Google has announced the latest in its Chrome Experiments, an in-browser game called Cube Slam that lets you slam a small cube into your friend’s face (or a bear’s face, if you’re so inclined). While this isn’t the first game of this nature we’ve seen, this is arguably one of the most enjoyable, bringing a
A new version of iOS means a new Safari browser, and iOS 7 updates the mobile internet browser with a brand new interface and new features. The iOS 7 Safari is supposedly faster than any version of the app before, and also makes finding information from different sites and services more straightforward. There’s a unified
Talk to those high up at Mozilla and they’ll tell you that the platform war for third place is a waste of time; that Windows Phone and BlackBerry are as doomed as each other, because developers will never, ever be interested in the “five percent”. That’s not to say there isn’t room for a rebellious alternative, but the way Mozilla sees it, such an option has already been available since the beginning. It’s not another proprietary ecosystem, but something that spans all ecosystems: namely, the web itself, in all its open and hackable glory.
On the other hand, Johnathan Nightingale, VP of Firefox Engineering, acknowledges that most of his estimated 450 million users don’t care a jot for this type of sermonizing. All they want is a good browser, which means Nightingale is in a constant “fight” with Chrome and IE over market share and new features. With Firefox OS barely off the ground (and full of uncertainty), and with no iOS relationship to speak of either, it falls to Firefox for Windows, Mac and Android to wage this war, and if you read on you’ll discover why Nightingale thinks these browsers will win — even when they may appear to be losing.
Microsoft loves talking about its Internet Explorer 10 web browser, but who can blame them? This time around, however, the company was proud to proclaim that the new browser is the most energy efficient browser out of the bunch, according to the Center for Sustainable Energy Systems at Fraunhofer USA. Microsoft says that when compared
Ever been concerned about the energy consumption of your web browser? Us neither, but that hasn’t stopped Microsoft from ballyhooing that stat to sway you in favor of Internet Explorer. According to the latest tests it commissioned from Fraunhofer USA, IE10 uses up to 18 percent less power in browsing, Flash and HTML5 tasks than its main rivals, Chrome and Firefox. The company claims that translates into more than just boon for your battery life. Redmond goes so far as to say that if every single Chrome and Firefox user switched to IE10, it would save enough energy to power over 10,000 US homes for a year (translation: Google and Mozilla are hurting the Earth). We can’t and won’t vouch for the authenticity of that statement, but we do know that’s a lot of users we’re talking about.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
Via: Techcrunch
Source: Microsoft
If you’re an avid user of Tweetdeck, we hope you’re also okay feeling the brisk winds of change. The browser-based app, as well as the version on Chrome, has been updated with a fresh and clean user interface. The new design moves all of your options, settings and other buttons to one simple navigation bar on the left side of the app. The sidebar can be expanded to reveal more information about each icon, though most of what you see there will also appear if you simply hover your cursor above the associated symbol. The new interface also adds improvements to lists and settings as well.
Filed under: Desktops
Source: Tweetdeck
When Camino’s web browser launched in February 2002 as Chimera, it rescued many Mac users caught between a dying Internet Explorer and the distant launches of Firefox (Phoenix) and Safari. It’s unfortunate, then, that the Camino team has just laid their once-heroic browser to rest. There’s little surprise as to why, though: Camino hasn’t been keeping pace with its rivals, which makes it both obsolete and a security risk. We won’t mourn when there’s now an abundance of alternatives, but we’ll certainly pay our last respects.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Via: TUAW
Source: Camino
Most everyone we know will play a browser-based game from time to time. While there are plenty to choose from, there are some from Google that are a bit more unique. These, while games, are actually experiments. To be specific, Google launches these games as Chrome Experiments. We got a look at one called World Wide Maze a few months back and Google was showing one called Racer during I/O.
As of today we have one that should be familiar to anyone that has spent time playing games in an arcade or at a carnival. The game is Skee-Ball, though Google has it listed as Roll It. Regardless of the name though, the concept is the same, you roll the balls down the lane launching them to the score buckets above. The unique part about this version is how you play. The game requires the use of a desktop browser and a mobile device.
The game play is pretty simple, using your mobile device you set the angle to roll the ball and then swing to roll the ball. The obvious bit about holding your device tightly should go without saying, but that was the warning just in case. While the game play is simple, so is the setup process. Taking a step back and looking at that, you begin by launching the Roll It experiment from the Chrome Experiments website. From this point Google will take you step by step, which is really nothing more than launching Chrome on your mobile device, surfing to a website and entering a code to pair with your computer.
Once at this point you can begin playing. While fun to play, we cannot imagine many spending all that much time using this. In our time playing the game ran nice and smooth, though it did have the fan on our MacBook Air screaming. Perhaps key though, Google uses these experiments to highlight the ease of use. That is to show how you can run these types of games with nothing to install and no real configuration of any kind.
In this case, the Roll It Chrome Experiment is showing off the following items; WebSockets, HTML5 Canvas, Three.js, Go,Google App Engine and Google Compute Engine. Otherwise, while the process to get up and running is rather simple, you can get a brief look at the process as well as the game play in the video sitting above.
SOURCE: Chrome Experiments
Chrome experiment Roll It brings Skee Ball to the browser is written by Robert Nelson & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Opera has launched a new version of its desktop browser, Opera Next, complete with the Chromium engine from Google’s portfolio. “Made from scratch” according to Opera, the new version features a redesigned Speed Dial interface with support for folders; shortcuts can be dragged and dropped on top of each other to instantly create a folder, and there’s a combined search box which merges in bookmarks too.
Other changes sees the new Discover feature added, which sifts through categorized topics – such as food, technology, or sport – and automatically pulls out content both global and localized on that theme.
The personalization element of the new features is part of a push by Opera to make the browser more focused for each user. Stash, another new addition, is basically a researching bookmark tool, clipping pages with a “heart” icon for easier recall later on. Opera expects it to be useful for shopping research or when planning a holiday, and Stash supports keyword search for easier filtering.
Opera Next demo:
It’s the underlying engine change which heralds the biggest alteration, however. The switch to Chromium previews Opera’s eventual plans to adopt Google’s Blink engine; even before that, the new version of Opera Next is said to be faster than ever before.
Off-Road, the “Opera Turbo” feature, has been fettled to support SPDY protocol, and now works with more sites, and the mail client has been cut out and will now be offered separately rather than bundled with the browser. That too has been revamped in line with Opera Next 15.
Versions of Opera Next are available for both Mac and Windows.
Opera Next browser released with Chromium engine under the hood is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Opera for desktops may be a couple of steps behind the recently finalized Android version, but it’s coming along nicely. A preview build of the now WebKit-based browser (or, technically, Blink-based) is available to try on Windows and Mac with a bunch of features which in some ways look similar to other browsers and add-ons, but which also do things a bit differently:
One thing you won’t find is an integrated Opera Mail client, since that’s been split from the desktop browser (due to “popular demand”) and is now available as a release candidate for a forthcoming standalone product. You’ll find full download linkage below.
Filed under: Desktops, Internet, Software
Source: Opera Next for Windows, Opera Next for Mac, Opera Mail
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