Last week, Apple released the latest version of Safari 3.2 web browser for both Windows and Mac (Tiger and Leopard) platforms. Though available on the site, the announcement was still showing version 3.1.

The update of this application over the previous version is recommended for all Safari users as this release features several protection features for users, such as identifying fraudulent phishing websites. Furthermore, it includes some bug fixes and security enhancement to ensure users surf the web safely.

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Where graphical editing tools are concerned, in my opinion, there is nothing that beats these 2 top products in the market – Adobe Photoshop and GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). Whereas the former requires users to pay for its use, the latter is released under the GNU GPL license, such that users can download the application for free and use it as according to the regulation stated by its license. Anyway, the news here is that, GIMP Portable 2.6.2 is released for your update.

GIMP Portable 2.6.2 is slightly different from GIMP 2.6.2, in the sense that this application is “portable“; that is, the installation can be done on a USB thumb drive or a removable drive and data is not written onto the hard disk drive. Thus it allows users to carry the application on a thumb drive and move it from one PC to another. That is an amazing feature, if you are working in an environment where installation of programs is strictly prohibited on the host PC.

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GIMP Portable 2.6.2

Anyone who uses WordPress should really take a look at this WordPress 2.7 Beta 1! After running it on my personal blog site, I realised this is definitely worth recommending for a trial, despite it currently being in beta development stage. In this version, it contains a complete change of interface and design. The experience whilst surfing using Firefox was absolutely brilliant.

However, as noted by Ryan Boren from WordPress, this release is not free from glitches; there are some issues when used with certain browsers (although I have never tried them myself). It is believed that Microsoft Internet Explorer and Opera may have a little problem using this WordPress version.

There will be a release candidate version released on November 10^th, 2008. It is intended to be a high-quality, near-finish release that is likely to fix most bugs present currently on the system. Nonetheless, the final official release is likely to happen by end of November.

Download Link
WordPress 2.7 Beta 1

Shortly after the release of WordPress 2.6.2, the next version of WordPress 2.6.3 is now available for download. In Ryan’s blog, it was mentioned that a vulnerability was discovered in the Snoopy library.

This was found to be a low-risk vulnerability, and only affects two files in the WordPress installation. Hence, if you do not prefer to download the entire installation, you can over the 2 files below and replace them in their respective directories:

1. wp-includes/class-snoopy.php
2. wp-includes/version.php

The version number on your WordPress will not change; but that’s all it takes to patch the Snoopy library issue. The two files will patch the library file as well as update the WordPress version.

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WordPress 2.6.3 [tar.gz version]
WordPress 2.6.3 [zip version]

Ask anyone which application is the best software for FTP (file transfer protocol), most of them will point in the direct of Filezilla. Filezilla is a free FTP solution that provides both server and client applications; furthermore, it is an open source software, distributed under the terms of the GNU GPL. In other words, you can download this for free and use it for personal purpose, as long as it is within the GNU GPL agreement.

Having used Filezilla for a long time, I have absolutely no complaint with this software as it provides almost everything that is required for file transfer. In addition to common FTP communication, it supports SFTP (Secure FTP) and FTPS (FTP using SSL). In the latest release of Filezilla Client 3.1.4.1, some of the bug were fixed.

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The open-source GIMP, also known as the GNU Image Manipulation Program, has released the latest version of GIMP 2.6.1. For others who are not familiar with GIMP, you can consider as a substitute for the free version of Adobe Photoshop. This software is capable of performing complex tasks, such as photo re-touching, image composition and image authoring. On top of that, it runs on multiple operating systems and not just Microsoft Windows alone.

Release notes for this version is made available here. From a development point of view, GIMP 2.6 series is a rather important release as it features major changes to the user interface that addresses some complaints provided by users. Furthermore, there is a tentative integration of GEGL, the graph based image process library, that will bring a much detailed and comprehensive editing to the users’ experience.

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For Firefox fans, this is good news! The next version of Firefox 3.1 is now out; just to make things clear, it is the beta version per se, that is released.

With this long awaiting browser wars between Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, this will allow users (perhaps testers and developers) to verify the real speed performance across all the web browsers. Behold Google Chrome’s V8 engine against TraceMonkey to compete for Javascript performance.

What’s new in this version?

• * Web standards improvements in the Gecko layout engine.
• * Added support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 properties.
• * A new tab-switching shortcut that shows previews of the tab you’re switching to.
• * Improved control over the Smart Location Bar using special characters to restrict your search.
• * Support for new web technologies such as the and elements, the W3C Geolocation API, JavaScript query selectors, web worker threads, SVG transforms and offline applications.
• * Want to quickly switch between tabs? Press Ctrl-Tab to jump back and forth!
• * Control the Smart Location Bar results with special characters.
• * Watch Ogg video without the need for any plugins.
• * Drag and drop tabs from one Firefox window to another.

Strongly encourage all to give this Mozilla Firefox 3.1 (beta 1) version a try. So far, my experience with it seems very positive. Of course, you may have to be a little lenient on this application as it’s still in beta stage. Kindly note that, as this is still not official, perhaps it is advised not to deploy it on production machines.

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Mozilla Firefox 3.1 Beta 1

Just found something really cool! The UltraMixer 2.3.3 is a DJ audio mixing software that allows users to mix digital music in various formats, such as MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, WAV or even CD in real-time. The basic hardware requirement is a good sound card. Similar to a physical DJ audio mixer, the DJ turntables are replaced by two digital SoundPlayers.

Here is some background information:

“…UltraMixer is the first DJ software in the world, that is available for the most popular operating systems Windows, Linux and Mac OS X…”

Exactly! Just when you need it at the party or in a restaurant, this “digitalised” version of DJ turntables will do just great! Three versions of UltraMixer are available; namely, the Free Edition, Basic Edition and the Professional Edition. The professional version costs as much as £129 and the Basic Edition costs approximately £59. If you are concerned about the cost, give the free edition for a trial run for no cost at all. However, it is only meant for private, non-public use.

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As I speak, OpenOffice 3.0 Final version is already released on several public mirrored servers for downloading. This was prepared way ahead of announcement time, which was due to be on Monday, October 13, 2008, as according to the source provided by ZDnet.

The path to the final download is usually listed under the category: stable/3.0.0/

As of now, the release note has yet to be made available, but it will soon be released. Meanwhile, if you cannot wait to get your hands on the latest copy of OpenOffice application suite, download it today.

Download Office Suite
OpenOffice 3.0 Mirror Sites

Although I am not an avid fan of Apple (which many Apple / Mac fans will probably boycott me), I’m happy to inform that Apple has release the next version of Apple iTunes 8.0.1, as part of security fix over the version 8.0.

New Changes

• • Seamlessly plays the current song when creating a new Genius playlist.
• • Improves syncing spoken menus to iPod nano.
• • Addresses an issue of deleting HD TV episodes when downloading.
• • Improves checking for updates from the App Store.
• • Improves accessibility with VoiceOver.
• • Addresses problems syncing Genius results to iPod.

Because this version provides a lot more performance and bug fixes, particularly security fixes, iTunes users are highly encouraged to upgrade to this latest version. If you are using Mac OS X, this update is available from the Software Update.