Mozilla has launched the new version of its open source browser Firefox for the desktop platforms including Mac, Windows and Linux, as well as the Firefox browser for Android. The all new Firefox 21.0 comes with feature and performance improvements along with a set of new options, with the major one being additional support for Mozilla Social’s API, which will now expand social integration from Facebook to Cliqz, Mixi and msnNOW.

Apart from this, it has also added ‘Do Not Track’ options for letting users customize the privacy settings, and a new Firefox Health Report feature to help improve performance, fix problems and let users see how their browsing experience compares against other browser services.

As far as social network integration is concerned, Firefox will now highlight these integrated social networks in a Firefox sidebar featuring updated content and notifications on the browser’s tool bar. The concept was already introduced by Mozilla when it had partnered with Facebook in December last year, but now the company has expanded the social integration platform by adding multiple new options.

Also, Firefox for Android now features custom open source fonts Charis and Open Sans which will replace the default Android fonts. Mozilla believes this will make the visuals more appealing and will offer better reading experience on the Web.

To upgrade the browser, Firefox 21.0 is available on Firefox.com and the existing users can upgrade to it automatically. Google Play users will be updated to the new version over next few days.

In what seems like a clear attack on the likes of Chrome, Safari and Opera, Mozilla and Samsung have teamed up to “rebuild the Web browser from the ground up on modern hardware.” The two companies are developing Servo, a web browser engine for Android and ARM, built with Mozilla’s Rust programming language.

What is unique about this experimental web engine is that it is being developed to take advantage of parallel computing. In simpler words, unlike other web browsers out there, which do not use all the cores in a phone’s processor, Servo is expected to optimize its performance using all the cores while also using power efficiently.

Details about Servo are sketchy at best at the moment, but Mozilla does give a glimpse into Rust’s programming language, explaining that Rust is ‘safe by default’ and can prevent entire classes of memory management errors that lead to crashes and security vulnerabilities. It also adds that Rust is very light in size and allows programmers to leverage the power of the many CPU cores available on current and future computing platforms.

Both the companies have not shared any kind of time-frame on when Servo might eventually arrive on mobile devices, but Mozilla has mentioned that it is putting all its available resources into this project and are currently building tools and improving performance on Rust.

This collaboration comes at a time when it is widely believed that Samsung is slowly trying to distance itself from Google, as it no longer is satisfied getting just 10 percent of the ad revenues Google makes from Samsung’s devices. Samsung has also been developing new and unique features like S-Voice with the launch of every flagship model and has also revamped its TouchWiz UI to such an extent that it no longer resembles the stock Android UI in many ways. Servo is a further sign that Samsung doesn’t want Chrome to be the default web browser on its devices and wants to develop one that is better suited to its phone’s hardware prowess and at the same time take away the edge from Google.

Can you imagine playing games like Bioshock, Batman: Arkham City or Mass Effect 3 on your web browsers? Hard though it is to imagine such a thing, Mozilla is in fact working towards such a possibility by teaming up with Epic Games to port the Unreal Engine 3 onto its open-source Firefox web browser.

To make this possible, Mozilla has developed a highly-optimized version of JavaScript that supercharges a developer’s gaming code in the browser to enable visually compelling, fast, 3D gaming experiences on the Web. Using this JavaScript, the developers at Epic Games were able to port the engine onto the web browser in only four days.

“With this port, developers will soon be able to explore limitless possibilities when it comes to porting their popular gaming titles to the web,” states a blog post on Mozilla. According to the companies, porting the games to the web browsers won’t affect the quality of the game in any way and users will be able to play the original game right on their web browser without installing any additional plugins.

Mozilla also adds that it doesn’t want to stop at gaming on web browsers and is also planning to expand into the mobile territory. The company is working with publishers like Disney, EA and ZeptoLab to bring such high performance games to the mobile platform.

The demo for the Unreal Engine 3 will be available in a few weeks, and in the meantime you can see the engine in action in the video below.

Mozilla launched its Firefox OS at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2013. For developers to build and port apps to this fledgling platform, Mozilla had released Keon and Peak handsets and Firefox OS Simulators last year. Now, Mozilla has updated its Firefox OS Simulator to version 3.0, bringing with it quite a few new features.

A Firefox OS Simulator runs as an extension in Mozilla’s browser and is available on Linux, Windows and OS X. The latest version brings with it new features like Push to Device, which allows you to transfer apps installed on the Simulator to a Firefox OS device when connected via USB, basic geolocation API simulation, rotation simulation and an updated version of Firefox’s rendering engine and its UI Gaia. In addition to these features, the new version of the Simulator also brings with it stability fixes for installation and updates to certain apps.

