ReadWriteWeb

Firefox 4 is gaining in the global browser wars. It has eclipsed version 3.6 for the first time and now is the third most-used browser in the world, behind Internet Explorer 8 and Google Chrome 11, according to StatCounter Global.

If you put add all versions of all the browsers together, IE is still the global leader with 43.9%, of which 4.6% is IE 9. Firefox is second with 29.3%. Chrome has experienced the most growth, going from 8.6% in 2010 to 19.4% in 2011. Yet, given the different stats you see from different sources, the precise numbers in the browser market are hard to determine. See the charts below.

The latest pre-release of Firefox 6, Aurora 6, brings back support for WebSockets. WebSockets is a protocol for providing two-way communications between the browser and the server. Mozilla dropped support for WebSockets last year due to security issues.

Other notable features in Aurora 6 include the progress element, window.matchMedia API, better APIs for binary data and Server-Sent Events. You can download it here.

This morning, as Firefox 4 was officially released to the world, Mozilla Developer Evangelist Christian Heilmann tweeted "So IE9 was downloaded 2.3m times in a day - let's see if that record gets broken today." As I write this, Firefox 4 has been downloaded over 4.1 million times according to the Firefox Download Stats page. By the time I'm done with this post, I'm sure it will hit 4.2 million.

Does breaking Internet Explorer 9's download record mean a comeback for Firefox? It's still the second most popular browser after IE, and certainly has a better reputation than Microsoft's much-maligned browser. But Firefox has lost market share to WebKit-based browsers like Google Chrome, which have a reputation for being faster and faired better in Acid tests.

What do you think of the latest version of Firefox?

The mobile version of Firefox for Android and Maemo just hit a new milestone: Firefox 4 Beta, an update which delivers speed improvements, better panning and zooming, and faster startup time, says Mozilla. Like previous versions of the browser, it also includes standard Firefox features like support for add-ons, Firefox Sync for syncing bookmarks, tabs and browsing history across devices, and even support for Personas, also known as themes.

Good news for Google Chrome users - the long-anticipated password syncing functionality has just popped up in the Developer version of the Google Chrome Web browser, which means similar support for users of the beta and stable versions of Chrome is likely to be just around the corner.

We were able to test the new syncing functionality this morning between multiple computers and encountered no errors or obstacles. Password syncing appears to be a go!

Opera Software has released its State of the Mobile Web report for November 2010 today, but has also taken the opportunity to look back at the preceding months to summarize trends and statistics related to global mobile Web usage for 2010. The findings? Mobile Web surfing is way, way up.

Opera served 340 billion pages during the first 11 months of the year compared with only 129 billion pages during the same period in 2009. There are now 80 million users on the mobile Web using Opera's Mini browser - a 91.8% increase from last year. And Facebook and Google are still top Web destinations, but the two have swapped the number 1 and 2 slots as 2010 draws to a close.

Consumers under 35 - that is, those in Generations X and Y, the latter also referred to as "millennials" - tend to prefer using mobile applications over Web browsers on smartphones, as compared with older mobile users, a new study shows. Data collected by market research and consulting firm Parks Associates, found that this young demographic is starting to ditch the Web browser in favor of apps, and are especially put off by mobile websites not designed for the small screen.

The beta version of the Opera 11 browser just launched this morning with a notable new feature: tab stacking. Traditionally, tabs were opened side-by-side, says the company, now Opera users can stack tabs on top of each other instead.

The result isn't as messy as it may sound - in fact, it could become a must-have for tabaholics who typically keep a dozen or more tabs open at any time. But is it useful enough to get you to switch?

Social web browser RockMelt launched this weekend to a huge press splash, 15 months after ReadWriteWeb first reported that it existed and was funded by Netscape co-founder Marc Andreesen. Reactions among early users have been mixed - and so is our review. I've been using it as my default browser all week.

I want RockMelt to work - I really like the idea. Right now it has too many performance issues, but if those can be resolved - it could be a good browser to use. I won't recommend that most readers use it yet, but I think I will continue to do so myself. Here's the best and worst, after 3 days of RockMelt.

Browser maker Opera announced two major updates today: its upcoming desktop browser will finally include extensions, the add-ons that let users customize their browser with additional features, and a version of Opera will be designed just for Android handsets.