This is a holiday, so I am doubtlessly in bed right now, dreaming away.

Not to fear, denizens of the Internet! I programmed the coffee for the morning anyways!

(an iPhone dock that turns your iPhone into a desk phone.)

(Keyhole by Joshua Hoffine)

For the month of April, I used nothing but Apple’s Safari. It was a mix of freedom and frustration — faster than Firefox or Internet Explorer, but not as satisfying. After writing an article on it last month, I was concerned that when I reached the end of my experimentation period I will have found myself in a dilemma: to use Firefox, a quality browser that is on the slow side; or to use Safari, a browser that was disappointing aside from it’s blazing speed.

Today I am here to tell you that this is a false dichotomy. There is a third road, and its name is Chrome.

On the first of May, I dutifully opened Chrome, installed a week earlier. I set it as my default browser, and got surfing.

Observation one: Still much faster than Firefox. I cannot tell you which is faster, Chrome or Safari. I think that there would have to be proper tests done to determine this, rather than one blogger’s random web surfing. But it is on par with Safari, which was like a breath of fresh air, when I started.

However, where Safari would slowly eat larger and larger amounts of my computer’s memory until everything moved slowly (Safari included), Chrome remains a lean, mean speed machine no matter how long it stays open.

Speed victory: Chrome.

Observation two: Chrome is more universal than Safari. I do not encounter sites where I need to switch back to another browser, despite Chrome having an even smaller market share than Safari does.

Observation three: Chrome is the only browser on the market (to my knowledge) to have a sand box. That is, hackers need to break-in twice: Once, in order to run malicious code on your computer, and a second time to get it out of the “sand box” and into an area where it can actually do some damage. This extra safety wall, combined with not being a big target, makes Chrome one of the more secure browsers to be using — at least until it starts to achieve a significant (Firefox-esque) following.

Drawbacks: The only significant thing that Chrome lacks is plug-ins. Firefox has some excellent plug-ins that made my browsing easier. Chrome is missing these. For me, this is no big deal — a couple of bookmark buttons containing Javascript does a good enough job for me. But I was never a big plug-in user in Firefox.

There are people out there who use a huge number of features that these plug-ins provide. These people will not find their answer in Chrome.

But if you are a low-volume plug-in user — as I was — ask yourself: how much do I use them? How much do I need them? Could I do without?

If the answer is “yes” — or even “maybe” — I challenge you to try Chrome for a month. Chances are you won’t go back.

I say that, of course, because I certainly will not — at least not until a Firefox 4 comes out, and I am duty bound to spend a month with it. Chrome has become the Big Bad Browser of choice.

The question to you, denizens of the Internet. Is there another free browser that I should try, or should I stop now and consider myself a Chrome Man?

And I have a lot of links.

There is now a browser plug-in that maps internet blockages, which will (purportedly) identify sites that have been blocked by governments.

The New Scientist is reporting that those who have “old fashioned values” also purchase more pornography. I suppose this means that pornography is old fashioned.

Employees are stealing company data when leaving their jobs. This isn’t surprising. What is surprising is that they are leveraging this information to get hired elsewhere. Why would you hire someone on that basis? Shouldn’t employers worry about what their new hires are going to do when they leave, if that’s how they arrive?

Fox News, where accuracy in headlines is only a rumour.

A quote from this article: Permanent damage to the relationship may be done with a few drops of Tabasco sauce in the condom. Yes. This seems plausible.

DRM, EULA, music, copyright … how about I promise not to do anything illegal?

An example of how “stolen” music in places like YouTube can launch careers.

Think high-tech ID cards are a good idea? Don’t forget the card reader.

Thai students are apparently lining up to pay $3,000 to work at McDonald’s