TUAW reader Eric F sent in a note letting us know that "Safari Adblock allows you to watch Hulu programming completely commercial free!" I gave it a try. I downloaded a copy of Adblock from its SourceForge repository, installed it, activated it, and fired up Hulu. A nearly complete episode of Buffy later, I can confirm that I wasn't shown commercials.

I haven't give this enough of a test obviously, to be able to say decisively one way or another -- especially since I don't regularly use Hulu -- but the news is promising enough that I thought I'd share. Let us know in the comments if this solution works for you.

This was included in WebKit builds beginning several years ago, apparently, but is something I recently stumbled upon. Historically, Safari has been pretty insistent on making sure web page form fields (like drop-down menus and buttons) retain the Aqua look-and-feel. Web designers, on the other hand, have gotten used to choosing colors and font sizes for those controls, so they fit in with their site's design.

Hopefully everyone can now be happy: Safari 3 allows web designers to style form controls with CSS. The results are pictured: instead of a glossy, Aqua-like control, Safari displays a matte-finish control in the color and size of your choosing. You can even apply background images to form controls. If you don't apply styles to your controls, then Safari retains the Aqua look.

This shouldn't require any changes to code that's already written for other browsers: Safari 3 should pick right up on the formatting, and display it as the designer intended. It does, however, open up WebKit-specific CSS to your form controls.

Despite the recent uproar over Apple's debatably dubious tactic of installing Safari on PCs via Software Update, as an "upgrade" to software users didn't have, the tactic seems to have worked. Usage of the Windows version of the browser has tripled since the 3.1 update, per Apple 2.0's report, growing from 0.07% to 0.21% during March and April.

We're hoping that Safari usage continues to expand, but perhaps without the Software Update shenanigans (and the UI for updates on the Windows side has been revised to reduce the likelihood of accidental Safariage). CSS compatibility and speed put Safari in a class to compete with Firefox on both Mac and PC platforms. Of course, those all-important features don't determine marketshare; being bundled with Windows installs seems to do the trick, though (see Internet Explorer). We have our doubts that Microsoft is going to incorporate Safari into its bundling plans any time soon.

[via MacNN]

There's been some talk about PayPal blocking Safari from using its services, and I'm among those concerned about it... even if only from a convenience standpoint. Originally the news was gleaned from statements by PayPal Chief Information Security Officer Michael Barrett regarding browsers without phishing protection -- which most assumed included our beloved Webkit-based compass. But in a brief addendum to a post at the Wall Street Journal last week it was reported that -- while Paypal will be blocking older browsers (IE4-era) and older operating systems -- Safari is safe from the cut.

I'm relieved, at least from the previously mentioned convenience standpoint. I prefer Safari as my surfing browser¹ and I frequently use PayPal. It's too bad that there are still a good number of sites that, while not blocking Safari, just plain don't work with it yet. Add to that some of the great plugins available for Flock/Firefox and you'll almost always find me with multiple browsers open. In much the way that the iPhone is preventing Gargoylism* by consolidating peripherals, I'm hoping for a day when I open just one browser in the morning. I'm getting a little teary-eyed thinking about it.

¹Since I know it will be bandied about in the comments, I'd like to offer these reasons for preferring Safari: It's faster (in general). It's more elegant (or prettier, either way it's subjective). It's AppleScriptable (which I make daily use of). And it's more elegant (redundant, but worth mentioning again).

Last month, Apple pushed Safari 3.1 out to Windows users via an iTunes update with ambiguous language and installation options. The response was not pretty. Like many other users, I was bothered by the practice (and made it clear during that week's talkcast) and hoped Apple would do a better job to differentiate between updates and new or additional software in the future.

Well, it appears that Apple has listened to the feedback an adjusted the way Software Update notifies Windows users or new software. Now, instead of just showing optional software in the same column as updates, Apple has added a seconded column labeled "New Software" (see below).

Safari 3.1.1 is now available for both Windows and OS X. According to Apple, this update "includes improvements to stability, compatibility and security."

