RockMelt boomed onto the alterna-browser landscape last November, grabbing some notable attention from social browsing competitor Flock but then fading from the limelight. After four months, RockMelt announced today that it's ready for the next step: entering into a public beta. That's right, this entire time the Marc Andreessen-backed, Chromium-based RockMelt beta (download for Windows | Mac) has been restricted to invitation-only.

A TechCrunch story reported that RockMelt is claiming "hundreds of thousands" of active users and that about 20 percent to 30 percent of users who downloaded RockMelt have used it at least once every seven days, both of which sound like reasonable numbers because the major browsers measure their usage in hundreds of millions of users. By comparison, competitor Flock claimed 8.5 million users in November.

RockMelt has continued to develop since then, issuing 15 updates that include a YouTube app, integrating Chromium 9, support for secure (HTTPS) RSS feeds, and tweaking the log-in process so that RockMelt completes the Facebook log-in information in the background so users can begin browsing more quickly. Your Facebook log-in is required to use RockMelt's social-networking features--otherwise, you might as well use Google Chrome, Comodo Dragon, or another Chromium-based browser.

Besides RockMelt becoming a public beta, no other changes to RockMelt version 0.9.48.51 are known, since there was no changelog available at the time of writing.

Google announced earlier this week that it has enabled Instant Previews for Android handsets running Froyo (version 2.2) or later. Like its desktop counterpart, it allows you to see search results in a handy image format before clicking blindly on a link.

The feature is perfect for a number of scenarios, such as step-by-step instructions and how-to guides. What's more, providing a cached screenshot preview of the results is very convenient for smaller screens. I know I've grown frustrated by having to navigate the mobile browser back and forth, looking for the right page.

Instant Previews does not require additional downloads or changes to the browser. All you have to do to is look for a magnifying glass to the right of search results. Tapping on the icon will bring up a sliding carousel of images that can then be clicked through to the link's destination.

It's worth pointing out that Instant Previews is not exclusive to Android, as it also works on iPhones with iOS 4.0 and above.

Originally posted at Android Atlas

Mozilla updated Firefox 4 today to release candidate status, meaning that the features are locked, and barring the discovery of any major bugs, this version is likely to become the browser's official release. Available to download for Windows, Mac, and Linux, Firefox 4 release candidate 1 contains no major bug fixes, and instead offers a series of stability, compatibility, and performance tweaks.

Mozilla's Web o' Wonder notifies you at the top of the page if your graphics card drivers are out of date, an essential upgrade to perform to take advantage of hardware accelerated browsing.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt)

Longtime Firefox 4 beta watchers will notice a squaring off of the browser's tabs, and for those who missed it in the last beta, the browser will now automatically pin itself to your Windows 7 taskbar if the default browser option is checked off during installation. Mozilla has also put together a series of "future-Web" demos at the company's "Web o' Wonder" site, which actually has at least one legitimate use: it warns you when your hardware drivers are out of date, an essential update for taking advantage of the hardware acceleration that most major browsers are developing to speed up Web browsing. Not updating graphics card drivers can end in any hardware accelerated browser crashing.

One concern with Firefox pushing a major update is that add-on developers must update their older add-ons to work with the new browser. Instead of waiting for developers, though, Mozilla recommends that you install the Add-On Compatibility Reporter to ensure that the developers of your favorite add-ons get notified if their code is broken for Firefox 4.

Apple has released an update for Safari for both OS X and Windows operating systems that addresses a number of outstanding bugs with the Web browser. These include stability and page rendering problems with sites that load browser plug-ins, implementations of VoiceOver text-to-speech technologies, image effects, and other visual options. The update is recommended for all systems (Mac and Windows) that have Safari 5 installed, but be sure to back up your system before updating.

