For those who rely on Gears to get some features already available in Firefox 3.5 (web workers, offline applications or geolocation), or are just forced to do so by unaware web applications/services, Google has finally made it compatible with Firefox 3.5.
Available for Windows and Mac only, at this time, you can get it here.
Adobe has released an important security update (9.0.124) for its Flash Player plugin that addresses seven critical security vulnerabilities including the one exploited last week during the PWN 2 OWN hacking competition.
Sun Microsystems has announced an important update to its ubiquitous Java plugin which allows Java-based web applications to run across all the supported operating systems and browsers.
The new version, labeled Java SE Update N includes several performance improvements, like a kernel online installer which quickly installs a core set of Java interfaces so first time Java users can access the application faster, instead of waiting for the full install.
Adobe has released the final version of its Flash Player Update 3, an important update that brings several new features:
Adobe has released an update for Adobe Flash Player 9 plugin for all Gecko-based browsers: Firefox, Netscape, SeaMonkey, Flock, Camino, etc.
While there is no documentation on what’s new on this update, it’s always advisable to stay on top and avoid incompatibilities the update may already fix.
A new version (0.8) of the open source version of the popular Flash plugin, Gnash has been released.
According to the release notes, the most notable improvement in this release is without a doubt the added support for YouTube and Lulu.tv streaming videos which show how this implementation has matured during its first 18 months.
Unfortunately there are no binary versions of the plugin or the stand alone player that I could test. The screen shot above, courtesy of Wikipedia, shows the stand alone player running on Ubuntu.
Apple has released an update for QuickTime that patches a critical security flaw discovered last week during the hack-a-Mac challenge, a contest that awarded MacBooks to hackers that broke into them.
The flaw that happens during Java applets and QuickTime interaction was initially discovered in Safari, but was later confirmed to affect Internet Explorer and Firefox in both Mac OS and Windows platforms.
Firefox users are strongly encouraged to update the QuickTime plugin. In Windows, to update QuickTime, in QuickTime Player’s Help menu select Update Existing Software…. or visit the QuickTime web site. Unfortunately QuickTime doesn’t support patching so you will have to download full 19MB to get the updated 7.1.6 version.
Yesterday, Microsoft unveiled the beta version of Silverlight, a platform for the creation of rich interactive applications (RIA), formerly known as WPF/E (Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere).
It’s easier to understand it as a Flash player alternative with, according to Microsoft, a number of advantages including higher video quality, support for multiple programming languages and searchable since XAML, its user interface definition language is text based so search engines can index it as well.
The GNU project has announced the development of Gnash, an open source player of ubicuous Macromedia Flash presentations and applications.
Currently the Flash Player is distributed by Macromedia as a free download but due to distribution restrictions it can’t be bundled with open source applications like Mozilla Firefox.
Gnash will be available as a stand alone application and as a Mozilla plugin (like Flash Player) available for Firefox, Camino, Netscape, Flock and other Gecko-based browsers. When released it could be possible for Mozilla to bundle it with Firefox and provide Flash support out of the box.
