Firefox Disables Loophole That Allows Sites to Track Users via Battery Status

We are living in a society, where the science and technology have taken a great leap forward and developed the most outstanding invention of the computer and the internet, which have now become such an issue that a little bit of touch of these can be seen in almost everywhere in our life.

The web surfing in the computer or other devices, with the help of the internet, is a very common issue in our life and people of almost all color, class, nationality are now accustomed with these technological advances, which cannot be avoided, due to its useful characteristics. To cater the web world, the user needs to take the help of a browser that can play the role of perfect vehicle in surfing process.

The Firefox is one such browser, which is considered as one of the most popular ones and being used by millions of internet enthusiasts, across the world. It is popular, not only for the colorful look or name but for the user-friendly features, which are time to time developed by a strong professional team. Recently Firefox disabled one of its features, considered as a loophole because it allows various websites to track the specific user through the status of the battery use.

The Issue at a Glance

The battery status feature of the Firefox is having some loopholes and these are now being fixed or disabled by the organization to provide a sigh of relief for its millions of users from being opened to the users, who want to get the details of the internet user. Some of the features of this fixing of loopholes are as follows: 

•  The said feature is known as “battery status API’ that allows various websites to request information about what amount of battery life has left of a specific visitor and these are; whether the device is plugged in or not, what time the battery will take to be exhausted and the percentage of remaining charge. 
•  The browser is having the features that were helpful for websites to offer some of the lesser energy sensitive versions sites for their visitors, who are having less battery power remaining e.g. a mapping site may download a smaller amount of information or a social networking website could put out of action its auto-playing video. 
•  Only in 2015, the Guardian, renowned newspaper of international repute, reported with various instances that researchers have discovered that someone can easily abuse the specific feature, which may helpful in tracking down the browsing on the internet. 

Now Firefox has disabled this battery status feature in a bid to help their potential users to get rid of the problem of getting tracked by other sites, which is a great threat to their personal security and dignity. Although they have already repaired this loophole, there are others in the market of browsers, who are now considering of repealing some of their features, which may help the internet lovers to get proper immunization from internet threat of being tracked by any websites or personnel of questionable identity.

Mozilla Wants You to Help Redesign Its Logo

Mozilla’s New Logo – New Visual Identity

Mozilla will be given a new logo this fall and would be getting a completely new visual identity. The open-source software firm is not aware of what it could look like though it would probably take after one of the seven identities that had been developed by London firm Johnson Banks.

These could be viewed online and could also be evaluated. Mozilla’s creative direction and the lead on the project, Tim Murray had stated that instead of conducting a brand refresh behind closed door, they thought of a better or different way to do it. That `way’ meant publishing each repetition of the design process to Mozilla’s blog and request people to weigh in.

Murray does not seem to have a concrete indication of how that input could shape the ultimate look though he states that commenter would in some way inform the final design in making this a most unusual rebranding. Murray comments that in the present world, over 50% of the people tend to say they hate new logos and he thought of giving people an opportunity of participating earlier and getting that feedback early.

Net Neutrality/Open Source Internet

Characteristically this approach seems to make some sense for Mozilla and the non-profit trusts in net neutrality and an open source internet. Hence a transparent rebranding seems ideologically appropriate. Overall, the process is already getting enough attention in helping Mozilla to achieve its goal which is to stand apart from Firefox, the marquee product of the company.

It is difficult to say if the comments would be helpful though a lot of people would certainly say yes. This comprises of the designers behind the Mozilla project. Michael Johnson, the Johnson Banks creative direction in charge of the Mozilla project comments that certain people take the view that brand identity designers like themselves should be like architects and lawyers. An architect of lawyer does not provide you with multiple solutions. With most of their clients they seem to be like that.

Approach of Mozilla Helpful

Jim Bull, the co-founder of Moving Brands studio who had spoken regarding how popular opinion shapes design, commented that `it is definitely a feature of most branding conversations and how are we going to launch it and talk about what it is? He believes that clients started caring about the public’s opinion around ten years back. He further added that he has never been one of these designers to say that, as designers, they know best, or that they know some secret language.

