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News

• Opera Mobile for Android to arrive within a month

  Opera Software will release the mobile version of its browser for Android-based smartphones within a month, the Norwegian company said in a blog post on Thursday.

• 10 things I don't 'get' about consumer technology

  We live in an age of invention and scientific discovery. But there are things about some inventions that science simply cannot explain. Here are 10 things that I simply do not understand about consumer technology:

• Google stays strong as Yahoo slips in search market

  Google had a good month in September, with its search share gaining and rivals Yahoo and Microsoft Bing taking a hit.

• Firefox 4 for Android greeted with cheers and jeers

  Mozilla's release of Firefox 4 Beta 1 for Android (and Maemo) phones brought with it some cheers -- and some jeers. Though Firefox 4 Beta 1 showed improvements in some areas, it stumbled in others, leaving users yearning for speedy future enhancements. Here's a rundown of what's new with Firefox and what requires more of Mozilla's attention.

• Firefox 4 for Android arrives in beta version

  Mozilla has released the first beta versions of Firefox 4 for mobile phones. Versions are available for download for Android-based smartphones and for the Nokia N900, Mozilla said in blog post on Thursday.

• Browser market share is in the eye of the beholder

  Earlier this month Net Applications released browser share numbers showing a slight decline for Internet Explorer, but still nearly three times the market share of second place Firefox. New numbers from StatCounter, however, show Internet Explorer below 50 per cent and Firefox with more than 30 per cent. Monthly browser market share results can be fickle and vary widely depending on the methodology behind the statistics.

• Has IE8 slowed Microsoft's browser slide?

  Although Internet Explorer (IE) continues to slowly lose the war for browser share, its rate of decline has slowed since Microsoft launched IE8, according to data from one Web metrics firm.

• Xmarks browser sync starts pledge drive to stay alive

  The Xmarks browser bookmark sync service is soliciting pledges from potential customers willing to pay at least $10 annually, saying that it will reconsider staying in business if it collects 100,000 promises.

• 4 ways Google's URL shortening service can win

  The Google URL shortening service Goo.gl, that allows you to transform long Web addresses into short easy to remember links, was opened to the public Friday. After nine months of testing the Goog.gl service, Google now joins the ranks of Bit.ly, TinyURL, and Ow.ly. All of these services cater to people who despise long URLs and use services such as Twitter to share Web address and limit messages to 140 characters.

• IE9 beta launch fails to slow Microsoft's browser slide

  The quick start of Internet Explorer 9's beta last month wasn't enough to prevent Microsoft's browser from again losing share to rivals from Google and Apple, a Web measurement firm said today.

• Users making the switch to cutting edge browsers

  New Web browser market share stats are out. This past month has seen a decline in the overall market share of the Internet Explorer franchise, but breaking things down by version shows that more users are adopting the latest generation of Web browsers whether it's Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome.

• Google's WebP makes images more byte-size

  In its continuing attempts to make the Web faster, Google is trimming down the size of image files, which make up about 65 per cent of the bytes on the Web.

• Xmarks considers comeback as a paid service

  Fans of the bookmark, password and tab sync service Xmarks have spoken, and the response was so encouraging that Xmarks is no longer dead-set on shutting down.

• 8 essential privacy extensions for Firefox

  They say privacy doesn't exist on the Web -- but that doesn't mean you can't try to safeguard your personal information. Our computers are loaded with details about our personal and business lives, and it's definitely not acceptable to reveal them haphazardly. With hackers becoming ever more sophisticated, you have to take precautions.

• Microsoft: IE9 to require Windows 7 SP1

  Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) browser will require Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1), a not-yet-released major update to the operating system, the company said today.