Mozilla Fennec RC 1 now available for Nokia Maemo smartphones to download

In case you missed it, Release Candidate 1 of mobile Firefox a.k.a. Fennec is already available for download on Nokia Maemo smartphones N900 and N810. Yes, this highly advanced mobile Web browser, which a lot of people (including yours truly) have been waiting for, is already on its RC on the Nokia Maemo smartphone platform as earlier promised. Further instructions and information are available at the source links below.

Sources: [Pavlov's Blog, Unwired View]

Mozilla: Firefox mobile only 'days away' from official launch

Nearly two weeks ago, I told you that the mobile version of Firefox (which will first appear on the Maemo OS-powered Nokia N900 smartphone) will not be released before the end of 2009. Well, it looks like I may have to take back my words, because according to the head of the project, Firefox mobile a.k.a. Fennec is only days away from its official launch. And we're talking final version here, not just the RC. This is definitely great news for frequent mobile Web users, more so for prospective owners of the Nokia N900.

Now, if the news of Fennec's 'days away' release date wasn't good enough for you, hear this: Firefox mobile is going to have add-ons. Yes, just like the desktop version. And by the way, Firefox mobile has another nifty feature -- it syncs with the desktop version so that all your bookmarks and browsing history match up and you can switch between desktop and mobile versions without much of a hiccup. Will it work effortlessly? Maybe. Is it worth waiting for, still? Definitely.

Source: [BBC]

Amazon delivers PDF upgrade and battery boost for free to Kindle users via software update version 2.3

Amazon has started rolling out over-the-air updates for all models of its Kindle e-book reader offering several improvements including PDF capabilities and an additional 85% of battery life. Amazon's Kindle software update version 2.3 gets delivered automatically and in the background via WhisperNet.

Users of the U.S. Wireless version of the Amazon Kindle can expect the PDF reader upgrade while users of the Amazon Kindle DX will receive some PDF improvements. Meanwhile, the "Global Wireless" version of the Amazon Kindle will enjoy an additional 85% of battery life aside from the PDF upgrade.

Sources: [Amazon, Gearlog]

Microsoft confirms first zero-day Windows 7 exploit

Not a month after Windows 7's official launch comes news of the very first zero-day exploit, and it has been confirmed by Microsoft itself. The vulnerability, first reported by Canadian researcher Laurent Gaffie last Wednesday, exists in not just Windows 7 but also Server 2008 R2 systems. This said vulnerability could "cause a system to stop functioning or become unreliable," according to a Microsoft-issued advisory. Microsoft says that it may patch the problem, though so far it is generally downplaying the issue, suggesting that users instead work on it themselves by blocking TCP ports 139 and 445 at the firewall.

Source: [Computerworld]

Windows 7 outsells Vista by 234% during first week, PC sales not as great

In an earlier post, I told you that Windows 7 is more deserving of not just your time but also money at this point, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. During its first week of sales, Windows 7 outsold Windows Vista by as much as 234%, and that is a huge difference any way you look at it. One could infer that all those who bought Windows 7 believed that it was really a better choice for an OS, or that they just wanted to replace Vista on their computers. Either way, this is good news for Microsoft.

Not-so-good news falls on PC makers, however, as users who already own Vista-capable PCs neet not upgrade their computers anymore, so while PC sales went up by a bit, it's nowhere near as high as Windows 7 sales. One reason being cited by those in the know is that Windows 7 hasn't been successful in pushing the sales of tablets and other touch-based computers, despite its having full support for touch input and a comprehensive suite of touch-enabled programs. And the vendors themselves are the first to admit that this isn't going to change any time soon.

As for us, the users, let's just enjoy Windows 7 in the meantime regardless of whether we have it installed on a laptop, netbook or desktop computer.

Sources: [HotHardware, DigiTimes]

Watching YouTube videos without Flash now possible with HTML5

If you just can't get yourself to stop watching the videos of Chinese Boys on YouTube, and want to do it without Adobe's flash player getting in your way, you might want to check out a new solution that will enable you to watch YouTube videos without the love-it-or-hate-it plugin installed on your browser.

The folks from NeoSmart claim that you can watch YouTube videos in an embedded HTML5 viewer that they've made and are providing on their web site. Just go to http://neosmart.net/YouTube5/ and enter the URL of a video of your choice. They've also prepared a GreaseMonkey/UserScript to go with their viewer.

All modern browsers that support basic HTML5 are supported (except the current version of Firefox, which requires a user to have an MP4 decoder) so go ahead and try your luck to see if this solution is indeed better than having flash in your browser.

Source: [NeoSmart]

Microsoft Windows 7 now officially available in the Philippines

As of yesterday, November 7th, if you aren't running Windows 7 on all of your home or office computers, then you are not my friend. That's because I believe it's an absolute no-brainer to upgrade any (and I mean any) operating system you have on your computers to Windows 7 as soon as possible. It just works. And it's a whole lot better than its predecessor (Vista) or its aging ancestor (Windows XP) so there should be no question at all about installing it on your PC.