Laser Sharks

The Xbox 360 has become the gaming console with the most number of searches according to Hitwise, an online stat tracking group.  The Xbox 360 has surpasses the Nintendo Wii as gaming’s most searched for console. 

There could obviously be other reasons for these statistics other than increases popularity. Perhaps gamers are searching for “Ring of Death” or information on warranty repairs. However, General Manager of Hitwise, Bill Trancer, says this is not the case.

Searches can also be driven by other factors – namely recalls So is the growth in searches for Xbox 360 simply a result of the recent “warranty extension” and “Red Ring of Death”? Hitwise search data indicates it is not. The following table lists the top search terms entered into search engines in the past four weeks that include the words “xbox 360”:

He then continued to explain that searches for a price drop on the Xbox 360 have been much more popular than searches for a price drop on the PS3.

Demand is high for a price drop - in the past four weeks, the top search term with the words “price drop” was “xbox 360 price drop”. There were 70% more US searches for “xbox 360 price drop” than for “ps3 price drop”.

Tracer concluded his reasons for the increases in popularity of Xbox 360 searches.

So what is driving the increase in searches for Xbox 360? It appears to be a combination of hype for new games, rumours of a price drop and no doubt some queries about the recent problems.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Everyone’s favorite web browser, Mozilla Firefox, is currently in its second iteration. An official third release isn’t too far away some think, but then again, maybe it is. Mozilla is planning to release a pre-beta form of Firefox 3 every six or so weeks, but an official beta release will only happen when Mozilla is happy with the whole shebang. Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering, said:

We are driven by quality, not time. We want to Firefox 3 to be something that we are all proud of. This means features that delight users and the same or higher quality than previous releases. “Quality” includes performance (Tp/Ts/TDHTML/etc), footprint, web compatibility, regressions, and general fit and finish. Having said that, we want to move the web forward and are in a competitive market. So we should converge on a release as fast as possible.

So, for everyone who is waiting with baited breath for what can only be the most uber-awesomest browser ever (and let’s face it, that’s kinda nerdy, but I love you for it) you’ll probably have to just keep waiting for now.

On a related note, there’s an interesting problem that has arisen with Firefox’s 2.0.0.4 release. Technically, it’s not Firefox’s problem, though, it’s Internet Explorer’s. On the browser-based security front, researchers have found a flaw in Internet Explorer that can cause Firefox to execute remote malicious code. The problem only happens when you are browsing with IE and also have Firefox installed. Now who would do that anyway? Beats me, but if you want an in-depth look at this situation, check this out.

Popularity: 6% [?]