gHacks technology news » safari

PBTweet Enhances Twitter Experience

Martin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:26:19 +0000

PBTweet is a bookmarklet and userscript that enhances several aspects of Twitter by changing or adding new functions to the popular social network. Before we start looking at the features a word about compatibility. The bookmarklet works with most Webkit based web browsers including Safari and Google Chrome. The userscripts are compatible with Greasemonkey for Firefox but also with Greasekit for Safari and Chrome userkit.

The features that are added are manifold for a userscript / bookmarklet. PBtweet will display conversations in chain balloons which makes it much easier to follow them on Twitter. It will also remove redundant tweets automatically, add more messages automatically once the end of the page has been reached, insert new messages automatically at the top, expand shortened urls, offer picture previews and indicators and provide access to actions like translating and replying to messages.

The developers have created a demonstration video that is showcasing the functionality of PBTweet which is embedded below. It gives a great visual overview of the features offered by the bookmarklet / userscript.

Interested users find installation instructions and downloads at the developer’s website.

Tags: bookmarklet, firefox, google chrome, greasemonkey, pbtweet, safari, twitter, userscript

Web Browser Have Impact On Battery Life

Martin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:52:49 +0000

A recent Anandtech study suggests that the web browser has an impact on a mobile PCs battery usage. The test, which analyzed battery performance under various popular web browsers and three websites, can probably not be seen as representative but it could indicate which web browser uses less battery power to operate. A test with more websites would certainly help to get a global result. Still, test results were somewhat surprisingly as the difference between the best and worst performing web browser were greater than two hours.

The web browsers of the test were: Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.5.2 with and without adblock add-on, Google Chrome 2, Opera 9.64, 10.0b3 and Safari 4. Three laptops were used in the test. Two entry level Gateway laptops with AMD and Intel cpus and the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA netbook.

Gateway NV52

Gateway NV58

Asus EEE PC 1005HA

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 is the web browser that drains the least amount of battery on the two entry level laptops. Most other web browsers with the exception of Safari come close to that results, especially Firefox with the adblock add-on. The benefit of the adblock add-on suggests that web advertisement does have an impact on battery usage. Safari 4 is the only web browser in the test that performed worst in all three tests.

Google Chrome 2 was first in the netbook test with all other web browsers close by except for Safari which completely drained the battery of the netbook more than two hours earlier than the other web browsers.

Even if the test needs to be replicated with a larger website sample size it seems to indicate that laptop users are better off without the Safari web browser. Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla Firefox with adblock and Google Chrome were the best performing web browsers in the test.

Tags: battery, battery drain, firefox, google chrome, internet-explorer, laptop, netbook, opera, safari, web browser

Sync Google Chrome Bookmarks With Xmarks

Martin — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 09:09:17 +0000

The Google Chrome developers have only recently begun to offer bookmark syncing between different installations of the Google Chrome web browser. This option to sync the bookmarks uses Google Docs to store the bookmarks and requires therefor a Google account. The main limitation is however that it only syncs between Google browser installations. That’s a problem if Internet users use (or have to use) different web browsers as well.

Xmarks, a company that is offering plugins to sync bookmarks between installations of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Safari, have now announced that a limited beta release for the Google browser is available on their website. Limited beta in this case means that users with an Xmarks account can join the waiting list of the Google Chrome Xmarks beta plugin. They will be notified once they are able to download the plugin for the Google Chrome web browser.

The developers mention scaling and stability reasons for limiting the beta downloads in this stage. Google Chrome users who are interested in the plugin should sign up for the alpha on the Xmarks website. They also need to ensure that they are running a development build of the Google browser with extensions enabled. Several features of the bookmark syncing plugin are currently not included in the Google Chrome version of the plugin including missing support for custom bookmark servers, syncing profiles and the discovery feature.

Xmarks for Chrome is the first Google Chrome plugin that syncs bookmarks between different web browsers.

Tags: bookmarks, browser plugin, firefox, google browser, google chrome, internet-explorer, safari, sync bookmarks, web browser plugin, xmarks

Another Report Finds Internet Explorer 8 To Be The Most Secure Web Browser

Martin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:59:23 +0000

A web browsing security test that pitted Internet Explorer 8 against Firefox 3, Opera 10, Safari 4 and Google Chrome 4 came to the conclusion that Internet Explorer 8 is the most secure web browser, at least in the area that were tested by security research company NSS Labs. The report, which is available at the company’s website for download was sponsored by Microsoft’s online security engineering team and later send to marketing after the results have been published.

