AOL to End Support for Netscape Browser

An historic name in software will effectively pass into history in February as AOL discontinues development and active support for the Netscape browser, according to an official blog.

AOL will keep delivering security patches for the current version of Netscape until Feb. 1, 2008, after which it will no longer provide active support for any version of the software, according to a Friday entry on The Netscape Blog by Tom Drapeau, lead developer for Netscape.com. The Netscape.com Web site will remain as a general-purpose portal.

Netscape was the original mass-market Web browser and helped to popularize the Internet in the mid-1990s, but it has long taken a back seat to Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Firefox itself traces its roots back to Netscape software that was made into open source. The Mozilla Foundation was founded in 2003, with support from AOL, and has released successive versions of Firefox while AOL continued to develop Netscape on top of the same platform, Drapeau wrote.

Groups within AOL have tried and failed to revive Netscape Navigator and gain market share against Internet Explorer, according to the blog entry.

"AOL's focus on transitioning to an ad-supported Web business leaves little room for the size of investment needed to get the Netscape browser to a point many of its fans expect it to be," Drapeau wrote. "Given AOL's current business focus ... we feel it's the right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox," Drapeau wrote.

The Mosaic Netscape browser was posted for downloading in 1994 by Mosaic Communications, which later changed its name to Netscape Communications. That company kicked off the dot-com boom with its hugely successful initial public offering in August 1995 and was acquired by AOL in 1999. But Internet Explorer, introduced in 1995, eventually dominated the browser market. Microsoft's bundling of its browser with Windows operating systems was a key issue in antitrust lawsuits filed against it in 1997.

As of this month, Netscape had only 0.6 percent of the browser market, which was still dominated by Internet Explorer with more than 77 percent, according to Web application and analytics firm Net Applications. Firefox was gaining, however, with market share just over 16 percent.

Users will still be able to download old versions of Netscape from an archive, currently located here, though they will not be supported by AOL, Drapeau wrote.

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Flip Video Ultra: World's Simplest Video Camera

I've been a big fan of the Flip Video, a low cost pocket-sized camcorder from Pure Digital, since the first day I held it. A new improved version, the Flip Video Ultra, is ready, and there's a lot to love about it, including the price tag.
Slimmed down and styled up, the Flip Video Ultra comes in colors, isnmore streamlined, and has software built into the camera that lets you upload immediately to AOL, YouTube, or other video sharing sites.

The camera is shirt pocket-sized and runs on AA batteries. The Flip Video I've been using is one of the only gadgets I own where I can say nice things about its battery life.

But what sets Flip Video apart is that all the software you need to perform simple video-editing chores and then publish to your favorite video-sharing site are built right into the camera. No extra software required.

There are only a few buttons on the camera for playing, stopping ,and zooming in and out so its easy to get up to speed. Once you're ready to transfer your work, a retractable USB connects you to your PC. Plug the USB into a PC and you also have tools to edit, archive, and share your work, all built in to the camera. You can quickly send a video greeting card or
email, add music, transitional effects, or voice to the video. It's by no means a full-fledged video editing package, but it's sufficient for most people most of the time.

The new Ultra has an improved 1.5-inch display and microphone. The first generation camera held either 512MB or 1GB of video. The new version is available in 1GB ($150) or 2GB ($180). The video is captured at VGA resolution but still
looks good enough to output to a TV. The new camera has a video output and a slot for a tripod.

I find the Flip Video camera useful for all sorts of things. I've used it to document trips, narrating what I'm seeing so that I can remember the names of all of those pretty mountains, churches, and museums. It's great for documenting schoolwork, analyzing your golf swing, creating a walk-through of your home for sale, and more. I've given the camera to kids as young as 5 years old and adults as old as 80 to try. They instinctively figure out what to do. A story in USA Today said that Flip Video is currently the No. 1 best-selling video camera at Amazon and Target.

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