Browsersphere

Google has unleashed extensions and their bookmark sync feature on stable builds of Google Chrome today.  If you’ll remember, the bookmark sync feature was enabled in Windows beta builds back in November, and support for extensions was announced for both Windows and Linux beta builds last month.  It looks like users of stable Chrome builds on Linux and Mac may need to wait a bit, still, however:

To those using Google Chrome on Linux, extensions are enabled on the beta channel. And for those using Google Chrome for Mac, hang tight — we’re working on bringing extensions, bookmark sync and more to the beta soon.

If you’re on Windows, you can either wait to be updated to the new build automatically over the course of the next week, or you can manually upgrade if you want to get your hands on the new features right away.

Once you’ve got the new build, you can head over to Google Chrome Extensions to start extending your browser.  Or you can head on over to the Google Chrome Blog to find out more about what’s included in the new build.

Tags: Beta, Bookmark Sync, Chrome, Extensions, Features, Google, Google Chrome, Linux, Mac, Releases

If you haven’t already heard, Firefox 3.6 will be officially released today.  If you’re interested in what goes into a Firefox release, you can follow along live with the release of Firefox 3.6 over at Air Mozilla.  As I write this, several Mozilla employees are introducing themselves to those who are watching.  There appear to be two groups, one from Mountainview, California, and the other from Toronto, Canada, participating in the live video feed, at least at the time being.  Several minutes ago, Mike Beltzner, Mozilla’s Director of Firefox, appeared to announce that Firefox 3.6 will go live on the website around 8:25 to 8:40 Eastern time.  Given the current time, I’m guessing that’s PM.  That being said, firefox.com currently redirects to http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/upgrade.html which officially points to the Firefox 3.6 download and reports that the new version has already been downloaded over 37,500 times.

Head on over to Air Mozilla to follow along with the release day proceedings.

Tags: Air Mozilla, Downloads, Firefox, Firefox 3.6, Mike Beltzner, Releases

As promised, Firefox 3.6 RC1 was released yesterday.  Despite my warnings against downloading the candidate of the release candidate earlier this week, it doesn’t look like there was ever more than one candidate, so if you jumped the gun and downloaded that candidate, you’ve likely got the same build anyway.

Despite the fact that Firefox 3.6 RC1 was released on schedule yesterday, it has received very little attention from the usual official outlets, as far as I can tell.  For example, there is no mention of the new release candidate on the main Firefox page, and there has been no mention of the release via Firefox’s Twitter account.

Nevertheless, the RC1 build looks official, and the following are some of its key features and changes:

• Changes have been made to the way third party software integrates with Firefox in an attempt to avoid crashes.
• Nearly 100 bugs have been fixed since the last beta build to improve stability, performance, etc.
• JavaScript can now be loaded asynchronously, another performance boost.
• Improved DOM, CSS and HTML5 support.

If you decide to give Firefox 3.6 RC1 a spin, feel free to share your thoughts on the new release here in comments.

Update: I should clarify that the RC1 build is at least mentioned on the beta releases page.

Tags: Crashes, CSS, DOM, Firefox, Firefox 3.6, HTML5, JavaScript, Performance, Release Candidates, Releases, Stability

We’re covering everything from the difference between Yahoo! Answers and Stack Overflow, to Firefox sabotage against IE8 add-ons, to Taco Bell marketing campaigns in this trip around the browsersphere.  Are you ready?

General

• This one is pretty funny, but maybe wouldn’t be as funny if it was true:  someone filed a Firefox bug claiming installing Firefox disabled his or her IE8 add-ons.
• WebKit received one of InfoWorld’s 2010 Technology of the Year awards for being a “tool for creating cross-platform smartphone development,” whatever that means.
• Yahoo! Answers, which is one of the most useless sites on the Internet, in my opinion, runs the gamut in attempting to answer the question “which language should I use to create a web browser?“
• Harry Parsonage went to great lengths to write a “forensics” paper on how privacy can be put at risk by various web browsers’ session restore feature.
• If you’re planning on attending MIX10 in March, Paul Scarpa of Spry Hive Industries is hoping to talk about the past, present and future of web browsers.  You’ll need to vote, though, to make that happen.

