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Web, Social Networking

'Internet Distractions' Personifies the Angels and Demons of the Taskbar

For a student, the Internet can be a powerful productivity tool, but it's, unfortunately, a double-edged sword. Sure, you can dive in and research that paper topic you've been assigned; however, you can just as easily spend hours upon hours trolling social networking sites, watching videos on YouTube, or lost amongst any other number of today's digital distractions. It's okay. This has happened to all of us at one point or another.

Obviously, staying focused is tough enough with those alluring icons lined across the bottom of your screen. But what if they could talk, further enticing you to put off writing that paper? That's the premise behind this hilarious video from the folks at College Humor. In the clip, a student opens up Microsoft Word (you can think of it as the halo-donning angel program on your right shoulder). Just as he's about to start typing what would surely be a riveting paper on "The Study of Ions", Firefox (the devil program, sporting a pitchfork, on your left shoulder) dupes the poor sap into checking his e-mail. As you well know, it snowballs from there. There are Facebook notifications to check, a new episode of 'Chuck' is ready for download, and some adult video clips are enticing him further down the path of procrastination.

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Google, Web

Google Dropping Support for Internet Explorer 6

Google Ending Support for IE6 and Other Older Browsers
The German government, Web developers, and even Microsoft itself have all pushed the Internet browsing public to ditch Internet Explorer 6. Now Google is getting in on the action and taking drastic (but long overdue) action -- ending support for the browser across its line of productivity tools.

Now, to be fair, Google is ceasing official support for several older browsers, including past versions of its own Chrome. Changes to the company's apps, such as HTML5 support and Javascript enhancements, have made supporting older browsers difficult, if not impossible.

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Webware

Switched's Essential Firefox Add-Ons Enhance Your Browsing

Enhance Your Browsing With Switched's Essential Firefox Add-Ons

We make no secret about our love of Firefox. Sure it's not the newest, fastest, or prettiest browser, but its intuitive functionality and extensive array of add-ons make it far and away our favorite. One issue we've encountered when exposing our less geeky friends and family to Firefox, is that they rarely take advantage of those extensions -- really what makes the browser worth using, anyway.

There are countless add-ons out there, so we've filtered out the junk and assembled a list of the ones essential to every Switched reader. To make things even easier, we've put together a Switched collection, to which you can subscribe. That way, you'll know if we add another extension six months down the road.

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Computers, Web

Chrome Knocks Out Safari, Internet Explorer Still Losing Users

While Internet Explorer continues its rapid descent into obscurity, Chrome inched forward, passing Safari as the third most-used Web browser this past December.

According to Net Applications, more users now use Chrome for everyday browsing than Safari -- 4.63 to 4.46 percent, to be exact -- an impressive development given Google launched its infant browser just 16 months ago. Chalk it up to Google's increasing popularity with Gmail and its Android platform paired with beta releases of the browser for Mac and Linux more than three weeks ago. Ultimately though, Chrome's streamlined, speedy design is quickly winning over loyal users.

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Computers, Web

Firefox 3.5 Becomes World's Most Popular Browser

Although Microsoft's Internet Explorer usually places a sad, distant last behind more efficient browsers like Safari, Chrome, and even Opera in terms of performance, it has always led the pack when it comes to the all-important market share. Until recently, that is, when Mozilla's Firefox finally nudged IE out of the way and into second place.

According to StatCounter, Firefox 3.5 now outranks Internet Explorer 7 and 8 as the world's most used browser, with 21.93-percent of the global market, compared with 21.2-percent and 20.33-percent respectively. That's no small feat when you take into account that Internet Explorer comes pre-packaged with Windows. (A devious, but smart move, Microsoft.) Of note: although Firefox ranks number one on a version-by-version comparison, the Internet Explorer brand as a whole remains tops. [From: GIGAOM and The Next Web]

World's Largest Gadgets, 'Objectified' Documentary Airs on PBS


There's a load of great tech news happening out there every day, and, unfortunately, we just can't cover it all. Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web.
  • Before the days of the Web, we had to get our giant technology fixes by watching hourlong cable shows that promised the "next big thing" right after the break. Fortunately, Wired's Gadget Lab is here -- don't miss the giant Antonov AN-255 and Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter planes. [From: Gadget Lab]
  • 'Objectified,' the latest film from the makers of typeface documentary 'Helvetica,' hits the airwaves tonight on PBS. [From: PBS.org]
  • With online shopping peaking during the holiday season, it's more important than ever to have a secure password. Slate offers tips for getting your shoddy password in shape in under five minutes. [From: Slate]
  • Firefox could be making laptops overheat by overusing your computer's CPU. DownloadSquad investigates and offers some solutions. [From: DownloadSquad]
Got a tip? Want to talk to us? In need of more choice links like these? Drop us a line on Twitter and check out our Tumblr blog.

Tech Tips

Turn Off Pesky Tool Tips


Put an end to those nagging yellow Tool Tip boxes that pop up whenever you hover over a hyperlink in your browser. Mac OS X Tips revealed this godsend for Mac users:
  • Close Safari, then open Terminal (in Utilities) and type:
    • defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitShowsURLsInToolTips 0
  • Restart your computer.
  • To restore Tool Tips, go back to Terminal and substitute a 1 for the 0 in the above command.
For Firefox, hit the above link for detailed instructions. Windows users can hit this link for instructions on how to remove Tool Tips from any application.

