Hasta La Gadget!

In China, the biggest search engine on the block isn’t Google; it’s Baidu. Baidu has announced the launch of a mobile browser to compete with UCWeb, Google, and Apple within the country. Mobile browsers are important within China because a huge number of people access the Internet on mobile devices.

Some of the latest statistics show that 388 million people access the Internet on mobile phones. That number puts the amount of people accessing the Web from mobile phones higher than the number of users who access from a desktop computer in the country for the first time. The new mobile browser will be called the Baidu Mobile Browser.

The new Chinese browser promises to be 20% faster than rivals based on internal tests. That statement came from Baidu’s general manager of mobile and cloud computing Li Mingyuan on Friday, at a pre-launch briefing reports Reuters. The mobile browser has a number of features, including the ability to access web-based mobile applications and the ability to run HD video through the browser.

Baidu says that its mobile browser can accomplish those tasks without having to download apps or other supporting software. Finding a way to make money off mobile web users is a huge goal for the Chinese search engine. The company makes most of its money off people who access the search engine via computers. With more people now accessing the site via mobile phones the push is on to find a way to monetize the traffic.

[via Reuters]

Baidu Mobile Browser launches is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Mozilla has been keeping to a tight schedule of having a completed Firefox release every five to six weeks, and it’s very much on track. The browser team’s Ehsan Akhgari has confirmed that a properly polished version of Firefox 15 should reach the download servers on August 29th. When it does arrive, the new release will primarily expand the silent updates that Windows users first saw in Firefox 12: future iterations on all platforms will install themselves in the background and should be truly ready to go the next time the browser starts. Beyond this deliberately subtle change, the finished version 15 upgrade should still support Opus audio as well as clamp down on out-of-control memory use from add-ons. We’re looking forward to not noticing the differences very shortly.

Update: Although it’s not on the front page yet, both Mozilla, reader Josh and this writer can confirm that Firefox 15 is rolling out sooner than expected — there’s no reason to wait.

Update 2: It’s now easier to get a stand-alone copy if you’re not updating, since Mozilla just updated the Firefox front page to reflect the new version. Android users are also getting an update through Google Play that brings earlier speed updates to tablets, a personalized start page and a whole host of extra fixes, some of which come directly from the desktop Firefox 15.

Filed under: Internet, Software

Firefox 15 to arrive in finished form on August 29th, promises truly stealthy updates for all (update 2: stand-alone, Android too) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 10:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Maxthon has long since escaped the days when it was chiefly a customized version of Internet Explorer on the desktop, and nowhere is that more apparent than its just-launched version of the normally WebKit-based browser for the iPhone and iPod touch. All the core features of the app carry over from earlier Android and iPad versions, such as an Opera-like grid of favorite pages, a download manager and a unified address bar, but it’s arguably more useful than the iPad edition: conventional browser tabs aren’t coming to smaller-screened iOS devices in a future mobile Safari build anytime soon. Bookmark syncing and an optimized reading mode also persist to reduce the chance that Maxthon users drift back towards the official Apple browser, even after iOS 6 rolls around. With that all-important “free” price tag, there’s every reason to give it a try — let others know in the comments if Maxthon is enough to take precedence over comparable iOS alternatives like Chrome.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

Maxthon web browser arrives in bite-sized form for iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 00:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adobe has been broadcasting as much as possible that Flash on Android is going away, although it’s been offering a grace period for those addicted to the plugin. It’s now time to wean yourself off. As Adobe warned earlier in the year, new installations from Google Play won’t be an option from August 15th onwards. Any downloads after that point will be limited to updates for existing installations or to those willing to raid Adobe’s archives — assuming would-be users aren’t already running Android 4.1, that is. While we’d still expect Flash to preserve some of its relevance in mobile as long as phones ship with it preinstalled, and alternatives like Skyfire persist, we’d strongly suggest getting comfortable with HTML5 and native apps from now on.

Filed under: Cellphones

PSA: Adobe halts new installs of Flash on Android as of tomorrow originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 21:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft, objecting to a web standard promoted by its competitors? Get out. While Firefox, Opera and now Chrome have implemented WebRTC on some level for plugin-free VoIP and webcam chats, Microsoft doesn’t think the existing, proposed standard is up to snuff for linking with existing devices or obeying “key web tenets.” It’s suggesting a new CU-RTC-Web standard to fix what it claims is broken with WebRTC. Thankfully, the changes are more technical improvements than political maneuvering: Microsoft wants a peer-to-peer transport level that gives more control as well as to reduce some of the requirements that it sees holding the technology back as of today. There’s no doubt an economic incentive for a company that wants to push Skype in the browser, but the format is already in front of the W3C and could become a real cross-platform standard. If other W3C members are willing to (slightly) reinvent the wheel, Microsoft’s approach could get Chrome and Internet Explorer users talking — no, really talking.

Filed under: Internet

Microsoft no fan of existing WebRTC standard, proposes its own to get Skype onboard originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 15:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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