Apple WebKit undergoes major overhaul to bring Chrome like per-tab processes, and more…

WebKit, the rendering engine used by both Chrome and Safari, is currently undergoing major redevelopment in order to support per-tab processes and out-of-process plug-ins by default. In one smooth move, Apple will be able to bring Chrome-like speed and security to its Safari browser.

 

This is more of an update than an upgrade. Basically, WebKit is being split into UI Processes and Web Processes. Each tab will become a UI Process, and presumably, so will add-ons and extensions. This change will bring the usual benefits of stability, security, and speed-ups from multi-core processors.

Gmail Labs adds nested labels, better message previewing

It's packed with slick additional functionality. Two new features have been made available that are definitely worth enabling:

 

 

• Message Sneak Peek
• Nested Labels

 

 

With Sneak Peek turned on, you can right-click a message in your inbox and a snapshot will appear above your inbox. The message remains unread, and you can page back and forth between other messages, archive, and delete from within the window.

 

Nested Labels is a dream come true for the organizational fiend. Set up new labels like so:

Home
Home/Bills
Home/Bills/Hush Money

...and your labels pane will display them in a hierarchical tree. You can then click the plus sign to expand and the minus sign to hide. It's an excellent way to get more labels placed into the limited amount of space provided by default.

iPhone 4.0 arrives, with multitasking, a game network, and more…

Apple's iPhone OS 4.0 announcement delivered plenty of features we expected, and some we didn't. It adds 100 new features in total, and they'll all be in users' pockets. Developers get 1500 new APIs that provide access to parts of the phone they've never been able to use before.

 

                  So, what's being added?

                  1. Multitasking

                  2. Folders

                  3. iBooks

                  4. iAd

                  5. Other new features

Out-of-process plug-ins landing soon in Firefox

Mozilla has been working on a little Chrome-style crash proofing through the use of out-of-process plug-ins. Doing so will mean that Firefox users too, can endure crashes by things like Flash Player, Adobe Reader, and Java, without their entire browser crash.

The change will arrive in the upcoming Firefox 3.6.4 update. The public beta announcement will be made in the next few days. By the beginning of next month the update should be available in-browser for existing Mozilla users.

Add-Ons Cause 70 Percent of IE8's Crashes

Microsoft whitepaper:

"Add-ons cause most browser crashes, accounting for over 70 percent of Internet Explorer 8's crashes. Slowdowns in Internet Explorer 8 are very often caused by add-ons-especially when you open a new browser window or tab."

 

A large segment of users don't pay attention to what's being installed on their computers. The end result: Every app they install ends up leaving on another clumsy piece of garbage code to Internet Explorer.
 

So there's more toolbar than browser -- and all those add-ons fighting for control over searches and trying to load "valuable" contextual data Causing IE Crash.