IE9 - A More Beautiful Web

Microsoft are advertising their web browser Internet Explorer 9 on television. This bring's the web browser battle to Google, who have been advertising on TV over the last year. The IE9 ad highlights some of it's features which windows users may not already use, such as adding a website link to the start bar. The ad also shows off the graphical capabilities by demonstrating the browser version of the popular smart phone game Cut the Rope.



The music in this commercial is "Too Close" by Alex Clare.

Do you use Internet Explorer 9? Feel free to post your comments below.

RockMelt - A More Social Web Browser

RockMelt is a Chromium based web browser that features integration with your social networks. Chromium is the open source project that aims to create "a safer, faster, and more stable way for all Internet users to experience the web". As Google Chrome is built on the same base code, the look of RockMelt is immediately familiar to Google Chrome users (which is well over a third of all internet traffic now). 

RockMelt's selling point (it's free by the way) is that it supports integration with all the big social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube... the list goes on, and on... and on. The Facebook integration is impressive as it includes your news feed, friend requests, messages and Facebook chat, all in the browser window. The layout is shown below in the picture from their website:

To try RockMelt head over to www.rockmelt.com or for a more detailed review see below.

The Internet and the Browser

Google's App Store has loads of apps to choose from but this one caught my eye and deserves a few minutes of your attention. This app is actually just a link to a website, a particularly well made website. It's a virtual book with a history of the internet and web browsers. It's written by the team behind Google Chrome, but it applies to all web browsers.

The book goes through 20 things that everyone might want to know about how web browsers and the internet works, and the best thing is that it's free. It covers all the big questions and covers the big topics such as "What is the Internet?".

The book is at www.20thingsilearned.com and on the Chrome Web Store.

Happy reading.

Mozilla Firefox 5

Mozilla have released a new version of their popular web browser, Firefox 5. Firefox 5 looks almost identical to Firefox 4 but it loads much faster and feels snappy when loading new pages. It's main improvements are behind the scenes but it's still worth a download. Although there is the inevitable wait for third party add-ons to be updated and become compatible with the latest version.




The Web Browser scores have been updated, shockingly Firefox 5 didn't get a better score than Firefox 4, but it still feels much quicker when browsing. Google's Chrome browser version 12 has the best score by far...


Original post (Web Warp Blog V8 Benchmark Suite Results)

Public Wi-Fi Data Security Issues

Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC technology correspondent, investigates security issues with public Wi-Fi networks. If you use internet cafe's with your laptop or smartphone this video is of interest to you!

Here is the link: bbc.in/mfMDkH

The main issue highlighted by this video is cookie theft when logging on to popular sites like Facebook and Hotmail. This can be done by anyone using Firefox and a free add-on: Firesheep.

Mozilla Firefox 4

Mozilla Firefox 4 is available to download now for PC, Mac and Android devices. The Sync feature keeps all your bookmarks, settings, open tabs and history in sync across multiple devices. The new sleek look brings Firefox up to date with Safari and Chrome. The speed is improved by up to 6 times, and I can speak from a Web Warp Blog test that it is genuinely quicker.




The V8 Browser test scores have been updated. Chrome 10 is the best result by far.


Original post (Web Warp Blog V8 Benchmark Suite Results)

Microsoft Announce Internet Explorer 9

Microsoft have announced the release date of Internet Explorer 9: 15th September 2010. Internet Explorer 8 continues to hold a large market share of users (who on the whole care little about web browsers and tend to stick to the Windows default) and Microsoft want to build on this with the release of IE9. They claim it will bring a richer and more immersive webbrowsing experience on their countdown page Beauty of the Web. IE9 will include support for HTML 5, although it would appear that Internet Explorer is playing catchup compared to the other major web browsers.

Unshrink URL's

It is very popular to shorten links for twitter/facebook/email so that people so don't have to copy and paste long web addresses. But this leads to a problem, where to these shortened links go?! Typically you have no way of knowing that http://bit.ly/dBMqnl in fact takes you to Web Warp Blog. You do have to be careful online not to follow unknown links that could lead to spyware/adware/viruses. But there is another way. If you use either Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome as your web browser and by utilising add-ons & extensions. Then when you are browsing these links are automatically detected and converted to show where they really go.

