Browsers pick up the pace (week in review) | Business Tech - CNET News

Browsers pick up the pace (week in review) | Business Tech - CNET News

It might seem like the tech news this week has been all about the new iPad, but speedier browser versions grabbed some big headlines as well.

Google on Tuesday released Chrome 10, endowing its browser with faster JavaScript, password synchronization, and a revamped preferences system. Chrome is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Google announced Chrome 10's stable release on its blog but refrained from mentioning its product number. That's in line with the company's effort to focus on features rather than version numbers, which it calls mere milestones. Google tries to get new versions into users' hands as rapidly as possible and currently passes a new milestone about once every six weeks.

Chrome 10 comes with the "Crankshaft" version of the V8 browser engine that Google pegs as 66 percent faster than the unnamed version in Chrome 9 as measured with Google's V8 Benchmark suite. That's a major speed boost, but be aware there are many other attributes of browser performance, and one of the biggest--hardware acceleration--will hit prime time with the imminent release of Mozilla's Firefox 4 and Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9.

Speaking of IE9, Microsoft will be formally launching the next version of its browser at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival on Monday--an interesting place to launch, given that the Austin, Texas, geek fest is packed full of the hordes who have long since ditched Internet Explorer for the decidedly hipper pastures of Firefox, Safari, or Chrome.

Among the new features in IE9 is a refreshed look with the browser taking up less space than previous versions of IE, as well as a way to pin sites to the Windows task bar. Sites can then program their pages to act more like desktop applications with things like notifications, and the Windows 7 Jump List feature, which can hop users to specific parts of a Web page.

IE9 also brings performance improvements, including faster start times and a new JavaScript engine called Chakra that Microsoft has proven to be faster at the WebKit SunSpider benchmark test than competitors. On the security side, IE9 also adds support for "do not track" through lists that users can subscribe to, as well as a way to filter ActiveX content from pages.

Meanwhile, Mozilla updated the Firefox 4 beta to release candidate status, meaning that the features are locked, and barring the discovery of any major bugs, this version is likely to become the browser's official release. Available to download for Windows, Mac, and Linux, Firefox 4 release candidate 1 contains no major bug fixes, and instead offers a series of stability, compatibility, and performance tweaks.

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Google Chrome 10 focuses on speed and security | Web browsers - InfoWorld

Google Chrome 10 focuses on speed and security | Web browsers - InfoWorld

n keeping with its promise to update the Chrome browser every six weeks, Google rolled out Chrome 10 today. The new browser offers big boosts in speed and a host of new security features.

Speed is a main focal point in the ongoing browser wars, so naturally, Chrome 10 needs to ratchet up its quickness quotient -- and it does. Thanks to the Crankshaft JavaScript engine, Chrome 10 boosts JavaScript performance 66 percent, according to the V8 benchmark suite.

On the security front, Google has extended Chrome's sandbox to include the integrated Flash Player. The new browser also features malware reporting and will automatically disable out-of-date versions of plug-ins in order to thwart potential exploits.

Additionally, Chrome sports usability upgrades, including a new Browser Settings interface that is a tab in the browser instead of being a separate box. Alternately, settings can be found via a new search box that shows users the settings they're looking for as they type (typing "import" into the search bar will bring up the Import Bookmarks button, for example). Chrome Sync, for synchronizing passwords among different computers, is now turned on by default, and the browser sports GPU-accelerated video to cut down on CPU usage.

Chrome 10 is already available for download, and auto-updates of old Chrome browsers will begin soon, according to Google.

This story, "Google Chrome 10 focuses on speed and security," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.

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Firefox 4: Path to Shipping - mozilla.dev.planning | Google Groups

Image via WikipediaFirefox 4: Path to Shipping - mozilla.dev.planning | Google Groups

We've worked tremendously hard on Firefox 4, and it's time to ship it. I'm seeing the same burst of excitement and activity that we've seen in the endgame of every release. Over the past several days, component leads have again reduced their blockers by identifying hard blockers and those we can live without. We've around 160 hard blockers remaining, and historically it has taken us six weeks to reach RC once we have 100 blockers left. We must press hard now.

To Finish:

1) We have to reach Release Candidate status as quickly as possible, ideally finishing the hard blockers by the beginning of February and shipping final before the end of February. We'll need your help to balance these targets against the need to build a high quality product.

2) Bug counts demand another beta. We'll drive the beta bugs to zero and ship another beta. If we can't get them to zero in reasonable time, we'll repeat, deliberately. It depends on how quickly we can drive down the list of hard blockers that need beta feedback. This is our top development priority, since it pushes the rest of our schedule.

3) We need *everyone* to help in testing. Specifically: Do not disable Flash, Silverlight, or other major plugins as we need as many people testing these as possible. Windows users: We need to know if you are affected by hardware acceleration causing crashes or other issues. Don't just assume that someone else has filed a bug already. Make sure. Ask someone if you don't know how. This is very important.

MOST IMPORTANT: We must ship the best possible product we can. If a blocker needs more time, tell release drivers and component leads immediately. If you disagree with a blocking call, say so loudly. Do not be timid. This is your product, we need you to own it.

