02/13, 4:25pm
Mozilla Firefox with Metro support due in 2012
Mozilla, makers of the Firefox Internet browser, will release a version of its signature software that will resemble Microsoft's Metro user interface. A concept version will be out sometime in the spring, according to Mozilla's 2012 strategy, followed by an alpha and beta version later on, in the second half of the year. Metro uses tiles instead of the traditional Start button and menu in Windows, and Mozilla hopes to integrate its new Gecko-based browser with the Metro environment.
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02/09, 6:20pm
Devs call for action
Mozilla and several other browser developers have voiced concern over the dominance of WebKit-based browsers, notably Safari and Chrome. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) co-chairman Daniel Glazman suggests programmers have begun to disregard alternative browsers, such as Firefox and Internet Explorer, when optimizing website compatibility.
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02/01, 6:20pm
As expected, doesn't support flash
Mozilla has released the latest mobile version of its browser for Android devices. Firefox 10 is now available for download (free, Android Market). As expected, the new version offers enhanced HTML5 support, but doesn't support Flash.
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02/01, 9:35am
NetApplications shows gap in mobile share
Android tablets are gaining share of Internet use, but they still present no competition to the iPad online, NetApplications uncovered with its January wrap-up. The combined Samsung Galaxy Tab line had just 0.42 percent of mobile Internet share, while the Kindle Fire's possibly brisk sales still saw just 0.34 percent. Although down from December, the iPad at almost 24 percent was still in no danger from Android tablets, where even Android 3.2 was at 0.77 percent.
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01/31, 10:40am
Firefox 10 with minor updates now available
Mozilla has released finished versions of Firefox 10 for both Windows PCs and Macs this week. Changes, according to the release notes, include a Forward navigation button that doesn't show up until users hit the Back button first, included APIs for viewing web apps in full-screen mode, and anti-aliasing for WebGL graphics. Likewise new is an Extended Support Release that allows enterprises to only download security updates and stay on the same version for seven releases.
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01/28, 1:30pm
Firefox 12 nightly builds show redesign
Versions of the upcoming Firefox 12 in the nightly build phase have shown major changes coming to its interface. New tabs can now open to a hybrid portal page that mixes in features seen in Chrome and Safari. Along with seeing the most frequently visited sites and a search bar, it now has top web apps, the most recently shared apps, and a Google Talk status section to launch directly into chat.
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01/01, 12:55pm
NetApplications shows Android loss in December
In spite of its device share, Android is losing ground in terms of actual use online, NetApplications found on New Year's Day. Android slipped to 16.3 percent of mobile web share in December, or the same share it had in September. Unusually, most of the loss came to otherwise shrinking platforms: Java ME bounced back to get just under 21.3 percent, Symbian returned to 5.8 percent, and even the BlackBerry recovered slightly to 3.5 percent.
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12/22, 4:25pm
Google to pay $300m per year in Mozilla deal
When Google and Mozilla renewed their search royalty deal earlier this week, they didn't reveal that Google will pay $300 million per year, AllThingsD learned. For this amount of money, Google will be the default search engine in Mozilla's Firefox browser. The numbers are a sharp increase from the previous arrangement because of the new competition from Yahoo and Microsoft.
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12/21, 10:25pm
Release follows Firefox 9 desktop editions
Just days after Firefox 9 arrived for Mac, Windows and Linux, Mozilla has released the equivalent edition for Android devices. The revamped browser brings significant changes to the user interface for tablets, placing each tab as a thumbnail on the left edge of the screen while the open window is still displayed in full on the right.
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12/20, 2:55pm
Google funds Mozilla with three-year ad deal
Google kept Firefox active after Mozilla said that it was renewing a deal to make Google the default search in Firefox. A "significant and mutually beneficial" deal will keep Google as the default for a minimum of three years. Neither side would reveal what the terms of the deal were.