For Firefox try 'Long URL Please' as advertised on BBC Click's Webscape. It supports lengthening the hyperlink of 80 shortening services including the most popular bit.ly, tinyurl.com & goo.gl.

For Google Chrome try ChromeMUSE. It also allows you to create your own short URL's as well as expanding them when they appear online.

In my opinion the better of the two services by far is Long URL Please which works really fast and is reliable and dependable. It does exactly what it says on the tin! A great Firefox Add-on.

Firefox Home iPhone App Review

Mozilla have released an iPhone app to accompany their popular web browser Firefox. Firefox is so popular in fact that it is fast becoming the default browser for websites minimum requirements, and many companies are encouraging their employees to use Firefox. Due to Apple's App store approval requirements (or so it is cited)...
... Firefox Home is Not a Web Browser.
This leads on to the question, what is Firefox Home?

Firefox Home is an iPhone app that allows you to view the contents of Firefox Sync. Firefox Sync is an Add-on for Firefox which allows you synchronise your bookmarks and open tabs across multiple computers. On your iPhone you can view these bookmarks and open tabs and open them in the in built browser (where they don't seem to open particularly quickly or accurately, but hey it's not a web browser!) or open them in Mobile Safari (which really is the only option).

So this app is for people who are in love with Firefox and would like the ability to see their bookmarks whilst out and about (but not add to them!). For those serious about syncing bookmarks to between their computer(s) and iPhone over the air MobileMe is a better (and more expensive) option.

For those who want this ability between two or more computers Google Chrome offers a far better option. The set up process on Google Chrome is just your Google account details. For Firefox you need to download the Firefox Sync Add-on to each PC and go through a lengthy set up wizard with username, password and a secret phrase. Firefox Sync does allow you to store your bookmarks on your server though, but is this really a worthwhile feature?

Future Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is one of the most popular web browsers out there. It is highly customizable and feature packed. In fact a quarter of all visits to Web Warp Blog come through Firefox. Now you can test the latest Beta release, version 4 Beta 1. To download it click here.

But please note that by default it will overwrite your existing Firefox 3 install and you will be unable to use the majority of your add-ons. It is not advisable for individuals who rely on Firefox as there may (probably will) be bugs in the Beta version. If you select Advanced Options in the set up process you can install it in a separate location on your hard drive. This allows you to run both versions on your system.

Data collected through the Mozilla test pilot program helps Firefox improve the software so that the finished product is as good as it can be and free of bugs and problems.

@webwarpblog Firefox 4.0 beta 1 can in fact be installed and used alongside Firefox 3.6. So no need to ditch add-ons to test the beta. :)less than a minute ago via webpunctualwaffle
punctualwaffle

V8 Benchmark Suite Results

Testing web browser performance with the Google Code V8 Benchmark Suite you can compare browsers and platforms.
The results are clear, Google Chrome is by far the fastest web browser (using the benchmark in question). Recent results are highlighted yellow.



Feel free to send us your browser scores using the V8 Benchmark to @webwarpblog on and the results will be updated.

Original tweet:

Please check your browser score: V8 benchmark http://bit.ly/clWbRX & @webwarpblog resultsless than a minute ago via webwebwarpblog
webwarpblog

Google Chrome is Very Fast

Google have produced a little video, just to show off how fast Google Chrome can be. It's very well produced and worth a quick watch.

Opera Mini for iPhone

Opera Mini for iPhone has been approved by Apple and is now in the app store. Here is a direct link to the iTunes Store. It promises to bring faster page downloads by using Opera has proxy server. One review on Apple's app store warns of potential dangers when using Opera with sensitive websites:

Do not use for banking and sensitive data

     

by usrbingeek

I don't like that every page you visit and all data you submit is going through Opera's servers, even encrypted pages. So if you go to your bank's web site and login; your login information, password and any other data you submit or view is potentially viewable by Opera employees. What safe guards are in place to protect users from a dishonest or rouge Opera employee from logging or capturing this data?

Also what procedures are in place to protect the user data from malware and other security threats to Opera's network?

