In some recent and interesting news it is believed that Firefox’s ever-increasing popularity means it may overtake Microsoft’s Internet Explorer for number of users. The July browser market share reports are somewhat inconsistent, but if we believe StatCounter, then it looks like Firefox will be overtaking IE’s market share in the next month or so. The two browsers are both within 1 point of 40% market share, IE above and Firefox below. Europeans are seemingly more interested in Firefox than Americans but in Germany (obviously full of well-informed, techy people), Firefox has a 61% market share, while IE has only 25%. Google Chrome is, according to StatCounter, now above 10%.

This is great news for people in the web development industry as for a good 5 years or so Internet Explorer has been less than adequate for many people as a browser. Firefox is more stable, better for security and actually quicker overall. The sooner IE is fazed out the better!

Google recently held a competition for re-designing their homepage logo in the UK. There are a wide range of entries from ages 5 through to 16 and a lot of good ideas. Take a look at the entries here. My personal favourite though has to be the visually stunning design from a 15 year old who clearly knows how to draw! Take a look below:

Doodle for Google Entry

Google regularly bring out these competitions. You can vote for your favourite and it is great exposure for these kids talents. Not only are some of them great drawings but also really clever ideas. Well done to Google for  such a good way to get kids involved.

Recently I have been wondering about getting a games console. I’ve never really been the type of person to sit and play on games consoles, even with a group of mates. I think I get too competitive and I seem to stop myself from getting too involved. With the option of online gaming and networking it all just seems a bit too geeky to me.  I much prefer going to the pub with mates and playing pool or playing 5-a-side.

In the past (from the age of about 11) I had a Nintendo 64. It was awesome. I never really wanted a Playstation (even though everyone had one and the games were supposedly better). The best game I ever played on, and it remains to this day was Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. What a game, so many challenges and things to explore. I stopped using my ’64 a few years ago when I bought an LCD TV. Now it seems that all things point to a new games console.

The question is, which one? I need one that can play DVDs (as I don’t have a DVD player). I need one that will be compatible for future games (I don’t want one that is good for about a year and then replaced). I am drawn to the XBox 360 Elite. It came out this summer and is considerably cheaper than a Playstation 3. I have always been a fan of Sony and actually prefer Apple to Microsoft so I am still unsure over which console to go for. I may end up not getting one at all, but then again it’s payday today, so who knows…