Specifically, the update fixes the following issues:

Mac OS X

1. Improved stability for webpages with multiple instances of plug-in content
2. Improved compatibility with Web pages with image reflections and transition effects
3. A fix for an issue that could cause some Web pages to print with incorrect layouts
4. A fix for an issue that could cause content to display incorrectly on Web pages with plug-ins
5. A fix for an issue that could cause a screensaver to appear while video is playing in Safari
6. Improved compatibility with VoiceOver on Web pages with text input areas and lists with selectable items
7. Improved stability when using VoiceOver

For Windows

1. Improved compatibility with Web pages with transition effects
2. A fix for an issue that could cause some Web pages to print with incorrect layouts
3. A fix for an issue that could prevent HTML5 video from playing on www.youtube.com
4. A fix for an issue that could cause content to display incorrectly on Web pages with plug-ins

In addition to these main issues, the update contains a number of security fixes for Windows and Mac OS systems, including corrections to the handling of JPEG and TIFF files, and the "libpng" library that could result in arbitrary code execution. In addition, some the update fixes problems where improper XML handling could result in a program crash and arbitrary code execution. Lastly, numerous memory mismanagement issues with Webkit could also result in program crashes.

Beyond crashes, there is a fix for the improper handling of user credentials when using basic HTTP authentication, and fixes to WebKit and other underlying technologies to address the following cross-contamination problems.

1. Injection of CSS styles from a malicious site into other open Web pages
2. Improper handling of caches from malicious sites that could cause malfunction of other Web sites
3. Disclosure of information entered in one site to another with HTML5 drag-and-drop
4. Cross-origin issues with malicious sites causing files to be sent to an unknown remote server
5. The possibility of a malicious site when using the "Web Inspector" could result in script execution that could affect other open sites.

The update for Safari should be available through Software Update for everyone who has Safari installed, but can also be downloaded from the Safari 5.0.4 Update Web page or from the following links.

Mac OS X Leopard, and Snow Leopard (~37-46MB)

Windows XP, Vista, and 7 (33.97MB)

Updating precautions

Be sure to fully back up your system before applying this update. After installing, to prevent any odd Web page display issues be sure to clear Safari's cache and optionally remove Safari's preferences file, which is called "com.apple.Safari.plist" and is located in the /username/Library/Preferences/ folder.

In addition to these basic reset options, if specific sites do not display properly or otherwise malfunction after updating Safari, try removing cookies for those sites. To do this, go to Safari's "Security" preferences and click the "Show Cookies" button. Then search for the domain of the problematic Web site (e.g., "Apple.com" or "CNET.com") and remove all cookies associated with that domain. Then clear the browser's cache and refresh the Web page. As a last resort, run a full Safari reset by using the "Reset Safari" option in the "Safari" application menu.

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Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or e-mail us!
Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.

Originally posted at MacFixIt

Apple today released its iOS 4.3 software ahead of schedule.

The software, which was originally set to be released on Friday to coincide with the launch of the iPad 2, went out to users as an update from within Apple's iTunes software this morning.

Among the new features are support for Wi-Fi hot spots on GSM iPhones, video streaming through Apple's AirPlay technology, iTunes Home Sharing, and improved JavaScript performance in Safari. iPad users also get a new option within the settings menu that lets them turn the iPad's side switch into either a mute switch or a screen orientation lock--functionality the company had changed with the release of iOS 4.2.

iOS 4.3 was unveiled during the iPad 2 press briefing earlier this month, though developers got their hands on the first beta of the software in January. Apple released a Gold Master copy of the software just last week.

The new software is the first iOS update to leave out the iPhone 3G from the list of devices that Apple will support. Joining the 3G in devices that won't be eligible for the update include the original iPhone, as well as the first- and second-generation iPod Touch.

Along with iOS 4.3 for iOS devices, the Apple TV received a software update today that adds Major League Baseball's MLB.TV streaming service, as well as the National Basketball Association's League Pass. Both subscription services work in a similar fashion to Netflix, with users entering in their existing account credentials to gain access. That update only goes out to users with the latest version of Apple TV.