You can download the Simulator at Mozilla’s FTP server listed under a codename r2d2b2g and can also find step-by-step instructions for installation on the Mozilla blog.

Mozilla has launched its much awaited Firefox OS at MWC today. The all new operating system supports HTML5 and Web technologies, and will provide an open platform to the carriers as well as app developers for creating a better ecosystem. It mainly focuses on the lower-end markets and has been developed keeping the feature phones users in mind.

Firefox OS will mainly cater to the first time smartphone users, and offers to deliver an array of users-friendly  features through the platform. It is built around HTML5 and open web technologies in order to given its users as well as operators and application developers to make use of the open platform. It features Firefox Web browser and Firefox Marketplace, and allows users to search for an app within both these simultaneously. This will result in an array of related information on the searched option as well. The platform integrates Facebook and Twitter with the contact details and also offers basic image editing options within the photo gallery.

Mozilla has partnered with app developers like Facebook, Twitter, MTV, Nokia Here, AccuWeather, Airbnb, Box, Cut the Rope, Disney Mobile Games, EA games, MTV Brasil, Pulse News, SoundCloud, SporTV, Terra and Time Out along with some local apps relevant to users in their respective regions.

One of the key takeaways from today’s Mozilla announcement is that it does not have just one app store front. Instead, it appears as if we are going back to mid-2000′s when there were no single store from where users could download legit apps. To solve that situation, Mozilla is bringing carriers to the forefront, asking them to be the gatekeepers for app stores for their customers. We have been through this phase before the advent of Apple’s App Store, where carriers, being the gatekeepers, demanded the lion’s share of revenues from the sale of apps while passing on a pittance to app developers.

The carrier representatives at Mozilla’s press conference today spoke about “restoring the balance” where app developers, content providers and platform providers do not consider them as a dumb pipe, which is something both Apple and Google have turned them into. However, they will have to be careful about not committing the same mistakes as earlier as the stakes are much higher now. Firefox OS phones will not only compete with cheap Android smartphones but also devices like Nokia’s Asha series.

Mozilla has partnered with 18 carriers for now and has announced their phones with Alcatel (TCL), Huawei, LG and ZTE. All of the devices will feature Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset and will be launched in the latter half of this year.

Mozilla has been on a Firefox updating spree since its launch, mainly to make it the safest browser there is and also to see off stiff competition from Google Chrome. In fact, in the past two years Mozilla has upgraded Firefox from version 4 to 18 and according to a report on The Next Web is now set to launch version 19 tomorrow. The latest version for Windows, Mac, and Linux will include the ability to view PDF files natively within the browser and though the launch is scheduled for tomorrow, the installation package is already available on the Mozilla FTP.

The built-in PDF viewer in the browser is expected to be a big improvement from the one provided by Adobe, which has its own set of security flaws. The latest version is also expected to feature several bug fixes, speed enhancements, and improvements for developers. Firefox 19 also points at an expected update to the Firefox mobile browser on Android, so keep an eye out on the Google Play Store.

At the moment, there is no official changelog released by Mozilla and hence it’s not clear what other changes would be made on the Firefox 19. Hopefully tomorrow Mozilla will have an answer to all our questions.

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After working on its operating system for quite some time, Mozilla today announced its first Firefox OS smartphones for developers to have their hands on the functions and features of the OS. The OS is based on HTML 5 and, hence, is being considered to offer relatively more open source to the developers, which would let them create applications with a better set of features. The new developer preview phone revealed is being developed by a small Spanish company called GeeksPhone in partnership with Telefonica, which is one of the first carriers to show support for the new platform.

The Keon sports a 3.5-inch HVGA multitouch display and packs in a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 processor. Also, on board is a 3.0-megapixel camera, microSD card slot, light and proximity sensors, G-Sensor and GPS. On connectivity front it comes with MicroUSB port and has support for Wi-Fi and 3G. Apart from these, it offers 4GB memory along with 512MB of RAM and houses a 1580 mAh battery.

There also is a mention of another phone to run Firefox OS on the GeeksPhone website; however, it is not yet confirmed when it will be available to developers. The phone, called Peak, carries a better set of features than the Keon. Sporting a 4.3inch qHD IPS multitouch screen, the Peak will be powered by a 1.2Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor. It will have an 8.0-megapixel rear camera with flash and unlike the Keon, will also feature a 2.0-megapixel front camera. Though the memory size is same as the Keon’s, it will be backed by a larger 1800mAh battery.

