I give up. I can’t keep up. Mozilla Firefox has upgraded their browser to version 10.0. Didn’t version 4.0 come out in March of 2011?!

Most of the updates surround the handling of extension auto-updates and the refinements around the Orion code editor/scratchpad with new page and style inspectors, WebGL anti-aliasing and enhancements, CSS3D transforms and an easier thank you lord! method to sync with other browsers including the updated Android Firefox – also at version 10.0 today too which adds multi-touch gestures and other enhancements.

Simply put, this is a slight upgrade on Mozilla’s new 6 week or so upgrade path. But it’s on the path to an updated tab system in version 12 and leaner memory usage. So far, it is a good update for me. Click the bottom links to download your proper version for your desktop. Download via the Android Market for the upgrade for Android based tablets and phones.

[ Links: Firefox 10 PC, Firefox 10 Mac ]

Quite possibly the worst kept secret ever, Apple continues to provide developers updates to their upcoming dot release of their mobile OS, iOS for the Apple iPhone and iPad in a recently announced 5.1 Beta 2. So far the updates have been coming rather rapidly, most centering around jailbreaking security updates, but here’s to hoping that 5.1 brings performance enhancements too.

[ Links: Apple, Apple iOS Dev Center ]

Man, this is getting ridiculous! From March of this year when 4.0 was released, Mozilla has hit a new high gear and released version 8.0. Yes… 7 months, 4 major versions and Firefox is not hitting version 8 – something that took Microsoft almost a dozen years to do.

Firefox 8.0 adds the following improvements:

• Add-ons installed by third party programs are now disabled by default
• Added a one-time add-on selection dialog to manage previously installed add-ons
• Added Twitter to the search bar for select locales. Additional locale support will be added in the future
• Added a preference to load tabs on demand, improving start-up time when windows are restored
• Improved performance and memory handling when using
• Added CORS support for cross-domain textures in WebGL
• Added support for HTML5 context menus
• Added support for insertAdjacentHTML
• Improved CSS hyphen support for many languages
• Improved WebSocket support
• Fixed several stability issues
• Fixed several security issues

So far, I’ve seen improvements in memory. And knowing that it’s also more secure, I’ll rest easier. You know where to get it, but just in case: Download Firefox 8.0 from Mozilla.org

Also updated for Android too.

[ Links: Mozilla Firefox 8.0 Features ]

In a move that more than likely should’ve caused a black hole or a rift in time, finally got the (yesterday) released Microsoft Windows 8 Developer’s Build to work on Apple OS X 10.7 via VMWare Fusion. The kicker was that VMWare Fusion 3.1.3 wouldn’t work; luckily enough, VMWare Fusion saw fit to releasing their $49.99 update to VMWare Fusion 4.0.1 today, one day after Windows 8 was made available for download and guess what?

It works!

Even though Microsoft stated that Windows 8 will work on an Intel Atom with only 1gb of RAM, I truly suggest giving it way more RAM than that. And the final install of everything is a shade under 7.5gb in total, with the Windows folder being around 4.93gb of space used. Off the bat, Internet Explorer 10 is included in the install. The new Start Menu is what looks like the Windows Phone 7 interface of oddly shaped squares that are somewhat interlocked together. But the regular, “looks like Windows 7″ desktop is still in there.

I’ll definitely have to give this a more in-depth look in a bit. But so far, this is only adding to my anticipation for Microsoft Windows 8.

[ Links: MSDN Windows 8 Developer Edition Downloads, VMWare Fusion 4.0 ]

Just 5 months ago, Firefox 4.0 came out. Just 2 days ago, Firefox 6.0 came out. And scarily enough, they’re already testing in the nightly builds version 8.0. Damn Mozilla, slow down. I can’t update and test fast enough!

App Tabs: Take sites you always keep open—like Web mail—off your tab bar and give them a permanent home in your browser.
Organize your Tabs with Panorama: Too many tabs? Reclaim your browser from tab clutter! Panorama lets you drag and drop your tabs into manageable groups that you can organize, name and arrange in a fun and visual way.
Scratchpad: One of our new, built-in developer tools, Scratchpad lets you build and test snippets of JavaScript code right in the browser, saving you time and precious keystrokes.

I’m already a fan of Scratchpad. And so far, it seems like Firefox 6.0 is a tad bit faster and also seems to use less RAM.

[ Links: Firefox 6.0 Download, Features ]

Looks like the guys over at Neowin must have been refreshing the nightly builds like mad (I know I have) but Mozilla has released the final build of Firefox 4.0 for Linux, OS X and Windows today. Boasting a faster rendering speed, an improved UI and so far in my personal usage lesser memory usage, it seems like the next round of browser wars has already started – Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 was released last week and Opera 11.10 was just released a few days ago.

