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Mozilla Contacts Releases Facebook-Integrated Version with New "Person URLs"

cgseo — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:49:40 +0000

Mozilla Contacts , the experimental project from the organization behind the Firefox web browser, has released a new version of their Contacts add-on which introduces Facebook integration. Previously , Mozilla Contacts allowed you to import your various address books spread out across the web (think: multiple email accounts, Twitter friends, LinkedIn colleagues, Plaxo contacts, Mac OS X address book, etc.) into the web browser itself – in this case, obviously, Firefox. Once there, the combined address book information could be used in form autocompletion everywhere across the web and more. Now, an updated version of Mozilla Contacts (download link) introduces a number of new features, most notably integration with Facebook Contacts and something called a “person URL.” Sponsor Import Facebook Contacts into Firefox Mozilla Contacts’ ability to sync with your Facebook Contacts come via the brand-new Facebook Graph API (application programming interface), which allows the Firefox add-on to import all your Facebook friends into the web browser itself as it does with the other services supported. However, this integration is still a little iffy, warns Michael Hansson, an engineer in Mozilla Labs , on a blog post about the release. “You may need to Refresh your connection to Facebook on occasion to make it work properly,” he says. Person URLs Also new in Mozilla Contacts 0.3 is experimental support for “person:” URLs. This intriguing feature lets you look up anyone in your various contact lists or anyone on the web just by typing a URL in your address bar. After doing so, Firefox will combine the locally-stored information in the web browser with web-based information retrieved from the Internet to return a profile page about that person. You can try it now by typing person:mhanson@gmail.com or person:http://facebook.com/btaylor , for example, into your Firefox browser that has the updated Contacts add-on installed. Also New in 0.3 Other additions in version 0.3 include support for Yahoo! contacts, autocompletion of HTML5 input fields (with “email” and “tel”), enhanced search capabilities (including new discovery modules for Webfinger, HCard import, Google Social Graph, Facebook, Gravatar, Yelp, Amazon and Flickr), automatic combination of data discovered on sites that support standard automatic discovery mechanisms like HCard, RSS and ActivityStreams and finally, support for non-contact people in the AwesomeBar. Discuss

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Mozilla Contacts Releases Facebook-Integrated Version with New "Person URLs"

Opera Hits 100 Million Users, Leads in Mobile, Lags on Desktop

cgseo — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:49:44 +0000

Opera announced today that its browsers are now used by more than 100 million people worldwide, saying that the distribution between mobile and desktop users is a nearly even split at 50 million a piece. While 50 million desktop users means just a tiny fraction of the browser market for home users, 50 million mobile users actually represents a dominance in the mobile browser market. Sponsor According to the latest numbers by StatCounter , Opera for the desktop comes in fifth (essentially last) place, behind Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari. Opera accounts for just under 2% of the browser market, while IE holds 53% of the market share, and Firefox comes in around 32%. Safari, Opera’s nearest competitor (and default Mac browser) accounts for twice as many users as Opera. Looking at the mobile browser numbers , on the other hand, we see Opera Mini with 28% and iPhone’s native browser following with just under 20%. And all of that could change, of course, if Apple would just accept Opera Mini into the AppStore . Opera submitted its mobile browser just under three weeks ago at the time of this writing, but has a policy that prevents other browsers from operating on the iPhone. While the numbers seem to say that Opera just isn’t cutting it on the desktop, Opera Mini has been holding the lead as far as mobile browsing goes and we’d sure love to see it on the iPhone sometime in the near future. Discuss

Apple Announces WebKit2: Wants to Make WebKit Browsers More Crash-Proof

cgseo — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:02:09 +0000

While everybody was talking about the iPhone OS 4 event yesterday , Apple also quietly announced WebKit2 , a major contribution to the open source WebKit project that forms the basis of Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome browsers. One of the reasons that Google Chrome doesn’t crash very often is that Google uses a split process model. Every tab in Chrome runs in a different process and a crashing plugin or bug only takes down this tab and not the whole browser. While Google had to develop this code from the ground up for Chrome, Apple is now making this technology a core part of the WebKit2 framework. Sponsor Here is how Apple’s engineers Anders Carlsson and Sam Weinig describe WebKit2: WebKit2 is designed from the ground up to support a split process model, where the web content (JavaScript, HTML, layout, etc) lives in a separate process. This model is similar to what Google Chrome offers, with the major difference being that we have built the process split model directly into the framework, allowing other clients to use it. What does this mean for users? First of all, Safari and every other application that uses WebKit, including the popular NetNewsWire RSS reader or the Konqueror browser for KDE, for example, will soon be able to rely on the same kind of crash protection that Google Chrome currently offers. Microsoft’s IE8 already features a similar crash-protection mechanism and as our own Sarah Perez noted earlier today , the latest beta version of Firefox ( Lorentz ) now also lets some processes (Flash, QuickTime and Silverlight) run in separate instances. Getting Ready for Multi-Core Browsing WebKit2 will also implement a number of APIs that will make applications more responsive. These will allow applications to render web content in the background without blocking other processes that the application wants to execute. As Stephen Shankland points out , this technique will also make it easier for developers (including Apple) to take advantage of multi-core chips. For a more detailed look at the technical side of WebKit2, also have a look a this document from the WebKit2 team. Discuss

