Firefox 5 Desktop And Mobile Browser Beta Released

Mozilla has announced the release of its latest beta client for its Firefox 5 browser which is currently under development for both desktops and mobile devices, as part of Mozilla’s new accelerated release schedule.

The latest release of Firefox 5 looks very similar to the current RC version of Firefox 4 apart from the introduction of the new channel changer intergration and the relocation of Mozilla’s Do Not Track opt-in to the privacy tab of the Firefox settings. Together with added support for HTML5, MathML, SMIL, and CSS animations.

The latest Firefox 5 includes the following updates and tweaks :

• Added support for CSS animations
• Added support for switching Firefox development channels
• The Do-Not-Track header preference has been moved to increase discoverability
• Improved canvas, JavaScript, memory, and networking performance
• Improved standards support for HTML5, XHR, MathML, SMIL, and canvas
• Improved spell checking for some locales
• Improved desktop environment integration for Linux users

The release candidate of Firefox 5 is expected to arrive on June 21st.

Source: Mozilla

Unique artworks by Andy Hixon # photography, sculpture, and digital manipulation

Today’s images are by UK artist Andy Hixon. Hixon was born and raised in Manchester in 1982 where he earned a BA in Illustration from Stockport University. While in school, he developed his method of combining to create his unique images and animations.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 avrà molte più possibilità grazie al suo engine! (Video)

Infinity Ward, divenuta famosa nel 2007 con la pubblicazione del quarto episodio della serie di Call Of Duty, dopo aver ufficialmente annunciato Modern Warfare 3, rilascia qualche informazione in più sul videogioco in questione tramite il social network Twitter.

 Gli sviluppatori dicono che in Modern Warfare 3 sarà possibile fare “tante belle cose” grazie al suo engine grafico. Non sarà un motore costruito da zero, ma bensì potenziato probabilmente da quello di Modern Warfare 2.

Il titolo quindi, potrebbe subire diversi cambiamenti legati al gameplay; si vocifera infatti che nel nuovo FPS le mappe saranno più ampie e interattive, con elementi distruttibili, come ormai nella tradizione Battlefield.

Chissà cosa ci riserverà Infinity Ward; resterà attaccata al vecchio stampo vincente oppure cercherà di rinnovare una serie ormai giunta all’apice del successo?

Presentazione Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Slim e Samsung Galaxy S2 in diretta domani!

Come annunciato ieri nel blog Samsung, domani si terrà la conferenza stampa di presentazione del nuovo Samsung Galaxy S2 e dell’inedito Samsung Galaxy Tab Slim. Samsung ha infatti deciso di presentare insieme la nuova gamma Android top gamma di questo 2011. Due device estremamente diversi accomunati da un unica caratteristica: lo spessore ridottissimo. Sebbene infatti siano entrambi Dual Core, Galaxy S2 monta il chip Exynos mentre il Tablet monta l’ormai standard di piattaforma Honeycomb: il Tegra 2.

Come avvenne lo scorso anno per Galaxy S i9000, samsung presenterà i nuovi prodotti in diretta live video e attraverso il canale twitter si potrà interagire con la presentazione. Sarà Samsung Italia a presentare i prodotti e tutto sarà visibile sul sito www.samsungmobilelive.it.

L’evento inizierà alle 20:30 e sarà in Italiano. Appuntamento dunque a domani per tutti i dettagli su S2 e sul nuovo Tablet Samsung Slim!

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 priced at €606 by Amazon.de, joined by 10.1 model in a pre-order dance

The US already knows when Samsung will launch its updated Galaxy Tab models and for how much, but that picture hasn’t been quite as lucid over in Europe. Amazon.de is doing its best to dissipate the mists of unknowing by listing the 16GB Galaxy Tab 8.9 at a price of €606.50 ($852), whether you’re buying the version with a black or white back. That sounds a relatively steep price, but it’s not clear whether we’re talking about the WiFi-only or 3G-equipped model. Notably, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 option is also listed alongside its 8.9-inch brethren, but there’s no price attached to it yet. All we can really say for now is that the wheels are in motion and these Honeycomb tablets look to be on their way to the Euro market at about the same time as they’ll hit the American one. Égalité!

