Hasta La Gadget!

Color us resolutely unsurprised at the news that devs are starting to abandon the Windows Mobile platform in favor of, well, longer-lived opportunities. Firefox’s maker, Mozilla, has come out with a statement that it’s ceasing development of its WinMo builds and — perhaps more importantly — it’s also curtailing work on a Windows Phone 7 offering until Microsoft opens its new platform up to native apps. So basically, no Native Development Kit from Microsoft equals no Firefox for Windows Phone from Mozilla. The browser maker does express hope, however, that Microsoft will make it possible to deliver the popular IE alternative in the future, pointing out that the underlying Windows CE 6 architecture suits Firefox well and the company is “well positioned to have an awesome browser on Windows Phone 7.” For now, the focus in Mozilla’s mobile HQ remains on bringing out a great product on the less restrictive Android and MeeGo platforms.

Mozilla halts Firefox development for Windows Mobile, won’t offer it on Windows Phone 7 without NDK originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 06:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on July 09, 2007 by CyberNet.

Mozilla added two nice new features in Firefox 3 nightlies that should help protect users from phishing attacks. The first feature will be familiar to those of you using the LocationBar² extension, and it was actually added by the same person who developed the extension. The goal of this feature is to make the domain and subdomains in the URL stand out a little more. Here’s what the URL now looks like when you visit an article on our site:

As soon as you hover your mouse over the Address Bar all of the text turns to the standard black. This will hopefully make people more aware of the sites they are visiting, and I think that a feature like this should be in every browser. Although I am still a little skeptical whether emphasis should be placed on the subdomain since a lot of fake addresses look like paypal.phishingdomain.com.

This feature isn’t exactly like the LocationBar² extension though, because it does not make the URL navigatable by clicking on different segments. It would have been cool to have this put in Firefox as well, but that is probably a bit much since they want to focus on simplicity.

The second thing that they implemented is an automatic URL-decoding technique to display a more readable address. For example, Firefox 3 will now take a URL like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%43%68%69%63%61%67%6F

and transform it into this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago

Both of those point to the same page, but the first one is encoded a little differently. The second URL is obviously a lot more readable and understandable than the first one, which is why both Internet Explorer and Opera are already setup to "decode" all URL’s that are like the first one. This becomes important when users are subjected to phishing attacks that use complicated URL’s to try and confuse the individual.
Source: The Burning Edge

On a slightly related note Opera Watch recently pointed out a shortcut for the Opera browser which navigates up a folder/directory in the current URL. You can either press Ctrl+Backspace or using a mouse gesture you can hold down the right-click button, and then drag your mouse up and to the left. Doing this would take you from here:

http://cybernetnews.com/fun-opera-user-facts/

to here:

http://cybernetnews.com/2007/07/07/

Copyright © 2010 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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This article was written on May 05, 2007 by CyberNet.

Weekend Website

Some of the best software available originates from open source projects (i.e. Linux, and Firefox) where peers contribute and review the software in development. These projects give programmers the opportunity to change programs to suit their needs which also opens the door for a lot of customization.

One way that you can keep up-to-date with Open Source software is a website called SWiK.  SWiK is a project of Sourcelabs, and they’re a community driven resource for Open Source software.  Users come and document the open-source software that they’re familiar with, and then everybody benefits from their knowledge.  SWiK relies heavily on the community, and without the users, SWiK wouldn’t exist.

It’s like Wikipedia, Del.icio.us, and Digg all mixed into one, but it’s just for anything related with Open Source projects. The great thing about SWiK is that it showcases all of the hard work that people have put into their Open Source projects. If you’re unfamiliar with Open Source projects and you’d like to find and discover new ones, this is the perfect place to start.

Features:

• Tags are a big part of SWiK. All of their content is organized using Tags, so it’s a key element.
• Digg-like element where people can submit stories regarding open-source software.
• RSS: Subscribe to your favorite projects.
• Feeds can be s

There’s not a lot of content that makes it to this site on a daily basis, maybe one or two new items per day. However this is nice because then you’re not over-whelmed with new content- it’s just enough.

Get involved:

Getting involved at SWiK is really easy. One way is by adding an open-source project that hasn’t been added yet.  Another option is by editing already added projects with new/updated information. If you know something that hasn’t been added, add it (much like Wikipedia)!

Another important feature is the search.  If you’re looking for new projects, you can use the tag feature to search. You can also search by Tags in a cloud-view, or just use the search box.

Wrapping it up:

While SWiK is not the most active community out there, it serves its purpose – to allow people to share information about open source projects. If you’ve come across a great project that you weren’t quite sure how to make the most of, visit SWiK and see if there’s a page for it that might give you more details.

