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New-fangled e-books with Amazon’s KF8

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing has released new tools for creating e-books using Web technologies, announcing it’s ready to receive Kindle Format 8 (KF8) books from publishers. KF8 is Amazon’s next generation file format offering a wide range of features and enhancements – giving rise to a new breed of e-book with high resolution colour and pop-up text through the use of HTML and CSS tools. According to the ever-expanding online market: “Through the use of HTML5 and CSS3, KF8 allows publishers to create great-looking books in all categories, particularly those that require rich formatting and design, such as technical and engineering books and cookbooks.” The move signifies the growing expansion of e-book capabilities. Where pure text is satisfactory for many books and easily meets the needs of reader apps for mobile phones, graphics are becoming more and more crucial for many markets. Amazon added: “For those doing more advanced formatting by writing HTML5, using design software or working with a conversion resource, KF8 features such as Kindle Panel Views and Kindle Pop Up enable great fixed layout books like graphic novels, comics, and kids’ books.” Kindle Fire users – Amazon’s tablet introduced last year – will be the first readers to get their hands on books made with the new formatting tools, downloading them straight to their devices.

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Mozilla’s (intentional) enterprise slow-down

Mozilla has announced that its proposed Extended Support Release (ESR) version of Firefox is a go. The open source outfit will be launching an ESR version of Firefox which will update less frequently for use by enterprises, public institutions and other organisations that centrally manage their Firefox deployments. The release comes in direct response to the criticism Mozilla received over Firefox’s rapid-release development cycle. Corporations and other users had cited concerns that the release schedule didn’t allow enough time for them to certify new releases of the products, as well as concerns that the end-of life policy exposes them to considerable security risk if they remain on older Firefox versions. However, the ESR is an about-face from Mozilla’s position six months ago, when its product director Asa Dotzler said, “Enterprise has never been (and I’ll argue, shouldn’t be) a focus of ours.” But, it now looks like Firefox will, indeed, be making enterprise a focus.

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Mozilla’s (intentional) enterprise slow-down

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Twitter throws the first stone at Search plus Your World

As news about Search plus Your World spread like wildfire through the internet, the web’s biggest microblogger was quick to throw the first stone at Google . It seems Twitter is less than enthused about the proliferation of social search results in the latest Google update – users can now see a mixture of social and global results for search queries, including stories gleaned from Mountain View’s own social network, Google+. Former Google employee and Twitter general counsel Alex Macgillivray tweeted that it was a “bad day for the internet”, and Twitter followed suit, releasing a formal statement : “Often, [users] want to know more about world events and breaking news. Twitter has emerged as a vital source of this real-time information, with more than 100 million users sending 250 million Tweets every day on virtually every topic. As we’ve seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter; as a result, Twitter accounts and Tweets are often the most relevant results. “We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organisation and Twitter users.” As part of Google Realtime Search, Twitter signed an agreement in 2009 with the search titan to carry results gleaned from its microblogging site. When the deal expired this past July, Twitter opted not to renew it, and shortly after, Google announced it had disabled Realtime to explore other options. Google responded to Twitter’s statement , saying: “We’re a bit surprised by Twitter’s comments about Search plus Your World, because they chose not to renew their agreement with us last summer, and since then we have observed their rel=nofollow instructions.” Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

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Advantages and Features of Mobile Web Design – What You Need to Know

2011 is being touted as the year when mobile technology really comes to the fore. So what are the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of mobile web design? Which web development features are mobile friendly and which are not? Lastly and most importantly, how do you find out how mobile web design could work for your business? Advantages of Mobile Web Design * A well developed mobile website can mean an increased range of web visitors to your web site who will be happy to use your site to full effect and appreciate that it functions in the right way. * If your business targets people on the move (e.g. a restaurant or hotel), you’ll most likely pick up business with good mobile web development. * Even if your business isn’t a natural fit with mobile technology, giving thought to good mobile web design can present your company as a professional, cutting edge outfit which embraces new technology.