Let us know what you think through our twitter account @webwarpblog.
Here is a video demonstrating the speed comparison:


Previously on www.webwarp.co.uk we speculated about whether or not Apple would approve Opera Mini for iPhone. Here is a link to that post: Click Here.

Opera Mini awaiting Apple approval

Opera claim to code the 'Fastest Browser on Earth' and their mobile versions really improve web browsing on mobile phones. They have now submitted to Apple a version of their mobile web browser, Opera Mini, for the iPhone. They are keen to show off there submission with a counter (here) showing how long they have waited for Apples decision. They have also released a video showing off the speed of Opera Mini for iPhone compared to Apple's Safari web browser which comes as standard with the iPhone OS. The video shows a vastly improved speed over 2G connections. I assume that the difference is less noticeable over Wi-Fi or good 3G connections.

Apple do not approve applications that duplicate the core functionality of the iPhone, despite this applications such as Skype for iPhone have been approved along with other 3rd party web browsers for the iPhone. So they may approve Opera and unleash Opera Mini into the iPhone app store. There is no word from Opera on potential pricing assuming approval.

European Windows Web Browser Choice Update

From 1/3/10 your Windows PC will get a Windows Update prompting you to look at alternative browsers. This will only happen within Europe. The web browsers up for grabs on the first page are Google Chrome, Opera, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and of course Microsoft Internet Explorer 8. This update was detailed in a recent Microsoft blog post: Click Here

As you can probably see there is a sideways scrollbar at the bottom of the window. There are more browsers to choose from. Many of these are much smaller and less popular browsers that have many different takes on web browsing. The BBC News page highlights the issue of the poor advertising of the smaller browsers here.


The full list is:

• Avant
• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Flock
• Green Browser
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 8
• K-meleon
• Maxthon
• Opera
• Apple Safari
• Sleipnir
• Slim

Goodbye IE6

Microsoft will no longer be supporting their 9 year old web browser, Internet Explorer 6, from the 4th March 2010.

Display Aspect Ratios

Aspect Ratio, if set up incorrectly, can hinder your enjoyment of TV/Films/Video Games. But no one pays much attention to published aspect ratios and often stretch the display, or lop of the sides, to prevent black strips at the top or sides. This website shows you various scenarios so you can compare the black strips you SHOULD have when viewing various size images. Stretching and panning reduces the quality of the image. You can use this website to check that you have your Bluray/DVD player/STB (set top box) set up correctly. http://web.forret.com/tools/aspect.asp
Note: It doesn’t work correctly in Firefox; use Internet Explorer for this website, otherwise simulated screen images won't be centred in Firefox.

Google Maps My Location Comes To the Computer

Google Maps for Mobile has had 'My Location' for a while now and users of A-GPS handsets (such as the iPhone 3G and Nokia N series phones) have enjoyed fast and accurate location aware maps. This service is now coming to the desktop version of Google Maps. The service will use wifi/GPS/3G all if available to locate as accurately as possible your current location.

This is only available with Mozilla Firefox 3.5 natively or any browser with Google Gears latest version installed such as Google Chrome.

For more information check out the Google LatLong Blog Post.

Firefox 3.5

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 is out now! It's available for Mac and PC.

Firefox 3.5 RC

Mozilla's open source web browser, Firefox, is being updated to version 3.5. At the moment developers can download Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate to work on add-ons/themes/etc for when the new version is finally released.



Mozilla Firefox seems to be the most powerful browser you can download. [They claim, as all web browser developers do, that theirs is the quickest.] By powerful I mean that it is cross platform and widely accepted as 'the alternative' web browser on all formats. For example on a Windows PC you are expected to use Internet Explorer unless you are into computing. In which case you will probably choose to download Firefox over Apple Safari or Opera. Firefox is familiar to IE users and highly customisable. I think that the open source community also appeals to users. On a Mac Apple hope that you will use the bundled Safari, which is very good. They more than accept that Firefox is the ideal cross platform alternative browser because although Mozilla Firefox correctly displays and is compatible with MobileMe's www.me.com Apple don't have to advertise this, but they do. Apple support MobileMe on Safari (Mac & PC) and Firefox (Mac & PC). In doing so they allow PC users to continue using Firefox and use their MobileMe service.