The update, as we reported yesterday, brings new features to the browser, but nothing worth celebrating over.

The update features extension improvements with most extensions that work on Firefox 4 working on Firefox 10. It includes support for full-screen Web apps and anti-aliasing for WebGL applications.

Firefox 10 also debuts the new “Extended Support Release” for businesses. This allows the browser to only download necessary security updates so businesses no longer have to deal with a new browser update every six weeks. The ESR version will change every seven releases, so November will be the next update for those users.

For those unaware, Firefox changing versions so rapidly is due to Chrome being on the same release schedule. While Internet Explorer is still the most used browser on the Web, Chrome and Firefox are battling neck-and-neck for the number two spot. The sped up release schedule is helping Firefox remain competitive.

Firefox 10 will be released as a silent update to current users today. If you haven’t used Firefox yet, now is a good time to try it out. It’s available for Windows, Mac and Linux today.

PC Mag is reporting that the update will apply to the desktop formats as well as the mobile edition for Android. For those “people,” who never upgraded to Firefox 4, version 3.6 will be updated to version 3.6.9 which only adds security and stability fixes.

During a meeting today, Firefox announced a new hire for Mozilla’s marketing team. Pete Scanlon, who previously worked for Google’s campaigns for Chrome, is now working for Mozilla.

As with the past few full version updates to Firefox, there’s not much going on for consumers. The new capabilities are mostly for developers.

A big improvement from previous versions is how Firefox 10 handles extensions. Instead of rejecting extensions not specifically made for Firefox 10, it will assume extensions are compatible unless otherwise noted. Most extensions compatible with Firefox 4 will work fine on Firefox 10.

Interestingly, Mozilla reported that 75 percent of all extensions in use were not acquired from their own addon site. They have updated the browser to support those extensions as well.

The update will also allow users to hotfix update extensions themselves to address minor issues.

The Android version of Firefox 10 will get multitouch gesture support. Firefox Sync will also be updated to allow users to sync their phone or table with Firefox without having to be at their desktop computer.

The changes for developers are more robust featuring enhancements to code editors and anti-aliasing for WebGL content. CSS3D Transforms will bring 3D animation to 2D objects. They will also add in support for full-screen Web applications.

Firefox 10 will also be the first Extended Support Release version. The program was made for enterprise IT professionals who were concerned that the more-frequent Firefox updates were unsupportable in a business environment.

Firefox 12, which is a few more weeks out, will finally add a tab page that users of Chrome and Opera enjoy now.

It’s called Nuke Comments and it drops a bomb on annoying commenters. Here’s the description, courtesy former Google engineer Tzafrir Rehan on Google+:

Are you getting comments on Google+ from people that you don’t want commenting on your posts? Time to go nuclear on them! Hit the Nuke button and delete the comment – Nuke Comments will then block them so you’ll never be bothered by their annoying comments again.

Two clicks, and you’ll never have to hear from John Q. Spammer again.

The “Nuke” button will appear right next to the “+1″ button under the comments, as seen below:

Now there’s an extension for your Chrome browser that will notify you when you visit a website of any company or organization that is known to support SOPA.

It’s called No SOPA and was created by Andy Baird (@ajbaird) and Tony Webster (@webster).

“Boycott? Nasty letter time? You decide,” they say.

Users have reported that some sites have not prompted the big red bar that denotes the site as a SOPA-supporting property. The creators say that they will attempt to improve the list as they go. Applicable domains are “checked against a local list – the extension does not communicate with any external hosts.”

Here’s the extension in action:

And again:

While being notified when you are frequenting the property of someone who wants to kills the internet is important, will it work? Would you immediately stop browsing a site if you saw that little red bar? I would assume that anyone who would install the extension would steer clear of any site baring the warning label.

If only we could make the extension mandatory…

If you want to read more on SOPA, check here.

[Via Reddit]

Here’s the list of apps in the order Google named them: Opinion Cloud, Google Voice, AutoPager, Turn Off the Lights, Google Dictionary, After the Deadline, Invisible Hand, Secbrowsing, Tineye, Slideshow, Google Docs/PDF Viewer, Readability, Chromed Bird, Feedsquares, ScribeFire, Note Anywhere, Instant Messaging Notifier, Remember the Milk, and Extension.fm.

Together, those options cover all sorts of contingencies.  Not that other apps might not fulfill the same functions for Firefox users, of course, but Google’s list makes these apps easy to find, and the Chrome team’s official endorsement counts for a lot with regards to quality.  It’s possible Chrome will see an uptick in use as a result.

Certain developers should definitely see the installation rates of their apps increase, too, making this move a nice and unselfish gesture on Google’s part.

Jonathan Rosenberg, a senior vice president product management, concluded on the Official Google Blog, "We’re proud of the Chrome browser and the great extensions that its developer community has created, and we hope you enjoy them!"

Interestingly, this initial version is still a little rough around the edges in terms of functionality.  Also, there are just 18 extensions listed at the moment, and Google’s suggested design tweaks are on the way.  We’ll let you decide whether the company’s gotten ahead of itself or made a smart move by involving developers and users as soon as possible.

As for what’s available, the extensions represent an interesting mix of useful and fun/frivolous stuff.  One’s called Wave Sudoku, while others function as poll gadgets, phone and video chat aids, and a weather forecast provider.