Computers, Web

Internet Explorer 8: Best Browser for Your Battery?

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.

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Computers, Web

Spyware Posing as Flash Update Hits Firefox


There's some sneaky, new malware on the loose, and this time, it's after the users of Mozilla's Firefox browser. According to Laptop Magazine, the plug-in poses as an update for Adobe's Flash Player. Users are taken through some fake steps and are lead to believe the installation was completed. No harm done, right?

Wrong. The plug-in replaces ads on Google search pages with its own ads, and worst of all, the spyware has the ability to track what pages you browse and what you search, according to TrendLabs Malware blog. In other words, you lose all privacy. This is certainly not the news folks want to hear. Especially since most users switched from Internet Explorer to Firefox because of malware problems similar to this one.

While this attack proves that not even Firefox is invincible, you can still safely surf the Web. All it takes is a little common sense. Remember, don't download an add-on called 'Adobe Flash Player 0.2.' If you feel like you do need a legitimate update for a flash player or anything else, always make sure to download directly from the developer's Web site. Think before you click, and you'll avoid problems like this. [From: Laptop Magazine and TrendLabs Malware blog]

Web

Why Many Don't Upgrade Their Firefox: Porn Collections

Even though Firefox 3.0 set a Guinness World Record back in 2008 for the most downloads in a 24-hour period, there were, apparently, still people hesitant to upgrade from the previous version. According to Download Squad, Firefox personnel have been sending questionnaires to users who declined to make the switch in order to figure out why.

Results revealed that people who stuck with 2.0 did so for one primary reason -- to keep their Web activities private and hidden. The upgraded 3.0 version included a text-match feature, which automatically brought up corresponding bookmarked sites as a user entered letters into the address bar.

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Web

Firefox Hits One Billion Downloads

It's time for a cyber celebration, folks. Mozilla's popular Firefox browser, which launched in 2002, reached the 1 billion download mark today, making the browser akin to McDonald's Big Mac in popularity.

According to TechCrunch, Mozilla will mark the occasion by launching a new site, www.onebillionplusyou.com (going live on Monday), that will display photos and information about folks who love and use Firefox for their surfing needs. TechCrunch reports that about 30–percent of all people who access the Internet do so with Firefox while about 54-percent use Internet Explorer. That's a dramatic increase when you see consider that about 90-percent used Internet Explorer only a few years ago.

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Computers, Windows Software, Mac Software, Downloads, Web

Yet Another Security Flaw Hits Firefox 3.5 Web Browser

More Firefox Flaws Lead Some to Question its SecurityHere 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]

Computers, Web

State Department Employee Asks Hillary Clinton for Firefox

Despite new leadership from a relatively tech-savvy president, some government offices still seem a little slow to adopt popular technology. While the State Department might have promoted and encouraged Iranian Twitter activity, the Department is nevertheless lagging behind in other Web areas.

In a town hall meeting yesterday, a new member of the State Department, which uses Internet Explorer as its Web browser, pleaded with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to "please let the staff use" rival Mozilla Firefox. (Jump to 26:34 on the above video.) Pointing out that Firefox had been "approved for the entire intelligence community," and that it's a "much safer program," the rookie's question was met with a rowdy chorus of cheers and laughter.

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Computers, Mobile Phones

The Beginning of the End for Tabbed Browsing?



Mozilla Labs' Firefox wasn't the first browser ever to use tabbed browsing (that award went to the Opera browser back in 2000), but it did beat Internet Explorer to the punch. In fact, tabbed browsing was one of the features that set Firefox apart from its Microsoft-developed competitor.

Now, ironically enough, Mozilla is holding a design competition with the goal of making tabbed browsing a thing of the past.

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Computers

'Clickjacking' Threat Hits Firefox and Chrome

Firefox, Chrome Found Susceptible to ClickjackingAnother day, another security risk, and while it pains us to bring you all this dire news so frequently, we figure someone has to keep you in the loop. Today's warning has to do with a new type of subversive Internet attack called clickjacking, in which you're tricked into clicking on links or buttons you can't see, possibly granting others access to your personal information. Two of the web's most popular browsers, Firefox and Chrome, have been found to be vulnerable.

Clickjacking is tricking a Web user into clicking on something they didn't want to, possibly on something they can't even see. It's possible to create a hidden overlay over a Web page and, within that hidden page, load up something like the login screen to MySpace. To the user the Web page might appear to be showing a game or the like that requires you to click on various objects, but in reality the user might be clicking on options in MySpace to make his or her information public or, disconcertingly, to change their password. Firefox and Chrome currently have no mechanism for preventing this kind of attack, but, surprisingly, Internet Explorer, a browser many consider to be less secure than the competition, is not susceptible to the attack.

Google has pledged to release a fix in short order, and we presume Firefox will be patched quickly as well. But, the best news is that nobody is actually aware of this sort of exploit being used in the wilds of the Internets so, for now at least, we wouldn't lose any sleep over this one. [From: CNET News]

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