ReadWriteWeb

TestSwarm is a new Mozilla Labs project that aims to give developers an easy way to quickly test their JavaScript code on multiple browser versions. According to John Resig, who originally initiated this project as a tool to support the jQuery team, today's methods of cross-browser JavaScript testing simply don't scale. As a solution, he proposed to crowdsource these tests and farm them out to the browsers that people are already running on their computers. If you want to contribute to the project as a tester, simply head over to TestSwarm.com and the site will tell you if your browser is currently needed.

The Opera Mini application is now considered not only the world's most popular mobile browser, but also the world's most downloaded app. According to independent applications marketplace GetJar, the browser has been downloaded more than 25 million times from its store. "The fact that Opera Mini is the most downloaded app on an open app store like GetJar makes us proud," said Opera's Chief Strategy Officer Rolf Assev. "It proves that our vision of providing a browser that works on almost all phones will give millions a better way to access the Web."

Google announced bookmark sync to the Chrome browser in a blog post earlier today. Chrome users can sync their bookmarks across various machines and store them alongside Google Docs. While the feature is not a new concept amongst browsers, the significance is that yet another player is storing your data in the cloud with the ability to distribute it across networks. As predicted by ReadWriteWeb and Forrester's Jeremiah Owyang, it appears that your social data is converging with the browser with potentially huge implications for data portability.

Bespin is an online code editor from Mozilla Labs. When Bespin was first announced, one of the high-level goals of the projects was to enable real-time collaboration. Now, in version 0.4, the team has made good on this promise and released a beta version of its new collaboration tools. Some graphical elements are still missing, but with the help of a few text commands, users can already follow other users, organize users into groups, and share projects with others.

If you want to help Mozilla to make Firefox better but you are not a developer, here is you chance. Mozilla just announced the launch of Test Pilot, the organization's new distributed usability lab. Test pilots will be enlisted in various usability tests and will be some of the first to see some of Mozilla's ideas for new user interfaces and Mozilla Labs products. We first wrote about Test Pilot when it was just a "still-in concept platform." Now, however, you can download the Test Pilot add-on for Firefox 3.5 here and begin to help Mozilla make Firefox even better.

According to the Mozilla Team and the Firefox Twitter account, the spunky orange browser will reach 1 billion downloads at approximately 3:45 a.m. PT tomorrow morning.
Because Microsoft's Internet Explorer is currently shipped on most Windows machines, IE still maintains its lead as supreme ruler in web browser land. But the very fact that Firefox requires users to recognize the existence of an alternative browser and actively install it, means that 1 billion downloads and 31% market share is a monumental feat.

Today the Mozilla Corporation announced the pilot release of a new program they're calling "Contributions." The program will allow the developers of Firefox extensions, aka "add-ons," to solicit a dollar amount of their choosing for their work. For end users, the choice about whether or not to donate will be completely optional, so it's not like the Add-on site will become a marketplace where extensions are offered for sale. For developers, the financial support provided by the program will help them continue their efforts in delivering quality work. Hopefully, it will lead to fewer abandoned extensions, too - a problem that has plagued Firefox users for quite some time.

The Electronic Frontiers Foundation is calling for nominations for their EFF 2009 Pioneer Awards. Nominees are celebrated for their technical, social, economic, or cultural contribution to the "health, growth, accessibility, or freedom of computer-based communications." Past recipients of the award have included World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, Linux creator Linus Torvalds and Mozilla Foundation Chairman Mitchell Baker.

Tabs, tabs and more tabs, crawling all over your browser; impossible to sort, eating up system memory - what part of using a browser is more maddening than tab overload? Mozilla is trying to solve that problem with a big design challenge. One hundred and twenty eight teams entered the Mozilla Labs Design Challenge Summer '09, five winners were announced today, and I'm not sure anyone's really nailed it yet. But the attempts are quite interesting.

"Most Innovative" was won by a University of Michigan team that designed a pretty awesome radial display for tabs spawned by tabs. It doesn't work very well yet and it's not clear that it really solves the problem at hand, but some of the other winners are worth a look too. There's even a 3D/Augmented Reality entry! What do you think, do any of these look like they could fix your tab troubles?

We already know that Mozilla has fostered an impressive ecosystem around Firefox and its other products, but today, Mozilla Labs also launched a new directory full of interesting web apps and tools for developers. As Mozilla points out in the launch announcement, there is currently no central index of these tools, and Mozilla would like to fill this gap with the Open Web Tools Directory.

