firefox

How the wireless industry will connect the next billion people

BARCELONA, Spain--The price of mobile devices and services will need to come down to connect the next billion people.

That's according to the CEOs of four major companies in the wireless arena: Nokia, Qtel Group, Bharti Airtel, and Mozilla.

"As an operator, we have to package services to the lower segment of the economy," said Nasser Marafih, CEO of the Qtel Group, during a keynote address at this week's Mobile World Congress.

Qtel yesterday announced a new brand, Ooredoo, which will cover various wireless carrier brands throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Much of … Read more

Twitter to build app for new Firefox OS smartphones

Twitter is jumping into the Firefox mobile mania, committing to build an app to the forthcoming platform.

The microblogging site announced today that when devices running Mozilla's browser-based operating system begin to be shipped to consumers in the next couple of months, it will have an app for the mobile platform in its Firefox Marketplace.

"Similar to our other mobile apps, Twitter for Firefox OS has a rich interface, featuring the Home, Connect, Discover and Me tabs, as well as the search and compose Tweet icons, so you can easily find and send Tweets from anywhere in the … Read more

Firefox betas pull the shades per-tab on 'porn mode'

Private browsing, or 'porn mode' for people with more prurient Web browsing requirements, will soon be available in Firefox on a per-window basis for desktops and a per-tab basis on Android.

The latest versions of Firefox 20 Beta (download for Windows, Mac, and Linux) and Firefox 20 Beta for Android (download) have been updated to allow people to have a more streamlined private browsing experience. Private browsing disables built-in browser recording, including history and cookies.

This is a pretty big change for Private Browsing aficionados, since previously in Firefox switching to Private Browsing would save all your tabs, close the … Read more

AT&T Mobility CEO says he's open to Firefox OS

BARCELONA, Spain--AT&T has cracked open the door to Mozilla's recently unveiled Firefox mobile operating system.

"I think there is room for more" operating systems, said Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility, in an interview with CNET.

When asked whether the industry could support multiple operating systems, de la Vega affirmed the sentiment: "absolutely."

Ultimately, it comes down to consumer demand, he said. If people are vocal about the desire for a Firefox phone and there's a likelihood of succeeding, AT&T will provide a device, de la … Read more

Samsung: No interest in Mozilla's Firefox OS

BARCELONA, Spain--Mozilla and a slew of allies debuted Firefox OS this week -- but one powerful potential partner is passing.

That company is Samsung, which like Apple is a dominant smartphone maker. A high-level Samsung executive said at the Mobile World Congress show here that Samsung isn't interested in Mozilla's browser-based operating system.

That shouldn't come as a surprise given the company's other mobile operating system choices. Samsung is the top dog in the Android market -- its new flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone will debut March 14 -- and the most obvious OS alternative is … Read more

Geeksphone Peak: The best way to try Firefox OS (hands-on)

BARCELONA, Spain--If you're going to try Firefox OS, try it on the Geeksphone Peak.

This smartphone, with a 4.3-inch 960x540-pixel multitouch screen and a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor, is the best way so far to experience Mozilla's browser-based operating system. Mozilla debuted Firefox OS today at Mobile World Congress, signing up an impressive array of mobile network partners and mainstream phone makers LG Electronics, ZTE, Alcatel, and Huawei.

But it's Spanish startup Geeksphone that had the nicest hardware with the Peak. It's for developers, not mainstream buyers, and it showed off Firefox … Read more

Unspectacular Firefox OS is OK for low-end phones (hands-on)

BARCELONA, Spain--Firefox OS is real, and it works.

Mozilla's browser-based phone technology is a credible option for the emerging markets where it'll first arrive starting in the second quarter. The nonprofit debuted the first version of the software at the Mobile World Congress show in front of 700 people curious to see how well it works.

For that mobile-savvy audience, the answer is this: not well enough. For wealthier customers, Firefox OS will have a hard time standing up to the two powerhouses of the mobile market, Google's Android and Apple's iOS.

With Firefox OS, Mozilla … Read more

Firefox patch to block third-party advertising cookies

Firefox will soon be able to block third-party advertising cookies by default, preventing ad networks from tracking users' browser activity.

Advertisers use cookies to track users' Web activity to deliver more-targeted ads. The new patch will allow cookies from sites users actively visit but block those from third-party sites that haven't been visited by the user.

Firefox users have long had the ability to manually disable the cookies, but the patch will allow the browser to automatically perform the task. Contributed by Jonathan Mayer, a researcher at Stanford, the patch is expected to be released in Firefox 22 on … Read more

Global allies give Mozilla's Firefox OS a mobile foothold

BARCELONA, Spain--Laying the groundwork for its nascent Firefox OS, Mozilla has won over a sizeable list of allies including LG Electronics and China Unicom, and the first phones with the browser-based operating system should arrive in the second quarter of the year.

Mozilla announced today at the Mobile World Congress show here that it's persuaded 18 mobile network operators and four mobile phone makers to back its open-source mobile operating system. That's not enough to unseat the incumbent powers of Google's Android and Apple's iOS slayer, but it is enough to ensure Firefox OS at least … Read more

How to change the built-in PDF viewer in Firefox

While Chrome has had an internal PDF viewer for a couple of years now, Mozilla only just added the feature to Firefox 19. It's a feature that most people will find convenient as is, but if you're looking to take some control over how Firefox handles PDF files on the Web, here's how:

PDF file handling options The Firefox PDF viewer is enabled by default and will display PDFs within the browser when you click on PDF links. If they don't, make sure you've disabled any PDF plug-ins you may have previously installed. If you … Read more