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Axis, Yahoo's New Browser

Posted by samzenpus on from the new-kid-on-the-block dept.

markjhood2003 writes "Fresh on the heels of Slashdot's discussion of the lack of browser choice on mobile devices comes the announcement of Yahoo's new web browser Axis. According to VentureBeat, the browser runs on iPad and iPhone as a separate standalone browser and as an extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, with support for Android and Windows Phone coming soon. It actually appears to bring some innovation to mobile search, displaying results and queries on the same page for more productive navigation between the two."

48 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. That is cool, but... by bonch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That search result display is actually really cool. I'd love to see that in other browsers (including desktop browsers). The problem is Yahoo's track record is poor when it comes to updating their products. For instance, Yahoo Mail is embarrassingly behind other web mail services. If Yahoo treats this like they treat their other products, I can't help wondering if it will just become another obsolete Yahoo thing.

    1. Re:That is cool, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      someone didn't take her meds today

    2. Re:That is cool, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      keyboard shortcuts (something Gmail doesn't support at all)

      http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6594

      tabs on the interface, so I can have several messages composing at once (again, no such thing in Gmail)

      Click the button in the upper-right to detach the "Compose Mail" dialog into a new window, then click "Compose Mail" again and voila, you will be composing two messages simultaneously.

      folders (very important for me, very useful, and not present at all in Gmail)

      Labels are strictly more powerful than folders especially now that gmail has nested labels: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2011/06/superstars-and-nested-labels-now.html.

      Spend at least 5 seconds googling, or, umm, yahooing, before complaining.

    3. Re:That is cool, but... by DMUTPeregrine · · Score: 5, Informative

      Gmail aliases are unlimited. Not just 500. If you are more paranoid than average you can use a second address set to auto-forward as the base. That makes it take about as much setup as Yahoo's version.
      Gmail has keyboard shortcuts.
      Yahoo!'s storage space isn't unlimited, they just don't tell you the cap.
      You can detach the "compose mail" dialog to a separate window. You can make as many windows as you wish (or until you window manager/browser crashes.)
      If you only use one label per message then labels are identical to folders. Otherwise they have a strict superset of folder functionality (a message can have >1 label, but can only be in 1 folder.)

      What, exactly, does Yahoo! have that Gmail doesn't have? Other! Than! Excessive! Punctuation!

      --
      Not a sentence!
    4. Re:That is cool, but... by ThatsMyNick · · Score: 2

      I still use Yahoo email too, though its not my primary one. The only place I find yahoo lacking is in spam detection. I have seen legitimate mail classified as spam and spam making it to the inbox. This has never happened with Gmail (in the last one year, I cannot recollect this happening even once). I understand your preference for the Yahoo Interface and its unlimited Storage. Everything else, though, is available in Gmail. Gmail does support keyboard shortcuts (this might be part of the "Gmail labs" features though, I am not sure). Gmail calls Folders as Labels. I find labels more useful as I can tag the same email under multiple labels. You can create unlimited spam decoys in Gmail too, just use "youremailid+arandomstring@gmail.com"

    5. Re:That is cool, but... by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You can create unlimited spam decoys in Gmail too, just use "youremailid+arandomstring@gmail.com"

      This feature is worthless as a spam decoy strategy, as anyone can use it to find your real address. I would be amazed if spammers don't already strip off the "+whatever" from gmail addresses, and those that don't would certainly start if any appreciable number of people used it. It's got its uses, but spam prevention isn't among them.

      I wonder why Google hasn't stepped up to supply actual disposable email addresses yet. It doesn't seem like a difficult feature to add, and would have a lot of value to their users.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    6. Re:That is cool, but... by Cinder6 · · Score: 2

      Not to mention a lot of sites "helpfully" say that your +whatever address is invalid.

      --
      If you can't convince them, convict them.
    7. Re:That is cool, but... by galaad2 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What, exactly, does Yahoo! have that Gmail doesn't have? Other! Than! Excessive! Punctuation!

      well, there's one thing: yahoo mail has stupid and obnoxious graphical ads, sometimes with flash&sound and sometimes the ads expand to fill the page if you accidentally mouse over them (happened to me a month ago when i was installing a new computer and i didn't had time to install AdBlock Plus. ABP was the first thing i installed after that).

      Gmail only has text ads and those are not even remotely as annoying as the crap that yahoo shows.

