Firefox 28 Is Available Now!

After few hours of announcing that they stopped the development of a version of Firefox for Windows touch interface Metro 8.x, Mozilla Foundation has just made available for download the 28.0 version of their browser. This is necessarily very lightweight version with more novelties.

The most interesting news for the start of the new Firefox 28 concerns once again the absence of an announced feature. Available for Windows, MacOS and Linux, this new version does not offer any changes in its interface. And the rest of the additions can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

 Besides the usual performance improvement and correction of security holes, Mozilla Launches Firefox 28 with VP9 video codec, audio codec Opus and a finalized version of the Gamepad API programming interface to associate a joystick browser. New to Firefox 28 is the support of VP9. The priority was developed by Google video codec promises to consume only half as much data at the same quality.

YouTube has - not surprisingly - announced to set for the streaming of 4K content on VP9. The Firefox browser is henceforth able to video (WebM) with soundtracks in Opus format reproduce. On HTML5 pages there is a new volume control for audio and video playback.

In addition to various security updates, the new version promises to support the message center for web notifications for Mac OS X. In addition, Firefox 28 for Android should incorporate new buttons like “Quickshare" to simplify information sharing.

New Microsoft browser Internet Explorer 11

Windows 8.1 is not only a major update of the latest operating system from Microsoft, but also a new version of Internet Explorer in this year. The first emerged preliminary versions of Internet Explorer 11 have offered no visual novelties. The Internet Explorer 10 along with Windows 8 Microsoft has introduced in 2012 the great turnaround. Modern, faster, safer - better - to be the new American software forge. With the IE10 this succeeds the company largely: Optimized for touch user interface, tracking protection, built-in spelling correction brings IE back on par with the competition. But Microsoft did not want to squander his arduous comeback on Firefox and Chrome. While the strongest competitor, Mozilla and Google bring to the market every six weeks, a new version of its browser, Microsoft has taken the leap from IE9 to IE10 whole two years. That the successor cannot wait quite so long in coming, appearing regularly put rumors close: because together with the successor of Windows 8, Microsoft seems too busy to tinker with a new browser. According to insider reports are to be expected with the release of the new software later this year. This must be re-Published in a net pre-release version of Windows 8.1 (codename Blue) already provided a first look. But so far, Microsoft does still extremely cloudy.

On the surface, no changes are visible. Only under the hood did more. There is also evidence that Microsoft integrates Web Graphics Library "WebGL" in the upcoming version of browser. The browser can work with the help of the graphics card, advanced 3D graphics without the need of additional software. By porting the Unreal 3 Enginge for Firefox Mozilla has recently demonstrated the potential that lies dormant in this area. Previously, Microsoft had refused for security reasons, to integrate the interface. Potential security vulnerability would allow far-reaching access to the PC. Therefore, Safari and Opera WebGL have either built, but disabled by default. Only in Firefox and Chrome you can find the graphics interface previously active. According to a reports the Internet Explorer 11 wipe gestures to control the browser on the PC. Although already has the Metro version of IE10 via a user interface for touch control, the successor but also the desktop version should be served by hand. With this move, Microsoft has not only "new" operating concepts in mind, but it worked sensibly to overcome the (operator) barrier between the Metro and desktop interface of Windows 8. In the unofficial pre-release Microsoft has also changed the user agent of the browser: for example, the Internet Explorer web pages are as compared to Firefox browser. In addition, Microsoft is working on an integration of the obvious SPDY protocol. The network protocol developed by Google modified parts of the HTTP protocol and trims it for speed.

The goal is to speed up browsing. In addition to Chrome Firefox and Opera already support the protocol. Whether it's Microsoft with Internet Explorer 11 manages to further stifle the technical edge of competition, cannot be estimated at this stage. The previously available version of IE11 is more reminiscent still version 10.1 as a proper successor. Only if the manufacturer provides an official pre-release version of the new IE is mandatory statements about the potential of the new Microsoft browser can meet.

Firefox version 20 with full of innovations!

Mozilla has finally released version 20 of its browser Firefox. A version number of iconic, the browser offers significant improvements. We note in particular the movement of downloads in an integrated list and the ability to use the private browsing mode in a separate window. Firefox 20 is a relatively large milling Mozilla browser. Unlike many other versions, it provides several significant new functions in the field, in addition to traditional improvements under the hood. In fact, Firefox offers 20 well increase overall performance (Page loading, downloads, zip, etc.).


One of the main innovations is clearly the new Private Browsing mode. As a reminder, it can navigate in a special session experiencing no trace. This is valid for the complete history, identifiers, downloads, cookies and all data can generate browser. However, until now, the private browsing mode (MNP) was exclusive: it replaced the conventional navigation, and it was therefore close the window to return to normal mode, but this is no longer the case. The NPM can now be launched from the Firefox menu, opening an additional window. The user can have both at the same time. Note that Firefox, unlike Internet Explorer or Chrome, does not use a separate process for each tab. It is this lack that originally made the exclusive MNP. Even if the separation process is still not ready, the work was sufficient to separate the classical and private bodies. Download list is no longer in a separate window, but directly in the main window itself. Simply click on the button to see the latest downloads made, but it is still possible to open the dedicated window. It is also merged with the history and bookmarks. Mac users should note that this is exactly the presentation in Safari for several years. Another important feature is the management of plug-ins. Work on the MNP was coupled to reinforced insulation third party modules. Mozilla says so in case of a crash because of one of the plug-ins, Firefox behavior is affected.

Other improvements are more under the hood and / or dedicated developers:

The implementation of the ECMAScript standard 6 continues

 A new JavaScript profiler appeared

 Many improvements around the audio and video tags HTML5 Support modes "blend" for canvas elements

 Implementation of the method get User Media for access to micro and webcam (with user permission)

 In addition, several bugs have been fixed and several security vulnerabilities, including three critical. Of particular note is a breach exploitable WebGL for graphics and video drivers crash Mesa on Linux.


 Firefox 20 is also available for Android. Improvements are not quite the same, but there are improvements Commons. For example, the mobile browser also manages the new private browsing mode, but in a new tab. Two other improvements are in the game. On the one hand, the area finally became Top Sites customizable. So users can move, delete, and add their own particular sites. On the other hand, Gingerbread and Honeycomb versions of Andoid are now supported for hardware decoding of H.264, AAC and MP3. This is an improvement that wills undoubtedly significant difference for users. Please note a few other changes and improvements. For example, the Exit menu has been removed to follow the conventions of Android versions from Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) and later. Mozilla said that once you are finished browsing, simply use the buttons Home or Back to exit the browser. In addition, the requirements memory for Firefox is so much reduced. Now, 384 MB of RAM is required instead of 512, and the minimum supported resolution is QVGA (320 x 240). The update is already available in the Play Store last night.

Firefox: the soon-compatible joysticks

Mozilla developers have found ways to use a joystick in the Firefox browser. Using a programming interface called GamepadAPI, they hope to create new uses for the software.

A demo video was released showing a Firefox browser running and responding instantly to commands passed to it via a joystick Xbox 360 connected to the computer. This demo is particularly interesting that Google announced last week wanting to engage in a similar field, making Chrome compatible with joysticks. Many have imagined then that the publisher would bring Chrome straight into the world of online games. A rumor resurfaced now with Mozilla.