Is Microsoft About to Kill Off Internet Explorer?

Credit:The Hacker News

Rumor about Microsoft making some of the big changes to their internet explorer in Windows 10 has been for a long time and it is said that they are making Internet explorer “Spartan” feel and look like Firefox and Chrome. According to some insider and market sources, the truth seems to be that Microsoft is building a completely new browser, which now has been codenamed as Spartan.

Earlier this month, Thomas Nigro, who is Microsoft Student Partner lead and developer of the modern version of VLC had already indicated about Microsoft building a new browser. According to him, he came to know about this through the talk, which was going on during the LiveTile Podcast December episode.

Spartan- The new browser: 

According to the company sources, Spartan is still expected to use the Chakra JavaScript engine and Trident-rendering engine (not WebKit) of Microsoft. According to the report released in September, Neowin's Brad Sams stated that, the new browser would not only look and feel like Firefox and Chrome, but will be able to extensions. He also reported that the company is working on two different types of trident, which supports claims made by the company about two different Trident-based browsers.

However, according the sources Spartan is a light-weight and new browser and should not be considered as Inter explorer 12. Some of the sources also revealed that Windows 10 (the desktop version) is expected to have both IE 11 and Spartan. The IE 11 is expected to be given as backward-compatibility's sake. According to the sources both desktop and mobile (phone/tablet) versions of Windows 10 will have Spartan.

The codename for the browser has been given as Spartan but at the same time, there is no information about the name expected at the debut. The name has been changed so that the developers can make the users get information about the new browser being more standards-compliant IE and different from the older version of internet explorer.

The company is planning to reveal the Spartan on 21st January, this is the time they are expected to reveal their next set of windows 10 features. However, sources also revealed that there is no surety if Spartan will be functional enough to be included in their Windows 10, January Technical Preview, and mobile preview builds. These builds are expected to be available for testing from early 2015. Therefore, we cannot expect the browser to show up in the test builds until later point of the year.

At present no one of sure of Microsoft will be ready to port out Spartan to other systems like Android, iOS and/or any other non-Windows operating systems. But some of the people of IE team stated that the company doesn’t have any plan of porting out the new IE to any other non-windows operating systems. But as Spartan is not IE and Microsoft already porting out their software and services to others, there is a slight chance to get the new browser in other operating systems as well.

Mozilla Developing a Browser for Web Designers

If reports have to be believed then Mozilla is expected to unveil their new browser on the 10th of November however failed to provide any further details.

The main attraction is the fact that this new browser is that it is a browser developed for developers and developed by developers. All the developers have to do is to sign up to receive an email regarding the update once the browser is available in the market.

The Mozilla is a non-profit organization founded in the year 2003 and the company who is dedicated towards maintenance of the open-source and free software which are mainly used for accessing the internet.

What’s new about the browser?

This new browser is said to be based on Firefox and expected to have all the debugging capabilities apart from the special tools like Firefox Tools Adapter and WebIDE for getting the coding rights in the browser.

The advantage of WebIDE is the fact that it allows new apps to be created by the developers, for the web, as they have to use a blueprint and not depend on anything to be started from scratch. The next advantage that will be received by the developers is fact that the tool will enable them to create, edit and test their applications and that too inside the browser.

The adapter of the Firefox has an add-on feature which enables it to be able to connect to other browsers as well. According to Mozilla, the desktop environment can be used by the developers to work on smaller screen devices simultaneously.

Build by developers for the developers!!

According to the blog posted by Mozilla, this new browser which was developed by the developers and for the developers has its own advantage.

This browser will allow the developers to debug the entire web and in turn making you get the ultimate experience of the web. The blog highlights the fact that the browser has some powerful integrating system which will allow the integration of the Firefox Tools Adapter and other new tools like that off WebIDE.

According to the blog the developers have more exciting things to wait for which includes additions of more to the current package. Mozilla came up with an exciting idea of releasing a teaser video of what the developers has in-stored for everyone through this browser.

Market giants like Mozilla and Google have basically released browsers which are targeting the developers and some of the examples of Firefox Aurora channels and the nightly Chromium.

Although, these releases were primarily meant as the early versions and part of the consumer releases, but they came with the aim of keeping the web developers in the loop and also to be prepared for the upcoming features and standard.

According to Mozilla, this new browser will be aiming to spotlight on interfaces and the browser-tools to experience faster web advancement. The main thought of Mozilla is to develop something unique, but at the same time familiar browser.

UC Browser Is Now Available In Android for Downloading

UC Browser is a renowned mobile internet browser having over four hundred billion users of about 15o nations and is available in most of the major platforms. UC Browser designed for Android provides you a quick all-in-one internet experience - an outstanding Browsing, surfing, Downloading, playing Video Game, Shopping along with Social Sharing experience.

