According to an article on PC Mag Mozilla announced last night that they had designed a version of Firefox with Bing as the default search engine. This is nothing new as last year Microsoft announced that Bing and Yahoo would be supported in Firefox 4.

Browsers can easily be adjusted to have various search engines set as the default via the option settings. The company said in a statement “Mozilla and Bing are pleased to make available Firefox with Bing, a customized version of Firefox that sets Bing as the default search engine in the search box and AwesomeBar and makes Bing.com the default home page”.

It added that existing users can easily install the Bing Search for Firefox add-on if they want the search engine as well. There is a variety of different customized versions of Firefox available that are distributed around the world. Mozilla released Firefox 6 after deciding to stop using numbers for each version of its browser, before changing its mind.

Mozilla have recently been showing off its browser for tablets, where the Awesomebar still has its tabbed menu but has been moved to the left-hand side. Despite the new version of Firefox having Bing, Google still has a strangle hold on the search engine market.

Do you use Bing?

More About: Bing, Mozilla Firefox

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According to Mozilla’s official press release Firefox 7 manages memory much more efficiently than before, this will obviously improve overall performance – but it will be very noticeable for people out there whose computer is lacking in terms of RAM. But that’s not all, we are also told that clicking on menu items, opening new tabs and general navigation should be faster than before.

If you take your web browsing a little more seriously or you are a developer there are some noticeable changes ‘under the hood’, we are told that HTML5 games and animation should load faster thanks to hardware-accelerated Canvas speeds, also Firefox 7 supports W3C navigation timing spec API – this is a valuable tool for developers who want to ensure page load times are acceptable across different connection speeds. Finally we must mention Telemetry, this sounds complicated, but it is pretty simple – to cut a long story short it allows users to anonymously send browser data to Mozilla’s team to help with future development, don’t worry, it’s secure.

For those of you already running Firefox you will probably get a notification telling you that the update is available for install, if not open up Firefox, go to ‘Help’ and then ‘About Firefox’ – as long as you are running a pretty recent release Firefox should tell you that Firefox 7 is available, follow the on-screen instructions and soon you will be running Mozilla’s latest stable Firefox build.

As you can see Mozilla’s devs seem to believe that in terms of design Firefox is fine, however now they want to concentrate on refining their web browser’s performance and make it more appealing to web developers – we can’t help but think this is because of the strong competition which Google Chrome brings to the table.

Have you installed Firefox 7? If so, have you experienced any annoying issues since updating?

More About: firefox, Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, Web browsers

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Firstly here are the all important download links for the English US versions of Firefox 6 (click on your OS version to download the applicable release – Windows – Mac – Linux. If you would like alternative language versions check out this link. For me on both Windows 7 download and Ubuntu installation was painless, however don’t be too surprised if some of you experience some niggling issues.

When we first ran Firefox 6 on Windows 7 we were prompted with a screen telling me that 7 of my add-ons were incompatible and then we were also told that Flash player needed updating, the incompatible add-ons will probably be updated soon, however in terms of Flash, installation was simple via the links Mozilla provide you with.

Mozilla claim that this new version of Firefox is faster, prettier and “more awesome” than previous release, you can find out reasons why over at InformationWeek, not only this but it also patches 10 dangerous security holes which you can read all about over at ZDNet – below we have added the official changelog according to Mozilla:

The address bar now highlights the domain of the website the user is visiting; streamlined the look of the site identity block; added support for the latest draft version of WebSockets with a prefixed API; added support for EventSource / server-sent events; added support for window.matchMedia; added Scratchpad, an interactive JavaScript; prototyping environment; added a new Web Developer menu item and moved development-related items into it; improved usability of the Web Console; improved the discoverability of Firefox Sync; reduced browser startup time when using Panorama; fixed several stability issues; fixed several security issues.

We used Firefox 6 for approximately 10 minutes prior to posting this article and ignoring the incompatible add-ons there were no problems to report, in terms of performance sites loads quickly and all content showed up clearly, however we have to confess that we are struggling to really notice any major changes worth getting excited about.

Please let us know if you experience any problems in the comments section below, we will do our best to point you in the direction of fixes and we are sure how thousands of readers will do to.