Firefox 4.0 for Windows
Firefox 4.0 for Linux (x86, x64)
Firefox 4.0 for Mac

Mozilla has yet to update their website, but the install so far has been good!

[ Links: Neowin, Mozilla Firefox ]

I fell in love with Bento 3 for OS X and for my Apple iPad. Filemaker just released the update to Bento 4 which included some of the following:

• Label Printing
• Form Printing Options
• Export Templates with Data
• Easy Date Searching
• Post Templates Directly to the Bento Template Exchange

I won’t bore you with my tales of how productive I had previously become with Bento 3 and with Bento on my Apple iPad; however let’s just say that I’m more organized when I’m late to my appointments.

Available immediately, Bento 4 is affordably priced at a suggested retail of $49 or $99 for a family pack of five licenses, and is now available on the Mac App Store, FileMaker Store and Apple retail stores. Current owners of Bento 1, 2 and 3 for Mac are eligible for a $20 U.S. rebate.

And the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad apps have been updated to 1.1 as of March 16th and are priced at $4.99. Go get ‘em!

[ Links: Filemaker Bento 4 ]

There’s finally some parity between the Apple iPad and the Apple iPhone with both being updated to 4.2 earlier today.

The Apple iOS 4.2 update brings the following:

• iOS 4.2 brings multitasking from iPhone and iPod touch to iPad. So you can be more productive as you work, have more fun as you play, or do a little of both.
• Now your iPad has more room for more apps. Move apps into folders with drag-and-drop simplicity to declutter your Home screens and keep your apps organized for fast access to your favorites.
• AirPrint makes it simple to print email, photos, web pages, and documents right from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. A few taps is all it takes to go from viewing it onscreen to holding a printed copy.
• AirPlay lets you stream digital media wirelessly from your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to your Apple TV and AirPlay-enabled speakers.
• Find My iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch — the MobileMe feature that helps you locate your missing device and protect its data — is now free on any iPhone 4, iPad, or fourth-generation iPod touch running iOS 4.2.

Clocking in at over 620mb, this update also brings Game Center, an improved Mail client and enhanced enterprise support and integration. I’m downloading and installing right now!

[ Links: iOS 4.2 ]

Just got an update for your Zune software, didn’t see much of what it did? Neither did I until I started snooping around and found the above “Do More On The Web” option on the device portion of the options. It doesn’t do much more than state “This Feature Works Only With Windows Phone 7″ at the moment… and I’ve not one clue what else has been added.

[ Links: Microsoft, Zune, Windows Phone 7 ]

FileMaker just announced an update for their FileMaker Go app for the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad that just put pretty much the power of an office, an warehouse and a database into the something that fits into your hands. What’s that update? The ability to create PDFs, share databases via email and insert photos into your FileMaker Pro databases. Remotely.

FileMaker, Inc. today announced version 1.1 of FileMaker Go for iPhone and FileMaker Go for iPad, the popular new apps that let users work with FileMaker Pro databases on iPhone or iPad.

Users can now produce PDFs directly from FileMaker Go and either save them on their mobile devices or email them. This feature lets mobile users easily save and distribute reports, create invoices, and share project status directly from their iPad or iPhone.

Another enhancement is the ability to save a copy of a complete database and email it directly from FileMaker Go. With this feature, iPhone and iPad users can exchange databases from their devices without needing to dock with a desktop or laptop.

Best part? This update is totally free.

FileMaker Go is compatible with FileMaker Pro 7 databases and later versions. FileMaker Go 1.1 is available now as a free download for existing FileMaker Go users from the App Store. FileMaker Go for iPhone and iPod touch, running iOS 4 is $19.99 and FileMaker Go for iPad is $39.

[ Links: FileMaker, FileMaker Go ]

After turning off Spotlight on the iPhone 3GS and the like, I was able to regain some speed; however I won’t lie. It was still slower than iOS 3. After today’s update, the speed is back, feels fresh and iPhone 4 and 3GS finally get back the Game Center function that was in the iOS 4 Gold Master Build (8A293).

Experience social gaming on your iPhone. Find friends or use auto-match to play multiplayer games against new opponents. Track achievements and compare high scores.

To be honest, Game Center sounds an awful lot like OpenFeint, which has now over 35 million active subscribers.

Oh yeah… it also includes iTunes Ping too.

Google Earth just keeps on getting better and better. The latest improvement comes in the form of the “clouds layer”, which displays what is happening with the weather in real time (in a few supported locations). Once the layer is activated, you can watch it rain or snow in real time.

For now it is limited to parts of North America and Western Europe, but knowing Google it won’t take long for other locations to start appearing.

Link to the original article…