The test analyzed the web browser’s phishing protection. Both Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3 (that is Firefox 3.0.11 and not Firefox 3.5) managed to score an average block rate of 83% and 80% during the 14 days of testing. Opera 10 managed to block 54%, Google Chrome 26% and Safari a whopping 2%.

The average phishing URL catch rate for browsers over the entire 14 day test period ranged from 2% for Safari 4 to 83% for Windows Internet Explorer 8. Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3 were the most consistent in the high level of protection they offered. Statistically, Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3 had a two-way tie for first, given the margin of error of 3.96%. Opera 10 beta came in third due to inconsistent protection during the test. Chrome 2 was consistent, albeit at a much lower rate of protection, and Safari offered minimal overall protection.

The test analyzed the average response time to phishing attacks. Internet Explorer 8 finished first with an average response time of about 5 hours closely followed by Firefox and Google Chrome. It took Opera about double the time and Safari more than 10 times to protect against emerging phishing attacks.

Many users will criticize the test because it has been sponsored by Microsoft. This alone should not be reason to dismiss the findings as inaccurate. There have however been accusations of manipulated reports by NSS Labs in the past which are for example mentioned in a blog post at the Opera website. Some of the points of criticism like mixing beta and final versions or limiting test urls to a very low number are also valid points in the new report.

Even critics have to admit on the other hand that Microsoft has made progress with Internet Explorer 8. The web browser might still not be as fast as the others but it is definitely a solid web browser which could be the most secure web browser when it comes to protecting users from phishing attacks. It has to be noted that the test is only considering the automated protection.

Tags: firefox, google chrome, internet explorer 8, internet-explorer, opera, phishing, phishing protection, safari

New Microsoft Proposal About Windows 7E

Martin — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:15:15 +0000

Windows 7E is the version of the Windows 7 operating system that will be sold – as of now – in all countries of the European Union. It is basically a version of the Windows 7 operating system without Internet Explorer. This has caused quite some concern by users in the European Union as they face several problems that users of regular Windows 7 editions do not face including the impossibility to perform an upgrade of Windows Vista to Windows 7 or the problem that arises from not having an Internet browser.

Microsoft’s new proposal could ultimately remove Windows 7E from the operating system landscape. They suggest to provide a ballot screen after installation giving users the choice to install a web browser of their choice from a selection of possible alternatives including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Safari.

A mockup screen was posted that visualizes how the ballot screen could look like (please note that the browserballot.eu website is currently not working)

Additional blank spots are reserved on the right side of the screen that could be filled with additional web browsers if requested or needed. It should be noted that this new proposal would mean that Internet Explorer would be installed as the default web browser during installation of the operating system and that the ballot screen would be displayed afterwards to give the user the option to install another web browser and make it the default browser on the computer system.

Microsoft’s proposal is available at the Microsoft Presspass website.

Tags: browser ballot, browserballot.eu, european union, firefox, google chrome, microsoft, opera, safari, windows 7 europe, windows 7e

Web Browser Backup And Restore

Martin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:58:26 +0000

The importance of web browsers has risen in the past years especially with the shift from desktop applications to web based applications. Web browsers are not just tools anymore that can display websites on a computer system, they can be used for a wide variety of services which makes it important to be prepared for disasters that can struck at anytime.

FavBackup is a web browser backup and restore application for the Windows operating system that supports the five popular web browsers Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari and Google Chrome. Users can use FavBackup to backup and restore web browser settings and files.

FavBackup displays a list of options and web browsers in its interface upon startup. It should be noted that the software program is fully portable and does not require an installation. The options include creating a backup of the selected default web browser installation, of all selected web browser installations and to restore these settings again. Only one web browser can be backed up or restored at a time. It is for example possible to backup all different versions of Firefox or Google Chrome using the safe backup option. Backing up Firefox and Internet Explorer on the other hand would require two backup runs.

