The beta of Safari 4 offers some notable changes to how tabs work, and while some of those changes are useful, others have provoked criticism. Macworld's Dan Frakes runs down the good, the bad, and the ugly.

We thought running the classic Atari game Adventure on an iPhone was the epitome of retro geekiness, but a fully functional version of System 7 on an iPhone? Wow! It's not available yet, but it's worth checking out for the screenshots alone.

None of this stuff is earth-shattering, but Apple has improved MobileMe's performance in various areas, fixed some user interface annoyances, and made other small improvements.

People who sell at farmer's markets or street festivals can now use an iPhone to process credit card transactions via ProcessAway. Now if only there could be direct iPhone-to-iPhone transactions, or the capability to use an iPhone to make payments more generally, as is increasingly common with mobile phones in Japan.

Liking the beta of Safari 4's speed, but ambivalent or truly annoyed by changes such as the top-mounted tabs and new toolbar? The Random Genius blog found hidden preferences to control these and other settings.

Thanks to Photojojo for turning us on to The Photographic Dictionary, a Web site that defines words both textually and with a carefully chosen photograph. Particularly interesting are conceptual words, such as "unknown."

Despite the belief that Apple wouldn't allow turn-by-turn directions in an iPhone app, the recently released version 1.2 of XRoad's G-Map U.S. West and G-Map U.S. East adds that feature. Unfortunately, still absent are voice prompts, which XRoad attributes to Apple's prohibitive policies. The two apps, covering the eastern and western halves of the United States, are $19.99 each.

Still launching a Web browser every time you need to do a quick Web search? There may be other, quicker ways to get the information you need, as Joe Kissell explains in this Macworld article.

If you're using Google to search the Web and not finding the results you're looking for, you may just need to refine your searches a bit. In this Macworld article, Joe Kissell provides some Google search tips.

Believe it or not, there are other (and sometimes more effective) ways to find information on the Web than using the Google search box built into your browser. Joe Kissell explores some of the interesting alternatives in this Macworld article.

Let's be real. Browsing the Web on a mobile phone, even an iPhone, is a lousy experience in comparison with using a full-fledged browser on a Mac. Jakob Nielsen explains the problems and offers suggestions on how to improve mobile Web usability in his Alertbox column.

The software this 12-year-old site was developed to promote may be long gone, but its lessons about backup are timeless. "Remember, Grasshopper, to believe in one's backups is one thing. To have to use them is another."

PC World offers this tongue-in-cheek countdown of 10 ways that Microsoft's forthcoming retail stores will differ from Apple's. Our favorite: "Stores will be named Microsoft Live Retail Store with PC Services for Digital Lifestyle Enthusiasts."

Jeff Carlson chats with Chris Breen on this week's Macworld Podcast to talk about what he likes and dislikes about iMovie '09, and whether it's worth upgrading or if people should jump to Final Cut Express instead.

John Siracusa at Ars Technica turns his attention to ebooks in this lengthy piece, bemoaning the slow state of adoption at the mainstream level and making the oft-missed distinction between ebooks and ebook readers.