Firefox 7 will use up to 50% less memory

Since its first release back in 2004 Firefox has been my web browser of choice. It was the first browser to give Microsoft some serious competition and soon took over as the better choice for those in the know.
Google Chrome has come along since and injected a lot of speed into browsing the web, and Firefox has duly responded and even outperforms it easily in some tasks, but it does have one niggling problem that users regular complain about: memory use and memory leaks.

If you leave Firefox running for any length of time its memory footprint seems to keep increasing. This can escalate to the point where it stops responding and there’s nothing to do but restart the browser. Personally, I’ve seen this problem have less of an impact during my daily usage since moving to Firefox 5, but it’s still there.
Mozilla knows this problem exists and aims to fix it. By the time we see Firefox 7 available for download it will use as much as 50% less memory than any version that has gone before, as well as having those problematic memory leaks fixed.

Posting on his personal blog, Mozilla developer Nicholas Nethercote has stated that Firefox 7 will be noticeably faster. You will be able to leave it running overnight without issue, and closing tabs will free up memory. The reason for this is a new Mozilla project called MemShrink.
MemShrink is an internal effort that focuses on improving Firefox’s speed, stability, and perception. Speed will come in the form of less paging and less pressure on the cache. By sorting out the paging the stability will improve due to fewer out of memory crashes. The perception improvement comes from a combination of the two other goals of MemShrink: fewer crashes and better performance takes the perception of the browser up.
Endurance testing carried out at Mozilla using synthetic tests has already proved that MemShrink is going to mean significant savings in memory use as the following charts show:

Amazon issues Kindle Cloud Reader, sidestepping Apple's subscription rules

If you can’t beat the rules, go around ‘em. That seems to be the idea behind Amazon’s new Web-based Kindle Cloud Reader, a transparent attempt to give iPad readers direct access to both their Kindle books and the Amazon bookstore without cutting Apple a 30-percent slice of the pie. 
Amazon’s launch of the iPad-optimized Web service is the latest blow in a battle that has been brewing since February, when Apple announced it would take a 30 percent cut of sales made through in-app purchases of books, periodicals, music, and movies—and that sellers couldn’t use their websites to offer better deals than available through the apps. Cupertino later relaxed its requirements a bit, but still mandated that Amazon and other ebook app vendors scrub their apps of direct links to their online stores. And the Financial Times showed a new way forward in June by offering one of the first subscription-based iPad-optimized websites.

Amazon is following the Financial Times model with the Kindle Cloud Reader; while its new read.amazon.com site is also compatible with the Chrome and Safari desktop browsers, the site is clearly aimed at iPad Safari users. (An iPhone version isn’t available yet.) When you log into your Amazon account from within the app for the first time, you’re shown your entire library of ebooks—and prompted to add the page to your iPad’s home screen. The Web app claims 50MB of storage space on your iPad, which in turn gives you the ability to store cloud-based books for offline reading.

The Web app comes with a number of downsides; it simply doesn’t offer as alluring a reading experience as the official iPad app. For one thing, there’s no access to periodicals: If you recently started subscribing to newspapers or magazines through Amazon, you’ll need to stick with the iPad app. The same goes for the ability to share book quotes via Facebook and Twitter. And there’s no highlighting or note-taking enabled—though you can see the highlights and notes you’ve made using Amazon’s other Kindle apps (or actual hardware Kindles). Even the page-turning is little bit uglier: Readers merely tap to change screens instead of “swiping” back-and-forth. If anything, the experience is closer to the desktop Kindle app than the iPad app.

The only clear advantage to the Web app, in fact, seems to be the easy access to Amazon’s store. The iPad-optimized store is beautifully designed, with a narrow-but-total focus on Kindle publications instead of the vast grab-bag of products and services available at Amazon.com. Unless or until Amazon can match the elegance of its new iPad-friendly ebook store with its cloud-based reading experience, though, the Web app won’t become a true page-turner.

Facebook Launches Messaging App for iPhone & Android

Facebook has unveiled Facebook Messenger, an Android and iPhone app dedicated to sending messages and texts through the world’s largest social network.
 

The mobile app, which is now available in the Android Marketplace and iOS App Store, is the direct result of its March acquisition of group messaging app Beluga. Facebook Messenger is the first mobile application the company has developed and released outside of its official Facebook app.

“It’s a mobile app about real-time communication. All messages are sent and received in real time no refreshing required.The app, much like Beluga, is simple and straightforward. Once users log into Messenger with their Facebook credentials, they’re taken to a screen with all of their recent Facebook chats and messages. Users can jump into any of their past conversations or create a new one. Messages can either be sent via Facebook Messenger or via SMS. 

Users can also send photos to their friends with the app. It also lets you give message threads a name, for easier organization.One of the key elements of Messenger is its alert system. Users can choose to receive alerts for new messages, or they can turn them off. They can also delay alerts for an hour or until 8:00 a.m. the next day. The alert settings can be tailored for individual message threads or for all messages through Messenger.

Facebook admits its official mobile app will eventually have all of Messenger’s functionality, but the company believes that having an app dedicated to quick messaging on the Facebook platform is something that will benefit its millions of mobile users. And it could give other group messaging apps like GroupMe a run for their money.

Hurrey !!! Now HTTPS Is Everywhere

The Web is an insecure place and getting more insecure all the time. The latest threat, the Firesheep add-in for Firefox, is particularly dangerous because it is exceedingly simple to use. Someone with absolutely no hacking experience can grab your private login information to sites such as Facebook and Amazon, and then log in as you and do anything they want, as if they were you. The free Firefox add-in HTTPS Everywhere helps protect against that threat and other privacy invaders by effectively encrypting information when you visit certain Web sites.

