Firefox now supports HTTP/2 standard

 

Mozilla's open-source Firefox browser appears to be among the early adopters of the new HTTP/2 standard.

 

In a change log for Firefox version 36, Mozilla also said its browser has several new features such as syncing for pinned tiles on new tab pages.

 

"(Firefox has) support for the full HTTP/2 protocol. HTTP/2 enables a faster, more scalable, and more responsive web," it said.

 

Rounding up the list of new features is the addition of localization for the Uzbek language.

 

A separate report on The Next Web noted the newest version of Firefox will no longer accept certificates signed with 1024-bit RSA keys.

  

Meanwhile, the new Firefox also adds tools for developers and security fixes. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Having problems with Bitly? You’re not alone

Having problems accessing some sites using the bit.ly URL shortener? You're not alone.

For several hours Saturday, sites or pages referred by bit.ly were blocked by Google and even on Mozilla's Firefox browser, though Bitly said the issue has been resolved.

"We are aware of some intermittent issues with Chrome + Firefox. Our team is investigating the issue to solve ASAP!" Bitly said on its Twitter account Saturday night, PHL time.

It said it was "incorrectly listed" in Google Safebrowsing, which caused users to receive a malware warning.

But it maintained the issue "has been resolved."

It added no data or Bitlinks had been compromised.

Google's diagnostic page for bit.ly indicated the site "is not currently listed as suspicious."

But it said part of the site was listed for suspicious activity 31 times over the past 90 days.

"Of the 91856 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 721 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on (Oct. 25), and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2014-10-25," it said.

It said the malicious software includes 200 Trojan(s), 187 exploit(s), 151 scripting exploit(s). "Successful infection resulted in an average of three new process(es) on the target machine," it said.

Tech site The Next Web said the fact that Google was not alone in blocking the links, "this suggests that there could be something a little more malicious going on from Bitly’s side, with a higher-than-usual number of miscreant sites using Bit.ly links to trick internet users." — Joel Locsin /LBG, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Firefox-to-Firefox calls coming soon?

 

Users of Mozilla's Firefox browser may soon be able to hold audio and video chats with each other with no need for third-party software or plugins.

Chad Weiner, director of product management for Firefox, said this will address the "increasing fragmentation" among various chat and messaging services now available.

 

"No plug-ins, no downloads. If you have a browser, a camera and a mic, you’ll be able to make audio and video calls to anyone else with an enabled browser. It will eventually work across all of your devices and operating systems," Weiner said in a blog post.

 

Weiner said Firefox, with "near universal adoption," could become a "keystone of an open, interoperable communications system."

 

Mozilla is coming up with the feature in its Firefox Nightly (early test) channel.  

 

The technology will be based on WebRTC, a standard for sending real-time data, audio and video among browsers.

 

A report on TechCrunch said Firefox and Chrome both support the feature "out of the box."

 

Weiner noted Mozilla's effort is in partnership with TokBox.

 

"We’re excited to start testing this feature in our Nightly channel and look forward to providing frequent updates as we develop this service," Weiner said. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Mozilla gets aggressive in updating Firefox OS

Mozilla is adopting a more aggressive schedule in updating its "Firefox OS" operating system for mobile devices, aiming to release updates on a quarterly basis.

Alex Keybi, Mozilla's manager of release management, said this even as the company released Firefox OS 1.1, its first update to the operating system.

"Now that we have our (Firefox OS) v1.0 behind us and we’re moving forward with even more partners, we’re going to do our best to bring Firefox OS back into our heartbeat and will make quarterly feature releases available to partners along with six-weekly security updates for the previous two feature releases. As far as I know, that’s the most aggressive mobile OS release strategy out there (and may still require some tweaking)," he said in a blog post.



He noted Mozilla also continues to continue working on its Firefox browser for Mac, Linux, and Windows; Firefox for Android; and Firefox ESR.

All these products share a single platform, Gecko, and release to hundreds of millions of users almost exactly every six weeks, he noted.

"Like a well-practiced choir, we synchronize our technical and organizational heartbeat around releases. This heartbeat enables us to push a unified vision across the entire web, keep our users regularly delighted with new (many times cross-platform) functionality, and prevent any one product from lagging behind in security updates," he added.

But in the case of Firefox OS, he said Mozilla also had to juggle the timelines and requirements of all of the OEMs, carriers, and chipset manufacturers it partnered with.

 A separate article on The Next Web said the three-month feature release cycle could be a "real game-changer," though it will be "no easy feat." — VC, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com