computer interfaces are just plain irritating.

Take Compiz for Linux, for example; no, please, do. A thousand and one oh-my-golly-wow UI tricks, including the wacky ability to ‘roll’ between four or more screens. Impressive for 180 seconds, but ultimately pointless (sorry if you’re reading this, Team Compiz, but I’ve installed and uninstalled the thing too many times).

Then today, I came across a depiction of the next generation of web browsers that didn’t sniff of geekery for its own sake.

The Aurora concept video predicts a time when browsing is no longer such a solo venture, and when the internet is truly integrated into an OS (you may think that’s the case today - watch Aurora, and think again).

Written and directed by Jesse James Garrett at Adaptive Path, the video is part of the Mozilla Labs concept browser series, the aim of which is to encourage more web folk to think harder about the next big breakthrough in accessing the web.

OK, so the dialogue in Aurora is a little cheesy (sorry, Danielle and Byron), but the notion of a truly collaborative browser works. It’s something you can instantly imagine using, to the point where you’ll switch back to your Firefox or IE7 today and be p*ssed that it isn’t there.

A history of YouTube

August 4th, 2008 • Internet, Video

Started watching this, and couldn’t stop. Wonderful.

Telegraph redesigns, a tab at a time

August 3rd, 2008 • Design, Internet, Journalism

Once upon a time, I made magazines. When we wanted to change that magazine, we would gather three, four or five of our shiniest brains, stick them in a room for a period with a half-decent brief, and out would pop a fresh magazine - better organised, more contemporary, and all-new.

This morning, I opened Firefox to be greeted by an all-new Telegraph.co.uk. ‘Cept it isn’t. Oh, the home page is new alright: a much better organised affair, with none of the ‘You, boy at the back - can you describe the logic behind this page?’ that haunted the DT of old. Very nice, if short on novelty.

But then you start clicking, and realise that this is what my chums in the digital media world would describe as a ‘phased delivery’. Read more »

New Delicious: now with more flavour

July 31st, 2008 • Internet, Social

Quiet day, settled in for the evening, and then… up pops a new Delicious.

It shouldn’t be a big deal (the Delicious refresh has been circling over the runways for what seems like years now), and in some ways isn’t. There no wild and wacky shift in functionality; you save your bookmarks to the site, and see what other people are bookmarking. Simple recipe, but none the worse for it.

But in an understated way, it is a big deal - largely thanks for the design team at Yahoo. Read more »

Quote Of The Day

July 31st, 2008 • Internet

“We’re just finishing your Internet, Sir. Give us five and she’ll be all done.”

Say hello to the new ‘Fox

July 29th, 2008 • Internet, Technology

Ooh, look; it’s Firefox 3.1.

UPDATE: Couldn’t see anything wildly different, until I chanced on ‘ctrl-tab’ as a key combo. If you’re a Mac user, give it a go (just don’t expect your 3.0 extensions to work).

What if you own the search and the results?

July 28th, 2008 • Google, Internet, Search

The speculation is now rife: is Google showering favours on its own sites? The search beomoth’s answer to Wikipedia launched last week, and now Jason Calacanis has launched an attack on the Knol strategy:

For Google’s own good they should not try to take over their own search results. If Google results start showing 20-30% Knol pages and YouTube videos then that is going to drive users away from Google in search of more diversity.

I’ll guarantee that thousands of companies around the globe are microwaving a strategy of their own to deal with Knol. If indeed Google is favouring its own site in search results (so breaking one of their promises never to become a content provider), then any self-respecting website publisher will be forced to play the Knol game.

It’s worth saying here that Calacanis has an interest in Knol falling at the first hurdle (his Mahalo ‘human-powered search’ aims to turn Google’s weapons on itself). But regardless, he has a point: will I stop using Google when the first page of every return is a Google-owned link (and hey, let’s remember - until Friday, Google was showing strong interest in buying Digg)?

Social networking: now in cartoon form

July 19th, 2008 • 1 comment Internet

Just stumbled on Rob Cottingham’s work. Nice.

Ze Frank goes the Hollywood

July 18th, 2008 • Internet

I used to watch him every day. In fact, he pretty much defined online v-blogging - fast, amateur but with a sharp wit that Hollywood writers get paid millions to emulate. Then Ze Frank vanished.

But now… now he’s back. And (cue music) he’s heading for Hollywood.

Catch the full story in this interview with The Sound Of Young America.

Ze Frank on The Sound of Young America from Jesse Thorn on Vimeo.

When does a company stumble into being bad?

July 15th, 2008 • Internet, Search

I loved the later Star Wars films. OK, so they took a pounding from critics, and in truth represented a massive victory for graphic trickery over subtle scriptwriting. But they did hammer home one message: most things stray into being bad. The Empire didn’t suddenly yank off its Smiley Face mask, revealing the grotesque evil beneath. It just kind of stumbled into nasty - a person here, a decision there.

Made me think of a very well known internet company. It has no intention to become bad. In fact, its mantra is to Be Good. But a person here, a decision there…

One example: The Company, which operates in the search market, decided to pop its own in-site search box into its results (try this). Probably saw it as a useful additional service to its users: we’re known for search, and many sites use shonky off-the-shelf search engines, so we’ll give ‘em a hand. How were we to know that many commercial sites sell adverts against those in-site searches?

Then The Company began discussing the notion of penalising sites that advertise with it for having ‘heavy’ landing pages. The aim is to improve the user experience: why should you have to wait 30 seconds for a page to load? One way of lightening those pages, of course, is to carry fewer ads. But The Company would never have made that connection in a million years.

A person here, a decision there…