10/30, 11:10am
Neglected browser approaches major update
Mozilla has posted a first release candidate for Camino 2.0, the next major edition of the company's Mac-focused web browser. RC1 makes relatively few changes compared to previous betas, but it does enable new AppleScript abilities, improved Full Keyboard Access support and per-site whitelisting or blacklisting of Flash. More significant may be an upgrade to the Gecko 1.9.0 engine, which includes bugfixes, better treatment of plug-ins and greater standards support, for instance through the use of JavaScript 1.8.
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10/28, 11:00am
Cuts off theoretical attacks
Mozilla has released Firefox 3.5.4, a minor but still significant update to its multi-platform web browser. The patch fixes 16 vulnerabilities, 11 of which are said to be critical. Among these are problems with third-party media libraries, the core and JavaScript engines, web worker calls, the GIF color map parser and the string-to-number converter.
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10/01, 5:50pm
NetApplications shows Mac, Firefox gains
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.
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09/29, 5:10pm
MS competitors criticize EU settlement
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.
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09/01, 2:45pm
Sony VAIOs get Chrome
Sony's PC arm and Google have entered into a partnership that will have the latter's Chrome web browser preloaded onto the former's VAIO netbook PCs. Google is also apparently in talks with other PC makers to make its browser the default in new PCs, in similar fashion to competitor Microsoft and its Internet Explorer browser. Sony PCs with Chrome are already shipping, though Google is saying the deal is thus far experimental. Google is also promoting the browser through TV advertising, a first for the company, and making it available when they download RealPlayer software.
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08/10, 5:25pm
Macs Faster On Web
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.
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08/10, 5:05pm
Microsoft update process
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.
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08/10, 10:10am
Firefox 3.6 alpha debuts
Mozilla has published the first alpha preview of Firefox 3.6. The upcoming release is codenamed Namoroka, and in its completed form should represent an intermediate step towards Firefox 3.7, a major browser upgrade expected sometime in 2010. The v3.6 alpha nevertheless includes several important changes, such as a new Gecko rendering engine, upgraded to v1.9.2.
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08/05, 1:25pm
Firefox 3.5.2 update
Mozilla has released Firefox 3.5.2, updating its multi-platform web browser. A key fix in the release aids photographers, illustrators and other graphics professionals, by now properly rendering images with ICC profiles on all monitors. Such profiles are used to define color spaces, ensuring that the colors depicted on a display are those intended.
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07/31, 2:50pm
Firefox 1 bil Downloads
The Mozilla Foundation on Friday marked the 1 billionth download of Firefox. The feat was accomplished roughly four and a half years after the first pre-release version shipped in November 2004 and makes it one of the most popular browsers after Internet Explorer. It's commonly credited for unseating the Microsoft browser's near-absolute control of web browsers after the decline of Netscape and, as of the milestone, currently has just over 30 percent of the market while Internet Explorer has just over 60 percent.
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07/24, 3:20pm
Euro Win 7 Multi Browser
Microsoft this afternoon hoped to settle the European Commission's antitrust case over unfair web browser bundling by promising to give users a choice of web browsers when Windows 7 ships in October. The proposal mimics the EC's solution and would provide a "ballot" that lets first-time users choose from one of multiple browsers, all of which would be pre-loaded in Windows. As before, users could also download other browsers and set them as the default.
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07/17, 9:25am
Forefox security update
Mozilla has released an update to its browser, Firefox 3.5.1, which addresses a JavaScript security issue disclosed earlier in the week. The vulnerability could have been used by an attacker to execute malicious code. The latest version also corrects a number of other bugs for improved performance and stability, while the Windows version is said to shorten load time on certain systems.
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07/14, 6:00pm
Web Browser Comparison
With the latest versions of Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox recently released, it became time for a browser comparison to test whether or not improvements in standards and raw speed have made a difference. This is especially true given the rapid shift in market share from Internet Explorer's one-time dominance: according to Statcounter, Internet Explorer currently commands just 61 percent of the browser market, while Firefox has climbed to second place with 30 percent market share and the last 9 percent shared between Chrome, Opera, Safari and smaller rivals. Click through for our full browser tests to see whether those slices of the market are deserved.
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07/03, 9:55am
Post-Firefox 3.5 patch
Having just released Firefox 3.5 on Tuesday, Mozilla is already developing a minor troubleshooting update. The company says it expects Firefox 3.5.1 to be released in mid-to-late July, fixing three bugs and "topcrashes," referring to the most common crashes experienced by users. "[The] goal of this release should be a quick turnaround that fixes topcrashes and bugs we almost held ship for," a note states.