The difference between the backup and safe backup option is that the former only backs up the default web browser installation while the second will backup all installations of the selected web browser. FavBackup will display a list of settings and files that can be backed up after making the selection. This includes backing up bookmarks, cookies, plugins, extensions, preferences and history among other things.

One interesting aspect of the program is that it is possible to restore less data. It is for example possible to only restore bookmarks or cookies although a full browser backup has been created during the backup phase.

There are a few things that should be improved by the developer though. The first would be to provide an option to backup multiple web browsers at once. This is more comfortable than having to start the backup software multiple times to backup all installed browsers. An option to backup portable versions of the web browsers would also come in handy. Finally support for Opera 10 has to be added so that it can be backed up as well.

FavBrowser is a free portable software program for the Windows operating system that can be used to backup and restore web browsers easily.

Tags: backup, browser backup, firefox, google chrome, internet-explorer, opera, portable software, restore, restore browser, safari, web browser, windows software

Web Browser Memory Usage Benchmark Gets It All Wrong

Martin — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:06:21 +0000

Web browser memory usage might not be that much of an issue in these days with Gigabytes of computer memory being build into modern computer systems. There is however the low end market that is fueled by the success of netbooks and other low end hardware. A memory usage test of popular web browser might therefor not affect all computer users but it could be interesting for those that run low end hardware or want to make sure they to use an efficient web browser.

A web browser memory usage comparison was recently posted a the Dot Net Pearls website that compared the memory usage of the Google browser Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera 10 and Safari. The web browsers were configured to open 30 tabs over the command line which where then closed manually by the author except for one. A script running in the background recorded the memory usage of all processes during that time which were then used in the comparison.

The results of the web browser memory usage benchmark were then divided into three chars displaying the maximum, average and final memory used by each of the tested web browsers. The Mozilla Firefox web browser used the lowest amount of computer memory of all tested web browsers while the Google Chrome browser showed very high maximum and average memory usage.

And here is where the tester got it wrong. To compute the memory usage all processes where taken into consideration which effectively meant double-counting the shared memory for each process. As the Chromium blog points out:

If you’re measuring memory in a multi-process application like Google Chrome, don’t forget to take into account shared memory. If you add the size of each process via the Windows XP task manager, you’ll be double counting the shared memory for each process. If there are a large number of processes, double-counting can account for 30-40% extra memory size.

To make it easy to summarize multi-process memory usage, Google Chrome provides the “about:memory” page which includes a detailed breakdown of Google Chrome’s memory usage and also provides basic comparisons to other browsers that are running.

Google Chrome’s result would still be higher than that of Firefox even after the adjustments but this is one of the trade-offs of a multi-process browser (which Google Chrome is). You would get the same result with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 if the tester would have tested that web browser as well. This was apparently not possible due to technical difficulties.

Another aspect that needs to be mentioned is the test result of the Opera web browser. Opera is using an automatic setting called Automatic RAM Cache that is enabled by default. This allocated about 10% of the computer memory by default and should be disabled in memory benchmarks. Opera would most likely still have been beaten by Firefox but the gap would probably have been lower.

Tags: firefox, google browser, google chrome, internet-explorer, memory usage, opera, safari, web browser

Internet Privacy: Start Panic Tells You Where You Have Been

Martin — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:33:14 +0000

Internet privacy (also know as online privacy or web privacy) has become a hot topic in the last years as companies, organizations and people with malicious intent try to gather as many data as possible about Internet users. Many users install security software on their computer system and as add-ons in their web browsers directly to protect their systems against various attacks including those privacy breaches.

Start Panic tries to raise public awareness for Internet privacy issues on their website. They have implemented a script that will gather information about previously used websites from the user’s web browser. Two aspects make this interesting. The first is that it is a cross-browser solution. It works in all major web browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome and Safari. The second aspect is that it will display results even if the user clears his web browser’s history, cookies and cache regularly. The current browsing session is recorded normally in all web browsers which usually have options to automatically clear these traces on exit only.

The process is started by the user who has to press the Let’s Start button. It can take a minute or two before the results are displayed. The list should contain the list of websites that have been visited in this browsing session. It might contain more websites if the user is not deleting the history regularly.

Little is revealed about how the script does its magic but it seems to rely on JavaScript. Anyone with JavaScript disabled in the web browser does not have to fear this privacy issue.

