After making the “Friends” list open to the public…the social network has backed up a bit, and will give users the option of deciding if they want the list open to all…..

This from PC Magazine, which brought the policy change to light…..

Facebook users “felt — with reason — that Facebook’s new privacy controls made the information easier for third parties to misuse,” PC World reported.

“Businesses and their users should exercise special caution because of the relationships — both business and personal — that may be revealed through a user’s friend list. These could be mined by competitors or in some cases used to develop competitive intelligence about a target company,” PC World added.

ere’s Social Media Influencers 2009 Predictions presentation from last year on Slideshare - http://ow.ly/M83u 7:03pm, Dec 14 from HootSuite

2010 Influencers Series: Trend Predictions in 140 Characters…coming later this week | from Trendsspotting http://ow.ly/M82m 7:01pm, Dec 14 from HootSuite

RT @TomHumbarger: Manhattan Beach Fireworks Finale for 2009 – filmed by my 9-yo son – http://ow.ly/LJc6 – nothing beats fireworks in Dec 5:39pm, Dec 14 from HootSuite

only 2 days left in the Kiva $10,000 video contest… micro lender Kiva = “loans that change lives” http://ow.ly/M5Fs 4:33pm, Dec 14 from HootSuite

“iRise Recipe” – just happened across an old blog post w/ winner of the 2008 iRise video contest…it’s still fun to watch http://ow.ly/M5Bn 3:48pm, Dec 14 from HootSuite

@glasspetalsmoke – the December fireworks are great…just a little (and local) tradition in Manhattan Beach…it was cool too, 50 degrees 3:24pm, Dec 14 from Web

@AaronStrout – plus, who pays $82.5mm for 5 years to a #3 starter? more proof that the#redsox overpaid… 2:49pm, Dec 14 from Web

PC Mag’s Best of the Decade - http://ow.ly/LZi5 – Google, iPhone, iPod, Facebook, WiFi, broadband, Tivo, GPS, XP & iMac – I agree with most 10:18am, Dec 14 from HootSuite

16 Must-Read B2B Marketing Strategy Ebooks | compiled by @jonmiller2 at Futurelab | http://ow.ly/KvhH about 16 hours ago from HootSuite

rt @dshmba – REPORT: Ford and Mazda may develop vehicles separately going forward: http://ow.ly/KpOv (via @therealautoblog) about 24 hours ago from web

Tech’s Biggest Winners and Losers of 2009 – Reviews by @LanceUlanoff & PC Magazine http://ow.ly/KoD2 2:09 PM Dec 9th from HootSuite

RT @TomHumbarger: Zoom zooming with the new #Mazda2 – Mazda’s 1st big foray into social media at the LA Auto Show…http://ow.ly/I4a3 1:21 PM Dec 9th from HootSuite

RT @TomHumbarger: Zoom zooming with the new #Mazda2 – Mazda’s first big foray into the social media space at the LA Auto Show…… 1:19 PM Dec 9th from HootSuite

RT @TomHumbarger: “Insights from Forrester’s Interactive Marketing Forecast for 2009-14″ – http://ow.ly/K4sR – social media spend has 34%… 11:49 AM Dec 9th from HootSuite

#hubspot webinar – @danzarella – avoid Twitter link fatigue…slow down (tweet once per hour) and tweet on Thursday to Sunday… 11:40 AM Dec 9th from web

on #hubspot webinar, @danzarrella says to “seed your campaigns to as many people as you can” to achieve highest viral reach 11:30 AM Dec 9th from web

listenting to @danzarrella on Hubspot Science of Social Media Webcast – “don’t allow voids to develop around your brand”… 11:21 AM Dec 9th from web

I was browsing PC Mag’s Top 50 Blogs of 2009 and one of their ads was offering an iPod Touch for $49! Obviously this is close to impossible since Apple is SOOO friendly with their sales policies. I click on the ad and I am directed to DHGate.com :: Buy China!. At first glance it looks very similar to Amazon.com with their menu bar navigation.

