Web Browser Competition Winner: Firefox 9 (again)

Tom's Hardware Guide revisited their web browser competition for January 2012. Mozilla Firefox 9 again beat the competition. Results below.

In our last installment, Web Browser Grand Prix 7: Firefox 7, Chrome 14, Opera 11.51, we completely dropped the raw placing tables in favor of the analysis tables that more closely reflect the scale of victory. Let's quickly take a moment to go over what these mean.

The analysis tables hold categories for each type of benchmark. For example, Mozilla Dromaeo DOM is represented by the DOM category, while Peacekeeper, the Krakens, and SunSpiders are represented together under the JavaScript category.

Each category has four columns: winner, strong, acceptable, and weak. Winner is obviously the browser that achieves the highest scores for the category. The strong column is for those browsers exhibiting superior performance, but no victory. Acceptable is for browsers that perform neither spectacularly nor poorly, but merely adequately. For tests that measure frame rates, a score near the 30 FPS range gets that browser filed into the acceptable column. The weak column is for browsers that perform poorly or substantially lower than their competitors.

In the event of a complete tie in the analysis tables, we simply go back to the individual benchmarks and look at the raw difference in scores.

The Windows 7-based standings for Chrome 16, Firefox 9, Internet Explorer 9, Opera 11.60, and Safari 5.1.2 are found in the table below.

Windows 7 Analysis Table

	Winner	Strong	Acceptable	Weak
Performance Benchmarks
Startup Time, Light	Safari	Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera
Startup Time, Heavy	Internet Explorer	Chrome, Opera	Firefox	Safari
Page Load Time, Uncached	Chrome	Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari
Page Load Time, Cached	Chrome	Safari	Firefox, Opera	Internet Explorer
JavaScript	Chrome	Firefox	Opera	Internet Explorer, Safari
DOM	Opera	Chrome, Firefox	Safari	Internet Explorer
CSS	Safari	Chrome	Internet Explorer, Opera	Firefox
Flash	Safari	Internet Explorer, Opera	Chrome, Firefox
Java	Firefox	Chrome	Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari
Silverlight	Opera		Firefox, Internet Explorer	Chrome, Safari
HTML5	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Chrome, Safari	Opera
HTML5 Hardware Acceleration	Internet Explorer	Firefox		Chrome, Opera, Safari
WebGL	Firefox		Chrome	Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari
Efficiency Benchmarks
Memory Usage, Light	Internet Explorer	Safari, Opera	Chrome, Firefox
Memory Usage, Heavy	Safari		Chrome, Firefox, Opera	Internet Explorer
Memory Management	Chrome	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Opera, Safari
Reliability Benchmarks
Proper Page Loads	Firefox, Opera	Safari	Chrome	Internet Explorer
Conformance Benchmarks
HTML5	Chrome	Firefox, Opera		Internet Explorer, Safari
JavaScript	Opera	Firefox	Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari

Now let's see how Chrome 16, Firefox 9, Opera 11.60, and Safari 5.1.2 fare on the MacBook Air's native platform of Mac OS X.

Mac OS X (Lion) Analysis Table

	Winner	Strong	Acceptable	Weak
Performance Benchmarks
Startup Time, Light	Safari	Firefox	Chrome	Opera
Startup Time, Heavy	Firefox	Opera	Chrome, Safari
Page Load Time, Uncached	Chrome	Firefox	Safari	Opera
Page Load Time, Cached	Safari	Chrome	Firefox, Opera
JavaScript	Chrome	Firefox	Safari	Opera
DOM	Firefox	Chrome, Safari	Opera
CSS	Safari	Chrome	Opera	Firefox
Flash	Firefox		Chrome, Opera, Safari
Java	Opera		Safari	Chrome, Firefox
Silverlight	Safari			Chrome, Firefox, Opera
HTML5	Safari		Chrome, Opera	Firefox
HTML5 Hardware Acceleration	Safari			Chrome, Firefox, Opera
WebGL			Chrome, Firefox	Opera, Safari
Efficiency Benchmarks
Memory Usage, Light	Safari		Opera	Firefox, Chrome
Memory Usage, Heavy	Opera	Safari	Firefox	Chrome
Memory Management	Chrome			Firefox, Opera, Safari
Reliability Benchmarks
Proper Page Loads	Opera	Firefox	Chrome, Safari
Conformance Benchmarks
HTML5	Chrome	Firefox, Opera	Safari
JavaScript	Opera	Firefox	Chrome, Safari

Without further ado, let's crown our Web Browser Grand Prix VIII champions.

