Tag Archives: mozilla

Firefox hits version 20, adds download manager, more

Mozilla has released Firefox version 20 for OS X, which adds several new features and enhancements. Most notably, the download manager is now accessible from the toolbar. Previously it was hidden and users had to access it through the menu bar or keyboard shortcuts.

You can use the new download manager to pause and resume downloads, cancel them, open the downloads folder or go to the website from which a downloaded item originated.

Firefox 20 also lets you initiate a private browsing session without opening a new window or closing the current one. Finally, those who use a lot of extensions will appreciate the ability to shut down a hanging extension without having to completely quit and restart Firefox.

Firefox 20 for OS X is a free download.

Firefox hits version 20, adds download manager, more originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 03 Apr 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Want to get Firefox on your iPad? Here’s Why you Might Have to Wait a Very Long Time

seth-rosenblatt-browserwars-sxsw-1226_610x407Austin’s huge music festival kicked off again this past weekend. South-by-Southwest (SXSW) has turned into so much more than a place for indie bands to get discovered. Now, even tech companies are holding panels to talk about their plans for the future. At a Q&A this Saturday, Mozilla executives said there are no plans for a future of Firefox on the iPad until Apple “changes its ways.”

There used to be an iOS version of Firefox until September of 2012, when Mozilla pulled its Web browser from the App Store and won’t bring it back as long as “Apple continues its unfriendly attitude toward third-party browsers.”

Apple’s “unfriendly attitude,” according to Mozilla’s vice president of product, Jay Sullivan, is that the iPad maker won’t allow the Web browser company to carry over its own rendering and javascript engines to iOS. The non-profit organization feels that it can’t build the browser it wants to on iOS.

CNet notes that this is a risky move for Mozilla. According to NetMarketShare, Mozilla owns less than one percent of the market share. Last week, Chitika noted that the iPad commands 80 percent of all tablet Web browsing, while its next closest competitor, the Kindle Fire, only generates 8 percent of tablet Web browsing. Mozilla sure could use some of that market.

Even if there were a mobile Firefox Web browser for iOS, it would still be difficult for the company to make its mark on the iPhone or iPad. Apple doesn’t allow third-party browsers to be set as the default Internet connection. Users would have to choose to call up a different browser and even then, apps that connect to the Internet would do so through Safari instead.

“Competition is critical to our survival,” Dolphin Browser Chief Software Architect David Dehgahn told SXSW attendees. Opera Software’s Mike Taylor expressed the same viewpoint, with Sullivan repeating the sentiment that giving consumers browser choice was essential to making the Web browsing experience better. Sullivan argued that Apple’s “closed environment” means users suffer.

» Related posts: Mozilla Devs Reinventing Tablet Browser for iOS Flyers Prefer Apple Over Android in Flight iPad Surpasses iPhone in Web Browsing

Mozilla has no plans to release Firefox for iOS

At SXSW this weekend, VP of product at Mozilla, Jay Sullivan, said that there are no plans to bring the Firefox Web browser to iOS unless Apple changes its ways, according to CNET. The issue stems from a limitation Apple puts on developers stating that third-party browsers can only use UIWebView, and not the Nitro JavaScript engine Apple uses in its Safari browser for iOS.

The Nitro JavaScript engine gives Safari a significant performance boost over other browsers. Sullivan also noted that there's no way to make a third-party browser the default on iOS, and that's something else he'd like to see changed.

Firefox had released an iOS app called Firefox Home that allowed users to sync bookmarks and history with other WebKit browsers, but the company pulled that app from the App Store in September 2012.

Mozilla has no plans to release Firefox for iOS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 11 Mar 2013 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Firefox 19 released, adds HTML5 PDF viewer

Mozilla has released Firefox 19 for Mac today. The updated web browser offers a number of bug fixes, however it's the new HTML5 PDF viewer that users will immediately notice. Firefox users will no longer be required to download Adobe's Reader PDF plugin -- something which could be buggy and slow to load. The new PDF viewer built into Firefox 19 is built using HTML5 so it's pretty snappy.

Unless they're really into web development, the average user probably won't find any of the other updates too appealing. Here's the full release notes:

Built-in PDF viewer. Canvas elements can export their content as an image blob using canvas.toBlob(). Startup performance improvements (bugs 715402 and 756313). Debugger now supports pausing on exceptions and hiding non-enumerable properties. Remote Web Console is available for connecting to Firefox on Android or Firefox OS (experimental, set devtools.debugger.remote-enabled to true). There is now a Browser Debugger available for add-on and browser developers (experimental, set devtools.chrome.enabled to true). Web Console CSS links now open in the Style Editor. CSS @page is now supported. CSS viewport-percentage length units implemented (vh, vw, vmin and vmax). CSS text-transform now supports full-width. Starting Firefox with -private flag incorrectly claims you are not in Private Browsing mode (802274).

Firefox 19 is a free download.