On the security front, this security bulletin outlines the changes. It appears as if a vulnerability existed that could allow malicious sites to spoof URL headers or execute arbitrary code. There are two issues that specifically affect the Windows version of Safari, so users on both platforms should be sure to update.

Just a reminder -- some plugins, like Saft, will stop working after installing the update. Visit the plugin author's homepage to download the newest versions as they become available.

Thanks Ben!

In the rather rarefied atmosphere of web standards compliance, the Acid3 suite of browser tests is like a pro wrestler's chair to the back of the head: if you can take it and keep standing, that's very impressive. The Acid3 suite, first released at the beginning of this month, pushes browsers to the very edges of their rendering, SVG, CSS and DOM scripting capabilities -- all necessary for a consistent and interoperable Web 2.0 experience.

As with the earlier Acid2 test, there's been a bit of a horserace among browser development teams to be the first to the finish line with Acid3, including the WebKit squad responsible for Safari's underlying engine; Acid3 dev Ian Hickson gives major props to Apple and the WebKit devs on his blog, including efforts to clear bugs in the test suite itself (he had to work quite hard to find standards compliance issues in WebKit). On Wednesday evening, both the Opera and WebKit teams declared a 100% score -- not a full pass, as there are minor issues to clean up, but nevertheless the test looks like it should. With the Mac nightly build of WebKit available for download, you too can feel the power of this fully operational web standards battle station.

[A quick clarification: While both Opera and WebKit have claimed 100% on Acid3, only one of the browsers -- WebKit -- has a publicly downloadable version right now that can make that score. Opera's build won't be released for another week or so.]

Thanks Adam

The news that Apple has stealthily included Safari in its Software Updater bounced all over the Mac blogosphere today, and earned cheers and jeers (well, mostly jeers). Here's a quick roundup.

• The most attention probably comes from John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla, who unequivocally calls the decision "wrong," and says that doing something other than "updating" with an "updater" betrays the public trust.
• Darby Lines at The Angry Drunk says that the whole matter is just plain "whining" and that Apple is hardly forcing the software on anyone, especially considering that there's a checkbox right next to the name of it. And it's not like, as many people have said, installing Safari on a PC is actually a bad move.
• The Inquirer actually makes a worthwhile joke: "Some iTunes users report that the box to sign up for Safari appears pre-ticked." At least we think that's a joke -- you'd only say Apple was "targeting" and "hijacking" Windows users if you were joking, right?
• Microsoft Watch calls the program a "rogue updater," while Paul Mison fisks them pretty completely and shows that even if Apple did somehow hurt the computers by installing a reasonable, standards-compliant browser, Microsoft has done much, much worse.

So what's the deal overall? As we said earlier, Jobs very plainly told us this was going to happen, and though, yes, users who don't pay attention may end up with extra software, it's extremely easy to not install the software. While a warning might have been nice, Apple isn't really outside its bounds here, so it's unlikely that they'll change it anyway.

The only real result is that users, whether PC or Mac, are reminded once again to pay attention to what they're clicking on. It's unexpected that Apple would be the company to remind us of that, but it's as true as ever.

Are you a browser fiend? The sort of person who loves Safari, yet can't quite live with some of its peculiarities? If you hadn't guessed, I certainly am one of those people. I love the speed and simplicity of Safari, but it never worked as well as (say) Camino, particularly when it came to persuading links from the likes of Gmail to open in the same window. No number of SIMBL hacks (yes, hacks) seemed to persuade Safari to open links in the existing window - driving me away from Safari, and instead swear by Camino.

But that's about to change, as Apple has added a hidden preference to Safari 3.1 that allows you to tell Safari to stick to one window. Even in Gmail. Tipster Dennis Stevense, explains in a blog post that through a simple Terminal command, true one-window mode is finally, finally, here for Safari. All you need to enter is the command below into Terminal, hit enter, and you're sorted.

defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true

Thanks Dennis!

