Firefox Download Day

Dear readers, just to remind you - Firefox 3 will be launched officially on June 17, 2008. That is next Tuesday. Let's help set the record for most software downloads in 24 hours.

Firefox 3 out

Just found out that Mozilla has released the Release Candidate 1 of Firefox 3. It isis available in more than 45 languages as a public preview release. However, it should be noted that this release still has some issues.

Yet another Firefox update

Mozilla recently release another update of Firefox - version 2.0.0.14 on April 16, 2008. That's just a few days after the last update.

I don't think that bad. Apparently the latest update fixes a critical issue - MFSA 2008-20 Crash in JavaScript garbage collector. I have no idea what that means and I don't really care.

Firefox 2.0.0.13 released

A new version of my favourite open source browser, Firefox has been released. No! It's not the eagerly awaited version 3 but ver 2.0.0.13

It was released on the 25 of this month.

A few security issues were fixed.

Firefox 2.0.0.12 out

Mozilla released the latest version of the Firefox browser yesterday. I was quite because the new version didn't get updated automatically unlike previously and I had to use the "Check for Updates" under help tab on the browser.

Anyway, the new version fixes a number of security and stability issues that were discovered in Firefox 2.0.0.11.

Phoenity theme for Firefox reborn

Lim Chee Aun has finally come up with a new version of the Phoenity theme for Firefox - the Phoenity Aura 0.1.1

Love the clean and colourful icons.

I wrote about this Firefox fan in March 2005.

Thanks Chee Aun.

Backup bookmarks

I have been using the Foxmarks add-on for Firefox to synchronizes my bookmarks between different computers.

Just got to know that Box.net has made a similar tool that backs up and synchronizes your bookmarks called Bookmarks Synchronizer 1.0.2.

It's very simple, you can set it to auto update you bookmarks so they are synchronized wherever you go, or you can manually backup and restore bookmarks. The bookmarks are then stored on Box.net and can be accessed anywhere.

Thanks for the info Brian.

Link checker extension for Firefox

Right now, I am involved in some web designing work involving a very huge website, with a large number of links. I was going through them one by one to check whether the links are working until I thought "Hey! There must be an easier way to do this."

And there is. My latest favourite Firefox extension is the LinkChecker 0.6.1.

Just click the button and all live links show up highlighted in Green while dead links, in Red.

Really useful tool.

Introducing Foxkeh

Foxkeh is the really cute mascot of Mozilla Japan. Check out Foxkeh's blog here. Download images, wallpapers and the history of Firefox and Mozilla from their download page.

Also just learnt that today, Firefox has crossed 400 million downloads. Isn't that amazing. I am proud that I played a small part in that.

Anonymous web browsing and publishing with Tor

If you are really concerned about internet security and want to maintain your privacy on the net, you should download Tor. This toolset can be used when websites or certain web services like instant chat, are blocked by their local Internet providers. You can also surf websites, visit chat room and web forums anonymously. It also lets users publish web sites and other services without needing to reveal the location of their site.

The Tor network consists of several servers and as a data packet moves along the network, it incrementally builds a circuit of encrypted connections. This means that no individual server ever knows the complete path that a data packet has taken - nobody at any single point can tell where the data came from or where it's going.

According to the overview of the website, even the US armed forces are using Tor.

The software is distributed for free under the 3-clause BSD license. The latest release is 0.1.2.17 but you can download the beta version (0.2.0.6-alpha) as well. It is available for Windows, Macs as well as Linux platforms.

Note: Tor will only protect Internet applications that are configured to send their traffic through it. Firefox users should download the Torbutton extension.

Go to the Tor download page here.

Search for MP3s on SkreemR

SkreemR is a brand new search engine that locates MP3 audio files on the web.

I had a sudden urge to listen to the Bee Gees and searching on the site gave me 1877 results. The innovative feature about this search engine is that you can straightaway listen to music straight from the results using their embedded media player.