Firefox 19 released, adds HTML5 PDF viewer originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Firefox 14 adds fullscreen support for OS X Lion

Stop me if you've heard this one: How is Mozilla Firefox like Pittsburgh's weather? Answer: If you don't like it, wait a little while and it's gonna change. The open-source desktop browser continues its drumbeat of frequent releases with Firefox 14.0.1 for Mac, Windows and Linux in over 70 different language localizations.

If you're happy with version 13 (or, for that matter, version 12), the major new feature for Mac that you'll be living without is full-screen view support on 10.7 Lion. The new build also enables HTTPS secure connections for Google searches and adds some additional bug fixes and tweaks.

[via Engadget]

Firefox 14 adds fullscreen support for OS X Lion originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Daily Update for June 18, 2012

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.


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Daily Update for June 18, 2012 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 18 Jun 2012 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mozilla working on ‘Junior’ iPad Webkit browser

Mozilla announced that it's working on a browser for the iPad called Junior. Mozilla said it wants to make browsing "more fun, more ergonomic" and hopes to re-think the browsing experience "from the ground up." As with almost all third-party browsers on the iPad, the app will be based on Apple's built-in Webkit framework, the same one that underlies Mobile Safari.

The company showed off the browser in a recent presentation by the Product Design Strategy team. Mozilla's iPad browser will be a full-screen experience that tries to de-clutter the UI by ditching the address bar and tabs at the top. Mozilla has replaced the familiar tool bars with two main buttons, located towards the bottom of the screen. The buttons can be used to perform six operations like print, forward, and reload. According to The Verge, Mozilla hasn't finalized what these six actions will be.

Though it might have a different look and feel, Mozilla Junior will have all the major features of a web browser including private browsing, bookmarks, and web history. Mozilla will also add support for multiple accounts so users can login and access only their information. You can read more about the browser on Mozilla's website and watch the video presentation which talks about the iPad browser at the 30:33 mark.

Mozilla working on 'Junior' iPad Webkit browser originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 18 Jun 2012 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mozilla Devs Reinventing Tablet Browser for iOS


Everyone has a favorite web browser. Some prefer Apple’s proprietary Safari to visit websites. Some prefer Chrome. There are even a few die hards who still surf with Internet Explorer.

For those who are loyalists to Mozilla, your life just got better. The company recently showed off a mobile version of Firefox, being dubbed “Junior,” for tablet devices.

According to The Verge, Mozilla’s Product Design Strategy team demonstrated a prototype for their iPad browser last Thursday. Mozilla’s Alex Limi explained that the company has been working on Junior for the past several months. “We wanted to make something entirely new,” said Limi. “We wanted to look into how we could reinvent the browser for a new form factor.”

The iPad is fast becoming the most popular way to surf the Internet. It is just a matter of time before there will be more mobile browsing consumers than desktop computer users. Limi says that Junior was born out of necessity. Mozilla has, “no vehicle on one of the biggest consumer platforms in the world.”

According to The Verge, the design of Mozilla Junior will be a full-screen window with no tabs. Instead, there is a back arrow on the left side of the screen about a third of the way up and a plus button on the right side. The plus button is where most of the browser interaction will take place. Tapping the plus button will let you view your most recent page visits, favorite and bookmarked sites, and a URL bar at the bottom for typing in a webpage address. A search query will populate results over the top of the favorite sections so that users don’t have to leave the home screen interface.

Mozilla will allow multiple users have separate accounts for households that share an iPad. You will also be able to enable private browsing and have a password for blocking browser history from unwanted snoopers.

There is no information at this time as to when Junior will be available, but we can be sure that the company is working hard to get a mobile browser ready for use as soon as possible.

» Related posts: Looking for a Better Web Browsing Experience? Try Dolphin Browser Twonky Beam Browser Sends Video Straight from iPad to TV Google Releases Chrome Browser for Android, a Solid Mobile Safari Challenger

Daily Update for August 16, 2011

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top stories of the day in three to five minutes, which is perfect for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for listening through iTunes, click here.

No Flash? Click here to listen.

Daily Update for August 16, 2011 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Firefox 6 due next week

The next version of Mozilla's web browser, Firefox 6, will be officially released on Tuesday, August 16. There are no major UI changes; most of the other changes are under the hood. That's a welcome upgrade as Firefox 6 is reportedly 20% faster than Firefox 5. Also, while Firefox 6 does offer full screen support, it's not Lion-native fullscreen support, which is somewhat of a disappointment.

For those of you who don't want to wait till Tuesday, you can actually download the final release of Firefox 6.0 here from Mozilla's FTP servers.

Firefox 6 due next week originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 13 Aug 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Twitter partners with Firefox, adds new image sharing tools

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As TechCrunch suggested earlier in the week, Twitter announced a few new features today: improved search on hashtags and usernames, and a Twitter-branded image/video sharing service that may disrupt established players like TwitPic and yFrog (the back end for Twitter's service is provided by PhotoBucket). The photo service will be live in the next few weeks.

