Netflix arrives on Firefox using HTML5 video (no plugins required)

Here's a nice Christmas gift from Netflix to all Firefox users (on Windows). You'll no longer require additional plugins to watch Netflix, as it now supports Firefox's HTML5 video.

Camelizer add price history to Amazon on Chrome and Firefox

With Christmas just around the corner, we need to make sure we're getting the best deals when we buy online. And with Camelizer, you'll be able to see the price history on Amazon and other online stores.

Epic Citadel Running on Javascript now Available

A while back we saw Unreal Engine 3 ported to Javascript and running inside a browser. In case you didn't believe in it, you can now see it with your own eyes, as the Epic Citadel demo is now available for everyone to try - although it's highly recommended you use the latest Firefox (development version) to ensure the best performance (and keep in mind most other browser aren't supported, or... crash - as it's the case with Chrome; though they're trying to fix it).

It's still the first steps, but one can already imagine every game to be platforma agnostic and running inside your browser. No more worrying about buying game for Xbox, or PlayStation, or Windows, or Mac. You'll just fire up your browser and play.

Hopefully, that will also ease developer's lives, as they'll no longer have to worry about cross-platform ports and development. Meaning games will also be able to be cheaper, and thus less prone to pirating.

... It still may take a decade (or more)... but I think it's pretty clear we're heading that way - and I'm glad for it.



[via Mozilla]

HTTPS Everywhere for Firefox

Often, the difference between putting your private data to risk and protecting it can be done by using a single extra letter when connecting to a web site. The most common protocol on the web is the http, and it works well for the most part - except it is a bit naive, as it assumes everything and everyone to be trustworthy.

These days we can never know who is listening to our streaming data zooming back and forth at the speed of light; and our personal details, bank account data, passwords, and lots more, become valuable info a lot of people would like to put their hands on.

This HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox extension that will automatically use HTTPs connections for many sites that support it but keep using the unsecured connections by default.

How to Save Memory in Firefox

Though Firefox is an excellent browser, the truth is... it still gobbles up quite an amount of memory, particularly if you happen to haven several dozen of tabs open at the same time.

That's why you'll probably want to give this add-on a try: BarTab.

With this add-on, you can customize the way Firefox handles multiple tabs. You can specify you don'w want it to load all tabs when restoring a session - delaying it until you actually click on each individual tab.
You can even specify you want to unload a tab from memory after a preset time of inactivty.

It's the perfect add-on for every power user with dozens of tabs open every day!

[How to save Memory in Firefox]

Firefox 5 New Features

Although Firefox 4 has just recently arrived, Mozilla's development team is already hard at work in the upcoming Firefox 5.

And it looks like Firefox 5 will have some interesting festures, although some may eventually get pushed back to future versions.
Firefox 5 will have integrated preview visualizers, for things like PDF files and even MP3 audio files, and learn some new tricks: like the ability to select multiple tabs.

More interestingly, it will have an integrated identity management system.

This will allow you to be logged in into your social network sites, like Twitter and Facebook, and even have multiple accounts active at the same time.
I don't know how they'll pull it off, in order to make it "easy to use", but I sincerely hope they succeed (and if it works for multiple Google accounts at the same time... the better!)

(And yes, I know I could use the multiple Google accounts feature right now - but I'd really prefer having my separate Google accounts separate.)

Firefox 4.0 is Here

Firefox 4 is now officially available for download, and it looks like it's an instant success, with over 6000 downloads per minute.

You can see a real-time worldwide Firefox download map at: http://glow.mozilla.org/

Update: 1 million downloads achieved in under 2h30 :)


You can get to know some of the new features of Firefox 4.0 here, and learn how this Firefox is faster and safer than ever.

Better yet, give it a try and download Firefox 4.0.

FlagFox for Firefox

Want to check, at a glance, what countries you're browsing through?

With FlagFox your Firefox shows you the country flag (just hover your mouse over it if you don't recognize the country) of the server you're acessing.

If you click on it you'll get more detailed info and more accurate geographic location of the server.

Besides looking nice in your browser, it can also be used as a security warning tool - if you're accessing a site you know for sure to be hosted in a particular country, and it suddenly points you to a different place; it's time to be extra cautious.

Firefox 4 Beta 1

If you like to live dangerously Firefox 4 beta 1 is now available.

Besides the obvious Feedback button, allowing to quickly give feedback to Mozilla, you can expect all the latest HTML5 and CSS support, as well as cutting edge performance improvements: like hardware accelerated graphics, and WebGL; not to mention the out-of-process plugins that should make Firefox a crash-proof browser.

Anti-Crash Firefox Available

At last, Firefox 3.6.4 is now available and it brings the much appreciated out-of-process plugin execution.
Meaning, if any of your browser plugins misbehaves and crashes, it should only affect its contents, leaving all your other pages and tabs unharmed.

Google Chrome already implemented a similar feature a long way back, but I guess it's better late than never... and Firefox user will certainly appreciate it.

Check your Firefox Plugins

If you use Firefox, you're certainly aware of internet browsing safety and security issues.
Most of the time the problem isn't the browser itself but some installed plugin, like the ones used to play Flash content, read PDF files, run Java, etc.

