Barnes & Noble discount Nook HD, HD+ for Mother's Day
Barnes & Noble has dropped the price of its Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets as part of a Mother's Day promotion. For the next week, the retailer will be selling the 7-inch Nook HD from $149 for the 8GB and $179 for the 16GB models, while the 9-inch Nook HD+ is priced at $179 for 16GB of storage and $209 for 32GB. The discounts, varying between $50 and $90 depending on model, will apply until May 12th.
Move aims to streamline innovation
Google has introduced its own browser rendering engine, Blink, that will serve as Chrome's alternative to the WebKit2 engine used by competing browsers such as Safari. The search giant suggests its WebKit-based engine will enable developers to streamline innovation, eliminating approximately 4.5 million lines of code and thousands of files that only serve to support WebKit2's features, according to an Ars Technica report.
Large contingent took severance package before Christmas
Opera's move from the Presto rendering engine to WebKit has forced the company to restructure its development teams. The Core Technology division, consisting of around 100 developers, has dropped by more than 90 positions in the last quarter, with overall employee numbers reduced from 931 to 840 in the most recent quarterly report.
Downloads made available earlier than official launch
Evernote text formatting, password dialog both fixed
Mobotap's alternative browser for iOS devices, Dolphin (free), has been updated (to version 7.2 for iPhone, and v6.2 for iPad), which fixes a number of troublesome bugs and other issues. The new stable release addresses a major problem with formatting Evernote text, and corrects a problem that causes pages to display incorrectly while scrolling. Another change prevents the password dialog from appear when it isn't needed.
Presto being exchanged for open source projects
Opera is replacing the Presto rendering engine used in its web browser with WebKit. The migration to a different rendering engine comes at the same time the browser is celebrating 300 million monthly users in total over all formats, including smartphones, smart televisions, tablets, and personal computers.
Punishment remains unclear
European Union regulators are preparing to formally charge Microsoft for violating a 2009 commitment, according to EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. Comments from the antitrust head suggest Microsoft is nearing punishment, potentially a sizable a fine, for failing to provide a browser-choice screen in its first Windows 7 service pack.
Source code made available for community development
Mozilla, having recently announced it was suspending development on Thunderbird, has now pulled its two-year-old Firefox Home browser from the App Store, saying the project provided "valuable insight and experience with the platform." The source code for Firefox Home's iOS Sync feature has been posted to Github, stripped of any Mozilla trademarks with a hope for further community development. The company says it will "continue to explore" iOS opportunities.
Security contest in Malaysia rewards browser bugs, exploits
Google is putting $2 million up for grabs if hackers can exploit the Chrome web browser. The Pwnium 2 contest, to be held on October 10 at the 10th anniversary Hack In The Box security conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, following two successful hacks being demonstrated at the CanSecWest conference earlier this year. The $2 million is divided down into four prize levels.
Sources suggest Facebook would join browser wars
Facebook may be planning to buy Opera Software, maker of the Opera web browser, according to a rumor. Sources of Pocket Lint say that the social network is looking towards making its own browser, which would put it alongside Apple, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Yahoo, and the purchase of Opera Software and its technology would save Facebook from having to build one from the ground up.
iOS app and browser extension offers image-based search
Update: Axis was temporarily pulled by Yahoo due to a security vulnerability, but has already been updated.
Yahoo has released Axis, which it is calling a 'visual search' application. It has been released as a full mobile browser for iOS and as a cross-platform desktop browser extension that uses page snapshots in live search results instead of text. The iOS app, while having the same tabbed browsing and bookmarking found in Safari, has a user interface focussing on image-heavy search, with cross-device synching possible between iPhone, iPad and the desktop browser extension.
Desktop browser connects with Android Chrome beta
Google has announced that Chrome 19 is now available as a stable build, enabling users to try out the new features that were announced early last month. The latest overhaul to the company's browser broadens sync capabilities between devices and platforms. Users can open multiple tabs on the desktop browser, then pick up their Android 4.0 phone and access the same content from the mobile Chrome beta.
Expensify expands itinerary tools
MoboTap has launched updates for both the iPad and iPhone versions of its mobile Dolphin Browser. The iPad version has gained Retina graphics, as well as a new Browsing History feature that allows users to see past sites and searches displayed as suggestions while searching in the URL bar. Meanwhile, the iPhone version has gained a Tab Restore feature that will restore previously opened tabs if Dolphin is shut down while running in the background. The update will also now remember the last used keyboard layout, and includes various stability and performance enhancements.
Will deliberately demote its own Page rank
Google's Chrome browser, just recently named the second most popular browser on the web, is playing a central role in a scandal involving the way Google boosted user awareness of the product. Despite claiming it has "consistently avoided paid sponsorships, including paying bloggers promote our products," the company was caught doing exactly that via a hired ad agency as part of an online Chrome advertising campaign, which violates its own guidelines.