      --
      root@127.0.0.1
    8. Re:That is cool, but... by galaad2 · · Score: 5, Informative

      This feature is worthless as a spam decoy strategy, as anyone can use it to find your real address. I would be amazed if spammers don't already strip off the "+whatever" from gmail addresses,
      [...]
      I wonder why Google hasn't stepped up to supply actual disposable email addresses yet

      oh, but they do have that but it's a bit hidden and it's only available via Apps for hosted domains. (even free apps has it).
      The way to set this up is to host your domain (or at least the mail receiving functions of it) with Google Apps and then you can set up the email service to accept wildcard emails, *@your-domain-hosted-on-google-apps_dot_anything.

      Now whenever you give out an address just invent one on the spot @your domain and it will be valid. I do this and i got into the habit of throwing a date stamp and the name of whoever it is for into the email address itself so that if i start receiving spam for that address i know who leaked it and when they were assigned that address. Such an address usually looks like: mail-for-my-name-from-slashdot-org-20120524@example.com

      And since my domain is set up at Gmail with a wildcard catch-all address, that will be routed to my actual mailbox (only if it passes Gmail spam filtering tests).

      --
      root@127.0.0.1
    9. Re:That is cool, but... by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe...yahoo mail users LIKE the current UI? The damned "everything is a chat" crap in Gmail is why i only use it for places like this (where the most I will be talking to someone is a single reply and i don't care about spam) while i use my yahoo for family and friends precisely BECAUSE of the UI. Thanks to its classic folders design i can have my mail nicely sorted just the way I like with a minimum of hassle and the same can be said of my customers.

      BTW here is something that will bake the noodles of the geeks here, you know what from working on PCs 6 days a week i've found to be the most popular home page by a loooong shot? Yahoo.com, that's right, the web portal page that so many of us hate. The reason why is it has replaced the traditional paper for most folks, hell I even installed a separate browser just for my GF so when she is staying the weekend she can have everything just like at home, with all her bookmarks and her Yahoo portal. She has her little morning ritual where she opens the portal, glances through the headlines, checks her mail before moving on to her FB games.

      So frankly I'd say the problem is NOT the mail or the portal at Yahoo and if I were in charge, hell if anybody that had a brain were in charge they could turn it around. How? Advertise. Playing around with the portal i found there is a ton of neat stuff there that frankly most don't know anything about. anybody try yahoo games? they have a ton of time wasters. they have got sports, comedy, a ton of really nice stuff, its just hidden way down on the far left bar in small print. That is STUPID. they should be highlighting a different one on the portal each week and making them easy to see and showing people how to get to them.

      They have all the right pieces there, they just need someone to show them how to market all this stuff to the masses and build some buzz. Like I said my GF starts with the portal every morning and even she didn't know they offered a ton of free games, but now that i have showed her where they are she and her GFs all have a blast playing all the little flash games. just advertise Yahoo, show folks what you have.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    10. Re:That is cool, but... by Kalriath · · Score: 4, Informative

      They should. The RFC says so.

      --
      For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
    11. Re:That is cool, but... by galaad2 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I do that, but it is limited in its usefulness because there is not a simple way of then killing off one of those addresses that you have made up on the spot. Eventually if spam to all these made up addresses becomes a problem, you have to turn off the catch-all address to stop the spam coming through. Which then means you have to actually set up another account or group in Google Apps each time you want an extra address, which is a lot less quick and easy.

      point taken but i don't usually give such an address to any site. I use mailinator.com / bugmenot.com for random junk like reading nytimes.com or stuff like that.

      The Gmail wildcard is useful for sites you want to receive stuff from but these sites are not trusted/appreciated enough to give them a proper email address. Also, in order not to fill up my main email account, i have a separate, dedicated account@my domain and that one is the target of the wildcard, not my main account.
      To access that quickly, I set up account access delegation rights between the wildcard-reception account and my main account.

      If one of the made-up addresses starts receiving spam i can always set a filter to delete that email as soon as it arrives (usually i just filter it with a label for sending to spamcop) and (usually) the owner of the site it was initially intended for will get a spam & abuse complaint sent on all contact email addresses i can find (via whois and their site)

      --
      root@127.0.0.1
    12. Re:That is cool, but... by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Why? What does it offer that Yahoo doesn't? my GF loves her yahoo Portal because even when she is staying with me its set to her home town (she had to move an hour and a half away to take care of her dad after a heart attack) so that she gets all her local headlines, it has her games and her email, like I said to her and many like her it has replaced the morning paper.

