Right now browsers are trying to improve everything about them – their speed, their looks, their standards support, and their feature set. Aside from the looks which can always be improved, everything else has a set limit or “end”, and eventually all browsers will reach that point. In fact, some signs are evident right now.

Web Standards

Standards support has once again been a big deal lately, more in fact than it has been in the past since the rise of Firefox. Thanks to HTML5, browsers are scrambling to gain support for all the new technologies. While not all browsers are on an identical level of support for HTML5, the playing field is still surprisingly level. Eventually, the HTML5 specification will be complete, and all the browsers will have full support for it. At that point, all browsers will be the same in that regard.

Extensions

Extensions is another important feature that has come into most browsers. It first started with Firefox, then Chrome came out with extensions, and more recently Opera added them as well. While Chrome and Opera‘s extension APIs are relatively limited compared to Firefox for now, they will eventually become as advanced as Firefox’s and then all extensions will spread to all browsers that support extensions. When all extensions are available for all browsers (as they would probably try to do in order to get the most users), it makes each browser less unique.

Other Features

Finally, other features that come out with one browser will be duplicated by others at one point or another. For example, Opera first came out with tabbed browsing, which was picked up by Firefox and finally Internet Explorer. Firefox’s “big orange button” that pops out the menu is eerily similar to Opera’s red menu button. Internet Explorer first came out with hardware acceleration for graphics, and now Firefox, Chrome, and Opera (soon) have an implementation of it as well. No matter what might be released by one browser, it will be implemented by the others if it is good enough.

Conclusion

Really, the only way browsers can separate themselves in the future is by their user interface. From a technical standpoint, however, they will all be virtually identical, and support all possible technologies found on the web. With that, it won’t matter what browser you use as you’ll be able to do whatever you want with any of them, and it’ll just come down to which one you support more or which one looks the prettiest.

What’s your take on the matter? Do you think browsers will become almost identical or will their paths spread apart greatly? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit: Shutterstock

It sees Google Elections as an “election hub where citizens can study, watch, discuss, learn about, participate in and perhaps even make an impact on the digital campaign trail as it blazes forward to Tuesday, November 6, 2012.”

The news aggregate provides links to news about each individual presidential candidate, as well as related issues such as the economy, immigration, jobs and unemployment, and national security.

Resources can be filtered for news and videos, as well as a Trends Dashboard which depicts which candidates people are searching for, watching, and reading about online.

The election coverage also includes sidebar links to a 2012 Political Calendar that tracks the whereabouts of all the presidential candidates and other key events. Perhaps an even more interesting resource is the On the Ground links to video news coverage, analysis, and interviews of candidates at the various campaign stumps across the country. This is similar to Google’s YouTube Politics, which presents the Top 5 political videos from week to week.

For related online news coverage of the campaign season, the Washington Post released @mentionmachine which monitors Twitter for political candidates mentions and trends.

Source: Google Blog

As on Twitter, the most colorful global topic of 2011, seemingly unrelated to other news items, is Charlie Sheen, which sits confidently in fourth place. First place goes to the death of Osama bin Laden, followed by Packers win the Super Bowl in second and Casey Anthony found not guilty in third.

The death of Steve Jobs, which apparently wasn’t as exciting as Charlie Sheen, lies in fifth place. The list, along with the monthly graph beneath it, show a pretty interesting picture – there is no chronological order to the list. Some items from the beginning of the year stayed very strong even at the end of it.

Facebook has also released top status trends by country, which include 14 different countries, and a list of fastest growing Pages and most popular media in 2011.  The top trends for countries range from lms (like my status), the Royal Wedding and planking to Steve Jobs and the death of Amy Winehouse.

You can also check out this blog post from Facebook’s blog for some additional information on top trends, as well as some graphs describing top memes.

What were your top trends of 2011? Does this list reflect your world, or is it completely off target? Share in the comments.

Source: Facebook Blog

To gain access to the new feature, simply go to Google+ and search for something. Your results will show on the left side of the screen, and on the right side users will see the latest trends. This feature is certainly not something new to social networking, but it is still a useful feature, and a cool way to find some compelling new people to add to your Google+ circles.

As of this writing, some of the trending topics include Natalie Wood, Breaking Dawn and Demi Moore. Much like the corresponding feature offered by Twitter, this list is dynamic, so by the time you read this, you can safely assume there will be a whole set of new trends (except Breaking Dawn, those Twilight vampires never seem to lose popularity).

Source: Cnet

The most prominent change to Analytics is, of course, the looks. The new look keeps the orange and blue theme, but is much smoother and a lot less cluttered. The menus have become much easier to use, and a convenient “Home” tab has been added.