More About: Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox

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According to Marc Chacksfield over on the techradar.com website, the new Firefox Beta application – which shows off a version of Firefox 5 that is currently in development – contains a whole host of new features, including improved compatibility with SwiftKey.

Android users should also find that the Firefox Beta for Android offers improved loading speeds, better panning and a better display of both videos and images. Mozilla recently revealed that there are now more than 150 add-ons for the Firefox mobile browser.

100 of the add-ons are said to be compatible with the latest Firefox Beta version. The newly release Firefox Beta application also adds support for more than six menu items in the Android Menu, and users should find that images downloaded to the Android Gallery will be visible immediately.

The Firefox Beta app is available to download from the Android Market now, but does require the device to be running Android 2.0 or above. If users wish to report problems or provide ideas about Firefox for Android, they can do so simply by tapping on ‘Give Feedback’ on the welcome page.

More About: Google Andoid OS, mobile browser, Mozilla Firefox

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Nick Peers of betanews is reporting that the Beta is between the final release and the developmental Firefox Aurora. This version is more stable and allows the chance to test developmental features before they find their way into the final release.

With the Beta you won’t notice much difference from Firefox 4, and it will install over any current version you may have. There is one new feature which allows users to switch between developmental and stable versions of the browser via a dialog box.

Currently the Firefox Channel Switcher only works when switching between the Beta and Aurora alpha channels. The Firefox Aurora has been designed to switch alongside the beta or stable version, but at the moment overwrites the Beta version.

In the Beta version there is the same Feedback button that can be found in Aurora, this is designed so users can mention bugs and give their views on the build they are using. The finished version is set for release at the end of next month, and will force people still using Firefox 3.5 to use version 3.6.

The Firefox 5 Beta is free for Windows, Mac, and Linux users to download. But it will replace any stable version of the browser you may be using so be warned. Have you downloaded the Beta yet? What do you think of it?

More About: Firefox 5 Beta, Mozilla Firefox

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You can see Mozilla’s list of top 10 slow performing add-ons here, the chart looks at how add-ons affect Firefox start-up times, the results are pretty staggering.

If you install the FoxLingo add-on Mozilla Firefox will take 74% longer to start-up, having Firebug installed will take 74% longer whilst the AniWeather add on makes start 54% longer.

Here are the other add-ons which cause slow start-up: FlashGot (50%), FoxClocks (46%), FoxyTunes (44%), Video DownloadHelper (33%), FastestFox ( 33%), Xmarks Sync (30%) and SimilarWeb (23%).

Obviously having one of these add-ons installed will seriously affect Firefox’s start-up time, however imagine if you have FoxLingo, Firebug and AniWeather installed! We recommend that the you check which add-ons you have installed and uninstall any which are unnecessary.

Hopefully Mozilla publishing this list of add-ons will result in developers improving their apps, this way Firefox users will get a faster web browsing experience, which is what we all want isn’t it?

Have you removed any add-ons as a result of this article? Let us know if you have noticed any speed improvements in the comments section below.

More About: Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox

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Daniel Bailey of Conceivably Tech is reporting in an article that there is likely to be several new features, which are similar to some found in Google’s Chrome browser. A Firefox 5 preview is currently published, but it could take another four weeks before we know exactly what will be coming on the next version of Mozilla’s web browser.

Firefox 5 is thought to have four development stages with the second beginning on April 13th, with the final build being released on June 29. The UX planning pages have revealed nine new features which are planned for Firefox 5, but some could find themselves in later versions.

First you have tab multi-select which is similar to that found on Google Chrome. Users will be able to close or move them as well as having more than one. Add-ons are to receive standardized toolbar support, and there will also be an upload indicator.

There is set to be no Home button, with Mozilla adding a permanent Home tab instead. This is Mozilla’s way of doing away with the home button feature without losing usability of the web browser. An integrated PDF viewer is another new feature, and could be extended to other file formats including MP3.

Social website features look set to be a big feature with a new paper plane logo appearing in the URL bar. This will provide instant access to social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter. Users will be able to share websites directly from their URL bar instead of clicking a Like button.