I know you're all tired and stressed. You all do incredible work every day, and you've built an amazing product. Stay focused. Be nice to each other. Firefox 4 is gonna kick ass, and you should be fiercely proud of it.

All my best,

Damon

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Newest Firefox Beta Adds Speed - PCWorld

Newest Firefox Beta Adds Speed - PCWorld

With the release of Firefox 4 Beta 7, Mozilla returned to near the top spot in browser performance rankings.

Artwork: Chip TaylorAccording to tests run by Computerworld, the new browser is about three times faster than the current production version of Firefox in rendering JavaScript, and lags behind only Opera among the top five browser makers.

On Wednesday, Mozilla launched Firefox 4 Beta 7, a preview that includes all the features slated to make it into the final, polished version next year.

Beta 7 was the first to include Mozilla's new JavaScript JIT (Just In Time) compiler, dubbed "JagerMonkey," which shot the browser's performance into the No. 2 slot behind the alpha of Opera 11.

Computerworld ran the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark suite in Windows Vista Business three times for each browser, then averaged the scores.

Three of the five major browsers were closely bunched at the top. Opera 11 Alpha, which the Norwegian company released last month, barely edged Firefox 4 Beta 7, which in turn narrowly beat the beta of Google's Chrome 8.

Meanwhile, results for Apple's Safari and Microsoft's beta of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) put that pair significantly behind the top three. For example, Firefox 4 Beta 7 was approximately 25% faster than IE9 Beta in the trials.

Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft's primary browser, was also tested, although for all intents and purposes, it isn't in the JavaScript race: Firefox 4 was more than 12 times faster at rendering JavaScript than IE8.

Not surprisingly, Mozilla boasted of the speed improvements courtesy of the JagerMonkey compiler, and its integration with the earlier TraceMonkey optimization of the browser's JavaScript engine.

On a company blog telling users to "fasten your seatbelts," Mozilla posted JavaScript results from tests run not only in SunSpider -- a benchmark developed by the team responsible for WebKit, the browser engine that powers Chrome and Safari -- but also in Mozilla's own Kraken and Google's V8.

In two of the three tests, Firefox 4 Beta 7 proved three times faster than Firefox 3.6.12, the current production build. (Mozilla said V8's results showed Firefox 4 was five times faster than 3.6.12.)

"We knew we needed another major upgrade for Firefox 4 to make us fast all around," said David Mandelin, a Mozilla engineer who worked on JagerMonkey, in a September blog post that Mozilla cited yesterday.

Among other changes to Firefox 4 in Beta 7 were hardware acceleration in both Windows and Mac OS X, support for the WebGL 3D graphics standard, and support for the OpenType font format.

For the first time, Firefox now accelerates aspects of content rendering and page composition when running in Windows XP, Windows Vista and Window 7, as well as in Mac OS X.

Browser hardware acceleration shifts some tasks from a computer's main processor to its graphics processor to boost performance, especially of graphics-intensive chores like rendering video or complex three-dimensional objects.

Like Microsoft , which offers hardware acceleration in IE9, Mozilla relied on the Direct3D API (application programming interface) to boost page compositing in Windows. Mozilla, however, went one step further, accelerating page compositing, though not content rendering, in Windows XP.

Microsoft's IE9 will not run on Windows XP because the still-popular operating system doesn't support Direct2D, the API IE9 uses to boost content rendering.

Firefox 4 Beta 7 on the Mac uses the cross-platform OpenGL API to accelerate page composition.

The Linux version of Firefox 4 does not yet have hardware acceleration switched on, due, said a Mozilla engineer, to driver issues.

The delay was due to problems pinning down bugs in Beta 7 -- which was originally scheduled to debut eight weeks ago -- and waiting for the JagerMonkey team to integrate the new compiler into the JavaScript engine. Late last month Mozilla announced that it was pushing back the release date , once targeted for before the holiday season, into early 2011.

But the browser's development schedule remains aggressive, with three more betas before the end of the year. Mozilla, however, has tacitly acknowledged that the early 2011 final release is tentative, and could slip. "We will not ship software before it is ready," said Mike Beltzner, director of Firefox, when Mozilla announced the delay last month.

Firefox 4 Beta 7 can be downloaded for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux from Mozilla's site.

Firefox 4 Beta 7 is about three times faster than the older 3.6.12, and lags behind only an alpha of Opera 11 in JavaScript speeds. Smaller results are better.

More...

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Apple - Safari - Safari Extensions Gallery

Image via Wikipedia

Apple - Safari - Safari Extensions Gallery

Extensions are a great way for you to add new features to Safari 5.0.1. Built by developers, Safari Extensions use the latest HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript web technologies. And they’re digitally signed and sandboxed for improved security. You can install extensions with one click — no need to restart Safari.

____________________________________

With the release of new Safari 5.01 web browser extensions are officially available for Safari. There have been unofficial Safari 5 extension sites with downloads since the initial release of Safari 5. I will report back as soon as I have had time so explore and use some of the new extensions.

John H. Armwood

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