Apple releases Safari 5.0.4, the latest update to its browser for Mac OS X and Windows. The last update to desktop Safari was in November last year.

This update contains improvements to stability, compatibility, accessibility and security, including the following:

- Improved stability for webpages with multiple instances of plug-in content
- Improved compatibility with webpages with image reflections and transition effects
- A fix for an issue that could cause some webpages to print with incorrect layouts
- A fix for an issue that could cause content to display incorrectly on webpages with plug-ins
- A fix for an issue that could cause a Screen Saver to appear while video is playing in Safari
- Improved compatibility with VoiceOver on webpages with text input areas and lists with selectable items
- Improved stability when using VoiceOver

Safari browser comes with Google search as its default search engine. If you’re annoyed by the increasing spam-filled search results using Google, you might want to consider alternative such as Bing.

On the Mac, it is easy to change the default search engine for Safari. Simply click the search icon beside the search area on the right end of the toolbar. A drop-down menu will appear for you to select the default search engine.

On iOS for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, the default search engine is set using the Settings app.

From the Settings app, tap on the Safari icon. Tap the “Search Engine” option to select the new default search engine.

Apple released bug and security fixes to Safari web browser. Safari for Windows, Mac OS X Leopard and Mac OS X Snow Leopard is updated to version 5.0.3, and Safari for Tiger is updated to version 4.1.3.

This update contains improvements to usability, compatibility, stability, accessibility and security, including the following:

• More accurate Top Hit results in the Address Field
• More accurate results in Top Sites
• Fixes an issue that could cause content delivered with the Flash 10.1 plug-in to overlap webpage content
• More reliable pop-up blocking
• Improved stability when typing into search and text input fields on www.netflix.com and www.facebook.com
• Improved stability when using JavaScript-intensive extensions
• Improved stability when using VoiceOver with Safari

For detailed information on the security content of this update, please visit this site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

Apple updated Safari with the release of version 5.0.2 which is mainly bug fixes for improved compatibility and security:

• Fixes an issue that could prevent users from submitting web forms
• Fixes an issue that could cause web content to display incorrectly when viewing a Google Image result with Flash 10.1 installed
• Establishes an encrypted, authenticated connection to the Safari Extensions Gallery

Get it from Software Update as usual if you’ve yet being prompted.

Apple released Safari 5.0.1 with the support of Safari Extensions. Extensions is available in Safari 5.0 but you have to set it up in order to use it. Safari 5.0.1 also has direct access to the newly launched Safari Extensions Gallery website. Safari Extensions Gallery serves as the central hosting site for third party Safari extensions. With this new release of Safari, installing extensions from the site is just a simple click on the “Install” icon.

Beside the support of extensions, Safari 5.0.1 also plug the Autofill vulnerability which exposes your address book data.

Desktop Safari 4 & 5 has an AutoFill feature which has a default setting turned on for “Using info from my Address Book card”. You can access this setting from Safari>Preferences and click on the AutoFill tab. This AutoFill setting will autofill websites with data from your record in your Mac’s address book, which you might have entered your name, company, address and email address. The problem is this AutoFill feature will auto-complete a website even if you’ve never entered any data on the website before. This opens to exploits by malicious websites, as it is possible for website to obtain your address book data behind the scene without you knowing.

To illustrate the point, Jeremiah Grossman has even developed a proof of concept website where you can see it in action.

We recommend you to uncheck this setting from your Safari preferences for your own protection.

Via Jeremiah Grossman’s Blog

According to Net Application tracking browser market share, Microsoft Internet Explorer’s share is 59.95% in April, which is a historic low. This is a drop of 0.69 points compared to March 2010. Mozilla Firefox gained 0.07 points to 24.59%. The big winner was Google’s Chrome browser, with a gain of 0.6 point that boosted Chrome’s share to 6.73%. Apple Safari has a gain of 0.06 points to 4.72%.

Apple Safari has very little movement in terms of market share. Its share of 4.72% is a new record, but the addition of one full point has taken Apple 11 months. In contrast, Chrome has been growing by almost 5 points in the same time frame, and remains the fastest growing browser.

