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Yahoo's new Axis browser 'underwhelming', possibly vulnerable
Internet company Yahoo Inc. launched this week its mobile browser "Axis," but its latest product quickly earned two black eyes in the first moments after its release.
Tech sites reported users were puzzled after seeing the terms and conditions page for the browser was blank, while a tech blogger found a potential vulnerability in it.
According to The Next Web, the Terms and Conditions page for axis has since gone live.
It also said the way a request for permission pops up may concern some people. "We wonder if it will actually turn some potential users away," it added.
On the other hand, The Next Web said tech blogger Nick Cubrilovic discovered a potential security glitch in the product.
It said Cubrilovic found the Yahoo Axis Chrome extension leaks its private certificate file, "meaning it is vulnerable to being forged and cloned into fake extensions."
Cubrilovic indicated one implication is that with the private certificate file and a fake extension, "you can create a spoofed package that captures all web traffic, including passwords, session cookies, etc."
On the other hand, tech site Mashable said that on Apple's iOS, Yahoo's Axis is "essentially running a skin over top of Safari."
"In Yahoo’s case, though, it’s a powerful skin, filled with features you won’t find on Apple’s browser, such as easy toggling between regular and image searches, and instant syncing of bookmarks and tabs between desktop, iPhone and iPad," it said.
Mashable also lauded Axis for not being cluttered and for being "nice and minimalist, combining the search and address bar into a single field," similar to how Google's Chrome works.
It added Axis' most powerful feature could be its "near-flawless device syncing."
"Open a page on your iPad, and you can pick up right from there on your iPad or any major desktop browser (via an add-on or extension)," it said.
Also, it noted Axis integrates Pinterest.
However, Mashable said it found Axis' desktop integration "underwhelming."
"Axis is a worthy experiment, though, and I hope Yahoo quickly iterates its iOS app. It’s quite simply one of the best browsers you can get for your iPad, and if it keeps improving and adding new abilities, it could help define how we consume the web on tablets. Just as long as Apple doesn’t kill it," it said. — TJD, GMA News
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