Apple has just released desktop Safari for Mac and Windows to 4.0.4, which improves full history search performance, has the mandatory stability improvements, and security fixes, but the big news as far as we’re concerned is the number one item on the list — Improved JavaScript performance

Desktop Safari is the big brother of the iPhone’s Mobile OS X Safari, and they share a rendering engine (WebKit), and a JavaScript engine (Nitro), and improvements in desktop Safari and Nitro have traditionally filtered down to Mobile Safari with the subsequent iPhone OS update. That’s right, we’re looking at you iPhone 3.2 (where ever you are!)

Since the current iPhone 3.1 Safari is still outperforming even brand-new devices like the Droid, that may seem a little greedy, but we know Google’s Android and Palm’s webOS aren’t sitting still in the rendering race, and have updates of their own in the pipeline, so once again, competition benefits the end users. Bring. It..

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Apple Updates Mac/Windows Safari to 4.0.4 — Raises Stakes in JavaScript Wars

More than 2 years post-iPhone launch, no news on Flash ever coming to the iPhone, yet Apple is pressing ahead with technologies like H.264 video (YouTube App’s been using it since day one), HTML 5 and CSS animation (iPhone Safari supported them first), HTTP Live Streaming, and now WebGL for hardware accelerated 3D-graphics, and TuneKit, the framework behind the new iTunes LP rich media content.

Read on to find out what they are, how they work, and why they might make plugins like Flash increasingly unnecessary…

Says developer blog Wolfire:

WebGL is basically an initiative to bring 3D graphics into web browsers natively, without having to download any plugins. This is achieved by adding a few things to HTML5, namely, defining a JavaScript binding to OpenGL ES 2.0 and letting you draw things into a 3D context of the canvas element.

This would bring 3D-gaming (or any 3D application) right into the browser with hardware acceleration, with no plugin like Flash needed to hog your memory, heat up your processor, or crash the browser. (Browsers can do all of those things well enough without the extra help). In addition to WebKit (which is the foundation of Apple’s Safari, Google’s Chrome, Palm’s Web, BlackBerry’s just-purchased Torch Mobile, and some Nokia devices), Firefox and Opera are also supporting it. Internet Explorer? Shrug.

TuneKit is the foundation behind iTunes 9’s new iTunes LP and iTunes Extras formats, according to AppleInsider:

Similar to Apple’s use of the SproutCore JavaScript framework to build its MobileMe web apps, TuneKit provides media developers with a familiar JavaScript framework for creating interactive bonus materials. TuneKit, like SproutCore, proves that a proprietary middleware runtime plugin such as Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight is simply unnecessary to deliver this kind of interactive media content, thanks in part to rapid advances in JavaScript rendering engine optimization.

Like TiPb, they couldn’t help but notice the 720p nature of the current iTunes LP and iTunes Extras formats seem destined for the Apple TV, and we’re keeping the oft-rumored iTablet on that list as well.

Adobe Flash on the other hand, still hasn’t produced an optimized version for Mac OS X, never mind iPhone OS X, according to Apple is the number one cause of browser crashes, continues to experience security threats (though Javascript is no angel here either), and is under increasing privacy scrutiny due to Flash cookies. (If you’ve never checked, here’s the page on Adobe’s site that shows which websites are storing information about you in the Flash plugin).

Since, at the end of the day, users don’t care about Flash or WebKit/browser technology, they just want their videos and games, things like WebGL and TuneKit could very well replace large amounts of Flash (and competing formats like SilverLight) on the web, especially the mobile web.

And personally I’m fine with that. A series of cutting edge, specific, highly optimized technologies are sometimes better than aging, overextended architectures anyway (feel free to insert iTunes jokes here).

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

WebGL and TuneKit, Not Flash, the Future for iPhone?

Desktop Safari, predecessor and big brother to the iPhone’s Mobile Safari web browser, has just received an update chock a block full of the usual security and compatibility fixed, and stability improvements. Mac users (and Windows users?!) can get it via Apple’s Software Update or directly from the web via Apple.com/safari.

