It's been a busy week at Download Squad HQ. We've been busy covering the releases of several new web browsers, updates to several operating systems, and we've been continuing our never-ending quest to find as many ways as humanly possible to waste time while using a computer.

We're also expanding the Squad a bit. You may notice posts from some new bloggers over the next few days. Feel free to say hi, and please don't haze them. You know, unless you really have to.

And without further ado, here's a list of some our favorite stories from the past week:

• Firefox 3 is pretty much ready
  After years of working, testing, and tweaking, Mozilla plans to officially launch Firefox 3 on June 17th. This week saw the release of Firefox 3 RC3, which is basically identical to Firefox 3 RC2 if you're using Windows or Linux, but the latest version fixed a critical bug on Mac systems.
• Mozilla shows off Firefox mobile interface concept video
  But it's not all about desktop browsers over at Mozilla HQ. The developers of Firefox are also hard at work on a project to craft a mobile version of Firefox that will run on cellphones. The company unveiled a concept user interface this week that might make its way into the final release. Or it might not.
• Microsoft TownSquare: A social network for business communications
  Microsoft may own a stake in Facebook, but it looks like the company's not putting all of its social networking chickens in one basket. Microsoft is also working on a social network for internal use by businesses who want to faciliate communication and collaboration among employees.
• TidalTV: Web video doesn't get much more TV-like
  Tired of internet video looking more like video stuck on a web page than TV? TidalTV is a new video site that looks almost exactly like an interactive program guide from a cable or satellite network. And it features a combination of live video streams and on-demand programs from several networks including HGTV, National Geographic, and CBS.
• Viewzi visual search engine gives you a dozen ways to search
  Ever find yourself staring at Google Images wondering why it's so hard to find images? Viewzi can help. This highly customizable search engine lets you flip through images about a dozen different ways, and tries to predict which views will be the most helpful depending on your search terms. It's a bit overwhelming, but also extraordinarily cool.
• Opera desktop browser 9.5 is final - Take your stuff with you
  Mozilla's not the only company with a new web browser to promote. Opera 9.5 went gold this week, and the latest version of the browser is faster than ever, has a nifty new skin, and has a new Opera Link service that lets you sync your settings across browsers on multiple machines.
• HotPads shows real estate rents, foreclosure rates, and demographics heat maps
  HotPads is a real estate search engine with more eye andy than you can shake a stick at. Not that you typically shake sticks at real estate search engines. But HotPads lets you search by location, price, and number of bedrooms like any other real estate listing site. But HotPads also shows you heatmaps with information like the average rent, foreclosure rates, age, or income levels in a given area.
• Parallels for Mac hits 1,000,000 users
  No matter how much you love your Mac, the truth of the matter is that there are still some programs that are Windows only. So it's probably not surprising that Parallels, a program that lets you run Windows on a Mac without rebooting is so popular. Whether you use it on a daily basis or just on the rare occasion when you really want to fire up MS Paint, we're betting there's a decent chance you've got Parallels or another virtualization program if you've got a Mac.

Parallels for Mac, the crazily popular utility for Mac users to run Windows on their Apple computers in...a window has said the product's user base has hit 1,000,000 users.

That's a really nice pace for a piece of software not blessed by Mr. Jobs himself we'd say.

Right now the company's running a special where you can get 2 copies for $129. Kind of cool if you have multiple Macs around the house like a lot of you do.

Our question is this though:

Do a lot of people get Parallels and run Windows because they want to, or because they have to? Do people secretly love Windows XP (or egads Vista) but want to feel like a cool kid by having a shiny sexy Apple product?

Tell us what you think in the comments, if you're one of the 1,000,000 users of Parallels, why do you run Windows at all anymore?

Yesterda we showed you how to install Windows XP in a virtual machine using Ubuntu Linux and VirtualBox. But Virtual Box ain't the only game in town when it comes to virtualization software for Linux. If you go to to the add/remove applications window in Ubuntu and click on the third party applications option, you'll see that VMWare Player is available. And starting this week, you can also download and install Parallels Workstation for Linux.