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06/30, 11:30am
Firefox 3 5 Official
Mozilla today published the final version of Firefox 3.5. The new version of the Gecko-based browser emphasizes speed with overall improvements as well as a new JavaScript engine, nicknamed TraceMonkey, that dramatically improves the speed of sites using such code; Mozilla estimates 3.5 is about as twice as fast as 3.0. Privacy and security are also bolstered with a new private browsing mode as well as better anti-phishing and malware detection.
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06/16, 3:35pm
Firefox bugs with networks
The recent Firefox 3.0.11 update is causing problems for many Mac users working with network-based home folders. Several bug reports indicate the browser is unable to locate the history or bookmarks, while the search field is inoperable and users cannot enter a URL into the access field. The problem reportedly affects both PPC- and Intel-based Macs.
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06/12, 8:45am
EU Say Win 7 E Not Enough
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.
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05/07, 8:05am
Mozilla Complains on Win 7
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.
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04/15, 3:40pm
Microsoft 2nd EU Delay
Microsoft today said it had been given a second extension by the European Commission to prepare a response against antitrust charges that it has unfairly controlled web browsers. Having already been given a first extension that gave it until April 21st, the American firm has until April 28th to provide its own stance and early defense against the claims. Why the added time is required hasn't been formally explained.
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03/28, 7:25pm
Firefox 3.0.8 update
Mozilla has released an update to its popular web browser, Firefox 3.0.8. The company has dealt with two security issues marked as critical under its rating of importance. The first fix involves the XUL method in some cases triggering garbage collection routines on objects which were still in use. This resulted in possible browser crashes when attempting to access a previously destroyed object, and could be used to run harmful code on a person’s computer.
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03/24, 7:40pm
OpenGL update
The Khronos Group has released an update to its graphics acceleration specification, OpenGL 3.1, while announcing a new project aimed at bringing 3D graphics to the Internet. The latest version of OpenGL offers an improved shading language, GLSL 1.40, with enhanced programmability, more efficient vertex processing, additional texturing functionality and improved buffer management.
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03/20, 3:25pm
IE8 Launch Stats
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.
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03/19, 7:50am
MS Launching IE8 Today
Microsoft on Thursday said it would launch Internet Explorer 8 at 12PM Eastern. The app is the company's first significant web browser release since 2006 and is partly meant to address gaps in its feature set compared to other, newer browsers: a new rendering engine makes it more compatible with true W3C web standards while still having support for IE-specific pages. It also has shortcuts to perform context-sensitive tasks through specific websites (such as a Facebook search), visual search suggestions, and a WebClip-like feature known as Web Slices that lets users bookmark specific sections of websites and see them at a glance.
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03/11, 11:50am
MS Extension on EU Charges
The European Commission today said it would give Microsoft extra time to respond to its statement of objection that accuses Microsoft of breaking antitrust laws by requiring that Internet Explorer ship with Windows. The American company now has until April 21st to provide an initial response after it complained that the original eight-week deadline, or March 12th, didn't give it enough time to offer a proper answer to the charges. It's not known if the delay will affect other aspects of the case.
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03/10, 10:25am
Firefox 3.1 becomes 3.5
The next major update for Firefox, v3.1, will instead become v3.5, says Mozilla's director for the browser, Mike Beltzner. Developers have allegedly complained that the v3.1 designation does not reflect the number of changes in the browser, which is already at v3.0.7 and yet missing components key to the former v3.1. Central is the addition of TraceMonkey, an engine which allows native code compilation within Mozilla's JavaScript technology.
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03/04, 3:40pm
Firefox Overtakes IE6
Firefox 3 has become the first non-Microsoft web browser to overtake Internet Explorer 6 in market share, according to new data from StatCounter. The open source browser climbed to 24 percent of users in February while IE6 dipped to just over 22.6 percent, making Firefox the second most popular browser by individual version. Although Internet Explorer 7 still leads with 40.8 percent, the Firefox increase narrows the gap as Microsoft's browser has remained largely flat since at least July.
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02/24, 10:35am
EU Requiring Non-IE Web
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.
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02/19, 5:00pm
Mozilla, Skype vs. Apple
Two prominent companies, Mozilla and Skype, have joined in opposition to Apple's stance on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Apple recently challenged an exemption to the DMCA proposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which would guarantee the legality of jailbreaking iPhones and other handsets. In its formal response, Apple complained that opening the law would risk damage to phones, and encourage breach of contract as well as copyright infringement.
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02/11, 5:05pm
Fennec browser outed
Mozilla's Firefox Mobile browser, Fennec, has been released on Tuesday for the HTC Touch Pro handset, albeit in an as yet unfinished Milestone Release, or pre-alpha build, says a Wednesday WMExperts report. The limited release of the software is lacking certain features, chief among them the automatic updates. Also, the HTC Touch Pro's virtual keyboard will not be usable with the browser, as there is no soft keyboard support in this version. Users will have to use the device's QWERTY keyboard to enter data. Plug-in support is also disabled in this version.
