Google have unveiled Chrome 17, the latest stable release of their increasingly popular web browser.

A major upgrade for the browser, it has re-vamped its page pre-rendering process, meaning that when you begin to type a web address into the omnibox bar, the browser begins to pre-load pages based on your bookmarks and browsing history. In some cases, it means pages load near-instantly, before you've even hit the enter key.

"When I visit my favourite sandwich shop, I always order the same thing: a chicken cashew salad sandwich on whole wheat (it's awesome)," said Chrome software engineer Noé Lutz on the Chrome blog.

"Now, the owners know what I want as soon as I walk in the door. Which means they can start making it before I say a word. Which means I get my sandwich faster.

"Chrome now does the same thing. Except not with sandwiches. When you start typing in the omnibox and the URL autocompletes to a site you're very likely to visit, Chrome will prerender the page, so it will appear faster - sometimes, even instantly - as soon as you hit Enter."

Other updates for Chrome 17 include enhanced malware and spyware protection.

Click here to grab the broswer. It's free.

Google are about to get into the cloud storage game, and are all set to launch the Google Drive to rival Apple's iCloud and Dropbox.

"People familiar with the matter" have told the Wall Street Journal that:

"Like Dropbox, Google's storage service, called Drive, is a response to the growth of Internet-connected mobile devices like smartphones and tablets and the rise of cloud computing, or storing files online so that they can be retrieved from multiple devices."

Google's cloud Drive has long been rumoured, but with cloud storage solutions becoming more and more ubiquitous (Dropbox now has 50 million users and is worth almost $2 billion) it seems the time is right for Google to show their hand. Integration into their Android platform, and perhaps with additions like Google Docs support and Google+ photo album storage, Google could quickly build up a loyal following.

Compared to Dropbox's initial free offering of 2GB, Google, through their impressive ad-funded services, could offer far more than that.

With much of the necessary framework already in place, we wouldn't be too surprised to see this launch fairly soon.

Microsoft have teamed up with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) to develop a new child-safe version of their IE9 browser to launch alongside Safe Internet Day 2012.

The special broswer has one-click access to the CEOP.police.uk and thinkuknow.co.uk sites, with IE9/Windows 7 integration allowing fro Jump Lists that let parents more easily set the browser to only give access to content that is age-appropriate for their children.

"At Microsoft we always want to provide our customers with the tools to enjoy the web safely and securely," said Gabby Hegerty, Internet Explorer lead in the UK.

"The internet has become a central part of everyday life for adults and children, from learning and communicating to working and playing online. As the leading browser provider, it is important we make the appropriate safety information available and build in features to our software which provide families with peace of mind online."

Peter Davies, CEOP Chief Executive concurred: "We have been happy to work with Microsoft to ensure that IE9 users can access advice and guidance in a way that is quick and easy. We welcome this approach and continue to work with service providers so that help and advice is available whenever it is needed."

The kid-friendly browser is available to download now for free. Click here to grab it.

Starling details of the arrest of Kim Dotcom, Megaupload.com founder, have been revealed following last week's closure of the file-sharing website.

Dotcom, also known as Kim Schmitz, was said to be hiding in the saferoom of his New Zealand mansion, armed with a loaded shotgun, during the police raid. Swarms of helicopters circeld the property, while police cut through electronic locks to apprehend Dotcom.

Despite our staff clearly identifying themselves, Mr Dotcom retreated into the house and activated a number of electronic-locking mechanisms.

"Despite our staff clearly identifying themselves, Mr Dotcom retreated into the house and activated a number of electronic-locking mechanisms," New Zealand's Organized and Financial Crime Agency told Reuters.

Last week US federal prosecutors closed Megaupload for violating copyright laws. Prosecutors claim the website has cost copyright holders some $500 million (£320 million) in lost revenue, while Megaupload in their defence state that they were diligent in removing content flagged as pirated.

The FBI have described the action against the website as being "amongst the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States" and said it would target "the misuse of a public content storage and distribution site to commit and facilitate intellectual property crime".

