A new version of the Firefox web browser from Mozilla has been launched, and it comes packing its own instant messaging tool. Users can start conversations with a few clicks, generating unique URLs that they can send to anyone with a WebRTC-enabled browser.
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How do you tap into Firefox Hello? Introduced last October, Firefox Hello lets you initiate free video or audio chats with fellow Firefox users. A number of other developer and HTML5 changes have been added as well.
Google Trends’ “interest over time” charts show that both the search terms “Skype” and “Skype alternatives” spiked during the middle of the day Monday, and continued to see higher-than-usual interest for several hours afterward.
Especially the option to change the default search provider quickly can be useful as it is not only used in Firefox’s search field but also in the browser’s address bar. The company has also cooked up a version of Firefox for the iPhone and iPad in hopes of challenging Apple’s Safari and Chrome.
In addition, if you use the desktop version of Firefox, you’ll be able to sync their browser history, passwords, and tabs. But Mozilla faces an uphill battle trying to win users away from such top rivals.
According to release notes for desktop versions, the updated Control Center offers site security and privacy controls.
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You can swipe to close tabs on tablets. If you’re using a Linux distribution, then you should get the Firefox packages soon in your repositories. Another user-facing feature is the enhanced bookmark management that doesn’t just make using bookmarks easier, but detects duplicate entries as well. Desktop users can download from Firefox.com if it’s not installed automatically, while Android users will their app update from the Google Play store.
