Mozilla Developers Center has announced last month that Firefox 3 Beta is now available for download.

New features and changes in this milestone that require feedback include:

• Improved security features such as: protection from cross-site JSON data leaks, tighter restrictions on site-specific content using effective TLD service, better presentation of website identity and security, malware protection, stricter SSL error pages, anti-virus integration in the download manager, version checking for insecure plugins.
• Improved ease of use through: better password management, easier add-on installation, new download manager with resumable downloading, full page zoom, animated tab strip, and better integration with Windows Vista, Mac OS X and Linux.
• Richer personalization through: one-click bookmarking, smart bookmark folders, location bar that matches against your history and bookmarks for URLs and page titles, ability to register web applications as protocol handlers, and better customization of download actions for file types.
• Improved platform features such as: new graphics and font rendering architecture, JavaScript 1.8, major changes to the HTML rendering engine to provide better CSS, float-, and table layout support, native web page form controls, colour profile management, and offline application support.
• Performance improvements such as: better data reliability for user profiles, architectural improvements to speed up page rendering, over 330 memory leak fixes, a new XPCOM cycle collector to reduce entire classes of leaks, and reductions in the memory footprint.

(You can find out more about all of these features in the “What’s New” section of the release notes.)

I love this time of the year, it’s my birthday and the winter holidays, but the downside is — everyone around me are breaking their heads thinking what to buy me. Well, let’s face it, finding an original birthday gift is a pain, but what can be better than giving someone a painting made from photo? This gift will suit anyone, just take a look at their gallery here, and you will see that it’s both original, suitable for all ages and at the same time — classical present that will stay for many many years on one’s wall. The best part is, you can order paintings from photo in various artistic styles, — water colour, paster, pencil sketch, charcoal or just oil. If you ask me, it’s splendid, I got a charcoal picture of my face, made from a photo, and it was a really astonishing present…

Okay, put everything aside, forget about what you were planning to do, because I am excited to tell you about the 2007 Photograph of the Year Contest! The site which most photographers probably already know, PhotographyCorner, are running their 2nd annual Photograph of the Year contest featuring 12 sponsors with over $20,000 value in prizes. Most of the prizes are SmugMug related (they are sponsoring the whole thing, among others), however, if you get to win the first place, you will be a bunch of goodies with a total value of $5,000.

This includes a Lifetime Pro account courtesy of SmugMug, $200 Visa Gift Card + $250 Gift Certificate courtesy of PsPrint, a copy of Photoshop Trio (which costs somewhere around $500, I think), Photoshop Plug-in Suite, Lensbaby 3G and tons more prizes! This is only the first place, 2nd to 6th place, as well as the honored award all get spoiled very nicely by the sponsored so one thing is sure — you got to give it a shot. I can’t participate this ear because I doubt I will meet any basic criteria with my crappy camera and lack of any talent when it comes to taking artistic shots, but you sure have more skills than me, and should not pass the chance of winning something nice.

You can find more information and updates about the contest on Photography Corner Blog official blog.

With all the absolutely unhealthy fuss around the iPods sales and purchases, sometimes it amazes me how people are ready to spend so much money on this nice little “toy” and never buy any of the cheap and easy to get ipod accessories that protect your iPod from falling and crashing. I mean we do drop them occasionally, it just happens, why not to spend additional few dollars (and iPod full cover shields cost even below $20!) on a little protection? So, if you want to prolong your little iPod’s life, look at what pdostore.com has to offer, from what I could see, this store has the biggest and most comprehensive variety of the required gears to protect your “i”.

I always wondered, when one decides to travel to Europe, is there really a big difference between the cheap hotels across the countries? I mean, if price is a factor, does it really matter weather you stay in London Hotels, or Berlin Hotels, or even Paris Hotels? If you pay a cheap price and your aim is to see the city, it doesn’t really matter where to sleep and how, after all you only need the hotel for sleeping and not for staying there the whole day, so I personally think it doesn’t matter weather you stay in fancy London Hotel or one of the cheap Barcelona Hotels — you will still enjoy your trip, regardless the season, destination or accommodation. Most important is — who you are traveling with!

As someone who has always has a nice PC at home, I always envied the Mac users. Macs are just sleeker, better, more convenient and overall last longer. The only disadvantage of Mac is the price, which I believe hold some people back from getting Mac, however, if macs are expensive in your local malls, does not mean you cannot afford a used mac. You will not get the experience of unpacking a bland new one, but you also would not need to pay a fortune for it, right?

After this dawn on me, I did a little research online and found DV Warehouse — a place that specializes in used Macs and fulfills a need within the Apple community for a single source for used Mac and used Macintosh computers parts. Basically you can find whole and ready to use computers as well as iBooks, monitors, or just Apple parts that will replace the broken ones in your existing computer. Shopping for second-hand parts can save you up to 50% and even 75% off of new and used Mac equipment prices so if you give it a try, you can enjoy using a great Apply product for a ridicules price. Like I always say, why to pay a double price in your local store when you can order goods from overseas and still get them to your door cheaper!

It seems that the Xmas spirit affect everyone around and every online store rushes into giving additional discounts and good prices. Our sponsors, who sell Hunting Boots online are offering free shipping on orders over $100 inside the country, however, whats special about this deal is that it’s valid throughout the entire year, and we all know that hunting is not only for the holidays times! Moreover, if you decide to shop for Hunting Boots online with their store, you will enjoy their very low prices and their great customer service that is available by phone, email and even chat!

Today everyone who runs a business, be it a tiny online organization or a huge offline corporation — everyone has a business card he can present upon meeting new potential clients or customers. Some of you might think that printing business cards is a needless expense that won’t pay out (after all, you don’t actually get anything off this investment) but this is a wrong thinking. Business card, just like your website, company’s office or your own outfit, reflects your business. If you are serious about your company, you would invest in printing high quality, custom designed business cards to show any potential client your “business face”.

The good news are, it’s not as expensive as you might think. Our today’s review sponsors — 1to1postcards.com, offer business cards design and printing at very affordable prices that would buit any budget. For instance, printing 250 cards would cost you only $22.22, this turns to be 8 cents per card. Surely you can give a potential customer a 8 cent card and leave a good impression, don’t say it’s not worth it! For more details, please visit 1to1postcards.com and see their full pricing offer. You can upload your business card design directly online and place an order for printing, so their website is quite convenient and fast, let alone has a very pleasant interface and is easy to use.