The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) yesterday took two significant steps down its double-track path toward standardizing HTML, the core language of the Web. First, it released a candidate recommendation of Hypertext Markup Language 5, which means HTML5 is settling down in the eyes of the standards group. Second, it released a first draft of HTML5.1, a smaller set of changes it's developing simultaneously.
Big changes to Firefox's private mode - the private-browsing feature that turns off recording cookies, history, and temporary files - landed in the Firefox Nightly build. When it reaches the general public a few months from now in Firefox stable, the feature will allow you to run the private-browsing feature in a new window, without closing your regular instance of Firefox.
Yahoo may not be the internet giant it once was, but over 110 million people still use its mail services — now, that experience has been upgraded with a new Yahoo Mail web client as well as new apps for iOS, Android and Windows 8. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer introduced the changes herself in a blog post. She said that Yahoo's new mail client minimized distracting elements and made speed a key focus, something that should be a major improvement over the somewhat bloated service of old.
YouTube announced on its Google+ page that it has updated its Android app and mobile web to better align those experiences with the most recent update to its homepage. The big change is the addition of a Guide for navigating through videos from channels that users have subscribed to, as well as allowing users to discover new channels that they might not already know about. That will be added to the new YouTube Android app, as well as the mobile web site optimized for tablets, like the iPad.
Samsung unveiled its Premium Suite Upgrade for the Galaxy S III, as promised in a teaser last Friday. The update includes the highly anticipated Multi-Window feature, which is already available on Galaxy Note devices and allows users to run two apps in separate windows at the same time. But that’s probably the most exciting thing about the changelog.
YouTube is getting a significant redesign that puts subscriptions front and center. Over the past several months, Google has been pushing a cleaner, simpler design language on its myrid sites and apps, and now YouTube is getting the same look and feel, adding the same white and grey color scheme and sparse layout found in apps like Google+ and Google Now. While you’ve always been able to subscribe to channels, Google is pushing how the subscription-focused design is just like adding your favorite shows to your DVR.
Nearly three months after its debut on the iPhone and iPod Touch, Google has updated its standalone YouTube app for the first time, adding compatibility for the iPad and iPhone 5. As part of an update, the app is now universal and works on the three different screen sizes. Other additions include support for video streaming over AirPlay, support for URLs within video descriptions, and what Google says are videos that start faster and play more smoothly.
A security researcher published on Friday another attack on Facebook's Instagram photo-sharing service that could allow a hacker to seize control of a victim's account. The attack was developed by Carlos Reventlov around a vulnerability he found within Instagram in mid-November. He notified Instagram of the problem on Nov. 11, but as of last Tuesday, it had not been fixed.
Yesterday was beta-release day at Mozilla, and the organization is launching new beta versions of Firefox for the desktop and Android. This time around, the desktop version is set to get the most interesting updates, including the new IonMonkey just-in-time JavaScript compiler, as well as support for Macs with Retina displays and W3C Touch Event support for machines with touchscreens. On Android, Firefox now offers better phishing protection and – as an opt-in – search suggestions.
Mozilla engineering manager Benjamin Smedberg has asked developers to stop nightly builds for Firefox versions optimized to run on 64-bit versions of Windows. A developer thread posted on the Google Groups mozilla.dev.planning discussion board, titled Turning off win64 builds by Smedberg proposed the move.