script

Safari 4 a big step up, but not as far as rivals

With Safari 3, I admired Apple's chutzpah for bringing its browser to Windows. With the new Safari 4 beta, I'm actually starting to admire the browser, too.

A big user interface overhaul makes Safari look polished rather than clunky on Windows, builds in better search abilities, and makes good use of the fact that people often visit the same sites over and over.

However, the lack of something like the extensions architecture that Firefox pioneered still means Safari 4 (download for Windows and Mac OS X) is better only than Safari 3, not the competition. … Read more

F-Secure provides details on Web site breach

Helsinki-based security firm F-Secure said on Thursday that a breach of its Web site earlier in the week by a Romanian hacker site was limited in scope and impact.

On Wednesday the HackersBlog site said it had used a SQL injection and cross-site scripting attack to get access to data on an F-Secure Web site. Earlier, the site had launched similar attacks on a site of security firm Kaspersky and one belonging to a partner of BitDefender.

F-Secure said the problem with its site was due to a bug in a Web application and not related to an unpatched system.… Read more

Hacker site claims breach of third security firm Web site in a week

A Romanian hacker site said on Wednesday it was able to breach the Web site of Helsinki-based security firm F-Secure just as it had gained access to the sites of two other security companies earlier in the week.

F-Secure is "vulnerable to SQL Injection plus Cross Site Scripting," an entry on the HackersBlog site said. "Fortunately, F-Secure doesn't leak sensitive data, just some statistics regarding past virus activity."

An F-Secure spokesman said the company had taken the affected server down and that it was a low-level server that was not critical to the company and … Read more

Chrome takes new tack for faster JavaScript

Chrome programmers have switched out a third-party software package in favor of their own as part of Google's attempt to speed its open-source browser up more.

The change came with a key component for processing JavaScript text called regular expressions. "As we've improved other parts of the language, regexps started to stand out as being slower than the rest. We felt it should be possible to improve performance by integrating with our existing infrastructure rather than using an external library," according to a Chromium blog post by programmers Erik Corry, Christian Plesner Hansen, and Lasse Reichstein … Read more

Need for speed spurs Opera JavaScript overhaul

With Web applications imposing new demands on Web browsers, a previously behind-the-scenes programming technology called JavaScript is getting new visibility, and Opera is the latest case in point.

The Norwegian browser maker announced on Wednesday a new JavaScript engine project called Carakan.

Carakan runs JavaScript code about 2.5 times as fast as the Futhark engine in the alpha version of Opera 10, programmer Lars Erik Bolstad said in an Opera blog post.

Opera's main business is browsers for mobile phones, and its current JavaScript engine is optimized for minimum memory demands, but now performance is the priority, Bolstad … Read more

Firefox, Chrome virtually tied for JavaScript speed

On Tuesday, Mozilla released Firefox 3.1 beta 2 and Google released Chrome 0.4.154.33, so it's time for the latest installment of JavaScript performance testing.

Here's the highlight: Though Firefox remains the leader on the SunSpider test, with a score of 2,110, Chrome edged very close with 2,140. A lower score is better; because of some variation in results, the numbers I quoted are an average of several runs.

Firefox and Chrome aren't the only browsers out there, but they're interesting to compare for a few reasons. First, they're both … Read more

Second Firefox 3.1 beta brings significant changes

Usually not much happens to a software product from one point release to the next, much less one beta version to the next. But Mozilla has made quite a few changes with the second beta of Firefox 3.1, released Monday.

In the new version are support for video and audio built into Web pages, a built-in service for telling Web sites a user's location if users permit it, private browsing, Web worker support for more powerful Web-based programs, and my favorite feature, the TraceMonkey engine for running the JavaScript programs used to build sophisticated Web sites. TraceMonkey was … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 866: Harsh the mellow

Important revelations on today's show: cigars smell like dog poop, Facebook Connect is going to win, the NFL looks awesome in 3-D, and Barack Obama uses an iPod, not a Zune. Like I said, important. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 866

Listener co-host details: E-mail buzz@cnet.com with your name, phone number, preferred time of day (with time zone). We are shooting for doing the interviews next Monday 3-4 p.m. PST and Wednesday 4-5 PST.

Facebook Connect opens up http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10113604-2.html

So does Google Friend Connect http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10113648-2.html… Read more

Opera 10 alpha: Compliant and faster--but not fastest

A correction was made to this story. See below for details.

Testing Opera 10 alpha confirms it can boast that it's the second browser in development that is fully compliant with the Acid3 benchmarks. It's also markedly faster than Opera 9.62 at processing JavaScript, but it's half as fast as the fastest Web browser currently available.

On both Windows and Mac OS, it was no surprise to see the Acid3 standards test come up 100 out of 100 since that was the big news from Opera Software earlier today. The browser is also three times faster … Read more

Window Pong turns your browser into a game

If, for some reason, you've been missing out on a reason not to use your browser's pop-up blocker, here's a new one: Window Pong. The age old game of Pong comes to your browser using separate pop-up windows. You play against a computer that volleys back yet another window that acts as the ball--complete with sound effects. Meanwhile, a fourth window at the top of the screen keeps score of the ordeal, giving the first player to reach five points the win.

Is it practical? No. Is it a great use of JavaScript? Definitely.

I found it … Read more