The Download Blog

Updated, June 17: The sandboxing of plug-ins, such as Flash, in Safari 4 will be limited to users running Mac OS X 10.6, which will be available this fall. The feature is currently not available, nor will it be available to Windows users. Windows users should also note that changing the default search provider is limited to either Google or Yahoo.

The public version of Safari 4 was released Monday amid all the iPhone noise at WWDC, and Apple confirmed what those who played around with the beta version already knew: Safari is now a serious browser for serious Windows users, and its position on Macs has been bolstered.

You can download Safari 4 for Windows and Mac from CNET Download.com.

If you're unfamiliar with Safari 4, I strongly recommend checking out Stephen Shankland's analysis of the Safari beta version that was released in January. The biggest overall changes are the graphics improvements, including the new interface and the new JavaScript engine called Nitro, but since the beta little else is dramatically different.

Users of Safari 3 will be hard-pressed to not notice that the interface is completely new, with a look and feel much more in line with the other major Webkit-based browser, Google Chrome. The browser launches with the menu bar, tab bar, and status bar all hidden, presenting you with the location bar, bookmark bar, and the slick Top Sites interface. Top Sites is essentially Opera's Speed Dial feature, presenting your most commonly visited Web sites, with a Cover Flow-style skin. The black background, curvature, and reflective window bottom make this the most professional-looking Web browser around. A blue star and an upturned corner indicate that a site has been updated since your last visit to it. Tap the Edit button in the bottom left corner to remove a site or pin a site permanently to Top Sites.

One major change to the interface from the beta involves tabs. In the beta, Apple experimented with a Chrome-style "tabs-on-top" that it has abandoned in the public release. The font for the tabs was often hard to read, and made Safari look excessively like Chrome. The new tab style now looks much like the old tab style.

Safari's visual speed dial is one of the new browser's best features--if your system is new enough.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Cover Flow is now available as a graphic way to browse your bookmarks and history, however, if you've got a somewhat older computer you still won't be able to use any of these graphics improvements.

Another new change for Mac users in Snow Leopard will be the sandboxing of browser crashes caused by plug-ins such as Flash and Shockwave. The page that they're on will continue to function, and you can reactivate the plug-in by reloading the page.

Safari 4 is also the first nonbeta browser to fully complete the Acid3 Web standards compliance test.

The URL bar does feature "smart" surfing, but only for including your history and bookmarks--much like Internet Explorer. Chrome and Firefox remain the only browsers to default to Google's "feeling lucky" style of searching from the location bar.

Cover Flow in Safari gives your Bookmarks and History a graphics lesson.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Apple's big claim with Safari is that it's the fastest browser on the market, and Apple just might be right on that count. On an Intel Core Duo T400 ThinkPad, with 3GB of RAM and a 2.53GHz processor, I ran both Webkit's SunSpider JavaScript test and Mozilla's Dromaeo test on Firefox 3.5 Preview, Google Chrome 2, and Safari 4. Safari came out on top in Dromaeo by a long shot, but Chrome eked by in SunSpider.

For the SunSpider test, Chrome hit 597.0 milliseconds, while Safari scored 620.4 ms and Firefox comparatively chugged along at 952.2 ms. On Dromaeo, Safari reached 175.06 runs per second, Chrome managed 67.92 runs/s, and Firefox came in last again at 48.48 runs/s. However, Chrome only led in two categories, and it tied both with Safari. Safari definitively led in 36 tests, and Firefox led in 12.

Keeping in mind that although these tests are affected by background computer processes, your hardware, and other factors, Safari is definitely one of the fastest browsers out there. However, it still lacks extensions, and for many Firefox users that's enough to keep them from switching. Even Internet Explorer supports some form of extensibility with its Web Slices and Accelerators.

Like many other browsers, Safari's location bar offers suggested sites.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Safari is still a RAM-devouring beast, too. With two tabs open, one to Dromaeo and one to SunSpider, it was using a shocking amount of RAM--more than 500MB after running both tests. Google Chrome consumed about 75MB of RAM across the same two sites under the same circumstances, while Firefox required 120MB.

With about 8.5 percent of the browser market, it's clear that Apple is positioning Safari as more than a developer's tool on Windows, and that its successes at building a faster JavaScript engine should be taken seriously even with its other drawbacks.