Firefox, Safari and Chrome are growing at the expense of Internet Explorer and is inevitable as IE is no longer compelling enough. We expect this trend to continue, even with the release of next-generation Internet Explorer version 9. Anyway IE9 public release is not expected in another 9-12 months.

Source: Conceivablytech

Flash is a bad idea, according to Steve and Apple. To avoid Flash from ruining your desktop experience with 100% CPU usage, you can block Flash from loading into Safari on your Mac OS X using this little ClickToFlash plugin.

Once installed, Flash content will not be loaded. Instead a gradient gray area will occupy the Flash content. Click on the blank area if you want to load the Flash anyway.

You can choose to turn on or off the plugin from its settings page. To access the plugin settings, either click on the icon on the left-top corner of blank gray area or from Safari menu Safari > ClickToFlash > Settings.

The advantages of ClickToFlash are numerous. Since Flash isn’t loaded until you specifically ask for it, your CPU usage will stay at normal levels when browsing the web. This has tons of benefits: web browsing stays speedy, your Mac laptop won’t get as hot, and your Mac’s fan won’t come on as often. In fact, we guarantee* that ClickToFlash will quintuple your battery life and that it will protect those precious parts of your body on which you rest your laptop! (*note: not actually guaranteed)

With ClickToFlash, you can setup the plugin to load YouTube video in H.264 format instead of Flash. H.264 video perform favorably compared to Flash video in Safari.

iPhone is the first phone with a full-blown browser. Some has labelled the Safari browser on the iPhone as the ‘killer app’, attributed it as the key factor that enabled the mobile web. With its touch interface and ease of navigation, it is no longer a tedious chore surfing the net on smartphone. Here are 14 tips for getting the most out of Safari browser on your iPhone.

1. Auto Web Address Resolution

When you enter a URL in the address bar, you don’t have to type “http”, “www” or “.com”. Safari will automatically resolve the web address. Example for “www.apple.com”, just type “apple” in the address bar will get you to Apple’s homepage. This will work for most websites that end with “.com” domain.

2. Scroll to Top of Page for Address and Search Bar

Safari will scroll the Address and Search Bar together with web page. When a page is more than a screenful, you can quickly scroll to the top of the page to access the Address and Search Bar by tapping on the status bar.

3. Tap and Hold “.com” for Other Domains

When entering web address, tap and hold the “.com” key to display options for other domain extensions such as “.net”, “.edu”, “.org” etc. Slide your finger from “.com” to select the other domain extension.

4. Use A Bigger Keyboard

Safari’s onscreen keyboard is bigger when iPhone is in horizontally position. If you are holding iPhone vertically, rotate iPhone horizontally first before you tap the address bar to summon the keyboard. The larger keys make data entry easier.

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We list down seven reasons why current crops of Nokia N-series smartphones are no match for iPhone. This article might serve as a guide if you are considering between iPhone and Nokia N-series smartphone. The choice is easy. Off course we have the Apple bias here.

Internet connectivity

It is a pain trying to connect to Wifi on Nokia N-series phone, as you have to manually do it. And it could be annoying slow when trying to connect to a Wifi access point. And there is no auto switching between 3G and Wifi connectivity. iPhone is more like an always connected internet device, where else Nokia N-series is an ethernet device waiting to get connected.

Bigger screen

Smartphone needs bigger screen than those on Nokia N95/N96. You will understand why if you spend some amount of time surfing the net, playing games and reading emails on the Nokias. It strains the eyes and is potential health hazard. iPhone’s screen size is not better but is usable. Suddenly reading the web from such small screen is tolerable activity. Which bring us to the next point.

Safari Browser

There is no denying that iPhone Safari browser, couple with the touch interface, brings ease of surf to such small screen. Using Safari on the iPhone is a complete surfing experience, and it is as complete an implementation as its big brother on Mac OS X. Unlike the browser implementation on Nokia N-series, which give us a ‘half-cooked’ feeling, always.

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