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Apple Announces WebKit2: Wants to Make WebKit Browsers More Crash-Proof

Firefox Lorentz: Now Firefox Crashes More Like Chrome

cgseo — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:16:43 +0000

Firefox has released a new beta of their web browser called Firefox “Lorentz,” a test build of Firefox 3.6.3 that’s designed to minimized crashes. Previously, when a plugin caused a crash in Firefox, the whole browser went down in flames too. But in Lorentz, this will no longer be the case. The page running the errant plugin will offer you the ability to submit a crash report while the rest of the browser remains up-and-running like usual. The improved stability is due to Lorentz’s process isolation, a feature which runs plugins as processes separate from the web browser itself. Does this sound familiar? It should, if you’re a Google Chrome user. Sponsor Google Chrome , the speedy little web browser from the Internet search giant, introduced the idea of isolated processes when the browser launched back in fall 2008 . As explained by a Googler on the company’s official blog, Chrome put “each tab in an isolated sandbox,” so it could “prevent one tab from crashing another.” The same philosophy is now seen in Firefox’s latest. The Lorentz build, which initially focuses on just Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime and Microsoft Silverlight, isolates plugins in separate instances, too. The end result? A browser that doesn’t completely tank quite so often. If you do end up with a page that goes rogue, however, the screen turns grey and you’re notified of the plugin crash by way of a text message and a sad-faced lego-like logo. ( See picture ). This image also seems to be cribbed from Chrome’s playbook as it closely resembles the sad tab image that accompanies Google Chrome’s “Aw Snap!” message that appears when something goes wrong with a web page. (Then again, a sad computer icon isn’t anything new, as Mac users will certainly tell you .) But in this case, it’s another reminder of how Firefox, once thought to be leading the way in browser innovations, now seems to be following in Google’s footsteps. That said, Firefox enthusiasts are sure to welcome this change. And if you want to get all hacker-ish, you can even configure Firefox to isolate more plugins, too, as the Mozilla Links blog explains (via LifeHacker ): To have the Adobe Reader plugin running on its own process, create a boolean preference in about:config, name it dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.nppdf32.dll, set it to true, and restart. For Java, the preference must be named dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npjp2.dll. You just need to know the name of the library (which you get from about:plugins), and create the preference accordingly. To try Lorentz for yourself, you can grab the latest build here . Discuss

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Firefox Lorentz: Now Firefox Crashes More Like Chrome

SublimeVideo Adds Flash Mode to its Universal, HTML5 Player

cgseo — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:57:17 +0000

SublimeVideo , an HTML5-based video player from Switzerland-based development and design firm Jilion now includes a “fall back to Flash mode.” This means that when a web surfer using a browser that doesn’t support HTML5 visits a page that uses the player, it will automatically switch over (aka “fall back”) to Adobe Flash, the plugin-based technology that older, non-HTML5 web browsers use. Why is this important? In addition to providing a path to move from one technology to the next, a transition that will take years at best, SublimeVideo could ease the workload for developers tasked with creating web pages that the entire web audience can access. Sponsor Moving from Flash to HTML5 The problem, as it stands today, is that some web browsers support HTML5 and Flash, while others only support Flash. And yet websites need to be accessible by all, no matter what browser is used. The Safari browser on the Apple iPad, for example, only supports HTML5, forcing many mainstream media sites to rapidly push out new and separate HTML5-ready versions of their site. The WSJ and NPR were among the first to release iPad-only websites, in advance of the launch of the Apple iPad. Others soon followed, but there are still so few big names doing so that Apple can list them all on their “iPad-Ready Websites” page , which now features 20 name-brands like CNN, Reuters, Time, MLB, flickr, Nike and others. What SublimeVideo Does Jilion’s goal is to create a “universal video player” that works in all browsers, regardless of the technology supported. That means that users with the outdated Internet Explorer 6 browser could watch the same videos as those who use more modern browsers like Google Chrome (4.0), Firefox (3.6+), Safari (4.0.4+) or the upcoming Internet Explorer 9. Regardless of which version of the player was viewed – either the HTML5 version or the Flash one – the same user interface would be presented. This includes on-screen controls to play and pause the video, a button that takes it to full-screen mode and keyboard shortcuts that play, pause, and launch or exit from full-screen. While the SublimeVideo player is an arguably brilliant technology development, what it lacks – at least in its current form – are the features that many large companies have come to expect from the Flash experience: advertising and analytics. For companies in need of these types of tools, they’ll likely go with an HTML5 video platform provider like Brightcove , who has advertising and analytics on their 2010 roadmap , MeFeedia , Ooyala or the new solution from