If something is not loved, there could probably be something which is done to make it not loved and that is the guiding philosophy at Mozilla. Its rebranding is among the most inclusive to date apart from crowd-sourced or open-invite design competitions, such as the one held recently by the 2020 Olympic Tokyo Organizing Committee.

The approach of Mozilla could be helpful in taming commenters in the near future. Johnsons states that by offering a window into how complicated it would be to create not just a logo but a complete organized visual program. Meanwhile, the Johnson Banks team together with Mozilla seem to inspect the comments rolling in. Johnson comments that it is a roller coaster ride and occasionally punishing.

Mozilla Gripes at Microsoft for Giving Edge and Edge

Mozilla’s Request to Microsoft - Easier Method of Browser Preference for Windows 10

Chris Beard, CEO of Mozilla recently published an open letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, calling on him to provide Windows 10 users with an easier method of setting their browser preference. Beard considered the lack of options in the Windows 10 experience as `very disturbing’ and seemed to be designed to supersede the preference of the user for apps and browser, compelling them in an experience which Microsoft wants them to have rather than the one they would prefer.

Carly Olsen, Microsoft spokesperson had informed that they had designed Windows 10 in order to provide a simple upgrade experience for users as well as an organized experience following the upgrade. Users who tend to upgrade to Microsoft’s Windows 10 with the express setup would have the new Edge browser set as their default.

She informed  that `during the upgrade, consumers will have the choice of setting defaults, including for Web browsing and following the upgrade, they could easily choose the default browser of their choice. Recently, Windows 10 was made available as a free download for Windows 7 and 8 users and has been downloaded more than 14 million times so far.

With Update, Some Programs Not Compatible

With each update of operating systems, users would probably observe that some of the programs may not be compatible. When the earlier versions of Windows were introduced, there have been several complaints over various issues. Beard requested that Mozilla make attempts to work with Microsoft to make sure that the users of Firefox would not come across any problems, but failed to do so.Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT had stated that `it seems fairly easy (to keep Firefox), especially since upgrading to Windows 10 does not uninstall third party apps, including browsers’.

He informed  that `users who tend to use Firefox, Chrome or others as their default browsers would have to undergo a manual process like the one in Windows 8. Besides updating the operating system, Windows 10 also seems to be replacing the long-running Internet Explorer with Edge, a browser which Microsoft claims to be faster, lighter as well as more modern than IE. Roger Entner, principal analyst at Recon Analytics had commented that considering the 73% or roughly three quarters of Internet users do not seem to be using Internet Explorer, it is a minor inconvenience or an annoyance’.

Nefarious Move by Microsoft

He further informed, that Microsoft’s position in the browser world seems to be a mere shadow of its former dominance. Beard suggested that Microsoft intentionally limited consumer choice to give itself an unfair advantage. According to Entner, he states that `people are seeing this as a nefarious move by Microsoft, though it could be the other way round. He remarked that `it could give people an opportunity to experience Edge, but Mozilla does not want them to try’.

King noted that the `previous versions of Windows had positioned IE as the default browser and if one wanted something different, they had to make it happen. Besides altering the process for choosing the default browser, Microsoft is doing what it had done for several years. Twenty years back in the summer of 1995, Microsoft had taken similar stand in using its newly launched Windows 95 to gain market share with IE that was closely tied to the OS. It is doubtful that Windows 10 and the Edge browser would activate a replay. There is even a possibility that Microsoft would not enjoy any advantage.

EFF and Mozilla Join Forces- Encrypting the Entire Web and Giving Free HTTPS Certificates

The year 2015 will see HTTPS being finally enables in every part of the world, every person will be able to acquire free, and most of all officially approved SSL/TLS certificate for the enabling process. This new service which is also called Let’s Encrypt (a certificate authority (CA)), have been led by EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), the University of Michigan, and the Mozilla apart from their major joining partners Akamai and Cisco. This can be considered as one of major offering for the people who actually know the importance of HTTPS, TLS, and SSL. But, if you among you don’t have much knowledge about this, then just go by the word that this is a very big deal.