The hacking collective known as Anonymous have carried out a string of DDoS attacks on high profile websites after the file-sharing sites Megaupload and Megavideo were forced to close yesterday.

Hackers attacked the Motion Picture Association of America, the Universal Music website, the Recording Industry Association of America and a US Department of Justice website during a night of retaliation.

Anonymous took their @AnonymousIRC Twitter account to claim responsibility for the attacks, saying:

"justice.gov seems to be besieged by some pirate ships. Can't handle the pirates? Don't sail the proxeas."

Thursday saw the US governement department take down the Megaupload and Megavideo sites, calling the webmasters part of a "Mega Conspiracy, a worldwide criminal organization whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale."

Many believe the hacked websites are directly linked to the ongoing pressures to have the SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy bills passed by the White House. Each organisation linked to the websites struck by Anonymous have shown their support for the bills in the past.

"For #SOPA supporters their#SOPAblackout is today," the Anonymous Twitter feed also stated.

Jerry Yang, co-founder of web giants Yahoo!, has resigned after 17 years at the top.

One of the first massive web companies, Yahoo! was founded by Yang and David Filo in 1995, dominating the web until peaking in 2007 with their strongest revenues.

However, the Yahoo! fortunes began to wane in the wake of the Facebook era, and a series of poor business choices partly on Yang's behalf made the company stutter. Most importantly, Yang turned down a £31 billion offer for the company from Microsoft back in 2008, a poor decision considering the company is now thought to be worth around £20 billion.

Yahoo! will be hoping that Scott Thompson's rise to CEO will reinvigorate the company, with perhaps Yang's emotional investment in the company blocking much-needed restructuring efforts.

In a statement, Yang said that: "The time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo!. As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future."

My first tip for the new bosses? DROP THAT BLOODY EXCLAMATION MARK.

Via: Yahoo

Google has signed a 3 year deal with Mozilla that will see the latter's Firefox browser continue to benefit from a lucrative search deal.

Google will continue to be the default search provider for Firefox, leading to valuable revenues for the open-sourced browser.

It's been a tense time at Mozilla over the past couple of weeks, with their previous search partnership contract, upon which they rely for a major chunk of their revenue, having run out in November. Since the last deal was signed in 2008, Google's own Chrome browser has been going toe-to-toe with Firefox, and some wondered if Google would make a tactical move to not renew the deal in order to hinder Firefox's progress.

It appears that recent charges of anti-competitiveness may have forced Google's hand.

Mozilla, in an attempt to not fall into a similar trap in the future, have now arranged similar deals with Microsoft's Bing search engine.

Via: blog.mozilla.com

First Apple's Santa iPhone 4S ad, and now Google's latest search Easter egg; it seems everyone's getting into the festive spirit this week!

Head on over to Google.com and type "Let it snow" into the search box.

You'll then be faced with a digital snow storm that lays a blanket of the white stuff all over your search results, with flakes falling slowly down from the top of the screen.

Once the screen is suitably covered, you can take an ice scraper and clean the screen up, or hit a "Defrost" button to start all over again.

What a great little trick! Up there with Google's best, but is it better than the "do a barrel roll" Starfox videogame hidden search treat?

Thanks to Kate L. for the tip-off!

Wikipedia, the free online crowd-sourced encyclopaedia, is preparing to potentially switch off its American pages in protest to a bill on the verge of being passed by the US senate.

The bill in question is the "Stop Online Piracy" act. The senate claims that it will protect the country's rights holders and continue to battle against piracy trends. However Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales claims that implementation of the proposals in the bill will have a harmful affect on many websites that have no relation to acts of online piracy.

Wales therefore is in the process of consulting and rallying the Wikipedia editors across the US, threatening to to "blackout" the site in order to get US senators to re-think the proposals.

It wouldn't be the first time Wikipedia have used this approach. The online knowledge base made a similar move when the Italian government began to muscle in on the workings of the site.

"A few months ago, the Italian Wikipedia community made a decision to blank all of Italian Wikipedia for a short period in order to protest a law which would infringe on their editorial independence. The Italian Parliament backed down immediately," notes Wales.

