A proposed design for menu options in Firefox for Android's in-progress Reader Mode, which strips away ads and browser design to emphasize the text of a lengthy article.

The new year started strong for Firefox on Android, as it relaunched with a completely new interface native to Android. Three months on, though, and it's still not ready for prime time.

The decision came toward the end of 2011: in order to create a more seamless Firefox on Android experience, Mozilla would scrap its then-current Android browser, built in XUL, and rebuild it with native Android code. The look and basic functionality debuted on January 3, but since then the new interface has missed two ship dates on Mozilla's six-week rapid-release cycle. So where does it stand now?

In some ways, much progress has been made. Firefox 13 Aurora for Android (download) has made some significant advances. Right out of the gate, the first developer's release of the new interface was faster than the stable version. Less than a month later, Firefox Sync landed in the Aurora build, re-establishing Firefox's tool for instantly sending personal data such as settings, history, bookmarks, and passwords between browsers.

Mozilla itself notes that ... [Read more]

The latest Ochs update emphasizes high-resolution photos. (Click to enlarge.)

Now that you only get 10 free New York Times articles a month, why not make the most of them?

Ochs, an extension for Google Chrome that just got updated, streamlines the site for your consuming pleasure. It gets rid of most of the clutter (ads be gone! unnecessary toolbars, adios!) and puts the emphasis right where it should be--on the articles.

The extension makes The New York Times so stylishly minimal it almost could have been created by Apple designer Jonathon Ives.

The latest Ochs update, released last week, automatically replaces the story art with the highest-resolution version of the image available. That means a big, crisp, beautiful image accompanies every story.

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Somewhat ironically, the extension's namesake--the paper's first great publisher, ... [Read more]

Whether you're the DJ at your workplace or you just like to browse Web radio at home, there are a zillion options for listening to your favorite tunes. One drawback of Web-based listening is keeping track of the tab that's playing the music when you need to backtrack, skip ahead, or otherwise control the flow. Unity Player is a great, free Chrome extension that lets you use basic controls from any tab. Here's how to use it: 

• Install Unity Player here. 
• You should now have an icon in the upper right of Chrome that looks like a musical note. When you've got music playing in some other Chrome tab, just click that icon to bring up a small control panel featuring the album art.

  Unity Player in action.

  (Credit: Rob Lightner/CNET)
• Skip ahead, pause, backtrack, thumbs-up, or thumbs-down as you wish. 
• You can also click the album art thumbnail to bring up the tab that is playing the music if you want to make changes or close it entirely. 

That's it! The range of music apps covered is fairly broad and includes Grooveshark, Turntable.fm, Google Music, and Pandora. There's no support for Spotify or Last.fm yet, but I'd expect the developers to add them pretty quickly if they can. (Last.fm is a part of CBS Interactive, which also publishes CNET.)

Apple has released a small update for its Software Update service, which addresses a problem with Snow Leopard systems where the installers for some software updates may not run. This issue does not happen for all software updates, so only a select few people will experience updates not installing; however, without being patched, the issue might surface with future updates that Apple releases.

On systems where this problem happens, the Software Update utility will detect updates as being available, but when you click to install them, nothing will happen. If you are having such problems on your system, then you might try downloading and running this latest patch. The patch should be available via Software Update for systems running OS X 10.6.8, so be sure you have applied the latest OS update in order to install this patch (don't worry, it does not require itself in order to install). In addition to using Software Update, the patch can also be downloaded from the update's Web site.

When installed, your system will have a new version of the PackageKit framework that is used for handling the .pkg installer files that are used to distribute software updates from Apple and third-party developers, and will also replace some launch agent and daemon files in the System folder. You should not need to reboot your system after applying this update; however, doing so will ensure the new launch daemons and framework... [Read more]

Today's malware purveyor bears little resemblance to the outcast-teenage-loner caricature popular in days past.

Last November the FBI's Operation Ghost Click led to the arrest of six Estonians charged with promulgating the DNSChanger malware, which the FBI claims allowed the gang to steal $14 million by manipulating the servers of online advertisers. Unfortunately, DNSChanger is estimated to have infected 100 million computers worldwide and 500,000 in the U.S., many of which haven't yet been disinfected.

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• Only you can prevent phishing attacks
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• ... [Read more]

With a focus on both the occasional graphics user and the professional, CorelDraw Graphics Suite X6 (download) hits the market toting a wealth of tools that make manipulating graphics much simpler than before. Hobbyists can check it out to make newsletters, calendars, or banners, while business users can use it to make simple marketing collateral or sales presentations. And of course, designers can use it design things as well.

The new version of the Suite, X6, comes with native 64-bit and multicore processor support, which bumps up the speed of this program noticeably. This means less waiting when exporting, printing, or copying images between typically processor-hungry apps like CorelDraw and Corel Photo-Paint.

In addition to performance, though, what's really impressive is X6's list of brand-new features, which make some of the more common graphics tasks significantly easier.

For instance, the new Smart Carver tool makes it easy to remove an unwanted area from a photo while still maintaining the photo's aspect ratio. The new shape tools let you work with Smear, Twirl, Attract, and Repel effects when refining your vector objects. What's more, there are new additions like page numbering, alignment guides, advanced OpenType support, and interactive frames for creating mock-ups. For professionals, Corel C... [Read more]

More people are controlling their Sonos system from iOS and Android mobile devices but the company hasn't forgotten about users who use their computers as controllers.

Sonos has made a big push into the mobile space with controller apps for the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android smartphones and tablet, turning those devices into remotes for its multiroom wireless audio system. However, the company is now showing a little love to customers still using the Sonos desktop controller apps on Mac and Windows laptops with a new update that adds powerful new "universal" search features and a redesigned interface.

A look at the new Mini Player (click to enlarge).

What does universal mean? Well, using a single search box, you can now find artists, albums, songs, and stations from your music library, Internet radio and music services. That's right, type something into the box, and the search extends well beyond the music stored on your local computer or networked drive.

Sonos is also highlighting how the new controllers also offer "instant vol... [Read more]