More than a sixth of all Macs are already running Mac OS X Snow Leopard in just over a month of use, new findings from NetApplications show. On September 29th, the one month anniversary of the release, about 18 percent of all Macs tracked by the stats firm were using some version of Snow Leopard, or 0.91 percent of all computers.
A number of software developers that make competitors to Microsoft's Internet Explorer have complained about the recent settlement with the EU that would allow Microsoft to give users the option to install another web browser. According to a Monday WSJ report (subscription required), the complaints came via a questionnaire EU officials sent out to Microsoft's competition, urging them for comment on the settlement idea.
Despite stereotypes, Macs are typically faster than Windows PCs on the web, according to data from FutureMark. Best known for its 3DMark benchmark suite, the company says that Apple's systems are about 5 to 10 percent faster on average in its Peacekeeper web code test than Windows computers with equivalent hardware. This includes any browser that runs on both platforms, including Apple's own Safari as well as Firefox and Opera.
Late last week, software giant Microsoft announced in a US district court that it will change the way the express install works for Internet Explorer 8 with its Windows operating system, as per a Monday report. Microsoft has drawn flak for making IE 8 the default browser despite user's preferences whenever they ran the Windows Update and selected the Express install, with competitors Mozilla and Opera filing complaints.
Internet Explorer's share of the web browser market has dropped to its lowest point in recent memory thanks to inroads from Apple and Google, new stats from Net Applications show. The web tracking firm says Microsoft's browser now has 67.68 percent of the market, lower than a previous low in April. Most of the losses came from both Chrome and Safari, which themselves reached all-time highs of 2.59 percent and 4.07 percent respectively.
Microsoft this weekend revealed that it would drop plans to launch Windows 7 E for Europe following a change in attitude from the European Commission. The special release, which would have provided Windows without any browser at all, is being scrapped as the Commission has tentatively embraced the company's browser ballot approach to providing a choice of web browsers. These customers should now get the same version of Windows 7 as elsewhere.
Opera on Tuesday unveiled its Opera Unite service that breaks with tradition by allowing users to share files with other computer users via their web browsers and not a third-party server. Ease-of-use is being touted as an advantage of the new software, and Opera expects even devices with modern web browsers, such as smartphones, will also be able to access the files. As Opera Unite services are based on current open web standards, creating a full web service is said to be as easy as coding a web page.
Microsoft's decision to pull Internet Explorer from Windows 7 in Europe isn't enough to address EU antitrust complaints about the company's abuse of the market, the European Commission said Friday. The continent's officials now say that Microsoft's proposed solution would actually hurt competition as it would leave the five percent of those buying retail copies of Windows each year with few options. Instead of having an immediate choice, buyers would have to resort to obtaining a physical copy of a web browser or else some alternative.
The Opera mobile browser has surpassed Apple's iPhone browser as the most popular mobile browser internationally, according to numbers collected by the analysis company StatCounter. The two browsers have battled for the lead position over the past six months, with Opera generally losing against mobile Safari from February through April. Sometime in May, however, a spike in Opera usage put the browser up to 24.6 percent while the iPhone fell slightly to 17.9 percent.
Mozilla and Opera on Thursday criticized Microsoft over settings in the Windows 7 release candidate that they claim are designed to be anti-competitive. The two web browser developers point out to FT that users who opt to upgrade to Windows 7 from Vista rather than install fresh are given an "express" option that automatically reverts the default browser to Internet Explorer even if Firefox, Opera or another browser was set as the default before. Although the "custom" choice lets users maintain this setting, Mozilla and Opera argue that Microsoft is hoping most users won't be aware of this or that it will be considered too much extra work.
Nintendo's DSi should make non-game apps an important core of its DSi Shop mobile online store when the console is released on the 5th, the company revealed as part of its efforts at this week's Game Developers' Conference. Having spoken with CNET earlier, Nintendo said the handheld will get a free version of Opera's browser that is described as upgraded over an earlier version for the DS that depended on Nintendo's proprietary cartridges to work; the new version can be saved either directly to the DSi's internal 256MB of storage or to an SD card.
The release of Internet Explorer 8 hasn't had any significant impact on Firefox or any other competing browser, data collected by StatsCounter shows. While the final release of IE8 increased its market share slightly on launch day to 1.39 percent, Firefox 3.0 grew more quickly and reached 25.38 percent. The most significant losses were for Internet Explorer 7: the outgoing browser lost 0.4 percent of the total share.
ASUS on Friday launched the P835 as its new, range-topping touchscreen smartphone and one of its first more conspicuous challengers to the iPhone. The phone depends on a 3.5-inch, 800x480 touchscreen but also adds a BlackBerry-like trackball for one-handed navigation and quicker scrolling. ASUS bases the phone on Windows Mobile 6.1 but tries to get around interface limitations by implementing a new version of its in-house Glide interface which is believed easier to use and also more visually appealing. Opera Mobile also gives the P835 fuller HTML support than Microsoft's default Internet Explorer browser.
