21 Nov 08 IE8 Delayed to Q1 2009
Microsoft has confirmed that IE8 will now be delayed to 2009. On the IEBlog, Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager of Internet Explorer has stated that Microsoft “will release one more public update of IE8 in the first quarter of 2009, and then follow that up with the final release”.
The reason for the delay according to Hachamovitch is so the IE team can “make any changes they feel are necessary for the best possible customer experience using IE8, and report any critical issues. Our plan is to deliver the final product after listening for feedback about critical issues”.
Despite the delay, this should be good news for users of IE, as the current beta 2 is still quite buggy. The extra time should let Microsoft fix all outstanding issues to deliver a stable and complete product.
Tags: IE8, Internet Explorer
21 Nov 08 Mozilla Revenue at $75 million for 2007
Mozilla Foundation chairperson Mitchell Baker has revealed that revenue for Mozilla in 2007 was at USD $75 million. This is a 12% increase on last year which Baker believes is impressive, despite the world economic slowdown.
Most of Mozilla’s revenue comes from a search agreement with Google, but there other sources of income such as the Mozilla Store.
The relationship between Mozilla and Google is now under the microscope by the IRS (the “Internal Revenue Service,” the US national tax agency). Baker isn’t sure how long the investigation will last, but is confident that Mozilla hasn’t committed any wrong doings.
Mozilla also handed over $1 million in grants and donations to other non-profit organisations in 2007. GNOME project, Creative Commons, Oregon State University are just a few of the organisations to receive grants or donations in 2007.
The future sure is looking bright for Mozilla and Firefox. You can read Baker’s post in full for more details.
Tags: Creative Commons, Firefox, GNOME, Mozilla
21 Nov 08 One Billion Firefox Add-on Downloads
Mozilla, makers of the popular Firefox web browser, have passed a huge milestone, with over 1 billion add-ons downloaded.
This number is much likely larger, as Mozilla only started tracking downloads in 2005, with add-ons also available from other websites.
Justin Scott from Mozilla says there are about “1.5 million add-on downloads per day and increasing”.
Add-ons are currently available for a large range of Mozilla products including Firefox, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, Sunbird, Komodo, Flock, and Songbird.
Have you fashioned your Firefox?
Tags: Add-ons, Firefox, Flock, Komodo, Mozilla, SeaMonkey, Songbird, Sunbird, Thunderbird, Tweaks
19 Nov 08 Turn off new Ctrl+Tab behaviour in Firefox 3.1
I’m sure some of you may be frustrated by Firefox 3.1’s new tab behaviour when pressing Ctrl + Tab. No longer does it just browse through the tabs, but instead it switches to the most recently viewed tab (much like Windows Alt + Tab.
Thankfully, you can turn the new Ctrl + Tab behaviour off, and return it old skool. Simply follow the steps below:
- Go to about:config in the URL bar
- Set browser.ctrlTab.mostRecentlyUsed to false
- Set browser.ctrlTab.recentlyUsedLimit to 0
- Restart Firefox
All done! Enjoy the old Ctrl + Tab behaviour.
Tags: Firefox, Firefox 3.1, Tweaks
18 Nov 08 Safari 3.2 Released
Over the weekend Apple has pushed out the latest version of it’s web browser Safari. Now at version 3.2 the latest version fixes security flaws and increases protection against known phishing sites.
A full list of security updates can be found via the Apple support website.
The update should automatically be pushed out to current Safari users via Apple’s software update tool, or it can be downloaded for individual systems using the links below:
Download Safari 3.2 for Leopard
Download Safari 3.2 for Tiger
Download Safari 3.2 for Windows
Tags: Safari, Safari 3.2, Security Patches
14 Nov 08 Firefox 3.0.4 and Firefox 2.0.0.18 Released
Mozilla have just released updates for both Firefox 2 and 3. These new versions fix both security and stability issues.
You can view the full list of changes in both the Firefox 3.0.4 and Firefox 2.0.0.18 changelogs.
Existing users should be updated automatically in the next few days, but if not you can use the download links below:
Download Firefox 3.0.4
Download Firefox 2.0.0.18
Tags: Firefox, Firefox 2.0.0.18, Firefox 3.0.4, Security Patches
12 Nov 08 Increasing the Number of Simultaneous Downloads in Internet Explorer
Those of you still using Internet Explorer may notice that you can only download a maximum of two files at once. With a quick registry fix you can increase this number up to 10. The steps you need to follow are found below:
- Click Start->Run
- Type ‘regedit‘ without the quotes and hit Run.
- Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersions\Internet Settings
- Click Edit->New->DWORD Value
- Call it MaxConnectionsPerServer
- Right click on the new value and select Modify
- Change Base to Decimal
- Change the Value data to 10 and click OK
- Click Edit->New->DWORD Value
- Call it MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server
- Right click on the new value and select Modify
- Change Base to Decimal
- Change the Value data to 10 and click OK
- Click File->Exit
You should now be able to download up to 10 files at once. Much better for today’s broadband connection. This trick works for all versions of Internet Explorer from version 4 onwards. Happy downloading!
Tags: Increase Download Speed, Internet Explorer, Tweaks
10 Nov 08 Internet Explorer exploring Open Source
Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, has considered moving Internet Explorer’s core over to the open source WebKit rendering engine.
It appers the move is being considered as a way to stem the bleeding of users to other web browsers, who are looking for more complete and compliant web browsers.
Market Share by Net Applications shows that for October, IE’s market share has dropped to 71%.
With IE8 set for release in early 2009, changes of this magnitude would likely not be seen for another 2 years, in what could possible be IE9.
This move, if true, would be fantastic news for users and web developers everywhere.
Tags: Browser Share, Internet Explorer, WebKit
07 Nov 08 Private Browsing Mode for Firefox 3.1
Private browsing mode has been included in the latest nightly release for Firefox 3.1 beta. This is a feature which didn’t quite make it into Firefox 3.
Private browsing allows you to browse the web “anonymously”. No cookies, cache, history, temporary files, or saved passwords will be stored while in private mode.
To turn on private browsing, go to Tools –> Private Browsing. You can download the latest nightly Firefox 3.1 beta build here.
Tags: Firefox, Firefox 3.1 Beta 1, Private Browsing
05 Nov 08 Native video support in Firefox and Opera
Next generation releases of both Firefox and Opera will incorporate the royalty free Theora video codec.
The lossy video compression technology uses only has a small CPU footprint and will allow videos to be viewed in the browser without the use of a Flash player, or any other additional codecs installed.
Wikipedia however has been using the Theora codec for video for a while now. Kat Walsh, a Wikimedia Foundation board member believes “open media formats are critical for ensuring a future where everyone can create and share media freely”.
This is fantastic news for users. If Safari and Microsoft get on board, the future will be looking quite bright.
