Roughly half a dozen new mobile operating systems will come to market over the next 6 to 12 months. Many of these look to be more sophisticated than the older ones controlled by Apple and Google, for whom serious competition could be just around the corner. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Saturated markets and a slumping global economy shrank sales of mobile phones in 2012. But demand for smartphones will help restore growth moving forward, as shipments of smartphones worldwide will surpass those of feature phones in 2013. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The new version aims to provide a simpler interface for wrangling hundreds of data points per site visit. Qubit has also released research about browser user value, with IE users coming out on top. Read more »
There’s both good and bad in Google’s news that it would be forking WebKit to create the Blink rendering browser engine. It really comes down to motive: Is it just for speed of development or for more control over web standards? Read more »
From a unified search and address bar to curated content discovery and a reimagined Speed Dial, the first of Opera’s overhauled browsers appears as new on the outside as it is under the hood. Read more »
Delivering and managing the web experience isn’t just about mobile. Companies are also faced with new challenges in the desktop environment, including browser fragmentation, network evolution, and client-side technologies. They must invest in both the desktop environment as well as to create an optimized experience for mobile. Read more »
Firefox is has released version 17 of its browser, which its new Social API. Users who update to the latest version can now connect to Facebook Messenger, the first service that will work in Firefox’s new sidebar. Read more »
The organization behind Firefox, which is in the early stages of a serious mobile push, says it wants to be ‘where new web trends are created’ — and that means the German capital, where it could link up with some of the city’s mobile app developers. Read more »
Apple and Google still dominate the smartphone space, but look out for Microsoft, which finally has some muscle behind its mobile strategy. Meanwhile mobile-browser developers went head-to-head with native apps, and Facebook continued to buy mobile expertise via acquisition. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Facing a fresh investigation from EU regulators over its failure to promote a choice of browsers to Windows 7 users, Microsoft has swiftly blamed a ‘technical error’. But will that be enough to save it from a gigantic fine? Read more »
After months of testing and refinement, Firefox for Android loses its beta tag, bringing a fast mobile web experience to devices running Android 2.2 or greater. The updated browser touts a full web experience, new security features, desktop sync and delivers on its promise of speed. Read more »
Mozilla has a new beta version of its mobile Firefox browser for Android. The software is still a work in progress, but shows promise with a redesigned user interface, faster startup and support for Flash. In a JavaScript test, it’s as fast as Chrome for Android! Read more »
Could a smartphone run solely on web code instead of native software? Mozilla thinks so and recently demonstrated such a device on video, replacing the Google Android operating system on a Samsung Galaxy S II phone with its Boot 2 Gecko (B2G) technology. Read more »
If you’re like many of us, you’re already thinking over some New Year’s resolutions that will make you a better “you” in 2012. But how are the tech industries’ thought leaders approaching the new year? We asked 12 of them for their resolutions. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Gui:Config is a Firefox add-on that provides a simple interface for many of the most-tweaked about:config settings via a familiar options-style window. It makes it much easier to change the settings that can normally only be found in the about:config screen. Read more »
Google’s Chrome browser is continuing to grow in popularity. According to StatCounter, a website analytics company, Chrome is now used by a fifth of Internet users worldwide, taking 20.7 percent of the global browser market in June, up from just 2.8 percent in June 2009. Read more »
As well as add-ons, Firefox has a vast number of settings you can adjust via a special “about:config” page. But what happens if you’ve spent ages tweaking those settings to customize your browser perfectly, but you have to re-install it due to a hard drive crash? Read more »
QuickFox Notes is a great little note-taking add-on for Firefox, packed with an array of features. Its notes can be synced between different machines, and it also works with Simplenote. But by using an extension, you can modify QuickFox Notes to save notes to Google Docs. Read more »
In a blog post, Google has announced that it will soon discontinue support for older browsers in Google Apps. Beginning Aug. 1, Google Apps will only officially support the current and prior major release of Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari, on a rolling basis. Read more »
Firefox has a huge number of customizable settings in its “about:config” page. Unfortunately there’s no built-in documentation to tell you what each setting actually does. What’s That Preference? is a handy add-on that enables you to quickly look up any preference on the MozillaZine knowledge base. Read more »
