Instead of supporting a particular browser version for just six weeks, an “extended support release” (ESR) would be supported for a total of seven Firefox release cycles, or 42 weeks.

Mozilla would still be updating an ESR version every time a new Firefox is released, but would only apply security patches, according to a proposal. If Mozilla starts this idea with Firefox 8, then ESR versions would be called 8.0 ESR, 8.0.1 ESR, 8,0.2 ESR until 8.0.6 ESR with release dates that coincide with Firefox 9 – 14. Mozilla also said that businesses that choose the ESR version will have 12 weeks to qualify a new Firefox ESR version once it becomes available. The current proposal suggests that Firefox 8 ESR will be introduced on January 1, 2012 while the will not have to switch to the successor Firefox 13.0.1 ESR (including two qualifying cycles) until August 28, 2012.

Mozilla is currently asking for feedback on the proposal, but said that it is planning on launching the ESR versions with Firefox 8 or 9.

SOURCE via Mozilla

I am not aware of any 3D GUI that has had sticking power and made an impact on the way we use a traditional computer today. Google, however, is apparently playing with an idea that would enable Chrome to work as a 3D environment, most likely in a version of Chrome OS.

The idea is based on Offscreen Tabs, which allows a user to display and interact with multiple open tabs at the same time, even if they are not in the immediate visible field. Imagine a scenario in which tabbed pages are displayed as actual pages, similar to a New Tab page in Chrome. In this case, however, those static pages would be active. Chrome developers recently added texture API and WebGL support to Offscreen Tabs, which allows the creation of 3D interfaces with distorted pages that are shown perspective or animated perspectives. For example, Google is showcasing the idea as a book whose pages consist of active web pages. Users would be able to flip those dynamic pages, while they are displaying, for example, a video.

The Offscreen Tabs code is live in the current Chromium 16 developer builds, but there is no application or new tab page that takes advantage of this capability yet.

SOURCE via ConceivablyTech

A developer recently suggested in an open discussion group that Mozilla could drop the release cycle of Firefox from six to five weeks. This was greeted with a response from Mozilla Firefox project manager Christian Legnitto confirming that Mozilla “will absolutely shorten” the cycle, but not “soon”. The discussion of this topic is somewhat surprising as Mozilla is still dealing with problems in its current release cycle and has not really solved the issue of longer enterprise release cycles. This new discussion may not be the best way to calm enterprise users.

As with so many Firefox product ideas, this pitch created its own dynamic in which other Mozilla developers suggested that a release cycle of six weeks is two short and additional time for each release may be necessary. Later in the discussion, Legnitto wrote that Mozilla is sticking with the six-week-release cycle “for the foreseeable future.” Of course, there was no definite statement and since Mozilla considers its public discussion groups an environment in which anyone can say anything, no matter of rank and content, there is no way to now say for certain whether the release process will change or not. The official Mozilla version is that six weeks is the status quo, but we know that there are discussions in the background and the release process may change as a result at some point.

Mozilla’s communication practices have become somewhat difficult to understand as statements from Mozilla officials in these developer groups often change direction depending on the public reaction to them. What’s more, officials often say their statements are just personal opinions that should not be taken as fact. As a result, reports on developer discussions can be misleading, Mozilla says. However, in this case, the takeaway is that there is a discussion about the release cycle time frame and the current model is apparently not set in stone, which may be worrisome for enterprises that are using Firefox and are struggling with the current six-week release cycle.

On Tuesday Pandora officially launched an HTML5 version of its service while also adding a few new features to the platform. Unfortunately, this new HTML5 revamp doesn’t mean users can bypass the apps offered on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market using a browser — users are still required to access their music the old-fashioned way… for now.

“For the last two months, we’ve been gradually rolling a preview of the new site out to our listeners, taking their feedback, fixing bugs and making improvements here and there,” Pandora said in a blog. “With all those little fixes and refinements in place, today we’re rolling out the new site for everyone.”

One of the big features offered with the new-and-improved Pandora is the elimination of the 40-hour listening cap. Previously Pandora users were only allowed to listen to music for 40 hours a month, but now that’s been lifted. The catch is that users still need to endure advertisements, some of which can fill the entire background.

In addition to the unlimited listening, the revamped Pandora now offers enhanced artist information, simplified station creation, improved control over music playback, and what Pandora calls Discovery of Music with Friends.

“Enhanced listener profiles and a new music feed offer a centralized place to find, like and comment on what friends and like-minded listeners are discovering and enjoying on Pandora,” the description explains. “The music feed will roll out slowly over the course of the coming days. In addition to the prominent new “share” button, stations now have their own URLs, making it super easy for listeners to share favorite stations via Twitter, Facebook, or email.”

Pandora said that the new social feed will roll out to everyone over the next few days. The company also still offers the premium service, Pandora One, which costs a mere $36 USD a year. This version removes the annoying ads, provides higher quality audio, a desktop application, custom skins and fewer interruptions.

SOURCE via Pandora

The Acid3 Test, which was long considered to be the standard browser test for web standards compatibility has been revised and simplified. All current modern browsers, including IE9, IE10, Chrome 14-16, Firefox 6-8 and Opera 11, now score a perfect 100/100 result.