Tags: firefox, google chrome, internet privacy, internet-explorer, opera, safari, web browsers

Xenocode Web Browser Sandbox

Martin — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 08:50:48 +0000

Want to see what other web browsers have to offer but have no interest in installing any of them on your computer system? You could hunt down the portable versions of those web browsers that you want to try out if they exist; Or, you could use the virtual browsers at Xenocode which allow you to run selected web browsers such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera or Google Chrome in a sandboxed environment on the local PC.

How does it work? Without going into much detail a virtualization technique is used that emulates OS subsystems that allow virtualized applications to be run. These applications are run in sandboxes to avoid conflicts to the host system and other applications.

The virtualization technique is not limited to web browsers but can practically run any applications like video players, file sharing tools or Twitter clients. The available applications and web browsers can be started from virtually any modern web browser including Internet Explorer, Firefox or Opera. Firefox users will need to install a Firefox add-on that is provided on site before they can launch any applications.

A click on any web browser listed on the Xenocode website will launch the sandboxing process. This will start a Xenocode executable on the host system and the desired web browser. The core application uses about 25 Megabytes of computer memory and the applications launched in the sandbox use about 25-30 additional Megabytes.

It is a bit strange though that the core process will remain in memory even after closing down the sandboxed web browser. There is no obvious way to close the Xenocode application itself other than killing it in Windows Explorer. A fast computer system is definitely beneficial when running the sandboxed web browsers.

Xenocode provides an interesting way of test driving web browsers. The service could use some additional documentation and a close option for the core program though.

Tags: firefox, google chrome, internet-explorer, opera, safari, sandbox, test browser, web browser, web browser sandbox, windows software, xenocode

Web Browser Popularity

Martin — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 09:04:06 +0000

If you take a look at the five most popular web browsers you will notice huge differences in popularity among them. The web browsers in question are Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari and Google Chrome. Firefox was – and is still – the only web browser that was able to take away a huge chunk of the web browser market from Microsoft. Opera, Safari and Google Chrome remain niche browsers that never reached the popularity of Firefox until now.

The question to ask is therefor the following: Why is the Mozilla Firefox web browser more popular than the other three Internet Explorer contenders? Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is in a unique position as it is distributed automatically with the Windows operating system ensuring a large chunk of the web browser market share for Microsoft automatically.

A look at a comparison of all five web browsers at Google Trends and their search and news volume over the last five years reveals some interesting information. Firefox started to become the most searched after web browser in 2004 and was able to keep the lead until today. The other web browsers spiked at specific times, e.g. during the release of Google Chrome, but failed to take advantage of those spikes.

Mozilla Firefox (light blue line) definitely gets more press coverage than the other web browsers which might be one of the reasons for its popularity. If you open a computer magazine you will most likely find Firefox articles but rarely anything about Opera, Chrome or Safari.

Speed or compatibility are most likely not a deciding factor for the popularity as all web browsers are speedy and stable enough to provide a good user experience. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is still lagging behind speed wise but the latest Internet Explorer 8 made a huge jump in this regards and is closing in on the other web browsers.

The main reason for Firefox’s success is its extensibility. Firefox add-ons are increasing the possibilities of the web browser enormously and they also ensure that any new popular feature that might be introduced by another web browser company will be offered to the Firefox community as well. The main advantage of this approach is speed. When Opera introduced Speed Dial it took only a short time before the first Firefox add-ons appeared that mimicked that feature.

Ten years ago it would have taken months or even years as those features would be implemented by the developers of the web browser directly. The add-ons ensure that Firefox stays on top or close to the top in all regards. This is something that no other web browser is offering currently. Microsoft tried with the Internet Explorer Marketplace but it never gained the popularity that it needed to take off. Opera tried with their Widgets. Widgets are small extra windows that provide many of the features that add-ons do. The main problem for many users is that the widgets cannot be integrated into the web browser’s interface. Both Safari and Chrome do not offer something similar yet. The extensibility is obviously not the only reason for the success but it makes a huge difference.

Now it’s time to chime in and let me hear your opinion. What do you think about web browser popularity?