If the user desires to break free from the default browser of Android this app will offer him almost all of the qualities that are liked by the user in his desktop browser. This browser allows instantaneous downloads and provides a clean, efficient download manager for the certain files. It also helps in offline reading of the pages.

Download UC Browser 10.0 in Android devices

Unlike other companies like Dolphin or some more, UC Browser, which is intended for Android 10.0 is presently obtainable for download with the help of Google Play. This latest version of UC Browser is endowed with a brand new UI, which is inspired by the Material Design philosophy of Google as observed in Android 5.0 version Lollipop.

This Browser of Android 10.0 has also some basic settings along with a redesigned navigation web page. It has a new tab management structure that helps the users to change the different type of open tabs. It also includes the feature of bug fixes to fulfill the expectation of the users.

The browser, covering a space of 13MB can be freely downloaded and it works with devices like Android 2.2 or some others. There is an HD option of the tool only for tabs running on the mobile OS of Google. For simpler handsets that are not able to control the standard version, you can also find Mini spinoff of the app.

Some of the notable features of the mobile browser

• Best speed in FB- Get benefitted from the fastest browsing in Facebook with the help of FB Faster add-on.
• Fast Browsing- With the help of Speed Mode, you can get the perfect version of the internet pages on the basis of your network.
• Smart downloading- It is multi-tasking system, with best background and helps to download with automatic reconnection.
• Rich Add-ons- improve and personalize the browsing experience of the user with add-ons.
• Incognito browsing- The user can browse the net securely to keep up his privacy.
• Custom themes- The user can modify the look of the browser with beautiful themes and attractive wallpapers from UC browser Theme Center. He can also use his own images.
• Night Mode- Due to this mode there will be no effect on the eyes of the user even he works with it at night.
• Auto Pager- This feature produces a trouble free reading experience since the next page would get automatically loaded while the user reaches the end part of the existing page.

Thus, the users can enjoy speed and steadiness. The browser applies high-end compression machine provided by a server to offer faster browsing and low data usage. The mobile web experience of the browser also conveys high-performance with smooth animation features for wonderful visuals and exceptional navigation.

Google's New Tech Will Enable Website Loading Offline Mode

Search engine giant, “Google”, is currently working on different techniques and ideas which will allow the users to load the websites even when they are offline. This will come useful when the user is in an area not under network coverage. The name of this new technology has been given as “Service Workers”. This new technology is a browser standard which will allow the data to get stored locally and the user will be able to render web content, even when they are offline.

Service Workers: 

This new technology and its importance can be well explained through a simple example. Think of a time when you have tried accessing any website while being inside the lift and you are humbly greeted by the 404 error. But not anymore, through this new Google tech, user will be served with an older version of the same website which got saved when you would have last visited the same. This new innovation has been the bridge the gap between the websites and apps. This is based on the similar concept as that of apps wherein the pages and content get cached.

According to software engineer, Alex Russell, at Google, through the service workers the company is aiming for loading some content instead of nothing to the users. He also stated that a user might be able to access website if the Wi-Fi is available at that location but as soon as they leave that spot, the website will fail to load. This puts the user in a fix situation. The technology will come out as a key differentiator.

Main Goal: 

Although the ultimate goal of the company is to ensure that a user is able to access websites even when there is network coverage issues, one of the other pros is the high speed browsing the users can expect.

This can be due to the fact that the data is already stored in the user device, hence loading and browsing is quicker.

So want to know how it works?

Even though the browser will be working on loading the updated contents of the website requested, the already stored interface and data will show up almost immediately. Say for example, the user doesn’t have to wait for a long time till large image gets loaded on the website, they will be able to use website and interact with it as well. This technology will speed up the interaction by 600 milliseconds/second of web interaction.

However Service Workers is still in its infancy stage and still in development and it may be a long wait till Google is able to implement the technology in all the browsers. This is like developing an app with web like experience.

During the O'Reilly Velocity conference in New York, Alex Russell stated that this new technology is a new browser and will allow documents saving like any other app. With this new technology, Google is aiming to enhance the offline browsing experience of the users and take their technology to a completely new level.

Google Chrome 38 Browser and It’s Profile Management

Google has released a new beta version of Chrome namely Chrome 38. Let us have a look and feel the changes in it and check whether it is up to the user satisfaction or else for beyond it. With new Chrome 38 Google has integrated a new menu for managing more profiles of different users. The developers are hardly trying to give a tough fight to the Mozilla in the integration of the first WebRTC service in Firefox 33, Google is working on Chrome 38 on a unified control for user profiles, enabled the new guest mode and promises else a lot of new stuff in every nook and edges as much as possible on their own style and way.