Parallels is probably best known for making virtualization software for OS X that enables Mac users to run Windows without rebooting. Unlike VirtualBox and the VMWare Player, Parellels charges $50 for a licensed copy of its Workstation software. But there's a 15 day free trial, so you can try the software out of a while before deciding whether its worth the asking price.

Of course, VirtualBox and VMWare Player are both pretty easy to use and work quite well, which leads us to wonder why anyone would pay for virtualization software for Linux that doesn't appear to offer any advanced features at the moment? We're not morally opposed to companies releasing commercial software for Linux, and we even think it's great that you can find commercial software using the add/remove applications window. But if you're going to charge for an application designed to run on Linux, you should really make sure it offers some benefits that you can't already get from free and open source software.

Virtual machines have been around for years, but it's only been in the last couple of years that performance on them has become good for regular and productive use. When Apple made their big switch to Intel processors, an upstart company named Parallels came along and did what seemed at the time to be the unthinkable: they created a virtual machine environment in OS X that allowed users to run Windows at virtually full speed.

Of course, veteran virtual machine company VMWare apparently took notice, and although they were later to the Mac virtual machine game, they arrived with years of experience behind them. Today, it's a toss-up as to who has the better product - and that's great for consumers. We're in the position of being able to watch a horse race between two very capable and competitive companies, and that means that performance and features are going to continue increasing at a rapid pace on both platforms.

VMWare has recently upped the ante with the release of VMWare Fusion 1.1, their aforementioned Mac virtual machine platform. As reported by our sister site TUAW, the new version of Fusion comes with Leopard support, experimental DirectX 9.0 support, full Vista and XP support, a beta version of VMWare importer, and overall improvements to speed and performance.

Parallels, it's your move.

If it weren't for Parallels Desktop, the virtualization product for Intel Macs that lets you run Windows alongside Mac OS X, many working Mac professionals would be forced to carry two laptops. So it's good news that the Mac's most popular method of running Windows within OS X (the other, less effective, method is VMWare) recently sprouted a few really useful enhancements:

• Parallels' Coherence feature, which lets you use Windows application windows within OS X instead of in a Windows "box", now supports Expose, OS X's zoomed-out, view-all-windows mode.
• Macintosh folders can now be mapped to Windows/DOS drive letters to cut down on navigating (before you had to create a network place).
• Virtual Machine hard disk images can now be mounted to the Mac OS X desktop.
  
• Windows windows now have OS X drop shadows in Coherence mode.
• The iPhone can be synchronized with the Windows virtual machine.

If you're running the latest version of Parallels on your Mac (version 3.0, build 4560), you might have noticed that when your Windows virtual machine is running, your Mac's CPU is almost exactly 50% utilized even when Windows is idle. If you're on a MacBook or MacBook Pro, you'll notice this pretty quickly since your fan will be running basically non-stop.

So, what's the culprit? Strangely, based on this forum thread it appears to be iTuneshelper.exe, a background process that is installed with the latest version of iTunes (7.3.1.3). You probably only have iTunes because you wanted Quicktime on your Windows instance. Most people running Windows as a virtual machine on a Mac have no need for iTunes' ability to connect to an iPod, since iTunes will be available on the host OS X operating system for this purpose.

In that case, you can use the System Configuration Utility in Windows XP (click Start, Run, then type "msconfig" and press enter) to turn off the Apple Mobile Device and iPod Service under the Services tab by unchecking them. Apply and close out of MSConfig.

The next time you boot up, you will get a warning message that you are running in Diagnostic mode. Check off the box on this dialog to make your change permanent (you can always go back in to MSConfig and recheck the boxes if you need to).
Interestingly, this tweak may only bring Parallels' CPU utilization down to around 20%. That's much better, but a far cry from the 4 to 6% used by the previous version. Clearly the celebrated utility has taken a step backwards performance-wise, but nobody can argue with the convenience of being able to run Windows on your Mac at the same time.