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12/19, 8:05pm
Type inference brings faster JavaScript
Mozilla has posted the final version of Firefox 9 for Windows, Mac and Linux machines, following five weeks of testing in the beta channel. As expected, the release brings type-inference support that is said to significantly improve JavaScript load time for complex pages, along with expanded support for HTML5 and CSS standards.
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11/11, 7:45pm
Firefox 9 beta reaches desktop and Android
Mozilla quickly followed on a completed Firefox 8 by posting Firefox 9 in the beta channel for both the desktop and Android. On the desktop, the interface is now designed to blend in with Mac OS X Lion and properly supports two-finger scrolling as well as multiple displays. Speed is also a focus through a faster, inference-supporting JavaScript engine and the ability to break XML web requests into pieces to make a complex web page load faster.
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11/08, 5:00pm
Mozilla outs Firefox 8, updates Android browser
Mozilla on Tuesday revealed two newly updated browsers, the final version of Firefox 8 for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems, along with an update for Android devices (free, Android Market). Either update is said to make web browsing easier and give developers greater control of customizing the way they interact with the Internet. Firefox 8 for desktops now includes Twitter as a search option.
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11/08, 12:05pm
Kindle Cloud Reader now supports Firefox browser
The HTML5-based web app that is Amazon's Kindle Cloud Reader is now available for Mozilla's Firefox browser. The web app lets users access their Kindle e-books , adding to the already avaialable Chrome and Safari versions. It can now be viewed for all of these supporting browsers, as well as Safari for the iPad.
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11/08, 5:20am
Mozilla well into development of Boot 2 Gecko
More details have emerged about Mozilla’s mobile OS. The Boot 2 Gecko, or B2G, project is now undergoing testing by Mozilla developers. The OS has been compared to Google’s Chrome OS, as it has a web emphasis and relies on HTML5-based applications. Although Android is at its core the aim is to use “as little Android as possible,” but take the Chrome OS-like experience to mobile phones. Some screen mock-ups are embedded below, as a guide as to how the OS may look and function.
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10/26, 4:30pm
Mozilla intros Bing add-on for Firefox browser
Mozilla has taken its relationship with Microsoft and its Bing search engine up to another level. It is now offering to add Bing to its Firefox browser, with the add-on setting the Microsoft search engine as the default and Bing as the homepage. The add-on for the latest version of Firefox also includes the Awesome Bar, Mozilla's hybrid search and address bar. Older versions of Firefox need to be upgraded, and doing so includes the switchover to Bing as the default search engine.
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09/27, 12:30pm
Mozilla posts Firefox 7 final to FTP
Mozilla on Tuesday posted the finished versions of Firefox 7 (Linux, Mac OS X, Windows). The new release is still part of Mozilla's fast track schedule and focuses most on running faster and more efficiently than before. Version 7 uses 20 to 50 percent less memory and also now cuts back on memory leaks and waste from Javascript.
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09/05, 5:00pm
DigiNotar hack tied to Iranian government
A Dutch web security firm that sells security certificates, DigiNotar, was hacked back in July and fake certificates were issued to websites such as the CIA, Google, Microsoft and Twitter. DigiNotar just acknowledged the attack last week. Now, the Dutch government has taken over the company. It's also believed that the hacker or hackers operated with the cooperation of the Iranian government.
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08/30, 12:30pm
Firefox for Android tablets gets side tabs, more
Mozilla's Ian Barlow gave a preview of a long sought after tablet-native version of Firefox for Android. The new version is native to Android 3 and takes advantage of the widescreen OS to change the interface depending on the layout. In portrait, it turns the browser tabs into a menu; in landscape, they unfold in a side strip with visual thumbnails of each page.
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08/13, 2:45pm
Firefox 6 finished, ready to download
Mozilla has preempted its own official launch with finished versions of Firefox 6 on its FTP server (Linux, Mac OS X, released on Tuesday but, as is becoming the case in Firefox releases, is already online to help coordinate the release. The interval between the FTP posting and the public debut may be to catch any last-minute bugs.