The European Commission late Monday said it plans to require that Microsoft offer web browsers other than Internet Explorer in Windows. The EU body's spokesman Jonathan Todd says a final decision in the matter would mandate a choice of which browsers to download and install in addition to the existing ability to specify a default app. The feature would potentially involve a portal that lets users choose the browser early on.
Official photos of the Motorola ZN300 first spotted earlier this month have surfaced on Thursday, thanks to Russian site MobileReview. While official specs are still not confirmed, it is believed the multimedia-oriented slider, which could go by the name of MotoZine ZN300, sports a 240x320 display and a 3-megapixel camera.
The LiMo Foundation on Monday announced six new wireless providers have committed to release LiMo Platform based handsets in 2009. The Linux OS-based phones will become available from Verizon Wireless, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefonica and Vodafone sometime in 2009. The open-source Linux operating system in the devices will be based on the latest version of the LiMo Platform.
Mozilla is throwing its support behind a European Commission ruling on bundling Microsoft's Internet Explorer with Windows, according to the company's CEO. Microsoft received a Statement of Objection from the Commission last month, accusing it of violating European competition laws. The action was initially sparked by a complaint from Opera, which produces third-party web browsers. Mozilla itself develops the Firefox browser.
Minority browsers grew in popularity again during the month of December, according to tracking figures from Net Applications. Marketshare for Mozilla's Firefox reached 21.34 percent, up from 20.78 percent in November; Apple's Safari jumped from 7.13 to 7.93 percent, and Google's new, Windows-only Chrome browser shifted from 0.83 to 1.04 percent. This marks the first time the software has been over the 1 percent mark.
Microsoft is being praised by industry professionals for already releasing a fix for what it itself calls a critical security flaw in its Internet Explorer 7 Internet browser. The patch addresses a flaw in the data-binding function of 5.01, 6, 7 and 8 Beta 2 versions of the popular web browser. It was at first believed only IE7 was affected, but research revealed all currently available versions of the browser have the issue.
A new and previously undiscovered vulnerability in Internet Explorer 7 has triggered warnings to at least temporarily avoid the browser until it can be fixed. The exploit, which takes advantage of the browser's data binding feature to create a memory hole, is unique to Microsoft's code and potentially dangerous due to its usability over the web. A maliciously formed website can use the exploit to steal private data or otherwise compromise the system; some benign websites have been turned hostile using the exploit and other vulnerabilities, the company says.
Apple is investigating two different graphics issues relating to MacBooks, posters in the company's support forums say. The first is limited to unibody MacBook Pros, but involves a hard lockup during various games, in which the screen goes black, audio loops and no cursor control is possible. The problem affects both Mac and Windows games, and appears to be unrelated to a specific title, since crashes have occurred in games like Call of Duty 4, World of Warcraft and Company of Heroes.
Microsoft at its TechEd conference has confirmed the impending launch of Internet Explorer Mobile 6, the next major version of its cellphone browser. Originally announced in February, the significantly delayed update is available to test in emulator form and has also detailed all the major changes due with the web suite. The software aims to resolve many of the often-criticized features of the legacy browser from Windows Mobile 6 and starts with an accurate HTML renderer that displays websites the way they would appear on a desktop. Users can even change their user agent to force a desktop view instead of a mobile-optimized site.
Sony Ericsson today finally detailed the US release of the Xperia X1, its first full touchscreen smartphone and also its first Windows Mobile phone. Rather than tie the phone to AT&T, the cellphone maker instead says the X1 will sell through its Sony Style website as an unlocked device for $800. The move lets users pick AT&T to gain full access to the phone's HSPA-based 3G or T-Mobile if they prefer the carrier and are willing to limit their data to EDGE. It also allows unrestricted apps and the ability to use SIM cards from foreign carriers.
iPhone owners should not expect to see the Opera web browser on the device anytime soon, says Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, CEO of the company. Von Tetzschner notes that while engineers have developed a version of Opera Mini for iPhones, Apple is blocking release through the App Store, due its competition with the built-in Safari browser. Opera Mini is used frequently on other smartphones, and speeds up mobile browsing by delivering stripped-down versions of websites.
Opera Software has released the latest version of its web browser, Opera 9.6. The update enhances the performance of Opera's built-in e-mail client, and also adds new features to Opera Link, a free browser synchronization service. Opera Link now lets people synchronize custom search engines and typed history, meaning visited websites will be available across all of a user's computers. A new feed preview has been added as well, permitting users to see RSS feeds before subscribing to them or creating bookmarks.
