web browsers

Another day, another privacy concern. This time (in basic terms), Google (and other companies) were able to bypass the iPhone and iPad's privacy settings in order to track which websites you visit on Safari. This isn't limited to Google sites — any site you visit is trackable.

Whether or not Google meant to track your browsing history is moot. They have since reworked the bypass and have stopped tracking web browsing on iDevices completely. But there are two very easy steps you can take in order to ensure that no one tracks your browsing history ever. Learn how below.

1. Head to your iPhone or iPad's General Settings. Scroll down to your Safari app, then find the area marked "Private Browsing." If it's not already, switch that to "On."
2. Then click on the "Accept Cookies" section and switch it to "Never."

These steps will ensure that Safari will not store browsing data, log-in details, or cookies.

Along with a slew of Kindle devices, Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos also unveiled a new browser made just for Amazon's Kindle Fire device called Silk. Amazon Silk is a new kind of browser, as it is split up into two parts — the browser you see on your tablet, and one part that lives in the cloud.

Amazon is able to drastically cut down load times on webpages thanks to this new technology. How many times have you been sitting and waiting for your tablet or phone to load a webpage and wished that you had a better connection or network? With Amazon Silk, you won't need a better network connection because Amazon's cloud servers are doing most of the heavy lifting — rendering and downloading images, for example — for your device. Jon Jenkins, Amazon's director of software development, puts it best:

"Think of your web browser as a small store for some of the commonly accessed files that you use to browse the web. What we've done is extend that using the Amazon computing cloud to create a virtually limitless cache that can store the common files such as images, javascript, and CSS, that are used to render the webpages you view every day. Because we've built this cache on top of the Amazon utility computing systems, it doesn't take a single byte of storage on the actual device itself. That provides a much better user experience."

Even crazier, the Amazon Silk browser analyzes aggregate user behaviors when browsing the web and can actually predict which webpage you might visit next and start downloading it before you even go there. Amazon used the example of The New York Times in its video, saying that if visitors to The New York Times homepage often visit the business section next, Silk will start downloading the page and optimizing it for your device before you actually need it.

Hear the developers talk about Silk in their own words in a demo video after the break.

You already know that I have a problem with browser tabs. They pretty much take over my life. Although I can try to organize my tabs by moving them horizontally along the browser bar, I still have to pan left and right to see them all. All of my tab mismanagement problems would go right out the window with this upcoming Firefox feature called Tab Candy. Built by a creative at Mozilla, Tab Candy is still in the early alpha stages of birth, but it looks quite promising to an all-day browser like me.

Tab Candy works because you can group your tabs together by content. Let's say you're searching for geeky party supplies. You've found a few items that you want to check out for later at various URLs, but you have to get back to work, and don't want to close the tab or add yet another bookmark to your already too-long list. Now, you'd have to leave your tabs open all day, but with Tab Candy, you could launch the feature with a little button on your browser, get a wide view of all your open tabs, then group them together by category (like in the image here) — say work, geeky party supplies, time wasters, etc. — without populating your entire browser bar. Want more details on how Tab Candy works? Check it out in action after the break.

I live in constant jealousy of my friends with Android phones over my favorite Android app — Google Goggles. In particular, the ability to scan barcodes and images for visual recognition is pretty impressive! Now, one of my favorite iPhone apps — Bing — has gotten a big update, and now features my most-lusted-after Google Goggles feature: barcode and image recognition of products. Also in the latest version are improved search functions including search results from your Twitter and Facebook networks, and business list and map view integration with search results.

And that's not all the Bing news for today — the web search at Bing.com just got new entertainment features, including the ability to search for Zune songs, artists, or lyrics, and listen to full song tracks for free. If you'd like to purchase a song, Bing offers one-click access to purchase from Zune.net, even if you aren't a Zune Pass subscriber.

As a compulsive tab-opener in Firefox, I'm always on the hunt for easy ways to organize my open tabs. While there are plenty of add-ons for managing tabs (Too Many Tabs and Colorful Tabs are two of my favorites), some days I just can't get them under control. I tend to work in multiple windows with multiple tabs, and if you do the same, this tip might come in handy. One of the easiest ways to organize windows in Firefox is to simply drag them around the screen.

You can change the order of the tabs simply by clicking on one and dragging it across the others. Look for a blue icon that shows which two tabs the chosen window will be moved between. You can use this to move a tab into its own window, too. Click and drag the tab off of the browser window or to the far side of your screen and the selected tab will now display in its own window. Conversely, if you find yourself working in too many windows, you can drag tabs from other open browser windows onto an existing window to create a new tab. Good news for you Chrome and Safari users — this tip will work for you as well!

Dealing with a faulty web browser that keeps crashing is like banging your head against a wall. You need it to surf the Internet, but you long to break free of all of its issues.

So if you've totally had it with your current browser (I'm talking about you, Firefox), but are afraid to separate due to your intricate organization of your bookmarks, don't be. You can export your bookmarks from whatever browser you're using now and install them on a new, fresh browser of your choosing. Best of all, you can do this in just three steps.

Find out how when you read more