Anyway, Dan Peterson, Google Wave’s Product Manager, explained on the Google Wave Developer Blog, "The gallery is simply a set of waves containing extension installers (the puzzle pieces).  The first wave, ‘Read me first‘ contains an introduction to extensions and how to use them.  In many cases, those particular waves won’t maintain their read/unread status in Google Wave preview; we’re working on this."

It should be interesting to see how long Google takes to make its tweaks, and how quickly the extensions gallery is populated.

Considering that Chrome was introduced in September of 2008, this development was a long time coming.  Google likely hurt the adoption rate of Chrome by ignoring a market segment that’s known for preferring unusual tech and trying stuff out early in its lifecycle.

Still, so long as Mac users don’t bear too much of a grudge, this will probably just fall into the "better late than never" category.  Also, as we noted while speculating about the beta release in November, the catch-up process may proceed quickly from now on; since it took Google about three months to remove the beta tag from the first version of Chrome, a finalized Chrome for Mac could become available by the end of February.

In other Chrome news, a Chrome for Linux beta has been released, and extensions finally debuted (also in beta).  A post on the Official Google Blog explained, "If you’re on a PC or a Linux machine, you can check out more than 300 extensions in the gallery, including a few cool, useful and cute extensions."

 All in all, this looks to be a pretty big day for Google’s Web browser.

Related Articles:

> Google Finally Shows Off Chrome OS

> Link Signaling Google Chrome Extensions Surfaces

> Google Chrome For Mac May Hit Beta In December

 

The Google I/O Developer conference will be held on May 27th and 28th, and when Nicholas Moline looked at a list of sessions, something stood out: "Developing extensions for Google Chrome."

A description of the session then reads, "Learn how Google Chrome makes it easy to write extensions using the web technologies you already know.  This talk will cover the basics of the extension system (distribution/packaging, installation, updates), as well as the different APIs to enhance with the browser."

So unless Google’s holding the session as a sort of FYI tease, it stands to reason that developers will be able to create official Chrome extensions sometime soon.  Once they’re available, Chrome’s market share will probably jump.  And Google’s presumably happy enough about that prospect to not worry about ad-blocking hijinks.

Other conference sessions will focus on Android, geo APIS, and OpenSocial.

The screenshot above does not do justice to the visual experience. PicLens is hands down the best I have ever seen photos look online.

PicLens is an add on for Firefox users. You can go get it here. When you add PicLens to your Firefox experience, photos on many internet sites (including Flickr and Zooomr) have a little play type triangular icon over them. When you click on this icon it transforms your viewing experience and takes photos to a brand new level. Only photos are loaded on the screen and you can move your mouse to scroll through the photos or enlarge or shrink photos in your viewing experience.

With PicLens photos float through your browser like beauty flowing from a waterfall. The motion effects are outstanding. Best of all though, PicLens allows you to see photos in the true splendor that they are best seen in. Large. One of the problems with viewing many photos large on the internet is that you have to click and wait for a new page to load. This gets boring and tiresome. Not with PicLens though. Simply move your mouse scroll button up or down and photos get larger and smaller.

As amazing as PicLens is for browsing photos on the web I do wish that they improve one thing.

Right now interacting with photos on PicLens is very difficult. While you can click through to any photo to fave/comment/bookmark/etc., when you do this PicLens ends abruptly. After you interact with the photo there is no easy way to get back to the PicLens page where you were browsing before you clicked out of your PicLens experience.

What would most easily fix this would be if PicLens allowed you to ctl-click (on a PC) or cmd-click (on a Mac) and have that photo’s page load in Firefox in the background. This way you could browse someone’s entire stream, favorites, etc. in PicLens, all the while cmd-clicking (in my case) as you go to go back and interact with the photos that you liked best once you were done.

Alternatively, TranceMist suggests that people simply could be allowed to fave/comment on a photo from within PicLens.

Looking at photos on PicLens is like seeing them in a fine art gallery or museum. Photos take on a whole new beauty. But more interactive features are still needed.

More on PicLens from Read/Write Web and Webware.

Comments

Well, not all that new: I guess it’s been a while since I looked in here because Blogger Web Comments is a year old, but I never noticed it before.

Here’s the basic idea: you download and install the extension, restart Firefox, and now there’s a new icon down in the bottom right corner of your browser. Or, if you happen to be on a page that already has Google Comments, they show up:

If you want to add comments, you need a Blogger account: your comments are really posts to your Blogger account. So far, so good: no anonymity: you know who made the comment, and the requirement for a Blogger account might cut down on spam.. or will it?

I’m ambivalent here. So far, I don’t see a lot of pages with these comments added, and I haven’t noticed any junk yet. And of course if there were junk, it isn’t part of the original page, so the only people who would see it would be those who have opted in. I think this could be a nice way of connecting related posts across blogs, but I do wonder if abuse will creep in over time, and if it does, what (if anything) Google might do to help control it.

By the way, I had trouble signing up to Blogger.. that part was easy, but then signing in through the Blogger Comment extension wasn’t working. For some reason it is using a different login name than any of my other Google services – perhaps I once set up a Blogger account under that name and then forgot about it. I had to use the “recover login name from email” and then change my password to get this working. But then it broke again.. apparently it is related to converting old Blogger accounts.. so I can’t actually use this at the present time except to view.

Comments

*Originally published at APLawrence.com

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A.P. Lawrence provides SCO Unix and Linux consulting services http://www.pcunix.com