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OmniWeb Beta 5.0

The OmniWeb Beta is out today and I’ve been messing with it a bit…

Since it is built on WebKit, the same technology as Safari many feature and even key commands will be very familiar to Safari users. I like the addition of tabs within the sidebar, especially with the addition of a visual thumbnail, though managing tabs in the traditional sense never proved challenging or even hard to deal with. This new feature may even add some weight to the application which is not necessary other than to show off.

Bookmarks import flawlessly and your passwords for sites are also immediately auto-filled if you had previously saved them in the Keychain. This is a wonderful bit of consistency and something I wish more browsers and applications made use of. If you like to test or switch between things it is often a pain to deal with password management.

While it looks nice, this is a hard sell and yes it is being sold. Safari 1.2 is supposedly right around the corner with fixes and a possible feature of two up its sleeve and will be free. While OmniWeb will at least work with all the same sites (though also probably carry the same issues) you’ll have to pay for features like ad blocking (something I am not testing).

All in all a nice piece of work, but I’ll be sticking it out with Safari for now.

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Time Warner Cable leans more heavily on voice

The Time Warner unit speeds the rollout of its Net-based phone service because it more urgently needs the “voice piece” of its triple play of offerings designed to fend off gains by satellite companies. [CNET News.com]

I’ve started to notice Cablevision ads on TV (looks like an Ericsson cordless in their spots…) here in NYC but I have yet to see anything from Time Warner, my cable company.

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Rumor: palmOne Working on Palm OS 6 Upgrade

Great News (if true) on the Palm front. Though I have a feeling a new cooler device will woo me from my T3…

New information received by PalmInfocenter indicates that palmOne is currently testing a Palm OS 6 upgrade for select current palmOne handhelds. Devices with Flashable ROM with enough room to spare to fit the new OS,shouldbe able to be upgraded. [PalmInfocenter]

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palmOne considering alternative platforms

In an interview with a Swedish publication, palmOne’s Head of Europe, Vesey Crichton, has made several remarks which are certain to raise a few eyebrows among Palm OS diehards. Conducted during a recent European tour made by Crichton, the interview leaves little doubt that palmOne is considering alternative operating systems for use the company’s mobile devices, although Crichton is not quoted directly on this.

Expressing his fascination for Nokia’s operating system and in particular its interface, Crichton also said the Finnish manufacturer has unresolved issues with data synchronization – a widely held opinion.

Among the most important qualities for a platform, Crichton listed ease of use along with the ability to synchronize tasks, sporting a well-developed calendar, contacts database and to-do list. Also, Crichton said that a good choice of applications would have to be available, but that Palm OS was indeed “not viewed internally as a religion”. [infoSync]

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“Quelle Suprise”

SanDisk’s web page on its Wi-Fi SD card now says that a Palm OS 5 driver will be released in the second quarter of this year. Previously, the company had said this would be available in the first quarter. [Brighthand]

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Foldable Screens for E-Newspapers

Electronics giant Philips has just announced that it would be mass-producing a thin display panel that could be used to display e-newspapers and magazines downloaded from a fixed or mobile Internet link… and then rolled up or folded away…. [GearBits]

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Monster plans fee-based job networking site

Monster Worldwide next month plans to launch an online community for users of its popular jobs listing site for a fee, but critics question whether the move will be successful. [CNET News.com]

I guess we’ll see how it goes… In my limited experience so far, Monster is a tough one from the job seeker end. Sure they have a crapload of jobs, but many continually resurface as “fresh” and there are just too many multi-level schemers floating around. It would be nice to get some filters going to make it more efficient.