WebBrowser posts

Microsoft Previews Internet Explorer 9, Looks Like a Contender

by Terrence O'Brien (RSS feed) — Nov 20th 2009 at 9:35AM

Microsoft Previews IE9, Looks Like a Contender

With Chrome chugging along toward version 4.0 and Firefox 3.6 just around the corner, Microsoft is in danger of falling even further behind in the browser wars. The boys in Redmond released Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) earlier this year, and while it was an improvement over IE7, we were generally disappointed with its stability. Plus, it still was far behind its competitors in raw speed.

Turns out that Microsoft is already hard at work on the next version of its browser, titled, chronologically, 'IE9.' There is no download available to consumers yet, but if the company's claims are to be trusted, IE9 represents not just an evolution of IE, but a complete redefinition of what should be expected of the Microsoft browser.

Tags: browser, ie, ie9, internet explorer, internet explorer 9, InternetExplorer, InternetExplorer9, microsoft, top, web browser, WebBrowser

Computers, Web

Internet Explorer 8: Best Browser for Your Battery?

by Terrence O'Brien (RSS feed) — Sep 15th 2009 at 7:32AM

What's The Best Browser for Your Battery?

The War of the Web Browsers mostly takes place on one battlefield: speed. And while Google's Chrome is the clear winner on that front, there are other skirmishes -- like those over add-ons and resource usage -- of which Firefox is the clear victor.

Until now the only victories that Internet Explorer could claim were 'Largest Install Base' and 'Most Vulnerable to Hackers.' But tech blog AnandTech decided to pit the browsers against each other based on how quickly they drain your laptop battery. Surprisingly, IE8 wins with the longest Web surfing time.

Tags: battery life, BatteryLife, browser, browser wars, BrowserWars, chrome, firefox, internet explorer, InternetExplorer, opera, safari, top, web browser, WebBrowser

Google, Web

Google Chrome, One Year Later

by Terrence O'Brien (RSS feed) — Sep 3rd 2009 at 4:28PM

A year ago this week -- on September 1st of 2008, to be exact -- Google set the world (or, at least the geek world) abuzz by unveiling its browser project known as Chrome. When the browser first hit the market, there were plenty of questions at the front of everyone's mind, such as, "How will this affect the Firefox and Google relationship?" or, "Will Chrome become tightly integrated with other Google services?"

It's now a year later and all the mysteries have not been solved. But we do have answers to some of the more pressing questions. For one, it seems that, while Google and Mozilla's relationship has become slightly strained since the Big G entered the browser business, they haven't become enemies. Mozilla still generates most of its revenue through its deal with Google to make it the default search provider in Firefox, and Google still offers Firefox as an option in its Google Pack of software (though its default is now Chrome). Google has also so far steered clear of overtly incorporating other Google services into Chrome, thus saving itself from accusations of anti-competitive practices. Of course, that hasn't stopped the company from prominently advertising its browser on the Google homepage when you visit it in IE or Firefox.

Tags: browser, chrome, top, web browser, WebBrowser

Computers, Windows Software, Mac Software, Downloads, Web

Yet Another Security Flaw Hits Firefox 3.5 Web Browser

by Tim Stevens (RSS feed) — Jul 20th 2009 at 7:11AM

More Firefox Flaws Lead Some to Question its Security

Here at Switched, we're big fans of Firefox, the once alternative Web browser from Mozilla that, within a few years, has become hugely popular, with nearly one in four Web surfers using it today. We quickly downloaded the 3.5 release when it was made available a few weeks ago -- alas, a raft of security warnings are making us wonder whether that was necessarily the best idea.

Not long after the eagerly-anticipated 3.5 release, a major security vulnerability was found -- a flaw that could have allowed shady Internet sites to infiltrate your computer and, possibly, install spyware. That flaw was patched last week, but now, just a few days later, another security hole has been found. It's called the "Unicode Data Remote Stack Buffer Overflow Vulnerability," and, as of now there's no fix from Mozilla.

