Windows software

The latest version of the Dolphin mobile browser debuts a slick new feature for sharing, desktop sync, and Evernote Web Clipper integration.

The Dolphin browser for Android (download), Dolphin browser for iPhone (download), and Dolphin browser for iPad (download) all come with one-tap sharing, a multi-faceted option for getting the Web site you're looking at to your friends as efficiently as possible.

One-tap sharing currently works with Twitter, Facebook, and e-mail, but it also includes an option called Wi-Fi Broadcast. Wi-Fi Broadcast will let you share an item with anybody on the same Wi-Fi network who is also running … Read more

Sometimes code speaks louder than words.

That's why Microsoft today published software demonstrating its own proposal for a Web standard enabling browser-based audio and video chat. In the demo, the CU-RTC-Web (Customizable, Ubiquitous Real-Time Communication) technology is used to set up a real-time voice communication link between Chrome on Mac and IE10 on Windows.

Microsoft has an uphill battle getting CU-RTC-Web to catch on: it showed up late to the game, well after the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) began work standardizing a different approach called WebRTC.

But Microsoft thinks its own proposal … Read more

Pokki's Windows 8 Start menu app has been refreshed with more features and more flexibility.

Pokki provides unique Start menu to Windows 8 users who can't quite live without one. The app blends in smoothly with the Windows desktop, offering all the traditional Start menu features while tapping into the new Windows 8 environment.

Released yesterday, the latest version kicks in a new layout and design with larger fonts and wider spacing, so it's easier on the eyes. You can also switch the layout between a light and dark color scheme.

You can now add folders and … Read more

Updated Thursday, January 17, 2012, at 4:50 p.m. PDT with comment from AV-Test.org.

For the second time in a row, Microsoft Security Essentials has failed to be certified as effective by AV-Test.org, an independent testing lab based in Germany.

The lab publishes test results every two months, and the test from November and December 2012 looked at 25 consumer antivirus security programs. Three failed certification: PC Tools Internet Security 2012, AhnLab Internet Security 8.0, and Microsoft Security Essentials 4.1.

This was the second test in a row in which MSE failed to earn certification. … Read more

Firefox maker Mozilla has concentrated more engineering power in the hands of Chief Technology Officer Brendan Eich as the organization expands its ambitions beyond just browsers.

Eich, who in the 1990s invented the JavaScript at the heart of the Web's interactive abilities, had been leading Mozilla's strategy and Web standards work. Now he'll be more directly involved overseeing engineering for projects including Firefox for PCs and Android phones, the upcoming Firefox OS, and efforts such as the Firefox Marketplace. He'll also lead the organization's work marshaling the open-source programmers who help Mozilla.

The move comes … Read more

As the browser becomes the driving engine behind several operating systems, extensive hardware controls are landing as built-in HTML5. The latest developer's build of Firefox Aurora can now record by default video from your camera and audio from your microphone.

Firefox 20 Aurora (download for Windows, for Mac, for Linux, and for Android) has the new hardware API getUserMedia enabled by default, which means that you won't have to use a plugin to record directly from your local camera or mic. In her blog post announcing the update, Maire Reavy, Firefox's product lead on media, provided an … Read more

Adobe Systems' Flash Player plug-in has been under attack in Web development circles for years, but now Adobe's Reader software is becoming more of a target in the war against plug-ins.

Mozilla released the with its own built-in PDF reader, called PDF.js, which uses the browser's own JavaScript engine to decode the Adobe-created but industry-standard document format.

The Portable Document Format for years was an awkward part of the Web, often ambushing the unwary with long page-load times as the Adobe Reader plug-in loaded. But PDFs have become more common, exposed in Google search results and used … Read more

Google released the stable version of Chrome 24 today, adding support for IndexedDB for apps that work better offline, mathematics formulas formatted with MathML, and faster JavaScript.

The new version also comes with a range of security fixes, including two $1,000 bounties and one $4,000 bounty paid to people who found high-severity vulnerabilities. Because Chrome automatically downloads updates by default in part to patch holes as fast as possible, people just need to restart the browser to update it.

IndexedDB, under development for years, is geared to store data for use even if a Web site or Web … Read more

LAS VEGAS--If you want to make money off of apps, you must develop for mobile, right? Wrong, says SweetLabs' Chester Ng, who points to his company's success with its OpenCandy project to help developers earn a living.

The problem is both cultural as well as logistical, Ng said in an interview outside the Las Vegas Convention Center. Desktop software, especially on Windows, has a long history of being developed as freeware. But pitching a secondary software purchase to the user during the installation process had been poisoned, he said.

"The problem is that developers don't like the … Read more