Via: Torrent Freak/ Tech Radar

Facebook have revealed the most often-discussed topics on their social network for 2011.

Ranking topics based on the amount of times they appeared in status updates across the year, the top global lists are a mixture of major news events and entertainment highlights.

Unsurprisingly, the death of Osama Bin Laden was the most mentioned in statuses across the globe, followed by the Packers win at the Super Bowl, showing the heavy numbers of US users of Zuckerberg's social network.

The rest of the top ten is rounded out with Casey Anthony being found not guilty in 3rd, Charlie Sheen's crazed antics in 4th, the passing of Apple co-founder Steve jobs in 5th, the Royal Wedding in 6th, the death of Amy Winehouse in 7th, console shooter Modern warfare 3 in 8th, Libyan military operations in 9th and the effects of Hurricane Irene in 10th.

So what were the UK's specific hottest topics of the year? Showing just how classy us Brits are, we found the onscreen exploits of TOWIE (reality TV show The Only Way Is Essex, sitting in 3rd place on the list) more worthy of discussion on Facebook than the deaths of Osama Bin Laden and Muammar Gaddafi (positioned at 5th and 6th place respectively).

The rest of the UK's top 3 status trends for 2011 finds the Royal Wedding in pole position, and the UK riots in second. The death of Amy Winehouse was the 4th most discussed status trend in the UK, while gaming behemoth Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 was also popular in the UK, sitting in 9th position.

For more info on this year's hottest Facebook topics, click here.

If you're sick of sending out the same stock Christmas cards every year then you should check out this latest shizzle from Western Union.

To mark the 160th anniversary of the company's famous Singing Telegram service, Western Union have teamed up with stars including Snoop Dogg and Timbaland to send personalised digital singing messages to your friends and family across the globe.

The Singing Telegram service has been brought bang up to date in another way too, as the browser-based software makes use of facial recognition software to insert the sender's face in alongside the performing stars.

The stars involved, as well as the songs they sing and the dates they can be sent from are as follows:

·Mega-producer Timbaland performing "This Lady" and "Drummer Boy," as the first holiday song of his career

·13-time Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg performing "Pretty Woman" and "Life of the Party," available from Dec. 17

The first 200,000 messages sent will be available free of charge for users, but once those initial 200,000 telegrams have been spent, users will have to transfer money along with any future messages, incurring a small fee.

Diane Scott, chief marketing officer, and president of Western Union Ventures, said:

"The Western Union Singing Telegram service creates a new way for people around the world to show their loved ones they care about them when sending the gift of cash this holiday season. The singing telegram is a natural fit for us to help consumers around the world virtually connect with their family and friends, giving them the gift of music, their personal image and voice, to make their day better."

To check out the service, click here.

It's been a rough old time recently for Mozilla. First they find that their browser Firefox has slipped down the into third place behind the ever-dominant Internet Explorer and Google's Chrome, and then they find their lucrative search deal with Google pulled, leaving them quite out of pocket.

With falling user numbers and falling revenues, Mozilla need to act fast to save the platform. Which is why the release of a new API, allowing gamepads to be used to control elements within the browser, is particularly interesting.

The Gamepad API lets wired Xbox 360 controllers and a number of other wired and wireless PC gamepads be recognised within the browser. Simple applications like trigger buttons to go forward and back in web pages will likely pop up soon, but there's perhaps a more ingenious plan here at work from Mozilla.

Could they be preparing to position their software as the browser for gamers?

Think about it; browser based, social gaming is growing at an incredible rate, and HTML5 coding is allowing for ever-more impressive in-browser gaming. A browser that had native gamepad support would be well positioned to ride the growing wave.

But look at the trail-blazing path being laid by game streamers OnLive. Very soon, a web browser and a decent internet connection may be all you need to play the very best, graphically intensive gaming titles.

Could we be playing future Grand Theft Auto or Elder Scrolls games in a Firefox window? Perhaps!

All those dodgy "sexting" snaps you've been storing on your smartphone may finally come to good use today, as anyone can now try their hand at running a porn site with sales of .xxx domains opening.

