Gizmodo: Browsers

Indian Firefox Bus Probably Doesn't Have Wi-Fi

Haroon Malik — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:30:00 EDT

In what appears to be the endless spread of Firefox, a new addition to the unofficial Firefox catalog has been spotted—in India. On the back of a bus. We're guessing the bus doesn't have on board Wi-Fi to make use of its web browser of choice, but we admire the support. Also, if that text in yellow above the artwork doesn't read "Safari and IE blow", well, then we'll eat our cats...I'm seriously mixing up my modern proverbs this weekend. Dammit. [Neatorama]

Mozilla CEO: Apple Auto-Installing Safari 3.1 "Borders on Malware"

matt buchanan — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 10:30:52 EDT

We reported yesterday that Apple was pushing Windows Safari 3.1 through Software Update, even if you didn't already have it installed. We thought it was a little odd, but we weren't pissed. Mozilla's CEO, on the other hand, well, check out this snip from this blog (which is currently kee-rashed):

Apple has made it incredibly easy—the default, even—for users to install ride along software that they didn't ask for, and maybe didn't want. This is wrong, and borders on malware distribution practices.

Oh, he don't stop there girlfriend:

It's wrong because it undermines the trust that we're all trying to build with users. Because it means that an update isn't just an update, but is maybe something more. Because it ultimately undermines the safety of users on the Web by eroding that relationship. It's a bad practice and should stop.

Personally, we think it's a little sneaky—we just usually just click OK when Software Update runs, so we almost got a big helping of Safari ourselves. 'Course, the browser wars just keep getting more cutthroat, so it's no wonder Mozilla's top rex is a bit cheesed Apple's trying to eat into it—you have to manually download Firefox, it's not slipped in your backdoor. [John Lilly's Blog via Apple Core]

Mozilla Says Firefox 3 Is Ready for Your Mom

matt buchanan — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:40:25 EDT

I've actually been running Firefox 3 since it hit beta, and have been pushing it on people since beta 2, when the sweet new address bar hit. But Mozilla says that it's now is ready for the ungeeky plebes to climb aboard, at beta number four. Previously, they considered the ride potentially too bumpy for the infirm and elderly. [Reuters, Firefox 3 Beta]

Opera Mini Browser Now on Helio Ocean, Officially

Kit Eaton — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:01:29 EDT

Sure, with a little third-party app hacking you've been able to get Opera running on some Helio phones for a while. But today Helio and Opera have released Opera Mini in what's the first official deployment of the tiny browser by a US service provider. Apparently Helio listened to their enthusiast community and then worked to tailor the software. Press release below the screenshots.

The software is available for download from today from Helio's web portal. Currently it's optimized for the Ocean, but since this is apparently the "start of a beautiful relationship" we may expect to see other versions in the near future.

Opera Mini Surfs on the Helio Ocean
Opera signs first deal with U.S. service provider

Oslo, Norway and Mountain View, CA - March 19, 2008 - Opera, together with Helio, announced the first deployment of Opera Mini on a mobile service provider in the United States. As of today, Helio members can surf the Web with Opera Mini on their Ocean device with a specially-tailored version of the browser designed specifically for the handset.

Available as a downloadable application from Helio's Web portal, Opera Mini is a perfect addition to the Helio Ocean, a sleek and powerful dual-slide device that offers an incredible breadth of functionality. Opera Mini makes browsing on the Ocean even more fun and addictive with an
elegant desktop-like experience that lets the user dive into the page to access the content they want. At the same time, Opera Mini serves pages at lightning speed so it will not slow down the on-the-go mobile experience to which Helio members are accustomed.

"We're always looking to give our members their choice of great applications so we're excited to be the first service provider in the U.S. to make Opera Mini an on-deck option," said Doug Britt, Vice President of Service Management at Helio. "Opera Mini is a tremendous mobile browser. Optimized for Ocean and running on a nationwide 3G network, its a combination that's tough to match."

"Offering Opera Mini underscores Helio's insight into how the mobile industry is evolving," said Rod Hamlin, SVP Sales and Marketing Americas, Opera. "Helio understands their customers' desire for innovative and engaging mobile experiences and answering this demand with a choice in browsers explains why Helio selected Opera Mini."

More than 39 million cumulative users have discovered how Opera Mini can revolutionize their mobile Web experience. Now Helio Ocean users can enjoy all the features and fun of Opera Mini, including Opera Link, a free service that synchronizes your bookmarks, Speed Dial and personal bar between all your Web browsers.