Web Browser Grand Prix Champion, The Windows Circuit

Although Firefox demonstrates the least number of wins (one less than IE9, Opera, and Safari, and two less than Chrome), it achieves the highest number of strong scores and only turns in one weak performance. Firefox 9 solidifies Mozilla's Web Browser Grand Prix championship, which was precariously handed out to Firefox 7 last September. Congratulations Mozilla! It's good to see that this browser war veteran still has some fight left in it.

Chrome 16 is still just a minor performance update away from matching or perhaps even surpassing Firefox 9 though, and the recent improvements to Firefox seem to have absolutely no effect on Google's march to the top of Web browser market share.

Opera is still hanging onto a strong third-place position with version 11.60, especially considering it still lacks HTML5 hardware acceleration and WebGL support. But Opera 12 is on the way, and it promises to seriously shake things up, just like the last two whole-number releases out of Norway.

Microsoft Internet Explorer has been stagnating for several months, and it's really starting to show. Last year, IE9 won two consecutive Web Browser Grand Prix championships and stayed near the top of the pack for some time afterward. The browser now resides at the bottom of the heap, tied for last place Apple's offering in Windows 7.

While the Windows version of Safari moved forward since our last look, the progress isn't enough to move the browser out of last place. In Windows 7, that is...

Web Browser Grand Prix Champion, The Mac OS X Circuit

Despite the best efforts of Google, Mozilla, and Opera, Apple Safari retains its OS X Web Browser Grand Prix crown. With a staggering number of wins and an equally impressive lack of weaknesses, Safari 5.1.2 simply owns on its native platform.

The OS X runner-up, on the other hand, is highly debatable. We're going call it in favor of incumbent number two, Google Chrome. Firefox 9 really pulled ahead from the last-place finish it received back in August, though.

Unfortunately, the Mac version of Opera is a mere shadow of its Windows version, landing the Norwegian powerhouse in last place.  

Operating System Comparison

The red bars that occasionally appear in our charts denote when an OS X-based browser beats all of the Windows 7-based competition. We use the word occasionally because we only had to switch the Mac OS X green bars to red four times. That's four out of 35 eligible charts, as opposed to the 10 out of 29 OS X earned on the Hackintosh system we used in Web Browser Grand Prix VI: Firefox 6, Chrome 13, Mac OS X Lion. While many Mac fans expected to see OS X really hammer Windows 7 on a genuine Mac, the home court advantage didn't do Apple any favors.

So, Redmond wins yet another Mac versus PC Web Browser Grand Prix, this time on a mobile system (and a brand new Core i7-based MacBook, to boot). Ouch.


With the Firefox 10, Opera 12 and Internet Explorer 10 releases just around the corner, guys from TomsHardware have decided to test the latest stable builds of the top 5 web browsers on both Windows 7 and Mac OS X Lion.
How did your favorite web browser perform? Let’s find out.

Tested versions
Internet Explorer 9
Firefox 9
Google Chrome 16
Opera 11.60
Safari 5.1.2

Startup Time Performance Benchmarks

JavaScript Performance Benchmarks

HTML5 Performance Benchmarks

Harware Acceleration Performance Benchmarks

Source: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/macbook-air-chrome-16-firefox-9-benchmark,3108.html

Firefox 9 released with 36% increase in JavaScript performance

By Gregg Keizer, December 21, 2011 12:18 PM ET

Computerworld - Mozilla on Tuesday shipped Firefox 9, claiming that the new browser processes JavaScript up to 36% faster than its predecessor.

The company also patched six Firefox vulnerabilities, and released a security update to the nearly-two-year-old Firefox 3.6 to quash a single bug there.

Firefox 9, released six weeks after November's Firefox 8, uses a technology called "type inference" in its SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine to generate native code more efficiently using the JaegerMonkey JIT (just-in-time) compiler Mozilla first added to Firefox last March.

The result: Firefox 9 renders JavaScript -- the backbone of many online games, content-rich websites and advanced Web apps -- between 16% and 36% faster than Firefox 8, according to results Mozilla posted from Mozilla's Kraken, Google's V8 and the widely-cited SunSpider JavaScript benchmark test suites.

