Google has fixed 3 Chrome security holes, two which were rated as high severity, and the other as medium.

The first issue was in the V8 JavaScript engine, which could “allow specially-crafted Javascript on a web page to read unauthorized memory, bypassing security checks.”

The second issue allows poorly formed XML to crash the browser tab. “A malicious XML payload may be able to trigger a use-after-free condition. Other tabs are unaffected.”

The final bug could allow “sites whose certificates are signed using MD2 or MD4 hashing algorithms … to spoof an invalid site as a valid HTTPS site.”

Thankfully, none of these risks were rated as critical thanks to Google Chrome’s sandbox environment. The update will be pushed out to all current Chrome users.

Opera 10.0 Release Candidate is here, and according to Opera’s Desktop Team, this release “should be considered to be in a stable state code-wise, and that only selected fixes will be added if necessary.”

The release includes a bunch of bug fixes, includes a new logo, and is now around 40% faster than Opera 9.6 thanks to the new Preston rendering engine.

Downloads for Windows, Mac and Linux are available from the Opera Next website.

Opera 10 final is due on September 1st.

The Mozilla Mobile team have reached another milestone, releasing Beta 3 of the Fennec browser for Maemo based Nokia phones.

“We’ve made big improvements to kinetic panning and added the ability to scroll iframes. A lot of work has been done to make our theme more robust, taking advantage of things like media queries to support various devices, orientations, and platforms which you’ll see more of in the next Windows Mobile release. Overall, this beta is a major improvement to previous Fennec betas” said Stuart Parmenter, Mozilla’s director of mobile engineering.

Full details of all changes, plus download links can be found in the release notes.

Google Chrome 4.0.202.2 is now completely 64 bit compatible, and no longer uses any 32 bit libraries and is available for Linux.

“The v8 team did some amazing work this quarter building a working 64-bit port.  After a handful of changes on the Chromium side, I’ve had Chromium Linux building on 64-bit for the last few weeks” said Google Chrome Software Engineer Dean McNamee.

The new builds can be downloaded from here, with build instructions also being available for Linux users.

A Windows and Mac version are set to follow.

Mozilla has responded to Microsoft’s proposal for a browser ballot in Windows and they are not satisfied.

Mozilla VP and General Counsel Harvey Anderson believes that various mechanisms in the operating system that are controlled by Microsoft could create conditions that encourage users to unintentionally reset their default browser to Internet Explorer.

“Our most urgent concerns in the EC investigation related to protecting a user’s choice of a non-IE browser. The proposal largely addresses those concerns and should merit support if certain deficiencies are corrected” said Anderson.

Anderson is quick to criticise, but offers little in the way of suggestions to ease his concerns. Full details on Anderson’s concerns can be read in his blog post.

Netscape founder Marc Andreessen is backing a startup who believes they have the next best browser under their belt.

Named RockMelt, the yet to be released browser is still surrounded under a cloud of mystery, with very little being known about the actual technology.

The RockMelt website offers users a registration form, allowing the, to be informed about the browser as new information is released.

No release date has been announced, but the browser will be set to face stiff competition against the main 5 browsers already in the market.

We will keep you updated.

Opera has released a third beta of Opera 10. Other then an additional 38 languages, the following changes have been made since Beta 2.

Improvements

• Visual tabs now available on the left or right side of the browser window
• Further tab improvements with better attention state design
• Spellchecker menu item moved to Preferences > Advanced > Browsing dialog box
• Additional debug skin tooltip information: skin information of the parent element, plus what skin type is active (top, left, right, bottom or default)

Fixed

• Problem when trying to open a .pdf file
• Problem when saving a session
• Pages using webfonts which caused a problem in Windows 98®
• HTML clipboard now works with both MS Office® and OpenOffice.org®

More details on these changes and download links for Windows, Mac and Linux can be found on the Opera Next website.

Apple has released a new version of Safari, fixing several security and stability issues.

The update according to Apple includes the following changes:

• Stability improvements for webpages that use the HTML 5 video tag
• Stability improvements for 3rd-party plug-ins
• Stability improvements for Top Sites
• Fixes an issue that prevented some users from logging into iWork.com
• Fixes an issue that could cause web content to be displayed in greyscale instead of color

The update is available for both Mac and Windows and can be downloaded from the Safari website.

Microsoft is set to support Internet Explorer 6 for a while longer according to a post on the companies IEBlog, despite a renewed effort demanding it be scrapped and users forced to upgrade.

“The choice to upgrade software on a PC belongs to the person responsible for the PC” said Microsoft’s Internet Explorer boss Dean Hachamovitch.

“We’ll continue to strongly encourage Windows users to upgrade to the latest IE. We will also continue to respect their choice, because their browser is their choice. Dropping support for IE6 is not an option because we committed to supporting the IE included with Windows for the lifespan of the product. We keep our commitments.”

Hachamovitch’s comments come after Digg’s proposal to remove support for IE6, and a new ‘IE6 No More‘ campaign.

Hachamovitch also points out that the large majority of IE6 users don’t have the ability to upgrade, but are rather bound by the software their organisations allow them to use.

It appears IE6 is still here to stay – for now.

After releasing some news of Firefox 3.6 just a few days ago, Mozilla has opened its doors on Firefox 3.6 Alpha 1, codenamed Namoroka.

Firefox 3.6 is not going to include many new changes like Firefox 3.5 did, but rather is aimed at improving speed and reliability. Windows 7 support (jump lists and Aero peak) do not appear to be on their way for this release.

Mozilla Links has posted a full review of the new browser. Firefox 3.6 Beta  1 is expected some time in September, with the final version on track for November of this year.

Downloads and more information are available from the Mozilla Developer Center.