I love Google, I must confess it. I know nothing is perfect, and while I must admit Google has its weak spots, and that I am not crazy at all about the Google Pack or Google Video, I still have a lot of interest on any new software product arriving from the Internet search giant's labs. Google Chrome is the last software tool from Google, and what could be better than a Web browser from the company currently pushing the Web into the direction it sees fit?


Why another Web browser? Good question, and if you check the last link above, you'll also get your answer, but since not everyone is crazy about comic books(great job, Google, I love the comics about Chrome!), let me tell you just the most important part: no memory hogs, each tab to run independently, and if something crashes, you only lose one tab, and not the entire pages open in the browser! How's that?

Today, Chrome's Beta version will be released in 100 countries, and the answer to the question above, but straight from Google's Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management, <-125x125 Button - right->and Linus Upson, engineering director, looks like this - "Why are we launching Google Chrome? Because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web."

The 38 pages comic I mentioned a bit earlier is really worth checking out, believe me! On the technical side, it is worth being mentioned that Google Chrome will use the WebKit engine, combine with Google's Gears, as well as a new JavaScript virtual machine called "V8" (probably the improved version will be "V8 turbo," hahaha!), and the entire project will be, just as OpenSocial and Android, open source. Even more, it seems Chrome also uses code from Mozilla - "We've used components from Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox, among others -- and in that spirit, we are making all of our code open source as well. We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward."

Although this will only be an early Beta version, I hardly wait to get my hands on it! If it proves to be good enough for an early Beta, you may even be able to read its review here in a few days!

Are you downloading something as we speak? Are you sure all the files on your computer are "clean" from the legal point of view? Believe me - the more media content you have on your computer (excluding family photos and your dirty college video footage, of course), the less chances for everything to be all right exist. Anyway, don't worry too much, just be sure not to share the content of your hard drive, because there are some people just waiting to get their hands on you and squeeze some money...


...and, unfortunately for Jeffrey Howell, sharing "Waiting For A Girl Like You," "Money For Nothing," and "Sweet Child O' Mine" on P2P networks ended up being extremely expensive. I am really sorry for the guy, but I guess he missed reading about downloading music ilegally, or about staying on the safe side with Limewire. Well, too bad for him, I must say.<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->

Now, RIAA can celebrate another so-called "victory against illegal sharing," since Jeffrey got a $40,850 fine, and this happened mainly because he destroyed the evidence of his computer activity, after being ordered to preserve it. He did things right, formatting his hard drive and using a file-wiping software, but that's exactly what is completely useless, once you have been caught.

Apart from being ordered to pay the amount I just mentioned, and $350 court costs, Jeffrey was ordered to stop infringing copyrights, "including without limitation by using the Internet or any online media distribution system to reproduce (i.e., download) any of Plaintiffs' Recordings, or to distribute (i.e., upload) any of Plaintiffs' Recordings."

Wait, there's even more to this! As a precaution, our guy also has to "destroy all copies of those downloaded recordings transferred onto any physical medium or device in Defendant's possession, custody, or control."

I think destroying entirely his computer, cancelling the Internet subscription and go buy a ranch, grow some cattle, would be easier. Probably that's what RIAA has in mind for all of us...even though when we're only listening to our friends' CDs while drinking a beer, and not sharing a single bit of illegal information.