Daniel Ganea

Google Starred Results

Today Google added a new star feature to its search engine that allows users to mark their favorite sites, so they’ll show up right at the top even if they’re not the most popular.

Google to build ultra high-speed networks in the US

In its continuing quest to speed up the Internet, Google has decided to build what it calls “ultra high-speed” broadband networks in some parts of the U.S., the company announced Wednesday.

The fiber networks will deliver 1Gbps (gigabit per second) connections to homes at prices that will be “competitive,” the company said. The services would cover between 50,000 and 500,000 people.

“Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone,” wrote Google product managers Minnie Ingersoll and James Kelly in a blog post.

Google fights Flash, adds HTML5 support for YouTube videos in Safari

Google this week added support for HTML5 playback of videos in its own Chrome browser as well as Safari from Apple. The new feature allows users to watch video without the longstanding Internet standard: Adobe Flash.

YouTube’s HTML5 support is offered through a beta opt-in program and is currently only available with browsers that support both HTML5 and H.264 video encoding.

This limits the beta to Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari browsers. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is also supported if Google’s Chrome Frame is installed.

The HTML5 player fully replaces the Flash player for most videos on the site, but some limitations do exist. Videos with advertisements are currently not supported, and will play instead in the Flash player. Fullscreen playback is also not yet supported.