Apple calls it “Private Browsing.”Microsoft calls it “InPrivate.” Google’s new Chrome browser calls it “Incognito.” And yes, practically everyone else calls it “Porn Mode.”
Chrome’s launch on Tuesday confirmed a new feature as a must-have in Web-browsing software: a cloak of invisibility that hides the user’s path around the Web. Incognito browsing, like a similar setting in a new version of Internet Explorer released last week, is designed to erase any trace of the sites you’ve recently visited, wiping away cached pages and browsing history from your hard drive and turning off the browser’s autocomplete function, which can More»

Labels: chrome, firefox, ie, safari, web browsers

Did you check out Google Chrome? Did you read the fine print? It is 11 pages long, 117 paragraphs, 375 line, 4,302 words and 25,801 characters.
1. Google reserves the right to automatically update and install Chrome.
“The software which you use may automatically download and install updates from time to time from Google. These updates are designed to improve, enhance and further develop the services and may take the form of bug fixes, enhanced functions, new software modules and completely new versions. You agree to receive such updates (and permit Google to deliver these to More»

Labels: google chrome, web browsers

Microsoft today released IE8 Beta 2 for public download. The newest iteration of the browser was created around three themes: everyday browsing (the things that real people do all the time), safety (the term most people use for what we’ve called ‘trustworthy’ in previous posts), and the platform (the focus of Beta 1, how developers around the world will build the next billion web pages and the next waves of great services).
The new browser promises an improved tab and navigation experience. When navigating to a web site in IE8, the smart address bar searches across Favorites, History, and RSS feeds More»

Labels: browsers, internet explorer, Microsoft, msft, Privacy, usability, user experience, web, web browsers

The next version of the Microsoft Internet Explorer  browser will include four new features to protect your privacy. The company has confirmed the following privacy enhancements:

InPrivate™ Browsing lets you control whether or not IE saves your browsing history, cookies, and other data
Delete Browsing History helps you control your browsing history after you’ve visited websites.
InPrivate™ Blocking informs you about content that is in a position to observe your browsing history, and allows you to block it
InPrivate Subscriptions allow you to augment the capability of InPrivate Blocking by subscribing to lists of websites to block or allow.

To browse in private, More»

Labels: browsers, internet explorer, Microsoft, msft, web, web browsers

This diagram shows the Web browser Insecurity Iceberg, which represents the number of Internet users at risk because they don’t use the latest most secure Web browsers and plug-ins to surf the Web. This paper has quantified the visible portion of the Insecurity Iceberg (above the waterline) using passive evaluation techniques - which amounted to more than 600 million users at risk not running the latest most secureWeb browser version in June 2008. More >>
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Labels: web browsers, web security

Mozilla launched its Firefox 3 web browser today and is on a campaign to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. I have downloaded it and am using right now. As I write this post, the site shows 3,331,796 total downloads with the bulk of the downloads occurring in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, China, and Australia.
Firefox 3 claims to have more than 15,000 improvements and is faster, safer, and smarter than before. Some of the cool new features include one-click bookmarking where users can click on the star icon in the address field to More»

Labels: firefox 3.0, internet, web browsers

Mozilla’s latest version of its popular Firefox browser, Firefox 3 (Release Candidate), is available for testing purposes only. So, in the ongoing browser wars between Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (version 8 beta available), Apple’s Safari browser, the Opera browser, and Mozilla’s Firefox, who is winning? The Netscape Navigator browser died a slow death and eventually dropped out of the race leaving the others to duke it out. So, who is winning? No surprise, based on Q1 2008 data from Net Applications, IE leads the pack with More»

Labels: Apple, firefox 3.0, internet explorer, Microsoft, mozilla, msft, web browsers

The beta versions of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 are here and although there is no firm release date as of yet for the final version of the latest IE browser, are you and your sites ready for it? IE 8 is being created to ensure adherence to web standards for interoperability. It is being touted as including a more standards-compatible layout engine by default which allows developers to build a single standards compatible website for multiple browsers. The problem and irony is that web sites created for Internet Explorer 7 and More»

Labels: internet explorer, Microsoft, msft, web browsers

Web Worker Daily lists seven browser-testing services that test how your web pages render on a range of different browsers. These services allow you to do the coding and farm out the testing work. The services:
1) Remove the need to install multiple browsers on your own computer for testing purposes.2) Remove the frustration of testing across Windows, Mac, Linux, and with multiple versions.3) Remove the time consuming task of checking of updating to the latest browsers versions and retesting.
IE NetRenderer will show your page in IE 5.5, 6, or 7, to give Mac and Linux-based designers More»

Labels: web browsers

AOL’s announcement that it will no longer be supporting the Netscape Navigator browser come Feb. 1 officially signals the end of an era. Many industry experts have considered the browser dead for several years now. The company which acquired Netscape Communications in 1999 has decided “it’s the right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox” in light of the “gaining market share from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer”. The Mozilla Firefox browser is an open source browser Netscape released in 2000 and More»

Labels: web browsers