Google's Chrome browser is not displacing Apple's Safari software as it continues to gain marketshare, says Net Applications. The company has posted tracking results for the second week following Chrome's release, which show an increase in use from an initial 0.67 percent to 0.85, based on data collected from some 40,000 websites. This has come at the expense of several competing browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera.
Celmaro has released a v1.1 update to its visual management system for bookmarks, Webbla. The software creates webpage thumbnails for each bookmark, and allows personalized organization. The patch focuses on adding support for more web browsers, along with a feature that searches and filters website content. Bookmarks can now be added or modified directly within Camino, Firefox, Omniweb, Opera and Safari, all with user-definable shortcuts. Webbla 1.1 can be downloaded as a 15-day trial, or purchased with a single-user license for $15.
The Symbian Foundation announced on Tuesday that Sharp Electronics, Opera Software, KTF wireless provider and six other companies have on Tuesday joined the Foundation to help bring open source software and applications to mobile devices more quickly and efficiently. As members of the Symbian Foundation, companies will not have to pay for software developed by its members.
Sunny Mac software has literally put a new face on bookmarks. Webbla 1.0 creates thumbnails of websites called "visual bookmarks." The bookmarks can be imported and exported to Safari, Firefox, Camino and Opera browsers, and can be organized into into collections for storage. They can also be displayed in the Finder.
Apple's Safari web browser remains in third place in terms of adoption, a new study reveals. According to results from the middle of June, Safari usage accounts for approximately 3.4 percent of the market, at 48 million daily users. Mozilla's Firefox is in second place with 227 million users (16.1 percent), while Microsoft's Internet Explorer is by far dominant, with 1.1 billion users (78.3 percent). The only major browser below Safari is Opera, which has 11 million users, or just 0.8 percent.
Beating FIrefox to the punch, Opera Software today released version 9.5 of it’s multi-platform web browser. Opera says the free surfing tool is the first “publicly available browser to protect you from malicious software on the web,” defending against malware and phishing. Opera 9.5 is a significant rework from earlier versions with a host of new features and speed improvements, the company said.
Continuing a string of research on the cellphone industry, ABI Research today said in a new report that it expects the use of mobile webbrowsers to grow ten times its size in the next five years. The analysis firm estimates that 76 million copies of browsers were in use by the end of 2007 but that this should grow to 700 million by 2013. The surge is credited to a surge in smartphone use, which is expected to bring full web browsing as well as a greater number of mobile-oriented websites.
Helio today revealed that the Ocean would be the first cellphone to have free access to Opera Mini. The update gives the dual-mode slider phone browsing that more closely resembles desktops rather than the basic WAP browsing it had used before; as with Apple's mobile Safari, users can see a zoomed-out version of the full, accurately rendered page and then zoom in to focus on specific articles. Opera's unique remote caching approach also helps make the most of the Ocean's 3G connection by cutting down on load times.
Archos will be one of the first to provide a dedicated portable media player with cellular Internet access, the company has revealed during this week's Mobile World Congress show. While short on information, the news indicates that at least one device in Archos' next generation of players will include 3G or better services that allows it to connect to the Internet anywhere it can receive an appropriate signal from a cell tower. The feature should provide extended access to the web through the Opera web browser included with the company's higher-end players.
Opera today rolled out its self-titled Opera Mobile 9.5, the latest version of its browser for smartphones. The new version is built around Opera's in-house Presto web renderer and now offers panning and zooming, giving viewers an iPhone-like ability to either view a page at full size or center on content for a clearer look. The update is also said to draw sites much faster than before: even complex sites with AJAX and other Web 2.0 technologies render quickly and accurately, Opera says. Support for Flash Lite 3 also provides support for MySpace, YouTube, and other sites that are heavily dependent on Flash audio or video.
Sheep Systems today released Bookdog 5, an update to the bookmark management utility that adds integration with del.icio.us bookmarks alongside a new user interface and support for the new release of Netscape Navigator. Bookdog allows users to sort, import/export, migrate, and verify bookmark collections in Safari, Firefox 1-2.x, Camino, Google Bookmarks, del.icio.us, OmniWeb, Opera, Shiira 2.x, and Netscape Navigator. Bookdog 5 is priced at $20 for a 2-Mac license with one year of upgrades, and requires Mac OS X 10.3 or later for basic functionality. Mac OS X 10.4 or later is required for some features, such as del.icio.us support.
Browser developer Opera today announced that it has filed a formal complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission. Along with unnamed industry supporters, Opera has alleged that the Windows developer continues to abuse its monopoly in operating systems by tying Internet Explorer to Windows as well as consciously ignoring calls for the browser to use certain widespread web standards. The complaint would have Microsoft unbundle Internet Explorer from Windows and force the Redmond, Washington-based firm to render sites according to common web practices, ensuring that pages have a consistent look regardless of the browser.
