Firefox 7 Beta uses less memory

We do know that Mozilla has just released Firefox 6, but here we are with Firefox 7 Beta - and this particular version (also, we did cover whispers of Mozilla mulling over whether to do away with version numbers) is said to be the first to implement Memshrink. Just what does Memshrink bring to the table? It will be able to reduce Firefox's memory usage by get this - nearly 50%. Now that is certainly something worth looking into, and if such low memory usage levels can be achieved even in a beta, imagine what the full version will be able to do.

You will be able to download the new Firefox 7 Beta for Windows, Mac and Linux platforms, and as for those who have been running the Firefox beta, they need not worry since their version(s) will be updated automatically. On a slightly different note, Mozilla has also rolled out a beta version of Firefox for Android. It must be noted that Firefox 7 s memory usage will remain constant even if you decide to leave the computer and browser running overnight, where it will free up even more memory whenever you close more tabs.

For those who have made the upgrade, how do you find it? Are there any bouquets or brickbats that you want to share with us?

Article: RSS UberGizmo

Mozilla Wants To Help You See A More Personalized Web Without Giving Up Your Privacy

Mozilla is working on a project that would make the browser a central repository for a list of all of your interests. Today, the nonprofit behind Firefox argues, many websites offer personalized experiences, "but too often, users unknowingly trade their personal information for this better experience." Instead of sharing your interest graph with lots of vendors online, Firefox could divine your hobbies and interests by simply looking at your browsing history.

The organization has played with this idea before, and today's proposal comes at a time when Mozilla is involved in a long-standing argument with the advertising industry over how it should treat cookies and Do Not Track.

The idea behind the proposal is that users should be able to explicitly and transparently share their interests with the websites they visit. These sites then would be able to tailor your experience according to your preferences without having to create their own profile of your interests. This way, a site can be personalized even if you're visiting for the first time.

"We want to give individuals more participation in their Web interactions so they can more easily get what they want, in a clearly defined way," Mozilla's senior VP of business and legal affairs Harvey Anderson writes today. "Our goal with UP (User Personalization) and other innovations in this area is to increase the quality of the user experience. In order to accomplish this, interactions must provide consumers with options on how much and which types of information to disclose in order to get the most relevant content and services on the Web."

Mozilla is currently experimenting with these ideas, but it doesn't look as if we'll see any real implementations of them in the near future. When Mozilla first talked about this idea, however, it noted that websites would be required not to track the information you share with them (though it's hard to see how this could be controlled) and at the time, the idea was to give users fine-grained control over how much information about themselves they want to share.

For the time being, though, Mozilla just wants to get the conversation started - something that should be pretty easy to do, given that the advertising industry is closely watching the organization's every move.

Firefox for Android tablets now available

If you've been waiting for the tablet-optimized version of Firefox for your Android tablet, we've got some good news for you. Firefox for Android tablets has just entered the nightly builds stage, which means that it is functional enough for the public to play around with and test - so we're one step closer to a final release of the web browser.

So if you love Firefox for Android you might be inclined to check it out. It's not going to be perfect - expect bugs, crashes and whatnot, but hey - that's what the testing experience is all about. Head over to the Nightly Mozilla webpage to get your hands on the web browser now. If you've given it a spin, let us know what you think of it.

Firefox 8 up for FTP download now

It's time to upgrade your Firefox web browser, ladies and gentlemen, and it won't be the same peaches and cream automatic update you're used to - this one's FTP. That means Mozilla has the files you need to update your Firefox to the next version, but at the moment you'll have to manually download them from their servers and load it up yourself. In the near future (November 8th to be precise) you'll have the automatic download working, so no worries if you don't feel like traveling down the dark path.

This newest version of Firefox will be more attuned to how and when an add-on is safe to use in more ways than one. First, add-ons will be set to disabled by default until the user who added them flips the ON switch, this appearing in a one-time dialog box that'll also allow the user to work in a basic way with previously added add-ons. Twitter is integrated into the mainframe, appearing in the search bar for quick access, plus there's a few simple updates including a preference to auto-load tabs after one relaunches the browser. There's also improved WebSocket support, improved tab animations, and added support for HTML5 context menus.

This version adds performance tweaks as well as stability updates, and the first download link is available now. You can head to Mozilla's FTP area for 8.0 now if you do so dare, but know that you do so at your own risk. You've also got the option to wait until Tuesday and have the full download with full safety and many multiple mirrors for quicker download as well. Enjoy!

Sony to launch Firefox OS device in 2014

After the demise of webOS and the continued failure of Windows Phone to gain significant market share, Android and iOS have been left to dominate the smartphone market. Mozilla started showing off its Firefox OS (previously called Boot to Gecko) last year, but at Mobile World Congress, Sony announced it’s getting together with the Firefox team and hopes to have a device out in 2014.

Sony has gone through a lot of mobile operating systems over the years. After dropping its own in-house efforts, Sony built on Symbian for several years under the Sony Ericsson brand. Android has been the company's focus for the last few years as it completely ignored Windows Phone.

Sony might have left the Ericsson partnership behind, but its Android devices still haven't taken the market by storm. The decision to devote engineering resources to developing Firefox OS might be part of a search for greener pastures. Sony is also known to be one of the most prolific contributors to the Android Open Source Project. Android is often described as a fairly closed open source project because most of the work is done by Google, and it keeps version information very close to its chest. Sony might be looking for a mobile OS it can have more control over.

Firefox OS is designed to run on ARM chips just like Android. In fact, most of the early test platforms are Android phones. Mozilla is employing a Linux kernel with apps based on the Gecko runtime. These would basically be web apps written in HTML5 and CSS, but integrated directly with the hardware through JavaScript. The competition has a big lead, but the Firefox browser eventually carved out a niche. Maybe the same will happen with Firefox OS.

Now read: Alcatel One Touch Fire to be the first Firefox OS phone up for sale this summer