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Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2008 > September > 02 > Entry

Browser wars anew; holiday tech news

By Omar Gallaga | Tuesday, September 2, 2008, 03:08 PM

It was a very long Labor Day weekend; at least it feels that way when you have a 1-year-old who likes to listen to the same CD over and over. Thank goodness she hasn’t figured out how the DVD player works yet.

But, enough about me. How are you? Did you see all this tech news that happened over the break? If not, let me fill you in:

The big talk this morning has been about Google’s sudden unveiling of a brand new Web browser called “Chrome.” As the company explains in a nicely done (but very long) comic by “Understanding Comics” author Scott McCloud, Chrome has been built from the ground up and is an open-source project. How will it do against Microsoft’s forthcoming final version of Internet Explorer 8, Safari, Opera and Firefox browsers? Early word is that Chrome is very, very fast. But will it have the plug-in community support of Firefox and build an audience as large as Internet Explorer? You can download the beta program for Windows yourself and see what you think.
Is Dell launching an ultraportable computer on Thursday? The rumors seem to suggest they will.
Local publisher Gamecock Media releases its long-anticipated game “Pirates VS. Ninjas Dodgeball” for Xbox Live Arcade tomorrow.
The man of a million voiceovers has died.
AT&T Wireless customers can automatically donate $5 to the Red Cross to help evacuees fleeing Hurricane Gustav by texting the word GIVE to 2HELP.
Are new iPods coming? Everyone expects they’ll be announced next Tuesday.
Nikon’s new D90 camera sounds HOT. HD video recording on top of a top-of-the-line consumer DSLR camera? Too bad I already own a D50 and just bought an HD camcorder earlier this year. David Pogue has already reviewed it and says it’s a fantastic camera, but a bit limited as a camcorder. Also love the idea of that geotagging GP-1 add-on device.
What I’m playing: “Soul Calibur IV” for the Xbox 360, “No More Heroes” for the Wii and possibly “Spore” for the PC if it arrives in the next day or two for early review.