Mobile Firefox Comes to Android (Sort of)

cgseo — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:58:16 +0000

Fennec , the mobile version of the Firefox web browser, is now available in an early build designed for Android handsets thanks to a fan-compiled download posted on an Android developers forum . And by early, we mean unofficial, pre-alpha, device-specific and downright buggy. But for anyone interested in mobile browser developments, this port is an interesting sneak peek into the future of Firefox’s mobile plans. Sponsor Fennec for Droid German developer Martin Schirr’s version of Fennec is ideal for Droid users because it requires a hardware-based keyboard. Without support for touch input or multi-touch, it won’t work on all flavors of the Google Android mobile operating system. It’s also a hefty download – 41 MB in size. And it freezes upon first boot. Plus, it’s slow and prone to crashes and bugs. But that’s what pre-alpha means – especially a pre-alpha that wasn’t released by the Mozilla organization itself. So what can you do with the Android version of Fennec? Well, you can test out its features, like tabbed browsing, tab synchronization between desktop and mobile and browser add-ons. Right now, there aren’t too many add-ons available, but given the stage of development, that’s not surprising. Fennec: Slow to Launch? We first heard of Mozilla’s plans to bring Fennec to Android back in June of last year when Google announced a change in how software can run on Android. After the release of a new Android NDK that used C/C++ programming languages – the same as Firefox – Mozilla began to consider the possibilities of bringing the Fennec browser to the Google-branded mobile platform. In October, Mozilla CEO John Lilly re-confirmed the organization’s plans to build an Android version, while touting its many features like support for “Javascript, CSS, Flash, SVG, video and audio.” It would be “the first mobile browser to support add-ons,” he said. Now it’s nearly 9 months later and there’s still not a usable version of the browser for Android devices – just pre-alpha builds like this. Should we be concerned? Should Mozilla? While waiting for a real version of Fennec, the popularity of Webkit-based browsers continues to grow, Opera gains mobile ground (especially on feature phones), and last month, Microsoft announced a new mobile OS launching by year-end, Windows Phone 7 Series. This OS will include an updated version of Internet Explorer Mobile that offers multi-touch gesture support and tabbed browsing, among other features. Mozilla is expected to release a working build of Fennec around the same time, but depending on the exact launch dates, they may not get to claim “first” anymore – at least among the top web browsers out there. (Third-party apps already deliver tabbed browsing on various mobile devices). That being said, support for Mozilla is still strong. And once functional, it may have a lot more to offer than its competitors. In the meantime, intrepid Android geeks will be definitely be interested in giving this new fan-compiled Fennec build a look. However, general Android users should probably stay away for now – this version is by no means meant for daily use. Discuss

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Mobile Firefox Comes to Android (Sort of)

Delicious Chrome Extension Early Beta Now Available

cgseo — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:46:42 +0000

Bookmarking service Delicious has just rolled out a Google Chrome browser extension. Like other Chrome extensions we love to play with, this one is lightweight, fast and useful. There’s no bulky sidebar here. Bookmarks can be created and saved with a miniscule “TAG” button and they can be searched from Chrome’s excellent omnibar. So, do you think this will prompt loyal Delicious users – many of whom had been holding out on Chrome in favor of Firefox – to switch to Google Chrome entirely? Sponsor This is what the button and simple form for bookmarking a page look like:

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Delicious Chrome Extension Early Beta Now Available

Google Chrome Becomes Location Aware

cgseo — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:31:57 +0000

Google just launched the latest developer version of Chrome , which now includes preliminary support for Google’s geolocation API. Google’s Geolocation API allows developers to pinpoint your computer’s location by looking at the WiFi networks around you, similar to SkyHook ‘s technology that is part of Apple’s OSX and iPhone OS. For now, this new feature is still hidden behind a command line toggle and only available in the developer builds for Windows and OSX Leopard (it doesn’t work on Snow Leopard yet). Sponsor To enable these built-in geolocation features, you have to run the browser with “–enable-geolocation.” It’s typical for Google to first hide these features behind a command line toggle before exposing them to a wider group of testers. The Chrome team also notes that the geolocation UI is still incomplete and that Chrome will forget the permissions you set. Preparing for Chrome OS? It makes sense for Google to enable geolocation for Chrome, especially given the impending release of the Chrome OS, which will also benefit from these new features. Mozilla already offers a built-in location API for Firefox and with Geosense for Windows , Windows 7 developers can now also make use of Google’s Geolocation API in their native apps. Location for Every Browser Thanks to the current efforts by most browser developers, location APIs will soon become ubiquitous and hopefully more developers will make use of them. While a number of mobile apps for the iPhone, for example, now make use of the location feature in the mobile version of Safari, only a small number of browser-based apps are currently aware of your location. While using WiFi location isn’t quite as precise as using a GPS, the precision is usually much better than relying on a user’s IP address. For more of our thoughts about location as a platform, also have a look at this post: The Era of Location-as-Platform Has Arrived . Discuss

