News - Softonic English

Updated Firefox 2.0.0.5 released

Firefox An updated version of Firefox, 2.0.0.5, which addresses several security issues, has been released by Mozilla. You can download it by going to ‘Help’ and then ‘Check For Updates’ in the browser or you can download it directly from Softonic. The fix addresses three critical, two high, one medium and two low security vulnerabilities. The bugs include fixes to an ‘Unauthorized access to wyciwyg:// documents’ error and a ‘Crashes with evidence of memory corruption’ issue.

So far, all of my extensions are continuing to work with the new version although it’s inevitable that there will be one or two that won’t. Note that by downloading the new version from Softonic, you’ll overwrite your existing version whereas by updating from the browser itself, you’ll maintain your current setup.

Democracy to be relaunched as Miro

The Democracy TV broadcasting platform is about to be renamed as Miro after about a year and a half of development. Over the past year, Democracy users had been plagued by constant updates as work on developing Miro continued under its guise. First impressions of Miro are good according to NewTeeVee who tested it out saying:

The near-final Miro build I’ve played with for the last three days is easy to use. Once you’ve got your favorites all queued up you can sit back and enjoy full-screen internet TV. My biggest complaint is about search and discovery – it’s limited to indexes of video-sharing sites.

Unlike Joost, Miro will not be limited by the number of channels available – it aggregates channels from around the internet grouped by subject and topic. At the moment, the channel list stands at 1,500 but a consequence of this is that the TV guide is apparently painfully slow to load. One particularly cool feature is that it will download BitTorrent RSS feeds automatically meaning this truly opens up the audiovisual waves in true democratic spirit.

Newslife: advanced RSS in a minimalistic interface

Newslife is an RSS reader for your desktop with good sharing capabilities. The interface is very sleek and shows the custom icons for each feed. We particularly liked the news bin section, where you can store notes that you find interesting, then send them to social networks, email, post on your blog or listen to with the Mac Text-to-Speech tool.

Google launches Mapplets

Google Mapplets Stop the world – word is out that Google today adds the Mapplets widget to Google Maps, essentially the micro-data of the planet.

Although still in their preview stage when I last checked, Mapplets gives world-watchers the chance to see what movies are playing in their area, check gas (or petrol) prices at different garages, measure any distance across the world, search real estate and hover over crop circles, like an alien, I guess. There are about 30 different Mapplets yo Google Crop Circle u can add at the moment through Google’s content directory. Here’s my personal favourite.

Google describes Mapplets as mini-webpages that are served inside an IFrame within the Google Maps site. You can put anything inside this mini-webpage that you can put into a normal webpage, including HTML, Javascript, and Flash. Google provides a Javascript API that gives the Mapplet access to services such as manipulating the map, fetching remote content, and storing user preferences. Users can publish new content with a return URL. So, once again it looks like Google have created something we can’t live without. Still can’t find a fly fishing Mapplet, though.

Microsoft launch malware protection project

Microsoft have unveiled a new tool in the fight against malware with the launch of their Malware Protection Center Portal. The site is basically a combination of warnings about the latest threats, encyclopedic information on malware plus downloads of Microsoft’s anti-virus and anti-spyware software.

In a further step, the software giant has also announced it will begin publishing a Security Intelligence Report about the latest PC threats. They’re even encouraging users to upload infected files to their Protection Center Portal to conduct further analysis and help other affected users.

First impressions are that the portal certainly looks useful. The homepage presents a list of the top 10 security threats relating to desktops, e-mails, MSRT detections and Adware/Spyware. At the time of writing, it lists the top three desktop threats as Exploit:HTML/IframeRef.gen, TrojanDownloader:JS/Agent.FA and Trojan:Win32/Fotomoto.A.

However, this should have been launched years ago by Microsoft who’s software and operating systems have been subject to constant security issues. Many will also surely ask, if they can’t secure their own operating system, why trust them with security software? In addition, there are so many third party security software developers on the scene now that Microsoft have missed the boat somewhat although the site will at least be a decent reference point to keep track of the latest global security threats if nothing else.

By the way, the team behind the project also have a blog with commentary on the latest developments on the portal.

Google launch Picasa for mobiles

Picasa Mobile screenshot Good news for Picasa fans – Google have launched the first version of the photo software for mobile devices. Like the desktop version, it conveniently groups together all your images – including wallpapers – into easy to navigate groups. You can also click ‘My Favorites’ from the main screen to connect to the internet and see the latest photo albums that your contacts have posted to Picasa Web Albums and leave comments.