      So I don't even see a point in trying iGoogle and frankly after their changes in their privacy terms (and the whole pushing of more social crap) I'm frankly leery of using Google any more than I have to. besides it isn't like my GF would ever give up her FB for Google+ and with Yahoo it seems to play nice with FB (you can even log in with FB if you like) and between those two sites she is happy. And if there is one thing I have learned friend its that when your woman is happy? Do NOT rock the boat!

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    13. Re:That is cool, but... by Ambvai · · Score: 2

      The last oracle I spoke to said: "For a good time engrave `Elbereth'."

    14. Re:That is cool, but... by RealTime · · Score: 2

      I do that, but it is limited in its usefulness because there is not a simple way of then killing off one of those addresses that you have made up on the spot.

      • 1) Navigate to "The Gear" > Settings > Filters > Create a new filter .
      • 2) Put the disposable, made-up email address in the To field of the form.
      • 3) Select Create filter with this search . (Check the correctness of the filter via the search results that appear.)
      • 4) Select the Delete it checkbox (and maybe some others, such as Mark as read ...).
      • 5) Select the Create filter button.

      You will no longer see any more of the emails from that disposable made-up email address. Enjoy!

      --

      Yesterday it worked; today it is not working; Windows is like that...

    15. Re:That is cool, but... by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      One thing is for sure, they fail at security when it comes to this thing when you consider they have already had to disable the Chrome extension because it leaked its private cert. While i prefer yahoo for my email...geez, you think they would have done a little beta testing before passing this thing out. Hell according to CNet the ToS is a fricking placeholder!

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    16. Re:That is cool, but... by anti-pop-frustration · · Score: 2

      I too, like the Yahoo Mail UI (and use it), however:

      - pop3 access is for paying customers only ("free" pop3 servers are only accessible through ip assigned to mobile networks)
      - if you use their "forward" option to forward your mail to another address, then you can't use pop3 anymore (true story)
      - No Imap option *even for paying customers*
      - Unlike Gmail, Yahoo doesn't warn you if somebody logs in to your webmail from an unusual ip, they also don't offer anything like a list of recent login ip.
      - And worst of it all: Yahoo still doesn't offer https. They only offer https login, which is a joke security wise, as sessions can be hijack with something as trivial as a browser plug in.

      I could swallow a few things, like no imap which is only a sign of how technically obsolete Yahoo mail is, but the inadequate level of security is really Yahoo taking a giant shit on the head of their users.

    17. Re:That is cool, but... by Roujo · · Score: 2

      You can Archive messages in Gmail, which removes them from your Inbox. Regarding Labels, you can either add a label to a message in your inbox, which simply tags it, or you can use the Move To option to tag it and remove it from your Inbox. The More You Know. =)

    18. Re:That is cool, but... by ThunderBird89 · · Score: 2

      But hey, use what you like, just don't make stuff up to justify it

      Hey, I listed completely, totally subjective points (IMHO). Maybe I didn't tag them as "In my opinion", but they are. Like I said, I like Gmail too, for its strong integration mainly, but I use Yahoo because I find it better for me.

      --
      Hyperbole: I use it liberally!
    19. Re:That is cool, but... by hobarrera · · Score: 3

      folders (very important for me, very useful, and not present at all in Gmail)

      Labels are strictly more powerful than folders especially now that gmail has nested labels: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2011/06/superstars-and-nested-labels-now.html.

      Spend at least 5 seconds googling, or, umm, yahooing, before complaining.

      Those "smart tags" make gmail a pain to use over IMAP, since you have lots of autogenerated folders, and deleting an email won't delete it, and moving it sometimes copies, sometimes moves. It's really a pain if you use any client which is not their own.

  2. Huh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    So Yahoo! is still making stuff, that's good to see. You can't fault them for trying to stay relevant.

    Unfortunately I tried to download it and got redirected to... I'm not kidding... /null

    Can we get a collective, "doh!"

    1. Re:Huh... by Richard_at_work · · Score: 5, Interesting

      What's worse is that Yahoo have accidentally included their private signing key inside the Chrome extension, meaning anyone can now sign Chrome extensions as Yahoo....

  3. What's it for? by bit+trollent · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is Axis the web browser for when you want the internet to fail, a shell of its former self?

