It’s not much of a happy news for Firefox fans that Mozilla has decided to remove atleast one (or more) of the promised features from the final version of Firefox 4 scheduled to be released by the end of this year.

Mozilla developers said that in order to meet the deadline, some features planned for Firefox 4 need to be removed. These features include the new account manager which was introduced in April this year, the Inspector, the web-console and some misc features for the Windows platform. However, things may change by a few degrees here or there as the final feature freeze is due next week, September 10 to be precise.

On a happier note, Google Chrome turned 2 today and for a browser that young, it’s ground breaking to evolve to a 17% foot print in market share [Aug 2010]. Moreover, Google released version 6 of the browser today with security fixes and performance boosts. Download Google Chrome 6 now!

In the latest Apple Event, the completely new avatars of iPod nano and iPod shuffle have been announced. The redesigned iPod nano now boasts multi-touch and a super light and sexy square design. The camera has been done away with for good. On the other hand, iPod shuffle is now refurbished with buttons (yes, they’re back) and a longer battery that claims to last upto 15 hrs.

iPod nano:

• Available in 7 different colors
• New multi-touch feature
• $149 for 8GB model; $179 for 16GB
• Available for pre-order at the Apple Store

iPod shuffle:

• Available in 5 different colors
• New VoiceOver feature that makes iPod shuffle speak song title, artist name, playlist and even battery status in 25 different languages.
• $49 (2GB model)
• Available for pre-order at the Apple Store

It’s an established fact that Facebook doesn’t give a **** about your privacy and for all these years it has just gotten bad to worse. That’s when 4 computer science grads from NYU decided to roll up their sleeves to create an anti-Facebook project from scratch. Called ‘Diaspora*‘, the project is actually an open-source, server-less, personally controlled and de-centralized social network aiming to provide users full control of their privacy.

Diaspora* connects user computers directly, just like the Torrent protocol does. This eliminates the need of a centralized server which implies that none of your private information is stored on a third server. The user is required to install the Diaspora software and has full control of what information to share.

Diaspora*’s modus operendi looks promising but all rests on whether or not the mass switches to the secured and open-source social network.

This is a guest post by Touseef Ahmed of VAC Media (A UK based Online publishing and marketing company).

DEFINITION OF 3G :

3G or 3rd generation is a collection of standards for wireless, mobile communication. The 3G is called International Mobile Telecommunication-2000 (IMT-2000) whose specifications are given by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The services are to be such that they satisfy and fulfill the specifications given by the ITU.

HOW IS 3G BETTER :

The 3G is an up-gradation of 2G and 2.5G standards. It includes technologies like UMTS, CDMA2000, WiMAX, etc. Compared to the older 2G technology, the 3G technology has the following enhancements :

·    Higher data speed.
·    Allows simultaneous speech and data services.
·    Provides peak data rates of at least 200 kbit/s.
·    Provides mobile broadband access to smart phone and laptops.
·    Enhanced audio and video streaming.
·    Support for video-conferencing.
·    Browsing at higher speeds.
·    TV through Internet (IPTV) support.

3G FEATURES :

Data Rates :

The data transfer rate for 3G networks is between 128 and 144 kbit/s when the device used is in fast motion and the transfer rate is 384 kbit/s for walking users. For fixed wireless LANs, the rate goes beyond 2 Mbit/s.

Security :

    3G networks offers great security when compared to 2G predecessors. They use the KASUMI block crypto. It provides end-to-end security when application frameworks are accessed.

USING 3G :

The primary thing required for using the 3G technology is a device that is 3G compatible. The device that is 3G compatible is connected to 3G network through its SIM card and therefore its connected to the Internet all over provider’s range which is unlike Wi-Fi for which there is a limited range.

APPLICATIONS OF 3G :   

·    Wide-area wireless voice telephone.
·    Mobile Internet.
·    Video Calls.
·    Mobile TV.
·    Video on demand.
·    Tele-medicine.
·    Location-based services.

FUTURE OF 3G :

3G broadband may be the start of new revolution which is clear by the adoption of it by big parties for its features. But we are in the era of technological boom where one might have just started to get on with the technology and another new one takes birth to create a revolution which is evident from the introduction of 4G technology.

If you are a Linux user then you must have been surely annoyed by the unavailability of voice and video chat feature in Gmail. Not anymore. Google has finally introduced the feature for the Linux platform. So, now instead of the ‘System not supported’ error message, you’ll be redirected to the page where you can download and install the voice & video chat plugin.

