When I first installed the Rock Your Firefox app, I wasn't too sure what it was for. But I soon discovered its main purpose is to be a community list of Firefox add-ons, where you can share your favorite add-ons with other Facebook users. Likewise you can see which Firefox add-ons your friends are using. A social network for Firefox add-on users, basically.

A commenter on the Rock Your Firefox homepage asked how this is different from browsing the Mozilla Add-ons site. Paul Kim, marketing director at Mozilla, replied that the main difference is that the Facebook app enables you to "find recommended add-ons from your friends on Facebook who use Firefox, and in turn letting your FB friends know the add-ons you think are useful."

This has its uses, because I have to admit that I'm curious what add-ons my friends use. For example I was able to click on Jay Meattle's FB profile and see that he is using the following two Firefox add-ons:

The main problem with this app? It doesn't display your existing add-ons. It only shows add-ons you add using Rock Your Firefox. There needs to be an automatic way for the app to detect existing add-ons and add them to your profile.

Also, it must be asked: why did Mozilla decide to create this social network on Facebook and not add their own social network functionality onto the Firefox Add-ons website? The 34 Million Facebook users was certainly a factor. And in a way it demonstrates how Facebook is becoming like a 'social network add-on' for other web apps and platforms. Why re-invent the social networking wheel when you can plug into Facebook?

If you don't have Firefox Sync already installed, the first thing that Firefox Home does is to send you a quick email with the four simple steps to get going.

Mozilla's mobile version of Firefox, called Fennec, came to Android last April but there's still no word on its landing on Apple's mobile devices.

Let's be honest, though. Everyone wishes for their favorite browser, whether Firefox or Chrome or Opera, to make it on to their mobile platform, but does it every really replicate the desktop experience and fulfill their desires? We like Firefox on the desktop for its extensibility, but this isn't the sort of functionality we're likely to see, were we ever to get Firefox on the iPhone. And as we saw with Opera for the iPhone, the simple fact that it couldn't be made to act as the default browser put it on a second tier status from the get go.

So, for now, we say stop lamenting the fact that this isn't a fully functional Firefox browser and enjoy the ability to quickly access everything you've done at home while you're on the go.

Firefox 3.6, codename "Namoroka", looks to improve startup time and general responsiveness, among other issues.

"Should everything run smoothly during testing this is what will be released to our users as the official version after a beta period," reads the description on Mozilla's development wiki.

Downloads are available for Windows, Mac and Linux from Mozilla's FTP site.

According to Mozilla's Justin Scott, 861 add-ons make up 95% of the total usage, while the other 5% are distributed among close to 5000 add-ons. 94% of the top add-ons are currently compatible with Firefox 3.0.

According to Mozilla's compatibility dashboard, as of today, only about 28% of the top 861 extensions are compatible with the latest builds of Firefox 3.1.

Getting to 95%

Currently, Mozilla's evangelism team is trying to reach out to all Firefox developers to make sure that everybody is ready by the time Firefox 3.1 is released. The release date for Firefox 3.1 is currently a moving target, but the second beta version should be available to the public by the end of this month, which might be followed by a third beta before the final version is released.

Some extensions, of course, are abandoned by their developers over time, so it might not be possible for Mozilla to get to the 95% mark for Firefox 3.1, but given the importance of Firefox and the extension ecosystem around it, it is good to see them reach out to developers proactively. For developers, getting ready for 3.1 should also be a priority, as Firefox users tend to update their browser very quickly after a new version is released.

For more information about the transition to Firefox 3.1 for extension developers, have a look at Mozilla's 'Add-on Compatability Center,' which will soon also feature additional tools for developers.

The moment has arrived, Mozilla has pushed the go-live button on Firefox 2. The new final 2.0 version of the browser is now available for everyone to download.

Read/WriteWeb has been actively covering the launch, most recently with a pre-launch interview with Chris Beard - Mozilla Vice President of Products. We've also reviewed the product and have additional notes on how Mozilla plans to market Firefox 2. Digg and Slashdot have additional commentary.

For a look at the competition, you may also want to check out our comparative review of Internet Explorer 7.

And the R/WW coverage doesn't stop there! We have a couple of other in-depth articles coming soon, one about Firefox add-ons and a special one on a yet-to-be-disclosed topic ;-)

For those of you hoping for a mobile version of Firefox on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, we say don't hold your breath, but this app will help you bring much of what you do on your home computer on the go.

The latest version of the app brings "worldwide" support with 15 languages, the ability to search for URLs that you can't find in your bookmarks or history, and custom server support for those who want to setup Firefox Home to connect with their own custom Firefox Sync servers. We're guessing that this feature is best for those of you who don't trust the cloud for storage of your browsing activities.

While we like Firefox Home for what it is, for those of you who need to use different browsers for different things, we strongly suggest giving Xmarks a shot. Xmarks not only offers similar synching capabilities, but it works on multiple browsers and devices. While it doesn't have an iPhone app, the mobile website works quite well. If you're a diehard Firefox user with an iPhone, however, Firefox Home surely seems like a can't-miss.

