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First released just over a year ago, Chrome has come to occupy 6% of the browser market worldwide, becoming the third most popular browser behind Internet Explorer and Firefox. As it continues to add features, it is poised to gain even more ground. Last December, the addition of browser extensions filled one of the browser's biggest shortcomings, and today the little browser that could has taken another step in the right direction by adding support for Greasemonkey scripts.

Greasemonkey, previously only a Firefox add-on, lets you customize the way a website is displayed using small bits of Javascript, and we're excited to see it added to one of the faster, tidier browsers available.

Internet Explorer 8 has regained the top spot in the never-ending browser battle today, or so says the Guardian, citing statistics from Net Applications. According to the statistics, IE 8 has taken a 5% lead over Firefox 3.5, but this is not only unsurprising, but likely temporary.

We also have some numbers from StatCounter that show the race to be much closer than Net Applications would have you believe.

From TV to Tivo and Hulu, from the mall to Amazon and eCommerce and from newspaper carriers and delivery trucks to online syndication and subscription - distribution of goods, services and information has changed a lot thanks to the internet. Subscription to syndicated publications hasn't changed nearly as much yet as it could in the future, though.

Services like MyYahoo and iGoogle saw some traction and many readers here may have a Google Reader account, but dedicated RSS (really simple syndication) feed reading services have never lived up to their potential to become a mainstream phenomenon. These days many people say they just wait until links get shared on Twitter and they never use a feed reader at all. Late last week Facebook threw its hat in the ring and called on users to use its service as a news feed reader. There are a number of reasons why Facebook could be the strongest online subscription option yet.

Update: Hard numbers have now confirmed that Facebook is already the biggest news reader on the web. In our next post on the subject, we discuss the implications of Facebook's relatively small market share on the future of free thinking.

Google and the Associated Press haven't exactly been on good terms for the last few months. Due to fundamental disagreements over copyright and payments between the companies, Google stopped hosting AP content on its site in December after the existing contract between the AP and Google expired. Yahoo, however, is a step ahead of Google and just announced a new deal with the AP. The details about the contract between Yahoo and the AP weren't disclosed, but chances are that Yahoo agreed to pay higher licensing fees in return for the right to host AP stories on its properties.

The iPad clearly dominated the discussion on Twitter over the last few days, but in the early days of January, the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, Lady Gaga, Avatar and the Cincinnati Bengals were among the most hotly discussed people and topics on the popular microblogging service.

Social Media monitoring and analytics service Sysomos analyzed over 100 million tweets from January 1 to 15. Overall, the company looked at topics in six different categories: people, locations, film, business, sports and miscellaneous entities.

Are you goofing off on Facebook at work? As it turns out, this sort of "time theft" may be no longer be your company's top concern when it comes to social networking in the workplace. According to a new study from security firm Sophos, the real problem with social networks - and most of all Facebook - is the security risk they pose to organizations.

Foursquare and Bravo announced a partnership today that will attempt to link Foursquare's users with viewers of Bravo. New features will offer badges and special prizes when Foursquare users check in at locations featured in Bravo TV shows.

The partnership is likely an attempt by Foursquare to fend off competitors in a space it once held as its own but that has become increasingly crowded as of late.

After Facebook's recent privacy settings "adjustment," the social network is now reporting that 35% users who had never before engaged with their privacy settings took the initiative to do so instead of accepting the updated suggestions put before them by the social network. To Facebook, this number is a very, very good thing. Although nowhere near a majority of users, this engagement rate is much higher than industry averages. Plus, as Facebook's director of public policy Tim Sparapani points out, "35% of 350 million users is an extraordinary number."

But should Facebook really be proud here? What about the other 65% of users who blindly accepted the defaults?

One of the trends we're exploring this year is how the Internet is being integrated into everyday objects. Called the Internet of Things, it's seeping into some massive consumer industries. One of them is fitness. Many of you have heard of the Nike+ running shoes, which sends running data to your iPod via a sensor. Adidas recently joined the race to connect your running gear to the Internet, with its miCoach system. There is also the Wii Fit and innovative Web fitness services like NordicTrack's iFit.

Keep up, because tracking your fitness progress on the Internet - via sensors attached to your body or workout gear - is going to become very popular.

A group of 15 authors and publishers and two organizations in India have filed a formal objection to the Google Books Settlement.

The Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation and the Federation of Indian Publishers and these 15 individuals join a panoply of international entities who have objected to Google's ambitious and controversial plan to scan as many books as possible throughout the world. Though the search and Web app giant's scheme would create a vast online library, it may also infringe on the rights of content creators and has created a lengthy international legal battle.