Photos: Snow Leopard at WWDC

Editor's note: This review has been updated from its original to include source information.

Among the news and announcements at the WWDC Keynote this morning, Apple previewed the next iteration of Mac OS X Leopard. Snow Leopard, as Mac OS X 10.6 is known, appears to pack a lot of new features and is slated for release in September, though no hard dates were announced during the Keynote.

The goal of Snow Leopard, according to Apple, was not to reinvent Mac OS X, but to refine, simplify, and speed up the overall experience. They were careful to point out Snow Leopard is not a complete OS replacement, but an expanded update to the current system. During the first public preview of the latest version of Mac OS X 10.6 this morning, we got to check out some of the changes Apple proposes will make the system faster and easier to use.

During the Keynote, Apple's Bertrand Serlet outlined a few of the major new features in Snow Leopard. For coverage of Safari 4 and QuickTime 10 features, read this blog post from Seth Rosenblatt.

In addition to QuickTime and Safari improvements, Serlet hit upon several planned enhancements to the latest Mac OS X. Apple claims they have managed to decrease the install time of the operating system by 45 percent. If this turns out to be the case, the OS will take up six fewer GB than before, which might mean a significant storage boost for current Leopard users. It's difficult to determine if this will be true for everyone--people run different configurations on several different Mac models, making it difficult to nail down exact numbers. Any decrease in system bloat is certainly a good thing if Apple can pull it off.

According to Apple, changes to Leopard are mostly small refinements that make it easier to use. We already liked the convenience of Expose to quickly find what we're working on when there are a lot of windows open on the desktop. But with Snow Leopard, an interface enhancement would let you click and hold on a Dock icon to bring up all the windows associated with the application. Apple also demonstrated the ability to drag an item from one program, use Dock access to Expose, and move files where you want them--like grabbing an image to send in an e-mail, for example. Usability refinements like these are small, but might make using a Mac a more seamless experience.

Long-awaited support for Microsoft Exchange makes it easy to create meetings, use global contacts, and more.

(Credit: Apple, Inc.)

We were happy to see that Stacks is slated see an upgrade, including the ability to open and explore folders within the stacks window--the current version opened the Finder when a folder was clicked. The possibility of an added scrollbar to Stacks will be a very welcome addition. With the current version of Leopard, there is a limit to how many programs will fit in the Stacks window, forcing you to go to the finder if you don't see your program. During this part of the presentation, Serlet also showed how Snow Leopard will be able to preview images, videos, and PowerPoint presentations, even if you don't have PowerPoint installed on your Mac.

Support for Microsoft Exchange is a feature many users have been waiting for (for far too long), and with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Exchange support may finally become available. During the demonstration, Apple showed how you will be able to add an account to Mail, choose Exchange, and your Mac will autodetect Exchange information from your address book, or you can enter the information manually. From there, Apple says you will be able to use Exchange's global list of addresses and drag and drop contacts into iCal to easily schedule meetings. They also demonstrated smart technology surrounding meeting locations enabling your Mac to discover time conflicts and change the meeting time and location to work for everyone. These features look great, but we wonder whether Apple plans will line up with reality when Snow Leopard is actually released.

With Snow Leopard, Apple claims they have made all of the Mac's core applications take advantage of the 64-bit architecture. This could mean faster applications, faster loading times, and smoother overall performance. Snow Leopard also should add support for most hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL), which would let any application tap into the GPU computing power previously available only to graphics applications. Apple says they have improved threading across multiple processors using what they call a grand central dispatch to control threads. These tweaks might help improve overall performance, but we'll have to wait for Snow Leopard's release before we can judge the efficiency and speed of these refinements.

With Snow Leopard being more of a service pack than a complete system upgrade, it seems Apple has priced it accordingly, letting current Leopard users pay $29 to upgrade. The family pack, which allows you to install the new OS on five computers in your home, will cost $49. Though Apple didn't announce a specific date for release, we already had some idea it would launch in September. Maybe the improvements will be enough for people to pay out of pocket for this patch-like upgrade.

Correction: QuickTime 10 is likely to be released with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard in the fall, and won't be updated Monday.

At WWDC Monday morning, Apple's Bertrand Serlet came out with guns blazing, not just in support of Snow Leopard, but of Safari and QuickTime, too. Announcing that Safari 4 would leave beta later Monday and that QuickTime would receive a massive overhaul, Serlet introduced new features while taking swipes at both Microsoft and Mozilla.

