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Mozilla now curates a list of recommended extensions for Firefox
Mozilla is making it easier to choose the best Firefox add-ons from a sea of extensions you'd usually have to wade through. The latest version of Firefox for desktop now comes with a list of recommended extensions, which have been chosen based on their security, usability and usefulness. You can find the curated list in the Get Add-ons page within the Firefox Add-ons Manager. Mozilla has also added a feature that allows you to report any bad extension you come across directly through the Add-ons Manager itself.
Mozilla preps its ad-free news subscription service for testing
Mozilla seems to have made significant progress on its Apple News competitor over three months after it was announced. According to various sources, the organization has sent out invites to users, inviting them to participate in the upcoming beta launch of its news subscription service. Mozilla called it the "Firefox Ad-free Internet" in the invites, since it's meant to give users access to content from their favorite publications without having to look at ads.
Firefox revamp for Android promises privacy without losing features
Mozilla will no longer force you to choose between the privacy-first design of Firefox Focus and its full-featured regular browser... at least, if you're using Android. It's releasing a Firefox Preview for the platform that's "more like" Focus, but still offers the kinds of features you'd expect from a standard version of Firefox. Tracking protection is still on by default, and you'll still have a minimalist address bar, but you'll have everyday features that include Collections, a way to quickly visit a group of sites whether it's your morning routine or your shopping plans.
A Firefox update fixes yet another zero-day vulnerability
Mozilla recently rolled out a fix for a critical bug that hackers were actively exploiting to take control of vulnerable systems. Now, it has released a patch for yet another zero-day bug. According to ZDNet, infiltrators used the two flaws in tandem to target Coinbase employees: the first one allowed them to run malicious codes through Firefox from afar, while the second one gave them a way to escape from the Firefox protected process.
You should update Firefox right now to fix a critical bug
If you have Firefox on your computer, you should update it right now. Mozilla has released security updates Firefox 67.0.3 and Firefox ESR 60.7.1 to fix a critical bug, which it says hackers are actively exploiting to take control of vulnerable systems. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency also issued an alert urging users and system administrators to review Mozilla's security advisory and act accordingly -- in other words, update your browser.
Mozilla's new Firefox logo shows it's more than just a browser
The iconic Firefox logo has fronted Mozilla's services since 2003 -- now, 16 years later, it's getting a complete makeover. In a blog post published today, the company reveals that it's been working on a new design for the last 18 months in a bid to create iconography that shows it's more than just a browser.
Mozilla is helping to make web-based VR available to everyone
Even though virtual reality has been in the mainstream for several years now, it's still not very accessible. It often takes trained engineers to create, release and distribute VR content. That could soon change, however, thanks to a new project called Reach, a VR platform created by Emblematic Group and VR pioneer Nonny de la Peña (whom we've featured on the Engadget Experience stage before). Built on top of WebVR and in partnership with Mozilla, the project was initially announced at Sundance 2019 earlier this year in its alpha stage. Starting today, however, it's finally moving into beta. The end goal: to make web-based VR easier to create and consume.
Mozilla explains why all Firefox add-ons broke at once
Firefox Chief Technology Officer Eric Rescorla has written a detailed blog post explaining exactly how the browser's add-ons came to break all at once last week, how it was fixed, and how the company will avoid another 'armagadd-on' in the future.
Firefox pushes another update to fix its broken add-ons
Staff at Mozilla have issued a comprehensive fix for the Firefox browser after users endured three days without any add-ons, caused by the expiration of a signing certificate. The company has been scrambling to fix the issue since it appeared on Friday, with frustrated users turning to workarounds to try to get their adblockers, password managers and other extensions working again.
Firefox disabled all add-ons because a certificate expired (updated)
Many Firefox users around the world are browsing without their usual set of extensions after they suddenly stopped working earlier this evening. The event occurred as the clock rolled over on UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, aka GMT or Greenwich Mean Time), and impacted users quickly narrowed it down to "expiration of intermediate signing cert" -- as it's described on Mozilla's bug tracker. This same problem almost happened three years ago, but "armagadd-on" 2.0 has torn things up once again. In a statement provided to Engadget, Product Lead Kev Needham said: We're sorry that there is currently an issue where existing and new add-ons are failing to run or be installed on Firefox. We know what the issue is and are working hard to restore add-on functionality to Firefox as soon as possible. We'll continue to provide updates via our Twitter channels. Please bear with us while we get the problem fixed.