Should you be worried? Probably not, as it's unlikely that more than a handful of sites are using this exploit, and they're surely relegated to the darkest corners of the Web. This is really just more of a black eye for the browser, which was pledged as a more secure alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Still, you should always be careful and be wary before you go to random sites you've never heard of -- and, when Firefox prompts you about an important security update in a day or two, you'd best install it. [From: SecurityFocus, via DownloadSquad]

Tags: browsers, firefox, firefox3.5, fix, flaw, mozilla, patch, security, top, vulnerability, webbrowser, webbrowsers

Computers, Google, Windows Software, Downloads, Web

Is Google Chrome the Safest Web Browser? Hackers Seem to Think So.

by Terrence O'Brien (RSS feed) — Mar 24th 2009 at 4:56PM

Hackers Don't Even Want to Mess With Chrome

Google: 1, Hackers: 0.

The game is far from over, but right now, Google has a pretty firm upper hand in the battle over browser security supremacy.

This past week, hackers were invited to the CanSecWest security conference, where they were encouraged to break browsers and bend them to their wills. While Firefox and Internet Explorer were both hacked and exploited, it was Apple's Safari that took a particularly hard spanking. It was the most popular target at the event and, according to Charlie Miller (of MacBook Air hacking fame), the browser with the most easily exploitable vulnerabilities. It seems that Apple's OS X isn't nearly as secure as Cupertino fan boys would have you believe.

Tags: browser, browser wars, BrowserWars, cansecwest, chrome, security, top, web browser, WebBrowser

Windows Software

Microsoft Declares IE8 Fastest Browser, World Laughs

by Terrence O'Brien (RSS feed) — Mar 13th 2009 at 9:04AM

Microsoft Declares IE8 Fastest, World Laughs

Oh Microsoft, sometimes you're so unintentionally hilarious that we just can't handle it. Apparently the folks in Redmond are tired of watching Internet Explorer (IE) get beat up in the press and decided to release their own report showing that IE8 is the fastest Web browser out there, despite all other benchmarks putting it firmly behind every modern browser except IE7.

In the words of Lee Mathews at Download Squad, "IE8 is a dog... A very slow, old dog." In our own completely unscientific testing -- that we then exaggerated for the sake of being jerks -- we were able to draw Web sites by hand faster than IE8 could load any complex pages. Sure IE8 blazed through the Google search page, but we've been able to choke it pretty easily by opening MLB.com.

You can read the entire report here if you're in need of a good laugh. If you're looking for a speedy browser though check out the Safari 4 Beta, Google Chrome, or our recommendation Firefox 3.1 Beta. [From: Download Squad]

Related Links:

Tags: browser, browsers, ie, ie8, internet explorer, internet explorer 8, InternetExplorer, InternetExplorer8, microsoft, web browser, WebBrowser

Audio/Video, Computers, Video Games

YouTube Comes to the Wii and PlayStation 3

by Richard Lawler (RSS feed) — Jan 16th 2009 at 4:56PM

Sure, there's already TVs and devices out there ready to bring the YouTube experience directly to your living room, but yesterday YouTube launched a page just for browser-enabled living room devices (the PlayStation 3 and Wii) to browse on a TV screen. Point your console to www.youtube.com/tv for the new page, those limited by their PC's can check out the video embedded after the break for a demo. It seems like it would be easy to throw a bone to Windows Media Center Extender devices and HTPC owners by opening things up a bit, but the Official YouTube Blog indicates this beta is intended to encourage more manufacturers to include unrestricted browser support (Xbox 360, please pick up the white courtesy phone.) Take a look and tell us what you think.

Read - Official YouTube blog
Read - PlayStation Blog

Tags: 10 foot experience, 10FootExperience, nintendo wii, NintendoWii, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, streaming video, StreamingVideo, web browser, web video, WebBrowser, WebVideo, wii, youtube

Computers, Google

Google Chrome's Market Share Dropping Hard and Fast

by Terrence O'Brien (RSS feed) — Sep 12th 2008 at 1:26PM

Google Chrome Market Share Dropping Off Already

Google Chrome busted out of the gate last week and was the talk of the town. But one week later, the browser phenomena from the world's leader in search is already starting to fade.