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08/12, 7:00pm
Firefox 6 now highlights domain URL name
Mozilla’s Firefox 6 web browser is set to be released on Tuesday. Notes posted on its website show that the release is 'on track with a few bugs still remaining. No concerns for Tuesday." One notable change, in addition to speed and stability improvements, is that the domain name is now highlighted in the address bar. This has been added to help users ensure that they have surfed to the official domain.
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08/04, 8:00pm
Google adds Web Intents with Mozilla's help
Google and Mozilla have teamed together on a proposed API to bring an aspect of Android to web apps. Web Intents, like those on the phone, would let a web app signal what it wants to do on a basic level, such as editing or sharing content, and link it to any relevant service without having to either create the service or implement the hooks on a case by case basis. Web apps would just need a handful of code to achieve much more complicated tasks that could pass between sites.
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08/03, 8:20pm
Skype using VP8 even with Microsoft patent gripes
Google had an unusual celebration Wednesday as it claimed that Skype 5.5 was now using the video format behind WebM, VP8. WebM Product Manager John Luther said that that any video chat between two or more users on 5.5 will switch over to VP8 for the stream. The format had been chosen in part because of its low lag in live situations and ability to gracefully handle lost data.
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07/29, 12:30pm
12 groups tell MPEG-LA Google VP8 copies tech
The MPEG-LA video group's attempts to find patent violations in WebM proved successful as the company late Thursday claimed that 12 companies and organizations had their technology infringed. The so far unnamed dozen said the VP8 video codec underlying Google's format copied technology used in H.264, the standard MPEG-LA supports. The collective was considering forming a patent pool to demand licenses, and MPEG-LA was "facilitating that discussion," CNET was told.
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07/25, 10:00pm
OS relies on HTML5-based applications
Mozilla has confirmed plans to build a ChromeOS-inspired operating system geared for mobile devices. The project, which is currently referred to as Boot to Gecko (B2G), will be built upon Google's Android OS at its core, though Mozilla's VP of Technical Strategy, Mike Shaver, suggests the company will try to use "as little of Android as possible."
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06/28, 6:50pm
New multi-platform mail client posted by Mozilla
Mozilla has put the final release of Thunderbird 5.0, its email client software, up on its servers for downloading. 5.0 represents the app's first major release in about 18 months. The free app (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) has faster startup, tabs that can be reordered and dragged to different windows, attachment sizes are displayed along with the corresponding attachments, and support for Mac 32/64 bit Universal builds. The latter means that, unlike earlier releases, Thunderbird 5.0 will not run on PowerPC-based Macs.
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06/24, 9:40pm
Opera founder exits over board dispute
Opera's creator Jon S. von Tetzchner surprised the industry on Friday with word he was leaving the company. The web browser developer is due to leave June 30 and will do so on friendly terms. He has made no public mention of why he will be leaving but currently has "ideas about new projects" that are being kept secret.
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06/22, 8:55pm
Mobile browser offers under-the-hood tweaks
Mozilla has launched an update to its mobile Firefox browser for Android-based devices. Version 5 brings a number of performance tweaks, along with the same do-not-track feature that was recently added to the desktop variant. Like the desktop feature, however, the tracking opt-out option is only supported by a limited number of websites.
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06/18, 3:00pm
Firefox 5 goes final ahead of schedule
Mozilla in a low key move has posted the finished version of Firefox 5 (direct links: Mac, Linux 32-bit, Linux 64-bit, Windows). The new version is the first of a now Chrome-like fast schedule and focuses mostly on minor improvements over Firefox 4. It now recognizes CSS transitions, has better support for HTML5 and its Canvas mode, and is tackling privacy with a more prominent Do Not Track option.
