firefox

Review: Firefox for Android used to be a must-use mainly for Firefox fans. It was good at what it did, but it wasn't great, and the competitive field of Android browsers surpassed it on many levels.

In response, Mozilla spent the better part of a year redesigning the browser from the ground up. The new Firefox for Android brings an interface powered by native code, competitive page-load times, and Flash support. As important for Mozilla is that the sum of the new browser's parts will keep its flagship brand relevant on Android as Chrome for Android grows.

New … Read more

File Transfer Protocol isn't the safest way to transfer files, but it's still one of the most popular. If you need to use FTP to move files in your network, this browser add-on makes it easy. FireFTP doesn't work in every browser, but its performance is still universally good. Any issues with the extension are issues with FTP itself, not due to any fault of the program.

If you couldn't guess from the name, this program only works with Firefox. To use it, you need to have Firefox and set it up as an extension. Once … Read more

Mozilla Firefox has undergone an enormous rebirth over the past two years. Since Firefox 4 debuted in March 2011, the browser has been hell-bent on improvements. These have come, in large part, on the rapid-release cycle, which sees a new version of Firefox every six weeks. Many people like them, but a vocal minority has pooh-poohed the increase in version numbers. That's hardly a legitimate complaint in a world where mobile apps also update silently and effectively, but the transition for Firefox hasn't been an easy one.

Firefox is on version 20 at the time of this review. … Read more

Along with an update to the infamous "porn mode" that turns off your browser's ability to record your browsing session, the new Firefox 20 includes usability and back-end changes.

Firefox 20 (download for Windows | Mac | Linux) updates now allow you to run a private browsing session in a new window, alongside a standard Firefox browsing window. On Firefox 20 for Android (download), the browser now lets you run private mode tabs next to standard session tabs.

Private browsing on Firefox is analogous to Internet Explorer's InPrivate or Chrome's Incognito. It's a feature that turns … Read more

Mozilla just released Firefox 20 (download for Windows | Mac | Linux), which introduced a few new features, including a brand-new download manager. The new download manager works similarly to the old one, but with a couple of new twists.

The first change you'll notice is a new Download button next to the Home button. This gives you quick access to the last three downloads. The Download button will actually display the time remaining during a download, then change to an arrow when the download completes.

You can click on "Show All Downloads" or use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+… Read more

Safari has won back some of the ground it lost recently to rival mobile browsers.

Apple's iOS browser captured 61.79 percent of all mobile browser Web traffic seen by Net Applications in March. That was a healthy rise from the 55.41 percent tracked in February.

Safari remained firmly in the lead last month, followed by the default Android browser in second place with a 21.86 percent share and Opera Mini in the third spot with 8.4 percent. But Safari has seen its share of Net Applications' Web traffic rocked by the competition.

After rising steadily … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--If you could play high-end, 3D games in your browser at the same speed as on a console, would you? Here at the annual Game Developers Conference, the maker of Firefox revealed a plan to get you to do just that.

Mozilla's current holy grail is getting the mix of HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS that powers the modern Web to run apps at speeds that rival native code, the operating system-dependent languages underpinning apps on iOS, Android, Windows 8, and other proprietary systems.

The not-so-secret weapon in Mozilla's plan is something called ASM.js, said Director of Engineering Vladimir Vukicevic. "It's a dialect of JavaScript that can optimize [code] much better. It's around two times as fast," he said.… Read more

I don't always retweet, but when I do, I prefer Classic Retweet.

If you use Twitter's standard Web interface, then you have probably grown tired of manually retweeting -- with the cutting, and the pasting, and the typing -- in order to edit or add comment when sharing another's post. With the Classic Retweet extension for Chrome or for Firefox, you get a Tweet window with editable text, helping to streamline the retweeting process.

After installing the extension and refreshing your Twitter page, mouse over a Tweet in your feed and you'll see a "Classic … Read more

Rumors have been swirling about Apple and Samsung building smartwatches, but they're not the only ones. One Chinese company is reportedly looking to get into the time-keeping game Firefox OS.

Known for its e-readers and an Android-fueled smartwatch released last year, a subdivision of massive Chinese tech outfit Shanda called Guoke plans to sell a smartwatch in June called the Bambook Smart Watch. The Bambook will come in two flavors, according to TechNode. One will run Android, the other Firefox OS. Reportedly, the watch will cost more than $100, and will have an e-ink screen.

Like Samsung, Shanda has … Read more