Importance of HTTPS: 

If you have noticed, every time you try and surf the net, the email url will show HTTPS or HTTP. It is not easy to explain the content and the process by which they work, but the simple difference is in the letter “S”, which primarily means secure. If your browser gives HTTP in the url, then be aware that it becomes easy for any hacker, Verizon or even the NSA to track down and observe as to what you might be doing. With an additional S, you get the security and confidence that you two people are aware about what you are doing; this includes you and your web browser.

TLS or SSL is used by a web browser to enable the HTTPS in your system, which provides a strong encryption. Usually this process of enabling is not hard for any website administrator, as they just need to generate an encryption key that takes less than a few seconds. The major obstacle comes in, when the key needs to be signed by the CA (certificate authority).

At the end it is the job of the certificate authorities to get all these things added up. Certificate authority mainly prevents random numbers of servers to be created by people, who claim to have websites, have their own certifying signature, and claim to be enacting like any big company. In simple, when you see a simple symbol depicting a lock, it clearly indicates that you are fairly visiting the secured website and not some hacking website in another country itself.

It is not easy to get certificates authorized as there are very few authorities around the world and they charge heavy on your pocket. Symantec, VeriSign and Comodo are major names in these authorities. If someone is not able to pay for these, they go by HTTP.

Let’s Encrypt (CA) 

Let’s Encrypt is expected to launch in 2015, which will be providing completely free and authorized certificates to anyone. The complete process is supposed to be completely automated. The service is expected to be free as the signing and renewal process is fully automated.

The corporate world can be expected to create a sense of resistance as using the Https in their system will now allow them to monitor anyone in the organization. As far open web is concerned, this services comes as the biggest boon ever.

Firefox 31 Beta with More Tools for Developers

Firefox 30 final version has just now released and Mozilla shifted attention to Firefox 31, which replaces its predecessor in the distribution channel beta browser. Firefox 31 focuses in particular on tools for developers. Users will also be entitled to some new things.

A search field will be added to the new tab page, and Firefox will open directly pdf, ogg and more. On Windows if no default application takes over, The Next Web notes from the release notes for Firefox 31. In the blog dedicated to news for developers, however there are many more improvements.

Two new debugging tools are introduced, for example one can dedicate the add-ons and other elements to canvas. The Debugger add-on will add a "Debug" button at any add-on that does not require a restart to install it says Mozilla. Must obviously be the module author to gain access to it. A video was posted on Vimeo to explain the operation.

The Debugger Canvas "allows developers to register and in their image scroller code image" from a 2D or 3D animation they created. The editor, seen in the video, resembles the classic debugging tools of Firefox.

 In Mobile applications, we note in particular the arrival of Firefox Hub API, an environment that allows developers to add their content directly on the home page of Firefox for Android, as well as performance improvements and stability APK Factory.

 Finally, little more dedicated to web design can seems, but can provide a productivity gain interesting every day. In the color picker, a pipette will now allow you to copy the color code of any pixel on the screen. The feature that already existed in the form of add-ons but now take in.

Firefox 29 Beta With New Interface Released!

Mozilla has released Firefox 29 in a first beta version, which already shows the new Australia interface. In addition to new tabs, especially the look of buttons and dialogs of the browser have been changed. In addition, the synchronization service of Firefox Sync is included. The new interface does away with the user interface and reduces the number of continuously visible buttons.

First, the tabs have been greatly changed and slide close to the upper edge of the browser. This saves space for the actual web page content. The active tab has strongly curved edges, while the outlines of the remaining riders are only hinted at and only then visually distinguished when the user moves the mouse over a tab. This affects the surface much tidier without the user mentioned in unknown territory.

Changes also have made in the shortcuts for the bookmarks, downloads, the home page and the main menu will be displayed. You are migrated next to the Google search bar to the right edge. The main menu has undergone the greatest changes and now shows for the first time in the desktop versions buttons for cut, copy, and paste elements.

In addition, new private and browser windows can be opened, saved pages, can take print of them. Also, the add-on sub menus and the developer tools are found in the same window. The Firefox cloud services under the name Sync and Profiles in the Cloud also can be accessed from the menu. With them, browser settings can be kept in sync together with bookmarks across multiple devices.

