GadgetReview

My Safari 4 experience rocks so far.  It’s super speedy and based on my 6 hour test drive has no glaring bugs.  Big ups to Apple.  My only gripe are the God awful top tabs.  They make navigating between each tab a cryptic experience to say the least, and I’m constantly clicking into another window.  But – drum roll please – there is a fix.  Close out all Safari windows, upon up Terminal (just search for that in ’spotlight’ if you ain’t familiar) and when it’s open and loaded, copy and paste the following and hit return (note: you need to restart Safari to get it to ‘take’):

defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop -bool NO

If you wanna restore the top tabs, because your a masochist:

defaults delete com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop

[Crunchgear]

Apple has launched a public beta of Safari 4, the Apple OS web browser.  The Cupertino company claims that Safari 4’s Javascript engine, dubbed Nitro, can process Javascript 30 times faster than Microsoft’s IE 7 and 3 times faster than Firefox.  They also lay claim to loading pages 3 times faster than both competitors.

So what else is new?

• Top Sites – See your favorite websites at a glance. Open one with a single click.
• Cover Flow – Flip through your site history or bookmarks like you flip through albums in iTunes.
• Full History Search – Easily retrieve sites you’ve seen before. Spot the one you want in Cover Flow.
• Tabs on Top – Manage your tabs elegantly and open a wide window for exploring the web.
• Nitro Engine – Wait less. Browse more. Surf the web with the world’s fastest browser.
• Windows Native Look and Feel – Vista and XP users: feel right at home in Safari for Windows.
• Developer Tools – Access the best suite of development tools ever included in a browser.

[Apple]

Rejoice all you Windows Mobile users. The mobile goodness of  Google Mobile apps now extends to your device. Now that it’s integrated directly on your Today screen, you can start a search without opening a browser (a real time saver). You can also access Maps, Gmail, News, and more from the mobile app.

Download the Windows Mobile version here.

[Google Mobile Blog]

According to reports, the Google Chrome browser will soon be receiving their much anticipated extensions. A Google developer conference on May 27 will include a session on developing extensions for the browser. The extensions should be available shortly before or on that date.

I’m definitely looking forward to this as the extensions are the only thing keeping me from switching over. Chrome is surprisingly fast, stable, and quick loading but it absolutely needs extensions to make it a complete browsing solution.

[Mashable]

According to reports, a milestone Firefox Mobile update a.k.a Fennec will be available on Windows Mobile as soon as next week. The initial release will be made available on the HTC Touch Pro, with other versions coming in the later months.

According to internal Acid 3 tests, Fennec scored a 88/100, which beats iPhone Safari’s 74/100. Let’s hope the new browser meets and exceeds our high expectations. Read more about it here.

[Techspot]

Samsung and Yahoo have teamed up to bring us a TV Widget service, called “Internet@TV – Content Service”.  Thanks to Samsung’s Internet enabled 2009 flat panel TVs, users will be able to access a variety of Yahoo content as well as many well known third party sites such as YouTube, eBay and Showtime Networks directly on their sets.  And the apps widgets won’t stop there thanks to the open-platform Widget Development Kit (WDK), which will enable other third party developers, such as Hulu (fingers crossed), to get in on the action.

Full release below

SAMSUNG AND YAHOO!® BRING
THE BEST OF THE WEB TO TELEVISION

Internet@TV – Content Service
to Open a Whole New World of TV Interactivity for Consumers

SEOUL, Korea and SUNNYVALE, CA – January 5, 2009 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, and Yahoo! Inc., a leading global Internet company, today announced a new Internet-based service to Samsung televisions available in the spring of 2009.  Select models in Samsung’s 2009 flat-panel HDTV line-up will be powered by the Yahoo! Widget Engine, a fifth-generation applications platform that enables TV watchers to interact with and enjoy a rich set of “TV Widgets.” TV Widgets make it easy to interact with Internet content and services to complement and enhance the traditional TV viewing experience. The lightweight Javascript and XML applications bring content, information and community features available on the Internet within easy reach of the remote control.  The new televisions will be displayed at CES 2009 in Samsung’s booth located at Central Hall, Booth #11033.