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02/09, 1:10pm
Mozilla joins EU vs. MS
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.
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02/05, 10:10am
Firefox 3.0.6 update
Mozilla has released Firefox 3.0.6, an update to its popular web browser. The company claims to have resolved several security issues, as well as stability problems which triggered crashes. Some security fixes include preventing people from changing a form input control's type during the restoration of a closed tab, which could be used in altering the input type to steal the content of a user’s local file. Also blocked is a Chrome XBL method that could be used with window.eval to execute JavaScript.
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01/06, 2:00pm
Kensington intros products
Kensington on Tuesday announced a range of new products, including a hands-free car kit for use with Bluetooth cellphones, its SlimBlade TrackBall mouse and a pair of two space- and energy-efficient notebook chargers. The Bluetooth speaker clips onto vehicle's sun visors and can pair up with three different cellphones and holds three frequently-called phone numbers for each handset. Swapping between the three handsets or dialing any of the pre-programmed numbers is done via pressing a single button. Kensington has integrated noise-cancelling technology for the device that makes calls loud and clear. Two battery packs are included, providing users with 10 hours of talk time.
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12/18, 4:55pm
MS quick to fix IE7 bug
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.
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12/16, 3:45pm
IE7 Zero-Day Exploit
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.
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12/10, 3:50pm
Firefox 3.1 B2 adds touch
A newer beta version of Firefox adds multi-touch support, Mozilla has announced. For owners of MacBooks with multi-touch trackpads -- new and old -- Firefox 3.1 beta 2 includes a variety of supported gestures, mainly swipes. Swiping left and right with three fingers will move forward and backward through a browser's history, while swiping up and down will jump to the beginning or end of a page.
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12/10, 12:05pm
Google Chrome Leaving Beta
Google's Chrome web browser is soon to exit beta thanks partly to a plan to expand its reach, company VP Marissa Miller has told TechCrunch at this year's Le Web conference in Paris. The WebKit-based browser has been relatively slow to gain share since its debut in September but will be marked as a finished product on an upcoming release to let PC makers bundle an officially completed version with their systems.
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12/01, 11:55am
Net Apps Share Nov 2008
New research data today from Net Applications has revealed both Apple and Mozilla bringing Microsoft's share of the web to historic lows for November. The Mac's usage share of the more than 40,000 websites tracked by the Internet firm has now reached 8.87 percent for the past month; the increase is a major jump from the previous record of 8.23 percent in September and is enough to have pushed Microsoft's Windows below 90 percent usage online for the first time in years.
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11/05, 12:15am
Firefox hits 20% usage
Firefox now boasts 20 percent global market share, according to a new document published by Net Applications, showing the spike during October. ReadWriteWeb reports that the Mozilla-developed web browser has seen a recent surge in possibility due to users seeking asylum from Internet Explorer's notoriously insecure nature. Firefox is facing increasing pressure in the web market, both from Apple and Microsoft, but also from newer competitors, such as Google's Chrome.
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10/15, 9:15am
Firefox 3.1 beta 1 posted
Mozilla has posted the first beta of Firefox 3.1, a major update to the group's multi-platform browser. This release is said to be a test of v3.1's new features, which include web standards improvements within the Gecko engine, support for CSS 2.1 and 3 styles, and a variety of new technologies, including offline applications, geolocation, SVG transforms and JavaScript query selectors. Site coders should now be able to use the "video" and "audio" elements.
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09/25, 11:15am
Mozilla, Apple fix exploit
Crash errors in Mozilla's Firefox browser have been fixed with help from Apple, the organization says. Bugs in earlier versions of Firefox 3 were said to have been crashing the software, sometimes generating memory corruption at the same time; Mozilla comments that while no threats have emerged, the potential existed for launching arbitrary code, such as malware. Two of these bugs -- found in the image rendering code -- were discovered by Drew Yao of Apple Product Security.
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08/06, 2:35pm
Mozilla Aurora Concept
The Mozilla Foundation is investigating web browsers that would allow users to share websites and compare information in real time, Aurora, the concept would revolve around the notion of data and pages organized into cells, or clusters of relevant information. The approach would not only let individuals jump to similar pages covering a given subject but would also allow fellow users to compare information from their own cells in real time; an integrated messaging system would let users speak to each other without interrupting the primary view.
