GOOGLE'S E-GUIDE TO THE INTERNET

Even if you're a long-time Internet user, you may learn a thing or 20 from Google's new e-guide to the Internet. Packaged as an illustrated children's book, "20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web," written by the Google Chrome team, explains terms like cloud computing, HTML5, DNS and 'the Internet.' 'What's a cookie?' 'How do I protect myself on the Web?' and What happens if a truck runs over my laptop?' and more are thoroughly answered in laymen's terms. From reading to sharing, experiencing the e-book is like participating in a Google product lovefest: it is clearly optimized for Chrome. You can also read it offline in Chrome, download a PDF version through Chrome's beta PDF viewer, or reduce it to a Goog.ly URL for easy sharing. And before you cry "biased," a lesson on the "modern browser" recommends at least upgrading to competing browsers like Firefox 3.6, Safari 5, Internet Explorer 8, and Opera 10.63. The e-book was illustrated by freelance artist Christopher Niemann and built in HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3. Last weekend, a print ad for the e-book was spotted in the LA Times, perhaps signaling a target audience of more old-fashioned media consumers.