Crave

It's been a few days since Opera unwrapped its latest beta browser for mobile phones, and we've had some more time to get acquainted. Opera Mobile 10 beta (download), which runs on certain Symbian Series 60 smartphones, adds some improvements to its password manager and has made a few tweaks under the hood. However, its most significant alterations are in its visual design. Bottom line: We like it, and we like how similar it is to Opera Mini 5 beta, a recent overhaul of the free Opera browser for Java phones.

There are some downsides with the version 10 beta browser that have cropped up--these go beyond the known issues and bugs. Opera's smartphone browser continues to struggle with accurately rendering complex pages. When zooming in on CNET Download.com on the Nokia N97, we saw text and graphics overlap. While Web sites often redirect to a URL optimized for mobile phones, we'd still like to see graphically rich pages rendered more faithfully in Opera Mobile on those that don't have specialized versions.

Its responsiveness was also an issue on the Nokia N97 test phone, but we suspect this has more to do with the device than with Opera. CNET reviewers dinged the Nokia N97 for its choice of an inconsistently responsive resistive touch screen instead of the capacitive touch screen that's found on the iPhone.

Even if you don't have a compatible Nokia, Samsung, or Sony Ericsson phone to test Opera Mobile 10 beta with yourself, you can watch our First Look video to see the new browser beta's features--its new tabs interface shines.

For months, Mozilla's mobile version of its Firefox browser has been in first alpha, then beta modes on two Maemo-run Nokia Internet Tablets that few possessed. On Friday, Fennec (as it's been code-named) has arrived on a platform that many more testers will be able to sink their fingers into: Windows Mobile 6.

As with Fennec beta 1 for the Nokia N810 and N800, Fennec Alpha 1 for Windows Mobile 6 (download the CAB file) has been tailor-made for the HTC Touch Pro, with an intention to expand to more handsets in future releases. The flashiest feature to expect is support for add-ons. We got a glimpse of them at CTIA, and judging from Mozilla's video tour of Fennec on Windows Mobile, the module is now much more fleshed out. In addition to a list of recommended add-ons is a tab to start searching for more extensions.

The user interface looks identical to that on the Maemo devices, with the Awesome Bar search field front and center, which serves up suggested search terms in addition to showing off your search history. Flick the screen to the left to see bookmarking tools and the add-ons manager in a gutter on the right. Flick to the right to expose the icons that comprise your "tabbed" browsing experience. The rest of the screen is devoted to your Web page.

'Blair Witch'-like still of Fennec's add-ons screen.

(Credit: Mozilla)

For the techies, Mozilla built its interface for Fennec Alpha 1 for Windows Mobile using CSS. This will help the app adjust to various screen sizes and resolutions, says Mozilla. The Mountain View, Calif., company also divulged that this Fennec build shares Firefox's memory management library, JeMalloc. This resource-sharing is another indication that Mozilla is striving to create a mobile product as identical to its desktop offering on its back end as is technologically possible.

Since it's in an early testing phase, we expect you'll encounter a long list of bugs and other known issues in Fennec Alpha 1. Delays in panning speeds are one problem Mozilla noted, and clean-ups in JavaScript processing and graphics are high on its list for open-source development. You'll find a few more details and some sound installation instructions here. If you get a chance to try out Fennec Alpha 1 on the HTC Touch Pro, let us know what you think. We'll certainly be keeping our eye out for developments.

Today we find out why Jeff is walking around with his head down all day, and why Justin's new canine glows in the dark. It seems some genetic engineering has turned man's best friend into a flashlight.

(Credit: 6-ft-under.com)

Next we pick apart Best Buy's decision to roll out a closet-sized vinyl section in all of its stores, and why we think this might be a step backwards in terms of progress. We're not trying to put record players down; we just think our blue-and-yellow friends are jumping on that bandwagon a little too late and probably for all of the wrong reasons.

We mentioned the App Store's one-billionth app yesterday, but failed to talk about it. Today we'll reveal the useless piece of software and why we'd be happier with that baby-shaking app taking its place.

Then it's off to Firefoxland, where we discuss the highly anticipated version 3.5. We go around the room geeking out by sharing browser fantasies, thus permanently ensuring Wilson and Justin will never date again.

Finally, we dive into the world of 4chan, quite possibly the most influential crew on the Internet. So influential, in fact, that the community has voted its fearless leader to the top of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people list. That's kind of a paradox, isn't it?

All this plus Calls From the Public on today's show!

EPISODE 331

(Credit: Apple and Matt Hickey)

There are a lot of Firefox users out there, and there are a lot of MacBook users as well, which means a lot of people use Firefox on a MacBook. And those users might be getting a special treat in future releases of the browser.

On his informative blog, Edward Lee, a Firefox developer, spills on steps he's taken to include gesture support for MacBooks in the next version of the browser.