The company also announced a partnership with Mozilla to deliver a custom version of Firefox that does Twitter search in the location bar; current FF users can get the same features via a plug-in.

This upgraded suite of capabilities lines up nicely with the other TechCrunch tidbit from yesterday, suggesting that part of the image service's mission is to integrate with iOS 5. iPhone users would presumably gain a 'Send to Twitter' button in any image-enabled application, although there are hints that this might go quite a bit further. If it's part of a larger plan for shared services on iDevices, that could dramatically improve the multi-app experience for people working with different sorts of data; Richard points to this Chris Clark post from a year ago with some ideas about how that might work.

Continue reading Twitter partners with Firefox, adds new image sharing tools

Twitter partners with Firefox, adds new image sharing tools originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Firefox 4 for Mac: faster, more customizable and still free

Firefox 4 (free) is now available for your favorite computing platform -- Mac OS X. If you've used the Mozilla browser in the past, you're probably already aware of the update. If not, this is a chance to download and try a laudable Mac browser.

The biggest improvement in Firefox 4 is speed. Although we were unable to perform our own benchmarks, the Firefox website shows that page rendering speeds have improved anywhere from three to six times those of the previous release. The Mozilla engineers also worked in a new layers-based graphics system that takes advantage of OpenGL in Mac OS X for faster performance on graphics-intensive websites. In reality, Firefox still felt slightly slower than Safari in terms of opening and rendering websites, although it feels much faster than previous versions of the browser.

As with previous versions of Firefox, there are numerous plug-ins and add-ons available, as well as "personas" to customize the browser's look and feel. Some plug-ins will need to be updated from earlier versions, requiring a restart of the browser before they'll work properly.

Firefox Sync is a feature that's available to sync your open browser tabs, bookmarks and even passwords between devices. If you install Firefox 4 onto several Macs, like an iMac and a MacBook Air, after closing Firefox on the desktop machine and launching the browser on the laptop you can pick up right where you left off. Regretfully, since there's no Firefox for iPhone or iPad, you can't sync your settings to those devices.

For those who hate downward facing tabs in the tabbed browser interface, you can rejoice in the fact that the new Firefox default puts the tabs on top. If you prefer downward facing tabs, no problem -- you can change the setting. I was glad to see that toolbars are now much more customizable. A control-click lets you add or remove many buttons, including various Google applications or even a print button.

I won't belabor the description of the rest of Firefox 4's new features here. Firefox fans should go out and download the update immediately; the rest of you might want to try out the free browser just to see if the new features are enough to make you switch.

Firefox 4 for Mac: faster, more customizable and still free originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mozilla publishes Firefox 4 Release Candidate

Mozilla unwrapped the release candidate of Firefox 4 for Windows, Mac, and Linux on Wednesday. Firefox 4's newly announced release candidate status indicates its features are finalized and, unless its developers uncover bugs of mass destruction, this version will likely become the official release.

According to Mozilla, the millions of users currently beta testing Firefox 4 will be automatically updated to release candidate 1, featuring a series of stability, compatibility, and performance improvements. Since the first beta became available last summer, the development team has fixed over 8,000 bugs in Firefox 4.

Firefox 4 is Mozilla's latest entry into the increasingly competitive web browser market. The unveiling of Firefox 4 Release Candidate coincides with the release of Google's Chrome 10 and comes as Microsoft prepares to officially release its much improved Internet Explorer 9 on March 14. All three browsers feature better support for the latest web standards and massive performance enhancements.

Mozilla executives don't anticipate seeing any show-stopping bugs or needing a second release candidate; they expect to officially release Firefox 4 later this month.

Continue reading Mozilla publishes Firefox 4 Release Candidate

Mozilla publishes Firefox 4 Release Candidate originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Beta Beat: Kylo Browser featuring 10-foot interface

Kylo is a free browser you use from your couch that embraces the 10-foot UI philosophy. The idea is that buttons, menus and text are larger than when viewed at your desk. This aids in usability when sitting farther away from the display, as would be the case in a living room environment.

It is powered by Mozilla -- which may or may not be a feature depending on your opinion -- and is easy to navigate with little visual clutter. In addition to standard Web browsing, Kylo offers a host of online video options, including YouTube, Netflix and many network offerings. The most notable source that appears to be absent is Hulu; if you browse the Kylo forums you'll find there are workarounds to this, but your mileage may vary.

The experience is definitely more pleasurable than using Firefox in full-screen mode. The only issue I really have with Kylo is that, even though it is free, there is an occasional advertisement for its companion product, the Loop. The ads don't seem to be too intrusive, but that could change in the future.

If you've got a Mac that you hook up to your TV for online video duty or just general Web surfing from the couch, then Kylo seems to be a real winner. Do you have any other suggestions for couch computing? We'd love to hear from you in the comments about how you're getting the most out of the 10-foot experience with your Mac.

Beta Beat: Kylo Browser featuring 10-foot interface originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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