Oh yeah! Totally legit! Who doesn’t trust their credit card and other personal info to a company in China selling iPod cases for $1.47/piece and cheap leather bracelets for $3.83. Maybe it is legit, maybe it’s not. But the last time I bought something from a site that wasn’t credible I lost $580 to someone off of West Grand Blvd. in Detroit. Not a happy time for me. So I guess I mean that as a fair warning that when you shop online, Please check for the VeriSign, Thawte, etc. symbols and make sure that when you click them they link back to the security site (basically check their legit-ness).

Enjoy the Christmas Season!

-Tristan

PC Magazine adalah majalah yang mengupas segala hal tentang PC, perbandingan, review dan preview perangkat keras maupun lunak. PC Magazine menyajikan artikel yang akurat, mendalam dan dipercaya 6,6 jta pembacanya.

Retweet This Page

I have found a fun Twitter tool with the help of PC Magazine.  I was at the library a couple of days ago with my kids and decided to look at a magazine while they were playing and picking out books.  In the few pages I had time to read, I was able to find a couple of nice resources in there.  The one that stood out the most was TweetMixx.com.

What do you see a lot of when you are on twitter?  LINKS!  Admittedly there are a LOT of posts on Twitter that include links.  You never know what’s going to be on that link until you click on it since people have a limited space to introduce the link.  TweetMixx.com shows the tweets of people you are following as they would appear in Twitter.  If there is a link contained in the tweet there is another box including further detail of what is behind that link.  This is a very easy way to see if you actually want to click on the link. The first time you log in with your Twitter account name and password you can enter Interests.  Those will stay there under your user name so you don’t need to enter them each time you come back to the site.

How else can TweetMixx be used?

• If you are on Twitter to network you’ll want to comment to other people’s blog posts so you are not seen as just a spammer (someone who all they do is post links to their website).  It’s spamming AND it’s annoying.  When I was trying this out last night I found I RT’d more AND commented more on postings.
• You can also bring up people that are talking about a topic that interests you when you click on the tab “what interests you?’  I used keywords “my dog” and “dog.”  You can also choose to look at tweets that only contain links or ALL of your friends’ tweets.  I choose all since I’m looking for people I can comment or RT for … not necessarily looking for links.
• You can also look at Twitter’s top topics as determined by the most popular links on Twitter in the last 24 hours.
• Topics that are trending on Twitter at the moment.  Although when I clicked on two, no tweets came up for them so I’m not sure why not.
• The Channels tab allows you to see the tweets of companies that have created accounts on TweetMixx.com.  You can easily see what links they are recommending.  PC Magazine is one of them so that’s one that I’ll check out on there.

Ad Age recently updated its magazine death list, and from the point of view of a reader, freelance writer and technologist, it’s pretty sobering. 

As a continuing trend, it’s not a surprise, but the casualties are adding up, as Gourmet joins Vibe, PC Magazine, (which once sent my old publication, PC LapTop, a threatening letter for putting “PC” in a red box on the cover) Portfolio, Blender, Electronic Gaming, even Nickelodeon–which I subscribed to for my son.

Doesn’t anyone read anymore?  Or at least look at the pretty pictures?

I used to envy people like Rich Stengel, who I knew a little at Princeton, with high-powered publishing careers.  This is why I no longer envy Rich.

I had to laugh when I saw Forbes current cover story on AT&T and Verizon quaking in their boots about free phone calls.  Meanwhile Forbes can’t admit how scared it is about free content on the Internet, that means no one has to buy a magazine. 

Business magazines in general are dying, not just because of the economy and the ’secular decline’ of publishing and journalism, but because the hero worship of those with feet of clay has gone away.  As David Carr puts it, it’s no longer about “the shiny, happy people striding boldly across the pages of magazines with names like Fortune, Money, Fast Company and Wired…nobody is going to read, let alone aspire to, magazines called Middled, Outsourced, Left Behind and Clobbered.”

For writers (and others) as my friend Cliff Roth says, as long as what you do can’t be replaced by user-generated content (UGCX) on the Internet, you’re golden.

A new gadget designed specifically for people who want to tweet on the go was launched today by a company known as Peek.