Chrome

• An article at Beet.TV claims that Google Chrome has reached 40 million active users worldwide since it’s initial beta release in September of 2008.
• Jim Lynch of ExtremeTech talks about why he switched from Firefox to Chrome on Mac.
• Dwight Silverman is using Chrome on Mac, too, and got pretty excited when a bookmark manager showed up in his build.
• If you’re a Chrome fan and an Ubuntu fan, you may like some of these Ubuntu themes for Google Chrome.
• Chrome’s Dev Channel was updated to version 4.0.288.1 yesterday across all platforms.  TechCrunch points out that the key features are those that showed up for the Mac platform:  bookmark syncing, the new “pin tab” feature, and most importantly, extensions.
• Unlike Yahoo! Answers, Stack Overflow provides a platform at which smart people can provide smart answers, such as this explanation of the difference between the browser process, the render processes and plug-ins in Chrome.

Fennec

• In a blog post that announces his transition from working on Fennec back to the desktop version of Firefox, Gavin Sharp also reveals how developing for Fennec was different than developing for Firefox, and introduces us to a few of the other major contributors to the new mobile browser.

Firefox

• John Lilly tweets about a theme/add-on combination that gives “glimpses of [Firefox] 4.0.”
• John Slater, Mozilla’s Creative Director, vows that Firefox marketing won’t go the Taco Bell route.
• Download Squad reports that Firefox 3.7 is showing some progress with its Windows 7 shell integration.
• Initial tests show that forthcoming multi-processor support in Firefox leads to a 3x speedup in JavaScript performance, but even that is still 50% slower than Google Chrome’s performance using the same test.

Internet Explorer

• Microsoft’s announcement that it had submitted a request to join the SVG Working Group sparked commentary from SitePoint and The Industry Standard.

Opera

• As you probably heard, Opera announced a new CEO this week.
• Opera is planning on releasing a browser beta for Windows CE and looking to find other niches after suffering losses of around $2 million during the last quarter.

The Minor Players

• “Digia @Web is a modern, fully finger touch controllable, web browser for mobile. @Web is currently available for S60 5th Edition and Maemo mobile devices free of charge.”  Techie Buzz has a review, which includes a screenshot.
• SRWare Iron Browser, which was mentioned here last month, has been reviewed, along with screenshots, over at GadgetMix.
• China is making some big investments in free software which could end up benefiting Maxthon.
• Flock 2.5.6 was released this week, fixing some integration issues with Flickr and Twitter.
• Reports from CES say that Ford has developed its own Web browser, which can be operated only while the car is parked (there’s more on the safety implications of related innovations in The New York Times today).  Left Lane reports that Ford’s browser is WebKit-based.
• This review of the Orca browser has plenty of screenshots for anyone who’s curious about the browser.
• Honza Pokorny, who you can follow on Twitter, has created his own browser, appropriately named Honza’s Browser, which you can try out on Linux or Windows.  He has also made the source code available.

Tags: Add-ons, Awards, Bookmarks, Bugs, CEO, China, Chrome, Digia @Web, Fennec, Firefox, Firefox 3.7, Firefox 4, Flickr, Flock, Ford, Gavin Sharp, Google Chrome, Harry Parsonage, Honza's Browser, IE8, Internet Explorer, JavaScript, John Lilly, John Slater, Mac, Marketing, Maxthon, Microsoft, MIX10, Multi-processor, Opera, Orca, Performance, Releases, Safety, Session Restore, SRWare Iron, Stack Overflow, Statistics, SVG Working Group, The New York Times, Themes, Twitter, Ubuntu, WebKit, Windows 7, Windows CE

I debated whether or not I should skip ahead to #14, but I’m not really that superstitious.

General

• SitePoint mentions Firefox, IE and Chrome as “three important browsers to watch” heading into 2010.
• The Windows Club lists 25 (or 26?) web browsers for Windows, many of which have been covered here to some extent.
• Someone important in the history of web browsers, rendering engines, etc., has retired.
• Apparently IE and Firefox users are more likely to click on ads than Safari and Chrome users.

Chrome

• The stable version of Chrome was recently updated to address some crashes.
• As previously mentioned on Twitter, Chrome has overtaken Safari in browser market share, moving into 3rd place overall.
• Though not surprising at all, Chrome extensions are popular with users and developers.
• Google wants you to give Chrome for Christmas.

