Hasta La Gadget!

The browser wars continue, and while Google’s Chrome web browser has grown by leaps and bounds in terms of its market share with Microsoft’s lumbering Internet Explorer being cut down to size as people realize that there is more to life than just IE, here we are with another old name in the game – Mozilla’s Firefox which is now in the 14th iteration. Firefox 14 has just been launched, where one of the major features would be the ability to encrypt your Google searches by default, now how about that? Not only that, Mozilla has also thrown improved mouse recognition in games into the mix. Firefox 14 will be able to do so thanks to support for the Pointer Lock API.

In addition, Mozilla will now enable Firefox to experience fullscreen mode in Mac OS X 10.7, so Mac users should have a smile on their collective faces if Firefox is your browser of choice. Search encryption was introduced due to many users of Firefox who tend to work on wireless connections, leaving yet another door open for anyone with malicious intent to piggy back on the connection and find out just what you are looking for. Have you given Firefox 14 a download yet?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Mozilla says something big is coming to Firefox for Android next week, Firefox 13 Beta due in six weeks’ time,

Mozilla’s Thunderbird mail client just hasn’t enjoyed the same level of stardom as its Firefox cousin. Their developer must be feeling this discrepancy more than most, as the company has confirmed plans to take the organization out of active Thunderbird development. The shift is officially being spun as an adaptation that lets the Foundation center its energy on Firefox OS and the usual browser plans, but when Mozilla proper will only be handling bug fixes and security updates for a client that’s “not a priority,” we’d say it’s putting Thunderbird on ice. Accordingly, leaked details from TechCrunch show Mozilla moving some of the team out of the project at some point; any new features will have to come from the community, which suggests the future upgrade schedule will be more than a bit unpredictable. The writing is on the wall soon enough that existing owners could have food for thought well before a final strategy is due in early September.

Mozilla giving Thunderbird the (effective) axe, leaving its fate to the community originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Jul 2012 21:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |  Lizard Wrangling  | Email this | Comments

One of the problems encountered when coming up with a new operating system is populating the ecosystem with apps. And Mozilla’s upcoming operating system – Firefox OS might not have to deal with such problems. According to TechRadar, who spoke with the Product and Innovation Director at Telefonica – 75% of all apps in Google Play and the Apple App Store are written in HTML 5, which will make it really easy to port over to Firefox OS (since it is a web-based HTML 5 platform).

If this is true, it means that app developers won’t have to spend much time or effort bringing over their well-known apps to a brand new operating system. Assuming that developers are interested in porting their apps in the first place, it means that Firefox OS might not be devoid of apps once it launches. Let’s wait until 2013 to see how things turn out.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: New Firefox 4 Beta is touted to be the fastest yet, Word Lens now available on Android,

Mozilla has officially named its “Boot to Gecko” mobile platform, which will now be known as Firefox OS, and has signed up a clutch of carriers who have promised to back the new smartphone competitor. Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefonica and Telenor have all jumped on board with the HTML5-based OS, while ZTE and Alcatel One Touch will both be creating devices expected to launch in early 2013.

Inside those phones, Firefox OS will run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors, though it’s not been confirmed which generation of chips will be used. Still, there should be plenty of power to keep HTML5 apps running swiftly; one of the things Qualcomm has long been pushing with Snapdragon is browser-engine performance.

Brazil will be the first country to get Firefox OS devices next year, with Telefonica signed up to offer them through its Vivo brand. Mozilla is heavily promoting the new platform’s customization options, helped by the fact that there’s none of the pesky middleware that’s usually present on smartphones.

Fully open-source, Firefox OS is based on the underlying Linux kernel modified for Android, with a ‘Gonk’ hardware abstraction layer and then the multi-platform Gecko Web browser engine to actually run all the “local” apps. There’ll also be a ‘Gaia’ UI and app suite that’s hardware-independent.

What remains to be seen is whether Firefox OS can hold its own against Android, which has already made significant inroads into the entry-level smartphone market. More on the platform in our hands-on.

Firefox OS smartphones due 2013 as Mozilla reveals partners is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’ve been keeping an eye on Firefox Beta for Android at all, you’ll know the browser has seen a flurry of updates over the past few weeks bringing performance improvements as well as additional features. Mozilla now say that that the stable version has now been updated to add all those improvements, which includes Flash and HTML5 support, a tab redesign, and revamped welcome page.

Mozilla say that the speed improvements are the real star of the show, and from using the Beta version, we have to agree. Initial load times are “lightning fast”, and the company says that the browser was created against a new benchmark called Eideticker, something it claims helps achieve performance that’s twice as fast as the stock Android browser.

The new “Awesome Page” displays your favourite websites in addition to the most recently visited tabs, and the URL bar has been tweaked to display the most recent searches and visited websites to cut down on awkward typing time. Desktop users will also be able to sync bookmarks between the regular Firefox and mobile version. Tabbed browsing has been tweaked too, allowing users to easily switch between open windows without too much fuss.

The new Firefox update doesn’t seem to have quite the Play Store just yet, but Mozilla say it will definitely land today. Keep an eye out in the meantime, and definitely give it a try.

[via Engadget]

Firefox for Android leaves beta with improved performance is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.