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Amazon Silk Browser Ignored SSL Searches

Amazon's Silk internet browser contained a serious bug which not only ignored SSL security standards in Google searches but prevented redirection to the secure version of the search engine. The Google Chrome-based Silk browser, loaded with Amazon Kindle tablets, was set up without Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology -- which encrypts communication between servers and web browsers -- and also prevented automatic redirections to Google's SSL version of the tech giant's search engine.

Oracle to Google: Pay us $9.3bn for using Java in Android

Oracle thinks it is due $9.3bn in damages from Google, mostly from profits the search company is claimed to have made from using Java in Android. The tech giants are scheduled to duel again in May at a federal district court in San Francisco to settle a long-running feud over whether or not Google was covered by "fair use" when it copied 37 Java application programming interfaces to build Android, now the most widely-used mobile OS in the world.

Opera Max Now Also Helps You Save Data While Streaming Music

While Opera is best known for its browsers, the company has recently put quite a bit of effort into its Opera Max data-saving app for Android. The company started with helping users save bandwidth for image-heavy apps like Instagram and Facebook, but earlier this year, it also introduced support for saving data when streaming videos from services like YouTube. It’s expanding the services feature set by introducing support for a limited number of music apps, too.

Opera's Max Data-Savings App

Opera today announced that its Opera Max data-management app is now integrated into phones from 14 OEMs. These include previously announced partners like Samsung and Xiaomi, as well as three newly announced partners: Acer, Hisense and TWZ. Thanks to these partnerships, Opera now believes its Max software will be on more than 100 million Android phones by 2017.

Google Maps For iOS Finally Gets Spoken Traffic Alerts

Google Maps for iOS got a seemingly small, but extremely helpful feature today in an update. Starting today, you’ll now get spoken traffic alerts while navigating. The app will tell you about accidents, traffic congestion or other incidents (like police in the area) for your route before you start driving.

Updates to Firefox Accounts and Firefox Hello Beta

The latest Firefox update is now available. This release includes minor updates to personalize your Firefox Account and adds a new functionality to Firefox Hello Beta.

Firefox Accounts provides access to services like Firefox Sync to let you take browsing data such as passwords, bookmarks, history and open tabs across your desktop and mobile devices. The latest update to Firefox Accounts allows you to personalize your Firefox Account profile in Firefox for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android by adding a photo.

Mozilla Webmaker, Meet the World

Mozilla built Webmaker to empower first-time smartphone users and mobile-first Web users as active participants on the Web. Too often, individuals around the world experience a “read-only” mobile Web, passively consuming content and unable to actively contribute. But when consumers become creators, they’re introduced to social and economic opportunity. And when everyone can contribute equally, the Web becomes a better place.

Opera Launches Redesigned Opera Mini For Android

Opera Mini, the little brother to Opera’s regular mobile browser, is getting a major makeover on Android today. The company says the new design, which is pretty much in line with the regular Opera mobile browser, is meant to give the browser a more native look and feel. If you’re confused about why Opera offers both its regular mobile browser and Opera Mini on Android, you’re probably not alone.

Custom maps inside Google Maps for Android

Google has changed the Maps app around a great many times. Unfortunately, this means some features have disappeared, but thankfully, some are being added back. Such is the case with the ability to access custom maps you created through the service. Previously, you could create these maps on the desktop and then view them in the app without issue.

WhatsApp Comes To The Desktop

Are you one of the 600 million people on WhatsApp? Do you grow tired of having to type all of your messages through your phone? Good news! There’s now a desktop version. It’s a web app rather than a native client — and for now, at least, it seems to only play friendly with Google Chrome. One weird catch: to log in on the desktop, you have to take a picture of a QR code through WhatsApp on your phone.