Until now, the ICM Registry (stewards of the top-level .xxx domain) have reserved the .xxx sites for big brands, but Tuesday December 6th marks the general sale of the domains, open to all.

"Availability of .XXX domain names on a first come, first served basis," said Stuart Lawley, CEO of ICM Registry. "The new .XXX domain functions as a responsible alternative for sites that offer adult entertainment content and related services. All .XXX sites are appropriately labeled and McAfee Malware scanned. This means Internet users have a clear indication in advance of a site's content and can surf the Internet with more confidence."

Somewhere in the region of 100,000 .xxx domains are going live on Tuesday.

The ICM Registry campaigned for many years to get the green-light for .xxx domains before getting approval earlier this year. However, major players in the porn industry have been sceptical of the move, fearing that it will further isolate and demonise their position on the web.

A play based on the life of controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to hit London's Theatre503 playhouse next year.

Running from January 10th to February 4th, Man in the Middle was written by Australian playwright Ron Elisha and stars Australian actor Darren Weller.

Man in the Middle has previously enjoyed a successful run in Sydney, with the production there again featuring Weller. Weller died his hair platinum blonde to match the striking locks of Assange, who is currently facing extradition to Sweden from the UK over alleged sexual offences, which he has vehemently denied.

Described by Time Out Sydney as "still a few drafts away from being either a thoroughly outrageous satire or an illuminating blend of fact and fiction", the play contains scenes set in Assange's Wandsworth prison cell, and will likely add a further layer of mythos to the enigmatic Assange's life.

For tickets and more info on the play, click here to visit the Theatre503 website.

Google's Chrome web browser has overtaken Mozilla's Firefox for the first time to become the second most popular broswer in the world behind Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

That's the word from analytics firm StatCounter, who note that Chrome has benefited from monumental growth this year.

Chrome is now sitting pretty with a 25.69% market share, a massive build on the 4.66% share they had in November 2009.

Firefox sits just behind at 25.23%, but Microsoft's Internet Explorer still maintains a massive lead globally with 40.63%.

Delve a little deeper into each individual territory however and the stats differ slightly. While the UK is in line with the global shift to Chrome over Firefox, in the US Firefox is still ahead with a market share of 20.09% compared to Chrome's 17.3%. Internet Explorer however remains the force to beat in both countries however.

"We can look forward to a fascinating battle between Microsoft and Google as the pace of growth of Chrome suggests that it will become a real rival to Internet Explorer globally," said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen.

"Our stats measure actual browser usage, not downloads, so while Chrome has been highly effective in ensuring downloads our stats show that people are actually using it to access the web also."

Via: StatCounter

Hate Nickelback? Sure you do, doesn't everyone!? Want to stop Chad Kroeger's bedgraggled lion's mane and his stonewash-jean wearing cock-rock cronies from ever defiling your PC monitor again by popping up unexpectedly on webpages and search results? Of course!

Well know you can, thanks to the "NickelBlock" app from the team over at music blog Aux.com.

Download the free service, and a clever bit of coding from the Aux team removes any trace of the band from the web while you're surfing.

A fifteen year career and seven studio albums may have lined the band's pockets, but Nickelback have still managed to build up quite a cultish following of those who hate them too. A survey at Tastebuds.fm, a dating site that matches people based on their musical preferences, saw the Canadian rockers considered the biggest turn offs in music, picking up 13% of the vote ahead of Lady Gaga and Coldplay.

Just earlier this month, a massive 50,000 signature-strong petition saw Detroit Lions NFL fans pleading that Nickelback be pulled from their planned slot as the halftime entertainment during the Thanksgiving game show.

Click here to grab NickelBlock.

The British Library has opened its archive of 300 years worth of local and regional newspapers, making 4 million web pages worth of news paper articles available online.

Until now, those looking to use The British Newspaper Archive for research purposes had to travel to Colindale, North London, where hard copies of each of the 65 million stories (some dating back as far as 1700) were kept.

If the 4 million pages right now sounds impressive, you should wait and hear what the British Library have planned. If all goes well, the archivists at the library plan to digitize and distribute a whopping 650 million articles across 40 million web pages by 2020.