Just tweeting? That’s it?

You’ll have to read Sascha Segan’s review on PC Magazine for more information. Here’s a hint of what he thought…he gave it 1.5 out of 5 stars!

From PC Magazine:

A neat idea executed poorly, the cute li’l TwitterPeek will probably sell well this holiday season, aided by credulous blog posts and fawning fashion magazines. That’s because its concept is pretty buzzy: a bargain-basement Twitter-only handheld with a hip design. Just don’t expect it to work well or in many ways at all.

Let’s get the buzz out of the way. TwitterPeek is frickin’ adorable. It looks like a high-end, shrunken-down Scandinavian Speak n’ Spell. It’s a powder-blue or charcoal-gray, 4 by 2.7 by 0.4 inch slab, and it feels surprisingly solid thanks to its soft-touch front and metal back. The 2.5-inch, 320-by-240 screen shows eight lines of text plus status information. The QWERTY keyboard has nicely spaced keys, though you navigate mostly with a clumsy, stiff trackwheel attached to the side. Peek says the TwitterPeek has about three days of battery life, and my model lived up to that claim.

From CNET:

TwitterPeek, which looks like a smartphone, features a QWERTY keyboard and comes in black or aqua blue.

The idea behind TwitterPeek is simple. After buying the device, users need only to input their Twitter credentials to get going. The gadget lets them tweet, reply, retweet, send direct messages, and download followers. It supports one account at a time. Users can also view TwitPics by clicking the “view content” option from the TwitterPeek menu. The company claims its battery lasts three to four days with average usage.

Included in the price of TwitterPeek is a service plan. According to the company, users can access Twitter nationwide through Peek’s own “mobile network,” which accesses mobile-phone networks. If users choose to pay $99 at the time of purchase, they will get the TwitterPeek device and six months of Peek service. After that, they need to pay $7.95 per month for network access. If customers plunk down $199, they’ll get the device and service for the life of the product. In either case, TwitterPeek allows for unlimited tweeting.

Η νέα έκδοση της Ubuntu διατίθεται πλέον στο κοινό και φιλοδοξεί να διευρύνει το μερίδιο αγοράς που κατέχει η γνωστή διανομή Linux. Όπως είναι γνωστό εδώ και καιρό, η νέα έκδοση με τον κωδικό 9.10 έχει την κωδική ονομασία Karmic Koala κι εμφανίζεται βελτιωμένη στα σημεία σε σύγκριση με τη Jaunty Jackalope. Μεταξύ άλλων, όσοι την εγκαταστήσουν θα βρουν ένα νέο εργαλείο για τη διαχείριση των εφαρμογών, ενώ ο χρόνος που απαιτείται για την έναρξη του λειτουργικού είναι μειωμένος.

Το εργαλείο προσθαφαίρεσης προγραμμάτων Add/Remove αποτελεί πλέον παρελθόν και στη θέση του οι developers έχουν τοποθετήσει το Software Center. Σε αυτή τη φάση, το Software Center είναι ουσιαστικά ένα περιποιημένο Add/Remove tool, με εύχρηστο interface και καθαρή σχεδίαση. Οι δυνατότητές του αναμένεται να φανούν στις επόμενες εκδόσεις, όταν η Canonical θα ενσωματώσει σ’ αυτό τις λειτουργίες του Synaptic, του gdebi, κάποια χαρακτηριστικά του Computer Janitor και ίσως τον Update Manager.

Ο χρόνος εκκίνησης των λειτουργικών συστημάτων είναι μια σημαντική παράμετρος για όλους, πολλώ δε μάλλον στο χώρο των netbooks, όπου το hardware περιορισμένων δυνατοτήτων σε συνδυασμό με ένα αργό λειτουργικό μπορεί να έχει απογοητευτικά αποτελέσματα στην εκκίνηση. Η νέα Ubuntu έχει ελαφρώς χαμηλότερο χρόνο εκκίνησης από τη Jaunty Jackalope, ωστόσο οι επιδόσεις της απέχουν παρασάγγας από την τιμή-στόχο των 10 δευτερολέπτων. Η κατάσταση αναμένεται να βελτιωθεί στις επόμενες εκδόσεις.

