Fans of the popular open source browser Firefox will be happy to hear that the Mozilla team has started development of their mobile browser, Fennec, specifically for Android based tablets.

The aim of the team is to release Fennec, together with Firefox 8, and provide a TabletUI, working with Android tablets using Honeycomb (or higher). The work page already includes links to UI mockups, which we added below.

Firefox Fennec for Tablets - Honeycomb: Fullscreen browsing

Work is on-going and the crew hopes to be able to release the final UI early in the development cycle of Firefox 8, which is scheduled for this year.

Enjoy more mockup images after the jump. More →

QR codes have been around for more than a decade, but it is only now that they are gaining popularity in the United States. And now, more than ever, marketers are looking at the extensive possibilities that QR codes offer.

QR stands for Quick Response, and a QR code is another version of barcodes, so to speak. It is composed of black and white squares, and it serves as a repository of data in large amounts. You’ve probably seen QR codes – think of them as barcodes on something, steroids maybe. They are just a little larger and look slightly different from barcodes.

Much like you need a barcode reader to decode the data contained in a barcode, you need a QR scanning application to your smartphone, or any other similar device with a camera. You then need to scan the QR code, and it is up to the application to give you the data that the code contains. More →

In a new rather contradictive statement made by Apple it seems that the 1, Infinite Loop based company continues to lie to its user base. Or behave hypocritically at least.

Problem this time is the requirement of companies in the UK who want to reclaim the Value Added Tax (VAT) on applications purchased via the Appstore. But the Californian company states that applications purchased for the iPhone via its built-in Appstore are only for personal, non-commercial use, thus evading the need to supply VAT-receipts. More →

Apple announced today the long awaited Snow Leopard or Mac OS X.6 (Mac OS 10.6). The new operating system, which is more Mac OS 10.5 R2, will be available August 28th, for the interesting price of $29. If you live in the US.

If you live in the UK or in Continental Europe, screw you! As known from the great conversion rate has used for the Apple TV, the Jobsian devotes like to apply their own conversion rates and overcharge us Europeans. $229 converts to £195, today’s market converts to less than £140.
No exceptions are made for Snow Leopard:

• $29 converts to £25: today’s market value is less than £18. At today’s rate £25 is worth more than $41
• $29 converts to €29: today’s market value is less than €21. At today’s rate €29 is worth more than $41

As an Apple user with every new release I feel ripped off once more.

After the debacle around the by Microsoft sponsored internet browser security survey the Redmond company continues the smug and now publicly doubts the download numbers for the open source Firefox browser.

Senior Executive Any Barzdukas went as far as saying that the celebrated 1billion downloads “interesting maths” were. Barzdukas, who surprisingly is General Manager at MSFT in charge of the much loathed Internet Explorer, did not detail her claim but let some vague Marketing smug lose:

“As with any marketing statement, I’d encourage people to be somewhat sceptical about large number claims,” she said.

“It’s an interesting number and I have not seen the math [but] how many internet connected users are there? 1.1 billion, 1.5 billion, something in that area.”

The Executive further announced that the company will continue to support its Achilles heel, Internet Explorer 6 because users apparently are satisfied with the browser or not aware of the availability if newer versions for the browser.

“The reason that a consumer would still be on IE6 at this point is a lack of awareness or the ‘good enough’ problem,” she said. “If you’re satisfied with what you’re doing and you’re not particularly curious about new technology and don’t really care, upgrading sounds like a hassle. Part of our communication needs to be making clear that there are significant advantages to upgrading to a modern browser.”

Personally I would say that the main reason users still use the security flawed IE6 browser the, just as security flawed ActiveX script, applications are which are used on many internet and intranet websites which require IE6. Not the fact that users can not be bothered to upload. Many a system administrator MUST continue to block updates because companies will not make resources to upgrade large intranets, relying on since IE7 deprecated code.

Not so surprisingly, Firefox has since long surpassed the popularity of IE6 and continues to grow in popularity.

[Via]

901am has reported on a regular base about the shortcomings in the Microhoo era and we can now add one more to the list: PCWorld scooped that when searching on Bing for Why is Windows so expensive the new engine returns as first results Why are Macs so expensive.

Surprisingly this result comes from Yahoo Answers. Is the future of Bing a massive Yahoo! SEO campaign?

More →

In a guest post for Techcrunch the founder of MP3.com and MP3Tunes, Michael Robertson, declares the actual online music streaming climate death.

The music selling and radio business is increasingly being commoditized. Profits are being squeezed to the point of unsustainability. This spells pending doom for imeem, Pandora, Myspace Music, Slacker and the newest entrant Spotify unless there is an industry-upheaving royalty rate change.