"The British Newspaper Archive is a rich and hugely exciting resource, packed with historical detail," said Ed Vaizey, the Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries.

"It's a great example of the public and private sectors collaborating to deliver something that neither party could have delivered by themselves. I searched for my own constituency of Wantage and within seconds had 42,000 results - an indication of the breadth and variety of material featured.

"I'm delighted that the British Library and Brightsolid are working together to transform access to the nation's published memory."

A small fee is required to access the articles. £6.95 gives you 48 hours of browsing time, £29.95 gets you 30 days or £79.95 for a whole year. You're then giving the option of downloading a PDF of the pages of your choice, should you want to keep a copy for further reference. Access at the British Library itself is free.

Check out the archive byclicking here.

Tech gifts don't have to be about screen sizes or processing capabilities these days. In fact, they don't have to be physical gifts at all. You can put a smile on a loved one's face just by setting them up with one of the many ace online digital services and subscription packages that are tied into apps, download and streaming sites too.

From music packages like Spotify to productivity programs like Dropbox, there's something here for everyone.

When you're done here, be sure to check out the rest of Tech Digest's 2011 Christmas wishlists too.

Last night Google launched their online music store in the US which will allow all devices running the Android operating system to buy, store and stream MP3 files.

Google have launched the service with the backing of some of the industries largest record labels behind them including EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal along with 23 independent labels. The only major label missing from the collection was Warner Music group. Even without some of the big Warner bands such as Led Zeppelin, Linkin Park and Prince it is still launching with a catalog of 13 million songs.

It will be a direct competitor to Apple and Amazon with their respective music stores and streaming services. The new music service will also use a cloud based storage system much like its major competitors, giving users free storage for 20,000 songs. The music store is just the latest in a line of innovations by the search engine giant most recently their social network Google+.

A recent study showed that more than half of all smartphones purchases between July and September ran Android, almost 60 million devices. In the same time period IOS handsets accounted for just 15% of all purchased devices, however you cant read a great deal into this as this was the month before the Iphone 4S was released. But for Google this is the perfect time to launch this feature for their smartphone market.

The new music service will incorporate Google+ by allowing users to share songs with their circles who can listen to the track fully once without having to buy it. Songs will come without DRM copy protect so you can share the file with your friends, promoting the more social music aspect that Google seem to be going for. There will also be a free track to download every day.

New artists wanting to get into the industry can get a helping hand from Google, with it's new Artist Hub. Artists will pay $25 to set up their own page and set their own prices. Google will take a 30% cut from all sales.

"It's not exactly innovative, but the reality is that Google will get success in the same way it has in other markets - by making the most of its strengths in search and Android, and it will keep chipping away," said COlin Gillis, technology analyst at BGC Partners.

There were however no talk of it launched outside of the US as of yet, due to ongoing negotiations between Google and record labels about selling the songs outside of the US. Another feature that sounds like it will be US only will be the ability for T-Mobile customers to charge songs to their monthly phone bill instead of entering their credit card information.

It sounds like the service is offering some good innovations the one thing im most looking forward to is the tracks not being DRM protected so being able to share the tracks with your friends. These seemingly small feature will literally allow your friends to search your library and pick the things they like, almost like a google search made by your friends.

Minecraft the indie game wonder is finally finished according to creator Markus Persson. He confirmed the news on Twitter yesterday tweeting, "So, yes, Minecraft has gone gold. :D."

Going gold refers to a final version being created to be put onto discs and into distribution. It is set to be unveiled at the end of the week at the world's first Minecon in Las Vegas, a gathering of Minecraft fans where it will be announced that the development is finally over.

The game which has been in alpha and beta stages since May 2009 has well over 4 million players who have bought the game and they have created some serious things in their own block universes. From the International Space Station to the Hogwarts castle from Harry Potter and everything in between.

The game has made an estimated €23 million without even coming out of its development cycle . Releasing the game on the android system as well the game has gathered a cult following that will only roll over onto the full version.

This does not mean that everything is ending and that everything will fall apart, it just means that all new content updates are going to be post production content, its going to be real DLC.

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