Άλλες βελτιώσεις στην Karmic Koala αφορούν τον GRUB2, καθώς και αναβαθμισμένες εκδόσεις του AppArmor και του εργαλείου κρυπτογράφησης.

ΠΗΓΗ: Pc Magazine

Choosing a digital camera is one thing.  Selecting a president is entirely different.

Or not.

Staples grads Ev Boyle and Ian Manheimer see a similarity:  The more information you have, the more manageable your choice.

Building on the success of Glassbooth — their wildly successful website that provided tons of personalized information on presidential candidates, from Barack Obama to Bob Barr (!) — the duo recently unveiled Measy.

Operating like Glassbooth, the new site collects, aggregates and analyzes thousands of product details, reviews and consumer needs, helping users decide not the best digital camera, DSLR, netbook or HDTV — but the best one for your particular needs.

Next up:  smartphones and laptops.

One difference:  Glassbooth was non-profit.  Ev and Ian hope Measy will make money.

“It’s all about making complex decisions simple,” Ev says about both sites.  With Measy, he explains, “you don’t have know anything about megapixels.  Just tell us, ‘I want to take pictures of my kid’s soccer games’ or ‘I want to use my computer for games.’”

What sets Measy apart from other product-info websites is the human touch.

“We don’t automate our information,” Ev says. “We draw from trusted sources like CNET and PC Magazine.  Then we research like crazy, and aggregate expert reviews.”

Measy’s target audience, he says, is “everybody.  Well, everybody who doesn’t feel like an expert, or who needs an unbiased source.”  His parents and their friends — particularly women – find it very helpful, he says.

“It’s hard to find unbiased, well-organized sources of information,” Ev says.  “People really dig it.”

Which is more than you can say about the name.  “It combines ‘me’ and ‘easy,’” Ev says.  “Some people really like it.  Some people hate it. 

“But it’s hard to find a name that’s short, and has a domain still available.”

Little in life is easy.  Happily for anyone looking for cameras, netbooks and HDTVs, using Measy is.

(Ev and Ian have enlisted a host of other Westporters to help launch Measy.  Among them:  Alex Jacobs, Alex Wasserman, Rich O’Reilly and Will Cimarosa.)

PC Magazine adalah majalah yang mengupas segala hal tentang PC, perbandingan, review dan preview perangkat keras maupun lunak. PC Magazine menyajikan artikel yang akurat, mendalam dan dipercaya 6,6 jta pembacanya.

Eric Griffith is a Managing Editor at PC Magazine. In the interview below, he discusses converting the publication from print to 100% digital, the difference between a good “PR pitch” and a bad pitch, how smart phones are changing the world, and PC Magazine’s product review process.

Q: When we first met in 2004, you were the Managing Editor of Wi-Fi Planet, in 2007 you switched to PC Magazine. What appealed to you about PC Mag?

Eric Griffith: They gave me an opportunity to branch out, to write about anything and everything in the world of tech. And it was a brand that I wanted to work for even when I started, even if it is significantly changed from what it was a decade and a half ago.

This year, PC Magazine discontinued its print edition becoming a 100% digital publication. How has the transition been?

So far, pretty smooth– the company was making more money from the Web site than print magazine anyway, so it was a no-brainer (the digital edition is still there for those who like a magazine-esque format). The lost of paper might bother old-school readers, but they’re not exactly the target demo for tech advertisers anymore; if they were, Computer Shopper would still be the size of a Manhattan phone book, too.

In the next decade, will more efficient laptops and smart phones make personal desktop computers obsolete?

I think they might already have made desktops obsolete for all but the most powerful computing tasks. I’ve made it through entire weeks on the road with nothing but my iPhone and stayed fully in touch with the office and personal life as needed. Maybe a little too in touch in this age of Facebook and Twitter.

iPhone 4g Mock-up

Speaking of social networks, do you think a location-based social network will ever make it? The sort of thing Meetro wanted to be.

