If you use some popular ad blocking add-ons for Safari (like the excellent PithHelmet), you may have run into problems when a new version of Safari was released. Updating can break your ad-blocker or cause Safari to crash until a new version of the plugin is released. This isn't a big deal to me, because Safari 3.2-compatible version of PithHelmet has already been released. If you're crazy about stability, though, GlimmerBlocker is offering an alternative.

GlimmerBlocker is downright derisive of other ad blocking options, explaining on their website that "The problem with other ad-blockers for Safari is that they are implemented as awful hacks ...This compromises the stability of Safari ..." Instead of using InputManagers, GlimmerBlocker works by http proxy. This is handy if you're using nightly builds of WebKit that other methods of adblocking can't keep up with. You do unfortunately have to make some small sacrifices for the stability: GlimmerBlocker won't stop pop-unders or filter cookies from 3rd-party sites.

Lunascape is a web browser for people who just can't decide which web browser to use. That's because the latest Alpha version of Lunascape supports three of the most popular rendering engines used in other web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome.

Upon setup, you can select your default rendering engine. Geck or WebKit are known for their blazing fast performance when loading many web pages and web apps,. Or you can choose Trident if you frequently visit web pages that only work with Internet Explorer.

The browser also supports bookmarklets, has a built in screen capture utility, skins, and has a full screen mode. Lunascape5 Alpha also supports add-ons, but right not there aren't a ton of plugins available. Unfortunately it will not work with plugins designed for Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer.

[via OStatic]

I'll admit, I'm not a huge Google Reader fan. I much prefer the interface of NetNewsWire on my desktop and have been very impressed with Newsgator Go for the BlackBerry (it blows Google Reader away and has all my feeds). That said, Google Reader on the iPhone is actually pretty spectacular.

This is important, because the iPhone and Android use very, very similar browsers. Both are based in WebKit and they render pages almost identically. This is great news for Android, because newsreaders and smartphones really are a match made in heaven. Instead of the typical mobile Reader page, Google has created an optimized WebKit page that really, really shines.

Google Reader is so good, in fact, you probably wouldn't expect it to be a web app. You can easily view all new items in your account, view new items or all items from a certain category or view items from an individual feed. If a feed is truncated, clicking on a link immediately launches a new browser window to that article. Sharing and marking feeds with stars is easy and intuitive as well.

The real joy in using Google Reader is in how easy reading articles and feeds actually is. Instead of having to squint like I do if I view Google Reader on my BlackBerry (a problem I don't have with Newsgator Go), everything is clear and easy to navigate.

Check out the gallery to see some shots of Google Reader in action. I also threw in some images from my iPod Touch 2.0, to show off the similarities between the interfaces.

Suddenly Google's big play to make iPhone optimized sites is making a lot more sense!

Since it was revealed that Apple's recently-announced .mac replacement, MobileMe, was partially built on something called SproutCore, the buzz around this hot new JavaScript framework has been growing. Although this is the first that many people will have heard about it, SproutCore has actually been around for a while, powering services like .mac's Mobile Galleries. Now it's getting so much attention that SproutCore.com has been unreachable all day, a week after the WWDC announcement.

So, why SproutCore? Daniel Eran Dilger, over at RoughlyDrafted, has a great rundown of things to love about this open source JavaScript framework: it will allow developers to build web apps that look more like desktop apps, function offline, and take advantage of modern browser features. Apple's using SproutCore to build a front end for WebDav and its own WebObjects, but other developments could easily add PHP, JSON or XML data to the mix, to name a few.

[via RoughlyDrafted]

• Street View expands
• Docs gets PDF storage
• Feedburner's new address
• Google Reader, Contra-style
• Grand Theft Google
• GBroswer rumors

It looks like Apple's Safari web browser, once claimed by a certain someone (read: Steve Jobs) to be the fastest web browser out there, is going to get even faster.

Over at Computerworld, they've been running the latest builds of WebKit (the rendering engine used in Safari), and they are significantly impressed at the speed boosts.

In testing with Sunspider, a three minute Javascript benchmarking test, the newest Webkit was 2.5 times faster than Safari. SlickSpeed, another rendering test, showed the same thing. In other words: "It's gone to plaid!"

