Google’s move to demote the Chrome website in search rankings in January led to a decline in browser market share, according to new data from Net Applications. Google’s Chrome web browser dropped from 19.11% in December to 18.94% in January, the firm found. Meanwhile, among the other browsers, only Internet Explorer saw significant gains during the month, going from 51.87% in December to 52.96% in January.

The reason behind Chrome’s drop – the first in two years – is likely the advertising scandal Google found itself last month. Google had hired a third-party ad agency Unruly Media to drive views of a new Chrome video by paying bloggers to post it on their own websites. One blogger linked back to the Chrome download page, without using a “nofollow” attribute which would have prevented the page from getting an extra boost. The move was in clear violation of Google’s own paid link policy put in place to combat spam. Penalties for actions like this range from a month to a year of penalized search rank.

Google ended up doing the right thing and demoting the Chrome download page (www.google.com/chrome) for at least 60 days by setting its rank to zero. Previously, Chrome ranked #2 in a search for “browser,” but after the demotion, it was #50. Today, the Chrome website is showing up on page 6 of Google Search – in other words, practically invisible.

Chrome’s loss, for now at least, is IE’s gain. In fact, TechCrunch itself saw similar trends in January, much to our surprise (shock/horror). IE was ahead of both Firefox and Chrome for referral traffic mid-month. Our data showed that it was (TC parent company) AOL traffic that was so IE-friendly.

But that seems to be a coincidence. According to Net Applications, Windows XP’s market share grew in January, going from 0.67 points to 47.19 points, something that could have contributed to IE’s bump. To be clear, Windows XP didn’t necessarily see more users, it saw more usage. Maybe the typical year-end wrap-up work at businesses led to increased XP usage, as IE6 still powers some business applications? Or maybe browser market share numbers pulled from sources like Net Applications should be taken with the proverbial grain of salt.

For what it’s worth, other browsers saw dips, too, including Firefox, which went from 21.83% to 20.88%, and Safari, which dropped from 4.97% to 4.90%. Opera, saw a tiny gain from 1.66% to  1.67%. More data is available here on the Net Applications website.

If you’re an avid user of Google+, you know that one of the things that makes your experience crappy is the spam you get. You know what I’m talking about. You post an animated GIF of a dog walking on a rainbow and all of a sudden you get a comment from someone you don’t know with a link to a site that’s probably up to no good.

It’s a similar problem on blogs, and Google does have a system for deleting comments and blocking users, but it’s kind of clunky. Sure, you could share with only your circles and that would keep the spammers from commenting, but that makes you feel trapped.

No need to feel trapped anymore, thanks to a new Google Chrome extension called “Nuke Comments on Google+“, which not only delete the offending comment, but automatically blocks the user in just one click.

Once you install the extension for Chrome, you’ll find a new button sitting next to comments that say “Nuke”. Don’t click it on accident though!

Once you’ve “nuked” a comment, you’ll be notified that it is complete. After that, you don’t have to think about that user again because they’re automatically blocked:

The only thing that this extension is missing is the “report” feature. While deleting a comment and blocking someone does the trick, it doesn’t tell Google who to look out for as far as spamming. However, clicking that nuke button sure does make you feel like you have control of your stream again.

➤ Nuke Comments on Google+“

The new tab page built into Chrome (and soon, Firefox) is a nice touch, but it isn't incredibly customizable, nor is it particularly beautiful. If you're looking for something a little beyond what your browser's default start page has to offer, here are our favorite extensions and services that add a bit of extra functionality and pizazz to your new tabs. More »

Firefox has just added built-in developer tools that rival Chrome’s own offerings. The new tools provide a clean and easy way to inspect elements in a single window. More specifically, it’s now much easier to switch between CSS and HTML elements, unlike Chrome’s view, which seems to mash the two together on smaller monitors.

Up until now, Firefox’s best dev tool was the Firebug add-on, which has served users well up to this point. With the new Page Inspector, developers can easily peek into and modify a page’s structure and layout without having to leave Firefox.

Scratchpad now uses the Eclipse Orion code editor to provide syntax highlighting and other features that make it easier and simpler to write JavaScript.

Firefox is also introducing a Full-Screen API that will make it easier for developers to build experiences that leverage the entire screen. Also, Firefox has just added support for features that make it easier to build 3D Web experiences with open technologies.

Check out all the details here and via the video below.

Mac: Here's a great way to quickly forward a link to a web page you're reading: hit command, shift, and "i" and an email message will automatically open with the page title in the subject and the link in the body. More »

Firefox/Chrome/Safari: Netflix's new interface may not be the most fun to navigate, but you can ease a bit of the pain with a user script that adds Gmail-like keyboard shortcuts to the entire thing. More »

Chrome: Keeping up with the stream of news throughout the day can be difficult. If you're looking for a way to stay updated without heading over to Google News repeatedly, GNews is a Chrome extension that allows you to quickly glance at hot topics and move on with your day. More »

Chrome: If you you're used to the ability to hit the forward slash key to to transport your cursor to the search box in webapps, then you might be annoyed when it doesn't work elsewhere. SlashSearch is an extension that adds the keyboard shortcut to any site and if there is no search box it makes one. More »

Do you have a favorite bookmarklet you love to use but hate having it cluttering up your bookmarks bar? An easy to use webapp solves the problem for you, no coding experience required. More »

Chrome: Text This To Me is a Chrome add-on that allows you to quickly send yourself SMS messages from your browser with links, notes, and other snippets of text with a single click. Whether you just want to send yourself a URL to open on your phone's browser, or you want to remind yourself to pick up the milk on the way home, Text This To Me gives you a quick way to do it without installing anything on your device. More »