Firefox virtual reality web browser comes to SteamVR this summer
Mozilla's Firefox Reality browser has been available through a number of platform-specific VR portals, but it'll soon be available in a relatively neutral form. The developer has revealed that it's working with Valve to bring Firefox Reality to SteamVR sometime this summer. You'll install it through a new web dashboard button and browse pages in a window that floats over "any OpenVR experience." To put it another way, you could check a walkthrough for a VR-capable Steam game while you're playing it, whether you're using an HTC Vive, an Oculus Rift or Valve's own Index headset.
Firefox comes to Snapdragon-powered Windows 10 PCs
Always on, always connected PCs haven't exactly taken the world by storm yet, but app developers and software creators are steadily dialing up their support for these ultra-portable machines. Need proof? Just look at Mozilla: this morning, the company officially announced its first Firefox beta build for Snapdragon-powered Windows 10 PCs.
Firefox will soon protect you against crypto-mining scripts
At a time when every high-profile data breach sheds more light on how web activity is monitored, Firefox is launching anti-tracking tools to protect against fingerprinting and crypto-mining. Mozilla is again teaming up with Disconnect -- a software company that provides no-tracking software and whose ad tracker blocklist Firefox already utlizes for its tracking protections -- on the new tools. Both of the blocking methods are available to Firefox Nightly 68 and Beta 67 testers. Mozilla plans to enable them by default in a future release.
Firefox Lockbox provides access to your passwords on Android
Mozilla's Firefox Lockbox has been helping iOS users keep tabs on their many passwords for a while, and now it's making that tool available on Android. Like its iOS counterpart, the app helps you fetch any password you already have stored in Firefox (and thus synced across your devices). It's not a traditional manager, then -- this is more for ensuring that you can sign into a streaming service on a friend's TV.
Firefox finally takes fuller advantage of your iPad
Your choices for iPad-friendly web browsers just got ever-so-slightly larger. Mozilla has released an arguably overdue version of Firefox that aims to take better advantage of the iPad's extra screen real estate. It supports iOS' built-in split screen and support for keyboard shortcuts, as you might expect, but there are also interface tweaks specific to the tablet version. Firefox now shows all your tabs as easier-to-discern tiles, and private browsing is a single tap away on the main screen.
Firefox silences annoying auto-play videos
As promised, Mozilla is about to make web videos decidedly less annoying. Its newly released Firefox 66 blocks auto-playing videos by default, preventing web ads or video sites from startling you when you're not ready (or willing) to watch. Some sites will still play the video regardless, Mozilla said, but will stay muted until you choose otherwise.
Firefox Send's free encrypted file transfers are now available to all
Mozilla has made privacy Firefox's calling card, while lambasting companies it believes don't meet the bar on security. Its latest update to its web browser, an end-to-end encrypted file transfer service, fits the mold. Firefox Send was introduced in 2017 as part of the now-defunct Firefox Test Pilot, which allowed early adopters to try out experimental features, and is now being graduated. Those with Firefox accounts can now share files up to 2.5GB in size between browsers, while everyone else is limited to 1GB. It's also getting its very own Send Android app in beta.
Mozilla's open voice-recognition library now includes 18 languages
Over the past year, Mozilla worked on expanding its Common Voice initiative to include open source voice recognition datasets in more languages. Now, the organization has released the largest collection of human voices available for use in 18 different languages, including Dutch, Hakha-Chin, Esperanto, Farsi, Basque, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin Chinese (Traditional), Welsh and Kabyle. The collection is composed of 1,400 hours of recorded voice clips from 42,000 contributors. Some of them are volunteers who just wanted to help out, while others are linguists and professionals working in voice technologies.
Mozilla's mixed reality Firefox browser is coming to HoloLens 2
If you want to surf the web with Microsoft's HoloLens 2, you'll be guaranteed to have a browser optimized for the immersive format -- Mozilla is partnering with Microsoft to make Firefox Reality available for the next-gen headset. While it's unclear exactly how much this will vary from the existing browser (above), the developer hopes to learn more about bringing augmented-reality material to the web. It'll build on work for existing mixed reality headsets like Magic Leap and run on Mozilla's next-generation Servo platform.
Firefox offers clearer, more flexible privacy controls
Mozilla has made privacy a focus in Firefox for years, but it knows that only matters if you're actually comfortable using those privacy features. To that end, it's releasing a desktop update that's all about simplifying those controls while simultaneously offering more powerful tools. Firefox 65 includes a reworked Content Blocking section that gives you three options: Standard (blocks known trackers in private sessions), Strict (blocks those trackers in all sessions) and Custom. You can be as hands-off or specific as you like, and you don't have to compromise privacy in the process.
