Google has just bumped Chrome up a version, with the latest release now bring 2.0.172.28.
The new release is now 30% faster than the previous release according to Google.
Chrome 2.0 also adds new features, including full screen mode, form autofill, and the ability to remove thumbnails from the New Tab page.
The release is available to new users from the Chrome website, and existing users will be upgraded automatically.
Mozilla Labs have released a new project called Jetpack. The project is a “newly formed experiment in using open Web technologies to enhance the browser, with the goal of allowing anyone who can build a Web site to participate in making the Web a better place to work, communicate and play” says Mozilla.
The aim is to allow web developers to design add-ons for Firefox using just HTML, JavaScript and CSS.
A download for Firefox is available along with more information, documentation, and videos from the Jetpack website.
Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 8 Multilingual User Interface (MUI) packs for Windows XP SP3, and Windows Server 2003 SP2.
The packs are available in a wide range of languages, including Arabic, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Hong Kong), French, German, Italian, Japanese and many more.
The packs can be downloaded using the links below:
It looks like Firefox 3.5 is set to get a new logo, after Mozilla set out to update Firefox’s logo in a bid to reflect the changes in the upcoming browser. The current logo has been the same since Firefox 1.5.
“In a marketplace that is focused on products that are newer, faster, lighter and shinier, design work is inherently perishable. Part of this is larger trends and fashion (for a period of time cars had fins), and part of this is simply ongoing visual change as an indication of overall progress” explained Alex Faaborg, a Firefox User Experience team member.
The final design is still not decided on, but Faaborg has been posting different renderings daily on his blog.
Mozilla Labs has started a design challenge seeking to encourage innovation and experimentation in user interface design for the Web. The aim is to reinvent tabs, as many users today will often have 10-20 tabs open at anyone time.
“The browser is more of an operating system than a data display application; we use it to manage the web as a shared hard drive” says the Mozilla website. “If you have more than seven or eight tabs open they become pretty much useless. And tabs don’t work well if you use them with heterogeneous information. They’re a good solution to keep the screen tidy for the moment.”
Users are able to enter the design challenge by submitting mock-ups of what they think could be possible solutions. Entries need to be in by June 21st 2009, with the winner being announced July 8th 2009.
Full details can be found on the Mozilla Labs Design Challenge website.
After weeks of delays associated with the most recent two Firefox 3.5 beta’s, Mozilla is now on track to deliver Firefox 3.5 release candidate (RC) 1 in June.
“We’re setting an aggressive code freeze target of next Wednesday, May 20th for Firefox 3.5 RC” said Firefox Director Mike Beltzner. This puts “the RC release somewhere in the first week of June.”
Currently, there are still outstanding code blocking bugs stopping Firefox 3.5 from hitting RC status. Provided they are all completed in time, we may even see a final release of Firefox 3.5 sometime in late June or early July.
Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 can be downloaded in the mean time from the Firefox beta website.
Mozilla has today released Fennec Alpha 1 for Windows Mobile. Until now, to use the new mobile browser you needed either a Nokia N800/N810 or an HTC Touch Pro.
This new release worked with Windows Mobile 6 devices and includes new memory management technology (the same used in Firefox), a user interface designed with CSS, and support for add-ons.
A full list of known bugs, changes since pre-alpha builds, and installation instructions can be found in the release notes.
With the latest developer build of Google Chrome being released this week (version 2.0.180.0), evidence has surfaced showing that extensions and plug-ins are on their way for the browser.
Release notes show that developers have implemented “extensions window & tabs API events.”
“The extensions posse would like to point out that as of today’s dev channel release, extensions are starting to be a bit more useful. We can now put little bits of UI (user interface) in the chrome of Chrome, and some of the APIs (application programming interfaces) are starting to come together,” said Google programmer Aaron Boodman. “There is still quite a ways to go, but if you’re interested in building extensions for Chrome, this might be a good time to start taking a look.”
Google has also updated Chrome Extension HOWTO and included some sample extensions, including a gmail checker.
You can download the latest developer release from the Chromium website.
Along with Apple’s release of 10.5.7 yesterday, Apple has also quietly updated Safari 4 and 3 with security patches.
The update for Safari repaired input validation and memory corruption issues which could have allowed hackers to plant malicious code on websites.
The update was included for Mac users who have already installed the 10.5.7 update, or an updated version of the browser can be downloaded and installed manually from the Apple Safari website.
Google is set to run an advertising campaign on television in the United States, in a bid to steal market share away from rival Microsof’s Internet Explorer.
Currently, Google Chrome holds almost 1.5% of the browser market share, while Internet Explorer is streaks ahead at 66%.
“We designed a Google TV Ads campaign which we hope will raise awareness of our browser, and also help us better understand how television can supplement our other online media campaigns,” said a post on Google’s corporate blog.
The first advertisements are expected to air over the weekend.