Another tantalizing tidbit has emerged from last month's leaked IE11 build: the possibility that the next version of Internet Explorer could support Google's SPDY technology for faster browser-server communications.

It's not working yet, but SPDY "is being implemented," said Rafael Rivera of the Within Windows blog. Paul Thurrot of WinSuperSite also said SPDY is coming.

The SPDY support is at the operating system level, meaning that other software besides just IE11 could take advantage of it, Rivera said.

Microsoft declined to comment on the matter.

Google has rounded up several allies to standardize SPDY technology, which streamlines the HTTP technology governing how browsers request Web pages and how Web servers deliver them. Despite broadening support, including in Firefox and Amazon's Silk browser, though, Microsoft preferred its alternative approach called HTTP Speed+Mobility.

Related stories

• ... [Read more]
  
  

Firefox's getUserMedia test page.

Along with an update to the infamous "porn mode" that turns off your browser's ability to record your browsing session, the new Firefox 20 includes usability and back-end changes.

Firefox 20 (download for Windows | Mac | Linux) updates now allow you to run a private browsing session in a new window, alongside a standard Firefox browsing window. On Firefox 20 for Android (download), the browser now lets you run private mode tabs next to standard session tabs.

Private browsing on Firefox is analogous to Internet Explorer's InPrivate or Chrome's Incognito. It's a feature that turns off all the browser's session recording features, including cookies, history, and temporary files.

Another helpful update will ask if you'd like to restart plug-ins that have been frozen for more than 45 seconds.

Related stories:

• Fake Google Play apps scam Japanese porn seekers
• ... [Read more]
  
  

Chrome 27, making its way through the development pipeline, is helping to advance the fortunes of a new audio compression technology called Opus.

Opus is what's called a codec -- a technology to encode and decode streams of information, in this case audio. Technically, it's actually two codecs in one, an approach that lets it span a range of uses from Internet telephony on slow networks to streaming high-quality music on fast networks.

One of its chief virtues is low latency: there's not a long wait for audio to be encoded or decoded, something that's not a big problem with streaming music but can cripple a real-time conversation. Another advantage from a programmer's perspective is that unlike MP3 and AAC audio codecs, it's available royalty-free.

Google is among Opus' fans, and last week, it enabled the use of Opus by default in Chrome when establishing connections with the nascent WebRTC standard for browser-based voice and video chats. The change is in effect for Chrome 27, which is in the developer channel now, headed toward the beta and then the stable releases.

Related stories

• ... [Read more]