Is it because it’s tucked away in an “advanced” menu that users don’t know about? Or is it because most users simply aren’t that bothered by… Read more at paidContent »
RockMelt is set to launch a mobile version of its browser, which integrates social media tools. RockMelt’s move into mobile this week comes just one month after the public debut of its desktop browser. Read more »
As part of my efforts to improve my productivity, I’ve been looking for tools that can help me during research. One such tool is Trails, a Firefox add-on that can collect text snippets and images from the web, and structure them into a clean booklet layout Read more »
If you tend to use a few different search engines, check out Drag & DropZones, a nifty Firefox add-on that makes searching in a variety of search engines as easy as dropping text on an appropriate drop zone in your browser window. Read more »
Firefox 4 included an update to its JavaScript engine which made serious performance gains. Now Mozilla is addressing another cause of sluggishness: slow start-up times caused by add-ons. It’s published a list of the worst performers, and is recommending that users disable add-ons they don’t use. Read more »
Amazon continued its push into the land of Androids this week with the debut of a new on-line digital locker for music and updated Android app to stream tunes. Developers can now add in-app purchases to their Android software and Firefox Mobile launched on handsets. Read more »
Mozilla’s new Firefox Mobile 4 browser is available for Android and Maemo, boasting faster speeds, desktop synchronization and more, although support for Adobe Flash is missing. The mobile app could offset Mozilla’s falling desktop browser share, but chances are that most Android owners will stay stock. Read more »
Some time ago, we put together an official WWD add-ons collection for Firefox, gathering together our favorite add-ons at the time. With the speedy Firefox 4 being released this week, some of you may be giving it a try, so I thought I’d update the list. Read more »
If you’re busy playing with your fresh download of the new Firefox 4, you might not have put much thought into how you’ll back up your history, passwords and bookmarks. Fortunately, there are a couple of options that make backing up your profile data really easy. Read more »
In the past few days, the final versions of Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 4 have both arrived. We haven’t seen any major issues yet, but here is a short list of tests you’ll want to make when a new browser becomes available. Read more »
Microsoft has released IE9, the latest version of the venerable Internet Explorer browser. To check out how it compares to to its competitors, I installed it (which, unlike other browsers, required me to restart my machine) and ran it through a few different benchmarking tools. Read more »
Mozilla released the newest beta of Firefox for Android, and it’s a screamer. Benchmark tests show that Firefox’s JavaScript engine is more than twice as fast as Android’s native browser. Even the Motorola Xoom shows more speed with this new mobile version of Firefox. Read more »
We are all concerned about online privacy, but not enough to do much about it, according to a new survey. Which raises the question: browsers like Firefox, Chrome and IE9 are adding support for a “Do Not Track” feature, but will anyone actually use it? Read more »
One of the fun things about writing here is that I get to experiment with a bunch of apps and devices. Here’s a list of the products I tried in 2010 that have made their way into my everyday work life. Read more »
Firefox has taken the number one spot in browser market share in Europe, pushing past Internet Explorer for the first time, according to StatCounter. But the real battle for Firefox is with Chrome, the Google browser that continues to gain market share at a rapid pace. Read more »
Firefox has an irritating habit of switching into “Work Offline” mode if it detects that the Internet connection drops. The good news is that there’s a new option that you can use to prevent the browser from automatically switching into “Work Offline” mode. Read more »
With Gist for Firefox, you get a Gmail widget that brings up information about all the individuals mentioned in the “To:” or “Cc:” fields of an opened email. You can choose to view their social media feeds, their profile, interaction stats, and notes. Read more »
The release of Firefox 4 has been postponed, with a release candidate of expected to ship in early 2011, with a final release to come shortly after, according to a posting by Mozilla Director of Firefox Mike Beltzner on the mozilla.dev.planning newsgroup. Read more »
In recent days, a new tool called Firesheep has become available to “sniff out” login information that’s being sent over wireless networks. Such tools have always been available, but this one makes it easy for anyone to collect other people’s private data. Read more »
Search engine optimization (SEO), the process of optimizing a web page to improve its visibility in search engines, can seem like a complicated business. SEO Doctor, a free add-on for Firefox, can help. It has an easy-to-understand scoring mechanism to help you find potential SEO problems. Read more »