Safari 4 can be downloaded from CNET Download.com for Windows and Mac.

Safari 4 shipping today.

(Credit: (Credit: James Martin/CNET))

The senior vice president of OS X software said that QuickTime 10 is now "super efficient" and will support HTTP streaming based on h.264 and AAC, a feature that many competing programs have long offered. The new QuickTime will automatically adjust the playback bit rate, and it will be able to stream through firewalls.

In addition to receiving a major version jump from v7 to v10, the interface has also received a complete refresh. Onscreen controls will disappear when playing back video. The QuickTime "Q" logo will also see a slight redo, changing from its familiar blue to a silver and purple.

Safari 4's Nitro will be the fastest JavaScript engine of any browser on the market, Serlet said. Without describing what kind of benchmarks he was using, he showed a chart indicating that Chrome 2 is 5.3 times faster than Internet Explorer 8, but that Safari 4 is 7.8 times faster. Safari 4 also loads JavaScript three times faster than Safari on the iPhone, Serlet said. HTML 5 audio and video tags will be support in Safari 4, too.

Microsoft was not the only target for Serlet. "The number one cause of crashes," he said, "is browser plug-ins." Mozilla Firefox is the best-known extensible browser, and one new feature in Safari 4 is designed to address the instability that some plug-ins can bring to browsers. Crashes in Safari 4 that are caused by a plug-in will cause only the plug-in to fail. Refresh the page, Serlet said, and the plug-in will reload. "All you need to do is reload that page and that's it. You haven't missed a beat."

I'll be running hands-on tests on Safari and QuickTime later today when they're made available to the public. The update to QuickTime in particular is somewhat surprising, given that Apple had been resistant for years to make any dramatic overhauls to its movie player. If the company can improve its performance, then we may be looking at a heated battle in the video playback market in addition to Web browsers.

(Credit: CNET)

As we gear up for the WWDC here in San Francisco, the rumors are flying as usual about what we might see during the keynote on Monday morning. Some people say Apple will announce new iPhones, others say we will get a precise release date for Mac OS X Snow Leopard. One thing is likely: We will probably all have the ability to download iPhone OS 3.0 sometime next week. I'm crossing my fingers.

I'll be at the keynote speech to witness the excitement and find out as much as I can about Mac OS X Snow Leopard. But as an iPhone owner, I also plan on walking the show floor and attending various launch events to see what's in store for iPhone applications. Check back here at CNET on Monday afternoon and the rest of the week for news, videos, and slideshows of all the new stuff from WWDC.

This week's apps include a program to help you get in shape, and a simple retro arcade game that's perfect for killing time.

Choose which part of your body you want to develop to see exercises and photos

(Credit: CNET)

iFitness ($1.99) offers an easy-to-navigate interface to help you be more productive during your workouts. Icons across the bottom of iFitness are organized into categories including exercise listings, My Workouts, Routines, Logs, and Extras. The exercise listings are organized by which area of your body you want to work on and offer photos of each exercise so you know exactly what to do. If you want to build up a certain part of your body or have a specific goal in mind (weight loss or strength building, for example) the Routines section offers several groups of exercises you can perform to focus on your goals. The log section allows you to record your workouts so you can track which types of exercises you do on different days making it possible to plan a complete workout regimen.

What makes this app particularly useful are the actual photographs and step-by-step descriptions for each exercise. In addition to widening the scope of your workouts, the pictures and descriptions of exercises make it possible to try new workout methods safely. Once you've found a weekly routine you like (however many times you go per week) you can save your routine in the My Routines section so it's easy to get started immediately when you get to the gym. iFitness also offers some extras including a calculator for Body Mass Index (BMI) and a weight monitor to track how much you lose.

Like old arcade games, the longer you stay alive the harder it gets

(Credit: CNET)

PewPew (Free) is a challenging 2D retro arcade shooter with only one goal: get the highest score possible. There are two game types, including Dodge This, which challenges you to collect as many boxes as you can while more enemies populate the screen; and Assault, which is a standard shooter that gets more difficult as you play. According to the developer, more game types are on the way, but as a free download, it's hard to complain when the games offered are already a lot of fun.

