The developer of
iCab Mobile, a feature-rich alternative to the Safari Web browser on iPad and iPhone, has been
ordered by Apple to remove its ability to download and install JavaScript modules.
Presumably it's not the fact that iCab
can execute JavaScript that's causing Apple to apoplectically puff and splutter, but rather its ability to download modules. Both Apple and Google frown upon apps that contain
market-like functionality, and someone at Apple probably thought that iCab's JavaScript modules looked like a bit too much like discrete apps.
Alexander Clauss, iCab's developer, has rather a lot to say on the matter. "Maybe if I would have called the modules 'smart bookmarks' and would have made installing them much more complicated, Apple would have never asked to remove the ability to download them from the internet. The great user experience of installing modules has probably created a suspicion that these modules are more than just a piece of JavaScript code. From a pure technical point of view, if Apple does not allow to download modules (JavaScript code), Apple would also have to disallow to load web pages in general, because these do also contain JavaScript code."
In conclusion, to circumvent Apple's draconian decree, iCab Mobile now simply comes bundled with some 20 JavaScript modules. The ability to download modules made by third-party developers has been disabled, however -- but even then, Clauss says that you can simply contact him and ask for your module to be bundled with the next version of iCab.
Download iCab Mobile for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch ($1.99)
Apple orders iCab iOS browser to cripple JavaScript modules originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/08/apple-orders-icab-ios-browser-to-cripple-javascript-modules/
Radha Mitchell Raquel Alessi Rebecca Mader Rebecca Romijn Reese Witherspoon
Just in time to throw a wrench into people's wireless shopping plans, Verizon has announced that their much-vaunted 4G LTE network is experiencing a few hiccups. And by hiccups, I mean that their 4G network is currently undergoing a widespread outage that's affecting customers across the country. According to a recent release, "Verizon Wireless engineers have been working to resolve an issue with 4G LTE service that is affecting some customers? 4G devices," and that "3G data and voice devices are unaffected." However, that doesn't exactly seem to be the case for everyone affected: reports are floating around on blogs and Verizon's customer forums that some people are without so much as a 3G or 1X connection. Stranger still, some customers are completely fine with everything working as it should. 