A collaboration between the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Tor Project (which employs a network and free software to help protect people's privacy), HTTPS Everywhere ensures that when you visit certain sites, all of your communications are encrypted and secure.

To use it, all you need to do is install it. Once you do that, HTTPS Everywhere does its work invisibly. Among the sites it works on are Facebook, Twitter, Google Search, Wikipedia, Paypal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and others. It works only when the sites themselves use the HTTPS protocol, and works only on a group of specific sites. So it won't protect you everywhere. And it won't protect you when you use other Internet services, such as an instant messaging client, or use client-based email such as Outlook.

For a more comprehensive security tool, you'll want to use a Virtual Private Network, such as the free Hotspot Shield, or the for-pay AlwaysVPN. But for quick-and-easy free protection at popular Web sites, HTTPS Everywhere is a great choice.

Note: This link automatically installs the file from the developer's site into your Firefox browser.

To download for free click here  : http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_download/fid,157688-order,4/download.html

Google+ App is Out Now , Works On iPads And iPod Touches

 

The last time we’ve reported about Google+ app hitting the iPhone platform but no support on iPads and iPod Touches. This time, the official Google+ app is now compatible and works for iPads and iPod touches not to mention it was ready for download. However, we’re reading few complaints that the iPad versions was just an iPhone app, no full resolution for the iPad. Now if you’ve already download it, you can tell us your experiences yes, just below in the comment line.

Apple releases Lion Recovery Disk Assistant

Apple on Monday released a utility that builds a Lion recovery disk on a USB flash drive, giving users a way to restore their Macs if the machine's hard drive fails completely.

The Lion Recovery Disk Assistant is a free download, and requires a flash or "thumb" drive of 1GB or more, or an external drive connected to the Mac via a USB cable and port.

"This drive can be used in the event you cannot start your computer with the built-in Recovery HD, or you have replaced the hard drive with a new one that does not have Mac OS X installed," Apple explained in an accompanying support document.Unlike previous editions of Mac OS X, Lion is available only as a digital download, so its recovery "disk" is actually a separate partition on the drive. That's sufficient for restoring the active partition that contains Lion, applications and data, but would be worthless if the hard drive itself dies.

Many Windows PCs use the same strategy, relying on a recovery partition rather than bundling a CD or DVD recovery disc. Typically, those machines offer tools that can create a physical recovery disc on the user's own media.On the newest Macs -- the recently-revamped MacBook Air and Mac Mini -- Lion also offers an online road to recovery. Dubbed "Lion Internet Recovery," it lets users start their Mac directly from Apple's servers even when the system won't properly boot. The online approach, however, isn't available on older systems, like those that have been upgraded from Snow Leopard.While do-it-yourself techniques for creating a Lion recovery disk -- usually on a flash drive -- have circulated on the Internet, this is the first time Apple's provided its own utility.

To use the recovery disk, Lion owners must reboot the Mac while holding down the Option key while the flash drive is plugged into a USB port or the external USB drive is connected to the computer.A recovery disk created on a Mac upgraded from Snow Leopard to Lion can be used with any similar system, but one built on a machine that came with Lion pre-installed only works with that Mac.

Acer is planning to launch Ultrabook Laptop in this october to compete with MacBook Air

Acer plans to rival the MacBook Air this October with a new 13.3-inch Ultrabook laptop featuring Intel Core Sandy Bridge chips, longer battery life, and solid-state or hard disk storage options, according to the latest rumors. The supposed Acer Aspire 3951 is clearly a MacBook Air-inspired device including design choices such as silver aluminum casing, large trackpad, and chiclet keyboard. Images of the purported new laptop recently leaked online through the Vietnamese site Sohoa.

Rumored specs for the Aspire 3951 include the previously mentioned 13.3-inch display (no word on resolution), Sandy Bridge Core i processors, 6 hours of battery life, 30 days of standby time, less than two seconds of response time from sleep, Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI and USB ports, Dolby Home Theater sound, and a card reader. Storage options include a 160GB SSD or an HDD with either 250GB or 500GB capacity. The new laptop reportedly measures about 0.51 inches thick (the Air measure 0.68-inches at its thickest point) and weighs less than 3.10 pounds. No word on pricing, but Ultrabooks are supposed to be priced at less than $1,000.
 
All about Ultrabooks  

Intel in May announced a new class of ultraportable laptops called Ultrabooks that would feature longer battery life, be less than 0.8-inches thick and priced at less than $1,000. The first round of Ultrabooks should hit shelves this fall with Sandy Bridge Core i5 or i7 laptops. In early 2012, the new laptop class will switch over to Ivy Bridge chips -- Intel's follow-up to Sandy Bridge and the first Intel chips to use the company's new 22-nanometer (nm) manufacturing technology.  

So far, only Asus has officially announced an Ultrabook called the UX21. Asus' ultraportable laptop shares similar features to the rumored Aspire 3951, especially when it comes to design. Asus' 2.4-pound laptop has a unibody design, measures 0.67-inches at its thickest point, and can support up to a Core i7 processor. The UX21 features an 11.6-inch display with 1366-by-768 resolution, glass trackpad, mini-HDMI, one USB 2.0 port, and one USB 3.0.

Just like the rumored Aspire 3951, the UX21 is very much inspired by the MacBook Air, which is nice if you're a Windows user looking for something sleek to tote around town. But considering Apple's current suit against Samsung over ripping off the iPhone's look and feel, you have to wonder how the Mac maker will react to two (and possibly more) Air clones hitting store shelves by the end of the year.