Tags: browser, browser popularity, firefox, google chrome, internet-explorer, opera, safari, web browser

Private Browsing Not So Private After All

Martin — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:27:04 +0000

The last year or so has been filled with announcements about private browsing. Each web browser developer implemented or announced plans to add private browsing to their web browser. Private browsing usually means to offer a sandboxed browsing session in computer memory with no information written and stored on the computer’s hard drive. Privacy is one of the biggest buzz words around and will continue to grow in popularity in 2009. The public understanding of private browsing might differ from what private browsing actually does. It definitely does not add privacy to anything that is happening remotely on the Internet. The only gain of private browsing is an increase of privacy in the local environment.

This may however be not the only problem associated with private browsing. A recent paper by security researcher Kate McKinley confirms deficiencies in all web browsers and especially in Apple’s Safari. Not only normal cookie and data handling was tested but also plugin related handling of Flash and Google Gears data. The surprising result was that no browser passed all private browsing tests.

In fact, all of the existing private browsing modes have some form of data which is not cleared when users enter or leave private browsing modes. Although Chrome cleared the only tested type of data it stored, it was surprising to find that Gears data was not cleared, since Gears is included in the browser. However, this behavior is consistent across all browsers tested, as we will see later.

Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 clears cookies and session storage properly, but the persistent storage (window.globalStorage) is preserved between a normal and private browsing session.With IE 8 (Beta 2), both cookies and session storage were cleared properly, however the IE user Data stores were not cleared between the normal and private browsing sessions.

Safari on Windows fared the worst of all in these tests with respect to private browsing, and did not clear any data at all, either before entering or after exiting the private mode. On OSX, Safari’s behavior was quirky; in no case was the HTML 5 database storage cleared before or after private browsing. Previously set cookies seem to continue to be available if the user entered a private browsing session, but if the user started the browser and went directly into private browsing, it seemed to behave as expected.

All browsers have troubles with Flash Cookies and their private browsing modes. This is largely due to the way Flash Cookies are created and stored (without user interaction and means to display warnings). So what’s the conclusion in this matter? Users who like to use the private browsing mode should not use Apple’s Safari in its current stage. They should also make sure to either disable Flash and other third party plugins or use settings that prevent them from acting automatically (for example by using NoScript in Firefox).

Check out the Flash Cookies Explained article if you want to read up on Flash Cookies and find out where they are stored and how they can be deleted from a computer system.

Tags: flash, flash cookies, google chrome, internet privacy, internet-explorer, mozilla-firefox, privacy, private browsing, safari, web browser

Web Browser Benchmark Comparison

Martin — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 14:35:13 +0000

Several new web browser versions have been released in the last days which made it important to benchmark the latest official versions and the latest development versions of Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer and Opera to see how the browsers compare to each other. All browsers were installed on a Windows XP Service Pack 3 test system.

The browsers were tested running the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark, Kane’s Web Browser Javascript Benchmark and the Acid 3 test. Feel free to run the tests with your web browsers but note that results will vary as the computer’s hardware influences the test on different systems.

The only way to compare results is by running the tests on the same computer system using the same environment. The first two tests are testing the JavaScript engine of the web browser while the Acid3 test is a web standards test.

SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark (Less is better, time in ms)

Kane’s Web Browser Javascript Benchmark (Less is better, time in ms)

Acid 3 Test (more is better, max is 100)

All values:

Google Chrome managed to beat the competition in both Javascript tests. Opera 10 Alpha on the other hand was the only browser that scored a perfect score in the Acid 3 web standards test.

Internet Explorer 7 was last in all three tests. Microsoft has made advancements in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 but is still way behind in comparison to the other web browsers.

Tags: acid3, browser performance, browser speed, firefox, google chrome, internet-explorer, opera, safari, web browser

Test Your Browser’s JavaScript Performance

Martin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:53:11 +0000

Cnet ran some tests on the JavaScript performance of selected browsers like the latest Firefox version, Firefox beta and Google Chrome builds. JavaScript performance was in the news since Google and the Mozilla Firefox development team announced improvements in JavaScript performance.

Cnet used the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark to test browser performance of the browsers. There are other factors that have an impact on JavaScript performance like the processing power of the computer system.

The results were that the latest Firefox 3.1 beta with the new JavaScript engine TraceMonkey was the fastest with a score of 2,257, followed by Chrome with 2,904, Firefox 3 beta 1 without TraceMonkey with 4,233, Safari 3.1.2 with 6,351 and Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 at the end with a score of 9,025.

