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Belfry brings Stocks and Weather, other native iPhone apps to jailbroken iPads
Rounding out the honeymoon period with that freshly jailbroken iPad 2? Well now we have some new apps for you to play with, and you may already be acquainted. iOS hacker Ryan Petrich's most recent project, dubbed Belfry, lets you install stock iPhone apps that are otherwise absent from both versions of Apple's tablet including Clock, Voice Memos, Stocks, Calculator, Compass and Weather. As to why these aren't included already is beyond our knowledge, but at least there's an alternative. Users can install Belfry directly within Cydia for free from the BigBoss repository. If you're looking for proof to seal the deal, you can catch the bashful Belfry and his silent film antics after the break.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon GameCommand app ready to take on TegraZone
Didn't think Qualcomm was going to just sit around and let NVIDIA have all the fun, did you? The latter company's launch of TegraZone -- an app portal designed to show off mobile games that work best when using the Tegra 2 dual-core SoC -- appears to have inspired the competition, as Qualcomm announced the debut of its dedicated Snapdragon GameCommand app today. The idea is pretty much the same: the app, accessible on phones and tablets, will essentially be a marketplace that offers Snapdragon-optimized games (such as Qualcomm's GamePack selection) as well as some exclusive content. The app will make its official entrance on the Android Market on January 10th, but will only be available in North America until "a later date." Texas Instruments, you're up next. Head to the press release for more details.
Livin' on the edge with optimized, beta Firefox builds
Do you feel the need... the need for speed? With more and more of our computing lives taking place via our web browsers, eking out even a slight performance improvement for Firefox or Safari (or a similar reduction of resource demands; I'm looking at you, Flash Player) can improve the user experience noticeably. One way to improve browser performance, if you've got the chops and the time, is to compile the open-source browser of choice yourself, with all the tweaks for the specific processor platform you're using.Web guru Neil Bruce Lee has offered the performance-hungry Firefox user the choice of G5 and Intel optimized versions of the 3.0 release; now, for those who want to live completely on the far side, Chris Latko has rolled out an Intel-optimized build of the beta Firefox 3.1 (Shiretoko) browser. With the architecture-specific tweaks Latko made, along with the inclusion of the TraceMonkey Javascript native compiler, this is the screaming-est version of Firefox ever to grace an Intel Mac screen... but be wary, it's going to be less stable than an official release, and many of your favorite plugins may not work (best to disable them all in the 3.0x version, then enable one at a time in the beta build to make sure they play nicely).Don't roll the Firefox way? There's a bleeding-edge choice for you too: WebKit nightly builds, based on the most current code that goes into future versions of Safari. Again, you should see a boost in speed and possibly a corresponding decrease in stability, so tread with caution.If you're running an optimized browser build, share your experiences with us below.Thanks Chris![Hat tip: Mac.Blorge]
SanDisk CEO says Vista "not optimized" for SSDs
SSDs have been quite the hot topic of late, with conflicting power usage reports and free-falling (almost) prices being the two angles most commonly yapped about. Now, however, we have a completely different reason to mention 'em in passing, as SanDisk's dutiful CEO let loose some questionable comments during its Q2 2008 earnings call. Noting that Windows Vista would present unique challenges for SSD manufacturers, he stated that "as soon as you get into Vista applications, you start running into very demanding applications because Vista is not optimized for flash memory solid state disk." Furthermore, he proclaimed that the "next generation controllers need to basically compensate for Vista shortfalls," and finished things up by asserting that "SSD performance in the Vista environment falls short of what the market really needs." It seems all those statements were just used to deflect blame for it being behind schedule, but we're a bit curious about how it intends on defending said statements with real-world numbers. Hmm?
Optimized Firefox Builds
Programmer Neil Bruce Lee has compiled two nonofficial "Firefox" builds based on Firefox 2.0.0.1. One is optimized for the G5, and the other for Intel Macs. He's working on a G4-optimized version as well. By matching the builds to the architecture, you can expect better performance overall, which is cool. Some of his builds offer Aqua-style form widgets. Which is also cool. Or really annoying. I haven't decided which. For Intel Macs, you can choose between versions with "firefoxy" form widgets or the Aqua-style one. As we previously reported, these builds are not called "Firefox" and they do not use the Firefox logo. As Lee explains, the Firefox name and icon are copyrighted trademarked and cannot be used for nonofficial versions. If I ever adopt a puppy, I will call it "Firefox" and gleefully and nonofficially break copyright trademark at every possible opportunity. "Here Firefox!" "Firefox, fetch!" *pat* *pat* "Good Firefox."Thanks B Shubinsky
Camino build optimized for Intel
For Intel Mac users who are just ga-ga for Camino, a helpful MozillaZine Forums user by the name of heronstalker has posted a build of Camino optimized for Intel Macs - but only for Intel Macs. This is not a Universal Binary, it's a... Singular Binary, er something.I ran my old 'n busted copy of Camino against this new hotness Intel build on my 2.0 Ghz MacBook Pro, and I *think* it feels zippier. Of course, it could just be the fancy new Intel shine, so YMMV. For those users interested in saving some disk space, however, this build shaves 17MB off Camino's footprint; my Universal Camino is 39.9MB, while the Singular Binary Camino (yes, I know that isn't a real term) is only 22.3MB (this is a great example of why apps like Monolingual exist).This Intel build, which is the latest 1.0.2 version, btw, can be had from this MozillaZine Forum post.Thanks Jason Piper
Optimized Firefox 1.5.0.4
Neil Lee has once again gifted the Mac community with optimized builds of Firefox 1.5.0.4. There are builds for G4s, G5s and Intel Macs. Bless you, Neil.As if that weren't enough, Neil went ahead an applied Firefoxy to both the Intel and G4 builds (sadly you G5'ers will have to suffer with OS X form widgets only).The downloads are free, but Neil suggests you call your Mom and Dad instead of donating to him.
Optimized Firefox with OS X form goodness
Sure, there are G4 and G5 optimized versions of Firefox 1.5, but neither can compare to the new OS X-style infused version. The BeatnikPad Journal picked up on the efforts of a Mozilla forum user by the name of Pu7o to build a version of Firefox 1.5 that includes the far more attractive form widgets (no, not Dashboard widgets) of OS X. This brings Firefox one (tiny) step closer to at least looking like a true OS X app, as the BeatnikPad notes that these kinds of changes might not come straight from Mozilla until Firefox 3.0. As of this writing, only a G4 build is unofficially available from the BeatnikPad post; a G5 build is coming soon.Another bonus from this modified and optimized version for all you OS X-theme users out there is that this version of Firefox actually makes the browser use the form widgets default to OS X. This should allow your theming app of choice, such as Unsanity's Shapeshifter, to finally apply its style to Firefox.
