It looks like we won’t see a browser war for the iPhone just yet, with Apple refusing to let Opera Mini be released for the iPhone.
Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, Opera’s co-founder and chief executive said that “Opera’s engineers have developed a version of Opera Mini that can run on an Apple iPhone, but Apple won’t let the company release it because it competes with Apple’s own Safari browser.”
Opera Mini is currently available for free for many other phones available today.
Computerworld has posted an article comparing Firefox’s 3.1 beta to the latest Chrome beta.
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols put both of these browser through the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark test. Not surprising the results were very stunning with Firefox 3.1 beta taking it out.
Of interesting note is that Firefox 3.1 beta is almost 25 times faster when rendering JavaScript compared to Internet Explorer 7.
After the much anticipated release of Opera 9.6 a few weeks ago, Opera has released it’s first update for the 9.6 code branch.
Opera 9.61 addresses a few issues, including a problem with Opera Link which would cause duplicate enteries to appear. Several security flaws have also been fixed.
You can download the new version from the Opera website and you can see a full list of changes in the changelog.
New Google Chrome builds are showing support for Greasemonkey, albeit very basic and still in early stages of development.
Until now, Greasemonkey has been a Mozilla Firefox extension that allows users to install scripts that make on-the-fly changes to most HTML-based web pages.
Martin from gHacks writes “Only scripts in c:\scripts are loaded and only if the user adds the parameter –enable-greasemonkey by appending it to the program’s shortcut.”
Support for Greasemonkey has been added as of build 3499, which can be downloaded from the Chromium build FTP.
Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 Acid3 Results
After testing Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 on the Acid3 test, the new browser scores an impressive 89/100. This compares to other browsers as follows:
This is a great improvement and a step to being fully standards compliant. Mozilla still have some work to go to get to that magic 100 mark, but things are heading in the right direction.
Mozilla has just released Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 to the web. The new browser includes numerous improvements including:
You can download the Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 from the Firefox beta page. Currently the beta is available in over 35 languages.
I hope to put the browser through a few tests to see how it benchmarks in both Acid3 and JavaScript tests shortly. Stay tuned…
Sony has announced that the upcoming firmware version for PlayStation 3 will include support for Adobe’s Flash 9 player.
Firmware version 2.50 which should be released in the coming weeks will finally allow users to watch YouTube videos right from the consoles web browser.
This opens up a world of posibility, for things such as streaming HD movies through Flash on the PS3 will now be possible. It’s a great win for PS3 owners.
Fennec Acid3 Results
Mozilla has been working hard on it’s mobile version of Firefox dubbed Fennec. Building on top of Firefox 3’s reduced memory footprint, Mozilla is aiming to bring the desktop browsing experience to your mobile.
With the hastened development, the latest version of Fennec scores a very impressive 88/100 in the Acid3 test on Windows Mobile. In comparison Firefox 3 only scores 71/100, while Opera 9.6 scores 85/100.
Once released, Fennec is sure to set the mobile browser market on fire, giving stiff competition to already established browsers such as Opera Mobile. It’s sure to be an interesting year ahead for the mobile browser market.
Mashable has posted a great article with 25 resources on how to customise your favorite browser.
Included are resources for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Google Chrome.
You can read the full article on the Mashable website.
Happy customising!
Web surfers will now be able to find local services when they browse thanks to a new plugin from Mozilla for Firefox.
The plugin known as Geode calculates a users position based on their current and near-by networks.
Accuracy is said to be within 10-20m and it can find your location in just seconds.
Mike Shaver from Mozilla was very positive about the project, talking briefly about the applications of Geode. “People have got to eat, but there is a lot more to it than that.”
“We see location as adding an extra layer to help get people the information they need.”
The technology which is similar to AGPS currently found on the iPhone and iPod touch.
The project is only an experimental add-on for Firefox, but a full launch of geolocation technology is expected in version 3.1 of Firefox.
Users can download the Geode plugin from Mozilla Labs.