Browsers and extensions

New iPod gets Wi-Fi iTunes Music Store, YouTube, Web browsing

This morning, Apple unveiled the iPod Touch, this year's latest must-have gadget that's the first bona fide iPod to have built-in Wi-fi, the Safari Web browser, and the YouTube app iPhone owners have come to love. That's not the most groundbreaking aspect, though--this thing's got a full version of the iTunes Music Store that you'll be able to use for shopping right on the device. You can preview and buy songs that will sync up to your iTunes library when you plug it in back at home. The idea is similar to the Music Gremlin, … Read more

Silverlight goes 1.0, adds Linux support

Microsoft released Silverlight 1.0 on Tuesday and said it has partnered with Novell to deliver a Linux version of the software.

In addition, Microsoft announced a number of consumer Web sites will use Silverlight to distribute video.

Silverlight is a cross-platform Web browser plug-in for displaying interactive Web applications and an alternative to Adobe's Flash Player, which has become the de facto standard for video on the Web.

The Novell deal will result in a Linux version of Silverlight called Moonlight. Microsoft is also producing a version of Silverlight for Mac OS X.

The expanded platform support could … Read more

Hands-on: Opera Mini 4 beta 2 for BlackBerry

Today Opera announced the latest release of its mobile browser, Opera Mini 4 beta 2. What makes this build stand out are some software trinkets designed especially for BlackBerry devices. Webware.com editor Josh Lowensohn described them in a news release. Now it's time to describe their effect on a luminescent BlackBerry Pearl I just happened to get in my possession.

In most cases, Opera Mini 4 beta 2 performed exactly as promised--beautifully fast and with a clean interface. I was able to scroll with the pointer mouse (a hand with index finger extended), play with screen width, and take advantage of zooming and scrolling with keypad numbers.… Read more

Control your forms and command your clipboard

Heading into the long weekend, Resizable Form Fields and Auto Copy are two Firefox extensions that might do for your browsing experience what the extra day off hopefully will do for you.

… Read more

Latest Opera Mini adds BlackBerry-centric browsing goodness

Blackberry fiends looking for a better Web browser to replace RIM's in-house solution have been able to use a mobile version of Opera called Opera Mini since late last year. The latest beta of the browser got an interesting refresh this morning, adding a slew of handy features, including a new landscape mode that's turning phones on their sides. Literally.

The new feature will let you browse sideways, making use of the taller screens on phones like the Pearl. Unlike the iPhone, the lack of an accelerometer in most phones means you have to use a button combination to swap between portrait and landscape modes. There's also a new full-screen mode to let you browse using every glorious pixel on your phone's small screen.… Read more

Latest Opera Mini adds BlackBerry-centered browsing goodness

BlackBerry fiends looking for a better Web browser to replace the in-house solution provided by RIM have been able to use a mobile version of Opera called Opera Mini since late last year. The latest beta of the browser got an interesting refresh this morning adding a slew of handy features, including a new landscape mode that's turning phones on their sides. Literally.

The new feature will let you browse sideways, making use of the taller screens on phones like the Pearl. Unlike the iPhone, the lack of an accelerometer in most phones means you have to use a … Read more

Six flavors of Firefox

Firefox is the second-most-popular browser on the Internet, and with good reason--it rocks. Want to try out some specialized versions of it? Here are six flavors of Firefox, ranging from the Mac-centric all the way to bird-themed music jukeboxes.

Firefox Campus Edition The Campus edition is the most recent of the branded/sponsored/partnered Firefoxes. There's nothing particularly special or amazing about this version of Firefox that's different from the regular one, besides a bundle of extensions and add-ons that give Firefox a notably "social" feel. Campus edition ships with a trifecta of extensions, including Zotero, … Read more

Learn something new with software

So ... what happened?! It seems like I should be sitting by a pool, sipping a fruity cocktail. However, the calendar claims that it's back-to-school season. (Most frighteningly, I saw my first Christmas advertisement yesterday.)

The end of August is an excellent time to optimize that old laptop for your son's freshman year of college, or to find great free software for empowering that new PC with an arsenal of goodies. Check out two collections of excellent back-to-school software: the first (with video!) from honor-roll assistant editor Jessica Dolcourt; the second from our favorite superhero, Power Downloader.

In the … Read more

Conduit improves its toolbar

Conduit makes a slick utility for creating browser toolbars. I covered the product back in April, and I had one main beef: Each toolbar you installed took up additional real estate in a browser. Conduit has just fixed that, and has added some other new features as well.

With today's release, when Conduit users add toolbars after the first one they have, each becomes an option on a drop-down item within the toolbar. Conduit is also releasing multitoolbar packs with preloaded combinations of toolbars. There's a Blogs pack (Webware is included in it) as well as Music, Sports, … Read more