Mozilla also tweaked Firefox's Interface on Mac OS X 10.7 to support Lion's two-fingered swipe gesture for navigating backward and forward through already-viewed pages or sites.
The Windows version did not spot any noticeable interface changes.
As part of the upgrade to Firefox 9, Mozilla also patched a half-dozen vulnerabilities, four of them rated "critical," the company's highest threat warning. The other flaws were rated "high" and "moderate."
The most serious of the six was actually a bucket of 23 memory bugs that developers found and fixed in the core browser engine.

"Some of these bugs showed evidence of memory corruption under certain circumstances, and we presume that with enough effort at least some of these could be exploited to run arbitrary code," Mozilla wrote in the accompanying 2011-53 security advisory.
Mozilla also released Firefox 3.6.25, the latest security update for the still-supported 2010 browser, re-patching a single flaw on Mac OS X that was originally -- and incorrectly -- addressed in late September.

Firefox 3.6 may be on its last legs: On Dec. 1, Mozilla offered those users a newer edition in an attempt to move them to the rapid-release schedule that produces an upgrade every six weeks.
It's unclear how successful that offer has been -- Mozilla hasn't released its own data -- but statistics from Irish metrics company StatCounter showed that Firefox 3.6's share has dropped by eight-tenths of a percentage point since the first of the month, more than during all of November.
Firefox still does not sport the long-promised "silent update" mechanism that will put it on par with Google's Chrome, which upgrades itself without any user interaction.

Silent updates, which have been on Mozilla's radar since the summer of 2010, have been again delayed, according to the company's website: The final piece of the service is now slated to appear in Firefox 12, currently set to release in April 2012.
At the same time that it shipped Firefox 9 for desktop computers, Mozilla also released a new Android version of its browser that features a reworked interface for smartphones, and its first designed for tablets.

Firefox for Android can be downloaded from Google's Android Market.
In other news, Mozilla and Google yesterday announced that they had penned a new search contract that pays the former for assigning the latter's engine as the default search provider in Firefox.
Windows, Mac and Linux editions of Firefox 9 can be downloaded manually from Mozilla's site; people running Firefox 4 or later will be offered the upgrade through the browser's own update mechanism.
The next version of Firefox is scheduled to ship Jan. 31.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is gkeizer@ix.netcom.com.

Source:http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9222925/Mozilla_launches_Firefox_9_speeds_up_JavaScript?source=rss_internet&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+computerworld%2Fs%2Ffeed%2Ftopic%2F211+%28Computerworld+Browsers+News%29

Firefox 9 has been released today (is already available for download via direct links but the website hasn't been updated yet) with improved JavaScript performance (by 20 to 30%) thanks to Type Inference, some additional HTML5 and CSS support, support for querying Do Not Track status via JavaScript and the usual bug and stability fixes. More info, HERE.

 

What's new in Firefox 9

 

The latest version of Firefox has the following changes:

• Added Type Inference, significantly improving JavaScript performance
• Improved theme integration for Mac OS X Lion
• Added two finger swipe navigation for Mac OS X Lion
• Added support for querying Do Not Track status via JavaScript
• Added support for font-stretch
• Improved support for text-overflow
• Improved standards support for HTML5, MathML, and CSS
• Fixed several stability issues
• Fixed several security issues

Firefox 9 will be available as a security update via the official repositories for Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot and 11.04 Natty Narwhal users, but if you don't want to wait, you can already install it by using the Ubuntu Mozilla Security PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firefox

For Ubuntu Lucid and Maverick, Firefox 9 should be available in the Firefox Stable Channel PPA soon: "ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable" (in fact, the packages have already been built successfully, but publishing has been disabled for the PPA for now).

Until the Mozilla website is updated to provide the latest Firefox 9, here are direct download links: Linux, Mac and Windows.

Also see: Firefox Beta Channel PPA, Firefox Aurora Channel PPA and Firefox Nightly Channel PPA (can be installed side-by-side with the latest stable Firefox).


Source: http://www.webupd8.org/2011/12/firefox-9-released-with-improved.html

Web Browser Competition Winner: Firefox 7

Tom's Hadware Guide did their annual web browser Grand Prix analysis and Firefox 7 won this time around. See the highlights below and a link to the article. IE9, Firefox 7, Opera 11.51, and Chrome 14.

