Firefox

General
February 13, 2012
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Mozilla plans Metro-style Firefox browser for Windows 8

By on February 13, 2012 at 9:45 PM.

Mozilla plans Metro-style Firefox browser for Windows 8

Mozilla announced on Monday that it will release a Metro-specific version of Firefox for Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 platform. The browser will require “a new Firefox front end and system integration points” and be based on the Gecko layout engine. “The feature goal here is a new Gecko-based browser built for and integrated with the Metro environment,” said the company’s planning document. “Firefox on Metro, like all other Metro apps will be full screen, focused on touch interactions, and connected to the rest of the Metro environment through Windows 8 contracts.” The company may also produce a live tile that would display updates on the home screen. Mozilla hopes to unveil its new browser in the second quarter of 2012. More →

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General
February 3, 2012
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Mozilla developing push notification system for Firefox

By on February 3, 2012 at 5:01 PM.

Mozilla developing push notification system for Firefox

Mozilla is developing a push notification system for the company’s Firefox Web browser. The system will allow users to receive notifications from any website, even if the site is not open in a tab or window. The system will also be able to relay push notifications to mobile devices. Mozilla is seemingly looking to close the gap between desktop Web apps and native mobile apps, which utilize push notification systems on a number of mobile platforms. “Push notifications are a way for websites to send small messages to users when the user is not on the site,” said Mozilla developer Jeff Balogh on the company’s blog. “iOS and Android devices already support their own push notification services, but we want to make notifications available to the whole web.” The system is currently in early planning stages and there is no available time table for release. More →

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Software
December 21, 2011
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Firefox 9 now available for download, offers 30% JavaScript performance boost

By on December 21, 2011 at 1:45 AM.

Firefox 9 now available for download, offers 30% JavaScript performance boost

Mozilla released Firefox 9 on Tuesday, the latest version of its popular web browser. Firefox 9 adds several enhancements, but perhaps the most notable is its improved JavaScript engine that reportedly offers up to a 30% performance boost (in Kraken and V8 benchmarks) on Javascript-heavy sites. The browser also adds OS X Lion optimizations that should improve two-finger swipe navigation and theme support. Other features include support for font-stretch, improved support for text-overflow, improved support for HTML5, MathML and CSS, and stability fixes. Firefox 9 is available for free now and builds are available for Mac, Linux and Windows. More →

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Business
December 21, 2011
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Google will remain default Firefox search engine for three more years

By on December 21, 2011 at 12:30 AM.

Google will remain default Firefox search engine for three more years

Mozilla announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with Google in which Google Search will remain the default search engine in Firefox for the next three years. “Mozilla has been a valuable partner to Google over the years and we look forward to continuing this great partnership in the years to come,” said Google’s senior vice president of search, Alan Eustace. While terms of the agreement remain confidential, Mozilla reported in October that its partnership with Google helped the company achieve a large portion of the $123 million in revenue in reported last year, CNET said. More →

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Software
December 2, 2011
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Chrome usage surpasses Firefox for the first time

By on December 2, 2011 at 7:15 AM.

Chrome usage surpasses Firefox for the first time

Google’s Chrome web browser surpassed Mozilla’s Firefox in global browser market share for the first time ever in November. Research firm StatCounter found that Chrome’s market share during the month was 25.69%, up 4.66% from last November, and that Firefox’s share was a hair lower at 25.33% during the month. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer maintained its lead with 40.63%. ”Our stats measure actual browser usage, not downloads, so while Chrome has been highly effective in ensuring downloads our stats show that people are actually using it to access the web also,” StatCounter CEO Aodjan Cullen said. Internet Explorer remains the top browser in the United States with a 50.66% share. Firefox is the second most popular browser in the U.S. with a 20.09% share, down from 26.75% in November last year, and Chrome is the third most popular browser with a 17.3% share, up from 10.89% last year. Net Applications, another research firm, published similar results on Thursday. By its numbers, Internet Explorer had a 52.64% share in November, followed by Firefox (22.14%), Chrome (18.18%) and Safari (5%). StatCounter’s full press release follows after the break.  More →

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Software
November 16, 2011
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Firefox 8 grabs 35% of traffic in just one week

By on November 16, 2011 at 7:50 PM.

Firefox 8 grabs 35% of traffic in just one week

Mozilla’s latest version of it’s popular Firefox web browser saw rapid adoption following its release last week. Firefox 8, the fifth major release of the Mozilla browser so far this year, became available for download on November 9th. Within one day, the new iteration had already grown to account for 7% of all Firefox traffic across Chitika’s ad network, the company reported on Tuesday. By the end of the browser’s first week of availability, Firefox 8 claimed 35% of all Firefox traffic. More →

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Software
September 30, 2011
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Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers chewing away at IE market share

By on September 30, 2011 at 8:40 PM.

Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers chewing away at IE market share

A new research report from Chitika Insights suggests Chrome, Firefox and Safari are eating away at Microsoft’s dominant share of the web browser market. Internet Explorer’s overall share dropped from 56% in July to 54% in August while Firefox’s market share increased from 19% to 20% and Safari’s share grew one point to 9%. Between July 2010 and July 2011, however, Microsoft’s browser share remained steady at 56%. Google’s Chrome web browser saw its share increase from 9% to 16% year-over-year at the expense of Firefox and Safari, which lost 5% and 1% of the market, respectively. Chitika said it expects Firefox’s share to increase as Mozilla continues to release frequent updates to its web browser. In addition, Internet Explorer’s share will “stabilize from its recent losses” when Microsoft releases Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10. More →

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Software
September 28, 2011
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Mozilla releases Firefox 7 for Windows and Mac

By on September 28, 2011 at 3:00 AM.

Mozilla releases Firefox 7 for Windows and Mac

Mozilla on Tuesday pushed out a new version of its popular Firefox web browser for Windows and Mac computers. Mozilla released Firefox 6 on August 16th, just over one month ago, and version 7 is already upon us, reaffirming Mozilla’s commitment to the world’s second most popular web browser. Firefox 7 brings with it a host of changes, the most notable of which is perhaps “drastically improved memory handling” and other speed related improvements. As of August, Net Applications shows Firefox’s global browser share as 22.57%, behind Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (55.31%) and ahead of Chrome (15.51%) Safari (4.64%) and the Opera browser (1.68%). Firefox 7 is available for download immediately from Mozilla’s website, which is linked below. More →

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Software
August 26, 2011
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Firefox 6 adoption takes off

By on August 26, 2011 at 1:15 AM.

Firefox 6 adoption takes off

Users are flocking towards Mozilla’s latest Firefox 6 browser according to new data from Chitika Insights, the research arm of ad network Chitika. The company watched Firefox 6 adoption across its network in the United States and Canada from the browser’s debut on August 16th until August 22nd. Chitika Insights said that in just one week, Firefox 6 had already garnered 8% of the company’s traffic. In addition, Firefox 6 now represents 45% of all Firefox traffic, although the firm says the speed of growth has slowed since early adopters have already upgraded. More →

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mobile
August 4, 2011
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Android least open of open source platforms, report says

By on August 4, 2011 at 4:55 PM.

Android least open of open source platforms, report says

Android may be an open source operating system, but it’s not as open as other platforms according to a new research report from VisionMobile. The research firm compared Android, Eclipse, Firefox, the Linux kernel, MeeGo, Qt and Symbian and found that, of those open source environments, Android was the least “open.” According to the report’s “open governance index,” which scored each environment on how open it is, Android scored a 23%. It was far below the others; Eclipse scored the best with an 84% open governance index and no other platform scored less than a 58%, ArsTechnica said. Google’s Android compatibility chief Dan Morrill likely swayed the opinion on Android a bit when he said Google was using compatibility “as a club to make [phone maker's] do things we want,” and the report cites that quote specifically. However, VisionMobile also backs up its findings with a statement that can be read in full after the break. More →

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Software
July 5, 2011
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Google’s Chrome web browser now has 20.7% of web browser global market share at cost of IE, Firefox

By on July 5, 2011 at 10:22 PM.

Google’s Chrome web browser now has 20.7% of web browser global market share at cost of IE, Firefox

According to the analytics firm StatCounter, Google’s Chrome web browser now has a 20.7% grip of the web browser market — seven times more than it had just two years ago. The boost comes at the cost of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser, which now has less than a 50% hold on the market. Mozilla’s Firefox web browser has a 28% share of the browser market, down from 30% two years ago, and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer share fell to 44% from 59% two years ago. According to Reuters, StatCounter gathers its data from more than 3 million websites with more than 15 billion page views. More →

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Software
June 22, 2011
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Mozilla launches Firefox 5 with ‘even more awesomeness’

By on June 22, 2011 at 1:01 AM.

Mozilla launches Firefox 5 with ‘even more awesomeness’

Mozilla on Tuesday finally issued the new public release version of its wildly popular Web browser, Firefox. Version 5 of Firefox wasn’t met with quite the same fanfare as Firefox 4, but the update is a major one nonetheless. Mozilla bills its new browser as being faster than ever with “even more awesomeness,” and we can’t say we disagree. Firefox 5 has received massive improvements aimed at providing speedier performance, and the UI has been redesigned and improved as well. Firefox’s “do not track” feature also works across mobile and desktop platforms now, and Mozilla has improved support for MathML, HTML 5, XHR, and SMIL as well. Other areas targeted by the new build include CSS animation and JavaScript support, and Mozilla has promised more frequent updates so more new features shouldn’t be far off. According to Net Applications, Mozilla’s Firefox browser was used by 21.71% of the global market in May, second only to Internet Explorer’s 54.27% share. Chrome, Safari and Opera rounded out the top-5 with 12.52%, 7.28% and 2.03%, respectively. More →

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Software
April 13, 2011
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Social Web browser Flock shutting down

By on April 13, 2011 at 5:59 AM.

Social Web browser Flock shutting down

Flock, the social web browser that was purchased by Zynga earlier this year, has announced that it is shutting down. The team will instead focus on helping Zynga build socially connected games across multiple platforms. If you’re a Flock user, the good news is that you’ll be able to continue to use the product for a few more days as you transition to a new browser. Flock says that, after April 26th, key features will no longer be available, and it also warned that security will falter without future software updates or upgrades. The team recommends that current Flock users switch to Firefox or Chrome. Hit the jump for instructions on how to migrate your favorites and other features to a new browser. More →

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