Software-Programming

Java SE6 is set to receive what is being called "significant security patches."

The need for repair came after the US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team) warned that a number of vulnerabilities were in existence, allowing potential hackers to bypass authentication methods and execute arbitrary codes.

One flaw exposes Java's audio system; if left unpatched, online deviants could be given access to a computer system without authorization. Another exploit provides root access to a vulnerable machine.

Free and open source software is seeing steady adoption among small to large UK businesses, as they begin to take it to the heart of their organisations for key enterprise applications in a bid to lower IT costs.

Good enterprise-class open source support and services have also helped to drive adoption, as much as the fact that free and open source (FOSS) software products are continually maturing and improving both on the server and the desktop.

A new beta version of the Chrome browser offers an additional 30 percent performance enhancement over previous versions, Google said Wednesday. The new version of Chrome is only available to those who subscribe to the beta channel; stable releases are pushed out to Chrome users automatically, but at a later time.

According to Google, the new beta is 30 percent faster in both the V8 and SunSpider benchmarks, the company said in a blog post. In general, that means that the new beta will be substantially faster in executing JavaScript.

Blair MacIntyre imagines a world where tiny clouds of information -- Facebook statuses, business cards, Twitter posts -- float above all of our heads. n some ways, it's not that far from reality.

Advancements in mobile phone technology have cleared the way for a coming wave of "augmented reality" applications that merge the physical world with information compiled about people and places on the Internet.

Adobe has released an out-of-cycle patch for its Flash Player, AIR, Reader and Acrobat software, closing more than 10 vulnerabilities that potentially left users open to attack.

It closes a recent vulnerability in Flash that was highlighted by Symantec and actively exploited in the wild. It also fixes 11 other flaws, including three that fixed problems in vulnerable Microsoft code (its Active Template Library (ATL)).

Mozilla today patched Firefox 3.5 and Firefox 3.0 to quash three security vulnerabilities, including a pair unveiled last week at Black Hat, and a third Mozilla itself revealed last month.

Firefox 3.0.13, the update to the older browser that Mozilla will drop off the support list in January 2010, includes two bugs, while Firefox 3.5.2 fixes a separate flaw.

Research In Motion has released multiple tools and application programming interfaces that are aimed at making it easier for developers to create Web applications for BlackBerry smartphones.

The company released a BlackBerry plug-in for Eclipse, and this enables content creators to make programs in the familiar Eclipse 3.4 environment. Software makers can test and debug BlackBerry programs that use HTML, CSS, Ajax, Silverlight, Ruby on Rails, and other rich Internet applications.

Adobe updated its Flash software today to patch several security issues, including a vulnerability being exploited by attackers. Among the vulnerabilities being patched are flaws in Microsoft's Active Template Library, which was used by Adobe during its development process.

All together, the update fixes 12 vulnerabilities. The most critical among them is the memory corruption bug, which is believed to have been exploited by hackers since early July via specially-crafted PDF or SWF files. To exploit the vulnerability, attackers took to drive- by downloads on compromised sites.

Brace yourself for the vanishing menu bar because Mozilla has published an official feature list for Firefox 3.6 in the form of a guide for programmers who need to know about the changes.

The Firefox 3.6 developer guide mentions an ability to automatically hide the menu bar, a change that dovetails with sparer Firefox user interface designs that Mozilla has begun exploring for Firefox versions 3.7 and 4.0. That's important for plug-in developers and others who use the menu bar to control their add-ons.

Lunascape has just announced the latest release of their triple engine browser Lunascape 5.1.3 - In short, Lunascape is basically IE (Trident)?Firefox (Gecko)?Chrome?Safari (Webkit).

What this means is that you can have the best features, performance, and speed of Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari all in one browser. Gone are the days when you had to have IE open for specific 'Optimized for Internet Explorer' sites and Firefox or Safari running alongside it for everything else.

Lunascape is currently available for Windows only.