Firefox

• Apparently envious of Firefox’s use of national park names as codenames, the Thunderbird team has started using the names of beaches as codenames.  No telling if they’ll take their codenames as seriously as Firefox does, though.
• Firefox 3.5.6 was released this week.
• You can take a look at some of Firefox’s top startup bugs, which, once fixed, could improve startup time by 10% in some cases, and up to 25% in at least one case.
• Someone at Mozilla Links has a conspiracy theory about the Red Panda that recently showed up on Bing.
• There’s a Firefox Mobile video on YouTube that needs a little less talk and a little more action, but it’s interesting nonetheless (via Web Browser News and Reviews).

Internet Explorer

• Giorgio Sardo offers up a look at HTML 5 support in IE8.

Opera

• Opera’s CEO has some thoughts on the way things played out with Microsoft’s antitrust case in Europe.
• Opera Mini 5 beta 2 is now available in 26 languages.

The Minor Players

• Avant Browser 11.7 Build 42 was released on Friday.
• AOL Explorer, Maxthon, K-Meleon, Flock, Avant, Sleipnir, and Slim Browser are among the IE alternatives listed in Browsing the browsers: Internet Explorer’s rivals (most likely based on this news).
• TheWorld Browser features a “multi-threaded frame” and “web page mute,” which allows you to disable all sound on a web page via one button.
• Someone made a Korean “translation” for Maxthon.
• This thread clears up why you might see multiple processes running when you use Maxthon (though you can probably guess).
• A YouTube video brought my attention to CometBird, which appears to be a close cousin of Firefox that not many people know about.
• Sunrise, a “web browser for web developers,” has reached version 2.0.2.
• A browser named Vinageer is claimed to be the “third most used web browser in Australia,” and yet the only articles I can find on it appear to be written in French.
• As one might expect, the Flock folks are excited to be included in Microsoft’s coming “browser ballot.”
• Maxthon reached the 300 million download milestone on November 28th.
• Skyfire Mobile Browser 1.5 was released last week with improvements made to their video support.  You can see a short video explaining the new improvements on Vimeo.

Tags: Add-ons, AOL Explorer, Avant, Bing, Christmas, Chrome, Codenames, CometBird, Crashes, Extensions, Features, Firefox, Firefox Mobile, Flock, HTML5, IE, IE8, Jon von Tetzchner, K-Meleon, Korean, Localization, Market Share, Maxthon, Microsoft, Multi-process, Opera, Opera Mini, Performance, Red Panda, Releases, Retirement, Skyfire, Sleipnir, Slim Browser, Sunrise, TheWorld Browser, Thunderbird, Users, Vinageer

Wired’s This Day In Tech remembers the release of Mozilla 1.0 seven years ago today.  Here’s an excerpt:

Months after launch, the browser had only captured a minuscule percentage of the market. The goal was to beat Microsoft with open source. Netscape couldn’t do it. And, according to [Asa] Dotzler, “we realized Mozilla couldn’t do it, either.”

While Mozilla 1.0 wasn’t a success, what followed certainly was. Two Mozilla contributors, Ben Goodger and Blake Ross, proposed taking things back to basics. The Mozilla source code was stripped down and rewritten once again, and all of the extraneous features were canned.

In late 2004, a faster, slimmer and easier-to-use browser emerged: Mozilla Firefox.

Hat-tip to @firefox and @mitchellbaker on Twitter.

Tags: Asa Dotzler, Ben Goodger, Blake Ross, Competition, Firefox, History, Lineage, Mitchell Baker, Mozilla 1.0, Releases, This Day In Tech, Twitter, Wired

Opera 10 beta, codenamed “Peregrine,” was released today.  The high-level features touted on the Opera 10 website are:

• “Opera Turbo for fast browsing on slow connections” – this is essentially the same technology used by Opera Mini to compress content, saving bandwidth and time.
• “New visual tabs and sleek design” – the new design was previously covered here.
• “Speed Dial your way” – users now have the option of customizing the number of websites displayed or the background.
• “Web integration” – tell Opera to use your web-based email client or feed reader as the default for email and feeds, respectively, and it will.
• “Resizable search field”
• “40% faster engine and cutting-edge Web standards support”

While the bulk of those features are notable, it’s pretty obvious that the new visual changes will get the most immediate attention, followed by reviews of the underlying rendering engine, Presto 2.2, once people get some subjective and objective experience with it (does anyone still use a slow connection on their desktop anymore?).