Benchmark Analysis

12:00 AM - September 30, 2011 by Adam Overa

130

We dropped the placing tables for performance, reliability, efficiency, conformance, and total placing. The Web Browser Grand Prix is now at a point where each category of performance testing is summed up properly in the analysis table, mostly thanks to composite scoring. Reliability is a single test, and therefore pretty easy to follow. Efficiency has its own conclusion on the corresponding page, and the conformance composite grade is the best way to track that outcome. Total placing is now totally irrelevant due to the addition of multiple composite scores, and tallying total placing at this point would be a step backwards.
The analysis table is now the only way to score each contender. In the event of an analysis table tie, going back to the individual benchmarks and looking at the scale of victory between browsers breaks the even finish.

Analysis Table

	Winner	Strong	Acceptable	Weak
Performance Benchmarks
Startup Time	Chrome	Opera	Firefox, Internet Explorer	Safari
Page Load Time	Chrome	Safari	Internet Explorer	Firefox, Opera
JavaScript	Chrome	Firefox	Internet Explorer, Opera	Safari
DOM	Opera	Firefox	Chrome, Safari	Internet Explorer
CSS	Chrome, Safari	Internet Explorer, Opera		Firefox
Flash	Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari		Chrome, Firefox
Java	Firefox	Chrome	Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari
Silverlight	Opera	Chrome	Firefox, Internet Explorer	Safari
HTML5	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Chrome, Opera, Safari
HTML5 Hardware Acceleration	Internet Explorer	Firefox		Chrome, Opera, Safari
WebGL	Chrome	Firefox		Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari
Efficiency Benchmarks
Memory Usage: Light	Internet Explorer	Firefox, Safari	Chrome, Opera
Memory Usage: Heavy	Firefox	Safari	Opera	Chrome, Internet Explorer
Memory Management	Firefox	Chrome, Internet Explorer	Opera, Safari
Reliability Benchmarks
Proper Page Loads	Opera	Safari	Chrome, Firefox	Internet Explorer
Conformance Benchmarks
HTML5	Chrome	Firefox, Opera	Safari	Internet Explorer
JavaScript	Firefox	Internet Explorer, Chrome	Safari	Opera
DOM	All 5

Without further adieu, let's crown the Web Browser Grand Prix 7 champion.

The Crowning Of A Champion

12:00 AM - September 30, 2011 by Adam Overa

130

In the closest conclusion this series has ever seen, Mozilla is finally able to take the crown, earning its first Web Browser Grand Prix championship with Firefox 7. Although Firefox has two fewer wins than Chrome 14, Mozilla's browser manages to earn three more strong finishes than Chrome, which we consider sealing the deal, if by only a hair.
Enjoy it while you can Firefox fans; Google doesn't like to play second fiddle for very long. In fact, we wouldn't be one bit surprised if a "minor" update that happens to contain a performance game-changer is pushed to Chrome within days (or hours) of this publication.

Chrome 14 obviously places second; no surprise there. The big surprise is our third-place finisher. It's not Internet Explorer 9! Rather, Opera finally breaks out of fourth place and grabs the bronze medal. IE9 simply lost too many times, allowing Opera and its "minor" .01 update to swoop in for the kill.

Alas, Safari places last yet again. Safari for Windows, that is. If Web Browser Grand Prix VI: Firefox 6, Chrome 13, Mac OS X Lion taught us anything, it's that the rules of physics, common sense, and everything else you hold dear don't apply on Apple's own OS X platform. Over there, Safari is still king.

There you have it folks, another Web Browser Grand Prix in the bag. Stay tuned to Tom's Hardware for more. We have a few special twists up our sleeves for Web Browser Grand Prix 8 and beyond.

Source: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/firefox-7-web-browser,3037.html

Hear Web Text with Google Chrome Speak

Google Chrome has just fronted a new extension called Chrome Speak; a text reader for web content on the Google Chrome search engine. This will read highlighted text out loud. Whether from sheer laziness, bad eyesight, or just a desire to have a text reader on your browser, it is an interestingly accurate feature. You could easily listen to a Wikipedia entry while getting ready for work or entertain a room of friends with the feature so that you don’t have to read interesting tidbits aloud or have everyone crowd around the screen. These are hypothetical scenarios, of course. The ultimate point is that Chrome Speak works and it works fairly well.