Having outdated versions of these plugins is often critical, and that's why mozilla has made it easier for you ti check and update all your browser plugins. You just need to visit:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/

Now there are no more excuses to keep outdated plugins in your system!

Diagrams and SVG Add-ons for Firefox

As you're probabaly aware, one of Firefox's greatest strengths is its infinite ability to learn new tricks via extensions and add-ons. Today, I present you three Firefox add-ons that will simplify your drawing and animation tasks.

Ever had the need to draw some diagrams? You should give this Pencil a try.

If you're more into fast SVG editing, then maybe svg-edit will suit your needs better.

And if static images don't cut ir, how about using Animat to create some animated PNGs in the APNG format?

Crash-Proof Firefox

There's nothing worse than seeing your browser crash and take away all your work and dozens of opent tabs or windows.

To make it even worse, most of the time the problem isn't the browser itself but caused by some problem in some external plugin - like Flash, for example.

Well, soon Firefox will learn some trick from Google's Chrome, running its plugins in a separate process. Meaning: even if the plugin crashes, your Firefox should keep working as usual, like nothing happened - just showing a failed plugin message its web page.

Mozilla Weave 1.0 for Firefox

If you use multiple computers and want to keep your browser sessions in sync, I remind you Mozilla Weave 1.0 for Firefox is already available.

Using this free browser add-on from Mozilla Labs, you can securely access all of your personal data across all of your supported devices, making your Web experience instantly more personal and useful.

Weave Sync synchronizes your bookmarks, saved passwords, browsing history and open browser tabs. And all of your data is encrypted end-to-end to ensure your privacy.

Firefox 3.6 Available Now

As I said earlier, Firefox 3.6 is now available for download. :)

What's new?

• Support for a new type of theme called Personas, which allow users to change Firefox's appearance with a single click.
• Protection from out-of-date plugins to keep users safer as they browse.
• Open, native video can now be displayed full screen and supports poster frames.
• Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness, and startup time.
• The ability for web developers to indicate that scripts should run asynchronously to speed up page load times.
• Continued support for downloadable web fonts using the new WOFF font format.
• Support for new CSS attributes such as gradients, background sizing, and pointer events.
• Support for new DOM and HTML5 specifications including the Drag & Drop API and the File API, which allow for more interactive web pages.
• Changes to how third-party software can integrate with Firefox in order to prevent crashes.

Firefox 3.6 Launchs Today

The latest Firefox version, the multiplatform browser that has been steadily gaining popularity face Internet Explorer will be launched later today..

Besides the speed improvements that will make this Firefox 3.6 the fastest ever, you can also expect enhanced security (with automatic detection of outdated plugins - which are becoming an ever growing attack vector), themes, and more.

Watch the following video to know what to expect:




You can follow it live here.

Update: it's available now! :)

Multitouch Firefox

So you just bought the latest multitouch PC you could get - but now... what to do with it if your favorite web browser doesn't use it as well as it should?

Well, seems like we won't have to wait for long. Soon, Firefox will have full multi-touch capabilities.

Just peek the following video:


Multitouch on Firefox from Felipe on Vimeo.

Faster Firefox Startup

I can't say I've felt it myself, but some users have been reporting abnormally long startup times when starting Firefox. If you have been waiting for 10+ seconds when you execute Firefox this might be of help.

It looks like the problem has something to do with database fragmentation - which was aggravated by the fact that lots of data are now stored for 90 days (from the 9 days of previous versions)

As data is constantly being manipulated, the database gets fragmented, its size increases, and its performances decreases. That's why you better clean it all up with SQL vacuum.


Doing the vacuum process defragments the DB and recover the "lost" space. You'll not only save disk space, you'll end up with a faster startup time. Some user reported going from a 10s start up time to just 2s.

While the Firefox team doesn't implement a way to do this automatically, I recommend you do this yourself (using the method in the link above) regularly - or whenever you feel it getting slower.


And in case you don't feel comfortable dealing with command line stuff, you can always use IniFox, which does the same in an easier user-friendly way.

Firefox 3.5 Already Available

Just as predicted Firefox 3.5  is out:

• Firefox 3.5 (windows)
• Firefox 3.5 (linux)
  
  
• Other versions (languages/operationg systems)
  

With lots of new stuff for web developers and users alike.


Once you've installed it, check Firefox 3.5 realtime download stats, using HTML5' new features (in this case, the canvas element).
Zoom and drag the world map... and don't forget: there's no Flash in the page.:)

Firefox 3.5 arrives on June 30

Get ready, it's nearly here: Firefox 3.5 the version that will mark the transition from the old pre-HTML5 web to a newer and more exciting internet.

Besides the mouch touted video tags, that allow us (at last) to embed a video in a web page without requiring 3rd party plugins, and local DB offline storage, there are a lot of new stuff under the hood - things you can find in the 35 days of Firefox 3.5 where you'll see examples of previously "impossible" things you couldn't do on the web.

Of course, much of it relies on the new and much improved Javascript performance. It even allows you to implement seamcarving resizing in realtime (just as an example, but... would you even consider it doing it in javascript until now?)

Or maybe you're more of a video kind of guy; how about using javascript to create a realtime pop-art video version of another video?

I've been using Firefox 3.5 RC2 for some time now, and have no big issued to point out. So, this will certainly be a  required update if you'd like to keep up with the improving web standards.