Windows Mobile only: The Iris Browser—built on the WebKit rendering engine, the basis for popular web browsers such as Safari—offers a more robust web browsing experience on mobile devices. Iris has support for advanced HTML and CSS, as well as multiple windows and tabbed browsing. Like previously reviewed Opera Mobile, Iris has support for full screen browsing with movement around the web page via zoom and tap functionality. Iris comes with a built in screen capture tool, a virtual mouse to mimic a desktop mouse for web sites that require it, support for devices with rotating screens, and a built in pop-up blocker. The Iris Browser preview release is a free download for Windows Mobile 5 and 6. Thanks, How-To Geek!

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The newest version of our favourite open source web browser, Mozilla Firefox 3, offers dozens of new features and fixes, but only a handful will make the most dramatic difference in your everyday browsing. After 17 months of alphas and betas, Mozilla's finally made a feature-complete release candidate available, so it's time to spotlight the biggest improvements that will make "Gran Paradiso" the browser to beat. Nearly everything in the open-source app has gotten a second look from the minds at Mozilla, from back buttons to bookmarks, address bars to add-ons, passwords to performance, and the changes will make Firefox 3 worth the upgrade come its official release date, slated for sometime next month. Let's take a look at the 10 best upgrades in Firefox 3, and how they'll bolster your browsing, after the jump.

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In the wake of the recent Google Reader for iPhone update, web site Mozilla Links saw an opportunity to make good use of the new mobile interface by putting Google Reader iPhone into your Firefox sidebar. The setup is a snap, and when you're done the simple, mobile-friendly iPhone interface loads perfectly and looks great in the Firefox sidebar. Add this one to the growing list of mobile apps that fit perfectly in your sidebar.

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Dear Lifehacker,
While I was surfing the web the other day I saw this incredible photograph which I stupidly didn't save to my computer. (No, it wasn't that kind of photograph.) Still, now I'm regretting not saving my own copy, because the picture is no longer available online. But if I viewed it in my browser, that means I did actually download it, right? If it's saved on my hard drive somewhere, how and where do I find it?
Signed,
Desperately Seeking Offline Photo

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You already know that Firefox is a superior web browser, but you still have to use Internet Explorer on a daily basis. Whether a stubborn IE-only web site or full-on IT lockdown keeps you from using Firefox, things aren't as bleak as they seem: You can cram many of Firefox's best features into the proprietary beast that is Internet Explorer. After the jump, find out how to add bookmark syncing, integrated spell-checking, session management, keyword bookmarks, ad blocking, inline search, undo-closed-tab functionality, and oh-so-much more to IE.

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An explosion of public beta releases of our favourite web browsers, operating systems, and webapps recently have made brave testers and curious early adopters very happy. Many of these betas appear fit for full-time use, but they all come with that obligatory disclaimer that things may break. Whether or not you're willing to test unstable software, here's a quick roundup of what's hot on the beta beat.

• Firefox 3 Beta 4 (direct link)
  Leaner, meaner, and much more polished than Firefox 2, Firefox 3 may be in beta, but its significantly reduced memory consumption and snappy performance makes it worth the risk of running it full-time. Remember, you can test the Firefox 3 beta safely using the portable version, and make your old extensions compatible with a few about:config tweaks.
  
• Mozilla Add-ons preview
  Along with Firefox 3, Mozilla's cooking up a new add-ons site that's cleaner, prettier and easier to use.
  
• Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 (direct link)
  Microsoft is still playing catch-up with Firefox in the features department, and Internet Explorer 8 is a step in that direction, with an interesting non-Firefox-like feature called "Web Slices," which monitors sections of web pages that change often, similar to Mac OS X Leopard's Dashboard's Web Clips.
  
• Ubuntu Linux 8.04 "Hardy Heron" Beta (direct link)
  The next version of Ubuntu Linux, named "Hardy Heron," is the basis for Ubuntu's next long term supported release. Check out our exclusive interview with Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth about Hardy Heron and how he gets things done.
  
• Bloglines Beta (direct link)
  Available at least since August of last year, the Bloglines Beta offers a drag and drop interface plus more customisable features. Question is, when does it become official?

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Firefox and Opera both offer keyword bookmark searches by default, and Internet Explorer users can have them too—with a little tweaking. The Productivity Portfolio weblog runs down how to set up custom keyword searches in IE using the previously mentioned TweakUI utility for Windows XP. Here are our favourite 15 keyword bookmark searches.

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Windows and Mac OS X: Apple releases a new version 3.1 of the Safari web browser which includes several stability and performance improvements, along with a couple new minor but useful features, most notably:

• Double clicking on the Tab Bar opens new tab
  
• Supports trackpad gestures for back, forward, and magnify on MacBook Air and compatible MacBook Pro computers

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Windows only: Microsoft has released the first public beta of Internet Explorer 8 for download by willing testers, which debuted this week at the Mix conference in Las Vegas. Intended for developers and designers only, IE8's most intriguing new feature so far is "Web Slices," which lets you monitor a single section of a web page, like an eBay auction (similar to Leopard's Web Clips.) Web developers will be excited about better standards compliance. I'm just downloading and installing IE8 myself, so no word yet on anything else exciting (perhaps better tab support, MS? Pretty please?) Check out some setup screens, including a Firefox settings import wizard that detects your 'fox extensions, after the jump.

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