Cnet failed to test any version of Opera and should probably have tested the latest nightly test of Safari instead. Here are the results that a Windows XP service pack 3 with a Intel 8400 Wolfdale processor and 4 Gigabytes of computer memory.

Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 without TraceMonkey- 1800
Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 with Tracemonkey 1817
Firefox 3.03 – 2139
Opera 9.6 – 2736

It’s a bit surprising that Firefox without TraceMonkey was faster than Firefox with it enabled. It could be due to the fact that the portable version of Firefox has been used to run the tests. But the interesting question is, how does your browser compare? You need to run at least two browsers to be able to tell how it compares to the other browser.

Keep in mind that JavaScript performance is not everything and that page loading time is dependent on additional factors.

Tags: firefox, google chrome, internet-explorer, javascript, JavaScript performance, performance, safari, sunspider test

Safari on Windows is not really memory efficient

Martin — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:28:30 +0000

That’s at least what Sam Allen discovered who used a software that he programmed to record memory usage of processes in Windows. He tested Safari 3.1 along with Firefox 3, Opera 9.5, Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 and Flock and discovered a huge gap between Safari and the other four browsers.

His application recorded the memory usage of the browser every three seconds over a period of three hours each and the graphs show clearly that there does not seem to be an end to Safari’s memory hunger. In the end Safari was using more than 630 Megabytes of RAM compared to 111 Megabytes for Firefox 3, 191 Megabytes for Flock, 190 Megabytes for Opera and 194 Megabytes for Internet Explorer 8.

The conclusion of the author is that “Safari on Windows shows extremely poor memory management [..] certainly a design that looks inefficient and seems to contradict Apple’s marketing”.

Firefox 3 on the other hand seems to have memory efficiency written all over its face.

Tags: firefox, flock, internet-explorer, memory, memory consumption, opera, safari

Are you running the latest browser version?

Martin — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:00:22 +0000

In a recently released research paper Stefan Frei, Thomas Dübendorfer, Gunter Ollmann and Martin May analyzed Google Search Engine logs between January 2007 and June 2008 to understand the web browser threat. The research paper brought up some interesting figures including worldwide browser usage, number of users with the latest version of the browser and the share of the most secure browser version.

According to their research Internet Explorer is leading the field with a market share of 78.3% followed by Firefox with 16.1%, Safari with 3.4% and Opera with 0.8%. This means in daily numbers 1108 million Internet Explorer, 227 million Firefox, 48 million Safari and 11 million Opera browsers.

If you analyze that data to find out how many of the users are using the latest version of the browser the picture changes drastically and provides another explanation why Internet Explorer is still the number one target for malicious software.

Only 52.5% of all Internet Explorer users are running the latest browser version compared to 92.2% of all Firefox users, 90.1% of the Opera users and 70.2% of the Safari users. The numbers are assuming that the latest version of the browser is the most secure one.

This leads to my initial question. Are you running the latest browser version of the browser that you are using ?

Tags: firefox, internet-explorer, opera, safari, vulnerability, web threat

Piclens adds Youtube support

Martin — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:54:39 +0000

I got an email yesterday from the Cooliris Team who have published a new version of Piclens, a browser extension that is available for Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari. The new version added several interesting new features, among them support for Firefox 3 and Youtube 3D browsing support. The Youtube addition is probably the biggest new function in this release.

I had some troubles locating it first but once you know where to look and what to do it turns out to be extremely well done. The easiest way to access this new feature is by opening Piclens by clicking on the Launch Piclens button in the browser toolbar. This opens up Piclens in full screen mode with an option to search seven of the supported websites including Youtube.

Once you have entered a first search term and picked Youtube from the list you will be presented with a 3D image wall of Youtube videos. The usual Piclens controls apply, you can move around with the mouse and a click loads the video in an instant.

The videos usually take a second or two to start playing but this is probably the coolest and best way to enjoy Youtube. It’s definitely easier than browsing on the Youtube website. If you can live without comments and ratings then Piclens is the right choice for Youtube addicts.

One side effect that I noticed though is that Piclens seemed to have removed the urls from the location bar. Not only from one tab but from all tabs and that it is not possible to load URLs by copying and pasting them in the location bar. Could be that another Firefox extension is interfering but I only have a few installed right now. The most likely candidate would be Tiny Menu.