Mozilla offers a video walk-through of the newest features on its blog.

If you're a Firefox user and an Android owner, then the browser's worth downloading as it brings the Firefox sync, giving you access to your bookmarks, open tabs, form data, and passwords across computers. Firefox 4 also has a nice feature that hides the browser controls when they're not in use, something that can take up the precious real estate on the smaller phone screen.

The app is available now via the Android Market. It's a hefty 14 MB download.

The browser was knocked from its #2 slot behind Internet Explorer, though, at least according to one company's stats. The culprit? Google's Chrome, a browser half Firefox's age.

According to a blog post announcing the beta release, Mozilla says it has made two big changes from the alpha version, namely with Electrolysis and Layers. The former splits the browser into two processes: one for the user interface and one to render the web content. The Layers architecture helps in performance and in graphic areas such as scrolling, zooming, and animations.

And while these features will give the browser much appeal, Firefox 4 will also have to shine in terms of speed and performance for folks to make it their designated mobile browser.

The decision puts IBM's nearly 400,000 employees solidly in Mozilla's court, adding yet another vote of confidence for the worlds number two browser.

Sutor reasoned that the switchover to Firefox was supported by five basic facts:

Firefox is stunningly standards compliant, and interoperability via open standards is key to IBM's strategy. Firefox is open source and its development schedule is managed by a development community not beholden to one commercial entity. Firefox is secure and an international community of experts continues to develop and maintain it. Firefox is extensible and can be customized for particular applications and organizations, like IBM. Firefox is innovative and has forced the hand of browsers that came before and after it to add and improve speed and function.

Beyond IBM's workforce, the 99-year-old tech company will "strongly encourage our vendors who have browser-based software to fully support Firefox" as well as install it as default on all new computers. Sutor also cites the shift to cloud computing as a large reason for IBM's move to Firefox, saying that "open standards must be used in the infrastructure" and that Firefox will help with this.

(click image for full screenshot)

While Google has advertised Firefox on its homepage before, it was a co-promotion of Firefox with the Google Toolbar. This current advertisement is for Firefox alone. But what does "Optimized for Google" mean??! The Firefox 2.0 browser already comes with Google as its default search, but this advertisement implies there are more default Google services integrated into Firefox. Is it just Google Toolbar, or does it include other things?

Update 2: Some interesting reactions already in the comments. Emre Sokullu says this validates R/WW's previous GoogleOS coverage - i.e. Google is taking steps against the upcoming Vista rollout, by promoting Firefox. Also John Milan notes:

"I can't imagine how its any different than Netscape of old. They started with great internet mindshare, but never could overcome Microsoft's OS advantage."

Finally, as Emre also pointed out, it's noteworthy that Google never puts advertisements on its homepage. Leaving aside the close relationship between the two organizations, this definitely counts as an advertisement...

A number of analysts expect Firefox to capture a 20% market share this month and if the downloads for Firefox 3 are any indication, Mozilla might indeed be getting close to this. Here on ReadWriteWeb, more than 50% of our readers already use Firefox.

While quite a few extensions didn't yet work with Firefox 3 when it was released, most developers have made their plugins compatible with Firefox by now.

Microsoft is expected to release the next beta of its Internet Explorer by August 2008, though the time for the final release isn't quite clear yet. Last month, Opera also upgraded its browser to version 9.5, which garnered a number of favorable reviews.

While IE still dominates the browser market - with 55% of people using some version - all combined versions of Firefox occupy 32% and have been steadily gaining ground. Released at the end of June, version 3.5 of Firefox has quickly climbed the charts. IE 8, on the other hand - which was first released in beta more than a year earlier, with a full release in March 2009 - now holds a similar 20% of the market to that of Firefox 3.5's 22%.

It would seem that a majority of Firefox 3.5 users were already using 3.0 and upgraded, as the 20% drop in 3.0 use almost directly correlates to the 22% increase in 3.5.

Do we all have our personal blind spots when it comes to security?

More Noise to Signal

My first impression of Firefox 3 Beta was, "This doesn't seem very different." After playing with a while, though, I started to notice a few changes -- mainly for the better. First on that list, Firefox 3 is fast. The release notes cite "major architectural changes" that have increased speed, and promise things will only get faster with each beta.

Pages definitely loaded much faster in 3.01b than they do in the current non-beta release of Firefox (2.0.0.9), to the point where I was actually surprised when some often slow-loading pages jumped right up. For me, the improved speed is probably the most noticeable change while using Firefox 3 for regular web browsing, and is certainly a welcome one. Other changes that caught my eye include the rewritten download manager that lets you resume downloads (hooray!), integration with anti-virus software and built in malware detection, the ability to save tabs when restarting the browser (no need to force quit to do that anymore), single click bookmarking, and a simplified password manager.

In the end, I've switched back to Firefox 2.0.0.9 because none of the plugins I use on a regular basis work yet in Firefox 3. Eventually, though, the faster page loading and file download resuming will make the switch worthwhile. Here's hoping they fix those memory issues while they're at it. There is much more on Firefox 3 Beta on Techmeme.