A Google spokesperson confirmed to Mashable that the search giant is working on a Metro-style version of Chrome for Windows 8. The Metro version will be based on the company’s standard desktop browser, rather than Google’s mobile Android version. “Our goal is to be able to offer our users a speedy, simple, secure Chrome experience across all platforms, which includes both the desktop and Metro versions of Windows 8,” the spokesperson said. “To that end we’re in the process of b...

A coalition of Internet giants has agreed to support a “do-not-track” button that can be embedded in most Web browsers. The Digital Advertising Alliance, which includes Internet heavy weight Google, represents over 400 companies and will work to begin adopting and honoring the system within nine months, reports The Wall Street Journal. The feature, which is already implemented in Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari, will restrict the data that websites can collect about a user through cookies wh...

Google and other leading advertising companies have been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of unknowing Safari users, reports the Wall Street Journal. Using “a special code,” the companies were able to bypass the browser’s privacy restrictions and install cookies on a user’s computer, even when such actions were supposed to be blocked. Companies such as Google use cookies to track browsing habits across websites that it places advertisements on. Apple’s Safari Web browser blocks...

On Tuesday AT&T officially announced that its customers can now sign up for a $50 unlimited GoPhone plan that includes unlimited text, talk, and web for $50 per month. AT&T’s GoPhone option does not require a contract and it also allows customers to text Mexico, Canada, and 100 other countries at no additional cost. AT&T’s new pricing is a considerable drop from the original $60 per month GoPhone option, which just provided unlimited talk and text.Read on for the full release. (more...

A survey conducted recently by Google-owned AdMob found that tablets are eating into the quality time U.S. consumers spend with their desktop and laptop PCs — and the majority of tablet owners might not use their devices the way many pundits believe. A survey of 1,430 tablet owners in the U.S. conducted March of this year suggests that the most popular use for tablets at this point could be gaming. An overwhelming 84% of respondents said they use their tablets for playing games of some type, while 78% said ...

A recent study performed by Ottowa-based Blaze Software reveals that Android’s mobile Web browser is significantly faster than the mobile Safari browser found on Apple’s iPhone. Blaze performed 45,000 separate tests using 1,000 different websites along with its mobile measurement service, and found that Android was 52% faster on average. The firm utilized the latest Android devices running Android 2.2 and Android 2.3 in the tests, and pitted them against iPhone 4 handsets running both iOS 4.2 and ...

We promised a hands on demo video of the BlackBerry PlayBook, and that’s what you’re going to get from us — almost 10 minutes of 1080p joy. As we said previously, we were pretty impressed seeing the PlayBook demo’d in person right in front of us, and well, we could go on for days. Check out the video after the break and let us know what you think in the comments section. (more…)

Verizon Wireless just sent us a statement on its brief 3G network glitch that happened last night and early this morning — our devices seemed to act fine, but apparently the glitch had to do with Internet browsing on devices. Full service has been completely restored at this point, but here’s the full statement for those who are interested:Last night, during routine maintenance of our 3G network, a technical glitch hampered the ability of customers to reach the Internet through web browsers on the...

Quantacast has released their mobile web consumption numbers for August 2010, and Android continues to perform extremely well. The study shows that the Android web market-share grew 2.0% from July to August and has grown 5.5% on the quarter. The jump gives Android a 25% share of all mobile web consumption. Apple’s iOS dropped 0.3% from July to August, however, iOS is still the front-runner with 56% of all mobile web consumption. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion registered 10% of the mobile web pie; a...

A freshly minted post on the official BlackBerry Blog is giving all those interested a more in-depth look at the redesigned BlackBerry 6 browser. As you may or may not have heard, the new BlackBerry browser is based on the WebKit rendering engine and should dramatically improve the browsing experience on BB6 equipped devices. Images and descriptions of the new start page, tabbed browsing, social feed integration, options menu, and browser viewing are all included. Hit the read link to have a look, and let...

Nokia N900 owners are now the envy of the mobile world having been given the privilege of being the first group of people to use the official finalized version of Firefox Mobile. Firefox Mobile will run on the Maemo 5 platform and incorporates many features seen in the desktop version of Firefox including the Awesome Bar, add-ons, tabbed browsing, location-aware browsing,  and safe browsing which provides you with an instant web ID and allows you to  your easily customize your security settings. Mozilla als...

AdMob, a leading mobile ad service provider, issues mobile metrics and analysis each month and today it has released April data. Key points from AdMob’s press release:While Gartner estimated global smartphone sales represented 12 percent of total device sales in 2008, 35 percent of AdMob’s worldwide ad requests in April 2009 came from smartphones. This means that smartphones accounted for nearly 3 times more usage than their relative market share.The iPhone OS had 8 percent of the smartphone market, b...

Likely taking some cues from the upcoming Internet Explorer revamp equipped with what we affectionately refer to as porn mode, Mozilla is getting ready to release a heathen-friendly update of its own. The latest pre-release version of Firefox 3.1 comes packing a new menu item labeled “Private Browsing” and when active, Private Browsing will wipe all traces of your online escapades from your computer. History, cache, cookies and all the other little puzzle pieces that can be assembled if someone we...