Tags: Cool, firefox, firefox-extension, flickr, internet-explorer, piclens, safari, video browser, youtube

Opera and Webkit pass Acid3 test. Does anyone care ?

Martin — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:22:00 +0000

Big news all around the Internet that a nightly build of Webkit and an internal build of Opera have passed the Acid 3 test. Users who favor one of the browsers now fight over the right to state that their browser passed it before the other which is in my opinion completely irrelevant.

Who cares which browser was able to pass the test as the first browser ever ? Who actually knows what the Acid 3 test does and what it means if a browser passes it ? Passing that test does not mean that the browser is able to display all websites correctly. Far from that. All that it means is that the browser is able to pass this test, nothing more, nothing less.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice that the browser developers are making an effort to pass the test but guys, it’s just a test. The developers have a right to be proud of it but the users ? If you want to test your browser just visit the official Acid 3 website.

Tags: acid 2, acid 3, browser, firefox, internet-explorer, opera, safari, webkit

Apple bundles Safari with iTunes Update

Martin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:12:19 +0000

I just read the story over at Cybernet News and thought it was worth commenting about. Apple apparently found a way to shove the Safari browser down the throats of Windows users by bundling it with iTunes update. They report a new version of Safari when a user searches in iTunes for updates. This happens even if Safari has never been installed on the system before.

The update menu states that the user should select the items that he wants to update and Safari is in that list. Many would call it gray-hat or even black-hat tactics to artificially pump up the installed user base of a product this way. Most of the inexperienced users won’t probably even realize what the are installing and assume that Safari is a part of the iTunes suite.

Apple already received some fire from the Mozilla CEO which is in my opinion justified. One should also consider that only a fraction of the users who actually download the Safari browser using the iTunes update will use it actively. If they do not know what it does why should they use it ?

Apple should definitely stop calling it an update and stop providing it in the Apple Software Updater if no previous version of Safari had been installed on the computer. It’s plain wrong in my opinion and lets to much confusion.

Tags: apple, apple safari, iPod, itunes, itunes update, safari

Browser Security Test

Martin — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:26:37 +0000

Is my browser secure ? That’s a question that I hear and read day in day out from users throughout the country. It seems that new security vulnerabilities are discovered each day which adds to this uncertainty. They could be vulnerable even if they use the latest version of Opera, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari because those browsers tend to get updated less often than vulnerabilities are discovered.

That’s where browser security test comes into play. The test may crash the browser that you are using and I suggest to close and save all important tabs before you continue. The user has the choice of running tests that are browser specific, e.g. only Firefox tests if Firefox is being used, to run all tests or select tests from a list of available tests.

The check is performing a maximum of 14 tests which are listed on a separate page linking to detailed information about each vulnerability. The actual tests are performed in a new window and results are shown at the end of all tests.

If your browser should crash during the test you can use the restore session function of most modern browsers to continue the test. It is alternatively possible to visit the website of the Browser Security Test again to continue with the test.

Tags: browser security, browser test, firefox, internet-explorer, opera, safari

gHacks technology news » safari

PBTweet Enhances Twitter Experience

Related posts

Web Browser Have Impact On Battery Life

Related posts

Sync Google Chrome Bookmarks With Xmarks

Related posts

Another Report Finds Internet Explorer 8 To Be The Most Secure Web Browser

Related posts

New Microsoft Proposal About Windows 7E

Related posts

Web Browser Backup And Restore

Related posts

Web Browser Memory Usage Benchmark Gets It All Wrong

Related posts

Internet Privacy: Start Panic Tells You Where You Have Been

Related posts

Xenocode Web Browser Sandbox

Related posts

Web Browser Popularity

Related posts

Private Browsing Not So Private After All

Related posts

Web Browser Benchmark Comparison

Related posts

Test Your Browser’s JavaScript Performance

Related posts

Safari on Windows is not really memory efficient

Related posts

Are you running the latest browser version?

Related posts

Piclens adds Youtube support

Related posts

Opera and Webkit pass Acid3 test. Does anyone care ?

Related posts

Apple bundles Safari with iTunes Update

Related posts

Browser Security Test

Related posts