Among the new features you will find Real-Time Analytics, which lets you view what is happening on your website while it’s happening, new and sophisticated ways to track conversions and their causes, upgraded mobile analytics and the ability to create separate dashboards for different products.

Some features, such as Flow Visualization, which illustrates user navigation, are still rolling out, and you might not see it on your dashboard yet. But don’t worry, it’s all coming. Just switch to the new version if you haven’t done so, and give some of the new features a spin.

After you’ve done so, let us know in the comments what you think of them, and of the update in general.

Source: Google Analytics Blog

Of course, there are the different types of shares on Facebook. We are talking here about Pubic Shares which become topic starters and surface on our profiles thanks to the interlinked social circle of friends. Facebook’s Open Graph protocol has helped to open up the social network to even more trending discussions and events.

But how do you as a user discover the great content that’s being shared across the millions of pages on Facebook? You take the help of a few web apps that show you what’s trending on Facebook.

Buzzfeed

As the site shouts out – BuzzFeed tracks the web’s obsessions in real time. The Hot List is all about the topics that are on fire right now. A lot of it comes from Facebook (it is the second highest viral source on the site after Twitter), and with a press on the Like button you can send a lot of it back to Facebook. Buzzfeed tracks viral content from many sites – not only Facebook – but you can be sure that a lot of it is going viral on Facebook even as you read this post. You can also join the Buzzfeed community and feed the buzz.

Buzzfeed cuts to the chase very quickly with feed pages like – LOL, OMG, fail etc. which are essentially categories. You can log-in with Facebook and also see what others are recommending on Facebook.

UTopic

Utopic gives you the best content on sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google Reade by enabling you to share your content with others on the service. Utopic is a visual bookmarking service with browser extensions that help to quickly save any web page to Utopic with just one click. The links are automatically tagged and organized which helps you to see what your friends share and like either in Utopic or in external sites. You can setup Utopic to catch all links you’ve shared or liked on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google Reader.

The social and visual bookmarking service enables you to glimpse the hottest trending topics shared by your friends and influencers on sites like Facebook (apart from the others mentioned).

Like Button

Like Button is a collection of the most liked webpages shared by people via the Facebook Like button. In that sense, it is the only Facebook focused app that gives you a peek into what’s moving on the social network. The site is very neatly organized and you can see the links updating in real time. Check out the categories on the left. As the site says, you can use it as a neat homepage to catch what’s trending on Facebook first thing in the morning.

Zocial TV

I couldn’t find out how current the trending videos on this site are as the videos are arranged according to their popularity over a day, week, and month. With Justin Bieber there, I guess it’s pretty much up to date.  Zocial TV helps you discover the most popular videos for the day on Facebook and Twitter. The site covers the usual categories along with ones that look at education, non-profits, and animals.

Being in the know about what’s trending is a prime necessity of today’s pop-culture. Nancy’s post on 3 New Ways To Discover Most Popular Online Content should also help you to be in with the crowd. Do you consciously go in search of what’s trending on social sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube? Or do you simply wait for it to fall into your profile? Are you aware of any other site that helps you catch what’s trending on Facebook? Let us know.

“Are You Watching This?!” is different than all of them. Equipped with a computer that knows when a game is getting good, this real time sports service can tell you which games are worth watching. It can even send you a text message when you absolutely need to turn on a game your TV carrier is broadcasting. Combine this with scores, highlights and a social aspect that connects you with other fans, and you’ve got a pretty impressive hub for all things sports.

Getting Started

Head over to Are You Watching This to get started. The homepage will show you selections from every major sport, focusing mostly on those popular in North America. Browse this if you like all sports, or click a particular league in the top menu bar to focus on just that sport. Being raised in Canada, I always click on NHL:

As you can see, the dashboard for a given sport includes today’s games with live scores, arranged according to how exciting they are. You’ll also see live comments from other fans, as well as access to other panels. Of particular interest is the TV schedule. Let this service know where you live, and your TV carrier, and you’ll see when the games are on in your time zone and what station they can be found on:

It also tells you the number of the channel you’re looking for; this is very useful for cable and satellite customers. If you want to see all games, regardless of whether you can watch them on TV, click “Schedule“. You’ll get an unfiltered look at the day’s games (and then perhaps find a way to watch sports not broadcast in your country).

There’s a social aspect to this app as well. You can predict who will win games, comment on a given game and vote if you think a certain game is going to be exciting.

Want alerts when a game turns out to be epic? Sign up for an account and you can set all of that up:

You can set the app to only show you sports you care about, so don’t worry about being flooded with useless information.