Select models in Samsung’s 2009 flat-panel HDTV lines will support the new TV Widget service, called “Internet@TV – Content Service.”  The service, which adapts the Yahoo! Widget Engine, enables users to engage in a variety of experiences that traditionally could only be enjoyed on a PC.  Not only will users be able to track their stock portfolio and stay on top of headline news, but they may also browse through videos, share photos and interact with friends.  Users can access the service by connecting the HDTV to a home network via the built-in Ethernet port or using an optional Wi-Fi USB dongle.

The suite of TV Widgets range from a host of Yahoo! properties, including Flickr™, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Weather and Yahoo! Finance, to third-party content from well-known brands, including USA TODAY®, YouTube™, eBay® and Showtime Networks® among others. The content and services offered will grow to include video streaming and other popular internet services.

Developers worldwide will be able to develop and deploy TV Widgets for the television by using the open-platform Widget Development Kit (WDK). At the same time, Samsung will continue to provide high-performing TV hardware so that developers can easily deploy widgets on Samsung HDTVs. Samsung and Yahoo! will expand their collaboration further to bring more developers to the Internet@TV –Content Service and build an open ecosystem where more developers can create various TV Widgets for consumers to enjoy on their televisions.

“Samsung has been a proven innovator in Internet-enabled TV technology for some time now, offering the ground-breaking InfoLink service last year in 2008. There’s no denying that the easy-to-use, one-touch of the remote control service successfully provides information simply and effectively,” said Boo-Keun Yoon, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Division at Samsung Electronics.  He continues, “The collaboration with Yahoo! lets viewers go one step further. This new interface allows them to interact and connect with many of their favorite Web services on a personal level.  It’s frankly way beyond just passively watching broadcasts and is no doubt the future of TV.”

“As a leader in developing innovative technology platforms to provide indispensable Internet services to millions of users, Yahoo! is excited to be working with Samsung to enhance consumers’ television viewing experience by bringing the best of the Web to their televisions,” said Patrick Barry, vice president of Connected TV at Yahoo! “Through this partnership, we can combine the Internet benefits of user choice and personalization with Samsung’s leading product innovation and global reach to deliver a new experience to users around the world.”

Samsung HDTVs with the Yahoo! Widget Engine and TV Widgets will be available in 13 countries in 2009 including the U.S, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland.  This provides publishers and developers the opportunity to create exciting TV Widget experiences that will reach and engage millions of Samsung TV viewers.

Google released the final version of their Chrome 1.0 Windows browser. Not much has changed since the first release besides a few bug fixes, new bookmark manager, and improved plugin support.

According to reports, the browser should still be in beta but Google’s desire to push it out to PC manufacturers caused them to release it early. I say kudos to them if they can make a dent on IE’s dominance on pre-configured PCs.

[Google Operating System]

Google announced an update to the Chrome browser, version 03.154.9, that features improved security and performance tweaks. I’ve been using it for a while now and it’s been surprisingly stable and quick for a beta release. Read more about the update at Ars Technica.

[Ars Technica]

Watch out Google Chrome, there’s a new player in town and its name is…Firefox? Mozilla’s Minefield browser figures to be the fastest gun in the west (or east) and initial reports indicate that it’s true. It’s still in alpha phase but Minefield absolutely blazes with a javascript engine that’s 10% faster than Chrome. Yup, the word you’re looking for is ’smoked’.

Download the latest build here.

[Cnet]

By: Albert S

Google announced the availability of their new Chrome web browser in beta form. Yeah, I know, it’s not a gadget but it sure seems like one with its shiny name and numerous, nifty functions. Basically, it’s a browser designed from the ground up to be extremely stable, functional, and streamlined.

After looking into it, all I gotta say is that Microsoft and Mozilla should be very concerned.

Read more about it here.

Download the beta here.