Jetpack
A recent project over at Mozilla Labs, has recently grabbed my attention and hasn't quite let go yet. It's a very interesting concept: Allow people to create simple extensions to the browser using web languages (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript). In effect, allowing extensions to be built by people without knowledge of more complex programming languages. The effect? More useful extensions with a much lower footprint.
One extension that I've admired for quite some time now is GMail Checker by James Nisbet. What it does is quite simple, but yet it replaces another addon I used to use (GMail Manager). What's even more amazing is that it's programmed in CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, which means it's very lightweight. As of its latest version, it also has support for Google Apps hosted e-mail.
I think everyone should head over to Jetpack.MozillaLabs.com and watch the video about it, which explains the extension a little bit better.
Open Source Video Dropped from HTML 5
This is quite simply terrible news. Perhaps one of the greatest additions to HTML 5 was the open source video. Due to companies being unable to agree on which formats to use (cough Apple cough) as well as other companies which make no displayable effort to include this feature at all (cough Microsoft cough), they decided to do without it.
Part of the issue is Apple wanted to use H.264 (a superb video codec), which unfortunately requires expensive licensing which open source projects (like Mozilla) likely can't afford. Google (being wealthy beyond our dreams) ships their browser with Ogg Theora support as well as H.264 support.
To be fair, Apple isn't the only one who doesn't like Ogg Theora very much. Google wanted H.264 for the better quality per bitrate (which is great for its monster site YouTube); one common area of debate is that Ogg Theora isn't quite ready for such tasks, and as such, wouldn't be the best choice for the company.
Looks like a whole bunch of crap to me. Read the original article over at ZDNet Asia.
What to look forward to in Firefox 3.6
- Image via Wikipedia
With Firefox 3.5 released yesterday, talk is already active on the next release from Mozilla.
According to a post on Mashable, the next update (aka Firefox.next and Namoroka) will feature better performance ("dramatic, human-perceivable speed increases"), more personalization and customization options, new navigation options, better web app support, and many other features that may also be considered.
Want to read more? Check out the original post on Mashable.
Recent Posts
- Sir Ken Robinson Lecture
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- Natalie Tran [dot] me This is a Natalie Tran Fansite that I have put together. I’m still waiting to hear from Natalie about it, but until then, it’s a great place to keep up with Natalie.
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