Mozilla has updated Firefox to 3.5.6 version.
You can use "Help -> Check for Updates" option to update your browser or it'll automatically notify you about the update very soon.
You can download it using following direct download links:
Download
Mozilla Firefox 3.5.6 (Windows)
Mozilla Firefox 3.5.6 (Mac OSX)
You can read about all changes in this update at following link:
Microsoft has announced that on July 13, 2010, both Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2000 server and client support will come to an end. Microsoft is offering migration guides for free online to help upgrade from Windows XP and Windows 2000 to Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2.
Windows XP currently holds more than 69% of the operating system market, while Vista currently holds 18.55% and Windows 7 with just over 5% and growing.
Users looking to upgrade to Windows Vista should know that Microsoft is set to support it up until 2012, and have not revealed plans to extend support further. Windows XP users will be happy to know Microsoft will be supporting Windows XP SP3 until 2014.
It was expected that the shipping date announcement would have come during PDC 2009, however here it comes a couple of weeks later. The beta was made available for free for early testers -- much like what Microsoft did with Windows 7.
In an interview with Betanews, Janice Kapner a company communications senior director spilled some beans about what's to come with one of Microsoft's next most eagerly awaited products, Office Web Apps.
The Office Web Apps were never expected to carry the same functionality as the desktop applications, and from their conversation it seems that you might not get much more functionality than you get today with Google Docs and Zoho, being given just enough features so that you can write a "quick letter" and share it someone, rather than write a 50-page term paper.
Besides the free online edition of Microsoft Office, there is another free feature-limited version of Office for those on a budget. The new Starter edition of Office 2010 is to be a ad-supported version of Office which will be only come bundled with new computers.
Rumors have been circulating that Google is preparing to update its search results and images that show off the new look.
The new search interface appears to be tested on random people as the user who reported the image was never invited nor accepted a beta invitation from Google. The new interface brings it inline with Google Wave but still keeps the to traditional Google minimalism.
Don't be surprised to see Google Wave, Chrome, Gmail, Maps and other Google applications to be integrated further into Google search as they attempt to blur the line between search and their other products.
1. Go to Google.com.
2. Once it loads, enter this code into your web browser's URL address field:
javascript:void(document.cookie="PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com");
There shouldn't be any http://google.com in front of that. Just that code.
3. Hit enter.
4. Reload or open a new Google.com page and you will have a access to The New google interface
It's fast and sweet, although the changes don't affect all the available sections.
Just days away from an event at Google where the company will reveal more about one of their rumored and now confirmed projects - Chrome OS, package files and pictures have leaked showing the operating system (or at least the browser part of it) running on top of a Ubuntu install with themes and a new logo.
The files that leaked were hosted on a public Google server, and were found by Living in a Google World earlier this week. The Operating System which is very unstable (as expected) was leaked for only a few hours, and then taken down - but not before some users got copies of the files.
The part of the Operating System we can see here, at this point, looks like the Linux variant of Chrome, but with new universal themes and a new logo - that when clicked sends you to Google Short Links (which we don't know about either) - but this requires a Google.com account, which are reserved for Google Employees. At this point the "Chrome OS" is actually running on top of Ubuntu.
In addition to this, on Thursday night Google is hosting an event to reveal more about the Operating System and other emerging Google technologies. This recent invite was sent out to some bloggers:
"Join us for an evening at Google featuring presentations by Paul Rademacher on Google Maps and Ben Goodger on Chrome OS. Presentations will be followed by a short Q&A. Once the formalities have finished there will be further opportunity to meet and mingle with other attendees as well as Googlers from Chrome/ChromeOS, Maps, GMail and Search. Oh, and of course there will be plenty of food and beverages for everyone. We hope to see you there!"
Not much else is known about the Operating System at the moment, but Chrome OS is expected to be a very bare-bones OS, relying on the cloud for most of it's operations (for obvious reasons).
Screenshots:
Ideally you will need to toggle, got back and forward to see contents of Google Docs file received as attachment in Gmail. Using new Google Labs feature “Google Docs previews in mail”, you can preview and read contents on Google Docs file (including document, spreadsheet, presentation) directly in Gmail.