If you're innately skeptical of such benchmarks, you can download and test the WebKit Nightly builds on your own machine. The nice thing is that all of your bookmarks, history, cookies, etc. move from Safari to Webkit, so working with Webkit will be easy and familiar.
[Via Computerworld]

So what's in it for users? Sure, its got some great functionality geared towards web developers, but what's the use unless there are some real useful applications for AIR? I did some digging around and have found 3 AIR apps that I think have some usefulness, and show some promise for AIR. If anything, by the end of this article you'll get tired of reading the acronym AIR.

Salsa - A simple Amazon S3 client
Salsa is a super simple client to copy files between Amazon S3 and your computer. It's just a simple uploading and downloading interface, that's all. Amazon S3 has been called a cost-effective backup solution, and this app could make that practical on a desktop level. Salsa is considered 'alpha' quality, but if I needed a simple, secure method for backing up files I can see its value. Salsa is available on the Adobe Labs AIR:Applications:Samples wiki page. It would be great to see this little app mature a bit and move beyond the lab.

Tweetr - Twitter client
Yeah, we love Twitter around here at DLS, it's a little shameless. There's no shortage of ways to go about tweeting, and Tweetr is a nicely done implementation in AIR. The interface reminds me of a little bit iChat, a little bit Twitterrific. While not perfect, it's lightweight and does a fine job. I like how you can view your replies and direct messages as well. Check it out at http://www.tweet-r.com.

Fresh - RSS feed reader
Another one straight outta Adobe Labs is Fresh, a straightforward feed reader app. What I like about Fresh is that it's pretty full featured for only being a sample: OPML import/export, tabbed interface, integrated web view for stories, themes and more. Obviously an application like this isn't very innovative or groundbreaking, but it's a good demonstration of AIR's abilities: structured content, feed retrieval, ui elements, and HTML rendering. Check it out on the Adobe Labs AIR:Applications:Samples wiki page.

If you'd like to keep an eye on upcoming AIR applications, here's some good sites to keep your browser or feed reader pointed at:

• AIRApps.net
• Mike Chambers' Blog
• Adobe Labs Wiki: AIR

Got Safari-envy but stuck in Windows? Swift is a brand new open source web browser for Windows that's based on WebKit, the rendering engine that powers Apple's Safari, which in turn is based on KHTML from the Linux browser Konqueror. Swift is a free download, but it's in very early alpha. It's a functioning browser that will load web pages--very quickly, in fact--and has a modal/tabbed interface and a search box, but otherwise has basically no frills, not even bookmarks, and crashes are frequent. Still, definitely a project to keep an eye on.

Shiira, a free web browser for the Mac based on Apple's Web Kit (the rendering engine used by Safari), is inching closer to the 2.0 mark with Shiira 2.0 beta 1. The biggest change in Shiira 2.0 is the brand new user interface, which includes a "Page Dock" with thumbnails as an alternative to standard tabs, floating transparent "HUD Panels," a full-screen "Kiosk mode," and a "Shelf" for managing bookmarks, etc. The web site makes a point of saying, "This is unstable preview release. Use at your own risk." So indeed, use at your own risk.

If you're building a website without a Mac on hand, but need to test how it performs in Apple's Safari web browser, a mere screenshot of how it renders might not be enough. Since a Mac isn't lying around for hands-on testing, what's a web designer to do? Why, install VirtualSafari on your own server, of course. VirtualSafari is a web-based front end to WebKit, the open source rendering engine behind Apple's browser. Setting this up to might not be for the faint of heart (instructions are included in the download), but if you follow through, you'll have the proper testing grounds for making sure your sites are ready for prime time on a Mac - sans the Mac. This could be a handy tool for designers who want or need to consider the Mac constituency, especially since Safari's market share is on the rise, and WebKit powers more popular Mac OS X browsers than just Safari; OmniWeb (random trivia: it beat Netscape by a year with image support) and Shiira also ride the WebKit wave.

VirtualSafari is provided free from Sveinbjorn Thordarson's site, where he (as you might expect) hosts a test copy.