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Google Chrome 4: Yes, it's fast, but is it usable?
As Betanews readers have responded to our stories about Chrome's JavaScript superiority...Does that mean we'd actually use this browser? Well...
Verizon Wireless launches new Android, Chocolate, and ruggedized phones
The lower-priced Eris joins the Droid, while the Chocolate gets a touchscreen and more music playback.
Early sales figures for Windows 7 nicely high, but do we know why?
Fans of triple-digit surges in figures quoted by Betanews will love this one, as it appears Microsoft rediscovered how to pull off a software launch.
Myka announces its latest Linux-based 'net top box'
Myka's ION brings Boxee, XMBC, and much more to HDTVs.
What hath Mac wrought? A remembrance after a quarter-century
The reason there's a Macintosh today is not because of some brilliant flash of engineering genius, but because Apple had the audacity to learn from its mistakes.
Early build of Moblin 2.1 improves connectivity, but not device support
The Linux Foundation's Atom-centric OS yesterday received a major overhaul with the project release of Moblin 2.1 for netbooks and nettops.
The iPhone's China syndrome: Sales of 5,000 and climbing
There's actually a country where Apple's device is not a godsend, where sales can be measured in the dozens.
New European counterpart to FCC will ensure 'a more neutral net'
Late Thursday night, the ruling telecom administrators of the EU's member nations signed away their final authority to a new entity overseen by the EC.
Sophos study suggests Windows 7 UAC's default setting is self-defeating
Without any anti-virus installed, a Sophos test showed, User Account Control was only capable of thwarting just one malware package out of ten samples chosen.
Indiscreet tweet trips awareness of Web SSL vulnerability
A group of high-level security engineers had been making progress on thwarting a low-level threat to the Web, until somebody blurted it all out on Twitter.
Google Chrome 4: Yes, it's fast, but is it usable?
By Scott M. Fulton, III on November 6, 2009, 5:46 PM
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If, as Google says, a Web browser is not so much an application but a platform upon which a new class of applications may be built, then that platform must provide support. It needs to give its users the ability to accomplish tasks, and to devise new and better ways to accomplish them better. For as we all know now, "browser" is an inappropriate word for the thing we use to communicate with the Web using HTTP, because the Web is becoming a space for everyday applications deployment. Especially in the content industry, active work takes place within the browser, much more so than passive amusement.
To that end, a browser may serve either as a springboard or a plank. Despite Google Chrome's achievements, the crucial element of support remains missing. For all the spotlight we've given Chrome for being the fastest Web browser on Windows, it does not yet serve the purpose of supporting users and helping them to make their online tasks more efficient. This is why Google's expert tuning of its V8 JavaScript engine for Chrome is so important, because the browser has truly evolved into a JavaScript platform rather than an HTML platform.
Continue reading Google Chrome 4: Yes, it's fast, but is it usable?...
What hath Mac wrought? A remembrance after a quarter-century
By Scott M. Fulton, III on November 6, 2009, 4:02 PM
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[ME's NOTE: This article was originally published on January 30, 2009, here in Betanews. I'm reprinting it today in honor of the memory of a man I refer to in this article, who was one of my early mentors in computing and in business, and who passed away last October 26: Elmer Zen "E.Z." Million, the proprietor of the original Southwest Computer Conference, later the CEO of private aircraft services company Million Air, and occasional candidate for some lofty, high Oklahoma office. He was a brilliant businessman, a true fiscal conservative who really did teach me how to run a business, through long hours in his office poring over accurately written ledgers. And he was the absolute antithesis of everything people assumed a "computer pioneer" was, but he was all of that and more. I dedicate this to E.Z.'s enduring memory.]
The reason there's a Macintosh today is not because of some brilliant flash of engineering genius, as many revisionists like to believe. It's because Apple had the audacity to make a few big mistakes first, and learn from them.
Continue reading What hath Mac wrought? A remembrance after a quarter-century...
Early build of Moblin 2.1 improves connectivity, but not device support
By Tim Conneally on November 6, 2009, 12:41 PM
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Until recently, netbooks seemed to be computers designed by a subtractive process. That is, you start with a notebook design, and you scale back on the cost by equipping it with lower-power processors, less on-board storage, smaller screens, and either open source software or truncated desktop operating systems.
