The Brand

Beginning with the logo the Ubuntu brand identity receives a remarkable upgrade, along with a brand new typeface.

Along with the Ubuntu community websites following the new look

Desktop

The new Ubuntu identity will also be carried into the upcoming release of 10.04’s desktop aesthetic. The lynx it set to receive a brand new default theme in both light and dark variations

Along with a brand new and fantastically stylish boot screen.

The Website

And last but not the least, the new Ubuntu website will also take on the new branding in a highly good looking manner.

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While Firefox has grown substantially in market share over the past few years, it has also managed to create a credible and solid reputation for the world of open source software. Then recently Chrome bounced into the browser scene, and has also shown considerable market share growth and introduced some very interesting and useful features.

The ‘versus’ argument, when comparing any two very good products in most cases has a negligible conclusion, which is the case with the Firefox vs Google Chrome debate. Both browsers offer similar features and are both developed with aggressive innovation and attention to security.

Firefox has grown a loyal user base who will most probably not just ditch the fox in a hurry. Firefox was a salvation to many for the Explorer 6 downfalls and with every new release of Firefox it just gets better. It is an extremely reliable and sturdy browser that allows for almost infinite customization through it’s wonderful extensibility.

Extensibility is a key feature to a successful browser and Google realised this quite quickly, and therefore later on in Chrome’s development the browser introduces add on features. The Chrome browser, like many other Google products demonstrates a certain level of creativity in its features as from early Chrome versions the browser had features previously unseen in any other browser, while it is true that Firefox has caught up and implemented similar functionality.

The main difference between the two is potentially the way Chrome is orientated, it is very online media friendly and obviously integrates well with Google Services. While Firefox tends to be a more one size fits all browser, as it performs well in all fields where Chrome is exceptional in certain.

After deep thought, a Firefox vs Chrome debate isn’t feasible as both these browser deserve merit for their efforts in constantly advancing the frontier of internet browsing technology. They both have their strengths and they both have almost identical features. The decision between the two, in most cases, has nothing to do with the operational aspects of each browser but the brand and identity that each browser carries.

We at Tecverse, absolutely love the Google Chrome however, Firefox will in the foreseeable future remain our default browser of choice!

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All nine labs features are available to try but are disabled by default as there are still beta services.

An overview of the new labs offerings for Google Maps:
Smart Zoom - Prevents a user from zooming in too close where no images are available for the zoom level
Drag ‘n’ Zoom - Provides a smarter method of zooming into specific areas of a map by dragging a square with your mouse which will then cause the map viewer to resize and zoom into that area
Rotatable Maps - Adds the ability to rotate the orientation of the map
Aerial Imagery – Enables high resolution aerial photography overlays
Back to Beta - This feature adds a beta label to the Google Maps logo, Most definitely for the Google hard core fans.
LatLng Marker – Add latitude and longitude markers
LatLng Tooltip – Display the pointer’s latitude and longitude
Where in the World Game – Play a game that test’s your geographical knowledge of the world
What’s Around Here - A secondary search result that enables you to perform searched within searches or searches of search results. Useful for searching within a specific area

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There is already a large library of Chrome extension available at https://chrome.google.com/extensions and http://www.chromeextensions.org including various excellent photo orientated extensions.

A selection of interesting Chrome imaging extensions

CoolIris

Cooliris is an extension that renders a 3 dimensional wall of online galleries for you to browse, it allows you to effortlessly scroll through all your images from Facebook, Flickr and more – download

Image Preview

This extension emulates the lightbox effect for every image link in encounters, for those who are unfamiliar with the lightbox effect, it is a javascript that is widely used in online galleries to open images above the original html page without opening any new pop up windows or leaving the current page. – Download

View on Flickriver

Flickriver is an online service that allows you to view Flickr images in an infinite river format, this extension allows you to easily initiate a Flickriver view for images views on Flickr via a simple browser button – Download

Facebook Zoom

An extension enabling you to quickly zoom in on images in your Facebook galleries without having to click on the images to view them larger and scroll through each one individually – Download

Slideshow

A simple extension enabling you to view a series of Picasa, Flickr, Facebook or Google images in an easy to use an non obtrusive slideshow interface – Download

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“On tablets, the UI would be adjusted to handle larger touch targets. Initial explorations have maintained the same basic chrome layout, but enlarged the controls. Icons could be placed above tabs to provide larger, square targets. Panels would be placed along the bottom edge and could be opened with upward dragging motions,” says Google

Click to enlarge

According to Google this mockup serves as an exploration of how a tablet like interface could work with the Google Chrome OS

• “Keyboard interaction with the screen: anchored, split, attached to focus.
• Launchers as an overlay, providing touch or search as means to access web sites.
• Contextual actions triggered via dwell.
• Zooming UI for multiple tabs
• Tabs presented along the side of the screen
  
• Creating multiple browsers on screen using a launcher”

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