For more on the web standards support added to Presto 2.2, check out Standards support in Opera Presto 2.2 and Opera 10 beta, which among other things, confirms that Opera 10 beta passes the Acid3 test.

To kick the tires on this latest release from Opera, download Opera 10 beta today.

Tags: Acid3, Beta, Features, Opera, Opera 10, Opera 10 Beta, Opera Mini, Opera Turbo, Peregrine, Presto, Presto 2.2, Releases, Web Standards

I learned via Twitter last Thursday that Google Chrome 2 had shipped, though you’d never know it from visiting the Chrome website.  As noted on the Google Chrome Blog on the day of release, “we’re referring to this as Chrome 2, but that’s mainly a metric to help us keep track of changes internally. We don’t give too much weight to version numbers and will continue to roll out useful updates as often as possible.”

However, with version changes come lofty expectations, and the release of Chrome 2 left at least one reviewer underwhelmed.  The good news is, hot on the heels of the release of version 2 to the general public, it was announced earlier today (hat-tip to Ryan Parman) that Chrome 3 has been made available to Chrome users on the “Dev channel” (which I’ve covered here previously).  However, with version changes come lofty expectations, and even users who are supposed to understand that “Dev channel” releases could potentially set your CPU on fire have been complaining about the audacity of Google to unleash a build with known issues on the “masses.”

I guess the Google Chrome team can’t win.  Regardless, if you’re like me and you like getting your hands on new web browsers that inherently seem to showcase improvements both under the hood and on the surface, you should be happy to learn that versions 2 and 3, if your stomach can handle it, are now available for public consumption.

Tags: Chrome, Chrome 2, Chrome 3, Google Chrome, Previews, Releases, Reviews, Twitter

Straight from Twitter comes news that Internet Explorer 8 has officially been released today.  Early reviews seem to agree that IE8 is an advancement for Microsoft, but still not a big enough step forward to catch up with the competition.  You can form your own opinions by downloading the latest release from Microsoft’s site.

Tags: IE8, Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 8, Releases, Reviews, Twitter

Whoa.  Has it really been like eight months since the last time we went around the browsersphere?  Not good.  I guess we should do something about it…

General

• Lifehacker recently put the major players through some browser speed tests after some boasting by the Safari 4 folks.
• In Mobile Browser Wars, Ed Hansberry takes a look at the browser alternatives available for mobile devices (via Web Browsers News and Reviews).
• Ten Web Browsers that You May Have Never Heard of covers iRider, Lunascape, Ultrabrowser and Shiira, among others.

Avant Browser

• Avant Browser 11.7 Build 22, which appears to be a minor release, was released back on the 26th.

Camino

• Camino 2.0 Beta 2 was released back on the 27th.
• If you’re interested in the Camino schedule, get updated.

Chrome

• Read about improvements in the spellchecker used in Chrome.
• It is believed that extension support is coming to Chrome this May (via Web Browsers News and Reviews).
• See the first screenshots of Chrome running on Mac.
• Full-screen browsing has come to Chrome, but apparently doesn’t live up to the way the feature is supported in Firefox and IE7.

Firefox

• Daniel Glazman takes an in-depth look at monetizing Firefox extensions.
• A new mascot, Foxmosa, was recently added to the Mozilla family.
• Firefox Extension Guru’s Blog discusses the Firefox 3.1/3.5 release schedule and how advancements in other web browsers’ JavaScript engines have impacted the schedule.
• Some interesting file uploading ideas came up at a recent Firefox design lunch.
• Jesse Ruderman sheds some insight into the issues surrounding “continuous integration,” which from what I can tell involves how and when code is checked in and how build machines and tinderbox displays are impacted.
• John Slater, Creative Director at Mozilla, is looking for an intern.
• Take a look at the Mozilla Community Calendar.
• Firefox 3.0.7 was recently released.
• At first it was under consideration, and then the decision was made to version the Shiretoko release of Firefox, formally versioned as 3.1, as version 3.5.
• Here’s a granular look at the type of minor performance improvements that eventually make a web browser faster overall.
• Gotta love bugs that are simply titled things like “Make location bar autocomplete faster” and “Make location bar autocomplete even faster.”
• There is a call “for new Web apps that can help people make a difference while browsing the Web.”
• Is Firefox faster on Windows or Linux?
• Firefox is dominating in Antarctica.

