Safari 4 Beta Now Available

Some of us seriously like to use multiple browsers for different reasons. I myself mainly use Firefox, but will use Chrome, Safari and if worse comes to worse, Internet Explorer. But it looks like Safari is doing its best to move up the charts with their latest beta release. Safari 4 is now available for download, and it comes with some hot improvements. The download requires a security (2009-01), but once that’s done you’re ready to rock and roll. Check the bullet points:

• Javascript runs 4X faster.
• Cover Flow browsing for bookmarks
• Full History search (all the pages you’ve visited with the titles, URS, ect.)
• Top Sites (Visually shows all your most visited websites on one page)
Well it looks like Apple is trying to give you a reason to come back to Safari. Now if they can just develop an incognito mode ;-)

[Crunchgear]

Microsoft Urges Windows Users To Shun Safari

Caught this over at Slashdot.

benjymouse writes "The Register has picked up on a recent Microsoft security bulletin which urges Windows users to 'restrict use of Safari as a web browser until an appropriate update is available from Microsoft and/or Apple.' This controversy comes after Apple has officially refused to promise to do anything about the carpet bombing vulnerability in the Safari browser. Essentially, Apple does not see unsolicited downloads of hundreds or even thousands of executable files to users' desktops as being a security problem."

Now while downloading a hundred files to your desktop won't automatically execute them, Microsoft's position is that a secondary attack could execute them for you.

I guess that's one way for Apple to keep on hammering Vista for vulnerabilities in their commercials.

Browser Comparison - Part 1

Every once in a while, almost every geek asks another geek, "What browser do you use?". I have changed browser preference quite often. So I decided to give the newest offerings for the big 3 browsers a try. I have been trying out Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3 Beta 5 and Apple Safari. Now I usually end up using Internet Explorer most of the time, because it seems to be the one that meets my needs without having to download a bunch of add-ins just to make it meet my needs. But in trying all of them out, I have realized that if you could combine features of all 3 it would make a great browser. Today I'm going to discuss the Bookmark/Favorites feature.

I'm not like everyone, I like my bookmarks to be stationed in a tree form on the side of my browser since my laptop and my monitor are both widescreen, so I have the real estate to keep it posted. Even without a widescreen, I still like it to appear there, instead of a pull down menu. That's just my preference. That being said, I really didn't like the feature in Safari. When you view all the bookmarks, they appear on the left side with the folders that they are in, but when you click on a folder, the main page is where you see all your bookmark addresses. I just don't like having to navigate all the way away from the page I'm looking at to look at bookmarks.

Now as for Firefox and Internet Explorer, they both offer an easy way to see your bookmarks in a tree format on the side bar. They both seem to be very customizable, and but I like the way that Internet Explorer also adds a tab for RSS feeds. In IE, the feed actually appears with one icon and you click it like a regular bookmark, Safari does this also, but just not in the side bar. With Firefox, the RSS feed appears as a tree and you can only click on the individual feed story and view it. I don't like this...not one bit...it's not saving me any time. Plus there's no way to view the entire RSS feed by clicking on the bookmark for the web feed, but I'll get more into that in part two.

Here are some pics of what I'm talking about.

Firefox Reaches 400 Million Downloads

I want to say congratulations and thank you to the company who created my favorite web browser, Firefox. Mozilla has had their free web browser downloaded 400 million times since its launch on November 9th, 2004.

I've tried Internet Explorer, Opera, and even Safari, and none of them has measured up to the love that Firefox has given me. All the free plug in's, the memory tab recovery, the video capture features, yes Firefox, you've made my life easier.

I love you Firefox!!!

[spreadfirefox via Gizmodo]

Update [Malcolm]: Thought you'd get a kick out of my dog imitating the Firefox logo.

Safari For Windows Tops 1 Million Downloads In 48 Hours

Despite its problems, more than 1 million people downloaded the Safari Web browser for Windows in the first 48 hours of its availability. Apple claims that the browser is the fastest in the whole wide world, but I’ve read a few reports online that suggest otherwise.

And it seems to run slower than Firefox on my system; that’s all I care about.

So congrats to Apple on this milestone. There’s still some ground to make up in its competition with Firefox and Internet Explorer and some Windows users appear to be militantly anti-Apple (I'm glad I'm not in that company!!!), but it's a good start nonetheless.

Read the press release here. [Apple]

Exploit For Safari For Windows Spotted

Apple released its Safari Web browser for Windows (and Mac!) yesterday. There’s already a so-called 0day exploit for it, one that causes the browser to instantly crash when visiting a specific Web site. This Web site, to be exact.

It’s mainly a proof of concept, so the exploit won’t really damage your installation, but the proof is in the pudding, as they say. Now Apple knows that nerds are working 24/7 to poke holes in its precious Web browser.