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Advantages and Features of Mobile Web Design – What You Need to Know

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HTC scrambles to release privacy fix for smartphones

Following the discovery of a privacy flaw in its smartphones, HTC will imminently release a fix to combat potential threats from malicious third-party software. The Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer identified problems with several smartphone models relating to user’s GPS location, email accounts, SMS data and call logs. Such data could be accessed by net-enabled apps, posing a significant security risk to the personal information of certain HTC users. “HTC is working very diligently to quickly release a security update that will resolve the issue on affected devices,” a spokesperson told the BBC . Once a fix is created, those vulnerable to malicious attacks can download the fix over WiFi or 3G connections. Models potentially at risk include the EVO 3D, EVO 4G, Thunderbolt and the Sensation range, though exact details have not been confirmed by HTC. The flaw was made public by blogger Artem Russakovskii , who identified the threat

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HTC scrambles to release privacy fix for smartphones

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Adobe plans a makeover with newly purchased web tools

Web design guru Adobe has acquired Nitobi, makers of PhoneGap, and TypeKit, officials announced at the Adobe Max developer and designer conference. The new acquisitions will help Adobe move beyond its Flash Player technology and transition more seamlessly to new web standards including HTML, CSS and JavaScript. PhoneGap – an open source programming tool – allows users to create web apps designed for use on mobile phones. General Manager for Adobe Danny Winokur said: “PhoneGap is a fantastic solution for developing a broad range of mobile apps using the latest web standards, and is already integrated with Dreamweaver CS5.5. “It’s a perfect complement to Adobe’s broad family of developer solutions, including Adobe Air, and will allow us to continue to provide content publishers and developers with the best, cutting-edge solutions for creating innovative applications across platforms and devices. TypeKit, on the other hand, specialises in web-based typography, offering subscriptions to users that allows them to use TypeKit fonts on the web.

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Websense aids Facebook in tackling phishing scams

Facebook has joined forces with online security firm Websense, and plans to make the social networking site a safer place for its users. The partnership hopes to implement greater measures to protect users from phishing and malware scammers, who could attempt to extract potentially valuable information such as passwords or bank details from users. Due to the high number of people using the site, Facebook is a prime target for this type of criminal activity, as Websense’s Spencer Parker told the BBC : “As a piece of real estate, it’s extremely profitable to be targeted by malware writers.” Many of Facebook’s 700 million+ users have fallen afoul of such tricksters, clicking unwittingly on a harmful link that appears to be posted by one of their friends. Parker said this type of phishing scam is more prevalent on Facebook due to the sense of trust involved. “One of the things with Facebook, of course, is that you have that element of trust in a social network. If one of your friends posts something, you automatically trust it more than if it just received as a spam email.” At the moment, Facebook informs a user if they are about to visit an external site, but as of next week, new technology provided by Websense will enable the warning to differentiate between a malicious website and a safe one. If a threat is detected, users will be given the option to return to the previous page. These efforts may also be a goodwill gesture towards users unhappy with recent changes to Facebook , attempting to bring them back on side. Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

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Google Chromezone opens in London

Google has opened its first retail store inside PC World on London’s Tottenham Court Road, hot on the heels of news that its popular browser has increased its market share. The 285-square-foot pop-up promotes Google’s Chromebook – a laptop made by Samsung and Acer optimised for web use – and has trained staff on hand to help people become more familiar with the cloud-based netbook. This is the first time Google has ever broached this traditional method of retail. Google said in a statement: “The Chrome Zone is designed to be as open, colourful and user-friendly as possible, and there are seating areas for shoppers to enable them to try out Chromebooks in comfort.” However, unlike the shops of its rival Apple, the store opened to relatively little fanfare. Arvind Desikan – head of consumer marketing at Google UK – told the Evening Standard : “It is our first foray into physical retail. This is a new channel for us and it’s still very, very early days. It’s something Google is going to play with and see where it leads.” “We found anecdotally that when people tried the device and played with it, that made a huge difference to their understanding of what the Chromebook is all about. “People will be able to go in and have a play with the devices. We want to see whether people understand what this device is all about and monitor their reaction when they try it out.” The news comes as Google Chrome – the browser optimised in the Chromebook and promoted in Chromezone – increased its market share to above 20 per cent, on track to surpass No 2 browser Firefox in early 2012, according to ZDNet

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Google Chromezone opens in London