With Firefox 3.5 now finished and available for download, Microsoft used the occasion to tout the speed of Internet Explorer 8. Whereas previously Microsoft focused on page load times, the company today made the case that IE8’s "Accelerators" make it faster to use.

Accelerators let Web users highlight text on a page and right-click to bring up a menu to automatically insert and use that text on other sites, rather than cutting and pasting. Microsoft offered up a video showing how Accelerators speed up simple tasks, but it made a point of noting that "all tests were performed using the default installation settings for each browser. No additional add-ons or extensions were added."

Why is that important? Well, it just so happens that an easily installed Firefox add-on called KallOut offers similar functionality.

It would be much more interesting to see a true head-to-head challenge, pitting IE8 vs. Firefox with the KallOut add-on installed, to see how many steps each requires for basic tasks.

For example, one common use is to highlight an address on a page and insert the text into an online mapping service, without cutting and pasting. In our casual use of the KallOut feature for that purpose, the add-on seemed to rival IE8 Accelerators in terms of speeding up the process. But we haven’t yet had a chance to conduct extensive testing, so we’ll be interested to hear what people say based on their own experiences with each browser.

Even if there are subtle differences, the situation raises, yet again, the question of whether browser users should get those kinds of extra features out of the box or add them on by choice. It often comes down to the personal preference of the individual user. Many tech-savvy PC users prefer the add-on approach, but casual PC users often want their software to have as many capabilities as possible by default. 

Should be interesting to see which approach prevails in the long run.

READ MORE and COMMENT, more 
and New Firefox knows your location  

Mozilla released its Firefox 3.5 browser today, and one of the more interesting new capabilities is "location-aware browsing." The feature, which will be familiar to iPhone users, determines the computer’s location and asks permission to share it with sites that use it to enhance the functionality of online applications.

The feature grew out of ongoing efforts to bring Firefox to mobile devices. Mozilla decided that it made sense to include geolocation functionality in its PC-based browser, as well. It uses the IP address and wifi signals to determine location, by default, but it also could work with GPS, which is starting to appear in more mobile computers.

Obvious applications include mapping and online directions, but Mozilla officials say they’re looking forward to seeing what web developers do now that the feature is available. For example, Mozilla director Mike Beltzner cited the possibility of new online games that would use a person’s location to assign "quests" to find nearby objects.

"You can start to meld the physical and online worlds in some pretty interesting ways," Beltzner said.

Addressing privacy concerns, the browser asks the user’s permission before sharing location with a site. But in case you’re not as enamored with the feature as Beltzner is, this page describes how to disable it.

See more on Firefox 3.5’s features in these detailed release notes.

READ MORE and COMMENT, more 

and Venture investors pump $102 million into iPhone app startups  

As you know, we spend a lot of our time checking out new applications for the iPhone. And while many of these apps are created by independent developers, some companies are actually raising venture capital in an effort to try to profit off Apple’s mobile ecosystem.

It is a risky strategy to build on the back of another’s platform, as was pointed out in my story last week by Seattle venture capitalist Bill Bryant.

Nonetheless, venture dollars are flowing into iPhone app startups at a decent clip. A new study by ChubbyBrain indicates that 17 startup companies — whose iPhone applications are core to what they do — have raised $102 million.

Interestingly, that’s a tiny fraction of the estimated 50,000 apps now avaiable in Apple’s app store. And one could argue — as ChubbyBrain points out — that $102 million is actually a small number considering what some believe is the game-changing potential of the iPhone.

Still, I am aware of at least three Seattle area startups that have raised venture capital in the iPhone arena.

–Pelago — maker of Whrrl — is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Bezos Expeditions, Trilogy Equity Partners and others. (ChubbyBrain’s analysis notes that Pelago was the second biggest beneficiary of VC dollars in the iPhone app space behind iControl).

–Zero260 — led by wireless veteran David Bluhm — is a stealthy project backed by Madrona and said to be working on something in the gaming arena.

–Zumobi, a Microsoft spin out formerly known as ZenZui, raised $12 million from Oak Investment Partners, Hunt Ventures and others. But that money came in well before the Seattle company made a transition into iPhone app develoment, releasing apps for entities such as msnbc.com, REI and The Sporting News. (It does not appear that Zumobi is included in the numbers).

It is also probably worth noting that one of the most successful iPhone applications to emerge from a Seattle company — Urbanspoon’s restaurant locator — was gobbled up by IAC even though the company never took any venture money

ChubbyBrain actually provides a detailed analysis of the iPhone investment trend, comparing the number of iPhones sold to venture investments.

It also looks at the type of companies that are attracting funding in the iPhone app space, with "social networking" and "gaming and entertainment" attracting almost half of the dollars.

READ MORE and COMMENT, more 

It is bleak out there  

Here’s the good news. Three venture-backed companies actually were able to complete initial public offerings during the second quarter, ending a dry spell that stretched all the way back to the summer of 2008.

But despite that positive nugget, today’s Dow Jones VentureSource report was filled with more bad news for the venture industry. Take this for example: Venture-backed liquidity — IPOs and M&A deals — fell 57 percent to $2.8 billion during the second quarter.

That means there are fewer companies selling out at high valuations, a trend line that’s causing concern in the venture capital ranks and leading some to say the VC model is forever broken.

In fact, the VentureSource report found that the median amount paid for a venture-backed company during the second quarter was a little less than $22 million — a 46 percent drop from the median price paid during the same period last year.

We’ve seen some acquisitions at low valuations in recent weeks, including the sale of mobile software company Dexterra. It sold to Antenna Software for far less than the venture capital it raised. Meanwhile, Bellevue online advertising company Zango also sold out for pennies on the dollar.

As far as IPOs go, that’s not looking much better. Take a guess on the last high-tech IPO to emerge from Washington state?

Give up?

That would be Clearwire, the Kirkland broadband wireless company. It went public in March 2007 — nearly 30 months ago.

 

READ MORE and COMMENT, more