Mozilla Labs introducing Weave

Mozilla Labs introduced a new project called Weave.  The goal of this project is to enhance the Firefox user experience, increase user control over personal information, and provide new opportunities for developers to build innovative online experiences.

Weaves main purpose is to synchronize  metadata across your computers and share it with your family and friends. Metadata (bookmarks, history, saved passwords, persistent cookies, customization, preferences, etc.) will be  synchronized with this feature. The developers are also very concerned about user privacy so you don’t have to worry because Weave will have several encryption methods to chose from to secure your private data. Weave will also have a “admin page” if you will, so you can select who can see what of your data if you chose to share it with family, friends and third-party members.

The development team wants to build a secure basic framework which can be upgraded with many tools and APIs to extend the user experience overall (something like Mozilla Firefox does with add-ons).

Note that such a thing already exists as an add-on for Mozilla Firefox and is maintained by Google – Google Browser Sync, but is not so open as the Mozilla project.

The project is currently  in development phase – Weave 0.1 (released on  21th December 2007) and for now only includes bookmark and browser sync. Therefore the project should be only used for testing purposes.

Initial Roadmap

Weave 0.1 (December 21, 2007)

• basic framework and server-side in place for testing and experimentation
• authentication with a single online service provider (e.g. labs.mozilla.com)
• bookmark and history synchronization to the server from multiple clients
• default encryption of all user data with a placeholder algorithm

Weave 0.2 (Early 2008)

• initial Web service APIs for developers to build on
• user controls and ability to delegate (and revoke) access rights to specific bits of browser metadata
• UI to enable sharing on applicable interfaces

Getting started:

The first thing you will need to do is install Mozilla Firefox 3 Beta 2 (look post “Firefox 3 Beta 2” for more information) since it only works on that. Next you must sign up for a new Mozilla Service account and then follow the instructions which will be sent via e-mail. After you install the prototype just follow the on-screen instructions and you will be set to start testing the new product.

Original post at Mozilla labs:

http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/12/introducing-weave/

You can also read the preview on arstechnica.com

Peach – Open Movie

Peach – Open Movie is as the name suggest a free movie licensed under Creative Commons. The movie is in development for which the team uses Blender (open source 3D modeling software). You can find out all about the movie in their about section: http://peach.blender.org/index.php/about/

Firefox 3 Beta 2

Firefox 3 Beta 2 was released a week ago. Although this is still only in beta phase it already has a lot of spic-and-span. It takes up less resources, the management of passwords has been improved, better support for downloading various file types,…

Firefox 3 is also a lot more secure since it has new malware protection. You can read all the new things it has in the release notes: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.0b2/releasenotes/

Firefox 3 Beta 2 is already available in 25 languages for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. You can download it here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html

Note – Linux users:

The new Firefox 3 has better GTK support. There is a easy way to install it on Ubuntu.

The following installation guide for Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon was written by Tropical Matt and therefore all the credit goes to him:

“Problem is, Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon comes with an unstable version of Firefox 3, in the form of a “firefox-granparadiso” package, and it’s only Alpha 8, which doesn’t have the features and stability of the past few releases. There’s a simple way to upgrade this package, keeping all links, etc. intact. Ensure you have the package installed (check synaptic, or your Applications > Internet menu) and follow these simple steps:

1. Head to the Firefox Beta Page and download the option that best suits you.
2. Extract the archive to /tmp
3. Open a terminal
4. Run this, to remove the old files:
   sudo rm /usr/lib/firefox-3.0 -fr
   
5. Run this, to move the new files to where they should be:
   sudo mv /tmp/firefox /usr/lib/firefox-3.0
6. Point the old link to the new files:
   sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/firefox-3.0/firefox /usr/bin/firefox-3.0

Everything should now be working. If you had the granparadiso package installed when you started, you’ll still have the old firefox working without any change, and you’ll also have the same link in Applications > Internet to the development version. Keeping the versions completely separate.”

NVIDIA to debut GeForce 9 series on Valentine’s Day

There are some rumors that the new GeForce 9 series will debut on Valentine’s Day (14th February 2008). Our source informs us that the first two graphic cards to go in production will be the GeForce 9600 GT, aka D9P; and GeForce 9800 GX2 aka D9E.

Specifications for the GeForce 9600 GT (D9P):

• Core clocked at 500MHz
• Memory 2000MHz, 256 bit 256MB
• GPU is a 65nm processing chip, 64SP
• only 1 SLI connector (no support for 3-Way SLI)
• uncertain about DX10.1 support

On the other hand we have very few information about the GeForce 9800 GX2 (D9E). The specifications we do know is that it is going to be a dual GPU card and will therefore have support for Quad SLI like its predecessor 7950 GX2.

Deluge BitTorrent Client now with Anonimizing Web Browser

Deluge is a small open source BitTorrent Client, which was originally made for Linux but has since been ported to Windows and Mac OS X. The newest version – Deluge 0.5.8RC1 which was released two days ago includes a Anonimizing Web Browser, which protects you from nosy ISPs. We all know that some ISP keep track of their users and keep histories of which sites they are visiting. In case you’re not using Tor or any other similar anonymous software while searching for your “legal” torrents this is the right thing for you. You can surf torrent sites without your ISP even knowing it.

You can download Deluge 0.5.8RC1 here:

http://deluge-torrent.org/downloads.php

You can view the changelog here:

http://forum.deluge-torrent.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=935