Release follows Firefox 9 desktop editions
Just days after Firefox 9 arrived for Mac, Windows and Linux, Mozilla has released the equivalent edition for Android devices. The revamped browser brings significant changes to the user interface for tablets, placing each tab as a thumbnail on the left edge of the screen while the open window is still displayed in full on the right.
New version promises better UI, faster access
Opera has released a milestone upgrade for the Windows version of its browser. Release 11.60 incorporates several enhancements to the user interface and improves performance (free, Windows). Key among these are a new email client, quicker access to favorite sites, improved Web compatibility, and faster, more secure connectivity.
Updated Gecko engine, autocomplete
The volunteer Camino Project has released a final version of Camino 2.1, a free, open-source web browser that has been without a major update for almost exactly two years. Released just two months after the last minor update, the new version updates the Gecko rendering engine to v1.9.2 (as used by the Firefox 3.6 browser) and adds further support for web standards, a new auto-complete feature, better plug-in compatibility and more.
Goldy offers private mobile web browsing
Capcom has announced the addition of two new characters to Street Fighter IV VOLT, as well as the launch of two new iOS titles. Following the addition of Fei Long and Yun, VOLT now features 22 playable characters that can be used in both solo and multiplayer games. Capcom's new releases include Street Fighter Ⅱ Collection, a bundle of classic arcade games, as well as Final Fight, a gold standard arcade game. In celebration of the update and two new releases, Capcom is dropping Street Fighter Ⅳ VOLT from $7 to $3 until September 19th. Final Fight will also be on sale for $1 until September 21st.
Webzine mode, tabs, sidebars, more
Although the alternative web browser Dolphin has been available for the the iOS platform for almost two weeks, an iPad-native version has just been released for free on the iTunes App Store. Dolphin Browser HD includes a number of standout features, such as tabs, sidebars, Webzine mode and gestures. On top of the nine default gestures (such as drawing a "V"-like shape to jump to the bottom and "carat" type shape to jump to the top), users can add more and can assign URLs to gestures as well.
Attempt to reduce confusion, improve code
Google is turning to the WebKit community to create a more functional, Chromium-like browser for the Android platform, TechCrunch reports. The project will involve removing a previous but incomplete Android port of WebKit and all Android-specific code out of the existing browser, which shares a codebase with Chrome (the company's full-fledged WebKit-based browser) but is developed by a separate team. The new browser will be entirely open-sourced, a change in direction.
Firefox 6 now highlights domain URL name
Mozilla’s Firefox 6 web browser is set to be released on Tuesday. Notes posted on its website show that the release is 'on track with a few bugs still remaining. No concerns for Tuesday." One notable change, in addition to speed and stability improvements, is that the domain name is now highlighted in the address bar. This has been added to help users ensure that they have surfed to the official domain.
iVigilo Dashboard released
An updated version of the free Mac exclusive browser, Roccat Browser, has been released by Runecats. The browser offers a number of features not found in other browsers, and recently out performed the latest builds of Chrome, Opera, Safari, and Firefox in the Peacekeeper benchmark test. The latest release adds full support for OS X Lion, along with a new eBuddy Widget that allows users to chat with Facebook, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, and AIM contacts from directly within the browser. Other changes include: visual improvements, social page sharing, undercover browsing, and a number of miscellaneous bug fixes.
Users can still choose to load page anyway
Mobile browser offers under-the-hood tweaks
Mozilla has launched an update to its mobile Firefox browser for Android-based devices. Version 5 brings a number of performance tweaks, along with the same do-not-track feature that was recently added to the desktop variant. Like the desktop feature, however, the tracking opt-out option is only supported by a limited number of websites.
Adds print preview, 'Instant Pages'
Chrome, Google's free multi-platform web browser, has added the ability to preview pages in the print dialog to see how they will look -- more than three and a half years after the feature was first requested. Version 13 has just entered the beta-testing phase for Mac, Windows and Linux and also adds Instant Pages, which pre-fetches Google search results before users click on them to speed page loading.
'Pre-dev' build offers little new features
Google's Chrome Canary, a "pre-developer" version of the Chrome browser intended to be tested by "the bravest" of users -- people who would be comfortable with bugs and instability -- now has a Mac version available, according to the company's Chromium blog. The release follows the initial version of Canary for Windows last year, which the company says helped further development and gather feedback on Chromium and Chrome. The Mac version, like the Windows version, is a frequently-updated and completely untested build of what is expected to eventually become Chrome v13.
