Which browser is really the best for Mac?

Today, we spend hours and hours on the Internet, so it is important for us to have a good browsing experience. There is a good selection of browsers for all platforms now. So what one is best for the Mac? Which one is fastest and the easiest to use?

Now, you are all probably thinking “its Safari, duh.” Well let’s find out. Now, I have come to this conclusion from my personal preferences, so everyone’s browser of choice here will be different. My personal preferences are, speed of loading pages and simplicity.

So, how did I test all these browsers equally and fair? I used Peacekeeper, a browser benchmark. It tested you browsers JavaScript functionality. I tested Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari. So here are the results...

As you can see, Chrome is the fastest browser when it comes to JavaScript fuctionality. I was amazed on how much it out performed them by. But, is that my preference? Not really, I like chrome but I have found it crashes far too much for my liking. It just would not respond, I downloaded it twice and both times I had the same problems.  Sure, its simple and easy too use. But, I am not going to use something that I can’t rely on.

I had the same problems with Opera as well, actually it was worse. I found it was just not responding. So maybe I got a bad batch of Chrome and Opera? So, if you use either of those two, does it happen to you?

Safari is pre-installed on every Mac and I would say is one of the most popular browsers for Windows users. When I saw the results for Safari I was a little shocked. I thought it being the ‘official’ Mac browser it would out perform the competition by a large margin. One problem I have had with it is my flash player never seems to work; maybe it is because of Apple’s support for HTML5? Nevertheless, I really like Safari; it’s simple, elegant and easy to use. It’s like any Apple product, really.

Firefox came dead last in my benchmark run, by a lot. But, I found it didn’t crash once and it was very simple to use. So does that mean, slow and steady wins the race?

No, I would recommend all us Mac users stick with Safari, its made for our machines. Its like Internet Explorer for windows, except it works and it’s not painfully slow.  

If I have missed anything or you want to know more, please leave a comment and I will happily answer you question.

Skype Extension Blocked in Firefox

Mozilla don't make a habit of blocking extensions from their popular web browser Firefox. But today the Skype extension has joined that exclusive group.

Firesheep your FireFox to Hack Facebook

I'm all against hacking and using exploits for personal gain. However, I'd like you to know that there is a FireFox extension called Firesheep that enables you to hack into anyone's Facebook account if you are in an unprotected wireless hotspot. What Firesheep allows you to do is to use cached information that is stored within that wireless hotspot to enable you to access their photos, personal information, etc., but they cannot change your password.

This video from HouseHoldHacker provides more information:

You may not want to use a public wireless hotspot that isn't protected now. Before you stop taking your laptop or iPad out to a local coffee shop, you may want to consider using a MIFI or mobile WIFI device that is protected and uses 3G to connect to the web. It's inexpensive, very mobile and can save you from giving your personal information to a complete stranger. 

In the UK you can pick one up from 3 for as little as £70 that includes 3GB of data off contract. In the US, you can pick up a MIFI for $99 on Verizon with a 2 year contract. It may sound expensive but you'll have mobile broadband where ever you are and it's a great deal if you travel a lot.

Stay protected and don't go spreading your information to people you don't know!

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Whats in my Dock v3

Whats in my Dock? This video will tell you whats in my Mac OS X Dock.

Click to read more ...

Mozilla to fix critical vulnerability in Firefox

Mozilla says that it has received the exploit code for a critical vulnerability which could result in remote code execution on a vulnerable machine.

The vulnerability is in version 3.6 of Mozilla Firefox. Mozilla’s blog says that the issue only affects Firefox 3.6, and not any earlier versions. Thunderbird and SeaMonkey are not affected.

Mozilla also says that users could download Release Candidate builds of Firefox 3.6.2, which contains the fix.

Not being a user of FireFox, it's nice to actually know that they're doing something about these vulnerabilities, so that users could have the best experience possible.

More information about the flaw and a link to the release candidate could be found here.

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