Appletell

Firefox 3 may have beaten Apple’s Safari in several tests, but Safari is still the best browser in the market at JavaScript. Webkit recently adopted the SquirrelFish JavaScript interpreter, and we can definitely see a speed increase. The current build of Webkit and Safari 3.1.1 are ahead of both Firefox 3 and Internet Explorer 7/8 b1. Zimbra performed these tests to find which browser would give the best user experience with the Zimbra Web client. The SquirrelFish JavaScript interpreter in Safari 4 is a bytecode engine, and Webkit claims it’s 1.6 times faster than the current JS engine in Safari 3.1.1 Why is SquirrelFish making Safari so much faster? The Zimbra blog explains why.

SquirrelFish does its magic by turning JavaScript script into so-called bytecodes, an optimized code much more suitable for run-time execution than natural language-based commands, which are longer and more complicated to interpret – and therefore are slower.

I wouldn’t called Safari a winner of the browser wars now, because JavaScript isn’t the only part of the web and other browsers have some better features. But, it does show one of Safari’s strenghts. After learning this, I’ll be using Safari when using any JavaScript web apps.

Via [Zimbra Blog]

• Mozilla wants you to Fashion Your Firefox
• FRED is dead:  XM stations go quiet
• Internet:  It’s the most important thing in people’s lives

There may be a new competitor in the market when it comes to receiving an internet signal.  Macwireless has announced a new, extremely fast network adapter.  This technology allows up to 16 devices on your network and is transmitted over normal AC wires.

From the product page:

Powerline networking allows you to route your network through the electrical lines that are already built into your home or office. With speeds up to 200 times faster than DSL, this is a great way to get your ethernet network to other floors or rooms in your building, without the need to run wires. Powerline Network Adapters are particularly useful when concrete, metal, or other obstructions in the walls of your home or office block your wireless signals.

Sounds pretty interesting if you ask me and may be a great alternative for those in brick buildings in cities where a Wifi signal is hard to get.  If you have ever used one of these, or a technology like this, let us know.

• Live.com goes social
• Internet:  It’s the most important thing in people’s lives
• FRED is dead:  XM stations go quiet

iWeb has always been great a what it does, but it doesn’t do much for running a real site. For my grandmother who may want to publish some family photos online, it’s great. iWeb Buddy is a post processor app for iWeb. This Mac application is designed to add more features and functionality to iWeb. A big feature of this brand new app is the ability to have multiple domain files with iWeb. This will enable you to have iWeb keep your sites in separate files. In addition, it also has some neat features such as Mint and Google Analytics integration, an option to add Social Bookmarking buttons, commenting and custom HTML code.

Zaire Studios says that you can “With iWeb Buddy, a user can monetize their websites.“ The explained this by the ability to have shopping carts with the custom html code feature. I personally don’t feel that the app is worth your $29, and you could do much more with Wordpress for free. Wordpress plugins can expand functionally of your site without even needing to code. Good attempt to expand iWeb, but it just doesn’t have enough features for your cash.

Press Release [PrMac]

• FRED is dead:  XM stations go quiet
• Internet:  It’s the most important thing in people’s lives
• Obama, technology and the future - Part Three

Not only are Apple products doing well, but the website itself is aswell. Holding the place of the 12th most-visited US web site in January, it had a nice 48 416 000 visits in that month. This stats are from comScore a company that “measures the digital world.“ Another tool from comScore is qSearch with analyses the activity of the search engine marketplace. In the same month Apple.com had 48 416 000 visits, Americans conducted more than 10 billion searches! Comparing to last month this is a quite significant jump with a 8.9 percent gain. This report has showed that the internet is only going to get bigger, and Apple should focus more on the internet and its .Mac service.

Via [MacsimumNews]

• FRED is dead:  XM stations go quiet
• Internet:  It’s the most important thing in people’s lives
• Obama, technology and the future - Part Three

We’ve found another member to join the Ted Stevens club! The Sun newspaper is reporting that Elton John wants the internet shut down for five years, claiming it is destroying music. “The internet has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff,“ said John.