Under the theory that where goes desktop Safari, so goes the iPhone and iPod touch’s Mobile Safari, it’s not hard to imagine any and all applicable fixes getting rolled into the iPhone 3.1 firmware which should ship by Apple’s next iTunes and iPod music event, typically held in September (and given the rapidity of exploit discovery, and the media-darling status of the iPhone, can’t come too soon).

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Updates Mac and Windows Safari Web Browser to 4.0.3

If you’re browsing the web on a PC, you can just hit CTRL-F or CMD-F and quickly find any text on a webpage. It’s great for finding things fast, especially on long reams of text, and Safari does a nice job of it — just not Mobile Safari on the iPhone, not yet.

Editor emeritus Mike Overbo brought something very similar to us two years ago (along with a ton of others — check that link!) when iPhone 1.x made bookmarklets all the rage. Since then, Apple has added a lot of functionality, but still hasn’t deigned to gift us with Find… on page. Rafael Cimatti (via App Advice) is keeping the handy Javascript bookmarklet alive via Cydia (though it works on any iPhone). It can’t fully replace a built in command, with next, back, etc. options, etc. but if it isn’t 100% right, it is 100% “right now”.

Here’s the bookmarklet: Find…

Either bookmark it on your desktop browser (drag it to the bookmark bar on desktop Safari) and sync it over, or on your iPhone copy the code after the break, bookmark a random page, edit it, change the name, and paste in the code (check the App Advice link above for step by step instructions).

And next time you’re on a page, hit the bookmark, type in your text, and find away!

Have an iPhone Pro Tip of you own to share? Send it in!

[via Daveizzle]

javascript:void%28s%3Dprompt%28%27Find%20text%3A%27%2C%27%27%29%29%3Bs%3D%27%28%27+s+%27%29%27%3Bx%3Dnew%20RegExp%28s%2C%27gi%27%29%3Brn%3DMath.floor%28Math.random%28%29*100%29%3Brid%3D%27z%27%20+%20rn%3Bb%20%3D%20document.body.innerHTML%3Bb%3Db.replace%28x%2C%27%3Cspan%20name%3D%27%20+%20rid%20+%20%27%20id%3D%27%20+%20rid%20+%20%27%20style%3D%5C%27color%3A%23000%3Bbackground-color%3Ayellow%3B%20font-weight%3Abold%3B%5C%27%3E%241%3C/span%3E%27%29%3Bvoid%28document.body.innerHTML%3Db%29%3Balert%28%27Found%20%27%20+%20document.getElementsByName%28rid%29.length%20+%20%27%20matches.%27%29%3Bwindow.scrollTo%280%2Cdocument.getElementsByName%28rid%29%5B0%5D.offsetTop%29%3B

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iPhone Pro Tips: Find Text in Safari with Javascript Bookmarklet

Google Blogs (via Gizmodo) has announced that the long-rumored Geo-Location based services in Mobile Safari are indeed included in iPhone 3.0 and being put to use in “My Location” searches by Google.com on the iPhone.

As of today, when you visit www.google.com from Safari on your iPhone 3.0, you can choose to turn on My Location by tapping on the link on the homepage. When you tap on the “update” link, your location will be updated and displayed right there on the homepage. Whenever you want to refresh your location, just tap the “update” link. Testing this in New York, my search for “jazz clubs” returned a handful of places within walking distance. I picked one, tapped the phone number, made a reservation, and we were set for the night.

As to privacy concerns, Google stresses the service is opt-in and can be turned off via the Preferences link at the bottom of the page. Also, it currently only works in English in the US and UK, though other languages and regions are said to be coming soon.

