Mozilla has released Firefox 64 for desktop, giving its users access to better tab organization and a contextual feature recommender (CFR), among other things. The changes make it easier for users to organize the dozens of browser tabs they may have open, as well as discovering Firefox features and add-ons that they may be otherwise unaware of.
They call it the holidays but for some people, those days are even more nerve-wracking than regular days. From the travel accommodations that have to be made to the presents that have to be bought, people are flooded with more information than they would normally get during any other day. And since most of that information is coming from the Web, Mozilla is trying out some new tricks to let Firefox help rather than add to the problem, like keeping track of prices for you or helping you email links to yourself.
Among the major web browser makers, Firefox is still hailed as the most open and most privacy-respecting option around, despite a few hiccups in its history and some problems with performance. Its parent organization, Mozilla, however, doesn’t have the same near limit-less resources as, say, Google or Microsoft or Apple. The not-for-profit organization is always looking for ways to stay afloat, not all of them successful or warmly received. Its latest attempt doesn’t involve ads, fortunately, but does involve users forking a bit of money if they want.
Everyone should be concerned about keeping their various online identities secure, and today, Firefox made that a little bit easier. Working alongside Have I Been Pwned, today Mozilla launched Firefox Monitor. You can use this to see if your email address has been involved in any security breaches, so in that regard, Firefox Monitor mirrors the functionality of Have I Been Pwned pretty closely.
Virtual reality is all about immersing yourself in a made-up world that looks (in theory) like you’re really in it. The last thing you need is a flat floating rectangle that shatters that illusion. That said, if you ever need to access the Web, that’s exactly the only way. Mozilla, however, says it doesn’t have to be a painful and disconcerting experience. With Firefox Reality now in its version 1.0 stable release, one of the world’s biggest web browsers is taking a step towards blending the 2D web and the immersive web.
Mozilla has always presented Firefox as the champion of open source and privacy on the Web, at least in contrast to the likes of Google Chrome. That doesn’t mean it hadn’t had a few missteps along the way, like its controversial “Sponsored Tiles”. It’s walking on thin ice again with its new “Firefox Advance” Test Pilot experiment that uses a smidgen of machine learning to recommend sites related to what you’ve been browsing. Fortunately, it is, at least for now, still an experiment you don’t even have to use.
Mozilla’s Firefox browser may have had a successful run on the desktop but it hasn’t been smooth-sailing when it came to mobile. That’s especially true for iOS where it was only recently that it was able to actually have an actual web browser for iPhones and iPads. In the meantime, it has seemingly fallen by the wayside compared to Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari. With its Test Pilot experiments, Mozilla aims to bring some of its desktop features and technologies to smartphones, like passwords on iOS and notes on Android.
The nascent VR market has more or less settled into two camps, Oculus and Vive. Four and a half if you count Oculus-powered Gear VR, Google Daydream, and Windows Mixed Reality. Needless to say, there's a bit of fragmentation going on, especially when you factor in prices and system requirements. WebVR, and particularly Mozilla's new Firefox Reality, promises to democratize VR by making experiences available on all VR platforms and devices. And its first actually usable application is Hubs by Mozilla, a VR chat world where you take on the appearance of a clunky, floating robot.
There is a great deal of focus being put on privacy lately thanks to the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, but the social network is hardly the only culprit. Countless websites track users' online activity, mostly for ads, and web browsers often help them in exchange for a cut. Mozilla has always prided itself on not being beholden to such a business method, though it did try and fail a couple of times. Now Mozilla is taking a bold step that could antagonize advertisers and retailers by turning on Firefox's Tracking Prevention by default on iOS.
Just in time for the AR explosion, Mozilla revealed their first version of Firefox Reality. That's a Firefox web browser for VR and AR platforms - mixed reality, in other words. This is a web browser made to appear in virtual reality, augmented reality, and in a way that allows simple VR and AR control.
Mozilla, the company that recently called out Facebook's current default data settings, has just released an extension that addresses the platform's potential privacy issues. Called the Facebook Container Extension, this new offering stuffs Facebook into its own container tab whenever the social network is accessed, helping ensure the user's data isn't tracked.
Mozilla just called out Facebook, saying it believes there are still issues with the social network's default privacy settings. Due to these concerns, Mozilla has chosen to "pause" its advertising on Facebook, giving the company a chance to earn back its business by taking "stronger action in how it shares customer data, specifically strengthening its default privacy settings for third party apps."