Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on February 24, 2009 by CyberNet.

Windows; Mac;
Today Apple kind of took everyone by surprise when they released a big milestone for the Safari browser. The new Safari 4 Beta from Apple borrows some ideas from their competition, and they spiced it up a bit with some fancy graphics. This is most notably seen in the “Top Sites” screen as seen in the image above. It’s a combination of Opera’s Speed Dial and Google Chrome’s most frequently visited pages. Then they added a little glamor to really make it pop.

The Windows version also received a major visual overhaul so that it actually fits in well with the operating system, and for the most part feels a lot like Google Chrome. Especially since the tabs are located along the top on the titlebar… again, like Chrome.

When it comes down to speed Apple has actually managed to squeeze out a bit more. I ran the Mac version of the browser on the SunSpider test against Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 (also Mac), and Safari 4 Beta squeaked out on top. It took Firefox 3.1 a total of 1409.6ms to run all the tests, and Safari 4 was 1276.8ms (lower number is better). It’s not much of a difference, but Firefox 3.1 beat out Safari 3 proving that Apple didn’t focus solely on appearance this time around.

Aside from that here are some of the features Apple pointed out for Safari 4:

• Top Sites – See your favorite websites at a glance.
• Cover Flow – Flip through your site history or bookmarks like you flip through albums in iTunes
• Full History Search – Easily retrieve sites you’ve seen before.
• Tabs on Top – Manage your tabs elegantly and open a wide window for exploring the web.
• Nitro Engine – Surf the web with the world’s fastest browser.
• Windows Native Look and Feel – Vista and XP users will feel right at home.
• Developer Tools – Access the best suite of development tools ever included in a browser.

I’m diggin’ Safari 4 on my Mac, and despite being a rather dedicated Firefox user I plan on giving Safari a fair shot. I think Google might be able to grab an edge on Safari once they add support for extensions, but until then I think Windows users will, at the very least, be giving the browser a shot.

So what do you think? The number of web browsers and what they’re capable of doing is getting pretty amazing when you think about where this market was just a few years ago. I can’t wait to see what comes next, and what company it will come from.

Haven’t read enough? Here are some more articles worth checking out regarding this release:

• This is one fast browser – by Hardware 2.0
• Safari 4 Hidden Preferences – by Random Genius
• Safari 4 a big step up, but not as far as rivals – by Webware
• Safari 4 First Impressions – by Gizmodo

Get Safari 4 Beta for Windows or Mac

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Apple continues to push iPhone OS 4 towards release with a new beta update. The update, available to iPhone developers only, adds a few new features which are worth a look.

First is a screen orientation lock. Unlike the iPad’s dedicated hardware button, the iPhone adds an extra on-screen button to the little dock that pops up when you double-tap the home button. This is the “multi-tasking” dock that also lets you switch between open applications. Right now, the new button lets you lock the screen in portrait mode only.

The iPod buttons have also moved to this control strip, and we presume that they replace the dialog panel which pops up when you double-tap the home button in the current iPhone OS. You also get a button to access the iPod app.

Finally, when the multi-tasking tray is open, you’ll see a button on each app that lets you quit it. This looks a lot like a task manager. I’d be constantly worrying that there were too many applications open, sucking my battery.

It looks a little ugly, but to be fair this is still beta, and Apple is likely still working through the best way to do things. These new buttons are accessed in the same way as the search screen on the current iPhone: Once you have accessed the dock, you swipe to the right to reveal this new panel. At least this part make sense, although the once-simple iPhone OS looks to be getting a lot more complicated.

iPhone OS 4 Beta 3 Available, First Details [Mac Stories via Mac Rumors and 9to5 Mac]

The last time Apple dropped a release of iPhone OS 4.0, it left more than a few downloaders in crumpled heaps on the floor, sobbing quietly to themselves as they tried desperately to come to terms with the fact that their beloved iPhones were far less usable than they had been just a few minutes prior. Well, we don’t know yet if beta 3 is any better, but it’s here — and if you’re a member of Apple’s iPhone dev program, it’s ready for you to install. So yeah — take care, good luck, godspeed, be prepared for the worst, and hope for the best. Let us know how it goes in comments, yeah?

Update: And… it’s been pulled. Good thing we just restored our phone. We’ll let you know if and when it comes back.

Update 2: Turns out you can still access the firmware with a little creative URL hackery — but you’ve still got to be an iPhone dev program member, naturally. Thanks, Brian!

Update 3: Reports are coming in that it’s back and available without any trickery!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

iPhone OS 4.0 beta 3 is ready for your scrutiny (update: it’s back!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 May 2010 14:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Has the Nokia N8 made a Symbian^3 believer out of you? If so, you’ll be glad to know the beta tag has been peeled off the web application development tools for the platform, which — according to Executive Director Lee Williams — provide “an ideal entry point” for coders of all skill levels. This is because the primary languages spoken are HTML, CSS and JavaScript, familiar to almost anyone who’s tried to create for the web, and with just a little extra JavaScript exercise, you’re promised access to the phone’s contacts, camera, accelerometer, and location. It sounds all kinds of refreshing, but the usefulness of this tool set and the entire environment will be determined by what people produce with it — and to that end we’ve provided you with a link to the downloads page (Windows, Mac and Linux users are all being served) where you can get your Symbian dev career started in earnest.

Continue reading Symbian^3 web app development tools come out of beta, aim for standardized simplicity

Symbian^3 web app development tools come out of beta, aim for standardized simplicity originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 06:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Be clear on this: if you’re not a jailbreak app developer then the redsn0w 0.9.5 beta release is not for you. The iPhone OS 4 jailbreak previously hinted at is for real and it’s for devs only so that they can prep their wares for the summer update. Don’t worry, it doesn’t reveal anything new to Apple and no, it won’t work on the iPad — it’s Mac OSX only, iPhone 3G only, and iPhone 4.0 beta 1 only for now. But hey, it’s early days, at least you know it’s out there and that people smarter than you are tending to things.

iPhone OS 4 jailbreak released to developers, not you originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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