Seems almost inevitable as more people move to tweeting and updating status by phone.

On the editorial side (editors, columnists, etc.), approximately how many people are behind PC Magazine?

About 40 editorial.

You probably get “pitched” by PR folks regularly. What separates a “good pitch” from a “bad pitch” in your mind?

A good pitch is some from someone who’s actually read the publication and has a clue about what we cover. Wild pitches BCCed to the entire staff (or the entire industry) are just annoying.

An important part of PC Magazine is product reviews. According to your website, “PCMag provides comprehensive hands-on, laboratory-based testing of PC and Internet hardware and software.” Can you tell me a little bit more about the review process?

Reviews are now all-import to us; as we streamline the site, they are becoming the focus. Process is pretty simple: we request products if we have plans for a round-up review, or we get products in as stand-alone when they’re new. We put them through their paces, which is different for all the types of products. We write.

"Reviews are now all-import to us..." - Eric Griffith

According to an article in PC Mag, iPhone’s market share doubled from 5.3% in Q1 2008 to 10.8% in Q1 2009. Will iPhone’s success help Apple increase its share of the notebook and desktop market?

I don’t think it has and don’t think it will. Apple (smartly) made iPods work as well with windows as they did Macs, and had to do same for iPhone. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt Mac sales, but I doubt it’s a big deal overall.

Which small to medium business has been the most disruptive this year?

Probably Twitter. They’re still small.

Last question, if you had the attention of every techie in the world, but only 140 characters, what would you say?

Louis CK is right, Everything’s Amazing, Nobody’s Happy, but that’s what happens when the future becomes the present. http://is.gd/4w4CX

Ο Michael Dell επιτίθεται στα netbooks | PC Magazine
Μιλώντας ενώπιον ακροατηρίου στη Santa Clara της Καλιφόρνια, ο Michael Dell δεν έκρυψε την αρνητική του στάση απέναντι στα netbooks και το ρόλο τους στη αγορά υψηλής τεχνολογίας. Ο ιδρυτής και διευθύνων σύμβουλος της Dell εκτίμησε ότι ο ενθουσιασμός ενός ανθρώπου που αγοράζει ένα οποιοδήποτε netbook διαρκεί λιγότερο από δύο μέρες. Μάλιστα, ο Dell προσδιόρισε το χρόνο μεταστροφής στις 36 ώρες.[next]

There are so many do-it-yourself ways to save money that I thought I’d share one of my favorites from the wacky world wide web.

PC World did a story called “10 Seriously Ridiculous Hacks”, about weird techno-fixes that can solve a problem on the cheap. One item from their list caught my eye, and I had to post it. It may not be fabuless, but it’s certainly funny.

The article offers a low-budget, waterproof, all-phone-compatible, hands-free solution for those who can’t afford a Bluetooth headset, which can cost from $30 to $100-plus.

First, the photo:

Do-it-yourself Bluetooth

So, you’ve been looking for a snazzy new Bluetooth headset, have you? Well, let me cut you a deal: I have a hands-free headset that is guaranteed to work with any and all cellular phones — whether they’re Bluetooth-enabled or not.

You know what, it might even work with your regular landline phone, too. And it’s so cheap, it’s practically free. Don’t get stuck paying $80 for a Bluetooth device that might not work with your phone — this incredible new device can be yours for only $3.49 per pack of 24!

And if I haven’t yet convinced you, here’s another guarantee: Nobody will ever think you’re talking to yourself on the street.

I’m not exactly sure how comfortable this jacked-up phone headset is, but I think it’s a pretty sporty look, and if anyone wants to try it out in public, please take photos and send them along!