There really hasn't been a powerful example of a "netbook experience" that was built from the ground up to differentiate the devices from their full-powered counterparts.
Continue reading Early build of Moblin 2.1 improves connectivity, but not device support...
Early sales figures for Windows 7 nicely high, but do we know why?
By Scott M. Fulton, III on November 6, 2009, 11:32 AM
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The initial sales figures for Microsoft Windows 7 after its worldwide launch on October 22 are still being tabulated, but the early estimates sound very promising: According to industry analysis firm NPD, unit sales for Windows 7 software SKUs in the US were 234% higher -- better than triple -- the unit sales for Vista's launch, and US revenue from Win7 software sales was up 82% over Vista's launch.
But as Vista veterans will recall, that launch was botched somewhat, first by a costly delay, then by a decision to launch the product twice (first to businesses in October 2006, then to consumers in January 2007), and then by a lack of participation from partners. And there were still more reasons the Vista launch fizzled, one of which, believe it or not, included the scheduling of the launch on a Tuesday.
Continue reading Early sales figures for Windows 7 nicely high, but do we know why?...
Internet Explorer slows down again: Is Microsoft messing up IE's JavaScript?
By Scott M. Fulton, III on November 3, 2009, 12:39 PM
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Over the last several weeks, but especially with the last round of Patch Tuesday updates, we've been noticing a severely downward trend in Microsoft's Internet Explorer performance -- a trend we were able to confirm in our most recent tests. It seems that with each security update, IE8's performance was cut in half.
This morning, Microsoft issued what its engineers describe (though without using the term directly) as a bug fix for one of last Tuesday's updates: a patch that addresses two newly discovered issues. One of those issues is a type mismatch error that would appear to become a potential security threat. If it's not a threat yet, then it could at least partly explain some of the severe performance issues we'd been seeing in recent days -- or at least so we thought.
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A taste of Android's freshly baked Eclair
By Richard Adhikari, LinuxInsider on November 3, 2009, 10:05 AM
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When the Verizon Droid from Motorola arrives next month, it will include a new version of the Android Operating system. Android 2.0, also known as "Eclair," will no doubt show up in lots of other new smartphones over the coming months.
Android 2.0 ushers in a host of new features. Perhaps the one that sparks the most interest is its native support for Microsoft Exchange.
Continue reading A taste of Android's freshly baked Eclair...
Google Chrome in a runaway lead for browser performance supremacy
By Scott M. Fulton, III on October 31, 2009, 1:51 PM
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If Apple's Safari is going to make any kind of a challenge for best performing Windows-based Web browser moving into next year, it needs to be now. In Betanews' most extensive testing to date, involving tests that by anyone's guess should not have given it any special advantages, the latest stable edition of Google Chrome runs away with a three point lead over the latest stable Safari -- a lead that now grows by one-half point with each point release.
Chrome now posts test scores in certain heats of our revised CRPI 2.2 test battery that are virtually obscene -- so far ahead of competition that we have to validate our results on various machines to make sure we're not generating false results. For example: On the control flow element of the SunSpider test, both Chrome 3 and the dev build of Chrome 4 post record low time scores of 2.6 ms. This is an element that tests the JavaScript interpreter's capability to keep track of nested loops and its location in a twisted program. By comparison, the latest public Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 -- released late yesterday afternoon after a flurry of delays totaling over one month -- posts a score of 38.2 ms in that category.
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Betanews Comprehensive Relative Performance Index 2.2: How it works and why
By Scott M. Fulton, III on October 30, 2009, 9:11 PM
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We did not have the Comprehensive Relative Performance Index (CRPI -- the "Creepy Index") out for very long before we found it needed to be changed again. The main reason came from one of the architects of the benchmark suites we use, Web developer Sean Patrick Kane. This week, Kane declared his own benchmark obsolete, and unveiled a completely new system to take its place.
When the author of a benchmark suite says his own methodology was outdated, we really have no choice but to agree and work around it. As you'll see, Kane replaced his original, simple suite that covers all the bases with a very comprehensive, in-depth battery of classic tests called JSBenchmark that covers just one of those bases. For our CRPI index to continue to be fair, we needed not only to compensate for those areas of the old CK index that were no longer covered, but also to balance those missing points with tests that just as comprehensively covered those missing bases.
