Mozilla releases Firefox 3.5 beta

Mozilla on Monday released beta 3.5 of Firefox, a revamp of the open-source Web browser designed to include better performance, several new Web programming features, and a private browsing mode.

The earlier betas had been numbered 3.1, but Mozilla switched to the version 3.5 name after concluding the changes were more significant than it envisioned earlier. Mozilla has said earlier the fourth beta will the last, with more polished release candidates expected before the final version of Firefox 3.5 is released.

The software emerges amid what's become a fiercely competitive browser market. Microsoft has released a significant new version, Internet Explorer 8, while Google has entered the market with Chrome and Apple is trying to secure a Windows foothold for its Safari browser. Firefox holds second place in market share to IE.

Among the changes compared with the current Firefox 3.0.x versions are the faster TraceMonkey engine for running Web sites' JavaScript programs; built-in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) technology for exchanging data between servers and browsers; support for tags to describe audio and video content the way images have been available for years; the private browsing mode for leaving no traces on your computer while surfing; support for technology to let permitted applications know the user's location; and support for the Web workers standard for letting a browser perform processing in the background without holding back a Web application's user interface.

There are a number of known problems with Gmail and with AVG SafeSearch v8.0 on Windows, and as usual, many of those extensions that are so popular on Firefox could break. For details, check the release notes.

Conficker Hype Used by Rogue Gangs

As you're all aware Conficker has been in the news a lot lately, especially with regards to if anything will happen on April 1st or not. We found out that rogue security software folks have picked up on this. For example, let's have a look at remove-conficker.org, a domain which was registered today:




They advertise a tool called MalwareRemovalBot. It's fake. Interestingly, it doesn't always find non-existing malware infections on your PC — only sometimes. But one thing is for sure, it does not remove Conficker.C. We tried it and it didn't do a thing to remove it.

When it did find something that it claimed to be malware it looked like this:



And then it asked us to register and pay $39.95 for the removal functionality.



When following up on this we did a Google search for "remove conficker.c" and saw several purchased ads that lead to the same type of "security" software as well.



Like AdwareAlert and AntiSpy2009, it is clear that it's an affiliate program going on.



Get your facts from known sites and download your removal tools from respected companies. Such as ours which you can find here.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 confirmed

Activision has named practically its entire 2009 line-up at an in-game advertiser meeting, including Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

UPDATE: Here's the first teaser trailer.

CALL OF DUTY MODERN WARFARE 2 TEASER TRAILER - RELEASE NOV 10TH 09!

And while you're here be sure to check out our 35 Modern Warfare 2 Random Requests feature.

Speaking at an 'upfront' meeting with in-game ad company Massive Inc. (responsible for the famous Obama Burnout Paradise ad), Activision named its 2009 games including tentatively titled Guitar Hero 5, a new Tony Hawk's and Modern Warfare 2.

The sixth CoD game was already confirmed
to be under Infinity Ward's wing (and not World at War dev Treyarch),
but this news thankfully confirms that number six isn't the rumoured sci-fi spin-off we were dreading.

No details on the game were released, though it was roughly dated for release in autumn 2009.


In the meeting, Activision also confirmed that in the new Tony Hawk's
"you're not going to be playing this game with a controller in your
hands." It's out on PS3, 360, Wii and DS in October. We smell a
peripheral coming...

Bizarrely (ho ho), the publisher also
confirmed PGR dev Bizarre Creations' first Activision racer will be a
James Bond game. In fact it'll be an original racing game that's been
described as "Mario Kart meets Forza". Read more on that here.


We spoke to Activision this afternoon but unfortunately the company
wasn't able to provide any further details about the new games. Don't
hold your breath either, as it seems unlikely there'll be anything more
on them until early next year, but don't let that stop you speculating
in the meantime.

source : http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=203174