One interesting aspect of the directory is that Mozilla decided to eschew a standard, table-based layout for the directory in favor of an HTML 5 canvas based design that focuses on the products' logos. Because of this, the directory will only work on modern browsers like Safari, Chrome, Opera, and Firefox, but Internet Explorer users will be locked out.

People on the internet aren't always very nice. While some adults may be tough enough to wade into the snark-infested waters of YouTube comments and other particularly nasty online fora - many children could use a helping hand coping with it all psychologically.

Enter Firefox for CyberMentors. It's a new custom browser made in partnership with the popular anti-cyberbullying organization Cybermentors.org.uk. It's a good looking option for parents.

Last week, Google announced a change in how software can run on Android, the company's mobile operating system which powers such devices as T-Mobile's G1 and the upcoming MyTouch 3G. Instead of just allowing Java applications that run on Google's Dalvik virtual machine, Android will now allow software that runs natively in on the Linux operating system itself. This will be made possible through a new toolset for developers, the Android Native Development Kit. The change may allow Mozilla to bring their young mobile browser, Fennec (aka "Firefox Mobile") to the Android platform.

Ubiquity, the experimental Firefox add-on that lets you tell your browser what to do by typing in natural language commands, has just been updated to version 0.5. This preview release adds support for more languages, which is great news for non-English speakers dying to get their hands on this cutting-edge technology. What's more fascinating about this update, however, is the new way that Ubiquity works to understand your input. Instead of being limited only to what it already knows, it can now reach out and query web services to help it figure out what your input means.

Did our browser just get smarter?

This September, Mozilla is challenging users to earn their Internet merit badges by donating their time and talents to public benefit institutions, non-profits, and those in need.

According to an email we received from Mozilla, "Everyone should have the opportunity to know how to use the Internet, have easy access to it, and have a good experience when they're online. This new initiative is looking for people with a talent for writing, designing, programming, developing, or all-around technical know-how. Internet skills, no matter how novice or advanced, can change people's lives and make the Web better for everyone." Mozilla Service Week will take place from September 14-21, 2009.

Recently, Firefox released an update to their Personas experiment, an add-on designed to simplify the process of skinning and theming your Firefox web browser. It's been downloaded 2.5 million times, to date, and currently exceeds 1 million active daily users. The latest version of this add-on finally introduced some fresh themes to the mix, welcoming over 3000 new designers and 5000 new designs. If you haven't heard of Personas before or have ignored them in the past, we think it's time you checked them out.

Mozilla today released the latest beta version of Firefox 3.5, which was formerly known as Firefox 3.1. Beta 4 is now available in over 70 different languages, and, compared to the stable version, features improved privacy controls, and support for HTML5 and elements. Since the release of the last beta version, Mozilla has also tweaked its TraceMonkey JavaScript engine, which now runs a bit faster, and the Firefox team has added geolocation features that allow web apps to customize your browsing experience or search results depending on your location.

In my recent visit to Silicon Valley, I got the chance to visit the Mozilla headquarters. Among others at the organization, I spoke to Chris Beard - Mozilla's Chief Innovation Officer and the person overseeing its efforts to bring new concepts to the browser, a.k.a. Mozilla Labs. We discussed where Firefox is heading and how it compares to Google Chrome in particular. We also talked about Mozilla's new mobile browser Fennec, the add-on platform, and how recent innovations by Mozilla - such as Weave and Ubiquity - fit into the big picture. In this post we'll focus on the near future of Firefox.

Mozilla Labs has announced its latest "Labs Design Challenge" today. The task is to create a better upload widget than what's currently in use. The Labs team realized that uploading files from a web page is serviceable at best, so they want something better to replace it. This challenge comes on the heels of the very first (and more wide-ranging) design challenge that closed at the beginning of the month.

You open a fresh new tab on your browser and what do you see? If a blank white screen feels like infinite potential to you, you're not alone. Mozilla feels the same way and is working on figuring out what to put in that space.

Mozilla Labs posted a new proposal today to put frequently visited page thumbnails in the very corner of new tabs and to perform contextual actions automatically, based on what you were doing on your last tab. For example, if you've highlighted a street address on one tab, Firefox might open a map of that address automatically in a new tab.

The Cloud. We save our data to it, create documents in it, collaborate in it. But coding in the cloud? That has remained a decidedly desktop-centric pursuit. Now, even that may be changing thanks to Bespin, a new prototype from Mozilla Labs. Flaunting thoughtful functionality and bearing an appropriately geeky name (a nod to the home of the Lando Calrissian managed mining colony), Bespin aims to become your dream HTML editor - from within the cloud.