web

Abalta's just-released WebLink system makes use of smartphones to power popular apps on a car's dashboard. Although no automotive partners have been announced, the technology could let drivers see and control apps for navigation, music, news, and social media through their cars' touch screens.

For the WebLink launch, Abalta Technologies included integration with Slacker Internet radio, WebNav navigation, Parkopedia parking information, and WCities event information apps.

Abalta says WebLink will work with any major smartphone operating system. The technology makes use of the HTML 5-compatible browsers of smartphone operating systems, showing the content and accepting touch-screen control input … Read more

Sometimes the person or company responsible for uploading a music video on YouTube is kind enough to include the lyrics in the video information. If not, you probably end up opening another browser tab to find the lyrics so you can sing along (when no one else is listening). As a convenience for future song learning, there's a Web browser add-on that works with Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, which will allow you to see the lyrics while a video is playing. Here's how to get started:

For Chrome: Install a copy of YouTube Lyrics by Rob W from … Read more

In the latest set of security updates for OS X, Apple has included a new version of Safari for users still running OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. The last official release of Safari for Snow Leopard was version 5.1.7, which addressed several bugs in the WebKit framework that could allow maliciously crafted Web sites to execute code locally on a system. Since then there had been no updates for Safari 5; however, if you are using Snow Leopard and have installed the latest update you will see Safari is now at version 5.1.8.

As noted … Read more

Web app Padlet calls itself a "multimedia friendly, free-form, real-time wiki." Which is to say, it's a blank canvas where you can throw ideas around with a virtual group. Each participant can post his or her thoughts, along with any files, photos, videos, and links that pertain to the discussion.

I hosted a Padlet conversation between me, myself, and I using a MacBook, a Windows laptop, and an iPad. Padlet worked flawlessly on each device. Let's take a look at how it works.

To start a Padlet session, head to its Web site and click the … Read more

I have yet to take the Evernote plunge, and I don't use Pinterest unless I'm looking over my wife's shoulder. Yet, I admit I have a need for some variety of Web-clipping app. My current strategy, if you can call it that, is leaving browser tabs open for days on end, or adding to my ever-increasing and wholly unorganized list of bookmarks.

Thankfully, I found Add to Wunderlist, a browser extension that works for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. It adds a button to the right of the your browser's URL bar for clipping a Web page … Read more

The Interactive Advertising Bureau ratcheted up its pressure on Mozilla's Firefox to reconsider its decision to block third-party advertising cookies by default.

The trade group, whose senior vice president tweeted last month that the policy was a "nuclear first strike against the ad industry," put out a statement from its president and CEO, Randall Rothenberg, detailing its concerns. He painted a bleak picture of the future of the Internet, saying that a vast array of Web sites would be shut down by the proposed change.

"If Mozilla follows through on its plan to block all third-party … Read more

An about-face in Internet Explorer 10 shows Microsoft is not merely backing off from its hostility toward Flash Player, but actually warming up to the Adobe Systems browser plug-in for competitive reasons.

In September 2011, Microsoft declared that browser plug-ins are a relic from the Internet's early days, calling them bad for battery life, security, reliability, and privacy, and said that it would ban them when IE10 was running with Windows 8's Metro user interface, now called the "immersive UI."

But Microsoft gave Flash a reprieve in May 2012 by building a special version of Adobe'… Read more

Google's Gmail mobile Web app is getting a refresh, the company said.

Google noted on its Google+ page today that Gmail for mobile Web and Gmail Offline now include many new features it added to its iPhone and iPad apps in December. Those changes include improved calendar integration that allows users to see RSVPs inline, and improved search that includes autosuggestions.

Another change is a complete visual refresh, including changes to color, spacing, layout, and avatars (which is a person's Google profile picture or a first initial if he or she doesn't have a profile picture).

The … Read more

Using many Firefox add-ons at once can cause the application to dramatically slow down. This is because for each add-on, you're using a piece of your computer's memory. The most obvious solution is to uninstall some of them, but perhaps that's not a good option for you.

As an alternative, try checking out how much memory each add-on is using. Firefox provides information on memory allocation (about:memory), but it isn't in the most user-friendly format. The next best option is to install yet another add-on. However, this particular add-on will report its own memory usage … Read more