And guess what? Google's dependence on advertising notwithstanding, one of the extension examples the company points to is the ability to block advertisements.

The Chrome extensions document, spotlighted Saturday by Google programmer Aaron Boodman, doesn't include a timeline, but it does shed light on why the project is a priority for Chromium, the open-source project behind Chrome.

"Chromium can't be everything to all people," according to the document. "User-created extensions have been proposed to solve these problems: the addition of features that have specific or limited appeal; users coming from other browsers who are used to certain extensions that they can't live without; bundling partners who would like to add features to Chromium specific to their bundle."

When Google launched Chrome three months ago, it promised a Chrome extensions framework. Extensions are a popular feature of Chrome's most likely rival, Mozilla's Firefox, and one very popular extension is AdBlock Plus.

And AdBlock makes a specific appearance on the list of extension uses that Google said it would like to support eventually:

• Bookmarking/navigation tools: Delicious Toolbar, StumbleUpon, Web-based history, new tab page clipboard accelerators.

• Content enhancements: Skype extension (clickable phone numbers), RealPlayer extension (save video), Autolink (generic microformat data--addresses, phone numbers, etc.)

• Content filtering: AdBlock, Flashblock, privacy control, parental control

• Download helpers: video helpers, download accelerators, DownThemAll, FlashGot

• Features: ForecastFox, FoxyTunes, Web Of Trust, GooglePreview, BugMeNot

Demand for extensions is real.

In an unscientific CNET News poll about why people don't use Chrome, about 19 percent pointed to the lack of an extensions feature. And on Google's issue tracking site for Chromium, a Chrome extensions feature is the top-requested item.

"Of all the Firefox plug-ins, this is the one essential one," said Firefox user Ole Eichhorn. "Chrome is faster until you factor in all the cruft that gets downloaded as ads, then it isn't faster anymore. When Chrome supports AdBlock, it will be the winner, but until it does, Firefox is the only choice."

In its document, Google described some of its goals for Chrome extensions. The extensions should silently update, just like Chrome does. They should be isolated for security reasons and only get access to resources it's entitled to use. Installation should be easy, taking only two clicks.

They should permit rich user interface options--rich enough to implement some parts of Chrome as extensions, Google said. Among the interface options should be "toolbars, sidebars, content scripts (for Greasemonkey-like functionality), and content filtering (for parental filters, malware filters, or AdBlock-like functionality)," Google said. Some interfaces will require the user to grant specific permissions, such as "access to the history database" or "access to mail.google.com," Google said.

Google will play a major role in extensions, providing a central service that can be used to issue updates and to blacklist "malicious or harmful extensions" so the browser won't use them.

"It's likely in the future we may want to provide a consumer front-end which would allow users to more easily find the most popular, highest quality and trustworthy extensions," Google also said.

eBay Companies See Black Friday Shoppers Clicking for Great Deals

Saturday, November 29th, 2008

Nintendo Wii Console is The Most Popular Product on eBay

Nov. 29, 2008, SAN JOSE, Calif. - Black Friday saw a buzz of shopping activity, as consumers took to their computers to snap up hot holiday gifts. eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) companies, including PayPal and Shopping.com, all saw consumers going online for great deals. The companies reported key online shopping trends, popular categories and hot gifts.

'Results from Black Friday show that shoppers continue to turn to the Web for their holiday shopping needs, especially for consumer electronics,' said Jim 'Griff' Griffith, eBay Marketplace Expert. 'Online shopping is convenient and allows consumers to find the best values and vast selection. Shoppers can visit eBay and Shopping.com to purchase all of their holiday items at unbeatable prices, and can pay quickly and securely with PayPal.'

Shoppers are Clicking for Deals
With money tighter than ever, shoppers are hitting the Web to find the best values for their hard-earned cash. A recent Nielsen study found that 78 percent of adult online users made a purchase on the Web in the past six months. Additionally, a recent survey conducted by Survey.com on behalf of eBay found that getting 'great deals' was the most important criteria for shoppers when choosing where to shop online this holiday season.

Shoppers are taking advantage of the great deals on eBay to find must-have gifts. Black Friday online shoppers took advantage of eBay's great deals, including the Daily Deal, $1 Holiday Doorbusters, Bid from $1 and Microsoft Live Search cashback. Consumers also turned to Shopping.com for their holiday shopping needs, searching most often for Nintendo Wii Fit and Nintendo Wii.

Yes, this is a consumer-facing release, designed to lure shoppers with promises of great deals. But we have to believe that, if there was some good news to print about Black Friday sales, eBay would have printed it.