Stay tuned for our hands-on with how the hot-spot feature performs on the GSM iPhone.

Originally posted at News - Apple

Lymbix is releasing a more accurate version of its e-mail sentiment analysis app, ToneCheck, today. If you're an Outlook user and haven't checked out this service, give it a whirl. It's one of the more interesting Outlook plug-ins.

ToneCheck monitors your e-mail's composing window for potential errors of tone, just as spell-check scans for errors of spelling or grammar. The plug-in will tell you if there are sentences in a message that are likely to come across as aggressive, or likely to cause the recipient to feel sad, or fearful, or humiliated.

If ruining someone's day is what you want, though, ToneCheck won't actually change anything for you. Nor does it attempt to rewrite your messages. It just alerts you to the potentially troublesome emotional backlash you may be setting yourself up for.

The Outlook plug-in is easy to use and unobtrusive. A little meter stays out of the way, only blushing red with a "Tone Alert" when your message goes off the rails. When you click through, It tells you how, flagging sentences with words like "Concerning," or "Upsetting."

You get the chance to correct your tone before HR gets wise to you. And make no mistake, the HR department and other corporate overseers are the intended customers for this service. While the individual plug-in is free and kind of sick fun for a while, Lymbix's goal is to sell corporate versions of this app, as well as API access to its service, to businesses and development shops that support them. The idea is to bake this engine into CRM and other outbound messaging systems. The API is also being used, currently, to add outbound sentiment scanning to Twitter via the HootSuite enterprise Twitter management system.

The free app, in addition to being a useful tool for individuals, also serves Lymbix by feeding its database. The ToneCheck service operates in the cloud, and the more e-mail messages the company has, the more tightly it can tune its algorithms. (A surprising tidbit from the company's research: Regional differences account for only about a 5 percent difference in how tone is perceived. I would have thought that you could get away with a lot more hostility if you were a brusque New York business guy than a genteel shop owner in Alabama, but, as you are no doubt about to tell me in comments, stereotypes based on place of business don't make that big a difference.)

Another thing the company does to keep its ToneCheck algorithms always improving: It employs an online panel at its ToneADay site, where users can earn money (not a ton, though) for accurately tagging the emotional content of sentences that they're given. Again, these sentences come from the free ToneCheck users.

I found the accuracy of ToneCheck good, but not great. In some test messages, it overflagged sentences as concerning. Others it missed. And there's no way, from the plug-in interface, to tell the system to ignore a given flagged word or exclude a turn of phrase from future scans.

ToneCheck also doesn't scan incoming messages. It doesn't, yet, have the capability of a system like the call routing service Exaudios, which can identify the angriest inbound telephone communication and route it to a company's best fixer. Such a feature may come in the future, CTO Josh Merchant told me.

Also coming this year: A version for Lotus Notes installations. The company is working on a Gmail/Google Apps version as well, but Google apparently doesn't have the necessary APIs just yet. Future feature improvements include even more sensitive filters, for tones like passive-aggressiveness and sarcasm, which, Merchant says, the system doesn't yet scan for. Other tweaks may include an algorithm that's sensitive to your social graph, cutting you emotional leeway with friends and family perhaps.

The new free version of ToneCheck launches this morning.

Originally posted at Rafe's Radar

Microsoft will be formally launching the next version of its Internet Explorer browser, IE9, at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSWi) on Monday--an interesting place to launch, given that the Austin, Texas, geek fest is packed full of the hordes who have long since ditched Internet Explorer for the decidedly hipper pastures of Firefox, Safari, or Chrome.

The new browser, which had its first and only release candidate land in users' hands in early February, will fully launch to the public at 9 Pacific time that night. In a blog post, Internet Explorer senior director Ryan Gavin described the browser as offering up "a more beautiful web."

On its release day, Microsoft is having a press briefing where Gavin said there are still "a few surprises left." Later that night, Microsoft will be throwing a party in Austin in celebration of the new browser, with hipster-friendly rock act Yeasayer headlining the event.