Good news for those looking for a local burger joint, bad news for those hoping Latitude wouldn’t be stuck in the browser…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 3.0: Location Aware Google Search via Safari

We’re going to kick off the Palm Pre vs. iPhone 3G S excitement with a simple browser smackdown.  The short version: the iPhone 3G S is faster in our video above, but the Pre is close and actually is edging out the iPhone after the just-applied 1.03 webOS update.  The part you actually should pay attention to is "time to content," i.e. how long it takes to load up the stuff you actually want to read as opposed to the javascripty-bits. Bottom line: speed-wise there’s a hair’s-breadth between the two browsers, it’s so close that you really ought not be making your purchase decision based on it — or bragging about it either way.

Feature-wise, we give the edge to the iPhone 3G S — they are on version 3.0 while the Pre is just getting started at 1.02 / 1.03.  The ability to pop up a link in a new browser window is quite nice — not to mention Autofill.  I myself prefer the Pre’s Card metaphor to the in-app tabs of Safari, but that ’s a matter of taste.

Stay tuned for more as we pit these devices against each other!

[cross-posted at PreCentral.net]

Update: As noted in the comments and in a raft of emails, you can open links in a new card on the Pre with Opt + Space + Tap.  It works, but Palm, really, Opt + Tap isn’t really doing anything here.  Just saying. Thanks everybody!

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TiPb Video: iPhone 3G S vs Palm Pre: Browser Speed Test

Two iPhones enter, only one can be left standing. Which one will it be? Well, both devices got the Nitro JavaScript rendering engine boost courtesy of iPhone 3.0, but the iPhone 3G S brought a little gun to this knife-fight in the form of double the RAM, a faster GPU, and a super souped up processor with higher clock speed and phat’er pipes. (Think 486 vs. Pentium on the desktop).

So let’s just load up our friends CrackBerry.com, PreCentral.net, theiPhoneblog.com HQ, and Steve Job’s perennial New York Times test page and see.

(No, not which will win — we already know the answer to that! — but by how much?!)

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TiPb iPhone 3G S vs. iPhone 3G Browser Speed Smackdown

Well, at least kill the need for Flash on the iPhone? Daring Fireball says a simple “yes” to Yahoo! Tech’s question.

The idea is that a standards based technology, open and broadly used, could make redundant proprietary and sometimes bloated and buggy plugins like Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and Sun JavaFX.

Apple’s Safari, including Mobile Safari on the iPhone, and Mozilla Firefox are already supporting HTML5 features. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer — so far — isn’t.

The article gives pros and cons for both sides of the debate. Since Apple is introduction the third generation of their iPhone software tomorrow, and still no Flash in sight, we likely have a good idea which way they’re leaning already…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Could HTML 5 Kill Flash on the iPhone?

Last week we posted on Google’s Latitude service coming to the iPhone by way of Safari. Of course, as Computerworld (via MacRumors) points out, for the location-tracking buddy service to work in the browser, the browser must support geo-location, and not just for Google.

According to BrowserSphere developers were told back in March that Safari would support the Geolocation JavaScript classes, which “work with the onboard location services to retrieve the current location of the device.”

So we guess IP addresses won’t be the only way for annoying web ads to try and localize us any more?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 3.0: Safari Geo-Location Not Just for Google’s Latitude

Daring Fireball has been looking into Google’s new Gmail WebApp for the iPhone and the technologies behind it. We already know the iPhone packs a version of Apple’s Safari Web Browser which is, in some ways, even more advanced than desktop Safari on the Mac. SQLite database caching, for example, for example users continue to archive or star messages even when there’s no internet connection. What’s more interesting to him, us — and likely users — is how that technology improves functionality.

Says Gruber:

I use the native iPhone Mail app to read email on my iPhone, but I’m tempted to start using the Gmail web app for one reason: I waste a lot of time switching back and forth between Mail and Safari after tapping a URL in an email. When using the Gmail web app, tapped links simply open in a new Safari tab. The iPhone Mail app needs a built-in web view, like what most popular iPhone Twitter clients offer.

Google’s Alex Nicolaou has blogged about the process.

We once wondered what the future of WebApps would be in a post-native apps world. Looks like Google expects — and is out to prove — things still look very bright.

Anyone else considering ditching the built-in mobile Mail app for some web-based Gmail?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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