TipAdept Dot Com

As in the real-estate market, a key factor in the browser wars has been location, location, location. In the virtual space that browsers inhabit, the most valuable location is to be preinstalled on the computer you buy -- and Google wants that choice location for its Chrome browser.

According to news reports, the search giant will try to convince computer makers to preinstall the Chrome browser. Google Vice President Sundar Pichai told The Times of London that the company will "probably" do some distribution deals, including working with original-equipment manufacturers to ship PCs with Chrome already installed.

Less Than One Percent

Chrome could certainly use a boost. Currently, its market share is less than one percent of Web users, with Microsoft's Internet Explorer at more than 70 percent, Mozilla's Firefox about 20 percent, and others, such as Opera, making up the difference.

Pichai said that Google will launch a major marketing effort to support Chrome, which could encourage computer makers to come on board. "We will throw our weight behind it," he told The Times.

"We've been conservative because it's still in beta," he added, "but once we get it out of beta we will work hard at getting the word out, promoting to users, and marketing will be a part of that."

First launched in September, Chrome is still in its testing phase. Pichai told The Times that the beta phase will end in January.

Linux, Mac Platforms

Observers have noted that Microsoft's preinstallation of its Internet Explorer browser on millions of desktops gave it an insurmountable lead over its first major browser rival, Netscape's Navigator, and a positioning that no amount of features or performance could overcome. This positioning of IE, in fact, was a major factor in the U.S. government's subsequent antitrust complaints against Microsoft, a history that might help Google because any blocking efforts...

A Florida teenager died of a lethal drug overdose in front of a live online webcam audience 12 hours after he started blogging about his plan to commit suicide, an investigator said Friday.

Abraham Biggs, 19, died Wednesday from a toxic combination of opiates and benzodiazepine, a drug used to treat insomnia and depression, said Wendy Crane, an investigator with the Broward County medical examiner's office. At least one of the drugs was prescribed to him, but it was unclear how he got the others, Crane said.

Some of those watching encouraged Biggs, others tried to talk him out of it, and a few were debating whether the dose he took was lethal, Crane said. It's unclear how many people were watching.

Biggs stated his intentions on a forum at bodybuilding.com, where some users said they did not take him seriously because he had made previous statements about killing himself, Crane said. Biggs posted a link from there to Justin.tv, a site that allows users to broadcast live videos from their webcams.

Someone finally notified the moderator of the body building site's forum, who traced the teen's location to Pembroke Pines and called police, Crane said. Biggs was dead by the time they got to his house in midafternoon on Wednesday, Crane said. He had started blogging about 12 hours earlier.

"He was just seen laying on the bed at that point," she said.

Condolences poured into his MySpace page, where the mostly unsmiling teen is seen posing in a series of pictures with various young women.

A woman who answered the phone at Biggs' home and identified herself as his sister said the family was still dealing with his death and declined immediate comment.

Biggs' father, Abraham Biggs Sr., told ABCNews.com that he was not home when his son died. He said his son struggled with depression...

A Missouri woman knew her 13-year-old neighbor was depressed and suicidal when she sent cruel Internet messages to the teenager, her former assistant testified. The girl killed herself after being told the world would be better off without her.

Ashley Grills, 20, told jurors Thursday she helped Lori Drew set up a fake MySpace profile of a 16-year-old boy to lure Megan Meier into an online relationship. Testifying for the prosecution under a grant of immunity, Grills also said she sent the last message from the fictitious "Josh Evans" to Megan in October 2006 on the day the girl hanged herself.

When she learned of Megan's death, Grills said Drew told her, "We could have pushed her overboard because she was suicidal and depressed.'"

Testimony was to resume Friday in the case against Drew, who has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing computers without authorization. Each count carries a potential sentence of five years in prison.

Prosecutors say Drew, 49, her then-13-year-old daughter, Sarah, and Grills created the MySpace alias in September 2006 to befriend Megan to find out if she was spreading rumors about Sarah.

The case is believed to be the nation's first cyberbullying trial. Its results could set a legal precedent for dealing with the issue of online harassment.

Defense attorney Dean Steward told jurors that Drew did not violate the Computer Use and Fraud Act -- used in the past to address computer hacking -- and reminded them that she was not facing charges dealing with the suicide. Steward has repeatedly asked U.S. District Judge George Wu to exclude testimony about Megan's suicide and twice sought a mistrial.

Grills, who helped Drew with her coupon magazine business, testified that she told Drew they might get in trouble for the scheme, but that Drew replied, "It was...