HP EliteBook 8460w, 8560w, and 8760w mobile workstations all go on sale

If Dell’s latest 17-inch powerhouse is too beastly for your next business trip, HP has begun selling its trio of new EliteBook mobile workstations, with screen sizes as small as 14 inches. In the case of both the 14-inch 8460w and the 15.6-inch 8560w, you get discrete graphics standard and can choose a $1,000 Core i7-2820QM processor, among less pricey options. (With the 15-inch iteration, you can also opt for a 1 billion-color DreamColor display.) Admittedly, you will have to step up to the 17-inch 8760w if you want a Core i7-2920XM CPU, AMD FirePro or NVIDIA Quadro graphics with up to 4GB of memory, and up to three hard drives with RAID 5 support. As promised, they’re going for $1,299, $1,239, and $1,899, respectively — in case your corporate card’s just begging for its next hit.

Dell XPS 15z review

For years, Dell’s been teasing supermodel-thin laptops, each one flawed out of the gate: too pricey, too underpowered, and with underwhelming battery life. This time, Dell told us we’d get something different: a laptop without compromise. Recently, Round Rock killed off the Adamo and nixed the XPS 14, and then rumors started to spin — a spiritual successor would be the slimmest 15.6-inch notebook we’d ever seen, be crafted from “special materials” and yet cost less than $1,000. Dell even stated that it would have an “innovative new form factor” of some sort.

The company neglected to mention it would look like a MacBook Pro.

This is the Dell XPS 15z, and we’re sorry to say it’s not a thin-and-light — it’s actually a few hairs thicker than a 15-inch MacBook Pro, wider, and at 5.54 pounds, it weighs practically the same. It is, however, constructed of aluminum and magnesium alloy and carries some pretty peppy silicon inside, and the base model really does ring up at $999. That’s a pretty low price to garner comparisons to Apple’s flagship, and yet here we are. Has Dell set a new bar for the notebook PC market? Find out after the break.

Dell XPS 15z available in Australia and Asia, fits Sandy Bridge in under an inch of thickness

The XPS 15z, true to Michael Dell’s word, is now with us. Provided “now” is May the 24th in whatever part of the world you happen to live in. Laptop shoppers in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan — a group of nations already enjoying the glories of Tuesday — can now buy the 0.97 inches-thick 15z for prices starting at just under A$1,400. That buys you a Core i5-2410M from Intel (2.3GHz default speed, 2.9GHz with Turbo Boost), a generous 6GB of DDR3 RAM, backlit keyboard, GeForce GT 525M graphics with 2GB of dedicated memory, a 750GB hard drive, and a 64WHr battery. The screen spans 15.6 inches diagonally and offers 1920 x 1080 resolution. Stepping up to A$1,700 gets you a Core i7-2620M (2.7GHz default, 3.4GHz TB) and 8GB of RAM. Juicy specs, we must admit. Now when’s midnight coming?

Ballmer: 'next generation of Windows systems' coming next year

The name “Windows 8″ may have been tossed around a lot as of late, but Steve Ballmer himself has only just now uttered the name for the first time in public at the company’s developer forum in Japan. What’s more, while he didn’t divulge a ton of specifics, he did say that the “next generation of Windows systems” will be coming out next year, and that “there’s a whole lot more coming,” including “slates, tablets, PCs, a variety of different form factors.” As ZDNet‘s Mary Jo Foley notes, the distinction between “slates” and “tablets” as two separate form factors is certainly an interesting one, as is the fact that he curiously didn’t use the name Windows 8 in connection with those next generation Windows systems. What does it all mean? Perhaps Microsoft’s Windows chief, Steven Sinofsky, will have more to say during his appearance at the D9 conference next week — Winrumors is reporting that he may even be set to demo the company’s Windows 8 Tablet UI. And, yes, you can count on us being there to bring it all to you live.

i3D app brings glasses-free 3D to iOS, tracks your gaze like a creepy portrait tracks Scooby Doo (video)

i3D is a new app that can create a glasses-free 3D display on iDevices, using a technology known as Head-Coupled Perspective (HCP). Developed by the folks from the Engineering Human-Computer Interaction (EHCI) Research Group, HCP uses a front facing camera to track the movements of a user’s head, allowing the app to adjust the display accordingly. The result is a monocular 3D screen that creates the illusion of looking into a box. If the concept sounds a little familiar, it could be because Google unveiled a similar headtracking feature for Ice Cream Sandwich during the opening keynote at this month’s I/O event. And by “similar” we mean “pretty much the exact same thing.” i3D is now available for free in the iTunes Store and runs on the iPad 2, iPhone 4 and fourth generation iPod Touch. You can compare both iOS and Ice Cream Sandwich 3D generators after the break (Google’s demo kicks off around the 16:50 mark).