Mozilla has just released Firefox 27 [1,2], which is quickly improving owing to expansion features [3,4] (I find it a little buggy under Android, still). Firefox OS, which is based on Linux, has been making headlines and it is still coming along nicely [5] while Mozilla asks for help in delivering a tablet with Firefox OS [6]. To Mozilla's credit, as we noted before, the company throws the P word around quite a lot (privacy is the P word), even in NPR [7]. Some readers noted that Mozilla is actually just pretending to care about privacy, but compared to Google, Apple, and especially Microsoft, Mozilla has shown a good track record on privacy. Sure, it relies to some degree on advertisers and Google, but Mozilla itself is not doing the spying. Moreover, it provides tools for blocking surveillance, even as part of the browser's core. ⬆
There are 13 security advisories attached to the Firefox 27 release, four of them ranked as being critical. As is common in nearly all Firefox release updates, one of the critical updates is for a group of vulnerabilities that Mozilla labels "Miscellaneous memory safety hazards."
The smartphone is currently dominated by two big systems; Android and iOS. But there are others in the run. With Microsoft struggling to get anyone to voluntarily use Windows Phone, maybe Sailfish OS, Ubuntu Touch and/or Firefox OS will make a difference. It’s this last one I attended a talk about at FOSDEM. So here it goes; The current state of Firefox OS, and what we can expect for the future.
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) took place recently in Las Vegas, and Mozilla officials made headlines there as they revealed plans to take the Firefox OS mobile platform to devices other than smartphones, and a new deal between Panasonic and Mozilla to drive smart, HTML 5-fluent televisions. It's all part of Mozilla's ongoing effort to focus on mobile technology and new platforms.
The scandal over NSA snooping has caused many adverse reactions, but one of the more notable ones has just come from Mozilla's chief privacy officer Alex Fowler. Speaking with NPR, with the interview coming just after President Obama's public comments about government surveillance reform, Fowler said that the threat of a balkanized Internet is real. And indeed, some countries are proposing limitations on Internet use that would effectively keep users dealing with information produced within their own countries' borders.