Hasta La Gadget!

At Computex earlier today, Mozilla and Foxconn have announced a partnership that will see Mozilla’s new Firefox OS be used on several devices that will be manufactured by Foxconn, including a tablet that has already been shown off. It’ll be manufactured for an OEM, but neither Mozilla or Foxconn have revealed who the lucky company is.

Foxconn says that they’re already working on at least five new devices that will run the Firefox OS, but they noted that these devices wouldn’t be limited to just smartphones and tablets, so we could be seeing some desktop or laptop computers running Firefox OS, or even a handful of Smart TVs that will come equipped with Mozilla’s offering.

Details on the mystery tablet were left unsaid, as Foxconn and Mozilla wanted it to be the responsibility of the OEM to reveal specs and details on the new tablet in the future, and all branding on the tablet was covered up, leaving only a blank black slate running Firefox OS, which obviously isn’t much to look at.

Of course, we knew this day was coming about a week ago, although it seems they didn’t unveil a smartphone as the rumor suggested. Still, we get the knowledge that Foxconn is joining the Firefox OS alliance, and since the manufacturer builds devices from a whole host of different companies, we should see many OEMs come forward with their own Firefox OS treats.

We got our hands on with Firefox OS at Mobile World Congress back in February, and a handful of smartphone manufacturers have announced plans to release Firefox OS devices, including ZTE and Alcatel. However, the bigger companies aren’t into the idea so much, including Samsung, which has no plans to launch a Firefox OS device.

SOURCE: Mozilla Blog

Mozilla and Foxconn team up to offer Firefox OS devices is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Mozilla has revealed a new partnership with Hon Hai, the parent company of Foxconn, with plans for the manufacturing giant to develop a mobile device that runs Firefox OS. Better yet, we only have to wait until next week to find out what that device is, with Mozilla stating that it will reveal the device on June 3 when the new partnership is officially announced.

Based on some of its previous activities, most would assume the device to be a smartphone, but according to an “industry insider” who spoke with Focus Taiwan, the device to be unveiled next week will “likely” be a tablet of some sort. No details were provided about what that tablet might look like in terms of hardware, but we won’t have to wait long to find out either way.

Reportedly, Foxconn is looking to nab up some new clients in light of slower sales amongst several of the companies it currently makes products for, the biggest one perhaps being Apple, which relies heavily on the manufacturing company. Word has it Foxconn is shifting away from contract manufacturing and putting some emphasis on its retail efforts. Such information hasn’t been confirmed by Hon Hai, however.

Aside from that, nothing else is known about the device or other pertinent details, but we’ll keep you updated June 3 when everything officially gets underway. This announcement follows the quick sell-out of 1,000 Firefox OS Geeksphone handsets back on April 24, which encompassed both the Peak and Keon developer handsets.

On May 9, Mozilla announced “Phones for Apps for Firefox OS,” a wordy initiative that would supply HTML5 developers with a free Geeksphone Keon handset, the orange smartphone in the image above. Such a plan was to facilitate the growth of apps for the platform, giving users a decent library worth of apps by the time the first round of commercial handsets hit shelves.

SOURCE: Focus Taiwan

Mozilla and Foxconn plan to unveil Firefox OS smartphone June 3 is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Like something out of an Inspector Gadget cartoon, a new plugin for browsers called OTR allows users to send messages to other users that will self-destruct a few seconds after they are read, (hopefully) disappearing forever. The plugin was launched today by Lamplighter Games, a company run by two brothers who wanted to bring Snapchat-like functionality to Web browsers. We’ve got a demo of it in action after the jump.

For those unfamiliar, Snapchat allows users to send each other images, which are supposed to disappear forever. It was this principle that inspired Andy and Kris Minkstein, two brothers who co-founded Lamplighter Games, which is operated out of New York. According to Kris, the two “love” Snapchat, and wanted to bring it to browsers. “We figured since you’re in front of your computer all day at work that you’re going to end up sending a lot of these photos to probably the guys sitting next to you at your cubicle.”

You can check out OTR in action in the demo video above. Downloading and installing it is as simple as adding the relevant plugin to your browser, of which Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer are supported, as well as the Yammer App available from the Yammer App Store. Once installed, clicking on it the first time will pull up a registration window.

You’ll need to create a sign-in account, or you can sign in with Yammer if you already have an account. Unlike some apps, the only information you have to provide is your email address. Once you’ve got your account, the interface has three buttons, one for inviting contacts, one for sending a picture, and one for sending a message. Contacts can be discovered by both username and email address.

From there, you simply start sending messages. Anything you receive will be available until you click on it, at which point a timer counts down, then the message disappears into nothingness. Of course, nothing is guaranteed, and as has been demonstrated with Snapchat multiple times, even self-destructing messages can be kept. It is worth noting, however, that the app monitors for any signs of taking a screenshot, and upon detecting the action, immediately deletes the message.

SOURCE: Business Week

This message will self-destruct: OTR plugin brings Snapchat fuctionality to browsers is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you like the internet, especially updating things from the internet, today is a good day for you. Mozilla has released not one but two major versions of its Firefox browser, the first being the increasingly social Firefox 21 on the desktop. The browser’s integration with Facebook is now extended to include other partners including Cliqz, Mixi and msnNOW — a trio that doesn’t quite offer the same recognition of that first network. However, an open Social API holds the promise for others to follow suit. Facebook 21 also has better support for Do Not Track settings and includes the Firefox Health Report, which has the ability to track crashes and make recommendations for boosting performance.

Firefox for Android was also updated, offering new open-source fonts, better HTML5 support, an improved UI and the ability to save media files by long-tapping. That is available for download now, as are the various versions for desktop operating systems. Choose your favorite flavor below.

Filed under: Software

Comments

Source: Firefox for Android (Google Play), Firefox

Mozilla wants to quell any doubt that its Unreal Engine 3 Firefox port works well, so it’s just released a demo browser version of Epic Citadel so you can see for yourself. The game was ported to Javascript using the technology, and will run in HTML5 on most browsers without any plugins — though using the latest nightly build of Firefox is recommended. Epic says that the performance of such games “rivals native” with “stunning” visuals, and in a short test, we managed to get about 16fps on a reasonably equipped PC. Mozilla wants to recruit more developers to the new platform as part of its Emscripten project (see More Coverage link), but meanwhile you can grab the game at the source or see the video after the jump — just don’t count on wreaking any havoc, as the demo’s strictly a scenic tour.

Filed under: Gaming, Internet

Comments

Source: Mozilla (blog)