You can also add SkreemR search to your Firefox search bar by downloading the Firefox Search Plug-In. They also have a new SkreenR add-on for Facebook users as well.

Read their FAQ for more info about the search engine.

Firefox Campus edition

I was really excited when I learnt that there was a "Campus edition" of Firefox from one of my friends. BTW, would love to have a T-shirt with that flaming logo.

Went to check it out and found out that it was the normal Firefox with 3 add-ons preloaded. The add-ons are:

• FoxyTunes - lets you control almost any media player and find lyrics, covers, videos, bios and much more with a click right from your browser.
• StumbleUpon - lets you channel surf the Internet to find great websites, videos, photos and more based on your interests.
• Zotero - helps you collect, manage, and cite your research sources. It lives right where you do your work - in the web browser itself.
  

Read the 10 reasons why Firefox is the best browser.

ColorZilla extension for Firefox

Among all the Firefox extensions I regularly use, one of the most useful is ColorZilla. The latest version is ColorZilla 1.0. It really comes in handy while designing websites.

You will need to restart the browser after it has been downloaded. A eyedropper icon will then appear on the left hand corner of your Firefox browser. On clicking the eyedropper icon, your cursor will be visible as a cross. You will then be able to obtain a color reading from any point in your browser by moving the cursor around.

You can also zoom up the page and even measure distance between two points in your browser. Double clicking the eyedropper icon, will load up the built-in palette as a pop-up browser where you can choose from the pre-defined color sets, including web safe colors. There are loads of other stuff you can do with it.

Firefox 2.0.0.6

The latest version of Firefox to come out is version 2.0.0.6, which was released on July 30, 2007. I am not sure why but the auto update didn't work and I had to install it manually.

The following security issues have been fixed:

MFSA 2007-27 Unescaped URIs passed to external programs
MFSA 2007-26 Privilege escalation through chrome-loaded about:blank windows

Classic Pac Man game for Firefox

Read about this classic Pacmangame add-on for Firefox on Brajeshwar's site.

Sure brings back a lot of memories. The graphics are pixilated and the AI is not that great, but it is still fun.

SEO extension for Firefox

The 'SEO for Firefox' extension is a great SEO tool. Beside PR, it also provides the age based on when the site was first indexed by Archive.org, the age, links, number of Tecnocrati links as well as the number of times bookmarked by Del.icio.us among others.

The site suggests that you turn this extension off during casual surfing. A must have for people interested in optimising their sites and checking out the competition.

Firefox update

Firefox 2.0.0.5, the latest version, was released yesterday.

A few security issues were fixed with the release.

In anoter related news, according to a recent article, the Beta version of the eagerly awaited major update, Firefox 3.0, has been postponed to a later date.

Check Alexa and Google page ranks on Firefox

If you use the Firefox browser, go and download the SearchStatus extension. With this installed, the Google PageRank, Alexa rank is displayed for every site you visit on the web.

However, that's not all. It has a keyword density analyser, keyword/nofollow highlighting, backward/related links and more.

Many users have also reported that their Alexa rankings improved after it was installed on their browser. I too have it installed on my favourite browser.

Firefox 2.0.0.4 released

The latest version of Firefox was released yesterday. It now has more enhancements and fixes for Windows Vista. Some security issues have also been fixed.

Read 10 reasons why Firefox is the best browser.

Control your music player from Firefox

FoxyTunes is a popular extension for Firefox. Using this tool, you can now control almost any media player without leaving the browser as the controls are on the

Version 2.9 is the latest version and it includes several new features. It now has TTPlayer and eMusic download manager support. You can also search the web to find lyrics, artist images, etc. while listening to music.

There is also FoxyTunes Mini, which allows you to listed to music even when Firefox is not open. Unfortunately, FoxyTunes Mini currently works only on Windows machines. Sorry Mac users.

Download FoxyTunes here.

Tags: foxytunes firefox Music player