    1. Re:What's it for? by interkin3tic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I too was wondering what it's for. From the link: "Yahoo! Axis offers a faster, smarter search with instant answers and visual search previews."

      ... why do I need a new BROWSER for that? Google image search takes one extra tap. And the search engine in question is of course yahoo. I made the switch away from Yahoo a long time ago for better search engines. Don't really see a reason to go back: google is working fine. Is Yahoo going to respect my privacy more than google is? Because that's the one reason I could see for switching, but if they're not saying that to begin with...

      There is nothing else on the site save two ads. Anyone have a list of features this thing is supposed to have?

  4. The Chrome Extension Leaks Yahoo Private Certifice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://nikcub.appspot.com/posts/yahoo-axis-chrome-extension-leaks-private-certificate-file

  5. Yo dog by Osgeld · · Score: 5, Funny

    I heard you like browsers, heres a browser that runs in a browser.

    Pimp it!

    1. Re:Yo dog by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yo dog, i heard you like browsers, so we gonna put a browser inside your browser so you can browse while you browse.

      FTFY

  6. Private Certificate File in Chrome Extension by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Nik Cubrilovic discovered that a private certificate file was left in the chrome extension source files:

    http://nikcub.appspot.com/posts/yahoo-axis-chrome-extension-leaks-private-certificate-file

    1. Re:Private Certificate File in Chrome Extension by humanrev · · Score: 2

      Fucking amateurs. Seriously?

      --
      Most people on Slashdot are fucking idiots.
  7. The Axis? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will this new browser only be available in Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Finland?

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  8. oh I get it by slashmydots · · Score: 4, Funny

    Their market research division apparently found out that people want a slower browsing experience that uses more data and takes up more of the screen. Oh, and it looks like they also determine that and a non-unique and thus totally SEO dead zone name "Axis" with Hitler and communism ties that can also be in the title of dozens of games and apps, making it app store camouflage, is the way to go. Good job! I hope it works out as well as the Facebook IPO.

  9. Release Code Names by reluctantjoiner · · Score: 3, Funny

    Barbarossa, Sea Lion, The Rommel and maybe Mussolini for the Beta release?

    (I didn't realise Finland was an Axis power; I thought it's fame in The War was due to being the only country simultaneously at war with both Ivan and Gerry.)

    --
    Plan My Week for iPhone
  10. Anyone else excited? by Lord_of_the_nerf · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm super excited that this relevant and forward thinking company is releasing a browser that will make me forget about using any other browser.

    - Me from 1996

  11. Axis powers by GoingDown · · Score: 2

    Finland was not actually part of Axis - at least not fully. They fought with German against Russia, and they received quite significant help from German though.

    "Co-belligerents

    Various countries fought side by side with the Axis powers for a common cause. These countries were not signatories of the Tripartite Pact and thus not formal members of the Axis."

    Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_powers

  12. I got an error by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 2

    When I clicked on the yellow "Get it now! DESKTOP" icon at the upper right hand site, yahoo sent me to a null pointer

    http://axis.yahoo.com/null

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:I got an error by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 2

      It appears to work now for me on Firefox, but don't bother. The rendering engine couldn't really keep up with the script's demands, and it puts a rather inelegant-looking bar at the bottom of every window. Personally, I'm just going to stick with Google's preview feature.

      --
      Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
  13. How is this a browser? by Pfhorrest · · Score: 2

    The video on Yahoo's site talks all about all kinds of search features which all sound perfectly interesting as features of a search site.

    But how exactly is it a browser? Or, I suppose, why? Everything it says it does could be done in a site accessible from any browser. Did they just decide to package the site in a stand-alone application because... someone doesn't understand the difference between a site you view in a browser (albeit a site you use to find other sites), and the browser itself which accesses and renders those sites?

    --
    -Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
    "I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
    1. Re:How is this a browser? by Cinder6 · · Score: 2

      Not entirely sure why either, but it actually is pretty cool on my iPhone. It's missing a couple things, though, such as tap top to zoom to the top of the page, and I'm not sure I can live without Reader. Other than that, it's a very nice way to search on a phone, and I'm surprised to be saying that.

      On the desktop, though, it's bundled as an awkward browser extension that seemed to vanish as soon as I closed the Safari tab, and the Chrome extension has a big security issue (probably all versions of the extension, but I haven't bothered to check). But the main reason it's less relevant on the desktop is that I can simply middle click search results and open them--completely--in other tabs while I'm scrolling more results.