According to Ian Hickson, who maintains the Acidtests website, there have been several revisions, including SVG Fonts, a feature that was criticized by Mozilla. Hickson said that changes also affected SMIL animations, Xlink as well as DOM Range. Overall, it appears that the developers cleaned up the test and removed antiquated and unusual web technologies. I can’t help but feel that much of the changes are a late reply to criticism that has persisted over the past two years.

Acid3 itself is more than three years old and could use an update, possibly in the HTML5 range where the support of confirmed and planned technologies is pretty much a mess. Since all major browsers now achieve a perfect score in Acid3, there may be little reason to use Acid3 in comparison tests at this time.

SOURCE via Ian Hickson

Looks like the whole marriage between Skype and Facebook as come full circle (kinda) with the latest beta (version 5.4) for the Mac. While the Windows client has had this functionality since summer, the Apple brethren have been looking with puppy dog eyes in envy, unless of course you’d be booting into boot camp just for Skype. Mac Skype-rs will now be able to chat with your Facebook friends, read and update your news feed and even like posts from within your Skype window. What is still missing however is cross platform video chat, but hey, that should be in the works right? Then again I don’t think i’d like to be available to video chat to most of my Facebook anyway! Get your copy of the beta for Mac here!

SOURCE via Engadget

Google’s Chrome browser has the ability to keep itself updated, so if you’re a regular user (who also restarts the browser regularly), then you should be updated – even if you weren’t aware of it.

In either case, you may be pleased to know that Google has officially released the stable version of Chrome 14.

Google says that this release contains two significant technologies which allow developers to create even more powerful web apps and games:

• The Web Audio API enables developers to add fancy audio effects such as room simulation and spatialization.
• Native Client is an open-source technology which allows C and C++ code to be seamlessly and securely executed inside the browser. Currently, Native Client only supports applications listed in the Chrome Web Store, but we are working to remove this limitation as soon as possible.

Mac users running Chrome will also appreciate some of the Mac OS X Lion-specific additions, such as overlay scrollbars, which appear only while you’re scrolling and natively supported full-screen mode.

Called Mebromi, the malware is reminiscent of the IceLord proof of concept BIOS rootkit in 2007, was a late 1990s virus that was able to erase the motherboard software. This new rootkit is a different caliber as it is appears to be one of the most persistent malware programs we have heard so far.

According to Webroot, Mebromi targets Award BIOS and attaches itself to it so it can infect a client computer over and over again. The malware then infects the master boot record to be able to infect winlogon.exe or winnt.exe to be able to use Windows to download additional malware. There is no easy way to get rid of Mebromi at this time as traditional anti-virus software won’t reach down to the BIOS level.

Webroot said that the rootkit is targeting Chinese users and seems to be modeled closely after IceLord, which was demonstrated in 2007. The company stated that “storing the malicious code inside the BIOS ROM could actually become more than just a problem for security software, given the fact that even if an antivirus detects and cleans the MBR infection, it will be restored at the next system startup when the malicious BIOS payload would overwrite the MBR code again.”

Webroot’s Marco Giuliani noted that “developing an antivirus utility able to clean the BIOS code is a challenge, because it needs to be totally error-proof, to avoid rendering the system unbootable at all.” He added: “The job of handling with such specific system codes should be left to the developers of the specific motherboard model, who release BIOS updates along with specific tool to update the BIOS code.”

SOURCE via Webroot

Microsoft appears to have transitioned from a 2-year to 1-year release cycle for its browser. If that is accurate, it is likely that we will see IE10 next week as IE9 Beta was released on September 15, 2010. Microsoft is keeping a lid on speculation and simply said in a comment posted on its IE developer blog that the “next set of announcements regarding IE10 functionality will be made September 13 at the //BUILD/ Windows conference.”

Your guess is as good as mine which features that will be, but it is reasonable to assume that Microsoft will be introducing greater support for HTML5 technologies, further improvements to its hardware acceleration engine and we may see first demonstrations of HTML5 applications and services that are designed to run in IE10 as replacements for traditional local software. Also, expect a first peek at Microsoft’s Windows 8 App Store layout and feature set.

Recent market share data published by Net Applications and StatCounter indicates that IE9 has not turned IE back into the wind and the browser is losing market share at the same pace as IE8 did before IE9′s release. According to Net Applications, IE share was at 55.31 percent in August, down from 55.97 percent in July.

SOURCE via Mozilla

At present time, Baidu’s a desktop web browser / search engine based in China that’s meant to mimic Chrome (though it’s actually wrapped around IE code). The company, however, has its sights set on conquering the mobile front as well, introducing Baidu Yi OS at its annual get-together.

The new platform is essentially a forked version of Android, which will provide a lot of the same functionality and services we’re used to seeing from Google; Baidu, though, is adding a dash of flavor by throwing in its own bundle of apps — such as native maps, reader, music, web apps, and even a program similar to Google Places — as well as strong cloud integration for backups, storage and sharing.

The new OS will likely be up against intense competition from Nokia, Alibaba, Xiaomi and Windows Phone Tango (amongst others), so the Chinese mobile space may get rather interesting in the coming years.

SOURCE via Baidu