[Updated July 8, 2007] The post containing the videos has mysteriously been pulled, and there appears to be no explanation. Commenter Au Yong Chee Meng points us to Google's cache of the post, however the videos are not working there either. Attempting to view them at YouTube shows that the videos have been made private, so it appears Parallels really doesn't want these to be available any longer.

Running Windows on a Mac is no longer a difficult thing to do; technology like what Parallels and VMWare now offer makes the experience virtually seamless.

Parallels has decided to take advantage of Apple's well-known and long running "I'm a Mac" commercials by creating their own versions, but in their versions Mac and PC end up getting a long. They're well produced and certainly worth a chuckle or two, but they're probably most interesting in that they are probably more true than the originals. While Windows and Mac users alike get a kick out of making fun of PC, the truth is that both operating systems are useful, and it's extremely useful to be able to use them at the same time, on the same machine.

Kudos to Parallels for making some fun at nobody's expense; everybody wins.

While Steve Jobs has been busy dropping "computer" from Apple's name and pushing out iPod after iPod, the company is still probably best known by loyal fans as a computer maker.

Unlike Windows PCs, Apple controls the hardware and software that goes onto every Macintosh, meaning they have a reputation for working the instant you plug them in. No struggling to make all the parts play nice together.

But while Macs have a loyal fan base, it's still a PC world, and there's plenty of software out there that just won't run on a Mac.

Today we speak with Download Squad's Jason Clarke and Lisa Hoover about their recent decisions to become full time Mac users. Both are experienced Windows users who have switched to Mac for one reason or another. We wanted to find out why, and to share their wisdom with you.

Parallels Desktop 3.0 is due out in a few weeks, with over 50 new features. But some features are cooler than others, so here are a few of the good ones:

• 3D graphics - play Windows OpenGL and DirectX games on a Mac without shutting down OS X
• SmartSelect - set file types to open with your preferred applications on any platform
• Snapshot - back up or restore your virtual machine

A full copy of Parallels Desktop 3.0 will set you back $80, but current users can upgrade for $50. If you preorder, you can save a few bucks get get your upgrade for $40.

[via tuaw]

VMware's desktop virtualization application for Mac OS X, codename Fusion (seriously, what isn't Fusion these days?), has hit Beta 2 and with it a handful of new features to boast: experimental 3D acceleration for Windows XP SP2 & DirectX 8.1, Vista support, improved networking, 64-bit OS support on Core 2 Duo Macs, and a slew of other improvements.

Having tested the first beta release, I can indeed say that this update is much faster and more stable. I don't know if I would give up Parallels for it, but the two are a close match. In fact, it almost seems like VMware Fusion is less processor intensive on my Core Duo iMac than Parallels is, but without any formal testing I'm just going to chalk that up to first impressions. Like Parallels, it allows custom screen resolutions for your Windows virtual machine after you install the VMware Tools, and also has drag-and-drop copying from Mac OS X to Windows, both cool features that I certainly appreciate. If you are interested in testing it out, you can sign-up and download VMware Fusion Beta 2 for free.

Parallels Desktop for Mac is officially out, and it looks a lot like the beta release we told you about a few weeks ago. Parallels, for the uninitiated, is software that lets you install multiple operating systems on a Mac, and lets you launch an operating system from inside of Mac OS X without needing to reboot the computer, like you would with Boot Camp.

Here's some of the updates in the newest version:

• Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard host support
• Windows Vista guest OS support
• Ability to launch Windows applications on the Mac desktop and launch them from Dock
• Drag and drop

There's a 15-day free trial available. The full version will set you back $80 plus whatever it cost to get your hands on the guest operating system you're installing.

[via Infinite Loop]

First, let me start with the full disclaimer: I develop Windows .NET application by day (and by night too for ecto) and use Mac OS X at home for everything else. Before getting my Mac Pro last December I used to work on ecto using a second Windows machine, but since then I have been using Visual Studio 2005 in an XP virtual machine using Parallels.

