Mozilla took a big step toward the coming conflict between native apps and Web apps as it introduced Web app support to Firefox 16, which moved to the the developer's Aurora channel last Friday.

The Web app support in Firefox 16 Aurora means that when the Mozilla Marketplace opens to the public -- likely to be sometime before the end of 2012 -- people will be able to run Web-based apps through any iteration of Firefox. This is part of Mozilla's "Kilimanjaro" project, syncing up the various Mozilla projects in preparation for the Firefox OS push that's coming next year.

This comes on the heels of the Firefox 15 release to beta, which focused on major improvements to memory management on the desktop version. There's more in Firefox 16 than just Web apps, though. The desktop versions of the browser have turned on VoiceOver support by default for the Mac, and they also have improved the functionality of the built-in PDF reader across all platforms.

For Web developers, Aurora on desktops comes with Opus codec support turned on by default, per tab reporting in about:memory, and a new developer toolbar. Available through the Developer menu or Shift+F2, it offers quick links to developer tools, an error count for the Web Console, and a command line for faster keyboard access.

Firefox 16 Aurora for Android also comes with Web app support, and offers some new features that many competitors already offer. Reader Mode is new in this version, along with a Read Now book icon in the location bar. When you tap the Read Now icon, it'll add the site you're looking at to a "read it later" option called Reading List.

It's also got a new "tab send" feature that emulates the Chrome-to-Phone and Fox-to-Phone add-ons. When you choose Firefox Sync from the Share list, you can send the tab to any of your other computers or devices connected via Firefox Sync. Finally, search suggestions now appear when typing text into the location bar, along with recommendations from your history.

All four cross-platform versions of Firefox now support numerous unprefixed CSS3 features. This means that the Mozilla-specific prefixes for certain CSS3 code, the ones that begin "-moz-border-radius," for example, have been simplified to "-border-radius." A lot of this is about how the next versions of HTML and CSS are made, and what it really means is that the next-generation versions of those coding languages, HTML5 and CSS3, are maturing to a point where they are supported by a wider number of browser makers.

I has been recently indicated by people in the "inside" that Facebook will release an application optimized for the iPad in coming weeks while work continues on an iPad-specific version of the social network website.

According to Facebook's plan briefs, the iPad app of the social network is in the final stages of testing. This app has been in the production stage for years and it should be ready soon in coming weeks. Facebook has reported huge investments in the app development, and it comes with designing and unique features.

Sources indicate that the app has a "sleek desing" and is made specifically for the iPad and its multi-touch interface. There has been much focus on Facebook Chat and Groups features. iPad 2 users, for instance, will be able to shoot and upload photos at an instant from the built-in camera. It is a fantastic picture and video experience, with full resolution and full-screen images.

Facebook has so far, decline to comment on the app rumours but maintain that it has a great relationship with Apple as revealed in the Facebook app for iPhone which was launched in the App Store in 2008.

Court documents released on Thursday in the fierce $1 billion copyright fight between Viacom and Google's YouTube show just how far apart the companies remain, as the 3-year-old case winds through federal court.


Viacom's story - YouTube's founders as reckless copyright violators who were far more concerned with increasing traffic to their site than obeying the law. Even executives at Google, which acquired YouTube for $1.7 billion in October 2006, questioned the ethics of building a site through questionable copyright practices, according to the Viacom filings.

"Jawed, please stop putting stolen videos on the site. We're going to have a tough time defending the fact that we're not liable for the copyrighted material on the site...when one of the co-founders is blatantly stealing content." --Steve Chen, YouTube founder

Google's story - Viacom is a media giant trying to play it both ways: demanding that YouTube take down videos even while third parties were uploading Viacom content on the entertainment giant's behalf. More intriguingly, the parent company of MTV and Paramount Pictures was at one point interested in acquiring the video-sharing site, according to the documents.

"We believe YouTube would make a transformative acquisition for MTV Networks/Viacom that would immediately make us the leading deliverer of video online, globally," according to an internal Viacom slide that Google filed with the court.

Interesting as the documents may be, it's not clear which side will benefit most from the disclosures. Google argues that it is protected by the safe-harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which says, in short, that if a Web site acts in good faith to take down copyrighted content as soon as it learns of it, and it has not benefited financially through advertising or other means, it is protected from a lawsuit. Viacom is attempting to pierce that protection by proving that YouTube employees, at the very least, knew of rampant copyright violations on their site and did little about it.