After analyzing both the massively hyped Spotify and the under Best Buy rebooted Napster he mentions that most similar sites, such as Pandora and MySpace Music, so far have failed in making a paid subscription model a viable solution. Music streaming services world wide are living a hard time and UK-based, but CBS owned Last.fm also switched to a compulsory subscription for users outside of the US, UK and Germany because so far they have failed to monetize ads sufficiently in other pats of world.

These may seem dire times, but unless streaming platforms can become more global, it seems that they will struggle to sell ANY real advertising at all and if, the question is will it be sufficient to pay royalties and the rather high wages developers benefit in startups.

Read the complete TC entry here.

Logical Media is one of the innovative services that pay for ad placement within blogs. Do you have a blog and are you seeking a way to make additional money from the blog? Are you seeking a way to offset other programs with the use of ads? Through the registration with Logical Media, the blogger can have access to well-designed and functional ads, which are placed within the blog, earning the blogger money each time that a visitor to the blog decides to click on one of these ads.

As one of the top fifty affiliate networks in Website Magazine, Logical Media has reached a standard of customer service that many affiliate sites are simply unable to attain. Through the use of excellent placed ads, customer service and daily updates throughout the ads which are placed on the website, there are many reasons that you should consider Logical Media for marketing that can begin to earn you money from the moment you begin using the program.

With the added incentive that bloggers are equipped with, to earn twenty five dollars for signing up for the service, the blogger can begin to make money right away. With many other services, it seems that you are waiting weeks and even months for money to accrue within the account. However, with the instant twenty five dollars, just for signing up – you can begin to see an immediate profit!

With an easy to set-up and user-friendly interface, you can be up and running within a matter of minutes. Through the information which is provided and targeted keywords, ads will be developed that will be suited to your blog, your readers and your genre.

There are many other services which are offered to bloggers, in addition to the paid ad placement that can be taken advantage of throughout the blog. Through the use of valuable referral programs, in which the referrer can earn up to five percent through each referral and the real-time reports which the blogger will have access to, there are many ways that the blogger can learn to better the site – All while getting paid!

There are very few other paid ad placement companies that offer a high sign-up bonus. With the twenty five dollars that is offered to new customers you can begin to see your account move upward, through each click which is made on the ads placed within the blog. Are you seeking a program that enables you to track these movements in real time, while making real money? If this is the kind of program that you think would work for you, consider Logical Media, as the services offered are one of the many reasons more bloggers are choosing the company.

When it is time to get paid, bloggers always get paid on time, and the right amount. Through the use of intricate bookkeeping, bloggers are kept happy with accurate payments, regular payments and a variety of methods which are used to complete payments to bloggers that have signed up for the program. A reliable way to monetize your blog, more and more bloggers are choosing Logical Media.

Going for Glue

Would you believe that there is a website that was created for people who love books? Yes, even if it is largely believed that reading books has been phased-out because of the Internet, there are still groups of people who love to read books. These people can’t resist smelling the fresh printer’s ink as their hands flip through page after page of stories of love, betrayal, secrets and mystery. What the internet has given book lovers is a wider network for which to share good books and not-that-great books.

Getglue.com is Adaptive Blue’s newest add-on free browser. It is downloadable and will automatically appear on your toolbar (everything seems to be effortless at Glue) once you are done installing it. Each time you check out a book, read an excerpt, or focus on reviews about it, Glue instantly posts it, telling others that you are looking into something interesting. More →

The team behind The Pirate Bay have announced that they have sold the site to Global Gaming Factory. Rumours say the site is sold for €5.6m, half cash half stock in Global Gaming Factory. The Pirate Bay team will have a press conference in the next minutes.

TPB is being sold for a great bit underneath it’s value if the money would be the interesting part. It’s not. The interesting thing is that the right people with the right attitude and possibilities keep running the site.
As all of you know, there’s not been much news on the site for the past two-three years. It’s the same site essentially. On the internets, stuff dies if it doesn’t evolve. We don’t want that to happen.

We’ve been working on this project for many years. It’s time to invite more people into the project, in a way that is secure and safe for everybody. We need that, or the site will die. And letting TPB die is the last thing that is allowed to happen!

If the new owners will screw around with the site, nobody will keep using it. That’s the biggest insurance one can have that the site will be run in the way that we all want to. And – you can now not only share files but shares with people. Everybody can indeed be the owner of The Pirate Bay now. That’s awesome and will take the heat of us.

The old crew is still around in different ways. We will also not stop being active in the politics of the internets – quite the opposite. Now we’re fueling up for going into the next gear. TPB will have economical muscles to let people evolve it. It will team up with great technicians to evolve the protocols. And we, the people interested in more than just technology, will have the time to focus on that. It’s win-win-win.

The profits from the sale will go into a foundation that is going to help with projects about freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openess of the nets. I hope everybody will help out in that and realize that this is the best option for all. Don’t worry – be happy!

Global Gaming Factory also acquired Peerialism. Combining both platforms, GGF wants to establish itself as a major player in the digital content distribution sector.