Νέες βελτιώσεις στα Google Docs | PC Magazine

Η Google είναι αποφασισμένη να ενισχύσει την online σουίτα εφαρμογών γραφείου Google Docs και δε χάνει ευκαιρία να το αποδεικνύει με κάθε ευκαιρία. Οι τελευταίες βελτιώσεις έχουν ως στόχο να κάνουν ακόμα πιο χρηστικά τα Google Docs. Η εταιρεία προσέθεσε μια νέα επιλογή διαμοιρασμού, την οποία θα εκτιμήσουν ιδιαίτερα όσοι συνεργάζονται με άλλους ανθρώπους εξ αποστάσεως.[next]

PC Magazine adalah majalah yang mengupas segala hal tentang PC, perbandingan, review dan preview perangkat keras maupun lunak. PC Magazine menyajikan artikel yang akurat, mendalam dan dipercaya 6,6 jta pembacanya.

TIRA O PRETO BOTA O BRANCO

by Marconi Leo

MICROSOFT É ACUSADA DE RACISMO

Fonte: http://pcmag.uol.com.br/conteudo.php?id=2437

Microsoft está sendo acusada de racismo por ter retirado um personagem negro de um de seus anúncios publicitários. Nos Estados Unidos, a Microsoft lançou a campanah “Dando poder a sua gente com os instrumentos de TI de que precisam”, em que um negro aparece na foto. Apesar de a campanha ter abrangência global, na Polônia o negro foi substituído por um branco (veja reproduções acima).

Tira Negro e Põe Branco

O curioso é que foi mudado apenas o rosto, mantendo-se a roupa e até mesmo a mão do personagem sobre a mesa.

O caso repercutiu na internet e a companhia ediu desculpas públicas. “Estamos analisando o ocorrido. Apresentamos desculpas e estamos em processo de retirar a imagem”, declarou a Microsoft, em comunicado.

Microsoft pede desculpas por ter apagado imagem de negro em propaganda

Fonte: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hpMrBM0JvAyehFkW1_8lQF1JyypQ

WASHINGTON, EUA —

A Microsoft pediu desculpas por ter modificado a fotografia de uma campanha publicitária da empresa na Polônia para apagar um homem negro da imagem. A foto da propaganda, que pode ser vista no site da gigante norte-americana da informática, exibia uma mulher branca, um homem negro e um homem asiático sentados em torno de uma mesa de reuniões. Mas a mesma fotografia, na versão polonesa da propaganda, apresentava um homem branco em vez de um negro. Em uma mensagem exibida no site de microblogs Twitter, a Microsoft classificou a iniciativa de “um erro de marketing” e expressou suas “sinceras desculpas”. “Estamos retirando essa imagem”, acrescentou a empresa de Redmond.

Vale acrescentar 2 pontos de vista distintos:

Roberto Comodo – Fotógrafo e Advogado:

“Desde ontem o mundo não fala em outra coisa a não ser essa mancada da Microsoft. No entanto, após pensar bastante nisso, não me parece ser hipótese de racismo…
Pode ser politicamente incorreto… Mas racismo acho um pouco demais. Em que mundo nós vivemos? Um mundo cor-de-rosa e de faz-de-conta?
Cada país tem os seus hábitos, os seus costumes e aquilo que é mais ou menos adequado ao que realmente existe pelas ruas!
Se na Polônia simplesmente não existe uma quantidade relevante negros a ponto de justificar a presença de um deles em um anúncio, o que há de errado em uma empresa optar por montar um anúncio com “A CARA” da realidade do próprio país?
Os Estados Unidos possuem uma realidade diferente em termos de  presença negra. E toda a sociedade aceita isso com tranqüilidade – o que é maravilhoso. E por isso a campanha veiculada naquele país se preocupou em mostrar esta realidade.
Será que toda a confusão é porque uma outra foto não foi feita? Será que todo o barulho é porque a agência preferiu economizar umas dezenas de milhares de dólares e aproveitar um clique e despejar Photoshop nele?
Será que se uma outra foto muito parecida fosse feita, sem a presença do negro, teríamos a mesma movimentação para apedrejar a Microsoft?
Faço estas colocações não para defender a Microsoft – que não de deu procuração para nada.
Mas acho que num ambiente sério – como acredito ser este grupo – deve evitar julgamentos precipitados ou simplesmente achar o que os outros acham.
Temos o dever de analisar todos os aspectos de uma questão e julgar de forma desapaixonada – sempre e tudo.”