This method of browser development means we can expect to see three new Firefox releases each year, with Google currently on a six week release phase. Microsoft on the other hand released their last two web browsers in two year cycles.

Have you been using Firefox 4? How have you found it?

More About: Firefox 5, Mozilla Firefox

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Reasons for the latter is unclear, as Mozilla has been improving Firefox’s by by fixing security holes, however many feel that a new major version is long overdue, developers are diligently working on Firefox 4, however it is certainly taking some time.

Chrome saw a rise of .2 percent from January, now reaching 10.9 percent of market share up from 10.7, whilst Internet Explorer continued its dominance in the web browsing sector, rising from 56 percent to 56.8 percent according to Net Applications on March 1.

eWeek also says that Microsoft’s newest browser, IE9 reached a 0.66 percent market share across all platforms and a firm 2 percent on the Windows 7 platform. Apple’s Safari web browser only saw a 0.4 percent rise from 6 percent to 6.4 percent.

Obviously, you would have thought that the continuing support for Internet Explorer and Google Chrome, who release a new stable version of the web browser every few weeks would take the headlines, but that is not so, more people are shocked to hear that Firefox’s market share is shrinking.

To get a better understanding of what is happening, we will turn to our readers. Which browser do you use and why?

More About: Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 9, Mozilla Firefox

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According to V3, the fixes come after Mozilla established that these vulnerabilities could potentially open up the browser and use it to attack other workstations by taking remote control of the targeted system and executing code to disable it.

Such vulnerabilities will be scoped out by contestants taking part in the Pwn2Own hacking contest which is part of the CanSecWest Security Conference that runs from the 9th to the 11th of March.

The Pwn2Own hacking contest, starting in 2007, is an annual event which security ‘researchers’ use browsers and systems such as Mozilla’s to find harmful exploits. Each successful exploit or hack will result in the winner or exploit finder receiving the device or computer that was exploited as well as a cash prize. Vulnerabilities are not made public until the vendor has resolved the issue found by the researcher. More information can be found via the Wikipedia page.

Rules for this years contest are now up on the official CanSecWest website which list a certain amount of strict guidelines that should be followed, as well as some potential targets that contestants could find vulnerabilities in. More details can be found on the CanSecWest website.

More About: Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, Pwn2Own

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You can download the beta here, I recently installed it on my partners HTC Desire, installation took just a few minutes and I was pretty pretty impressed with the simple UI and the many built-in features, below I will talk about what impressed me and disappointed me the most.

The first thing that you notice is the app’s awesome bar, when you begin entering a website URL you will notice that there are built-in add ons which allow quick and easy search for Google, Amazon, Twitter and Wikipedia, the photo below shows exactly what I mean. You can add your own integrated search add ons if you want.

When I entered www.product-reviews.net the site loaded very quickly over a 3G connection, also pinch to zoom worked pretty well, however if you scroll up and down rapidly or pinch and zoom and quickly pan around the page there is a little lag before the browser shows the correct content, on the whole I was happy with how the Firefox beta performed.

The browser detects a range of touch gestures, if you run your finger across the screen left to right you can go back to previous websites and see small previews of the pages to make navigation easier, the panel which shows your previous sites also allows quick access to bookmarks and history. If you run your finger across the screen in the other direction you can quickly navigate back and forward and add bookmarks, also there is a button for access to settings.

If you scroll to the top of the website you are viewing you see the address bar, here you can quickly enter a new site, access bookmarks and history and you can also set up Firefox mobile to synchronize with your desktop PC’s Firefox installation. If you press the website’s icon next to the address bar you can quickly save the page as a PDF file, find certain words on the page and share the page via Facebook, Twitter, Bluetooth, email and much more.

On the whole I was pretty happy with the Firefox Beta, however it is clear that some work needs to be done before the final release, I was frustrated to find that Adobe Flash player was not installable, however I am sure that this will be fixed before this latest version of Firefox goes pubic.

Remember you can download the Firefox for Android beta here, give it a try and come back to let us know whether you are a fan of it.

More About: Firefox for Android, Google Android, Mozilla Firefox

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