These smartphones have been made available for developers as of now; however, we can expect some commercial announcements to be made at next month’s MWC in Barcelona.

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Mozilla has announced that its popular Firefox browser is getting a social API that has the Facebook Messenger for Firefox  now baked in to the browser. Users will need to manually enable this feature. This is an important integration considering users spend 20 percent of their time on social website and Facebook is the biggest social network of them all.

Once the feature is enabled then one will have access to a social sidebar, which will showcase your Facebook chat and news feed. Additionally from here users will also get notifications, messages and friend request prompts. Mozilla claims this is just the first step, and hopefully we will soon see something similar for Twitter and other online social network services.

Mozilla is busy giving the finishing touches to its Firefox OS as it prepares to launch the first smartphone with Telefonica later this year. On of the biggest USP of Firefox OS (Boot To Gecko or B2G) that both Mozilla and Telefonica are promoting is that developers would be able to create applications for the platform using HTML5 tools. However, in the absence of devices and good desktop test environments, developers seem to be facing problems in creating apps that would run well on the final OS. That problem has now been sorted with, believe it or not, a Firefox browser add-on! Essentially, anyone who has a computer running Firefox browser can take a look at Firefox OS.

Anyone interested in checking out Firefox OS without the complications involved with emulators and other tools can simply download and install the r2d2b2g add-on from here (Mac, Linux (32-bit), or Windows). After installing the add-on one can go to tools menu in Firefox and select B2G Desktop to check out the OS!

Hat tip to @vss!

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Barely two weeks after the first set of screenshots from Mozilla’s upcoming Firefox OS for smartphones leaked on the Internet, we have the official screenshots that show new features of the platform. The images were published a few hours ago by Robert Nyman, a technical evangelist for Mozilla. The current screenshots are a work in progress and Nyman warns they change all the time but it is clear that the platform draws heavy “inspirations” majorly from Android and some elements of iOS. Check out our gallery below and read on for more after the break.

In its current avatar, Firefox OS seems to be a mashup of ideas from multiple platforms. While the homescreen layout with four icons docked at the bottom is typical of UIs developed post iOS, the rounded icons seem familiar from Nokia Belle. It has a drop-down notification bar as well, just like Android, along with system shortcut buttons we find in Samsung’s TouchWiz UI on its Android smartphones. Even the treatment given to the settings menu is similar to Android. The open tabs layout looks different but then does not seem to offer anything interesting.

To be fair to Mozilla, the screenshots do not portray the final version of the UI. However, even if they represent the direction which Firefox OS is taking, it looks highly inspired than inspiring. The difference, hopefully, would be the kind of hardware that would run Firefox as as we are expecting much lower system requirements than a typical entry-level Android smartphone.

Mozilla has announced it has rebranded its HTML5 based platform for smartphones from “Boot to Gecko” to Firefox OS. The platform, which is being represented as “fully open” will enable HTML5-based web apps to have the same API access as native apps on a smartphone.

Firefox OS has received support from major global carriers along with handset manufacturers like TCL (Alcatel) and ZTE, which would make the first Firefox OS smartphones. These smartphones will run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset and will be available in early 2013. The first device would be available from ZTE on Brazil’s Vivo network (a Telefonica brand).

Mozilla reckons that Firefox OS smartphones will be available even in the low-end segment due to “the optimization of the platform for entry-level smartphones and the removal of unnecessary middleware layers.” However, it remains to be seen whether Firefox OS can take on Android, which is bringing down the smartphone experience to the lowest segment possible.

Ever since Microsoft announced a version of Windows 8 on ARM architecture (Windows RT), there has been a lot of confusion over the two separate desktop and metro environments. Weirdly, the two environments even have two different versions of Internet Explorer. What’s worse, on Windows RT for ARM chips, Microsoft will not allow third parties to develop applications for the desktop mode. And here is where Mozilla and Google have come out against Microsoft for not allowing desktop versions of their popular web browsers.

Earlier in the day Mozilla said that it had been locked out of the desktop environment (non-Metro UI) in Windows RT and its Metro style app would not support third party plugins in Metro mode. Then things became further heated when Mozilla attorney Harvey Anderson told CNET, “sometimes they need some pressure. If it turns out to be legal pressure, that could be the thing.”

Later in the day Google also came out in support for Mozilla’s stance on the issue. In a statement to CNET the company said, “We share the concerns Mozilla has raised regarding the Windows 8 environment restricting user choice and innovation. We’ve always welcomed innovation in the browser space across all platforms and strongly believe that having great competitors makes us all work harder. In the end, consumers and developers benefit the most from robust competition.”

