browsers

Opera Software has sued former employee Trond Werner Hansen, alleging that he gave trade secrets to rival browser maker Mozilla.

The Norwegian company seeks damages of 20 million kroner, or $3.4 million, according to a report by newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv, which uncovered the suit and wrote about it Monday.

"Opera is of the opinion that the former employee has acted contrary to his contractual and other legal obligations towards Opera. Among other things, we claim that he is in breach of the duty of loyalty and his contractual and statutory confidentiality obligations," said Ole E. Tokvam, a … Read more

The Free Software Foundation, never a friend to digital rights management, has taken issue with its arrival in the Web standards world.

In a letter from the FSF, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, and other allied groups yesterday, the group called on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to keep DRM out of the standards it defines.

"We write to implore the World Wide Web Consortium and its member organizations to reject the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) proposal," the groups said. "DRM restricts the public's freedom, even beyond what overzealous copyright law requires, to the perceived … Read more

There are many alternative Web browsers you can use for Mac besides Safari. While easy to install and run, Mood Browser for Mac only offers the very basic features of a Web browser, and it feels like the app isn't completely ready for a full release.

Mood Browser for Mac can be run without an installation. Once you launch the browser you will immediately notice the lack of features. The browser looks very simple and part of the window is blocked by a gray area, reducing the browser's display size. This browser feels like it is a work … Read more

A small Spanish company called Geeksphone will begin selling two smartphones on Tuesday that are geared for developers who want to build apps for Firefox OS -- or for that matter, to build Mozilla's open-source browser-based operating system itself.

As previewed earlier this year, Geeksphone has two models, the Keon at 110 euros including VAT ($143) and the Peak at 179 euros ($234) including VAT.

That's a notch cheaper than high-end unlocked smartphones you'll find, like the $574.99 HTC One, an Android phone that just went on sale. But the low price is part of the … Read more

Facebook has begun using a Google image format called WebP that could lower its network costs and speed up its Web site. But the move has angered some members.

When people upload JPEG photos, the social-networking juggernaut converts them into the WebP format. And now it also apparently has begun delivering those images to people with browsers that can handle them, which today means Chrome and Opera.

Even if it's just a limited test, Facebook's scale and influence means that's a major endorsement of Google's image format.

But problems arise when it's time for people … Read more

The abundance of unused white space on the New Tab page in Chrome lends developers ample options for sprucing it up. While the extension I'm about to suggest isn't anything groundbreaking, it's definitely one of the better options out there in terms of usefulness.

Literally called "New Tab Page," this Chrome extension makes your New Tab useful and attractive but doesn't gain any creativity points for its name. Installing the extension is quick: just head to the entry for New Tab Page on the Chrome Web Store and click Add to Chrome. … Read more

RuneScape, a popular massive online swords-and-sorcery game, is at last dumping Java and becoming a Web app.

Jagex Games Studio released the first RuneScape 3 beta yesterday, embracing HTML5 and related Web standards that offer programmers a more modern option for writing software that runs on a variety of operating systems.

About time, I say. Java had some potential years ago, and it still has its place elsewhere in the computing world. But as a way to extend a browser's abilities, it's history. If the plague of Java security vulnerabilities weren't enough to convince you otherwise, the … Read more

A split-screen view is nice when you're shopping online or doing research that requires flipping back and forth between pages. Dual Web Browsers for iPad splits your screen in half and lets you browse two pages at once. While it performs okay, we would have liked to see more navigational and viewing options.

Dual Web Browsers for iPad does exactly what its name suggests: It splits your screen into two browsers, one on top and another on the bottom half of your screen. Each browser has an address bar and a backward navigational button, but that's it. There'… Read more

For being such a low-maintenance site, Craigslist can be a pain on mobile gadgets. Fortunately, Craigslist Minimalist Browser lets you surf the famed classified site much faster than you're used to. It takes a while to load on the first try, but you'll love the added speed and improved search this app offers once it's up and running.

When you first try to load the app, it will hang for a little while and may crash. Every time after that, the app loads in seconds and takes you right to an easy search menu. Craigslist Minimalist Browser'… Read more