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Google's Chrome 13 brings 'Instant Pages' to the masses, saves precious seconds of your life
Google just wouldn't be Google if it wasn't wringing out every last iota of performance from its products. The latest Chrome release is no different, ushering Instant Pages out of the dev channel and into the hands of the proletariat. The headline feature uses an algorithm to "guess" where you'll click next, pre-fetching and pre-rendering the result if it's confident enough. Mountain View says it's the only "high-profile" site to support the tech, but interested web masters can can partake of the instantaneous Google goodies by peeping the more coverage link below. Tweaks to the Omnibox -- which now returns URL and title history results based on partial queries -- and the addition of print previews for Windows and Linux round out the 13th version of the popular browser. Video of the über-swift search in action's below.
Skyfire browser headed for iPad
Skyfire, the internet browser that transcodes Flash video content into HTML5 so that it can be viewed on Apple's iOS devices (which, in case you didn't already know, don't support Flash), is coming to the iPad. Alongside its main function, Skyfire for iPad will introduce some additional social networking features directly into the browser -- most notably for Facebook users, but Twitter and Google Reader users are included, too. Basically, you're now able to view feeds in pop-up windows while you are browsing the web. Sharing websites with your Facebook buddies is also made really simple and it's super easy to "Like" a website you're visiting by making a couple taps; there's no need to go directly to the Facebook website. In November, Skyfire for iPhone sold over 300,000 copies of its WebKit browser in its first weekend alone. There was so much demand for the browser that the app had to be pulled from the App Store because Skyfire's servers were overwhelmed by the traffic. The browser was then sold in limited quantity batches on the App Store to help ease the take up. Now that Skyfire's teething problems are over, we're assuming the same won't happen for the browser's release on the iPad. Skyfire for iPad is expected before Christmas and will cost about US$5, according to Wired's Gadget Lab. We'll let you know when we see Skyfire for iPad on the App Store. For now, check out a demo of the app in action in the video after the break.
RIM demos new WebKit-based BlackBerry browser at MWC -- it's fast!
We weren't expecting much out of RIM's presser here at MWC this morning, but the company managed to bust out one surprise -- a demo of the company's new WebKit-based BlackBerry browser. We're assuming this is what came out of that Torch Mobile acquisition, and the early build shown off on-screen looks pretty solid, rendering Amazon.com quickly and scoring a full 100/100 on the Acid3 test. Unfortunately, there's no word on when BlackBerry users will actually be able to get their hands on this, but rest assured we're digging for more info. Video after the break.
