firefox

ScribeFire Reviewed

Well, this would be my second screencast produced out of Camtasia Studio 5 and I’m learning more and more that screencasts are the not the easiest things to create. I’m also trying to learn the magic recording/producing formula which will net me the best results on sites such as Viddler. It sucks to create something that looks so good on my local machine, only to have it look like crap on Viddler. But I think I’m getting closer to the magic bullet.

In any case, Brian asked me about ScribeFire and what it was all about. This screencast aims to answer that question while also providing an in depth review as to what this extension is capable of.

To get the best quality, select the option to watch the video at FullScreen.

FireFox Saved Me!

PhishingBlocker

Early in 2007, I finally managed to file for my first credit report since they passed the law allowing for one free credit report per year. Out of the number of institutions available for filing my credit report, I chose to go with Equifax. I was pretty impressed with how fast it took for them to process my information. Once they were finished, I was able to see my credit report online. And, in case you were wondering, my credit score is around seven or eight hundred which I hear is pretty good.

This year, I have yet to file for my credit report but I received a piece of email the other day from Equifax telling me that I was required to fill out a particular form they had sent me.

equifaxemail

Well, I wasn’t in a hurry to open up any emails from them but when I finally did, here is what I saw.

Equifax Scamjob

Looks convincing doesn’t it? Well, after thinking about it for awhile, I decided to click the link to see what it was all about. The result? The first image you see in this post. This is the first time I’ve ever seen this notification which took me by surprise. After receiving the update, I did a Google search on the scam and yep, this was an Equifax phishing email.

So not only did I want to warn others, but I wanted to give a big thank you to the built in Phishing filter in FireFox. You saved me bro!

R.I.P. Netscape Navigator

RIP Netscape Navigator

Looks like it’s the end of the line for the Netscape web browser. Security patches for the latest version will continue to be released until February 1, 2008. After that, there will be no more product support for Navigator 9 or any previous version. What’s interesting to note is that, the Netscape engineering team even tried to create a skinned version of FireFox with a few extensions installed, and even that didn’t help them gain any market share. It’s been a very long time since I used Netscape Navigator but for the longest time, it was the preferred browser of choice for my mom, mostly because of Composer.

Honestly, I think what Netscape is doing makes complete sense. Stop wasting time with Navigator and invest those engineering dollars into the Mozilla foundation. Now Netscape can focus on other things such as Propeller.

At any rate, R.I.P. Netscape Navigator.

AOL’s focus on transitioning to an ad-supported web business leaves little room for the size of investment needed to get the Netscape browser to a point many of its fans expect it to be. Given AOL’s current business focus and the success the Mozilla Foundation has had in developing critically-acclaimed products, we feel it’s the right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox.

Click here to read Netscape’s death certificate. Also read the comments that go along with the article, for once, there is an interesting conversation that takes place.

Mozilla Takes A Page Out Of MS Book

FireFox LogoIt wasn’t too long ago that FireFox 2.0.0.10 was released to the public. Now, just a few short days later, Mozilla releases 2.0.0.11 to what can only be described as (A Patch To Fix A Patch) I’ve spent some time browsing around to try and figure out what it is they changed and I simply can’t find it.

What’s New in Firefox 2.0.0.11

Release Date: November 30, 2007
Stability Update: This release corrects a problem that was found in the previous release, Firefox 2.0.0.10.
Does anybody know what caused 2.0.0.10 to be replaced by 2.0.0.11? You start doing things like this, and people begin to lose faith in your product real fast.

FireFox 3.0 Beta Released

FireFox LogoFireFox 3.0 Beta 1 has been released to the public. It’s available in 21 different languages for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This version still has hundreds of bugs in it. Asa Dotzler, Mozilla’s Quality Assurance leader, did say that it is the “most thoroughly tested beta [they’ve] ever shipped” though.

  • Those of you who do decide to throw caution into the wind and give it a whirl should be prepared for poor extension compatibility. Many extensions, especially those pertaining to bookmarks, will probably not function to their full potential if at all.