For those unfamiliar with gesture support, Apple introduced the functionality to the MacBook line a couple of years ago. It allows you to interact with your computer by just moving your fingers across the touch pad. For example, in most programs you can scroll down by dragging two fingers down the touch pad without having to click any buttons.

But the Firefox controls go a little further, including other gestures for navigating your tabs, handy indeed.

There's no word yet on whether this neat feature will make the final build, but MacBook users everywhere should hope it does. Anyone who uses the gesture support in any other application knows how intuitive it is and how it can really make any app more usable.

Today I downloaded my very first Firefox extension, YouTube Comment Snob 1.2. While I love Firefox for the most part (I still have problems with Flash movies, though) I've never found the need to use extensions with it, until now.

Go from "DIE!! I want you to DIE!!" to "Sunshine and lollipops".

Chris Finke's YouTube Comment Snob filters out unwanted YouTube comments based on your criteria. With it, you'll be able to filter by the following attributes:

• The number of spelling mistakes, which is customizable and uses Firefox's built-in spell checker
• All capital letters
• No capital letters
• Doesn't start with a capital letter
• Excessive punctuation (!!!!! ?????)
• Excessive capitalization
• Profanity

You can also choose which language dictionary you want to use.

Some comments on YouTube can actually be insightful and informative so I have to be careful not to miss out on those (really, however most YouTube comments are drivel and not worth the rage that builds inside me as I read them. This new extension actually makes YouTube a much more pleasant place. If I ever find the need to get angry in a pinch however I can always adjust my filtering options.

Delighting some Firefox browsing loyalists and distressing others is the so-called "awesome bar" in Firefox 3 (download for Windows and Mac).

Officially known as the Smart Location Bar, it has earned a mixed reputation by suggesting 12 bookmarks and URLs of previously visited sites as the user types keywords into the URL field. If you're one of those users clamoring for an option to silence the 'helpful' new feature in Firefox 3, released on Tuesday, look no further than this Quick Tip video. CNET Editor Tom Merritt, working off a user tip, demonstrates how it's done.

While the world rightly awaits Firefox 3.0 with anticipation, it's actually the mobile Firefox browser Fennec that I am looking most forward to seeing. According to the head of Mozilla Europe, we should be seeing Fennec in September, with a beta release later in 2008.

The problem? It won't run on my iPhone:

For the iPhone, Apple's licence can not install software to have an interpreted language. But Firefox includes JavaScript, which makes it legally impossible to carry on the iPhone....For Android, Webkit is integrated into the OS, and only Java applications can run. And Firefox is not written in Java. So that's why [Fennec will not run on Android]. However, in both cases, things may change in future, but it does not depend on Mozilla.

It will be hugely disappointing if Apple forces the world into its Safari browser. I like Safari and used to prefer it (until CNET forced me to use Firefox, much to my belated delight), but I'd prefer to use Firefox on my mobile device, just as I do on my Mac. Long term, Firefox is going to be where the innovation is.

In sum, the news is bittersweet. Mobile Firefox is coming, but it's deployment will be hobbled (for me) by Apple.

The Asus M50 is one of five laptops to incorporate the Splashtop technology, under the name Express Gate.

(Credit: Asus)

Five new laptop models from Asus will incorporate DeviceVM's Splashtop instant-on software, the software maker said Thursday.

The Asus M70T, M50V, M51T, F8Va, and F8Vr will be the first laptops on the market to include the "rapid-start platform."

We've seen the technology, which Asus has licensed from DeviceVM and rebranded as Express Gate, before. It was first introduced last fall on a single Asus motherboard, and recently expanded to Asus' full P5Q series of motherboards.

Splashtop differs from the intant-on media players already found on many laptops because it's actually an embedded Linux OS with both Firefox and Skype. The advantages are threefold: The quick on/off feature means you don't have to wait to load Windows when you want to hit the Web--a boon for travelers who just want to hop online for a few minutes while waiting to board a flight. It also means you can turn off your laptop while in transit, instead of wasting battery life on standby mode. And the Linux base means the Splashtop browser isn't vulnerable to viruses that target the Windows OS.

The laptops announced Thursday are expected to be available at the end of June or early July. More laptops featuring the Splashtop technology are expected in the coming months, though a detailed release schedule hasn't been released yet.

Mozilla has shuffled around mobile for several years now, initially with Minimo. Mozilla has finally decided to get into the mobile market in earnest, however, with Fennec.

If Fennec proves to be even a shadow of Firefox's potential, the world will never be the same.

Access to data, sites and applications on the Internet shouldn't be limited by the type of device being used, and Fennec will make that possible, said Mitchell Baker during a keynote speech at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.

"The key to the Internet should be the same. The core is information: What can I get to and what can I do with it?" she said.

Mobile has been fraught with problems since its inception, largely due to corporations carving up their petty niches for profit. With a true, community-developed mobile web platform and entry point, however, we may yet see a rich convergence in mobile, one where a particular mobile device is not an inhibitor to the web, as it has been (giving rise to the need for mobile open-source providers like Volantis).