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06/16, 5:00pm
Rebuffs API used in Chrome, FireFox and Safari
Microsoft, through its TechNet Security Research & Defense blog claims that WebGL, the open 3D graphics API, is flawed. Microsoft believes that these flaws present significant security vulnerabilities. Consequently, Microsoft could not incorporate WebGL into any of its products.
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06/06, 7:35pm
Project begins as a fullscreen browser
Mozilla Labs has introduced a new browser concept, known as Webian Shell, which aims to serve as a desktop replacement. The project appears to follow in the footsteps of Google's Chrome OS, placing primary importance on a web-based experience rather than traditional desktop environment. The early beta simply serves as a fullscreen browser, however the developers are considering deeper integration.
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06/03, 9:30am
Drops support of PowerPC Macs
Mozilla has released the first beta of Thunderbird 5.0, its forthcoming multi-platform email client. The beta makes a raft of changes, including the introduction of a new Addons Manager and extension management API. Plugins can now be loaded in RSS feeds by default, and an altered account creation wizard should provide better setup.
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05/27, 7:30pm
Developer tools and enhanced add-on manager too
Mozilla's development cycle dictates that three generations of its popular web browser Firefox must be in an active cycle. Thus, Firefox 4 is the current mainstream release (currently at 4.0.1), Firefox 5 has recently entered beta, and that means that Firefox 6, known as Aurora, has just begun its development cycle, now offering a rough alpha release for testing and feedback.
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05/26, 11:20am
YouTube now streams content to NVIDIA 3D Vision
NVIDIA has partnered with YouTube to offer streaming videos from the popular sharing service in stereoscopic 3D on computers equipped with NVIDIA's 3D Vision hardware. Users need to have the latest version of the Firefox web browser installed before they can do so, however. YouTube has added HTML5 and WebM support to the 3D videos available to make the leap possible.
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05/23, 11:05am
Company switches to accelerated development
Mozilla has posted the first official beta release of Firefox 5, its next browser upgrade. Changes from Mozilla's experimental Aurora channel were merged and tested over the weekend. The update marks a switch to an accelerated development schedule, closer to that of Google's Chrome, which has a major update every several weeks and is already in its 11th stable version and 12th beta.
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05/20, 7:10pm
Browsers seek to streamline viewing
Viewable space is always at a premium for users with smaller screened laptops or tablets. Chrome and Firefox developers have created experimental versions of these popular browsers which streamline viewing so that even the traditional navigation bar showing the URL disappears until needed. Then, either by mousing over or clicking a tab, the bar temporarily becomes visible again.
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04/27, 2:35pm
Microsoft no longer under antitrust watch May 12
Microsoft will be out of the eye of special antitrust terms in less than a month, District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said in the last hearing ever in the case. Oversight of the company's actions, including direct access to its computers and records, would no longer be mandatory after May 12. The watch had been originally limited to five years after a 2002 settlement but had been extended multiple times after technical problems and other issues that needed to be taken care of, including some running past the deadline.
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04/25, 2:45pm
WebM Community Cross-License guards video patents
The WebM Project took a defensive measure on Monday with the creation of the WebM Community Cross-License. The approach will see 17 companies and groups give licenses to any WebM-related patents they have to other CCL members. Google, Matroska, and Xiph.org form the core but are joined by AMD, Cisco, Huawei, LG, Logitech, MIPS, Mozilla, Opera, Pantech, Quanta, Samsung, STMicro, TI, and Verisilicon.
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04/19, 6:10pm
YouTube starts streaming new videos in WebM
YouTube in an update Tuesday afternoon said it was now encoding all new videos in its in-house WebM standard. The format would let viewers using new versions of Chrome as well as Firefox and Opera see video in HTML5 using the open format. Videos would still be playable in the H.264 format and the original Flash containers.
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04/01, 9:40pm
NetApplications March share shows IE9 growing fast
Internet Explorer 9's launch was enough to see it carve out a significant piece of the Windows web in its first two weeks. New data from NetApplications for March showed IE9 getting 3.56 percent of Microsoft's web traffic. While small, it was enough to outpace Firefox 4's 2.8 percent.
