Software-Programming

If you're one of the millions of iPhone users who've jailbroken their iPhones or iPod Touches--the desktop hacking trick that allows you to use non-Apple approved apps, access the iPhone's file system, and other tweaks--you'll want to hold off on the latest software update (3.1) that Apple announced Wednesday. Updating your iPhone or iPod Touch will break your jailbreak, meaning any services and apps you've installed via Cydia will be gone, as well as Cydia itself.

Mozilla is pushing out a new release of its flagship Firefox browser that fixes critical security vulnerabilities in the software and, for the first time, checks to see if the browser's Flash Player is up-to-date.

The Firefox 3.5.3 and 3.0.14 updates were released Wednesday, a day after Microsoft pushed out its monthly set of security patches.

The iPhone has long been far and away the most popular camera phone on photo-sharing site Flickr—these days it's very nearly the most popular camera, period. But while the Yahoo-owned service did offer a very slick iPhone-optimized Web interface for browsing photos, for many other features users had to turn to third-party applications like Connected Flow’s Darkslide.

Mozilla's next update for Firefox, slated to ship Tuesday, will check for outdated versions of Flash Player, a frequent target of hackers, the company said on Friday.

The move is the open-source browser maker's opening salvo against out-of-date, open-to-attack plug-ins from vendors like Apple, Adobe, Microsoft and Sun.

Users are able to get their hands on the latest Facebook 3.0 application for the iPhone a little early, directly from Apple via the AppStore. The application is believed to be in the final stages of approval, moving from Apple's approval review process to the AppStore.

The inner geek in all of us is constantly curious about what exactly is going on under the hood of our computer; the trusty ol' Task Manager is usually pretty good at letting us keep an eye on things. Sometimes, however, said inner geek needs a little bit more control over their not-always-well-oiled machine.

The Google Reader team posted a blog entry today with some results of a survey it conducted. The team wanted to know what an elite group of “Power Readers” were reading online - presumably using their Google Reader account - and so they asked them and have highlighted some suggested reading on the site.

It’s an interesting little post for those who are interested in these power readers and what interests them - but what struck me was the attempt that company made to bring get people interested in Google Reader again.

Free antivirus programs vary just as much as paid security programs do in the quality of their protection. And frugal computer users on the hunt for no-cost antivirus software--already faced with tons of options--will have even more to choose from when new free offerings from Microsoft and Panda join the programs currently available from Alwil (Avast), AVG, Avira, Comodo, and PC Tools.

Security vendor Trend Micro is looking to launch an anti-virus suite designed to keep computers running smoothly while still protecting them from malware.

The company said that Internet Security 2010 will reduce the footprint of anti-virus software, allowing systems to run faster and with fewer interruptions.

Firefox's extendibility is one of its great advantages, and there are thousands of plugins to choose from.

But having so much choice can be confusing, and it's often hard to tell which add-ons are worth installing and which are best left alone. So look no further - here's our 12 essential Firefox extensions. Download them now!