(PayPal sales, meanwhile, jumped an impressive 26% year-over-year, and eBay was quick to report that.)

See Also: eBay's Traffic Collapsing

The site features a news blog, event calendar, company directory, job board and a forum. I like the school directory - if you plan to become a game developer, it's a must read. To be honest, I didn't even know we have an active game developer community here in NYC. I will try to get out to some of the gamer events in the near future and report back.

The site features a news blog, event calendar, company directory, job board and a forum. I like the school directory - if you plan to become a game developer, it's a must read. To be honest, I didn't even know we have an active game developer community here in NYC. I will try to get out to some of the gamer events in the near future and report back.

• Isolation:
  • Kim Høltermand creates spare, bleak, often dreamlike compositions from sometimes banal subject matter. [Via]
  • In a somewhat similar vein, Andy Taylor Smith captures the sculptural quality of overpasses and other large structures. (The Veer gallery seems to be acting up, but you can also see images on Andy’s own site.) [Via]
• Vanity Fair has posted a collection of the 25 Best News Photos. (Fair warning: Some are tough to see.) [Via]

But don't take that to mean the event drew 700,000 viewers. For instance, Google's (GOOG) YouTube served each visitor four individual streams of the event. We don't know how Akamai's live streaming meter calculated those streams, but it's possible the actual audience could be closer to 175,000.

Truth is, only YouTube or Akamai know the real numbers and "we're all just guessing," says Streaming Media's Dan Rayburn. Rayburn says that since clients regularly inflate confidential numbers by as much as 10X, we won't really know the size of YouTube Live's audience even if it does announce them.

But it doesn't matter. Both numbers -- 700,000 or 175,000 -- are tiny. Even before Sarah Palin rejuvenated the franchise, Saturday Night Live last year averaged more than 5 million viewers per show, MediaMemo points out.

See Also:
YouTube Didn't Launch Live Streaming On November 22

• The new Storm sold out immediately in many Verizon stores. But there's a delay in availability: Verizon only says devices ordered online now will ship "by 12/15."
  
• Why? It seems reports of software glitches delaying Verizon's shipments might be accurate. Verizon (VZ) hasn't gotten back to us regarding our report over the weekend, but Suva notes today that "many Verizon store reps stating some software issues complicating the roll out and additional shipments."
• That's fine for RIM's device shipments -- they've already been sold to Verizon -- but as we noted on Saturday, it means that Verizon won't activate many of those new subscribers until December. Which means they won't show up in RIM's Q3.
• Meanwhile, RIM's other high-end phone, the Bold, is mostly driving "replacement" sales -- not all-new subscribers. RIM still gets some revenue for those device sales, but not new subscribers or service revenue.
  
• Enterprise is slowing "across all verticals." BlackBerry becoming a "nice to have" item vs. "have to have," Suva suggests.
  
• T-Mobile is focusing on selling Google's (GOOG) G1, not RIM's cheap BlackBerry Pearl Flip.
• Consumers might not be thrilled about spending $70 month minimum on required data plans.

This all points to potentially slowing subscriber growth. So Suva trimmed his Nov. quarter, 2008, 2009, and 2010 subscriber growth, revenue, and profit estimates.

For instance, he expects RIM to report 2.7 million net subscriber additions this quarter, versus his previous estimate of 2.9 million. He also expects RIM to post $2.85 billion of sales and $0.85 of EPS, versus consensus of $2.96 billion of sales and $0.91 of EPS.

Investors think otherwise: RIM (RIMM) is up 6.7% today to $49.79.

See Also:
BlackBerry Storm Sales Delayed By Software Glitch? Click Screen A Flop?
RIM's BlackBerry Storm Is No iPhone, But Should Sell Well
BlackBerry Storm Lines Boost RIM Shares
BlackBerry Still Dominating, But iPhone Catching On With Businesses

Walmart will be taking a pass for most of the holiday shopping season with one particular item: the iPhone. It will begin selling the handset December 28, according to Jamie Townsend, of research firm JRPG.

Boy Genius Report also notes that the phone will be sold in some Sam's Club stores as well. The blog broke the news about Walmart's talks with Apple, but originally said the smartphone would hit shelves last Saturday.

Walmart seems to be capitalizing on post-holiday shopping fervor, with BGR's Zach Epstein speculating, "Won't people be happy when they find out Apple's handsets popped up at discount prices three short days after Christmas?" It depends on how meager Christmas is, I suppose.

The handsets will apparently be activated in-store. No pricing details were released.

TUAWWalmart will sell iPhones starting Dec. 28 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.