Browsers nix add-on after Web of Trust is caught selling users' browsing histories • The Register: "Updated A browser extension which was found to be harvesting users' browsing histories and selling them to third parties has had its availability pulled from a number of web browsers' add-on repositories."

Things that go hmmm in the night. As if seeing advertisements derived from the contents of your Amazon shopping card wasn't creepy enough.

Labels: app extensions, app security, security policy

Microsoft Edge extensions won't arrive until 2016 | VentureBeat | Business | by Jordan Novet Microsoft now says extensions for its new Edge browser, which ships with Windows 10, will not become available this year. You’ll have to keep waiting.

Let's defer them permanently and call it a more secure browser.

Labels: app extensions

Inside App Extensions: the Cloud Kit-savvy Photos future of Apple's iPhoto & Aperture
At the same time, the fact that Extensions are always bundled in an app means that developers can deploy new Extensions as an app update (allowing Instagram to make its filters available in Photos, for example), and sell Extensions as an additional feature for their existing apps.

Even though everyone is articulating the idea that XPC is some new technology, it's really just a security-wise reworking of distributed objects. Which is great. Because DO is a terrific tool for Objective-C developers. The fact that it is coming to iOS is awesome. It signals the end of the era of monolithic iOS apps and the beginning of something entirely new.

Labels: app extensions, distributed objects, XPC service