Mozilla's new Adobe Plugin version check

With the latest release of Mozilla Firefox there is a built in check of the version of the Adobe flash plugin you are currently using. As this is the most popular plugin, and virtually everyone will have it installed if they want to use Youtube etc.This is a massive step forward for browser security, and assures people that they are using the most up-to date plugins when they are using the most up-to date version of Firefox. The problem comes when you have people who don't understand or are unwilling to upgrade, but that is problem that every software provider faces, regardless of design philosophy.

Since the launch of Firefox 3.5.3, Adobe reports a huge increase in the numbers of people downloading updates, and current reports show this to be in excess of 10 Million, which is a lot of machines with a previously unpatched bug. It was highlighted by the fact that the latest version of OSX for the MAC - Snow Leopard - shipped with an old version of the plugin, which effectively made the machines vulnerable from a default new install.

I think Mozilla are to be applauded for this, and it is something all browser suppliers should look at implementing to help remove vulnerable software from peoples machines.

Mozilla are hard at work at producing some fantastic new add-ons

I have blogged before about the marvelous Mozilla Weave plugin that saves all your personal browsing data anonymously in the cloud, so you can keep your bookmarks always to hand.

What I have installed and started playing with today is Mozilla Ubiquity and I have to say this is also going to be an extremely useful addition for easy and productive browsing. It also allows you to leverage even more of the great apps that Google have out there, like calulator.

Simply search the add-ons for Ubiquity and it will install as it is a typical add-on format.

You start the add-on by typing the ALT key and the Space key togther. Now on my Ubuntu machine this keyboard shortcut was already taken, so I changed that for Gnome, and I was ready to go.

The add-on comes with a very useful tutorial, which I recommend you take to fully explore the sort of facilities you have at your fingertips.

This is going to be a great new addition to my web surfing armoury.

Mozilla Weave changes completely in new version

Well, I just started Firefox 3.5.3 to test a web page , and it prompted me to upgrade my version of Mozilla Weave, your friendly bookmark syncing extension. The Mozilla guys have been busy, and not only have they moved the control from the preferences page to a new about:weave, but they have added some really groovy animation. They have also added some performance in there as the syncs are quicker and the log files are happier than they were previously.

This is an excellent piece of work, and I would heartily recommend you give it a try, as keeping tabs - pun intended ;-) - on your bookmarks etc just got so much easier.

Using a Mozilla XULrunner application to edit your Sqlite databases

I have needed a tool to edit/change sqlite database, and have been using this great Firefox extension, but it requires you to load Firefox, which I don't always do while I'm testing Chromium. You can get this great extension here:

Sqlite Manager

So I noticed today, that they also offer a downloadable version which works just with XULrunner on it's own. It's not that surprising as many extensions leverage the power of this component, but it means you can launch this on it's own , which is handy.

So all you do is download the zip file, and make sure you have XULrunner-1.9.1 from your favourite Linux repository and unzip the file where you want, /opt is a good place for most.

Then just add a launcher on your desktop to start the application like this:


/usr/bin/xulrunner-1.9.1 /opt/sqlitemanager/application.ini (or where you unzipped it)

Voila, you have a great utility ready to run.

In the picture above I'm having a look at the cookies I've downloaded while testing Firefox 3.5.2

I also came across this web site while checking out how this fitted together, which gives you a good intro into developing your own XULrunner apps.

Howto create your own XUL applications

Mozilla weave really proves it worth on Linux

As I'm constantly testing several different versions of Firefox on my machine at anyone time, I occasionally have problems with extension incompatibilities , and there is a need to start right back at the beginning with a fresh .mozilla directory. I always used to rely on a backed up version of that directory, that was until Mozilla Weave came along.

It is now trivial to get all my settings back by just installing a single extension, the Mozilla Weave one, which I keep around on several types of media for just this purpose.

This is a great example of a cloud based application working extremely well, and as all the information is encrypted locally before being set to the cloud, one I'm very confident in using. It saved me again yesterday, and I can't wait until there is a similar bolt on to chromium, as it is a real winner.

Mozilla Labs Weave project is really taking shape

What is it? A bolt on to firefox to store your bookmarks and other browser data in the cloud.

I have used a few of these cloud based bookmark systems in the past, with varying degrees of success, and I have just started testing the Mozilla labs Weave system and it is working very well indeed. I have it talking on three separate systems, including one virtual image and they are syncing perfectly. It means I no longer have to have a different set of bookmarks on different machines, which is not very cloud freindly. The performance is the best I have experienced, and it really happens in the background without you noticing. You can select what parts of your locally stored data you wish to send in to the cloud with a bolt onto the Firefox (3.5 is required) options/preferences window. I like the fact you can encrypt locally and then send the data.



It would be great and extremely useful if it opens its doors eventually to other browsers like Chromium and Opera, and hopefully this will happen. As they are all open source the opportunities are more obvious that with a closed source product like IE.

I think we will start to see a lot more tools and utilities like this moving forward as the cloud becomes the storage system of choice for your information. The data you send to the Mozilla servers is whatever you choose from the list of options, and it is encrypted with a passphrase only you know, so there can't be any data mining without you knowing it. Security is always key in the cloud and can not be ignored, so I think this system works well.

I would definitely recommend giving it a go.

Firefox 3.5 is edging closer to its final release

I have been installing the nightly builds for a long while now on Ubuntu 9.04, but the Mozilla boys have now uploaded an official build of Firefox 3.5 beta 4, which is where this post is coming from.

The beta pre-release versions have been stable for a long time, and I know that this build was only waiting on few bugs to be squashed. There doesn't appear to be any major changes from the pre-release versions, as I would expect, but there are obviously massive differences from version 3.0.

Get it while it's hot.

Firefox 3.5 beta 4

Getting Mozilla Fennec to work through a proxy on Linux

I have just downloaded the latest version of Fennec to have a look at the latest Mozilla mobile offering to run on Linux. Now as my machine sits behind a proxy, I had to make the following changes to the preferences file at the command line, as I couldn't find a way to do this through the UI.

Basically all you need to do is add these lines to the following file, and then re-start Fennec

nickh-desktop:~/tmp/fennec/defaults/preferences$

I added these lines to the bottom of this file:

pref("network.proxy.backup.ftp", "192.168.1.2");
pref("network.proxy.backup.ftp_port", 8080);
pref("network.proxy.backup.gopher", "192.168.1.2");
pref("network.proxy.backup.gopher_port", 8080);
pref("network.proxy.backup.socks", "192.168.1.2");
pref("network.proxy.backup.socks_port", 8080);
pref("network.proxy.backup.ssl", "192.168.1.2");
pref("network.proxy.backup.ssl_port", 8080);
pref("network.proxy.ftp", "192.168.1.2");
pref("network.proxy.ftp_port", 8080);
pref("network.proxy.gopher", "192.168.1.2");
pref("network.proxy.gopher_port", 8080);
pref("network.proxy.http", "192.168.1.2");
pref("network.proxy.http_port", 8080);
pref("network.proxy.no_proxies_on", "localhost, 127.0.0.1,192.168.54.56,wiki,192.168.55.130");
pref("network.proxy.share_proxy_settings", true);
pref("network.proxy.socks", "192.168.1.2");
pref("network.proxy.socks_port", 8080);
pref("network.proxy.ssl", "192.168.1.2");
pref("network.proxy.ssl_port", 8080);
pref("network.proxy.type", 1);

Now it works a treat, though with a few graphic issues, but at least you can see what the developers are upto.

Nick