As my friend Sathya, who discovered this update, points out, only DEB packages are available as of 30th Aug, 2010. Packages for RPM distros will hopefully be available soon.

US users of Gmail are now equipped with a super awesome feature that allows them to call any mobile phone within US and Canada for free (atleast till the end of the year) and at minimal rates in other countries. The service went live yesterday and within 24 hours, 1 million calls were made using the service. No doubt, it has turned out to be a big success. Google’s official Twitter account disclosed the numbers some hours ago.

You can use this feature by clicking the “Call phone” at the top of your chat list and dial a number or enter a contact’s name. Google has also planned to make this service available globally soon.

Firefox 4 is slowly making its presence more accountable with the latest beta release: Firefox 4 Beta 4. The new iteration has some performance boosts in addition to new features like ‘Panorama’ (formerly known as TabCandy) and native support to ‘Sync’. We have two videos showing each of the these main features.

Firefox 4 Native Sync:

Firefox 4 Panorama:

[If you can't see the videos above, upgrade to the latest versions of Firefox, Chrome, Opera or Safari]

We can expect atleast two more beta iterations before the final product which will incorporate the ‘Two tiered Firefox Menu’ along with other exciting features.

Download Firefox 4 Beta 4 (This is a time-sensitive link. The target page may change over time.)

As of now, Microsoft has released 4 ‘platform previews’ of the upcoming browser Internet Explorer 9 that showcased some of the highly anticipated features backed up by super efficient Javascript engine named ‘Chakra’ and latest standards like HTML5 and CSS3. But, until now, major UI elements in those builds were mostly missing. We can suspect Microsoft to unveil it on the day of the first Beta release which is in about 3 weeks from now.

However, Microsoft Russia ‘mistakenly’ posted the interface screens on their press website with some hazy information about the new browser. Although it was taken down immediately, many sites have managed to capture a glimpse of what’s coming:

The interface looks hugely ‘inspired’ by Google Chrome and Firefox 4 with major changes like the absence of the title-bar, integration of address-bar and search-bar, slimmer menu bars, etc. IE9 is also expected to include a feature that will recognize ‘protected’ sites as windows applications which can be moved to the task-bar and can be treated independently.

The performance of the ‘platform previews’ definitely impressed me and it’s only about time Microsoft makes a super ergonomic UI for the browser that holds the greatest share in the market. Is it the dawn of the yet another major browser war? What do you think about the new IE9 interface?

Opera was probably the first to embrace (and innovate) the ‘speed dial’ feature that we now see in Google Chrome and Safari, giving you 1-click access to your favorite/most-visited sites. Now there are plenty of ways in which your can spice up  Opera ‘Speed Dial’. One such is to add a quick local weather report in one of the speed dial boxes. My.Opera.com user BS-Harau shows a how to do it.

1) Copy this URL below and replace YOURCITY with your preferred city.

http://speeddial.operacesky.net/weather.php?lang=en&area=YOURCITY&top=100&redirect=http://my.opera.com/

2) On the Speed Dial Page, right click on any empty boxes, choose ‘Edit’ and then paste the URL in the text-box. Click OK.

3) To receive updated weather report every 15 minutes, just right-click the speed-dial box again and choose ‘Reload Every‘ > ‘15 minutes‘.

For more tips and tricks, click here.

Although there is an official Twitter app for Android (Twitter for Andriod), fans have been eagerly waiting for something awesome from the Tweetdeck team. In case you don’t know, Tweetdeck is one of the best Twitter client for desktops, the iPhone, and the iPad. And Tweetdeck not just supports Twitter but also Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Google Buzz and Foursquare.

Tweetdeck, describing the app’s features, said,

Well, for starters, we have not just taken the well-trodden path of pulling together some basic screens and calling it an app. TweetDeck has been totally built from the ground up with a new approach. It’s still TweetDeck, with a column-based layout as you’d expect, but we have pushed the boundaries of what you should expect from an app in several ways:

Blended columns, Smooth slick UI, Clever composing, key features at your fingertips, Quick access to favorite friends and more…

The app is currently in beta and is not available in the Android Marketplace but you can still download it by signing up here. You will soon receive an email with the download links and instructions to install it on your mobile device. If you are running Android, the app is more than worth a try.