script

For people who manage remote servers, the use of the secure shell (ssh) Terminal command is quite common, and is very often the only command people use when opening a Terminal window. While you can enter each of your ssh connections (usernames, server, and arguments) for every new Terminal session, this can be a burden if you need to connect to many servers. While Apple's Terminal application has a connection manager option where you can store the addresses of the servers you access, even this can be a bit cumbersome to continually access. One option instead is to implement … Read more

Mozilla programmers have achieved a goal to build a PDF reader out of Web programming technology, the "pixel-perfect" rendering of a particular file.

The file, a research paper on fast execution of JavaScript (PDF), contains formatted text, graphics, tables, and graphical diagrams. With the high-quality rendering, programmers Andreas Gal and Chris Jones declared the pdf.js mature enough to warrant the 0.2 version number yesterday.

The pdf.js project, introduced to the world in June, uses JavaScript and HTML5's Canvas For to process and display the file. Version 0.2 adds a better user interface, support … Read more

PDF files have long been an awkward fit with the Web, but a new project from the developers of Firefox shows how online PDFs are changing for the better.

For years, the only way to view them was with viewer software from Adobe Systems, which created the Portable Document Format in the 1990s. Clicking a link to a PDF often meant a wait as the software loaded, followed by an alien interface, framed within the browser window, that meant actions like searching and printing were different. It's faster today, but PDFs still don't feel like native Web documents. … Read more

It looks likely that Apple's iOS 5 will will address an issue that deprived some Web apps from a speed boost that came to the mobile version of Safari.

On iOS, Web sites and Web apps can be launched from an icon that the user places on the home screen from Safari. Those apps didn't benefit from a speed-up that came with Safari in iOS 4.3, though: the Nitro engine that runs Web-based code is written in the ever-more-important JavaScript language.

It appears iOS 5 could address this issue, though.

"Did they fix the bug from … Read more

A new version of Google's JavaScript rendering engine and security fixes land in Google Chrome 14.0.794.0 dev today, available for download for Windows, Mac, Linux. The latest rough version of the browser improves secure HTTP support in several ways, updates the V8 JavaScript engine to version 3.4.3.0, and tightens security when installing Web apps from the Chrome Web Store.

The security changes are small but nevertheless could have a positive effect on your browser's security. Chrome 14 dev supports DNSSEC authentication for HTTPS, which strengthens the secure Web protocol, and Chrome 14 … Read more

By sending signals that it's inclined to move Windows 8 coding toward HTML5 and JavaScript, and away from more familiar programming tools, Microsoft has "horrified" developers, according to a post at Ars Technica.

Citing a demo of Windows 8 given by Microsoft Vice President Julie Larson-Green at the recent D9 conference, Ars Technica author Peter Bright called attention to a comment several minutes into the video. Pointing to a new app in the upcoming Windows 8, Larson-Green said that "this application is written with our new developer platform, which is based on HTML5 and JavaScript."… Read more

I've written a screenplay or two in my life. When the iPad was released more than a year ago, I imagined that it could eventually be a killer tool for reading and editing scripts, saving a trip to a printer or laptop. Well, so far, the iPad's been great for a lot of documents and publications...but a little slow on the uptake when it comes to the complicated formats of screenplays.

For my last screenplay revision, I actually saved my script to PDF format using Final Draft, then opened up GoodReader to check out my work. iBooks … Read more

Step aside, Google Docs, there's a new JavaScript tour de force in town.

I'm talking about the latest project from programmer Fabrice Bellard, a JavaScript program that emulates an x86 processor fast enough to run Linux in a Web browser.

The JavaScript PC Emulator can do the work of an Intel 486 chip from the 1990s, but doesn't have a built-in floating point unit for numeric processing, Bellard said. Happily, Linux itself can emulate that, and a version of the operating system's core--2.6.20--runs on the foundation.

Bellard published a technical description of the JavaScript PC Emulator … Read more

Within days of Facebook rolling out new security features designed to block spam, several new social-engineering attacks were spreading that somehow managed to get by the company's antispam defenses.

The spammers have modified their handiwork so it will get past Facebook's scam detection system, company spokesman Fred Wolens told CNET today.

"There are new methods they've picked up after we put out the protections on Thursday," he said. "It's an arms race. We put out new protections and they come up with new campaigns...When we announced the new security features, they were … Read more