Development team was migrated to Zynga games
When it first came out in 2005, the Flock browser was a Mozilla/Firefox derivative with a novel difference: a RSS (and later social-network) sidebar that allowed users to keep one eye on feeds while continuing their usual web browsing, and also featured drag-and-drop photo uploading. Today, such incorporations take many other forms -- from menu items to plug-ins -- but the basic idea has proven popular. Back in January, CEO Sean Hardin announced that the Flock team would move en masse to the social-network gaming company Zynga and that development would be halted. Today, the company officially posted notice of the end of support effective April 26th.
Company to focus on gaming, future uncertain
On the eve of Flock's sixth anniversary,CEO Sean Hardin has announced in a blog post on the company's website that the Flock team will be going to work for the social gaming company Zynga, leaving the future of the multi-platform browser uncertain. The web browser, now based on Webkit and Chromium, integrates a social-media sidebar into the browser directly so that users can keep up with posts, statuses, comments and timelines while browsing other web sites.
Takes a dig at iPad without mentioning it by name
BlackBerry has released a
video (below) that demonstrates the video playback features of the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook. In the demo, one of the developers from Research in Motion's web browser group demonstrates the PlayBook's HTML5 and Flash video playback features. A video in HTML5 and CSS from VideoJS.com shows the browser running full-motion video with no hitches or artifacts. The player also loads the full desktop versions of YouTube and Facebook, both of which run smoothly. The browser can handle all content in Facebook, including Flash-based games and video embedded in feeds, without leaving the Facebook environment.
Adds new features beyond just playing flash videos
After reporting last week that Skyfire had submitted an iPad version of their self-titled alternative browser for the iPad to the App Store for approval, SkyFire v2 is now available. The new version brings social-web functions and other new features along with its celebrated (server-based) ability to play videos and some audios originally available only in Flash and thus normally blocked from functioning on iOS devices.
Chrome 7 gets Applescript, "hundreds" of bugfixes
Google has released a new stable build of the free Chrome browser, v7.0.517.41 for the Mac, including full Applescript support for UI automation and an updated HTML5 parsing algorithm. "Hundreds" of bugs were fixed, according to the developer blog, and users now have a new dialog for managing blocked cookies en masse.
New browser with pinch-to-zoom coming
Opera has announced that it is releasing a full Opera Mobile web browser for Android within the next month. It will be made compatible with all versions of Android, and optimizes the user experience by employing hardware acceleration and pinch-to-zoom. In current versions of Opera for mobile devices, the zoom function is limited to two levels which is a limitation that has been removed for the new Android version.
Multiple processor support added in v7
Lemkesoft has launched GraphicConverter 7, featuring a new interface for the photo converting software. GraphicConverter specializes in handling numerous and unique images formats, importing over 200 formats and exporting over 80, often managing unusual variants of standard formats. It also generates catalogs for the web or print and handles RAW photos. It can import directly from cameras or flash cards and has a TWAIN interface for operating a scanner. The software has a picture browser and can generate slideshows.
Browser features performance improvements
Following the iPhone 4 announcement on Monday, Apple has introduced the latest major update to its Safari browser. Although the company boasts a variety of under-the-hood improvements in v5.0, the new Safari Reader is a welcome addition to the visible interface.
Control what content can be viewed
app4mac has launched Giddy Up, a new children's web-browser made for school and home use. Giddy Up is designed as a secure web-browser that allows parents and teachers to set limits to what users can do while surfing the web. The app utilizes Apple's Safari engine to help provide easy navigation and control; it offers a wide range of security and session management options. Features include a virtual keyboard option for touch-screens, and URL control management.
New version updates security, download management
app4mac has updated its web browser for kiosks, wKiosk 6.0. The software provides a full screen web browser for use in public places, such as libraries or museums. It can also be used as a default web browser for a business or organization. It runs web apps and presents web content with predetermined restrictions on web location access, system settings and downloads. It can be configured in minutes and is touch screen capable.
Flash blocking improved with new features
The Camino Project has released an update to its self-titled browser for Mac OS X. Version 2.0 adds a tab overview feature that allows users to quickly browse all open tabs in a layout preview. Tabbed browsing has also been improved with drag-and-drop rearranging, a scrollable bar, and a dedicated menu listing all of the open tabs.
Net Apps Web Share Aug 09
Mozilla's Firefox browser cut significantly into Microsoft's market share of web browsers in August, data from Net Applications shows. Its increase to 22.98 percent of the market wasn't an absolute high but resulted in Internet Explorer reaching an all-time low of 66.97 percent, a sharp fall from 67.68 percent just a month earlier. Other browsers also made inroads, as Google Chrome climbed to 2.84 percent (fourth place) and Opera rose slightly to 2.04 percent (fifth place).
