firefox

The bottom line: Sync remains the killer Firefox for Android feature, but the revamped interface, fast page-load times, and tabbed browsing make it much more usable than before.

Review: Firefox for Android used to be a must-use mainly for Firefox fans. It was good at what it did, but it wasn't great, and the competitive field of Android browsers surpassed it on many levels.

As a reaction, Mozilla spent the better part of a year redesigning the browser from the ground up. The new Firefox for Android brings an interface powered by native code, competitive page-load times, and Flash … Read more

The Internet is ever-changing, and YouTube is no exception. With Google's switch to a more minimal homepage design, it comes as no surprise that YouTube will be following that path as well. The changes aren't too dramatic, but they seem to help streamline user interaction with each video page. So instead of waiting for the newest YouTube remodel, why not take a look at it now? Here's how to get started:

Note: The following instructions have only been tested for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Internet Explorer.

Step 1: Open your browser of choice and open any video … Read more

MightyText is similar to iMessage, except for Android. You can send SMS from your computer or tablet (all you need is a Web browser), and still use your own phone number. You'll also be able to screen incoming calls by seeing the caller information on the computer. This is also a great way to stay in touch with friends and family if you forget your phone at home or work and can't run off to get it right away.

Note: You will need a Google account to use this app. The account is used for syncing access from … Read more

Today we're shooting cowboys in the living room and bringing game shows to our tablets:

A leaked PDF document hints at what Microsoft could have in store for the next version of Xbox. If the 56-page document is true, the Xbox 720 has a planned release for 2013 and will play Blu-ray movies, 3D videos and it would work with special glasses for augmented reality gaming. The document also suggests the next version of the Kinect will track four people at once, have improved voice recognition and it could be split into two units on both sides of the … Read more

Facebook is a place for sharing (and sometimes oversharing) information between friends and family. As of the last few months, more and more "social reader" apps have been making their way to your Facebook timeline. You'll see that a friend watched a video on something like SocialCam, and when you go to click the video, you're asked to grant the service access to your Facebook.

Instead of authorizing a bunch of social-reader apps to post on your Facebook wall or gain access to your information, you should try Unsocialize. With this Web browser add-on you can … Read more

When the next version of Firefox hits the streets in Russia, Google -- and not Russia's own Yandex -- will be the default search engine.

That's according to The Next Web, which speculates that though Yandex enjoys a 60 percent share of Russia's search market compared with Google's approximately 26.5 percent, Google may be leveraging its support of Firefox maker Mozilla to convince the company to give it top billing in Firefox version 14.

Google and Firefox struck a three-year deal in December that set Google as the default Firefox search engine outside Russia. Financial … Read more

Mozilla has updated both Firefox beta and Firefox Aurora with new features today, with small but notable security changes landing in the former and preliminary native PDF support hitting the latter.

The developer's build of the browser, Firefox 15 Aurora (download for Windows, for Mac, and for Linux,) now comes with preliminary native support for PDFs. This is a feature that arrived some time ago in Google Chrome, and helped that browser respond to large document handling faster than the competition.

This version of Firefox also supports the next version of SPDY, better developer tools, improved HTML5 support, and … Read more

In the latest release of Firefox, new tab pages display your nine most frequently visited Web pages in an easy-to-see thumbnail layout. You can customize the sites that are displayed and even hide the new tab page, but if you prefer disabling the feature permanently, here's how:

Step 1: In the Firefox address bar, type about:config and hit Enter.

Step 2: When the warranty warning appears, click on the "I'll be careful, I promise!" button.

Step 3: Type browser.newtab.url in the search box.

Step 4: Double-click on the preference name, then change the … Read more

The bottom line: Firefox 13 is a worthy expression of Mozilla's ideals. The browser is competitively fast, sports a new minimalist look, and includes some excellently executed features. Unfortunately, that describes most of Firefox's competition, too.

Please note that the First Look video below is still applicable to Firefox 13, as is this Firefox How To collection, even though it features Firefox 4.

Review: For those of you who spent last year away from the Internet, it's the year that Firefox went from annual major-point updates to a Chrome-style quick-release cycle. How quick? A new major version … Read more