The main drama around the Windows RT situation is that third parties are only allowed to develop Internet browsers in the Metro environment, which does not support extensions. Users won’t have a choice when it comes to Internet browsers in the desktop mode and will have to stick solely to Internet Explorer.

As many will remember, in the 90’s Microsoft started bundling Internet Explorer with Windows 95, which led to Netscape being pushed out of the browser game. This of course led to the famous DoJ hearings where Bill Gate was questioned quite publicly. This eventually forced Microsoft to give options to the users for third party browsers on Windows, but by that time Netscape was long out of the game. Having said that, the DoJ ruling expired on May 6, 2011, which understandably sends shivers down companies like Mozilla whose bread and butter is the Firefox browser.

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Mozilla is all set to announce its first device, rumored to be made by LG, based on its upcoming open operating system called Boot to Gecko (B2G) at the MWC. And like every successful OS and its corresponding app store, B2G will be coupled with Mozilla Marketplace (an open app store) since B2G devices would need a dedicated app store to catch the attention of the end users. Mozilla Marketplace will be open for the developers who in turn will make open web apps for Firefox browser and also for the upcoming stack of devices based on B2G OS using CSS, JavaScript and HTML5. The thinking that goes behind the development of the B2G is the fact that Mozilla wanted to create a standalone OS for the open web, an open technology that allows developers to make similar apps for both desktop and mobile platforms. It does wants to empower its Firefox with apps and will primarily be based as browser-based, just like the Chrome OS.

Though the first B2G device will be announced at the MWC but considering the fact the B2G OS still demands a lot of work to be done, the device should launch by the end of Q2 this year. Also, the Mozilla Marketplace will only be available by the time Firefox 13 arrives in June, bringing with it the Home Tab app launcher.

There has been a lot of speculation and gossip that B2G is partially based on Android. Just as TechCrunch says, B2G does use some of the same low-level building blocks used in Android (Linux kernel, libusb, etc) in order to reduce the burden on ODMs/OEMs to load B2G on new hardware. However, B2G is not based on Android, and will not be compatible with the Android stack (in particular B2G will not run Android applications).

According to an ExtremeTech post, Brendan Eich, the creator of JavaScript and the Chief Technology Officer of Mozilla, says that there will be multiple partners present at MWC. By “partners” Eric probably means that carriers which are long tired and frustrated with the decision making powers which so far have rested with giants such as Apple and Google who ultimately decide on how the carrier’s network should be used on their devices.

These carriers who have become nothing but dumb pipes and which are now functioning as mere retailers would finally find some peace of mind with Mozilla’s B2G open OS, based on an open browser and a truly open Marketplace. Carriers could create their own Open Web Marketplace, colonize it with their own apps and will finally have the authority to make their own set of rules.

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Mozilla is opening an online marketplace for applications based on web technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript. Mozilla is in the process of opening submissions for developers to submit their applications. Since these applications will be based on web technologies, Mozilla claims the marketplace will act like a device independent operating system providing a multitude of apps running Mozilla approved APIs.

Mozilla will open submissions for applications for the marketplace at the Mobile World Congress starting on Monday. Mozilla is dangling a carrot to developers as it says early submission will not only reserve the app name, but the app will also be featured on the Mozilla marketplace, which launches later in the year.

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With Windows 8, Microsoft wants the world to adapt to a new way of operating its PCs via the Metro UI. While the old Windows desktop will remain, it is actually the Metro UI that Microsoft wants developers to use. It is heavily promoting the WinRT development environment, which will be the common denominator on ARM and Intel Windows PCs. So it was quite obvious that all major Windows apps would go the Metro way, and the popular Firefox browser made by Mozilla is amongst the first wave.

Mozilla has detailed the development cycle for Firefox for Windows 8 on its MozillaWiki page. The Firefox app will take full advantage of the touch interface enhancements of the Metro UI and will have support for tabs, awesomebars and navigation controls.

Mozilla believes it will have a concept of the app ready by Q2 of 2012. The company says that the app will utilize the OS’ ability to interact with other third-party apps. Mozilla is also toying with the idea of a ‘Live-Tile for the Metro start display, where the app would update data in the background and provide updates via the ‘Live Tile’.

There is no mention of Flash support, though we believe it is highly unlikely that Mozilla will add the functionality as Microsoft has already dumped support for Flash in Metro mode for IE 10 and anyways Adobe is discontinuing further development of Flash.

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