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03/29, 12:20pm
Firefox 4 Mobile final hits Android
Mozilla on Tuesday posted the final version of Firefox 4 for Android (free, Market) and Nokia's Maemo. The app uses much of the desktop engine and has a JavaScript engine that promises triple the speed of Google's own stock browser. Many of the interface elements are borrowed from the desktop as well, including the Awesome Bar for hybrid search and URLs, Firefox Sync to share bookmarks with the desktop, add-ons, and tabs.
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03/23, 2:05pm
Firefox 4 Release Candidate for handhelds out
Mozilla has now released the Firefox 4 Release Candidate for portable devices running on Android or Maemo operating systems. There software is available in more than 10 languages and brings with it many improvements, most of which are mentioned in the video below.
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03/22, 11:40am
Windows, Mac, Linux versions available
While having let the software slip out the door on Monday, Mozilla has today made the release of Firefox 4 official. Windows, Mac and Linux versions are available, and in numerous different languages, ranging from mainstays like English, French and Chinese to less commonly-supported languages like Icelandic and Catalan. Only a handful of languages are still limited to v3.6.15, namely Assamese, Georgian, Occitan and Serbian.
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03/21, 4:45pm
Firefox 4 final out one day ahead of schedule
After an initial delay, Mozilla's Firefox 4 final has been made available one day early. The browser can be downloaded for Mac or Windows systems now. Whether Mozilla had something to do with the early release isn't known at this point but unlikely as the software is not yet on Mozilla's site.
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03/16, 11:50am
Mozilla anticipates Firefox 4 finished March 22
Mozilla's senior engineering director Damon Sicore said later on Tuesday that the finished version of Firefox 4 should be ready on March 22. Barring any last-minute issues in a meeting late Wednesday morning, the team expected Release Candidate 1 to become the final release. In the event of a serious bug, a second release candidate would be posted with the fix and the release pushed back.
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03/14, 9:40pm
Internet Explorer 9 ready at midnight
As promised earlier, Microsoft at midnight Eastern (9PM Pacific) should post the finished version of Internet Explorer 9 on its download page. The Windows browser brings a much improved engine with genuine web accuracy, faster JavaScript, hardware acceleration, and support for most current forms of HTML5. A new, minimalist interface, support for pinning sites to the Windows 7 taskbar, and detailed control of what sites are allowed to track cookies and other private info are also included.
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03/14, 1:45pm
Mozilla expects Flash to go away in long run
Web browsers will eventually and need to stop using Flash, Mozilla vice president Jay Sullivan said in an interview Friday. He likened Adobe's technology to a "plug-in prison" and expected that browsers like Firefox would eventually transition over to HTML5 to avoid dependence on one company's app. The executive told Fast Company Flash was burdensome, primarily on mobile devices where the resources to use Flash weren't necessarily worth the effort.
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03/09, 9:20pm
Launch expected soon
After several delays during Firefox 4 beta development, Mozilla has finally posted a release candidate (RC) build. The major update features an updated interface with new tab locations, tag organization tools, and a utility for managing add-ons. Speed and stability is said to be significantly improved over previous versions and early betas, while the RC label indicates the company has resolved a majority of the bugs.
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03/09, 12:30pm
Internet Explorer 9 finished, due March 15
Microsoft said Wednesday that Internet Explorer 9 was finished. The new web browser will be ready to download at midnight Eastern time, March 15. It follows just a month after the release candidate and a year after the very earliest tech previews.
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03/04, 6:10pm
Microsoft uses countdown to help axe IE6
Microsoft took the uncharacteristic step of goading users to drop one of its products on Friday. The Windows developer's countdown page encourages users to stop using Internet Explorer 6 and tracks the progress towards ending its use. It admitted that its attitude towards the web was different in 2001 and that its at times infamous IE6 rendering engine was now a liability.
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