Update: If you want to reverse the change, it's a simple matter of entering the following into Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool false

If you run iTunes or QuickTime on your Windows PC, but not Safari, you might have seen an uninvited guest show up in the Apple Software Update earlier this week. Yes, Apple thinks you need yet another browser. They tried to slip the new Safari 3.1 in for iTunes owners, a move that has some Windows users up in arms.

Cybernet reminds us that this wasn't quite unexpected -- Steve did say that Apple had made inroads on Windows with iTunes, and that they planned to use those inroads to send Safari around. The only problem is that, while yes, the button and the text do say "Install," the program is usually used for "updating" software, and so getting new software with the deal wasn't something a lot of users expected. And users who don't do anything but the default (I can guarantee you that, since I bought my mother an iPod for Christmas, my parents now have Safari 3.1 installed on their PC, despite the fact that they still aren't quite sure how that Firefox I installed for them works), are basically getting software they didn't plan to have.

Sneaky unwanted software scheme, or just a not-so-subtle hint to Windows users that they could be using a better browser? You decide. I just know that I'm going to be paying a little closer attention to exactly what my Software "Update" is updating (or "installing") from now on.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

In keeping with the 2008 tradition of Tuesday morning updates, Apple released Safari 3.1 today for both OS X and Windows -- marking the transition out of beta status for the Windows build. At 143MB (for the Leopard version, at least), there's a lot of changes, including

• Improved JavaScript performance
• Standards support, including CSS 3 web fonts, HTML 5 video and audio elements, and SVG advanced text
• Developer benefits like editing CSS in the Web Inspector
• Caps lock alert in password fields (Yay!)

There's much more, of course, and you can read the full change log here. Note that installation requires a restart. Apple's page describes Safari as "the world's fastest browser," but of course your mileage may vary.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

I've seen some very convincing PayPal phishing sites in recent years. I've also worried many times that friends and relatives less savvy in the ways of the phisher may inadvertently hand off a password or two and blame me – the one who talked them into a PayPal account to begin with – for the draining of their life savings. Thankfully PayPal shares my concern for said friends and family members and has published a guide to "Safer Browsers." Apple's Safari web browser, however, was not included in the list of recommended browsers.

This is not all that surprising, at least to anyone who's followed Safari security concerns. Despite having improved in certain areas, such as IDN spoofing, Safari still lacks some fundamental security features found in Internet Explorer (7+), Firefox and Opera. Features such as Extended Validation certificates are heavily promoted by PayPal, despite the warnings of critics who feel that many targets of phishing scams don't notice the green background in the URL field until it's too late -- if at all. Plugins like Saft do their bit, adding a few security features too. But until Safari catches up with IE and Firefox in the area of security, it's not likely that PayPal's list is going to include the otherwise spectacular browser.

[via Macworld]

The world of Safari plug-ins has a sparse and somewhat barren landscape; however, sometimes you run into some plug-ins that are must-haves. Keywurl is one such Safari plug-in. Keywurl adds the ability for Safari to do keyword searching just like Firefox does -- which will end up saving you time.

You can assign specific keyword searches in the Safari preferences. So for instance, if I wanted to search for "Steve Jobs" on Wikipedia, then I would type "wiki Steve Jobs" in Safari's address bar; the query would then be sent to Wikipedia, where it would be parsed in a search and the wiki page displayed.

For those of you that use tabbed browsing in Safari, you know how frustrating it can be when you accidentally close a window full of tabs. Well, if you are using Safari 3 you can get that window back, along with all of the tabs. When you accidentally close a window full of tabs, just click "History" in the menu bar and select "Reopen Last Closed Window." You can also use "Reopen All Windows From Last Session" if you accidentally closed Safari and need to get all of your windows and tabs back after re-launching Safari.

iPods are great. They allow you to take your complete music library on-the-go, along with some iPod games, and movies. But what if you are in the middle of reading, say, your favorite blog (you know, us), and you want to go somewhere? Well, you certainly don't have to stop reading! I am going to show you how to use Automator to create a workflow that gets the current text from Safari and syncs it to your iPod as a new note.

Continue reading to learn how.