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Things are quite hectic at the moment at Mozilla’s headquarters. Not only are they working on new releases of Firefox 3 (with version 3.6.12 released just today) but also on the next major milestone in the history of this web browser: Firefox 4.
A quick look at iTunes is enough to tell that we’re just a few days away from Halloween: pumpkins, bats, witches and ghosts wander around the App Store in a bunch of Halloween-themed apps of all sorts. You get countdown clocks, photo editors, costume creators and creepy sound generators, among others.
Mozilla Labs have announced their latest experiment, Open Web Apps. According to Mozilla, this new type of application sits somewhere between traditional desktop software and standard online tools, providing the user with the best features of both worlds: they’re as handy and fully interactive as desktop apps, but also feed on Web technologies like HTML, Javascript and CSS.
A few days ago Skype, the most popular and reliable VoIP app in the world, was updated to version 5. I already had a sneak peek at the new version thanks to the beta released weeks ago, but Skype 5 Final brings more new features: a refreshed interface design that makes the program easier to use, and integration with your Facebook profile – though that might not be such a good idea after all.
If you’re around your thirties, you probably heard about Audiogalaxy – or even used it in the early days of P2P. Audiogalaxy was a peer-to-peer music sharing app that became very popular between 1998 and 2001. In 2002, however, their developers had to face a lawsuit from the RIAA for allowing exchange of copyrighted material. It was the beginning of the end: later that year Audiogalaxy blocked its P2P functions altogether and rebranded a paid streaming service called Rhapsody.
As I write these words, you should all be enjoying the new Twitter design. According to the app’s official blog, 100% of their 160 million users have now access to the new Twitter, whether they’ve been using the tool for years or signed up for it only yesterday.
Despite the odd name, Kindle Singles is not a new dating service on Amazon’s ebook reader. It’s a new format released by the popular online store, which has been especially created for shorter ebooks.
Only 11 months after its official presentation, rumor has it that the first final version of Chromium OS (also known as Chrome OS) will be launched next month. The news was unveiled by TechCrunch, after spotting references to the project reaching the Release Candidate development stage – usually the final debugging and beta-testing phase, right before the official final release.
When I first learned about MobileMe, I wondered who would be willing to pay $99 a year for services (email, photo gallery, online storage) that you could get cheaper elsewhere, if not totally free. But now that I have an iPhone 4, I see a powerful reason to sign up for MobileMe: the Find My iPhone utility.
Halloween is just around the corner, and I’m already getting in the mood for it. Not only have I downloaded a few Halloween wallpapers, but I’ve also had lots of fun with the special Halloween effects recently featured in Picnik, the online photo editor.
Since I bought an iPad last a few months ago, one of the ways I’ve been using it is as a small extension of my iMac’s screen. The iPad is great to watch a couple of episodes of your favorite TV show, lying on the couch or in bed, right before going to sleep, when you don’t want to sit in front of the computer or set up video streaming on your console.
Think about it: how many times have you opened up Facebook ‘just for a quick check’, and ended up spending a couple of hours looking at photos or planting more strawberries in Farmville? Procrastination is a dangerous habit that can seriously affect your productivity, especially if you work on the web and have access to all sorts of distractions.