Stop What You Are Doing & Install This Plug-In: Rapportive

cgseo — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:45:47 +0000

Cambridge UK startup Rapportive has released a Firefox and Chrome extension that will replace the ads in your Gmail with photos, biographic data and social media links, including a live display of recent Tweets, for whoever you’re corresponding with by email. It’s fantastic and takes about 2 minutes to set up. The three person team behind Rapportive queries data provider Rapleaf for the social media profile data and does some local caching for performance optimization. Let’s stop talking about it though – just go download it! Check out the screenshot and details below. Sponsor Trusting the Service You don’t need to give Rapportive your Gmail credentials, the service asks you to login via secure Google Federated Login, or OpenID. The startup doesn’t have access to your password, but it does access the contents of your email – that’s how it builds a service for you to use. Any browser extension has access to everything you do on the web, but I expect some people will feel a little nervous about installing a webmail related extension from a small company. I don’t think that concern is warranted enough to justify missing out on this awesome service. The company says that if your details are inaccurate you can visit Rapleaf and correct them. Inbox as Platform Rapportive is developing a platform for the development of custom applets that other companies can integrate within their local data stores so you can look up an email sender on your own system as part of the Rapportive display. Co-founder Rahul Vohra says such integration takes minutes to set up and in the long term the company hopes to create a marketplace for those applets. Team collaboration so notes left on contacts can be shared is also in the works, as is integration with popular paid CRM and customer service systems. Rapportive was first reported on by The Next Web this morning. I’ve been hoping to find something like this for a long time. Discuss

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Stop What You Are Doing & Install This Plug-In: Rapportive

The Future of Firefox Personas: Dynamically Changing and Filled with Ambient Info

cgseo — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:50:27 +0000

Firefox Personas , the designer skins that let web surfers dress up their browser, are now being rebranded “Personas Plus” and are being moved over to Mozilla’s add-on gallery to join the other plugins. With the move, Mozilla has also announced that development work on this popular personalization program is continuing with the addition of new features that will transform Personas from static background images to dynamically updating themes that could even include ambient information. Sponsor Personas , if you’re unaware, are special web browser skins designed for Firefox that let you style your browser with colorful backgrounds and imagery. Slightly different than Firefox themes, which typically change browser buttons and toolbars too, Personas just let you update the browser’s background without making dramatic changes to other Firefox features. Also, unlike themes, Personas don’t require a browser restart to apply. Until now, Firefox Personas have been a sort of cute, but somewhat unnecessary feature, and one that seems to appeal more to the “junior” set of web surfers. With Personas for things like Lady Gaga, Twilight, Avatar, musicians, popular TV shows and celebs, older web surfers may have felt a little out-of-place when visiting the Gallery’s homepage . However, the future of Personas may have have all Firefox users taking a second look. Future Plans for Personas On the development roadmap, Mozilla is considering a number of new ideas for these add-on skins, including dynamic Personas, window and/or tab-specific Personas, page specific Personas and self hosted Personas, among other things. There are definitely some intriguing ideas here, although, on the other hand, Personas that changed too often during web surfing could end up being more distracting than useful. One of the more interesting ideas under consideration is the addition of ambient information into a Persona. Years ago, we looked at an ambient news reader plugin for Firefox which displayed headlines from articles you would be interested in reading. These headlines, determined by an analysis of your web surfing habits, appeared in a beautifully fading list every time you opened a new tab in Firefox. That sort of low-impact information delivery mechanism is a perfect example of what it means to provide “ambient information.” So what sort of ambient information could be embedded into a Persona, we wonder? Could Personas provide statistics on tweets, Diggs and other social actions the way Feedly’s toolbar does ? Or could they, too, offer up links to related web pages or news stories? What would you want to see? With Personas, the Focus is on the Browser, not the Web Another thing to consider is whether or not this planned development means Mozilla is charting a different course for Firefox than rival Google is with their new Chrome browser. Where Chrome makes the browser “go away” with an emphasis on the web and not the tabs, buttons or toolbars, Personas do just the opposite: they return the focus to the browser itself. This would contradict other plans Mozilla was supposedly considering for Firefox’s future not too long ago, most notably a design that would put tabs at the top of the browser just like in Chrome. Last summer, Mozilla requested user feedback about this potential revamp, but feedback was mixed. What do you think about the plans for Personas? Are they interesting enough that you would give them a try? Or do you like a more minimal look for your browser? Discuss