Among the new features in IE9 is a refreshed look with the browser taking up less space than previous versions of IE, as well as a way to pin sites to the Windows task bar. Sites can then program their pages to act more like desktop applications with things like notifications, and the Windows 7 Jump List feature, which can hop users to specific parts of a Web page.

IE9 also brings performance improvements, including faster start times and a new JavaScript engine called Chakra that Microsoft has proven to be faster at the WebKit SunSpider benchmark test than competitors like Chrome, Opera, Firefox, and Safari. On the security side, IE9 also adds support for "do not track" through lists that users can subscribe to, as well as a way to filter ActiveX content from pages.

The new browser continues to be offered only to users of Windows Vista and Windows 7, leaving users of XP--which is the most popular OS at 45.3 percent of Windows users (according to W3schools)-- with IE8.

For more on IE9, take a look at CNET Download.com's first look at its release candidate.

CNET News's Josh Lowensohn contributed to this report.

Originally posted at The Social

Google's VP8 technology for encoding Web video just got a notch better at creating video, the Net giant says, and another round of improvements are set for a sequel due next quarter.

Yesterday, Google released its "Bali" version of VP8 software then announced a new Cayuga version set to ship late in the second quarter of 2011. The software doesn't change the VP8 technology, a codec that defines a method of encoding and decoding video, but works faster and does a better job than the preceding public version of VP8, called Aylesbury and released in November.

When encoding video with VP8's best quality setting on a computer with an x86 processor, "Bali runs 4.5x as fast than our initial release and 1.35x faster than Aylesbury," said John Luther, WebM product manager, in a blog post yesterday. A lesser improvement comes with the good quality setting. The new version also works better on ARM chips, particularly multicore ARM chips. That's important given the growing use of video telephony and the dominance of ARM processors in smartphones and tablets.

VP8, along with the Vorbis audio codec, form Google's royalty-free, open-source WebM technology. It's not clear yet exactly how patent-free WebM will be, though; a patent licensing group called MPEG LA is actively soliciting patent holders to come forward if they have patented technology they believe is required to implement WebM.

In the grand scheme of things, the new Bali and Cayuga versions don't drastically change the fate of VP8, a technology Google is hoping will usher in a royalty-free online video future not possible with today's dominant but patent-encumbered H.264 codec. But Bali and Cayuga do show that Google is continuing to invest significantly in a technology it clearly deems a high priority for its vision of the Net's future. Google Chrome 10, released yesterday, dropped built-in support for H.264 for showing videos built into Web pages with the new HTML5 standard.

Aylesbury focused on faster decoding, and Bali focused on faster encoding. "We will continue to focus on encoder speed in Cayuga," Luther said in blog post. "There are more speed improvements to be had. As always, we'll continue to improve video quality in the encoder."

Faster encoding is important for companies--and for Google's massive YouTube operation--that are considering encoding Web video with WebM as well as other technology.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

Opera Software, a browser maker with considerable sway among Web developers, is trying to get them to embrace WOFF, the Web Open Font Format that looks like the best chance so far that refined typography will come to the Web.

WOFF originated at Mozilla after a collaboration with type designers, with Microsoft and Opera sponsoring its standardization at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), so it's no surprise that Opera is on board with the project. Opera 11.10, still in testing, adds support for WOFF.

Firefox, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9, and Google's Chrome already support WOFF, and type companies ranging from Adobe Systems to Monotype Imaging are offering subscription services for their fonts.

WOFF is not the first attempt at Web fonts, which can be downloaded along with graphics and other elements on a Web page. Indeed, Opera 10 already could render downloaded TrueType, OpenType, and SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) fonts.

WOFF is a small but important departure, though, when it comes to packaging TrueType and OpenType fonts. It includes some data-compression support that reduces download times, and it adds a mechanism for including metadata such as the font's creator or licensing terms.

Originally posted at Deep Tech