About Opera Software ASA
Opera Software ASA has redefined Web browsing for PCs, mobile phones and other networked devices. Opera's cross-platform Web browser technology is renowned for its performance, standards compliance and small size, while giving users a faster, safer and more dynamic online experience. Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at HYPERLINK "http://www.opera.com" www.opera.com.
Opera Mini Surfs on the Helio Ocean - 2
About Helio
Helio is the mobile brand for the Internet generation. With advanced mobile services, exclusive, high-end, beautiful devices and smart pricing on a nationwide high-speed 3G network, Helio is built for consumers who have mobile at the center of their lives. Helio is a joint venture between
SK Telecom, one of the world's most advanced wireless carriers, and EarthLink, the next generation Internet service provider. www.helio.com.

iPhone Browser Marketshare Nears .1 Percent, Windows Mobile Trails By a Third

Matt Buchanan — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:25:32 EST

The iPhone's browsing marketshare stands at .09 percent five months after launch, coming close to being one out of every thousand pageviews on the internet. More interestingly, Windows CE—all Windows mobile platforms combined—has only 66 percent of that. Discuss. [CW]

Opera Mini 4 has officially dropped. Get ...

Sean Fallon — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:50:07 EST

Opera Mini 4 has officially dropped. Get it while it's hot. [Opera]

Opera Takes On iPhone With Mini 4 Beta Browser

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:49:13 EDT

There are many reasons that you could call the Opera Mini 4 Beta an assault on the iPhone's Safari browser. New features include:

• Overview mode empowers people to browse their favorite websites
• Zooms in and cleanly focuses on the content you want (as seen in Opera's Wii browser)
• Dynamically changes size of text and images, to read without a lot of scrolling
• A virtual mouse to make it easy to scroll in any direction

Another reason is the cute but dorky video that totally rips on the iPhone for being expensive and, I guess, in all other ways quite similar to Opera's little wunderbrowser. Hey, are they even using the same New York Times page in their promo image above? – Wilson Rothman

Product Page [Opera]

Apple Issues Windows Safari Update

Jason Chen — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:09:22 EDT

Those of you who downloaded the the Windows Safari 3.0 beta earlier this week should head on over to the download site and grab the new 3.0.1. Or even easier, just use the auto-updater included with Safari. It patches a number of security holes found this week (listed after the jump), and should probably be installed as quickly as possible. This is only for Windows, btw. Macs don't have those problems. (Typical.)– Jason Chen

Download Page [Apple]

The Safari 3 Public Beta was released on June 11 for Mac OS X and Windows XP/Vista. This beta software is for trial purposes and intended to gather feedback prior to a full release. As with all our products, we encourage security researchers to report issues to product-security@apple.com.
Safari 3.0.1 Public Beta for Windows is now available and addresses
the following issues in Safari 3 Public Beta:

CVE-ID: CVE-2007-3186
Available for: Windows XP or Vista
Impact: Visiting a malicious website may lead to arbitrary code
execution
Description: A command injection vulnerability exists in the Windows
version of Safari 3 Public Beta. By enticing a user to visit a
maliciously crafted web page, an attacker can trigger the issue which
may lead to arbitrary code execution. This update addresses the
issue by performing additional processing and validation of URLs.
This does not pose a security issue on Mac OS X systems, but could
lead to an unexpected termination of the Safari browser.

CVE-ID: CVE-2007-3185
Available for: Windows XP or Vista
Impact: Visiting a malicious website may lead to an unexpected
application termination or arbitrary code execution
Description: An out-of-bounds memory read issue in Safari 3 Public
Beta for Windows may lead to an unexpected application termination or
arbitrary code execution when visiting a malicious website. This
issue does not affect Mac OS X systems.

CVE-ID: CVE-2007-2391
Available for: Windows XP or Vista
Impact: Visiting a malicious website may allow cross-site scripting
Description: A race condition in Safari 3 Public Beta for Windows
may allow cross site scripting. Visiting a maliciously crafted web
page may allow access to JavaScript objects or the execution of
arbitrary JavaScript in the context of another web page. This issue
does not affect Mac OS X systems.

The update is available via the "Apple Software Update" application,
which is installed with the most recent version of QuickTime or
iTunes on Windows.

Safari 3.0.1 Public Beta for Windows is also available via Apple's
Safari download site at: http://www.apple.com/safari/download/

Safari for Windows XP or Vista
The download file is named: "SafariSetup.exe"
Its SHA-1 digest is: e468f56613abaa3afd692ded78c35eaf109ca0b6

Safari+QuickTime for Windows XP or Vista
The download file is named: "SafariQuickTimeSetup.exe"
Its SHA-1 digest is: af73dd81793b2802200da5d7d5c8077a67ca57ec

This message is signed with Apple's Product Security PGP key,
and details are available at:
http://www.apple.com/support/security/pgp/