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At last! Public Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 is live with new Windows 7 support
By Scott M. Fulton, III on October 30, 2009, 5:35 PM
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Download Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 from Fileforum now.
One of the nicest new features in Microsoft Windows 7 concerns the revised taskbar, specifically how many more choices are available to you when you right-click an icon, or when you just hover over it to see where all your open windows are. In Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Beta 1, which went live just minutes ago, the browser's integration with the Win7 taskbar is now on a par with that of Internet Explorer 8.
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Security fixes, JavaScript update bog down Internet Explorer 8
By Scott M. Fulton, III on October 30, 2009, 11:39 AM
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The final test editions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8, released while Windows 7 was still in the technical preview phase, suggested that its performance could very well triple that of its predecessor, the venerable IE7. When the RTM edition first became available, its performance was pared down a bit, but still better than double that of IE7, based on Betanews' assessments at the time.
But we've noticed a trend of IE8 performance dragging down over time, while every other major Windows browser in the field was headed the other direction -- and fast. Early this month, when Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 appeared imminent (and still is at this moment), we calculated the performance difference between IE8 and IE7 at about 75%.
Continue reading Security fixes, JavaScript update bog down Internet Explorer 8...
Unconvinced by Windows 7? Ubuntu 9.10 debuted today!
By Tim Conneally on October 29, 2009, 5:17 PM
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The latest version of Canonical's popular Linux distribution Ubuntu (9.10 "Karmic Koala") was officially released today and is now available for download.
Among numerous performance improvements (Upstart native jobs, Intel video driver acceleration switched from "EXA" to "UXA", GRUB 2 boot loader by default, ext4 filesystem by default) and upgrades to the architecture (Linux Kernel 2.6.31, Gnome 2.28, X.Org 7.4, X.Org server 1.6.4, Xsplash and Compiz Fusion 0.8.4), Ubuntu 9.10 has thrown in a couple of compelling new products to make Karmic Koala worth a second look for those still apprehensive about Linux operating systems and largely unfamiliar with all the architectural and environmental upgrades.
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Bad Vista-to-Windows 7 upgrade experiences #2: No TV in Media Center
By Scott M. Fulton, III on October 28, 2009, 4:43 PM
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Typically when you upgrade a computer from one operating system to the very next level up, you don't want the new system replacing or deleting anything without your knowledge and approval. Windows 7 thus far seems to be quite good on this score. But perhaps it's too good in the case of its new and somewhat enhanced Windows Media Center, whose new reliance on an upstream recording prevention mechanism that's part of its PlayReady scheme, among other things, renders obsolete Vista's media settings.
As a result, if you have a TV tuner in your Vista-based PC, and you follow all the instructions for migrating to Win7, the new Media Center could insist you don't have a TV there at all. Betanews was able to reconstruct the conditions of a situation some upgraders are reporting where their built-in tuners disappear. Luckily, we also have a solution to the problem that worked for us, and that may hopefully work for you if you're in similar circumstances. But let's concede right off the bat, it's not an easy or intuitive solution, so don't blame yourself thinking there's something you missed.
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Symbian Dev program tries to limit fragmentation
By Tim Conneally on October 28, 2009, 9:50 AM
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Though Symbian Foundation Executive Director Lee Williams publicly deemed Google's approach to spreading Android the "perfect storm of fragmentation," yesterday the Foundation launched the beta of its developer program for what looks to be a pretty fragmented app store architecture in its own right.
Here's how it works: The program is called Symbian Horizon, and in this program, developers have their applications approved through the Symbian Signed identification process. This process adds one of four kinds of "tamper-proof digital certificates" to an app, one of which involves the app's stamp of approval from one of three independent testing facilities. Each of these facilities charges the developer a different amount, and each runs a different test.
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Android 2.0 features revealed
By Tim Conneally on October 27, 2009, 1:27 PM
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It's undoubtedly been a huge quarter for Google's Android mobile operating system, and exciting developments are all falling into place.
Two weeks ago, the ceremonial giant foam pastry was planted on Google's front lawn. This time it was an eclair, and it signified the readiness of Android 2.0, codenamed "Eclair," which we get a first look at today.
