Articles about Browser

Mozilla has released Firefox 21.0 FINAL, a major new version of its cross-platform, open-source web browser for Windows, Mac and Linux. Version 21 gives users more control over their tracking cookie preferences, extends the social API to support four new providers and implements support for tools to help with troubleshooting and performance issues.

Although Firefox 21 doesn’t have quite the impact version 20 did with its new panel-based downloader, per-window private browsing and ability to close hanging plugins without crashing the entire browser, it still throws in some useful features, all of which have smoothly migrated from the Beta version.

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From docks to desktop gadgets, the Start menu to the Start screen, there are many ways to launch applications on your PC. But most of these are quite bulky, giving you a new interface to explore, and perhaps tying up valuable screen real estate.

If you’re looking for something simpler, then, more lightweight, then you might be interested in a new Firefox add-on called Easy Access.

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Last week, Microsoft's Internet Explorer made news, but not in the way the company should like. The "browser you loved to hate"  becomes the target of a zero-day security flaw, which already is being actively exploited. Version 8 of the browser, which runs on all iterations of Windows going back to XP, is the target. Windows 8 customers are safe, as the latest operating system ships with IE 10.

The flaw allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to exploit this vulnerability and execute arbitrary code on a targeted system with the privileges of a targeted user. If the user holds elevated privileges, the attacker could completely compromise the computer targeted.

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Just yesterday, I suggested that Gmail for iOS, which new version links to Google apps rather than Safari, might be a bigger deal. Sure enough, is it ever. The search and information giant is hellbent on co-opting Apple's mobile platform by offering superior apps tightly tied to web services. But the strategy depends on Chrome.

Contrary to popular tech convention, Android isn't the future of Google platforms, neither is Chrome OS, nor is an amalgamation of the two. The browser is the go-forward platform of choice. Android and Chrome stand apart, competing with operating systems like iOS and Windows. Chrome can co-opt them and others. The browser is more natural fit for Google services and anchors them anywhere. This is the lesson from March's corporate shake-up that put Android under Sundar Pichai, who leads Chrome and Apps.

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After introducing Android and iOS apps, enterprise social network Unison has shifted its focus from mobile handsets to large team collaboration, introducing the ability to voice chat with up to 250 users straight from the browser. The feature is currently available only through the official Chrome app.

Compared to the traditional way of doing things on Unison -- text chatting -- the latest feature allows users and members of large teams to interact in a more personal way. Voice is also more immediate than writing and can trigger a faster response, something which can be helpful when dealing with fast-approaching deadlines or other critical scenarios. In some cases, businesses can also replace the traditional phone conference and, therefore, rely less on other services for basic but essential tasks.

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The Mozilla Foundation is accusing Gamma International, a UK-based software group, of making a false association between one of its products and the Firefox name.

Gamma International produces FinFisher, a program used by governments to obtain data in a covert way. FinFisher is often installed by disguising itself as an update to a well known program such as Firefox. Mozilla has now sent a cease and desist letter to Gamma claiming that its Firefox trademark is being violated and that the practice must end immediately.

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I/O starts two weeks from today, and Google wastes no time whetting developer interests. Yesterday, the search and information giant revealed new Google+ Sign-In benefits. Today there are changes regarding "packaged apps". Surely the big stuff will wait for the keynote, which takes place on a single day this year, but expect more like last two days beforehand.

"Starting today Chrome packaged apps will be available in the Chrome Web Store for anyone on Chrome's developer channel on Windows and Chrome OS", Amanda Bishop, Google product manager, says. "You will notice that the App category now contains only the new Chrome packaged apps. A new category, called Websites, contains all existing hosted apps and legacy packaged apps". She tempts me to change Chrome channels, but I'll wait. And you?

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You might think that complex experiments involving particle accelerators would be enough to keep the people at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) occupied. But of course in between all that nuclear stuff a CERN team led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee found time to create the first ever website.

This must have been a somewhat frustrating experience back in 1993 when hardly anyone had access to a browser -- rather like Bell inventing the telephone and not having anyone he could call. Now as we reach the 20th anniversary of the landmark event that gave birth to the Web, CERN has started a project to restore that first website.

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Usually when I do a Q&A session with tech firms like IBM, The Raspberry Pi Foundation, and Vonage, I come up with the questions myself, picking topics I think will be of most interest to our readers. However, for my forthcoming interview with the Internet Explorer team I want to shake things up a bit.

So instead of compiling the list of questions myself, I’d like your help and input. If you've a burning question you'd like the IE team to answer, post it in the comments below.

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Irony can strike in the strangest of places. Just this morning I was discussing Office with my colleague Joe Wilcox, who pointed out an article he had written back in 2010 titled "Microsoft Office is obsolete, or soon will be". I argue the opposite, telling him that students and businesses are nowhere close to abandoning the Microsoft suite.

While I doubt Google is caving to my point of view, the company perhaps helps support it today. Jelte Liebrand, a Google Software Engineer, announces that "if you’re running Chrome Beta on Windows or Mac and install the Chrome Office Viewer (Beta) extension, you’ll be able to click a link to an Office file and open it directly in Chrome".

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Microsoft gets a lot of press coverage for its Scroogled campaign, but little of it positive. Fortunately, the software giant has other advertising strategies that people do like, one of the better ones being The Browser You Love to Hate for Internet Explorer 10.

As part of that campaign, Column Five, a creative agency in Newport Beach, California was tasked with coming up with an internet commercial and the result was a nostalgic romp through 1990s that hit 28 million views in just three months and earned it a Webby nomination (voting for that ends today).

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Google may be a company of many personalities -- browser and operating system developer, connected-device manufacturer, fiber-optic Internet servicer, search giant and social network, among many others. But the core business is still about one thing: Advertising, as calendar first quarter results, delivered today after the closing bell, show.

Revenue rose 31 percent to $$13.97 billion, year over year; operating income, excluding Traffic Acquisition Costs, was $3.48 billion, up from $3.39 billion. Net income climbed to 3.35 billion up from $2.89 billion. That's $9.94 earnings per share, including costs associated with discontinued operations.

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Now here's a head-scratcher for your coffee break. Today, Google released a new tool that allows businesses to make Chrome their default while launching legacy browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer) for apps that need them. Strange thing: Chrome is outdated every 12 weeks.

As a marketing ploy to move IT organizations that have applications demanding some version of IE, Google exacts brilliance. But the Legacy Browser Support add-on defies one of the major reasons many businesses prefer Internet Explorer: Stable releases for long periods.

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The glory days of Torch, a Chrome-based web browser known for its built-in Torrent capabilities, may be short-lived because similar functionality is headed your way right in the web browser you are probably using right now. Surf, the plugin announced back in January, rolls into full beta release today.

The company announces that "BitTorrent Surf started out as a little Chrome experiment: a way to make BitTorrent simpler. Basically, Surf transforms your browser into a BitTorrent client; with discovery and downloading built in". The experiment apparently went well because the browser plugin hits beta mode for not only Chrome, but also Firefox as well.

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Later this year, November 22nd to be exact, part two of The Hunger Games, titled The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, will hit the big screen. Microsoft's Internet Explorer team has partnered with Lionsgate to set up a new IE-optimized website for the sequel to the blockbuster movie with the hope of not only getting you excited about the film but also about the "browser you loved to hate".

The Hunger Games Explorer launches on the heels of the MTV Movie Awards which premiered the trailer. Microsoft's Roger Capriotti says "with the global launch of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire trailer, fans can now visit The Hunger Games Explorer to be immersed in this world, track every development of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, including tweets, exclusive images and videos, and then share their thoughts and excitement with others around the world creating a global conversation".

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