The most novel and striking feature of Chrome 38 is their user profile management system. In this new Chrome 38 the user can switch between different profiles very easily and swiftly. This integration is useful when multiple users share a single system. Even though handling of multiple profiles of the users is not new in Chrome and however it is inducted already but those functions and options were hidden in depths of the settings and most of the users hardly notice such options.

To create a new profile, you must call the settings dialog to do so. Besides the possibility to change the profile, the new menu also offers the option to switch to guest mode of the browser. Even though, this option is available since from the version 36 of the chrome, but it was not given much importance and hardly noticed.

But now the guests can use Chrome browser more effectively and on closing of the browser they won’t leave any traces of their foot print in the system. But unlike the incognito mode, a guest mode also serves to protect your privacy, as the guest also could not get your personal data’s like history book marks etc.

Even though it is limited this is possible because every user profile is password protected and also you have an option for switch to one profile from others. The guest user can open Chrome window in visitor mode by clicking in the bottom left of the Chrome. The Windows users of 64- bit version user can download the Chrome 38 or upgrade to Chrome 38 from Chrome 37 without any hindrance where as the users of the Apple's OS X operating system wait some more time for a 64-bit version.

For the Windows users, the browser will do the choice between a 32 and 64-bit version automatically. The latest Chrome 38 beta is flawless and the performance remains at the high level of its predecessor, its V8 benchmark gains more points when compared with its predecessor Chrome 37.

 Most innovations deliver Chrome 38 under the hood. Images can be flexibly installed in responsive web pages, which is mainly when browsing with smart phones and tablets of advantage. Developers get for the same the right tools at hand to make it easier to build the WebPages. In addition, the Chrome developer made JavaScript support of your browser with the help of maps and sets as well as new mathematical functions on vigorously.

Interesting for the Android version of the browser is the introduction of the Screen Orientation API and the API NetInfo. Using the former recognize apps when the device orientation changes and prevent, if necessary, the automatic screen rotation. With the second interface asking Apps from the nature of the current network connection to the system and restart it to the strong Wi fi available, if the user is downloading large files then clear when Wi-Fi is available.

With Chrome 38 for Android Google fits the browser continues to material design, the new design language of future Android version. In addition, Chrome is now able to read out the charge state of the Smartphone and, where appropriate, adapt its behavior. Chrome 38 offers equipped with Android L on a Nexus device, have the option to integrate the individual tabs from Chrome in the App Overview of Android.

Open the advanced settings of the browser (and Enable Context search field, can be converted into a web search after restarting the app marked items easy. With Chrome 38 Google Product Care operates in the broadest sense. Even though the new version does have to offer some interesting new features, but the big highlights are still missing.

Thus, the Profile Management is the only special feature in the new design and the protection of the inn mode fall without a password protection from straightforward. Under the hood, though dormant, it primarily benefits the most web developers.

Google Chrome 34 Without Voice Command

The latest version of Google's browser comes with almost all the features provided as they promised earlier. Google has released the final version of Chrome 34. It is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux; the latest version of this browser brings you the most awaited integration beta features, and fixes a number of vulnerabilities. But one of the prominent speech command "Google OK" is missing.

It was available in the beta on the U.S. version of the browser, to control or launch Google chrome, without clicking, search by voice. It was withdrawn without any elaboration from Google. The rest of the features in the beta version are present in the final version. Images are responsive, for example, that allow developers to assign via 'srcset' different sizes to a single image, depending on the resolution of the screen on the device used.

A clear loading time gain of the page and readability of websites on mobile devices are clearly visible. Another feature expected is the integration of audio by the corresponding tag, without prefix. The trouble to specify the attributes of a file to its Chrome browser alone and the same standard tag also work well for Firefox and Google's browser, through the implementation of standardized Web Audio API. The rest is mainly the introduction of new extension APIs, and adapted on the Modern UI version of Windows 8 interface

However, there remained a long beta feature. It is possible to import user profiles with their own permissions and synchronization between all devices. A new beta tested since version 32, which allows beginners to create user profiles required for supervision in Chrome. It is possible for the “supervisor" to take a look at the navigation as well as restrictions on certain sites now. Also in the series "Chrome - you - take - the - hand”, The Register notes with relish a new feature related to auto fill passwords.

Even with a site which is disabling auto-fill passwords; Chrome 34 can propose to fill them automatically. Ignoring the option ' autocomplete = off' HTML code of a website. A decision justified by the desire to encourage users to create complex passwords which are more difficult to override, but also more difficult to remember.