In the days following the launch of Chrome, the browser had claimed a larger chunk of the browser market share than Opera or Safari. Though it couldn't touch larger competitors like Firefox or Internet Explorer, it still made an incredibly impressive showing, especially for such a new product. By some measures, Chrome's market share has dropped by over a third.

According to Net Applications, a tracking service, Chrome dropped from a daily high of 1.7-percent of the market last week to a daily high of 1 percent this week.

The drop off isn't a complete surprise: Many rushed out to try the new product, but went back to their browsers of choice after giving Chrome -- which is still a work in progress and plenty buggy -- a spin. The question for Google now is whether is can continue to improve Chrome enough to win over more users. [From: Silicon Alley Insider]

Tags: browser, chrome, google, google chrome, GoogleChrome, internet, web browser, WebBrowser

Computers, Google, Windows Software, Downloads

Google Launches Chrome, a New Web Browser

by Terrence O'Brien (RSS feed) — Sep 2nd 2008 at 10:25AM

Google Throws its Hat Into the Browser Market

The world has been speculating for years that Google would eventually release its own browser, one that would, of course, be finely tuned to run Google services and other rich Web apps. Well, the day has finally come: In a surprise Labor Day announcement, Google announced Chrome, its new browser project.

The Windows PC version of Chrome is set to become available for free download sometime today, with Mac and Linux versions forthcoming in the next few weeks.

Though Google used some of the code in both Mozilla's Firefox and Apple's Safari to build its browser, it looks like Chrome is otherwise an entirely new beast. Google's browser uses its own JavaScript engine, called V8, which the search giant claims is dramatically faster than other engines, and provides new features and abilities that will "power the next generation of Web applications that aren't even possible in today's browsers." In other words, Chrome should runs significantly smoother and faster than other modern Web browsers when running multiple Web applications at once (say, a chat program on one page, Internet radio on a second page, and a photo-editing app on another)

Google also puts security and stability at the forefront in Chrome. Each tab is run as a separate process, so that if one site you're visiting crashes, it doesn't bring down the entire browser. Each tab is "sandboxed" (cut off from other tabs and underlying system components), which promises to keep your computer safe(er) from malware.

From the screen shots that have been circulating, we can tell that Chrome's tab bar will be at the top of the window, as opposed to under the location bar as it is in most other browsers (including Firefox and IE). We've also seen a start page that has thumb-nailed links to nine of your most visited Web pages for easy access.

Google is, as usual, making Chrome open-sourced so that others can borrow and modify Chrome's code at will. Expect to see some of its innovations working their way into the next versions of Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. And therein lies Chrome's true purpose, not to snatch large swaths of market share from IE or Firefox, but to make sure the groundwork is laid for Google's next generation of Web apps. [From: Official Google Blog, TUAW and Download Squad]

Tags: breaking news, BreakingNews, chrome, downloads, new products, NewProducts, upcoming, web, Web apps, web browser, WebApps, WebBrowser

Computers

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Released to Public (Hands-On)

by Tim Stevens (RSS feed) — Aug 29th 2008 at 4:10PM

Internet Explorer Beta 2 Released to Public

Have you been itching to get your hands on the latest flavor of Internet Explorer? Yeah, we can't say we really have been either, but just the same, Microsoft has released the second beta version of Internet Explorer 8 for public consumption, and you can download it now and check it out if you like.