Anyone wants to use the new sync function, requires a new account. The final version of Firefox 29 will be release on 29 April 2014 The Firefox 29 Beta is available for Linux, Windows and OS X for download. In Google Play also the Beta version for Android has been released and available now.

Firefox 26 Beta Mozilla turns off all plugins

Mozilla is more serious in terms user security and hence Firefox 26 Beta disabled almost all plugins by default to protect users against their vulnerabilities and excessive resource consumption. But there is a prominent exception too.

With the beta version of Firefox 26; Mozilla announced a new feature namely click-to -play sharp: The browser no longer active with most plugins, such plugings must be activated by the user with only one click. Mozilla wants care more for the users and hence it increase more security of Firefox users, outdated plugins are one of the biggest malware gateways.

However, Mozilla makes a prominent exception for Adobe; hence Adobe Flash is not completely blocked. Flash content may be used on the web and so Flash will also used often hidden, click-to -play that would lead us to great confusion among users, argues Mozilla. However, there are restrictions for Flash and the Flash Outdated versions that are considered unsafe, are being blocked from Firefox click- to-play option and the user is prompted to install the latest version of Adobe Flash. Mozilla is working here claims to be closely with Adobe.

If a plugin is activated, the plugin for the entire site is unlocked so that users do not need to click unnecessarily often. The beta of Firefox 26 also comes with an advanced support for the H.264 video codec, which under Linux is now available on GStreamer. MP3 files can be played on Windows XP Firefox now, so under all Windows versions is now possible. The password manager of Firefox can handle the new version with password fields generated by scripts.

Updates of Firefox can also make if they do not have write access to the directory where Firefox in your computer, Windows users in the future. This planning in advance, however, that the Mozilla Maintenance Service is running on the respective computers. The introduced with HTML5 AppCache dissolved under Firefox 26 from no more questions, the users, and even if IndexedDB is used , which leads to no longer asking the user.

In terms of the browser supports CSS property "orientation”. Firefox no longer decodes an image that are not visible, to shorten the loading time of web pages. Also new is the app manager that installs HTML5 web apps on Smartphones with OS Firefox and the Firefox OS simulator and can debug. He replaced the simulator dashboard previously used for. Firefox 26 Beta is now available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Firefox 25 adds Web Audio API support

Mozilla has released Firefox 25th with new encouragement in web audio and with more enhanced for JavaScript support. The list of the new features of Firefox 25 is comparatively short. But in addition to the support of web audio for processing audio data in Mozilla calls a change in the behavior of the search field. Each tab now has its own search box; so that its contents change when tab changes.

Firefox will not revise it for several months, the browser asks the future whether to apply settings and of course any other browser. Firefox can be reset but it no longer deletes the surf session. Support for HTML5 and CSS3 is particularly improved. Control scrolling background with "background- attachment: local" will include more developers, as well as the implementation of new JavaScript functions.

For the rest, Mozilla announced the autonomous operation of the search of a tab to another, better support iframe, some bug fixes and the ability to recover the session, even after a reset Firefox. Now also support the CSS3 property background-attachment, affecting the scrolling behavior of the background. The developer claims to have integrated many new features from ECMAScript 6 (ES6).

Content of iframes in Firefox 25 can also be specified inline, so that no second call must be made to fill an iFrame.In terms of innovations, Firefox 25 presents thin. Although missed the Mozilla browser in some places a meaningful fine-tuning, but the surf does not enrich the everyday. New in Firefox 25 is the way to start a separate search query in each tab. Until now there was only a single search for all tabs.

If you have not used Firefox for months and instead tried a different browser then in such a case, Firefox will ask you from now on, if you want to import the data as incurred history and settings from another browser into Firefox. Finally, note that contrary to what was announced as a first step, the arrival of the new user interface has indeed been postponed again.

It will be deployed as from version 28 of Firefox that should land around March. Called Australis, the new interface has been postponed from version to version since 24. As for Firefox 25 for Android version, it was also published in the day. Separate release notes are available on the Mozilla website.

One of the great innovations is the arrival of a navigation mode "Guest" to afford to let a third party use its browser without access to passwords or open sessions. As usual, it is available for download directly from the publisher's website or through an up-to- date from an earlier version.

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.