Google say there’s no messing around with resizing either – all images are automatically re-sized for your device’s screen so that they download quickly. There’s also a built-in search that lets you retrieve any photo you’ve posted online, find photos posted by your friends or simply just have fun exploring other people’s photos. Note that you’ll need a phone with a web browser and WAP plan to access the service.

Initial impressions seem very good and LetsGoDigital have an interesting review highlighting the convenient blogging function that allows those using Blogger to post photos directly from their phone. Google Blogoscoped meanwhile takes a more in-depth look at the mapping functions it offers allowing you to link photos to locations.

Zoho launches Facebook office app

Zoho As American research recently revealed, Facebook is the social networking site of the intellectual, or at least the university student with rich parents.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that Zoho, an office suite provider, has launched a new Facebook application allowing users to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations while networking with their fraternity. The app offers editing facilities (both personal and shared) from Zoho Writer, Sheet and Show.

There are plenty of applications for Facebook including music add-ons, graffiti, ‘zombies’ that bite your friends, a ‘where I’ve been map’ and a whole load of other stuff that makes keeping in contact with people you don’t really like more fun.

All this comes as Nielsen/NetRatings warns that MySpace may have jumped the shark after May saw a slump in its UK traffic while Facebook and Bebo continued to reel-in more new users. With Facebook poised to overtake MySpace’s Alexa ranking, could it be time for a major facelift?

Google launches news in images

Google Operating System has the scoop on a new interface which the search giant has added to its news pages. ‘Google News Image Version‘ displays headlines as thumbnail images in the main panel and includes an animated sidebar which highlights your chosen story when you hover over an image.

The interface is attractive and easy to use. It definitely adds a new dimension to reading the news but it will be even better when it uses video. There is some criticism that claims that Google has gone slightly over the top with its implementation of AJAX on the page but we think the interface is pretty snazzy. Currently, the new look is only available for the US, Australian, Canadian and Chinese news sites.

YouTube launches mobile phone service

youtubemobile Mobile phone users can at last enjoy the world’s most popular video file sharing website on their phones. YouTube Mobile has finally been launched as a super-streamlined version of the original site. The videos can be streamed on any phone that can view RTSP/3GP files with H263/AMR. Note that as yet, it does not work on Windows Mobile 5 or Palms.

The site itself is very sparse with a random selection of short clips running down the side of the page. You can sort them by various categories including Most Viewed, Featured and Top Rated. There is however an initial warning before entering the site warning that the service could put a severe dent in your mobile bill! It states:

YouTube Mobile is a data intensive application. We highly recommend that you upgrade to an unlimited data plan with your mobile service provider to avoid additional charges.

This is not the first time YouTube clips have been available on mobiles. Previously, the company had exclusive deals with Verizon in the USA and Vodafone in the UK but this is the first time they’ve stepped out alone. However, this new service is quite disappointing at the moment. The amount of clips is extremely limited and only a tiny fraction of the main site’s videos are on there. Searches for your favourite clips will invariably find no results and most of the clips are no longer than 3 minutes long. Once all the content has been made available, this is surely going to be one of the most visited mobile sites out there.

Microsoft to launch ‘Joost’ service?

MS TV logo? With Joost barely off the ground, it looks like Microsoft is planning its own assault on the P2P TV market based on a recently registered trademark and patent (number 1176435). The logo has been accompanied by a patent description that reads uncannily like the Joost P2P service. The patent definition includes:

Computer software for providing video-on-demand services; downloadable films and TV programs provided via video-on-demand. Broadcasting services, providing video and television programming over broadband, cable, satellite and wireless networks; video-on-demand services via broadband networks. Provision of non-downloadable films and TV programs via a video-on-demand service; distribution of television shows, movies and videos for others.

The patent was registered in Australia and it’s clear from the different logo (pictured) that this has nothing to do with Microsoft TV. However, it’s my guess that they’ll either revamp Microsoft TV to include the new service or introduce it into the next version of Windows Media Player. It’s also worth remembering that Microsoft already provide Video on Demand via the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. Intriguingly, the patent also includes:

Transmitting personal photos, video and music over broadband, cable, satellite and wireless networks.

This suggests that unlike Joost, the new service will try to go beyond just P2P TV although unless it can offer something extra in terms of ultra fast uploading speeds or huge free storage capacities, I don’t see why people will abandon the hugely popular Flickr and Picassa photo sharing sites. However, Microsoft don’t seem to be in any rush to get this service off the ground and maybe they are waiting to see how Joost fares before taking the plunge themselves – by which time it might already be too late.