The graph above is a JavaScript performance comparison in which the same machine ran the SunSpider test (so shorter bars are better). Microsoft is comparing one, specific (but incredibly important) browser task to the competition’s numbers, and as you can see, boy has IE improved over the years!

But it’s still not enough.

I mean, kudos for the improvements, but you don’t win by coming in last place. The disclaimer, of course, is a sort of “this is where we are today… just wait until you see us tomorrow!” kind of mentality. But you could ethically slap a “today” on everyone else on that graph.

For the optimists out there, Microsoft talked about some other big improvements coming to IE9, including HTML 5 support and GPU acceleration. More about that here: [IEBlog via PCWorld via Engadget]

I’ve been running the nightly Chromium builds as our secondary browser to Firefox, and it’s been spiffy, if you’re particularly impatient. [Cnet]

The list includes tricks for assigning application shortcuts, search engine keywords, customisations, mouse and keyboard shortcuts as well as several tricks for people using dev builds. Hit the link for the full details. [Lifehacker]

Om Malik’s got a little embryo of a theory, and it revolves around Mozilla’s hosted services/browser sync service called Weave:

I sat around gabbing with Lilly and Jay Sullivan, Mozilla’s VP of Mobile, talking about Weave and the Awesome Bar, which is a way to get access to all your browsing history and bookmarks by just typing them in the URL bar on your browser. And while we were talking about Weave, I asked them if it was going to be part of this new, mysterious iPhone app. Lilly and Sullivan smiled and remained silent. Interestingly, they didn’t correct me.

It’s a telling anecdote, and nearly enough to assume that Weave will be some part of the app, and if the alternative is a browser—which Apple probably wouldn’t be too excited to approve—then is may be the whole app. But goddamnit, let’s indulge our modest fantasies anyway! Lifehacker flags a (cautious) thesis by Kevin Tofel at JKOnTheRun, who sees a Fennec hiding behind the smoke:

Apple did begin to approve third-party applications earlier this year, so a Mozilla browser does have a chance for approval. And that could open the door for the Weave service, as well. Apple’s Mobile Me service doesn’t sync bookmarks or web passwords over-the-air currently, although I suspect these functions could be added in the future. In light of that, I’m thinking we’re about to see Fennec on the iPhone.

So in conclusion, Mozilla: ^This.^ [GigaOm and JKOnTheRun via Lifehacker]

Microsoft has deemed the hole to be a “critical” security threat, as it gives webmasters the ability to quietly install software on your PC. Last May, Microsoft released an update that made it possible to uninstall the .NET framework. They also released a patch earlier this week that supposedly fixes the problem. The vulnerability can also be exploited on users running any version of Internet Explorer. Needless to say, Firefox and IE users should employ one of those solutions ASAP. [Computer World Image via rootshell.be]

No, it’s not Explorer. Microsoft wanted first to order browsers from left to right, in order of market share. That meant Explorer was going to go first, then Firefox, then Safari, Opera and Google’s Chrome. The EU objected, so Microsoft complied and offered the only possible option: Alphabetical order.

That puts Apple Safari in the number one position, followed by Google Chrome, Microsoft Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera. Looks good enough to me, but Jenny Boriss—a Firefox user experience designer—disagrees:

This ordering is about the worst option possible. Microsoft wrote in their proposal that ‘nothing in the design and implementation of the Ballot Screen and the presentation of competing web browsers will express a bias for a Microsoft web browser or any other web browser’, but this is exactly what the current design does. Windows users presented with the current design will tend to make only two choices: IE because they are familiar with it, or Safari because it is the first item.

“The disproportionate advantage to Safari is what really makes this design poor,” she said, citing several studies that claim first position in a ballot gives an advantage, in part because Western voters scan from upper left to lower right when they read.

She goes on and on and on about this, but her basic message is: If Firefox is not first, this design is BAD. She timidly proposes a random order every time the selection screen opens, but she argues that this is bad because it “unfortunately does not provide users with any information about what browsers are preferred”.

Then she shows her true colours, proposing the order according to market share—what Microsoft proposed—but excluding Explorer from that ordering and leaving it to the last position. Wouldn’t that be unfairly helping Firefox and putting Safari, Chrome and Opera in a bad position? And why discriminate Microsoft Explorer too?

Finally, she also proposes probability ordering by market share excluding Internet Explorer, which again gives Firefox the advantage over the rest 50 per cent of the time.

In other words, Microsoft and the EU should help Firefox to become the new monopolistic browser, no matter what. Jenny, please: Stop. Saying. Words. [Boriss' Blog via Computer World]

The only file you can really do anything with is a .deb—that’s a Debian-based Linux installer package—meaning that Debian (and Ubuntu) users can install it with a few clicks. Note: On Ubuntu 9 I got a dependency issue when I tried to install, but it was easy to fix: I just enabled the Universe and Multiverse repositories in Synaptic, and upgraded the library it told me too.

As for the browser itself, it’s not unlike regular Chrome, barring a few telling differences. For one, the clock is on display in the titlebar, as if this browser is going to be the only app you see when using Chrome OS. There’s also a frustratingly enigmatic little Google logo in the top left corner, which looks like a menu. When you click it, it pops up with a prompt to log in with an @google.com email address. Oh well. In any case, downloads are still working from here; feel free to post more mirrors in the comments. [Living in a Google World via Techcrunch]

Apple and Lenovo generally include the sensors as data protection tools: using readings from an inbuilt accelerometer, a laptop can recognise when it’s in freefall, and spin down, or even cushion, its hard drive to try to minimise platter death. It works, sometimes! But on a hardware level, these accelerometers are just like the ones in your mobile phone, meaning they can track orientation finely enough to play simple physics games, which you’ll evidently be able to do in the next version of Firefox:

Originally built as something that we would include for our upcoming mobile browser release, we’ve made it available on desktop systems as well. Many modern Macbooks and Thinkpads contain devices and drivers that expose this information. We’ve added support for Linux, Macs and some Thinkpads where drivers and devices are available.

So it was an afterthought for Firefox proper, and you’ll have to code special games and sites for it, and it’ll only work on a few major laptop models. It’s not exactly The Future of Firefox, but it’s a cool trick nonetheless.

You can try the feature out yourself if you want; just download a nightly Firefox build from here, and try a few of these test pages. (Not safe for seasick types.) [Mozilla via DeepTech]