The first beta was only for developers, but after a number of updates and fixes, Microsoft is opening this new version to anyone. To save you the trouble, we threw caution to the wind and installed it. So far it's looking quite good; stable and noticeably faster in many tasks than IE7, which is looking more than a little dated compared to the recently released Firefox 3.0. At first glance, IE8 doesn't look that much different, but does include a number of tweaks and updates, including:

Private Browsing - Curious about the darker sides of the 'Net? Don't worry, most of us are, and IE8 is the first browser to realize this, giving you a mode called "InPrivate" that doesn't track where you go in your history, doesn't keep cookies, and doesn't store auto-complete information.
Accelerators - Highlight a word, and IE8 will display a button that will let you define it through Encarta. Highlight a street address, and you'll see an option to display the address on a map. Highlight words in a foreign language, and you can see a quick translation. There are lots of little context options like this, called accelerators, because they speed up the process of copying a line of text, opening a new browser window, and pasting it in somewhere to look it up.
Visual Search - This is another area where sites will be able to insert themselves into your browser. Here you can define visual searches for things like eBay, enabling you to start typing your search into the IE8 search box and immediately get results and pictures from listings right through the browser. You can then click directly on what you want. There are visual searches available for other sites like Wikipedia, YouTube, and naturally, Google.

There are dozens of other updates, including stability and compatibility, which should make IE8 an excellent choice for someone looking for an alternative to Firefox. So far, we've found the browser to be very stable, so we'd rate this low on the danger meter, but as always, install betas at your own risk! [Source: IEBlog]

Tags: downloads, firefox, ie8, internet explorer, InternetExplorer, microsoft, web browser, WebBrowser

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'Black Friday' Deals to Watch For

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Black Friday' Deals to Watch For

Traditionalists might balk, but the holiday shopping season is already underway. Skeptical? Head to your local department store and you'll be inundated by Christmas trees and ornaments. Bargain hunters, though, know that the real deals are more than a month away.

Black Friday, traditionally, is when retailers truly slash prices. Early birds can save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars off of their holiday bills. Switched.com checked with a few elves, who gave a sneak peek at what you can expect deal-wise this year.

Blu-ray Players and Movies: Blu-ray is shaping up to be the biggest door buster of this year's Black Friday. de Grandpre expects at least one retailer will offer a Blu-ray player for just $49. Look for bargains on Blu-ray films as well, with last year's hit titles (such as "Iron Man") to fall as low as $5.

Laptops: With the proliferation of Netbooks this year, it's never been easier to find affordable portable computing, but Dan de Grandpre, CEO of DealNews.com says it will get even cheaper on Black Friday. Look for well-equipped Netbooks to sell for $199 – and basic 15" laptops to go for as little as $249.

HDTVs (Pretty big): The holidays are typically the best time to buy a new TV – and Black Friday is the time to do it. If you're looking for a normal sized set, you're in luck. Piper Jaffrey analyst Mitch Kaiser says he expects to see 32-inch LCD sets for as low as $299. GottaDeal.com is estimating 37-inch plasma and LCD sets will fall to $399 or less.

HDTVs (Really big): Need something bigger? How about a 46-47 inch LCD set for $599 – a 25 percent savings? Or a 52-inch LCD for $999? Dealnews says you can expect both. Plasma deals will be a little harder to come by, but a 50-inch set should run roughly $899.

HD Camcorders: You've wanted to shoot your child's school play in HD for a while, but haven't been able to spring for the pricey camcorder. This might be the year. Low-end, flash-based 720p models could drop as low as $60 (though you won't be able to zoom with those). Expect a high quality 1080p HD camcorder for $349.

GPS: While navigation systems have dramatically expanded their reach this year – even making it onto the iPhone – there's still a market for car-based systems. Dealnews predicts you'll be able to find a no-name entry-level system for $49, while a Garmin or Tom-Tom brand will be as low as $69.

Digital Picture Frames: Showcasing your digital pictures consistently gets cheaper. This year, skip the 7-inch screens and focus on the 8- or 9-inch ones, which should be available on Black Friday for as little as $30.

Monitors: Computer monitors might not be the sexiest of gifts, but they're usually welcomed with open arms – and they'll be cheap this year. Name brand 22-inch LCD models may go for as low as $99, while 24-inch models will drop below $150.

Memory: Don't know anyone who needs a monitor? External hard drives are always popular, since they're an easy way to back-up data. Dealnews expects a 1TB drive to fall as low as $49 this year. Gottadeal is looking for 8GB flash drives to hit $15.

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