Mozilla apparently have a Guiness World Record in their sights with the Firefox 3 launch tomorrow, specfically most software downloads in a single day. So if you fancy helping them out, tomorrow is the day to grab it. They have also published a handy field guide which details of all the updated features in this release. It’s only fair to also mention the recently released update to the Opera browser. While Firefox’s level of customisation makes it my number one, Opera is a better browser straight out of the box with features like mouse gestures included as standard. Its page rendering is lightning fast and it is certainly a great replacement for Internet Explorer. I try out new releases from time to time but I’ve grown reliant on my Firefox build (particularly since I can take it with me anywhere) so I’ve never stayed with Opera for long. I do, however, highly recommend Opera Mini for mobile phone web browsing.
To round out the browser discussion (no, I’m not mentioning Safari because on Windows it’s just rubbish — there’s simply no reason to use it), Microsoft has actually been urging web designers to start testing their sites in early builds of IE8, warning that its stronger standards compliance may cause issues. They are clearly tweaking the rendering engine substantially and if it results in greater standards compliance that is to be commended. Let’s just hope that is the cause for their concern…
Meanwhile I’m just closing some tabs with things I’ve been meaning to mention:
- c-net have compiled the 20 greatest slow-motion videos.
- Big Buck Bunny is an “open movie” released under creative commons, so you can download the whole animated flick, in HD, for free. You can stream it on YouTube or Vimeo but I think the achievement becomes far less impressive.
- BMW have debuted their GINA concept car which uses a smooth, skin-like covering that allows the car to change shape as the metal structure beneath moves.