Articles about Browser

Oracle has issued an emergency fix for its cross-platform Java software. Java 7 update 11 for Windows, Mac and Linux, and Java 7 Update 11 64-bit for 64-bit versions of Windows and Linux, aims to plug a number of alarming security holes that were being used for phishing attacks and other crimeware.

While update 11 should be considered an essential update for all Java users, researchers have warned that the new build is little more than a sticking plaster for the problem, and recommend users actually disable Java from running inside web browsers.

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Google has released Chrome 24 to the stable channel for Windows, the Mac and Linux. And while there are no major additions this time around, the build still has enough to make for a worthwhile upgrade.

There’s the usual focus on performance, for instance. When the Chrome 24 beta appeared the development team claimed a 26.3-percent improvement in JavaScript performance over the last year, and the latest release includes yet more optimizations. No need to take their word for it, though: run Chrome’s Octane benchmark before and after upgrading, see for yourself.

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Mozilla has launched Firefox 18.0 FINAL, the latest stable build of its open-source, cross-platform web browser. Version 18 debuts a new, faster JavaScript engine to improve page loading times by up to 26 per cent over the previous version. Mac users will also be pleased to learn that version 18 finally includes full Retina-display support on Macs running OS X 10.7 (Lion) or later.

At the same time, Mozilla is readying the final release of Thunderbird 18, a minor update to its email messaging tool. The most notable new feature here will be support for zoom in the compose window.

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Firefox OS is coming this year and we have already seen some early previews. In order to hit the ground running these days any operating system, be it desktop or mobile, needs a healthy app ecosystem. To that end, Mozilla today announced "App Days", a series of events around the world that are designed to get developers excited and moving for this upcoming release.

In the announcement, Mozilla's Mark Coggins explains that at "each App Day event, you’ll have the opportunity to learn, hack and celebrate Firefox OS, Mozilla’s open source operating system for the mobile web. Technologists and developers from Mozilla will present tools and technology built to extend and support the Web platform, including mobile Web APIs to access device hardware features such as the accelerometer".

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Yesterday, Net Applications released usage share data for December, although the number is widely reported today as being market share. It's not. Already, several blogs pulled out Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10 stats, and their writers and story commenters draw conclusions about the operating system's early adoption. They're wrong to do so, and you'd be wise not to believe them.

NetApps culls its data from browser usage, which often isn't synonymous with operating systems. High usage of one browser can skew the data, which it does for mobile operating systems. For example, the data shows that in December, iOS mobile OS share (on phones and tablets) was 60.56 percent compared to Android's 22.1 percent. But, whoa, the numbers are similar for the Apple and Android browsers -- 60.13 percent and 24.6 percent, respectively. A quick read of NetApps mobile OS share suggests iOS is more than twice Android. That's not the case based on data from Apple, Google and analyst firms like comscore, Gartner, IDC and IHS iSuppli.

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If there's one word that best describes my personal tech use for 2012, change is definitely it. For the most part of the year I "cheated" one platform with another, with no particular personal favorite to get me through (almost) 365 days. Each piece of software and hardware is used for a particular scenario, something that I find rather soothing for my personal early adopter endeavors as well as my sanity. I just can't stand tinkering with the same bit of tech for longer periods of time, although there still is a dear old friend in my life...

My colleagues Alan Buckingham and Wayne Williams already wrote about their personal tech choices in 2012, and now it's my turn. Without further ado here is what I used most throughout the year, starting with my trusty dear old friend.

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To paraphrase Ferris Bueller, "Technology moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it". Smartphones and tablets are being updated, iterated and replaced so quickly these days. Take the iPad. Apple rolled out a new version in March, and then replaced it with a faster model in November. You’re never at the cutting edge for long, so you need to enjoy that moment while you can (not that it really matters if your tech devices are a generation or two behind, of course -- so long as they work and do what you need them to).

My colleague Alan Buckingham wrote the first of the BetaNews team’s personal tech retrospectives yesterday. Now it’s my turn.

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The year has almost passed and that makes it a great time for reflection. Of course, I have thought most about my family -- what we did in 2012 and our plans for 2013. I have thought of household repairs and projects planned for the coming year, goals I would like to attain, but I also considered what technology I used the most and the changes I made.

My colleagues and I plan personal tech retrospectives. I'm first up.

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If you’re tired of the big-name web browsers, then there are plenty of alternatives around. Most aren’t particularly inspiring, but there are a few which try to create something new, and SlimBoat (a WebKit-based tool from the people who brought you SlimBrowser) is an especially interesting example.

That’s not to say the program offers anything particularly revolutionary, of course -- there’s no major new browsing metaphor here, no new way of working (in fact it’s essentially the same tabbed interface as offered by everybody else). Instead SlimBoat tries to win you over with its sheer weight of functionality, by simply providing more features out-of-the-box than anyone else.

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It took an ancient, nearly obliterated society and a looming apocolypse, but perhaps Microsoft is finally starting to get it. The company, once the dominant force in the web browser market after wiping out Netscape, is starting to get its act back together. Between ancient forces and challenges from Firefox and Chrome, the company has started to understand human nature. We may not believe the world will end tomorrow and we may not believe Internet Explorer 10 is actually good, but we can all agree that we love irony.

To that end, the Redmond, Wash,-based company has been on a roll of sorts recently. It launched a website with the ironic name "browser you loved to hate" and even launched a video depicting an IE-hater in action. Now the new kinder, gentler Microsoft meets tomorrow's impending doom with a bit more humor.

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Opera 12.12 has been released for Windows, Mac and Linux. This Norwegian cross-platform browser and email client -- also available as Opera 12.12 64-bit for Windows 64-bit platforms, is primarily a bug-fix release, with emphasis on security and stability.

It does, however, make changes to the Delete Private Data tool, promising a redesign and new option as well as fixing a potentially critical issue.

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You visited a great web page yesterday, and read a really helpful article -- but now you can’t remember where it was. It’s easily done, but viewing your browser history should give you the information you need.

Of course, if your PC has multiple browsers installed then reviewing your (or anyone else’s) activities can be a little more challenging. Unless, that is, you run the free Internet History Browser, which collects your histories from all the main browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari) and displays them in a single, simple interface.

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Sign up for an account with a website and you’ll usually see them promising not to share your details with others. “We hate spam as much as you do”, they might claim, although none of this seems to prevent the endless torrent of junk which pours into our inboxes on a daily basis.

It could be a better idea to simply never give out your main email address in the first place, then. And MaskMe is an excellent Chrome extension that can help.

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The Google Drive team on Tuesday announced a new Chrome extension called "Save to Drive," which ties browser activity directly into the user's Google Drive cloud storage account and eliminates the need for third-party extensions to provide the functionality.

Prior to today's release, an extension from the prestigious MIT going by the name "save to drive" was available. Now, Google has borrowed the name and made it available in the Chrome Web Store. The search giant takes the concept a lot further though.

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It's tough to make an impact in the Windows browser market. And no-one knows that better than Maxthon; after almost ten years, the program is still struggling to reach one percent market share.

The developers are nothing if not persistent, though, and Maxthon’s latest incarnation, now renamed Maxthon Cloud Browser, has just been released. Will this deliver the long-awaited breakthrough? We’re not sure, but it’s definitely an interesting attempt.

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