1. Goto Gmail.com & login into your account.
2. Click Settings link at top right.
3. Then click the Labs tab option.
4. Select enable next to “Google Docs previews in mail”.
5. Click Save changes button.
After you enable this Labs feature, you can preview Google Doc files directly in Gmail inbox, just like previously launched feature to preview Youtube videos, Picasa and Flickr Photos.
source: GmailBlog
The newest version of the browser, currently in development, is 3.6; it's not a huge upgrade, as Mozilla plans to save the bigger changes for version 4.0, but it's still packing some nice improvements. According to The Register, the new version will come with tweaks which improve the TraceMonkey javascript engine, an 'optimized session restore', plus additions to the CSS technology in the browser and improved page rendering speed. There is a discussion about the new version here, with official Firefox developers putting together the following schedule:
Oct 5: Code freeze late evening PDT.
Oct 6: Start build1 of the beta assuming trees are green.
Oct 7: Begin QA testing (or earlier as builds become available).
Oct 13: Complete QA testing by AM, ship beta in late day PDT.
Indeed, that means that the beta of the new version will be hopefully available October 13, less than a week from now. However, in the previously posted discussion, Mozilla's Mike Beltzner stated that there's no shame in missing the deadline. Understandably, this is just a beta, so people shouldn't be rushing to upgrade.
Back in 2004 when Firefox 1.0 was launched, I loved having a browser that was different to what everyone else was using that was also so much better than the norm. I consider Firefox now to be a mainstream browser and hence no longer the cool kid on the block.
I’ve been using Google Chrome as my main browser now for around 9 months and not only do I love it, but it’s also in my opinion the best browser on the market. It’s key selling point for many is it’s speed; according to Computerworld Chrome 3.0 is 30% faster than Firefox. However, Chrome’s interface speed also sets it apart – I can open multiple Chrome tabs and start working before Firefox has even initialised.
I’m an Apple iPhone 3GS user now after 6 years of Symbian/Windows Mobile based devices. However, I recently got the chance to play with an HTC Hero and for me Android is looking like it will eventually win the mobile OS battle, at least from a technical and functional superiority perspective, as getting users to ditch their iPhones will be a very hard thing to do. I can’t wait to get my hands on Google OS to play with which will combine and extend the best bits of Google Android and Chrome. Given that I spend most of my PC time online, an OS that tightly integrates my favourite browser Google Chrome would be a winner for me.
Office Web Apps merges key elements of the Microsoft Office productivity suite into the cloud. The menu of applications available in Office Web Apps mirrors the applications found in the Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 suite: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. You won't find applications like Access or Outlook here.
Some aspects of Office Web Apps are not yet available during the Technical Preview. This is a pre-release version of the software and Microsoft is still testing, gathering feedback, and making course corrections so that the end result is a success. The most obvious missing component is OneNote, which has no functionality in the preview. Word is also limited to viewing files at this time.
Office Web Apps takes the familiarity of the Microsoft Office applications users are used to and provides virtually the same experience online.
The backbone of Office Web Apps is Windows Live SkyDrive, Microsoft's free online storage offering. In order for the documents and presentations created in Office Web Apps to be available to you from anywhere in the world, or available to share with others, those files need to be stored where they can be accessed from anywhere. SkyDrive lets you store your data in the "Cloud" so it can be accessed from anywhere you can connect to the Internet.
There are two things that immediately catch my attention. One is the ability to bounce seamlessly from the Office Web App software to its desktop equivalent and back again. The other is the continuity of experience- or fidelity as Microsoft refers to it- between the traditional Microsoft Office suite applications and their web-based Office Web App peers.
You don't need to have Microsoft Office installed locally to use Office Web Apps, but if you do you can open files from SkyDrive in the local software and save them back to the Skydrive. The Office Web Apps are robust, however they lack some of the features and functionality of their desktop counterparts. Within the Office Web App you have one-click access to open the file in the desktop version of the program instead.
The other impressive thing is how much the Office Web App versions mimic the look and feel of the desktop versions. Some may say that is too complex or cluttered. I would say its familiar. Regardless of your feeling about the functionality of Microsoft Office products, providing the same experience--including the Ribbon interface--provides a familiar environment with little or no learning curve.
