safari

When it comes to privacy, is the Googleplex speaking with one voice?

A new Google privacy controversy has revealed conflicting messages and actions between two different factions within the company: those working to protect consumer privacy on the one hand, and those seeking to improve advertising and social networking on the other.

Meanwhile, the news that Google overrode default cookie settings in Apple's Safari browser has prompted two complaints to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and renewed calls for legislation and industry standards that would protect Web surfers from being tracked across sites if they don't … Read more

Microsoft is clearly looking for any ammunition it can find to criticize Google and win over Internet users.

Today, Microsoft seized on a Wall Street Journal report that Google sidestepped privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser to track Internet users. The Journal story said the search giant and other ad companies used special code to get around Safari's privacy controls in order to track users on computers and mobile devices.

"Apparently, Google has been able to track users of Apple's Safari browser while they surf the web on their Apple iPhones, iPads and Macs," Ryan … Read more

Apple's knowledgebase articles are an excellent source for troubleshooting aspects of Mac systems and Apple's software. Apple links to them from numerous locations on its Support Web site, but recently a number of people have noted problems with accessing the knowledgebase articles.

In some instances when loading an article, the page will state that the requested information cannot be found on Apple's servers, but at other times the connection to the site has been refused or encountered errors with too many redirects or other problems that prevent the articles from loading.

When you are able to connect … Read more

Keyboard shortcuts make browsing Netflix and rating movies quick and easy.

Instead of clicking on menus and navigating to the areas of your interest, why not press one key? That's the functionality that a userscript written by Dustin Luck adds to your browser. The script states it will definitely work in Firefox, but also seems to work Chrome, Opera, and Safari without much of a hitch. Here's how to get it for yourself:

Step 1: Open your Web browser of choice. The notes for the script suggest that you use Firefox, … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week people wrote in with questions about optical media not ejecting from the system, Firefox suddenly not opening, how to disable Safari-only mode in Lion, a missing Mac App Store option in OS X, and desktop backgrounds changing after waking from sleep. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present answers here, we welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

Question: CD not ejecting from the system MacFixIt reader rlhbond asks:

Facebook has a small, but useful set of keyboard shortcuts you can use to navigate the social networking site.

They're not universal like Twitter shortcuts, so the modifiers are different depending on the browser and operating system you use. The shortcuts work best with Chrome in Windows and Firefox on Mac OS X, because they only need one modifier key, plus the shortcut key. Also keep in mind that the number shortcuts must be pressed from the number row; they don't work with the number pad.

Here are the keyboard shortcuts for Facebook:

Windows Firefox modifier: Shift + Alt + # … Read more

Microsoft said today that it is looking into a report of a critical vulnerability in Windows 7 that could be used to take over the computer if a user opened a malicious Web page using Apple's Safari browser.

"We are currently examining the issue and will take appropriate action to help ensure customers are protected," Jerry Bryant, group manager for Response communications of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group, said in a statement to CNET.

Secunia released an advisory on the issue yesterday after the problem was reported in a tweet by a researcher using the handle "… Read more

If you're the type of person who plans to stay up late to watch tonight's total lunar eclipse, you might also want to be one of the first people to try the beta version of a new Android app.

Known as SkySafari, the app has been available for iOS devices for a while. But now, just in time for tonight's lunar eclipse, the app is being released into a free beta for Android.

"SkySafari is the only mobile astronomy app which can correctly reproduce this December's total lunar eclipse, or any other," an announcement … Read more

Foursquare just rolled out a Save to Foursquare button, which allows users to save a venue to one of their  Foursquare Lists from nearly any Web page.… Read more