The man doesn’t carry an iPod or mobile phone, so that probably explains it. Sir Elton, no matter what your pal Ted Stevens says, the internet is not a series of tubes that can be shut down as you please. And stop all that fussing about destroying music and “being with each other”; web 2.0 and social media is doing just that.

Read [The Sun]

• Internet:  It’s the most important thing in people’s lives
• The Killers to debut in Rock Band’s Music Store
• Sprint: Plug into widget overload

So you have your iPhone, and you have this “unlimited” data plan with it, why not use it to it’s fullest? Cre.ations.net posts detailed instructions on how to tether your iPhone to your laptop, allowing you to access the web over your iPhone’s EDGE network. There is also a video showing it in action.

This will be dead slow, but at least it’s some sort of internet access. To complete the task you will need various hacking tools so you can get right into your iPhone that give you the ability to SSH the phone over an ad-hoc network. Be warned, you may get into some trouble from AT&T because “unlimited” doesn’t usually mean unlimited when it comes to cell phone carriers.

Via [MacRumors]

• Apple and a gaming console?
• Contest: can you be Yahoo’s next CEO?
• Ocarina Wars: A challenger appears!

Tech blogger Robert Scoble has confirmed that Google search is now formatted specially for the iPhone. The implementation is slightly shoddy though; it’s limited to a single page of results and the sites displayed may not be formatted for iPhone. On the plus side, you don’t get Google ads.

Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t almighty Steve say the iPhone uses the “real” internet, not the baby stuff? Why does Google, or any other website for that matter need to reformat their pages for the iPhone? It defeats the purpose of having the “real” internet.

Via [Scobleizer]

• Ocarina Wars: A challenger appears!
• Contest: can you be Yahoo’s next CEO?
• Cube debuts on the App Store for free

Rejoice! Something that you can read that isn’t iPhone related! As you all must know by now, Apple released a re-design of their site shortly after Steve Jobs’ Keynote, June 11th. This design is a welcome change from the previous 7-year-old-design. Teddy Hwang takes an interesting look at Apple’s current design, and the designs they have had over the years.

Apple’s website has a strong history of being a source of inspiration for other web designers. The site has been able to keep up with the latest design trends while maintaining a similar look for years. [...] Since 1998, the front page of Apple has focused on showcasing their latest product with one large image complemented with a short, often witty, blurb. Little has changed since then and Apple’s latest product, the iPhone, is well presented on the current frontpage. Previous announced products and headlines are still shown in smaller boxes below the main image.

The post highlights some of the history behind Apple’s website, and provides great insight into the design that Apple is currently using. If you are interested in web design, or are an Apple fan, I recommend reading the full article.

He also provides links so you can look back over every design change apple.com has undergone. Looking at the Internet Archives apple.com page is also cool, as you can look back on Apple’s website and see it in times like when it was the Safari beta v2.0 that graced the front page.

Read [Teddy Hwang]

• Apple and a gaming console?
• Judge dismisses Psystar’s counterclaim
• Contest: can you be Yahoo’s next CEO?

Yesterday at Steve Jobs’ WWDC keynote, he made it clear that Apple was not going to make the same mistake with the iPhone that other device manufacturers have made with theirs. Manufacturers such as Palm have taken the open source stance on third-party application support, which has really become a complete hands-off approach. Apple on the other hand, is making sure that they can stand behind the security of their product by closing things off more than Palm has.

With the kind of support that Jobs mentioned, the applications will run via Safari - for security reasons - and will be limited in what information they can access from the phone. So the apps will really need to leverage the power of the web using technologies such as AJAX. It will be interesting to see how the apps turn out. Developers… start your engines, and we’ll see you on the 29th.

• Ocarina Wars: A challenger appears!
• Cube debuts on the App Store for free
• Should Apple use the “Kill Switch” to discourage theft?