Office Web Apps supports Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari web browsers. That doesn't necessarily mean that you can't use Office Web Apps from Chrome or Opera, but it does mean that Microsoft has not invested the time and effort to make sure that the ‘fidelity' of the Office software is maintained in those browsers. Basically, you can give it a shot, but Microsoft isn't making any promises about if, or how well, it will work.
At first blush, the online suite looks fairly impressive. I realize Google Docs has been delivering similar functionality for a while now. There is nothing groundbreaking about delivering document, spreadsheet, and presentation software over the Web.
However, Google Docs is not Microsoft Office. Office Web Apps doesn't just deliver the functionality of creating documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in the cloud--it extends the Microsoft Office experience that we are all familiar with in a way that Google has yet to fully emulate. When we last compared Office to Google Docs, Microsoft's lack of a robust Web-based solution led to a tie between the two. Next time, things may be different.
Fast Flip was expected to go live late Monday at the Google Labs Web site, where the company features early stage product prototypes. As such, Fast Flip could change significantly, become temporarily unavailable or even disappear without notice.
Fast Flip lets readers glance at pages and browse through them quickly without having to wait for multiple page elements to load, which can significantly slow the rendering of articles, especially if they have multimedia content, according to Google.
The idea is to try to replicate online the ease with which people flip through the pages of print magazines and newspapers in the offline world. This could motivate people to read more online, which Google argues will help publishers attract more readers and increase their revenue.
However, when users click on a Fast Flip link, they will be taken to the corresponding publisher's Web site, where the Google technology will not be on hand to display the page more quickly.
People who try out Fast Flip will find articles from 36 publishers, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, Salon and Newsweek, as well as contextually relevant ads. For now, Fast Flip will only feature content from the publishers Google has been working with to develop the technology, but it plans to add more in the future.
Fast Flip will also feature a search engine and let users share content. Based on their reading choices, users will see suggestions for other articles they might find interesting.
Richard Gingras, CEO of the Salon Media Group, expects Fast Flip to shed light on how user behavior might change if people can browse through online material more quickly.
"On the Web you can go page to page, but it takes five to 10 seconds between pages, so it's not as 'browseable' an experience as with print, where you flip through and scan a lot of things very quickly," he said.
"This is one experiment, and it'll be interesting to see what we learn," he added.
Gingras believes that Fast Flip will not only lead people to read more online, but also add a higher degree of serendipity to their experience through the unexpected discovery of interesting articles they didn't initially set out to find.
This element of serendipity is one that Google has been interested in adding to Google News, according to Gingras, who before becoming Salon CEO was an independent adviser to Google about news and media from late 2007 until late 2008.
Salon also has its own initiatives to make it easier for its readers to find more of its articles. The publication will soon start to beta test a Web site redesign focused partly on organizing content by topics, so readers can scan articles about the same subject.
"Any publisher these days has to be looking at how to create interesting units of content and facilitate the use and access of that content in as many ways as the audience is willing to consume them," Gingras said.
At this point, Google isn't making any tools available for external developers to integrate Fast Flip with their Web sites and applications.
"Launching Google Fast Flip in Labs lets us learn from our users and our publishing partners so we can keep exploring ways to display news and help publishers make more money from their content," a spokesman for Google said via e-mail.
"We know that Google Fast Flip isn't perfect, and there's a chance it may never become a full-blown Google product. But we think there are some interesting ideas behind it," he added.
In addition to working on regular PC browsers, the Fast Flip Web site adapts itself when reached from iPhone and Android-based mobile devices, letting users flip pages via a touch-screen interface. Google was due to unveil Fast Flip at the TechCrunch 50 Conference in San Francisco.
Well, it surely seems that Microsoft has finally worked its magic this time as Bing has become the 13th most visited site on the web. According to Compete, Bing’s traffic has overtaken that of other prominent sites like Digg, Twitter and CNN.
Now, for those people who would like to switch to Bing, but finds Google to be unavoidable, we present you two new web services that allows you to search both Google and Bing together in a shot.
AskBoth.com is a new Web 2.0 search engine that combines the results from Google and Bing and displays them side by side. Note that entire Bing page or Google page is not displayed, but just the results are displayed here.
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