Apple's Safari 4.03 update
Apple on Tuesday released Safari 4.03, an update to its cross-platform browser. The company says the "update is recommended for all Safari users and includes improvements to stability, compatibility and security including, (1) stability improvements for webpages that use the HTML 5 video tag; (2) fixes an issue that prevented some users from logging into iWork.com; and (3) fixes an issue that could cause web content to be displayed in greyscale instead of color."
Newmium iXBrowser in 2010
Newmium has announced yet another internet browser, the Newmium iXBrowser. The browser boasts compatibility with all versions of HTML 4 defined by the World Wide Web Consortium. Offering platform-independent compatibility with all versions of HTML 4 allows website developers to create more consistent cross-platform designs. The Newmium iXBrowser offers compatibility with various operating systems including Mac OS X, Linux, Windows, WinCE, and FreeBSD in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Newmium claims that the browser not only maintains the same interface throughout each system, but will also display sites the same regardless of operating system.
GrandReporter beta ships
TRI-EDRE has launched a public beta of its Internet search tool, GrandReporter. The new program automates searches via the Internet, and then continues the searches over time. After users create queries for any subjects of interest, GrandReporter automatically runs periodic checks for new information and sends alerts when additional pages are found. The software works as an advanced utility to gather specific searches, in a similar fashion to RSS feed trackers with intelligent searching.
SiteCapture 1.2 (free) is a tool for capturing images of webpages. The URL addresses of sites can be added individually or entire Safari bookmark folders can be imported. The software then loads each link in a virtual browser and coverts the page into either JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, or BMP image file. The 1.2 release is capable of capturing the full height of a page in a single image and is now being offered as freeware. The update has also addressed several bugs including one that could cause file names of images to conflict. [Download - 0.38MB]
Opera 10 open beta
Opera on Wednesdsay launched the first beta version of its Opera 10 web browser, offering enhanced speed and performance, along with a newly designed user interface. Changes in the beta include improved browsing speeds over limited-bandwidth connections, a resizable tab bar, and customizable features for the speed dial that allow users to choose from 4-25 web sites for quick access, and to add a custom background. Other speed enhancements noted by the company include a faster engine by up to 40 percent and increased support for resource intensive pages such as Gmail and Facebook.
Adobe unveils BrowserLab
Adobe has unveiled its newest application, BrowserLab, releasing it as a free downloadable preview. The program, originally code-named Meer Meer, is used to compare webpages in Safari, Internet Explorer, and Firefox to ensure designs remain consistent between each browser. The program uses virtualization technology hosted through a cloud-based application, eliminating the need to install all three browsers.
Opera beats Safari mobile
The Opera mobile browser has surpassed Apple's iPhone browser as the most popular mobile browser internationally, according to numbers collected by the analysis company StatCounter. The two browsers have battled for the lead position over the past six months, with Opera generally losing against mobile Safari from February through April. Sometime in May, however, a spike in Opera usage put the browser up to 24.6 percent while the iPhone fell slightly to 17.9 percent.
MyMacTime 1.2 ($20) is a tool for tracking time spent on different projects. Users can enter all the tasks they are currently working on and then either enter the time spent on each one manually or have the application log it. Tasks can then be synchronized with iCal for printing or sharing. The update has added a new option that allows users to choose if they want the session timer to stop, pause or continue when a computer enters sleep mode. The session summary view and session scope bar can now be hidden and several small bugs have also been addressed. [Download - 4.6MB]
ArchiveMac 1.2 ($25) allows users to backup large files to CD, DVD or Blu-Ray disks. If the contents of a backup are larger than what can be stored on one disk the software can split the data across multiple discs which are then patched together when restored. The archive discs are burned in a way that allows them to be restored on any Mac, Windows or Linux computer without the need for any additional software. Version 1.2 has improved the process of burning discs by allowing discs in a set to be skipped and adding support for burning multiple copies of a disc. [Download - 4.8MB]
Folder Brander, TimeBoxed
BumperCar 2.2 ($30) is a web browser that has been designed with kids' safety in mind. Parents can set up various restrictions such as limiting the sharing of personal information and forcing Google to use "Safe Search" mode. The software offers simple "Low", "Medium" and "High" safety settings, as well as the ability to customize all of its features. The newest release introduces the latest version of Apple's WebKit engine for enhanced performance and increased security and also includes support for Flash 10. [Download - 16MB]
Firefox 3.0.8 update
Mozilla has released an update to its popular web browser, Firefox 3.0.8. The company has dealt with two security issues marked as critical under its rating of importance. The first fix involves the XUL method in some cases triggering garbage collection routines on objects which were still in use. This resulted in possible browser crashes when attempting to access a previously destroyed object, and could be used to run harmful code on a person’s computer.