Public Firefox 3.6 beta now expected Wednesday, 3.5.4 Tuesday
By Scott M. Fulton, III on October 26, 2009, 3:12 PM
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During a Mozilla developers' planning meeting today, it was officially announced that Firefox users will begin seeing notices for version 3.5.4's availability beginning tomorrow (October 27). Full information about security issues addressed by this regular update will probably be released at that time, although Betanews tests indicate that Windows 7 users in particular will probably notice a bit of a speed boost, on account of improved document load times.
The first public beta of Firefox 3.6, which adds even more Windows 7 integration, will be released the following day. It will probably not be the final public beta for the product, as a development cycle for Beta 2 has been ongoing since the Beta 1 code was frozen last October 14.
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At long last, Microsoft to release Outlook .PST file specifications
By Scott M. Fulton, III on October 26, 2009, 2:53 PM
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Three weeks ago, the European Commission signaled its approval of Microsoft's revised plan for a more vendor-neutral Web browser selection screen for European Windows users. But that revised plan was buffered with a big bonus: a promise to supply the general public with a wealth of interoperability information, including about proprietary formats.
Among the most sought after formats on that list has been for Outlook Personal Folders -- the much-maligned .PST file format, whose lack of comprehension has been the pet peeve of certainly every developer who's ever worked on a calendar or smartphone synchronization utility. Now the manager for Microsoft's new Office Interoperability Group announced this morning that work is under way on public documentation for the file format.
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Our love/hate relationship with Microsoft: What happens now?
By Carmi Levy on October 23, 2009, 10:04 AM
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Over the years, Microsoft has been vilified for more reasons than you can shake a memory stick at. But the world is bigger than Microsoft; and if we're going to take the time and effort to hate something, it makes more sense for it to be something deserving of hate -- like government corruption, unsanctioned access by certain countries to nuclear missiles, and diseases that evolve faster than our ability to comprehend them. Tossing bile at a mere software company would be too easy if it weren't so pointless.
As Microsoft releases Windows 7 unto a world that has been well-trained to be suspicious of such events, now is a pretty good time to reconsider why so many people have for so long held a special degree of contempt for the company. It's also an ideal time to question why this has been the case in the first place, and figure out what our attitudes should be from this point forward.
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Mac Boot Camp to support Windows 7 by year's end
By Tim Conneally on October 22, 2009, 7:05 PM
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Apple today promised to update its Boot Camp partitioning tool to support Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate before the end of the year.
In a support article posted to Apple's site today, it says the Boot Camp upgrade will be brought to most Intel-based Macs running OS X Snow Leopard. The sole exception at this point is the 2006 line, where Windows 7 will not be supported by the 17" and 20" iMac, 15" and 17" Macbook Pro and 2.66GHz or 3GHz Mac Pro. These units represent the first generation of Intel-based Macs, and represent a transitional period in the Mac architecture.
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Kindle goes multitouch on Windows 7
By Tim Conneally on October 22, 2009, 2:35 PM
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Hitching its wagon to the Windows 7 star today, Amazon announced the upcoming availability of Kindle for PC, a free Windows 7 optimized e-reader program that syncs with a user's Kindle, and allows PC-based reading and library building.
Just like Kindle for iPhone, the software uses Amazon's Whispersync functionality to keep users on the same page (literally) as their Kindle. Also like the iPhone application, Kindle for PC users running Windows 7 will be able to utilize multi-touch gestures such as pinch zooming and finger swipes to turn pages.
Microsoft misses a perfect opportunity for Windows 7 and multitouch
By Scott M. Fulton, III on October 22, 2009, 12:41 PM
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Here are some observations after having watched Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's Windows 7 rollout, as streamed live from a Soho loft earlier this morning: Although I'm on record as praising Windows 7 (at Vista's expense), Microsoft missed a window here to make its new product more tangible and more interesting to consumers.
We saw plenty of demonstrations today about multitouch, which will at some point be perceived as a key feature of Windows 7 once more people are able to get their hands on it. But the only two routes Microsoft presented this morning were through expensive touch-sensitive TVs (which don't make sense to folks who prefer remote control) and through a new class of PCs that has yet to find a proper form factor, let alone make its way from the factory.
Continue reading Microsoft misses a perfect opportunity for Windows 7 and multitouch...
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