Pages of Interest:

• Linux on SWiK
• Ajax on SWiK
• Mozilla on SWiK

Visit SWiK: http://swik.net

Copyright © 2010 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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In the last quarter, Chrome, Safari and Opera all set new personal bests for browser market share with 4.63, 4.46 and 2.4 percent respectively. This period marks the first time Chrome has beaten Safari to third spot, while their collective prosperity comes at the expense of IE, which continues to hemorrhage users at a rate of 0.92 percentage points a month. Microsoft’s 62.7 percent slice might still look mighty, but projections from Net Applications suggest it could shrink to below 50 percent by May of this year. Unless something magical happens. You’ll probably also want to know that Net Applications monitors incoming traffic to over 40,000 websites and generates a sample size of about 160 million unique visitors each month — making the veracity of its claims pretty robust. One hidden sign of our collective laziness: 21 percent of all users last quarter were still fulfilling their browsing needs with IE 6. For shame.

Internet Explorer losing users as other browsers set share records originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The debate over the longevity of native software continues. Mozilla, creator of Firefox, claims that its new browser for smartphones will contribute to the death of smartphone app stores.

Scheduled to begin appearing on devices at the end of this year, the Firefox mobile browser, code-named Fennec, will be packed with features to make it the closest thing yet to a real, desktop-class browser. (Wired.com’s Mike Calore has a detailed look at Fennec.) Mozilla claims it will have the fastest JavaScript engine of any mobile browser, allowing developers to produce HTML- and JavaScript-coded apps for Fennec rather than for multiple smartphone platforms, such as iPhone OS, Google Android or Windows Mobile.

“In the interim period, apps will be very successful,” said Jay Sullivan, vice president of Mozilla’s mobile division, in an interview with PC Pro. “Over time, the web will win because it always does.”

Web proponents such as Mozilla and Google dream that internet standards will enable any app to run on any device, just as Java proponents touted a “write once, run anywhere” vision in the 1990s. Similarly, Adobe’s Flash emerged as a cross-platform environment for creating animations, games and apps for the web. But many consumers and developers have complained that Java and Flash exhibit bugs, performance problems and security vulnerabilities, among other issues. And Java’s promises of universality didn’t quite work out, because different implementations of the Java virtual machine (not to mention wildly varying hardware capabilities) mean that, even today, Java coders need to rework their apps for each target device.

But web proponents maintain that the wide acceptance of next-generation internet standards, particularly HTML5, will win out where Java failed.

It’s a tempting vision. Currently, when deciding whether to buy a Mac or a PC, an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3, or an iPhone or a Droid, you need to consider which applications you’ll be able to run on each one. If programmers head in the direction of the web, then ideally you’ll be able to gain access to any application regardless of the computer or smartphone you own.

Google is attempting to lead the web movement. The search giant is pushing its web-only regime with Chrome OS, its browser-based operating system for netbooks that will run only web applications. Also, in July, Google’s engineering vice president and developer evangelist Vic Gundotra said in a conference that mobile app stores have no future.

“Many, many applications can be delivered through the browser and what that does for our costs is stunning,” Gundotra was quoted in a Financial Times report. “We believe the web has won and over the next several years, the browser, for economic reasons almost, will become the platform that matters and certainly that’s where Google is investing.”

But iPhone developers and analysts polled in July by Wired.com explained the problems with current web technologies, and some highlighted the merits of native-app architecture.

Interpet analyst Michael Gartenberg noted that many iPhone apps are a combination of native and web technologies, because many apps download or share data through the internet. He said it’s beneficial for the apps to be native, because they’re programmed to take full advantage of the iPhone’s hardware.

“It’s odd that Google feels the need to position as one versus the other,” Gartenberg said in July. “That’s last century thinking…. It’s not about web applications or desktop applications but integrating the cloud into these applications that are on both my phone and the PC. Ultimately, it’s about offering the best of both worlds to create the best experience for consumers — not forcing them to choose one or the other.”

With Firefox’s mobile browser rolling out soon, we have yet to see how consumers and developers react to Mozilla’s attempt to spark a web-only exodus. We’ll continue examining this topic in the months to come.

Meanwhile, what are your thoughts about the web-versus-native debate? Add your comments, or participate in the poll below.

See Also:

• Google Says Mobile App Stores Have No Future
• Google Chrome OS: Ditch Your Hard Drives, the Future Is the Web …
• New Firefox ‘Fennec’ Alpha Arrives as Mobile Browser Wars Heat Up …
• iPhone Opens to Some 3rd-Party Web Browsers, But Not Mobile …
• They Shrunk My Firefox! Mozilla Shows Off Touch-Sensitive Mobile …