Storage and collaboration service Box.net has an upcoming iPad app and was nice enough to give CNET an early demo. That is--we saw the same version that will be hitting the App Store but running on Apple's iPad SDK simulator.

The good news for fans of Box's iPhone and iPod Touch app is that they're getting what is arguably a more capable piece of software, with the same price tag as its smaller sibling: free.

The big upgrade in moving to a larger screen is, of course, size itself. This has allowed the company to introduce a two-pane navigation control system that can tuck itself away when you hold the device in portrait mode.

Yet, even when held in portrait mode, the file browsing menu can still be accessed, which is similar to how Apple reworked the in-box and reading pane within its Mail app. This lets you go through stored photos, videos, and office documents without having to switch back and forth between menus as must be done on the iPhone/iPod. The functionality has also allowed Box to do something it doesn't even do on its own Web site, which is to let users view user comments about a file while viewing the file itself.

Of course there are quite a few things missing from Box's iPad experience that users will still have to flock to a regular computer in order to enjoy. The main one being the instant file previews the company recently introduced. On the Web, these let you view all sorts of file types without needing to have any special plug-ins, or the actual software application installed.

Box's CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie told CNET that such a feature will be coming in a future iteration of the app. In the meantime, the company is working on partnering with other iPad apps that can make edits to such files, so that the app can spit the user and the file over to that application from the Box.net app.

A few other things that are missing but on the road map for future iterations of the software include local caching of files to the device, uploading files from the app (which the company's iPhone/iPod app can do with photos), and the inclusion of Box's Web-based document editor. This last piece of the equation could end up being a viable alternative to Apple's iWork software for the iPad, yet with the capability to then go in and edit your work back on a regular computer without any special software.

iPhone users with their now-tiny screens should not be too dismayed with the introduction of this app though. Levie says the company plans to keep both versions as close to parity as possible, with future features like local caching, and search rolling out at the same time.

After the jump are a few more shots of the app, which the company hopes will be available on the App Store come iPad launch day this weekend.

Originally posted at Web Crawler

Before you spend any money on a GPS app, take note: MapQuest just rolled out a new version of the MapQuest 4 Mobile app that includes, among other updates, turn-by-turn driving directions with voice prompts.

In other words, you can now get GPS-powered navigation absolutely free.

Don't mistake this for Navigon, TomTom, or even MapQuest's own Navigator app--all of which offer a lot more navigation acumen. For one thing, MapQuest 4 Mobile delivers only a top-down view of your map--no 3D, no bird's-eye. What's more, it doesn't announce street names or fetch traffic updates.

Those aren't crucial shortcomings, but I do have a hard time living with this: It doesn't rotate the map relative to your position. Instead, it retains a true-north orientation, moving your position marker across the map as you drive.

Another gripe: The voice volume is way too low, even when cranked to maximum.

Now let's look at the upsides. MapQuest 4 Mobile remains a free app, and the turn-by-turn directions do their job: guide you to your destination. Plus, there's a new off-route assistance feature that will help you get back on track if you take a wrong turn. It's hardly perfect, but it works.

I've always found MapQuest 4 Mobile a bit buggy, and version 1.5.1 is no different; it crashed a couple times during my tests.

On the other hand, it can effectively route you from point A to point B, and the newly added voice prompts let you keep your eyes on the road where they belong. And did I mention it's free?

More navigation news:

• Navigon splits the U.S. into bite-size pieces
• Cheap GPS: Gokivo app drops to 99 cents
• TomTom slashes iPhone GPS app to $49.99

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Competition among browser makers is getting fiercer, and Mozilla programmers are pushing a schedule in one hotly contested area, hardware-accelerated graphics.

On Windows, this takes the form of support for Direct2D and DirectWrite, technology to tap into the graphics processing unit (GPU) to process and display graphics and text faster. Direct2D support is one of the highlight features of the upcoming Internet Explorer 9, but Firefox programmers are working on it, too.

And now the Mozilla graphics team have issued themselves a goal, according to a mailing list message: ship a developer preview version of Firefox with Direct2D support that will work on at least some machines by the end of the second quarter.

The feature should improve how fast Firefox responds to user interaction, said programmer Joe Drew in the message.

However, the goal worried Benjamin Smedberg, a Mozilla programmer who's working on the Electrolysis effort to split Firefox processes into separate memory spaces. "The current release roadmap, as I understand it, is to do a beta of 1.9.3 in mid-June with a scheduled release in October," Smedberg responded. "By targeting an alpha for these goals you're implicitly missing this release vehicle."

Other goals for the second quarter include:

• Shipping a final version of Firefox for Windows with the out-of-process plugins feature that's designed to improve stability by putting Flash Player and other plug-ins in a separate memory area. Out-of-process plug-ins are one aspect of Electrolysis.

• Shipping a beta version of Firefox with out-of-process Flash support for Macs using Snow Leopard, aka Mac OS X 10.6.

• Building support for the JaegerMonkey technology for faster JavaScript performance to the point where its performance can be tested, and supporting the EcmaScript 5 version of the standard that underlies JavaScript.

• Releasing an alpha version of Firefox with support for the Indexed DB local storage database technology.

• Turning on the HTML5 parser by default in a beta version, a move that will mean Firefox can decode Web pages written with the new Web page standard under development.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

Less than two years after its launch, Mozilla has issued the final member of Firefox 3.0 family: version 3.0.19.

Firefox 3.0 was the center of a major effort to adopt the open-source browser. Its release in June 2008 was labeled download day, and since its release, Firefox did steadily gain in usage. Since then, though, it's been supplanted by Firefox 3.5 and now 3.6, and Mozilla decided to end the Firefox 3.0 lineage.

Accompanying the 3.0.19 release is Firefox 3.5.9, which fixes five critical security vulnerabilities. Version 3.0.19 is a relatively modest change, fixing just 13 security and stability issues

Mozilla would like people to move on from both versions, though.

"This is the last planned security and stability release for Firefox 3.0," said Mozilla's Christian Legnitto in a blog post Tuesday. "All users are encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 3.6 by downloading it from http://firefox.com/ or by selecting 'Check for Updates...' from the Help menu when using Firefox 3.5.9 or 3.0.19."

Separately, Mozilla Messaging--the e-mail arm of the organization--released Thunderbird 3.0.4. The new version fixes 3 critical security problems.

Originally posted at Deep Tech