Whether you love or hate Microsoft, you have to give them credit for popularising programming on Windows. While I was a junior programmer fresh out of college learning C++ and working on train control software, truckloads of CS/Engineering graduates were learning to program in Visual Basic. Whatever faults VB has, the way it allows even beginner or causal programmers to learn the craft and produce quick and dirty applications means that programming for Windows was no longer the eminent domain of the traditional CS/Engineering graduates, where FORTRAN and C/C++ rules. Microsoft continues this trend with C#/VB.NET and the .NET Framework, providing a lot of built-in functionality that used to require hand-crafted code or expensive third-party libraries, freeing up developers' time to concentrate on problem solving instead of mechanics.

With OS X, Apple began with Objective-C and Java as the programming languages of choice but ever since version OS X 10.3 Java had been put onto the back burner and is expected to be phased out eventually. Unfortunately, making Objective-C the sole language of the platform also makes it difficult and 'expensive' for Windows programmers, such as yours truly, to join the party. The difference in syntax (despite the 'C' in the name it does not have much resemblance to C or C++), difference in framework and API, difference in IDE philosophy, and the lack of refactoring tools (ReSharper, CodeRush, etc.) and unit testing tools (NUnit, JUnit, etc.) mean that some of the more open-minded programmers (mostly Java and .NET) will not take an active interest in Apple software development.

The upcoming Xcode 3 looks like it would make a big step in closing the gap, but the IDE still lacks the tools mentioned above to attract the time-constrained, less hard core developers from the Windows side of the world. The dark horse may be the combination of Eclipse IDE and Mono project. The Eclipse IDE is mature and has a flexible plug-in architecture so refactoring and unit testing tools can be integrated into the IDE by third party developers. Meanwhile the Mono project has been making lots of progress as far as compatibility with Microsoft's implementation is concerned. And the ability to take code written in Windows and runs it in Linux or OS X (with some limitation, of course) will appeal to Windows developers, at least as a starting point.

In fact, Eclipse/Mono may actually achieve what Sun tried to do with Java all those years ago. Remember 'Write once, run anywhere'?

For those who have tried out or even purchased Parallels, odds are the first virtual machine you created was for Windows XP. I'm also willing to bet that you underestimated how large to create your virtual hard disk. If that's the case, then that clever chap Dan over at UNEASYsilence has put together an über-handy how-to on making some more elbow room for yourself.

Using a combination of the Parallels Image Tool and the GParted LiveCD you can, with little effort, add as much or as little space that you like to your Windows XP virtual hard disk. And since it's all virtual, you can test it out by making a 'backup' copy of your existing virtual hard disk just in case you run into trouble. (While you're over there, make sure to check out ToasterClone as well!)

There's no question that Parallels is an amazing piece of software, letting you run Windows on a Mac OS X machine. The latest version of the software even lets you drag and drop files between Windows and OS X installations.

But so far all this virtualization fun has only worked one way. You could purchase a copy of Parallels, and a copy of Windows, and install the whole thing on your Mac box. If you want to run OS X on that cheap PC you picked up at the store, you've been out of luck.

But CNN is reporting that an upcoming version will be designed in such a way "that by coincidence will make it easier to run Mac OS on a non-Apple computer." Apparently that wasn't so much the development goal as a side-effect of the way the software's designed and the fact that Intel has built virtualization into its latest chips.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Mac virtualization on a PC will be Apple-approved anytime soon. But if Parallels shows that there's user demand, I don't see why Apple wouldn't release an install CD optimized for non-Mac machines at some point.

[via Engadget]

For those of you who have been holding out on Parallels, or haven't yet tried Boot Camp, VMware has decided to give you your Christmas gift a few days early and release the public beta of VMware Fusion. "What is this Fusion you speak of?" I hear you asking. It's VMware's foray into the Mac virtualization market, allowing you to run Windows, Linux, and likely most other x86 based OSes, along side your other Mac applications. Head over to their site to sign up and download the public beta today.

[Via TUAW]