New features and changes in this milestone that require feedback include:

  • Improved security features such as: better presentation of website identity and security, malware protection, stricter SSL error pages, anti-virus integration in the download manager, and version checking for insecure plugins.
  • Improved ease of use through: better password management, easier add-on installation, new download manager with resumable downloading, full page zoom, animated tab strip, and better integration with Windows Vista and Mac OS X.
  • Richer personalization through: one-click bookmarking, smart search bookmark folders, direct typing in location bar searches your history and bookmarks for URLs and page titles, ability to register web applications as protocol handlers, and better customization of download actions for file types.
  • Improved platform features such as: new graphics and font rendering architecture, major changes to the HTML rendering engine to provide better CSS, float-, and table layout support, native web page form controls, colour profile management, and offline application support.
  • Performance improvements such as: better data reliability for user profiles, architectural improvements to speed up page rendering, over 300 memory leak fixes, and a new XPCOM cycle collector to reduce entire classes of leaks.

Check out what’s all new within this beta by looking at the RELEASE NOTES.

FireFox 2.0.0.9 Released

FireFoxLogoI feel like I’m the last to know about these software releases. Maybe I should look into my feed reader a little more often. At any rate, FireFox has released version 2.0.0.9 of it’s popular browser software. This version is in response to the unusual amount of large regressions that occurred in the previous version.

This latest release fixes these particular issues:

  • Bug 400406 – Firefox will ignore the “clear” CSS property when used beneath a box that is using the “float” property. There is a temporary workaround JS/CSS code available for web developers with affected layouts.
  • Bug 400467 – Windows Vista users will get “Java not found” or “Java not working” errors when trying to load Java applets after updating. To fix this, users can right-click the Firefox icon and “Run as administrator”, then browse to a page with a Java applet — doing this once will fix the problem and permanently restore Java functionality.
  • Bug 396695 – Add-ons are disabled after updating. Users can fix this problem by opening their profile folder and removing three files (extensions.rdf, extensions.ini and extensions.cache)
  • Bug 400421 – Removing a single area element from an image map will cause the entire map to disappear. There is no workaround available at this time.
  • Bug 400735 – Some Windows users may experience crashes at startup. There is no workaround available at this time.

I’m still running on FireFox 2.0.0.7 and have yet to receive an automatic update notification. I’ll continue to wait and see if 2.0.0.9 actually fixes more than it breaks. Let me know how your upgrade experience goes please!

Autohide FireFox Bookmark Bar

This tip comes from Lifehacker which I thought was pretty cool. Not the easiest hack to try but it’s not that difficult either. To turn on auto-hiding, you have to edit userChrome.css. Before you attempt this hack, use MozBackup to create a backup of your FireFox profile just in case things go amiss.

To make it even easier to perform this trick, I recommend installing the ChromEdit Plus extension. This extension makes browsing around and editing the userChrome.css file a breeze.

Once you have the extension installed, click on TOOLS-ChromEditPlus-ChromEdit. This will open up the editor. Make sure the userChrome.css tab is selected then copy and paste the following code into the text area.

/* Pop-up bookmarks toolbar */ #PersonalToolbar {display: none;} #navigator-toolbox:hover > #PersonalToolbar {display: -moz-box;}

My ChromEdit Screen

Click SAVE and then RESTART. Your FireFox bookmarks should be hidden. To see them, move your mouse cursor over the address bar. This hack may be annoying for anyone moving their cursor consistently around that area of their browser. However, this is a good hack for those that want a little more screen real estate within FireFox.

FireFox Has Its Own Sports Car

Check out this decked out sports car which is littered with all sorts of FireFox references. This thing has a very slick paint job. How many chicks do you think you’d be able to pick up with this baby?

Click on the image to see a larger version. Taken by nobihaya

FireFox Sports Car

On a side note, I was reading the comments on Digg and I finally read a comment which had me laughing my ass off.

by oneoverzero 4 hours ago The IE car must have crashed.

 

FireFox 2.0.0.6 Released

FireFox LogoFireFox’s built in update checker happily notified me of the update as I browsing around today. 2.0.0.6 contains 1 critical security fix and 1 moderate security fix.

 

 

Fixed in Firefox 2.0.0.6

  • MFSA 2007-27 Unescaped URIs passed to external programs
  • MFSA 2007-26 Privilege escalation through chrome-loaded about:blank windows

That about sums up what was contained in the update. Considering one of the flaws that was fixed is rated as critical, I advise you to upgrade as soon as possible. You can download the latest version of FireFox by clicking here