mozilla

Firefox 17 introduces Facebook Messenger integration while clamping down on out-of-date plug-ins.

Review: Mozilla Firefox has undergone an enormous rebirth over the past two years. Since Firefox 4 debuted in March 2011, the browser has been hell-bent on improvements. These have come in large part on the rapid-release cycle, which sees a new version of Firefox every six weeks. Many people like them, but a vocal minority has pooh-poohed the increase in version numbers. That's hardly a legitimate complaint in a world where mobile apps also update silently and effectively, but the transition for Firefox hasn't been an easy one.

As you can see, Firefox is on version 17 at … Read more

Firefox and Facebook Messenger can now be BFFs

Firefox and Facebook Messenger now can be besties, if you want them to.

Firefox 17 debuted yesterday ( download for Windows | Mac | Linux) with a new social API that lets social-networking services hook deeply into the browser.

With Facebook, that means that your Messenger sidebar -- the status updates and friends online -- will be persistent across any site you visit. It's easy to set up and if you know how to use Facebook, you practically know how to use the sidebar, too.

First, make sure you're running at least Firefox 17, log in to Facebook, then go to … Read more

Like? New Firefox adds Facebook integration

Facebook has accepted a friend request from Firefox and Mozilla's new Social API today, as the browser updates with several security and feature updates after yesterday's Firefox for Android update.

The biggest feature debut in Firefox 17 (download for Windows | Mac | Linux) is the Social API, launching with Facebook Messenger, which allows participating social-networking sites to create persistent sidebar access to their site. Although most new browser technologies depend on entirely on how many developers integrate it, the Social API likely will be different.

To activate it, go to the Facebook Messenger for Firefox site and click "… Read more

New Firefox opens up to older phones

Firefox for Android (download) has seen a lot of changes this year that have looked to the future, but today's release makes the browser compatible with a selection of older Android phones.

Released a day ahead of schedule because the features were ready, explained a Mozilla representative in an e-mail to CNET, Firefox 17 for Android supports an expansive list of ARM v6 hardware. This means that older but popular phones like the Samsung Galaxy Pro GT-B7510, HTC Status, Motorola XT531, and Motorola Fire XT can now run the alternative browser.

The hardware restrictions are fairly minimal, and appear … Read more

Play with Firefox OS in your desktop Firefox

You can now get a taste of Firefox OS straight from your desktop browser, thanks to a new Firefox add-on called r2d2b2g that bakes a Firefox OS simulator right into your desktop browser.

Mozilla wrote in its blog post announcing the simulator add-on that the tool has two complementary goals for helping developers. Currently at version 0.7, the company hopes that by version 1.0 the add-on will be stable enough to let developers easily create apps for the new OS.

The second goal for the add-on is that it frees developers from having a device to install a … Read more

Mozilla: The problem is mobile, not money

With more than 400 million Firefox users, Mozilla doesn't have a problem with relevance. And with today's disclosure that organization's revenue grew 33 percent to $163.5 million in 2011, the nonprofit organization doesn't have a problem with money.

But it does have a problem with mobile.

So concludes Mitchell Baker, leader of the organization behind the open-source Web browser and other projects designed to keep the Internet free from proprietary constraints. Firefox, which just celebrated its eighth birthday, is the main lever that Mozilla uses to try to keep the Internet open. But Firefox is … Read more

How to enable Do Not Track in Firefox

Privacy online sounds a lot like an oxymoron these days, but it's still worth trying to protect it the best you can, right? So what kind of tracking is "Do Not Track" trying to protect against, and what will this option do to help stop it?

Tracking is basically the way that Webmasters and advertisers learn about your Web browsing habits. This is where "related ads" come from, despite them not being entirely accurate the majority of the time. Turning on this feature for Firefox will send a request to avoid tracking … Read more

Mozilla gets lucky, settles IRS audit for $1.5M

A nearly four-year tax audit of the Mozilla Foundation is finally over. And it looks like the foundation got off easy by handing over just $1.5 million to the U.S. government.

Mozilla Foundation Chair Mitchell Baker announced in a blog post today that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) closed its audit and agreed to settle with the company.

"I'm happy to note that we've settled the issues raised and the IRS recently closed the audit," she wrote. "We entered into a settlement, under which the Mozilla Foundation paid the IRS US $1.5 … Read more

Firefox's Social API debuts with Facebook Messenger

Mozilla's Social API has activated in Firefox Beta today with its first partner, Facebook Messenger. The innovation has the potential to forever alter how browsers interact with social-networking sites, but the project is still in its infancy.

The Social API (turn it on here: Firefox Beta or Firefox Aurora) looks at the problem of how to integrate modern social networking into the browser, Johnathan Nightingale, Mozilla's director of Firefox Engineering, said during a phone conversation with CNET. "People don't use social like they use other parts of the Web. It's not task based; it's … Read more