      Then there's the issue that it uses Yahoo and not Google (which should be obvious to anyone with half a brain cell). I'm sure Yahoo's results are fine once you have a feel for how the search engine works, but I've gotten used to searching on Google, and certain things just don't bring up the results I expect. For instance, "kindle touch update" in Axis didn't bring up the most relevant page of all, which is the Amazon page for Kindle Touch updates. Instead, it showed me old articles for the 5.0.3 update, which isn't very helpful.

      All in all, I hope that it either sees a lot of refinement, or that Apple and Google shamelessly steal its ideas.

      --
      If you can't convince them, convict them.
  14. This can't be a browser due the Apple Store by Skuto · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As covered in the article about mobile browser choice yesterday, just by virtue of being on the Apple Store this cannot be a real browser in any significant meaning of the word. So saying it's a "separate standalone browser" is just a flagrant lie. At best it's a shell around the existing WebKit/Safari browser on those devices.

    Given that it's also listed as an "extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari", what is this really? Yet another privacy-invasion toolbar? :(

    1. Re:This can't be a browser due the Apple Store by l-ascorbic · · Score: 2

      The fact it uses the WebKit rendering engine doesn't mean it's not a browser, or that it's just a shell around Safari. And aren't all browsers just shells around a rendering engine? Loads of different browsers use WebKit. The main reason Google won't release Chrome for iOS is that they can't use V8, their JavaScript engine. Most of their WebKit customisations are available in Apple's implementation too. so, yes, it is a separate standalone browser. Install the app and see for yourself.

    2. Re:This can't be a browser due the Apple Store by Rennt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I believe the point is that if it is sold on the App Store we know it cannot be a stand alone browser by virtue of Apple's store policy.

  15. I fucked up !! by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Help, I fucked up !!

    I installed that "yahoo browser" while browsing on Chrome

    Now I got a butt ugly shitty thing floating at the lower left hand corner on my screen !!

    How do I get rid of that "yahoo browser" ???

    HELP !!!

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:I fucked up !! by quasipunk+guy · · Score: 2

      Click the wrench icon on your toolbar, navigate through the Tools sub-menu and select "Extensions." You can disable or delete Chrome add-ons from there.

    2. Re:I fucked up !! by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 2

      Look. We all have our days...

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
  16. Thanks ! by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 2

    Yeah, that butt ugly thing is gone !

    Thanks !!

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
  17. Read the source Luke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    because its just a toolbar re-modelled,
    its primary purpose seems to be setting a GUID, a yahoo cookie and tracking everything you do with a web bug beacon, and it injects external scripts on every page
    reading the source reveals their true intents and its not an extension to help you

    basically its good old spyware

  18. Yahoo eh? by lewko · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can't wait to see Altavista's entry into the mobile browser market.

    --
    Do you or your partner snore? - Visit www.snoring.com.au
  19. Do mobile browsers suck? by Sloppy · · Score: 2

    Everyone knows it, but few people acknowledge it: Mobile web browsers absolutely suck.

    I didn't know that. I do share the concerns about the amazing shittiness of the dominant mobile OSes, causing mobile browsers to stagnate. But even when (yeah, it's "when" not "if") that happens, I thought at least it won't be as bad as what happened a decade ago. Back in the day, I would have agreed with the (then) contemporary version of the above statement: Everyone knew MSIE6 and NN4 absolutely suck (even by the standards of the time), and all the good browsers were niche or off the beaten path. But in 2012 I really don't agree that the most popular mobile browsers suck. Mobile Safari and Android Browser both seem pretty good to me.

    (In fact I'd say the web browsers are the only thing that makes those two platforms be tolerable at all. They're otherwise garbage and the fact that you can so easily web-browse on them is what saves them. But that's another topic.. not that I'm averse to topic-drift, as you'll soon see.)

    No? What don't you like about the current mobile browsers? They sure seem pretty up-to-date on standards and rendering capabilites, if nothing else. (Nobody would have said that about MSIE6 or NN4.)

    BTW, totally different topic. The Axis demo movie thing, the presenter's voice was doing something funny. When they were just showing screenshots, I heard a woman's voice. Then they occasionally shift back to the dude and it's a man's voice. But it's the same voice. Without the face, it's a woman. Anyone else hear this, or is it just me?

    --
    As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.