According to the developers, to allow the user are allowed to automatically record the passwords because of its complexity. Finally, 31 vulnerabilities have been blocked on the latest version of the browser, including 19 considered important. The submission of these bugs fixed in Chrome 34 allowed their discoverers won 28,000 dollars in all.

Firefox 28 Is Available Now!

After few hours of announcing that they stopped the development of a version of Firefox for Windows touch interface Metro 8.x, Mozilla Foundation has just made available for download the 28.0 version of their browser. This is necessarily very lightweight version with more novelties.

The most interesting news for the start of the new Firefox 28 concerns once again the absence of an announced feature. Available for Windows, MacOS and Linux, this new version does not offer any changes in its interface. And the rest of the additions can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

 Besides the usual performance improvement and correction of security holes, Mozilla Launches Firefox 28 with VP9 video codec, audio codec Opus and a finalized version of the Gamepad API programming interface to associate a joystick browser. New to Firefox 28 is the support of VP9. The priority was developed by Google video codec promises to consume only half as much data at the same quality.

YouTube has - not surprisingly - announced to set for the streaming of 4K content on VP9. The Firefox browser is henceforth able to video (WebM) with soundtracks in Opus format reproduce. On HTML5 pages there is a new volume control for audio and video playback.

In addition to various security updates, the new version promises to support the message center for web notifications for Mac OS X. In addition, Firefox 28 for Android should incorporate new buttons like “Quickshare" to simplify information sharing.

Opera 20 With Better Speed Dial Operation

Opera Software has released new version Opera 20 of their browser, which relies on Google's Chromium engine for some time. Above all, there are improvements in the speed dial operation and drag-and- drop capability also has been enhanced. With Opera 20, the Norwegian browser receives once again features the owners of Presto - execution have long been accustomed to.

Since Opera is changed months ago on Google's Chromium engine, the manufacturer is busy trying to integrate the functions of Opera 12.x in the new product. Many features are still missing the with the Chromium version that users of the Presto version have long been known. The latest version brings new features, especially around the speed-dial operation and bookmark management.

The speed dial settings have been updated and the user can change the size of the speed dial icons in the Chromium version. This setting is especially useful for users who have a lot of speed-dial entries and this can reduce accordingly in order to have in view as far as possible all. Speed Dial entries can be moved by drag -and-drop with the mouse in the bookmark bar.

Conversely, it is now possible to conveniently store this as the new speed dial entry that an open web page with the mouse. Was also expanded the Opera menu in order to access frequently used functions directly above it can. On Mac systems, a confirmation dialog can be activated when the browser using keyboard shortcuts Command -Q quits. This is to prevent that the browser is accidentally terminated. In addition browser -Themes load faster and bugs have been fixed.

Opera 20 is available free for Windows and Mac OS X and available for download. The Linux version of Opera does not exist with Chromium engine. In recent years, there have been too few new features. Opera has squandered his reputation, to be considered as manufacturer of a fast browser with special abilities. Since then, Opera Software has changed to the Chromium engine that finds no more development on the browser instead of Presto engine.

The New Chrome 33 Beta A Talking Browser with custom elements

Google's browser Chrome 33 beta supports so-called custom elements, ie HTML elements that can define you as a web developer. More than that now it also supported via the web Speech API and speech synthesis. Custom elements are part of the Web Components, a new technique, which is currently developing the W3C. They allow web developers to define their own HTML elements and to use later in their apps and websites.

This can also extend existing elements and modify and combine several elements to create into one, which is then available under a HTML tag. Moreover, it is possible to extend the existing APIs DOM elements. The ultimate aim of custom elements lead to significantly compile into a code, as for example, define recurring buttons together with their complete functions once and then leave like a standard HTML elements. The Web Speech API allows web apps to access features for speech recognition and speech synthesis.

While Chrome voice recognition via the web Speech API support for some time comes with Chrome 33 Beta now also support for speech synthesis. This allows for example to have texts read in web pages directly from the browser. The combination of the two techniques makes it possible to issue a dictated text via the browser in a different language again. This user does not have to repeatedly enter the same information into forms, has introduced Google auto complete request.

Now firstly, the function is available only for payment information available that manages the browser and can be automatically entered in the appropriate forms. Sites can request the information with the request function auto complete but the user has the option to agree or reject. In addition, Chrome 33 beta supports the Page Visibility API now without a prefix.

Also the download of web fonts has been optimized so that the fonts are in most cases available, even before the rendering engine flashing begins with the presentation of the website. For CSS animations and transitions a new Web animation model is used, which has been implemented in flash. In addition, Chrome now supports the latest version of Web Notification API.