Firefox 3 beta 2 is now available to be downloaded. Updated versions include Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.

The new version displays many improvements over beta 1, best improvements include plugs for memory leaks, security fixes, and a better download manager.

The updates to the download manager are very good. The new manager allows you resume stopped downloads, and it includes a built in virus detector.

One great new feature is the ability to zoom in on a Web page. There’s now one-click bookmarking and smart folders for bookmarks.

The Mozilla claims that Web site rendering is faster than it was in FF3 beta 1, we didn’t notice any difference. But from Firefox 2 to Firefox 3 beta 1 we did see an improvement in speed.

You may download a portable version of Firefox 3 beta 2 from Portable Apps.

Yahoo! Mail has been around for ten years and now is web 2.0, featuring drag and drop, right clickable menus, tabbed message windows and much more. One great new feature is the ability to send and recieve SMS messages and Live Messanger IMs within the mail interface.

The new tabs feature takes a little bit of getting use to: new tabs appear for almost every action, replying, searching, creating new messages, chatting or adding new contacts. One drawback for some users is not seeing their inbox but rather a news tab. Other mail services watch out, Yahoo! has something great.

We told you about the registry hack that made it possible to download SP1 and now it is now publicly available. Here it is only 11 months over due. On Microsoft’s website you can download a document listing “notable changes”, which includes improvements in application compatibility, hardware ecosystem support, reliability, performance / power consumption, security, desktop administration, support for new technologies / standards and interoperability. The best feature is it has better driver support.

Skype has just released a new version, Skype 2.7 beta for Mac. The best feature in the lasted build is support for OS X 10.5 Leopard. Skype is also not forgeting Linux, and PC as they update those versions often.

Skype 2.7 beta for Mac is the first OS X version to support VGA video at 25 frames per second. Users with a slow internet connection have the option to adjust video settings.

Most likely it will be some time before skype releases a Linux client with VGA support since they just recently added video to Skype 2.0 beta for Linux.

via Skype Journal

Mozilla recently released the third update of Firefox this month, version 2.0.0.11, which fixs a stability problem. Like always Mozilla strongly recommends that users upgrade to the latest version.

The Firefox browser update came soon after version 2.0.0.8, released October 18, version 2.0.0.9 from November 1, and version 2.0.0.10 from November 26.

Like we said before, Firefox 3 Beta 1, is not recommend. Unless you are a user that does not mind running a buggy program.