mozilla

Firefox Beta adds 'preliminary support' for Social API

Firefox is going social, at least in a tentative sort of way.

Mozilla announced today that its Firefox Beta for Windows, Mac, and Linux will support Social API, a framework designed to let developers integrate social-networking features directly into the browser. Mozilla was quick to point out that the Social API support is "preliminary" at this point, suggesting it isn't fully baked and ready for prime time.

Mozilla didn't offer many details on how the social features might be integrated into the browser. It did say that it envisions developers allowing the browser's users to &… Read more

Mozilla 'temporarily' pulls Firefox 16 to address security flaw

Just a day after its debut, Firefox 16 has been "temporarily removed" from Mozilla's installer page while it addresses what is apparently a serious security flaw in the browser's latest version.

"The vulnerability could allow a malicious site to potentially determine which websites users have visited and have access to the URL or URL parameters," Michael Coates. Mozilla's director of Security Assurance, said on the company's security blog. "At this time we have no indication that this vulnerability is currently being exploited in the wild."

Mozilla is currently working on … Read more

Firefox makes a Metro move

With only a few weeks to go before Microsoft's big Windows overhaul, Mozilla puts forward its first version of Firefox preview optimized for Windows 8's touch interface.

How to install it Once you download and run the Firefox Metro Preview (download installer) in Windows 8, you must close Firefox in Metro and Desktop if you already have them installed, then open the Control Panel and set Internet Explorer as the default browser.

From there, run in Desktop mode the Firefox Nightly EXE that you just downloaded and set it as the Default when prompted. A Windows 8 prompt … Read more

Safeguard your online Persona with Mozilla ID system

If you've ever struggled with remembering your Facebook password, or felt uncomfortable using your Google ID to log in to a non-Google Web site, Mozilla has a solution for you -- one it calls Persona.

This first beta of Persona, which used to be called Mozilla's BrowserID project, is designed to compete with Web site login systems like the ones offered by Twitter, Facebook, and Google. Whether this open source alternative can hold its own against those other login heavy-hitters, though, is another story.

Persona essentially aims to give you a cross-platform, cross-browser way to log into a … Read more

ZTE's first Firefox OS devices to launch in first quarter

ZTE, one of China's most prominent handset makers, plans to launch smartphones running the new Firefox OS early next year.

Speaking today to reporters in China, the company said it will launch handsets running Firefox OS in the first quarter of 2013. According to the Wall Street Journal, which was in attendance at the press event, the company didn't say how many Firefox OS-based smartphones it plans to launch, and offered no further details on the devices.

Mozilla announced its ZTE partnership over the summer. At that time, the company also named the operating system Firefox OS. The … Read more

Mozilla juices Firefox's JavaScript with IonMonkey

Mozilla has begun building a new technology called IonMonkey into Firefox to improve its JavaScript performance.

High JavaScript performance is essential in today's hotly competitive browser market, because JavaScript is the language behind complicated Web sites and Web apps such as Google Docs and Facebook. IonMonkey has now been packaged into the "nightly" version of Firefox 18 for hardcore developers; that version is scheduled to become the mainstream version of the browser early in 2013.

IonMonkey is what's called a just-in-time compiler, or JIT for short. In olden days, JavaScript would run line by line in … Read more

IETF standardizes Opus for flexible online audio

The Internet Engineering Task Force has standardized the Opus audio compression technology as RFC 6716.

The move paves the way for much broader use of Opus for anything from playing music to online voice chats. Opus is what's called a codec because it defines how to encode and decode a stream of data for more efficient storage or transmission.

"Opus is the first state-of-the-art, free audio codec to be standardized. We think this will help us achieve wider adoption than prior royalty-free codecs," Jean-Marc Valin, a Mozilla employee and author of Opus, said in a blog post today. … Read more

Private browsing bug fixed in Firefox 15.0.1

Browser maker Mozilla has patched a bug in the latest major version of Firefox that could have exposed the websites of those using the "Private Browsing" mode.

"Private Browsing," a feature implemented in most modern browsers, allows users to browse the Web without leaving any trace of the websites visited on the user's computer.

But shortly after the latest Firefox release was dished out to end-users, a bug report was filed to claim that any site visited while in the privacy-conscious mode "could be found through manual browser cache inspection," according to Mozilla's bug-reporting site Bugzilla.… Read more

Firefox OS app store images leak onto Web

New images have hit the Internet and purport to show what could be the design for Mozilla's upcoming Firefox OS Marketplace.

Engadget published photos yesterday of what it claims is the app store for Firefox's mobile operating system. The images show a small listing of apps, including Solitaire and Word Wars. Several app categories are listed, including business, games, and books and reference.

According to Engadget, once users click on an application to get details, they'll find a rating and the option to submit a review to the community.

Mozilla gave Firefox OS its name back in July. … Read more