What is meant by “fairly” well? It is the typical text reader voice; monotone and perpetual. As a result, certain segue in the text sound like a run-on sentence or a period that would normally bring appropriate pause is missed. Ultimately, the reading is understandable and you can work with it. For hearing information, it does serve a purpose.

Sometimes spending long hours in front of a computer screen can strain the eyes and you might want to take a break and still get the information from lengthy text. This Google Chrome extension will do the trick. Listen to long articles read aloud while resting your weary eyes. This is also useful for taking notes from lengthy text. While it is read to you, you can take information and jot it down without having to pause. Simply select any text on any webpage and Chrome Speak will read it out. You are able to customize the rate, pitch and volume of the reading voice. There are multiple languages supported and this feature can also be used offline if needed.

To download the extension, use the following link. It takes seconds and the installation is completed. To use Chrome Speak, click on the earphone icon in the upper right portion of the toolbar.



This will open a menu for the extension. This menu is what you will use to set speed, volume and pitch.



There is a field in which you can copy-paste or write text to hear. Click the speak button to hear the entered text. Select the “More options” option to set the voice options.
The Windows 7 default is a single digital voice called Microsoft Anna, a female voice with an American accent (generalized). You can add voices and select any of them from the drop-down menu in speech properties. The text will be read in any language selected, as long as it is supported by the extension.

The basic use involves a simple highlighting of text on a given page. Highlight the text that you want to have read and then right-click the highlighted field and choose “Read the selection text” to initiate the reading. You will start listening immediately at this point. Use the context menu, accessible from another right-click on the highlighted field or from the earphone icon, to select Stop to cease the reading.

The extension will stop on its own once it has reached the end of the highlighted text. Chrome Speak offers support on Windows, Mac OS X, and Chrome OS and uses native test-to-speech capabilities provided by these operating systems.

Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2011/10/19/hear-web-text-with-google-chrome-speak/

Related Articles:

Let Opera speak to you
Popchrom, Create Text Shortcuts In Google Chrome
How To Add Languages That You Speak To Google Chrome
Google Voice Extension For Google Chrome
Google Maps Locator For Google Chrome

Chrome Remote Desktop Control Plug-in

Google just added a unique plug-in to their Chrome & Chromium browsers to allow you to control another PC via their Chrome browser. It is in beta right now. 


Below is information from the Chrome Store on the plug-in:


Chrome Remote Desktop BETA is the first installment on a capability allowing users to remotely access another computer through the Chrome browser or a Chromebook.

The goal of this beta release is to demonstrate the core Chrome Remoting technology and get feedback from users. This version enables users to share with or get access to another computer by providing a one-time authentication code. Access is given only to the specific person the user identifies for one time only, and the sharing session is fully secured. One potential use of this version is the remote IT helpdesk case. The helpdesk can use the Chrome Remote Desktop BETA to help another user, while conversely a user can receive help by setting up a sharing session without leaving their desk. Additional use cases such as being able to access your own computer remotely are coming soon.

Chrome Remote Desktop BETA is fully cross-platform, so you can connect any two computers that have a Chrome browser, including Windows, Linux, Mac and Chromebooks.

Stay tuned for future updates!


Then install the Chrome Remote Desktop Beta extension by going to the link below.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp





During the installation you will be asked to authorize the app to have access to view your email address, view your remote desktop computers, and view and send chat messages.



After it’s installed, open a new tab in Chrome and click the Chrome Remote Desktop BETA app.



Click share this computer and a 12 digit code will be generated for you.



This is a one time code that someone can use to access your computer.
From the other computer, click access a shared computer and type in the first code (spaces are not necessary).



Give it a little bit and the tab will change to the other computers desktop. While in this mode, the computer being shared can either push the disconnect button, Ctrl+Alt+Esc, or close the Google Chrome tab to end the session.



If you have trouble connecting to the remote computer or it hangs when saying verifying access code, try allowing ports 443 and 5222 to have inbound and outbound rules in your windows firewall using both UDP and TCP.


If you need further help check out Google’s help page on the extension below.
Google Chrome Download

Chrome Remote Desktop Beta

Chrome Remote Desktop Beta help page

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/76587/how-to-control-a-remote-computer-using-only-your-chrome-web-browser/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=101011