Browsersphere

Yet another minor player has hit the browsersphere, and it is called e-Capsule Private Browser.  According to Web User News:

[The browser] aims to provide you with the most secure internet experience possible.

The e-Capsule Private Browser has been developed by Enterprise Information Security Systems and Technology (EISST) and, according to the company, it keeps your information secure using encryption.

Information such as passwords are kept encrypted and hidden within the browser and not stored anywhere else on your system.

“Unlike other internet browsers, there is no data exposure to the operating system even while using the software,” said Corrado Ronchi of EISST.

The browser is intended to leave no “footprints” on your PC, by not installing temporary files or modifying the registry in any way.

Encrypted data storage and anonymity guarantee privacy and security. The encryption protection is seamless and has no impact on the computer’s performance,” Ronchi said.

However, it comes at a cost. The e-Capsule Private Browser costs £20, but there is a free trial download, which lasts for 14 days.

The browser is available to download and/or purchase at eisst.com.

I was looking through some of Browsershere’s site statistics this morning and noticed that at least some of the site’s recent visitors are using a web browser called IBrowse. Not having used or even heard of the browser before, I looked it up on Wikipedia and learned the following:

• IBrowse is a web browser for the Amiga range of computers.
• IBrowse supports HTML, and some HTML 4, JavaScript, frames, SSL, and various other standards.
• IBrowse was one of the first browsers to include tabbed browsing as early as 1999.
• IBrowse is proprietary software and is not available for purchase by new customers.

I was planning on linking to the download page for IBrowse, just because I’m so used to web browsers being free to download. I guess that doesn’t prove all that useful, though, unless you’re already grandfathered in as an IBrowse user and are simply looking to upgrade to the latest version.

Peter Butler of Download.com has posted a review of Avant Browser over at ZDNet.

Apparently, Avant Browser gets more downloads from Download.com than many of the other popular web browsers (I’m not sure if this is all that significant, though). Avant is built on top of Internet Explorer’s Trident rendering engine. It features some advanced searching functions, some gesture-like functionality that allows for navigating back-and-forth using mouse button clicks and some settings for avoiding pop-ups, flash, etc. Not much else to brag about, though, and judging by Peter Butler’s complete lack of enthusiasm while covering the browser, it’s probably not something you want to go and download right away.

If for some reason you do, though, you can get the latest version at the Avant Browser website.

It was a big week for web browsers. Let’s get caught up on the little stuff…

• Vince Liu recommends using IEs4Linux if you’re looking to install Internet Explorer on Linux.
• HTTPOnly cookie support has been added to Firefox.
• The Opera Desktop Team explains My Opera synchronization.
• Firefox 3 will resume downloads across sessions.
• The Register interviewed Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner (via Opera Watch) and CSS3 . Info interviewed Opera CTO Håkon Wium Lie — see part 1 and part 2.
• Pain and Glory from the Trenches of the IT World claims that Opera’s only real competitors at this point are Konqueror and Safari.
• A Fedora Forum user refers to Konqueror as ‘the soup nazi in terms of [code] compliance'.
• Opera Watch explains how to enable single key shortcuts in Opera.
• Hisham explains how to install an Internet Explorer warning infobar.
• az Sports Hub found an Arizona Cardinals theme for Firefox.
• Kathy Hughes explains how to avoid being prompted to login when browsing SharePoint sites in Firefox.
• NetSkinner can 'theme' almost any Palm OS web browser.
• NetSurf is an open-source web browser for RISC OS.
• Bryan Clark follows-up on his web browser home page findings.
• Web Browser CSS Support has a complete rundown on the CSS support of some of the major web browsers.

The browsersphere is a busy place, and only gets busier as I start to hone in on all the web browsers that are actually out there. Without further ado…

• Bryan Clark asks, does anyone use a homepage for their browser anymore?
• A member of the Ars Technica Forums wants to know why there’s no official browser for the Xbox 360.
• Jesse Ruderman has filed 3,000 Firefox bugs.
• The WebKit Detection Script has been updated to support the iPhone and the iPod Touch.
• Matt Brett believes that IE7 has done nothing but add more garbage to the pile.
• Kenneth van Wyk believes that Firefox is safer than Internet Explorer.
• Mashable has a list of 30+ skins for the Opera web browser.
• Software Battle calls Mouse Gestures Firefox’s killer extension.
• Mozilla Links reports that there’s a brand new Firefox start page.
• Have you tried split browsing in Firefox?

I stumbled upon a minor player tonight by the name of Wyzo. Beyond a product with a cute and clean website, Wyzo is a web browser built off of Firefox that seems to focus on BitTorrent and social sites like YouTube, Flickr and Digg.

I downloaded Wyzo to get a quick feel for it, and it became very clear that it is indeed a Firefox clone with a few added touches here and there. As someone with some skinning experience, I have to say that I am impressed with the skin they came up with. I’ve definitely seen worse. You can get a feel for what the browser looks like on first launch in the following screenshot (click it to see the full-sized version):

The bottom-line is that Wyzo doesn’t seem worth a download just yet when you can just as easily run Firefox and get the same feature set. My guess is that adding something like the AllPeers extension and the Orange-look theme would give you a similarly looking and functioning browsing experience while using the more popular of the two browsers.

If you’re interested in finding out more about Wyzo, though, check out their website or download it and play around.

I’ll let you know if I read any more about Wyzo once it matures beyond alpha quality and toward its first stable release.

Buckle up, ’cause this one should be a doozy. There’s been a lot going on in the browsersphere lately, so I’ll try and break it down by browser.

Firefox

• The Mozilla Store relaunched a couple weeks ago and now features many more goods, just in time for the back-to-school season.
• Asa Dotzler explains the difference between the old Firefox logo and the new.
• Simon Willison links to an “idiotic campaign” called Why FireFox is Blocked (that was eventually hacked).
• According to Guardian Unlimited, 75% of the people who download Firefox don’t become active users.
• Mozilla Links gives us a look at Firefox 3’s new download manager.
• Ars Technica wrote about becoming a part of the Firefox quality assurance process.
• Kubuntu 101 explains how to install Firefox 2.0.0.6 on Kubuntu 7.04.

Internet Explorer

• TechRepublic.com shares 10 keyboard shortcuts for tabbing around in Internet Explorer 7.
• The cookies-per-domain limit has been increased from 20 to 50 in IE7.

Maxthon

• You can get a Leopard Safari skin for Maxthon 2.x.
• Maxthon was discussed at the Mozilla China open house party on Saturday.

Opera

• Already, Opera 9.5 (aka Kestrel) is getting high marks in the area of performance.
• Opera is currently building up its developer relations team.

Safari

• Dave Hyatt has posted five detailed articles on WebCore rendering.

Others

• Sunrise is “a web browser for web developers.”
• 32bit Web Browser apparently “makes browsing the web fun and profitable.”
• In the Playstation Forum you can learn how to keep your son from getting into trouble with his PSP web browser.