Mozilla CEO shares concern over Microsoft shutting down EdgeHTML

While Microsoft Edge is far from being a popular browser (market share is at 4.34 percent according to NetMarketShare), the idea that Microsoft plans to give it up to use Google’s Chromium rendering engine isn’t sitting well with its competition. The move signals a homogenization of the browsing market, which is a valid concern but something we’re dealing with as we speak. Mozilla, the non-profit behind the Firefox browser, expressed its concern through a post from its CEO Chris Beard. The non-profit acknowledges the move makes business sense but it doesn’t like the idea that this move empowers Google to “single-handedly decide what possibilities are available to each one of us.”

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Firefox Focus adds autocomplete support and more search engine options

Mozilla’s privacy-focused Firefox Focus browser gets some new feature that makes it easier to use and more convenient. One of the new features is the ability to turn on or off autocomplete for typing URLs. The browser can autocomplete for you URLs of over 450 popular sites. But if the site you frequent isn’t part of that list, you can also add and manage custom autocomplete URLs. The app also now lets you add search engines from any site that has a search field. So, for example, you can look up information on site’s like IMDB or whichever one without having to head to IMDB’s site.

Firefox Focus is designed to block ads, social trackers, analytics, and other content trackers, even Web fonts. When you’re done browsing, you can just hit the Erase button on the top right portion of the app for it to clear your browsing history. It’s available on both Android and iOS.

Source: Android Authority

Mozilla finally kills of Adobe Flash on Firefox version 56 for Android

Adobe Flash has been on the chopping block for ages but it doesn’t seem to want to die. Mozilla is taking a step towards removing it from all its properties with its latest announcement. Firefox 56 for Android will no longer support Adobe’s multimedia plugin. This means, Firefox on Google’s mobile OS will require Android 4.1 or higher to work, which is the Android version. You might not notice much of a difference here since most sites have dropped support for Flash but if you still need to use it, Dolphin browser works.

Source: Android Authority

Firefox adds VR support to its browser tomorrow

It took a bit of time but Mozilla is finally adding virtual reality support to its web browser. The Firefox 55 version will come out tomorrow, August 8^th. This web-based VR on Firefox will come to all Windows users that have HTC Vive or Oculus Rift headset. Mozilla has been working on this for a while with a standard called WebVR, which lets browsers run virtual-reality experiences. It’s already available through Firefox’s pre-release version, Firefox Nightly, as well as limited availability in Servo, a browser engine built by individual developers and sponsored by Mozilla.

Aside from adding VR support, Firefox 55 will add a new tool called Firefox Screenshots. While still in beta when it comes out, this feature will automatically save your screenshots to the cloud and then copies these to your clipboard. These screenshots have an expiration date of two weeks unless you manually set it to last longer.

Source: The Verge