Nick Mediati’s browser speed comparison in the June issue ["Browser Speed Showdown: Chrome Is Golden," For-^hj/] was one browser short. Opera (find,pcworld.cDm/63D79) has always been one of the fastest browsers available. (I remember a DSL installer’s being deeply impressed by it in comparison with Internet Explorer.) Admittedly, Opera’s market share in the United States is very small (though it is significantly larger in Europe and on mobile devices). But then, how large a share does Google Chrome have? And how much is market share created by the computer press? Opera pioneered features such as tabbed browsing and customizability years before other browsers offered them, as evidenced by the fact that it won PC World’s World Class awards in 2004 and 2005. Arguably, it has contributed enormously to making Web browsers what they are today,
DavidRcnsbctgcry Decatur, Georgia
Why Test Betas? I was disappointed to see that PCWorfd didn’t hold to its usual high standards when reviewing browser speeds. You used beta versions of Chrome and Safari, and a “near-final build” of Internet Explorer S; only Firefox was in a production version. This is not “real world.1″ You should run all versions in production only. After all, that’s what the vast majority of readers will be using. Betas and “near-final builds” are subject to change before final release. Please keep the testing field level.
James Trent Corbctt, Midlothian^ Virginia Author’s response: We tested the prerelease version of IE β because it had yet toga final at the time of testing. Typically, near-final builds a re f eatu re -c ο mplete. We tested beta ver si α π s of Chrome 2 and Safari 4 hecause both Google and Apple marketed their betas as being significantly faster than competing browsers, and th e h etas were publi cly ava ila hie wh en we did testing (Chrome 2 has since been released).
Hardware Tricks
Speaking of cool tricks that you can do with hardware ["39 Astounding Things Your Hardware Can Do," June], you can use the flash memory in your digital camera to transfer any kind of file from one computer to another, just use the USB cable that came with your camera for loading pictures onto a computer. Set the camera to the upload mode, close the picture program that comes up when you connect and turn your camera on, and go to My Computer (on a Windows machine). The camera will appear as a drive. Then do the same thing as described in the article for transporting fues via a smartphone.
Pete Syphcr, Damascus. Maryland In the article, you tell us how to make free phone calls from an iPod Touch, by adding a microphone to the iPhone headset. I have a BlackBerry 8320 with a headset and mic. When I tried it on my iTouch (Gen 2), it worked. I called Skype’s Echo/Sound test line, and it played back my “test, test, test.”
If you own a BlackBerry phone, your headset will work on the iTouch. garycarroll, PCWorld, com commentsr
No one is entitled to supremacy, and plenty of money can be made from people who don’t want the tired same-oLd just because it’s the most popuLar thing around [re; "Five Reasons the Palm Pre Wont Prevail" find.pcworLd.com/63Q8Q].
DirkBeitg PCWoiid.com comments