Chrome App

Like this, but looking for a less cluttered interface? If you’re a Chrome user you’re in luck; there’s an app for this in the Chrome Web Store:

It’s not just a bookmark; it’s a completely different interface. Put the content you’re interested in into panels, and you’ll have a one-click overview of your favorite sports. You’ll even have fast access to highlight reels! Some features aren’t quite finished, but this is one of the better Chrome Apps I’ve seen yet. It even works offline, though obviously without the real-time scores.

Conclusion

There aren’t a heck of a lot of quality sports apps, presumably because sports and geekery don’t always gel. Being a huge geek and a hockey fan, however, I found this app to be fantastic.

What about you? Do you like “Are You Watching This!?”, or do you know of better real time sports tools?  If so, please share in the comments below. Just don’t shatter my dream of the Leafs making the playoffs; I’ve been hurt too many times and don’t want to talk about it.

Now, if you’re already a Reddit regular you might be wondering if perhaps intervention is more appropriate than reading more about cool things happening on Reddit. I hear you! But it can’t be stopped. There are some great things going on at Reddit and they need to be shared.

Oh, whoops! Looks like you all went there at once.

1. Best Of Reddit

On a daily basis, you’ll see the best posts of Reddit on the front page. But that’s not where it stops. Every year, Reddit staff ask for submissions for the best of Reddit. This is where you’ll catch up on all the very best Reddit brought us during the year, including all the memes, innovations, novelty accounts, communities, feel-good stories and hilarious posts. Frankly, if you’re not forever alone and attached to your computer, you probably did miss a few of these.

Check out:

• Best of Reddit 2010
• Best of Reddit 2009

2. Subreddits

There are thousands of Subreddits on Reddit. These have their own sub-communities within Reddit and foster a great variety of opinions and voices. Most people find the Subreddits a little difficult to get into, since Reddit is basically a maze of links and you may never find what you’re really looking for. But, there’s one Redditor who thought they’d make things easier for us all. Whilst avoiding fetishes, bands, political parties and marijuana Subreddits, they created a list of over 800 Subreddits in a Google Document for us to enjoy. This incredible list will have you browsing your favourite topics in no time.

While you’re looking around, take the time to notice that some Subreddits have customised their style to suit their topic. Check out:

• CircleJerk
• SciFi
• Android
• TwoXChromosomes

3. Reddit Memes

If you haven’t quite caught onto Reddit’s basic history and memes, there’s a great run-down on Encyclopedia Dramatica. It helps to explain some of what you see on Reddit. Keep in mind that a lot of the memes originated on 4Chan, too.

Check out Reddits home-grown 100 pushups meme. All it took was a rant about pushups and a few comments about McDonalds to get started “” then the thread just continues with the same pattern and different topics… Forever. Seriously, this thread started over two years ago and I don’t think it’s over yet. Keep clicking “Continue Thread” and you’ll see what I mean.

4. Incredible Generosity & Gift Exchanges

You may not believe it after viewing some of the comments, but a lot of Redditors are extremely kind and will help each other out of a fix if possible. Reddit has seen everything from ideas to help solve depression to suicide watch, organising a toy drive, getting someone a job or bailing them out of jail. These save lives!

There’s also many fantastic stories of spontaneous generosity offered on Reddit daily. One of the most memorable stories is Today you… Tomorrow Me which spawned its own pay-it-forward mentality Subreddit.

There’s also plenty of people trusting their fellow Redditors and joining in gift exchanges:

• Reddit Secret Santa
• Reddit Book Exchange
• Snack Exchange

5. Innovation & Random Cool Stuff

Great things come out of Reddit and there’s no way I could possibly explain it all to you. However, I can point you in the direction of some of the best random things about Reddit:

• Reddit Tips
• McGrim founded Imgur because Redditors complained there wasn’t a decent image hosting site out there.
• Disturbingly sexy comment about a guy who thinks his sister is hot
• One Minute Ninja Editing (With cool demo post)
• Reddit College Cookbook [PDF]
• Reddit Markdown Primer
• IAmA – 4 Years Old Today (A follow on from the same thing at 3 Years Old)
• Radio Reddit
• University Of Reddit
• Reddit Gaming
• Steam Game Sales
• Reddit Jobs
• Reddit Pics

More Reddit-Related Posts

• How Fanboys See Each Other
• 4 Mobile Versions of Popular Social Media Platforms
• 17 Greasemonkey Scripts to Diversify Social Media Experience
• 3 Tools to See Fresh Popular Images Shared Online

As you can see, the world of Reddit is quite varied and interesting. There’s a real community building there and attempting to make good things happen in this world.

Do you use Reddit?   If not, why not?  If so, what are some of your favourite pages?