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07/29, 8:50pm
Firefox 3.1 Alpha released
Mozilla has announced the release of Firefox 3.1 Alpha 1, "Shiretoko," for developers and testers. Built on the pre-release version of the Gecko 1.9.1 platform, Shiretoko includes a variety of new features. Called an "early developer milestone," the release includes bug fixes, improved Web standards support,Text API for the Canvas Element, support for border images and JavaScript query selectors, and improvements to the tab-switching function and the Smart Location Bar. Shiretoko is available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.
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07/23, 12:10pm
Ubuntu Head Asks Mac Rival
Canonical head and chief architect of Ubuntu Linux Mark Shuttleworth late Tuesday told developers at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention that Linux should go "beyond the Mac" in terms of its software experience. While not specific, he notes that the open source operating system should be at least as "crisp and clean" as Mac OS X while still offering the community benefits that come with fully opened code.
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07/17, 4:35pm
Firefox 2 and 3 updates
In an unusual move, Mozilla has released updates to two versions of its Firefox web browser. The current browser has been updated to v3.0.1, while its otherwise outdated predecessor has been updated to 2.0.0.16. One of the reasons for the patching is a remedy to a potential "carpet bomb" attack against Windows users, who must have both Safari and Firefox installed on the same computer. The attack also requires that a person actually have Firefox closed, while still running another online application. Having even the unpatched browser up and active will prevent any intrusions.
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06/23, 12:05pm
First Look: Firefox 3
For years, Internet Explorer defined the standard for web browsers. After years of neglect and security flaws however, the browser grew less popular, prompting the release of a number of rivals. Perhaps the most successful competition has been the open source Firefox browser, which emphasizes security foremost. Now with version 3, the browser also boasts faster speed along with a host of other improvements.
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06/17, 1:20pm
Firefox 3
Though servers offering the software are currently buckling and inaccessible to many users, Firefox 3.0 on Tuesday has made its debut with the Mozilla organization looking to set a record for browser downloads. The major new release of the open source Web browser is available today in approximately 50 languages, and is purportedly three times faster than its predecessor, offering "15,000 improvements" including a smart location bar and malware protection. The new Firefox 3 smart location bar, dubbed "Awesome Bar" by Mozilla, adapts to user entries over time. The Firefox 3 Library archives browsing history, bookmarks, and tags, where they can be searched and organized.
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06/12, 10:05am
Firefox 3 due on June 17th
Mozilla has announced that Firefox 3, the next version of its popular third-party web browser, will finally be released to the public on June 17th. Both the Mac and Windows versions should be available on the same date for free. Some new features in the browser include enhanced security, one-click bookmarks, tab scrolling and resumable downloads; on the Mac, users can turn on Growl notifications for items like completed downloads.
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06/11, 7:00pm
Firefox 3.0rc3 released
Mozilla.org has been forced by Apple to release yet another release candidate of its next-generation Firefox 3 browser. Firefox 3.0RC3, released on Wednesday for all operating systems, offers a single bug fix, a workaround for a bug introduced in the Apple's latest Mac OS X 10.5.3 update, released a few weeks ago. First noted by MacNN, the bug, which causes some systems to hang or crash at start-up or shutdown, has been tracked to changes Apple made to "VerifiedDownloadPlugin" in Mac OS X 10.5.3. While available for all systems, the workaround for the Mac OS X 10.5.3 bug is the only change each release and may affect the release date of the browser, which is set for middle of this month.
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06/06, 12:25pm
Mozilla & Mac OS X 10.5.3
A variety of Mozilla-based applications are triggering serious errors following Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.3 update, scattered reports indicate. Users are indicating that programs such as Firefox, Camino, Songbird and others are now spawning crashes and lock-ups, "zombie" processes, and an inability to shut down a Mac without using the power button. Mozilla is currently tracking the issue, but as of press time has not assigned a priority to the item, nor an estimated time for a solution.
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04/16, 8:40pm
Safari, Firefox patched
Apple today released Safari 3.1.1, an update to its cross-platform browser, while The Mozilla Foundation released FireFox 2.0.0.14, an update to the open-source browser. Safari 3.1.1 is available for Mac OS X Leopard/Tiger as well as Windows systems; it includes improvements to stability, compatibility and security. Specifically, the update addresses the flaw that allowed Charlie Miller to win $10,000 in the Pwn2Own contest at CanSecWest as well as another security issue affecting latest builds of Tiger (10.4.11) and Leopard (10.5.2) and two security issues affecting Windows XP/Vista. A little over two weeks after the flaw was utilized to hack into Mac OS X, Apple says it fixed the security issue (CVE-2008-1026) where a maliciously crafted web page may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution due to a heap buffer overflow in WebKit's handling of JavaScript regular expressions. Apple's newly patched browser addresses the issue by performing additional validation of JavaScript regular expressions.
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