Pepe Melega – Fotógrafo e Editor de Revista:

“Economizam uns 5 mil dolares e pagam um mico de quanto milhões. Quantos clientes não entendem que uma nova foto pode ser muito mais barato do que perder tempo no PS e ainda pagar um mico desses.”

Este é apenas um caso clássico onde a falta de respeito a fotografia e ao profissional  fotógrafo, aliados a necessidade de soluções práticas e rápidas com o auxílio do Photoshop acabam acarretando em grandes problemas.

Mas esta é a tendência e comportamento do mercado atual.

PC Magazine adalah majalah yang mengupas segala hal tentang PC, perbandingan, review dan preview perangkat keras maupun lunak. PC Magazine menyajikan artikel yang akurat, mendalam dan dipercaya 6,6 jta pembacanya.

18/08/2009 14:10:59 Por Fernando Souza Filho

PC Magazine

Lance Ullanoff

Thank you Marc Andreessen for further muddying the horrifically confusing browser waters with yet another possible browser platform. By throwing your considerable weight behind RockMelt, we’re now ensured of at least another 6 to 12 months of crazed speculation and annoying browser wars. All of this simply leads competing browser developers to add more bells and whistles to their platforms, which will inevitably lead to worse, not better, browsing experiences.

As you know, I’m a serial browser dater, jumping from one to the other and back again like a barefoot man on hot coals. Chrome, Firefox IE, Opera, and Safari: All are equally good and, at times, equally bad. In our office, it’s not unusual for people to nearly come to blows over which browser is the fastest. Most people say Chrome, but I find Firefox pretty zippy. On a good day, and without too many tabs open, IE has a bit of the gazelle in it, too.

RockMelt has a Web site, but all that’s there is a “coming soon” message and a box where you can enter your e-mail address to learn more about the non-existent browser. Like a nicotine addict who simply can’t say no to one more cigarette, I entered my e-mail address, hoping for some word on what’s sure to become my next browser fix.

What if, though, RockMelt really isn’t like all of the other browsers out there? A couple of co-workers reminded me that most of the browsers we use today are built on engines that are between 8 and 10 years old. There’s Webkit (Safari and Chrome), Firefox’s Gecko, Internet Explorer’s Trident, and whatever secret sauce Opera runs. RockMelt will be different. According to the New York Times article, it’s being “built from scratch.”

I know this has a lot of people excited: It would be the first browser in a decade to feature a totally new engine. But let’s look at the flip side of that statement. When you build something from scratch, you still have to make it work with all the other stuff that exists. The Web is a vast place, with billions of sites and countless plug-in technologies, many of them considered a standard part of the Web. There’s Flash, Acrobat, QuickTime, Java, JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. Now, you can build new interfaces for all of that and force the companies that own these plug-ins to work within these standards to support your browser. However, none of that may be very easy.

I imagine that these companies have a hard enough time supporting the growing list of upstart browsers. Google Chrome, for example, which has about 2 percent of the browser share, is never first on the list when someone’s building a plug-in. My favorite password manager, LastPass, is still working on a Chrome toolbar.

RockMelt will make these companies work even harder because it won’t resemble any existing browser on the surface—or under the hood. There’ll be no shortcuts when coding for it. Even the simple stuff, like supporting major Web sites, could be a problem.

Look at it this way. When companies first started making 3D games, they had to generate every piece of code for every sprite and bit-blit. Over time, as these kinds of games became more commonplace, there were routines and prepackaged effects they could reuse. Eventually, true game engines came along (like Unreal), which allowed developers to build entirely new games on an existing platforms—with existing tools. Why do you think Google built Chrome on Webkit? I’m sure part of it was that it liked its speed, but it was also code that was ready to go.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I want browsers to get out of the way of my Web experience. A new, built-from-the-ground-up browser has, I think, almost zero chance of doing that. Nevertheless, people will be lining up to pump up, talk about, and eventually use RockMelt, all because the former Netscape wunderkind Marc Andreessen supports it. Yeah, I’ll try it, but I won’t be happy about it.