Flock

• Apparently the Flock folks thought Flock would make a good Valentine’s Day gift?  Personally, I’m glad I didn’t heed their advice for my wife’s gift this year.   Though, it looks like the Flock folks weren’t the only ones with this bright idea.
• “People using Flock’s Eco-Edition conducted 80% more searches per user as compared to Flock’s overall population of users.”

Internet Explorer

• The Cost of Internet Explorer attempts to track all the “wasted time and effort” on the part of web developers trying to make websites compatible with IE.
• IE8’s Compatibility View explained (and a recap).
• IE8 Beta testers are making a difference.
• It’s not every day anymore that you see browsers like Internet Explorer 4 and 5.5 mentioned.
• An IE8 Reliability Update has been made available for Windows 7 users (like myself) who are using IE8 (unlike myself).
• It looks like the IE team will be pretty busy at MIX09.
• Check out a video that goes into detail about IE8’s new rendering engine (via Robert O’Callahan).
• Here’s a comparison between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of IE7.
• Is the codename for IE9 “Triton?”
• Sarah Dutkiewicz wonders why Microsoft is held to a different standard when it comes to bundling IE with its operating system, Windows.

Maxthon

• Check out a chromed-out Maxthon icon.
• I think MaxthonGuy and I may have reached some kind of virtual truce.  That is, until the next time the madness reappears over at his blog.
• Learn how to use the custom search feature in Maxthon (via Maxthon Resources).
• A new version of Maxthon 2.5 was released recently.
• At least one Maxthon user is frustrated that his favorite browser isn’t included in the browser reviews found in PC magazines, etc.

Opera

• Avencius’ coverage of the Opera 9.64 release uncovers some details about some platform-specific code that should make Windows users’ browsing experiences more secure.
• Opera unveiled Opera Turbo last month at Mobile World Congress 2009 and it was later discussed at Opera Watch.
• Take a look at a speed comparison between the browsers developed for the Nintendo DS and the DSi.
• Similar to my recent post about various web browser vendors claiming ‘First!’, Choose Opera touches on the topic of whether it matters who developed a feature first or not.  Then, the very next day, they answered their own question.
• Opera Fingertouch is “a technology designed to make interacting with the Web easier and simpler on touch-based devices.”
• Apparently there is a demand out there for making Opera look like IE7 (via Daniel Glazman).
• Check out the Carakan FAQ for more information on Opera’s new JavaScript engine (via Opera Watch).
• Combining Opera with a touch UI.

Opera Mini

• Armenia, a country with around three million people, saw its Opera Mini usage grow by 2800% last year.  See this and other interesting statistics in the State of the Mobile Web report (via Choose Opera).
• “Yahoo! is expected to begin distributing Opera Mini via Yahoo! Mobile and also as a standalone download from Yahoo!’s mobile Web sites in the near future.”

Orca Browser

• The first build of Orca Browser 1.1, Build 1, was released back on the 25th.

Safari

• Avencius’ review of Safari 4 Beta is a very positive one, and some details regarding branding of the new JavaScript engine are ironed out in the comments.

SeaMonkey

• Read a draft of the new SeaMonkey vision (via Mozilla Developer News).
• SeaMonkey 2.0 Alpha 3 was released this past week.

Skyfire

• Skyfire 0.9 Beta was released back on the 12th.

There was a lot to cover this time around, and there’s much more I haven’t yet covered.  Hopefully that means we’ll see the 13th installment of “Around the Browsersphere” sooner than November.

Tags: Add-ons, Avant, Avencius, Beta, Bugs, Camino, Carakan, Chrome, Compatibility, Compatibility View, Daniel Glazman, Design, Extensions, Features, Firefox, Flock, IE7, IE8, IE9, Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 4, Internet Explorer 5.5, iRider, Jesse Ruderman, John Slater, Linux, Lunascape, Mac, Market Share, Mascots, Maxthon, Maxthon 2.5, MaxthonGuy, Minor Players, MIX09, Mobile, Monetizing, Mozilla, Nintendo, Opera, Opera 9.64, Opera Fingertouch, Opera Mini, Opera Turbo, Orca, Performance, Releases, Rendering Engines, Safari 4 Beta, Schedules, Screenshots, SeaMonkey, SeaMonkey 2.0, Security, Shiira, Shiretoko, Skins, Skyfire, State of the Mobile Web, Themes, Touch, Triton, Ultrabrowser, Windows 7