The controls are onscreen virtual joysticks like those found in more and more iPhone games. Though the game is not as deep as other games in the genre, the two game types provide plenty of action for a free pick-up-and-play experience. When you're done playing a game, you can watch a replay in 3D even though actual gameplay is not in 3D. Overall, if you liked those difficult arcade games of the 80s, this simple retro shooter is right up your alley, with more game modes and online high scores (according to the developer) to come in later updates.

What's your favorite iPhone app? Do you have a fitness app that's better than iFitness? What's your 2D arcade game of choice? Let me know in the comments so I can check them out!

The iPhone's new MobileMe.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET News.com)

At the WWDC on Monday, Apple announced the next evolution of its .Mac service, MobileMe. A cloud storage solution that handles e-mail, calendar items, contacts, photos, and other documents, it will arguably compete with Microsoft's Live Mesh, as well as several other data synchronization start-ups like SugarSync (download).

MobileMe will replace Apple's consumer Web site service, .Mac, and adds to that service additional storage (.Mac's 10GB gos to MobileMe's 20GB), plus support for the new iPhone and for Windows PCs.

The big pitch for the new service is its synchronization capabilities. E-mail to your MobileMe account will be pushed to your phone. Photos you take on your phone can be automatically uploaded to your Web-based MobileMe account and shared with your friends.

The concept is that the iPhone becomes just one way to view your data and your community. If you're in front of a full-screen Web browser or sitting at your Mac or Windows desktop, you might prefer to use one of those larger interfaces instead, but with MobileMe, everything you do will be updated to your iPhone immediately.

The service is being pitched as "Exchange for the rest of us," referencing Microsoft's corporate e-mail solution that offers excellent shared calendar features and e-mail and contact sync across devices and the Web. These are features everyone deserves, and Microsoft has been late, to say the least, at offering this kind of service to consumers.

There's no indication that MobileMe will be open to developers, although we assume not. It was launched at Apple's developers' conference and if it were open we would have heard it there.

Apple's current .Mac accounts will upgraded to MobileMe automatically when the service becomes available in July. A 60-day free trial will be available. The service will cost $99 a year after that from Apple. It looks like you can sign up for .Mac on Amazon.com right now for $69, though, and get the auto-upgrade in a month. Might be worth a shot if you want to save $30.

Update: Apple has posted a Guided Tour of MobileMe.

Apple iPhone open to Web 2.0 and AJAX applications

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Steve Jobs's final "One Last Thing" announcement at the WWDC keynote today had to do with the iPhone. Instead of announcing a third-party developer kit like many thought he would, he encouraged the use of Web 2.0 and AJAX applications to be run entirely from the Safari browser (Which coincides nicely with the other announcement of a Windows version of Safari). Apple even demonstrated something called Apple Directory, a Safari Web application that lets you look up business contact cards. There's also a Google application that pulls up map and satellite imagery when a street address is tapped. The upside to this is that developers can start developing mobile applications for the iPhone right away, and security won't be as much of an issue. But we can't help but wonder if the reliance on Web applications may be a little bit of a handicap, especially since the current incarnation of the iPhone is capped out at EDGE speeds and Web access isn't always available everywhere. Still, this is great news for the Web 2.0 community, and at least developers have a little something to play around with before the iPhone launch on June 29.

Update: We were informed by a few readers that one might not need a constant Internet connection to use these so-called web apps. They may be developed much like web apps, but they would be stored locally on the iPhone while using the Safari browser as a runtime environment. Definitely interesting, and we'll keep you posted on anything else we learn about this.

The iPhone lets you surf actual Web pages.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

If you read any of the Mac news sites, you probably already know the official release date for the iPhone is June 29. With the release only three weeks away, Apple has been ramping up the hype with three new commercials showing more of the iPhone's features.

I have to admit, for my part, the hype is doing its job. The latest group of ads show off the versatility of the iPhone using a number of its features together. My favorite is the one entitled "Watered Down." In this ad, you get a brief look into what it's like to surf the Internet using Safari on the iPhone. The point of the ad is to show how the iPhone doesn't give you a watered-down version of the Internet like other devices; you get to browse actual Web pages, zooming in on the stories you want to read. Like all the iPhone ads, at the end we're delivered back to reality with an incoming call--lest we forget, it's still a phone.... Read more