Phil Bradley's weblog

YouTube adds 'tape mode'

In order to celebrate the 57th birthday of the first commercially available video recorder YouTube has added in a 'tape mode' to some videos (but only a few, it took me a while to track one down) which has the effect of turning a video into what some of us older folk will remember from the early days of VHS. It's grainy and slightly warped, and they have done something very clever on pause - it's just the way that it was. You can check to see if a video does this by clicking on the tape symbol on the bottom right of the screen to the left of all of the icons. Here's an example:

Is YouTube going to go down the Google doodle route? I'm seeing a lot of comment on this - some people are saying it's very funny and clever, while other people are saying things like 'They killed Reader for this?' I have to say that I'm in the latter camp really. They just wasted their time on this - and sure, it's their time to waste, but I'd rather they spent the time improving products to be honest. If you're looking for an example, this is one you can find by searching for Let Go Pat Flynn.

Using Firefox in public libraries - why you should

It never fails to amaze me that people generally are just not using Firefox, when it's so superior to the lumbering beast that is IE. There's an excellent article from the 'Swiss Army Librarian' Using Firefox On Our Public Computers. It gives them more control over the browser, it's easier to use, it's more helpful for searchers, it's more secure and.. it's just better! If you're considering your browsing options in your library I'd strongly recommend reading this short article.

Firefox figures in Europe

Via Brian's site I got to an article in XiTi Monitor regarding the latest statistics for Firefox use in Europe. The good news is that it's still growing with an increase of 2% in the year to December 2007. Estonia is up to 37.3%, while Finland still leads with 45.4%. Very sluggish in France, 25.8% and Spain 21.5%, with Britain continuing to lag behind on 17.2%, just above  Ukraine 16.6% and the Netherlands with 14.7%

This doesn't surprise me in the slightest. A great many of the places that I visit (to the extent of about 80%) when I'm teaching are still using Internet Explorer 6, and we've not even got to IE7! A great many people have never seen Firefox either, which is even more depressing, although most have now at least heard of it. Not doing anything is the easiest option of course, and why bother to upgrade when IE6 is apparently working well? Forgive the cynicism here, but when tech. support people are blocking access to a wide variety of new applications they're hardly likely to embrace a new browser - far too much work for them.

My figures on Firefox use in July 2007 and December 2006.

Europeans embrace Firefox in record numbers

Europeans embrace Firefox in record numbers. The UK still lags behind though. In the UK there's an 18.7% take up, while in Germany it's at 38%, Slovakia 40%, with overall growth at 27.8%, up from 20% in Jan 06.

Firefox up in Europe, but Brits don't like it

Details from the Inquirer show that Firefox use is on the increase in Europe and it's gained 4% of the market since April 06. It's now used by about 23% of Europeans, most particularly in Slovenia, with usage running at 40%+. However, in the UK it's down at a miserable 15.8%, with only the Dutch and Spanish less enthusiastic.

Mozilla Firefox global usage share remails stable

Link: Mozilla Firefox global usage share remails stable. Interesting bunch of figures from OneStat that show that Firefox has a global usage share of 12.93%, which is an increase of 1.14% since May. IE has taken a 2.12% hit in the same period.

Country breakdown shows in the US IE at 79.78% with FF. at 15.82%, Germany 55.99% and 39.02% (How whopping is that!!), UK 86.23% and 11.65%. (Follow the link for a bigger breakdown).

Nice to see that FF is still going strong - and long may it continue!

Browser share

Link: BetaNews | Report: Firefox Past 10 Percent Share. According to this news report, Firefox has finally passed the 10% market share barrier. Internet Explorer has 86%, Safari has 3.19% and the also rans are Netscape, Opera and the Mozilla suite. Quite how well this share will hold up when IE comes out in its next incarnation remains to be seen however. My personal prediction is that Firefox won't lose many users (as long as they continue to develop), but it's going to be hard for them to make further inroads on the market.