Boot to Gecko renamed Firefox OS, first handsets arriving in 2013

Mozilla is moving ahead with its mobile ambitions, announcing today that it is renaming Boot to Gecko as Firefox OS, while touting support from major carriers worldwide as well as a couple of device manufacturers.

Mozilla’s mobile operating system is entirely open source and its interface is built with HTML5 and CSS web standards, making it extremely customizable. It was recently shown off with a proof of concept interface running on a Samsung Galaxy S II, with Mozilla highlighting its responsiveness to touch input, a 3D graphics demo, a full SMS client and on-screen keyboard, and a store for various web apps.

The first Firefox OS-powered devices will run a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and are expected to launch in Brazil in early 2013 through Telefonica’s Vivo brand of entry level handsets. TCL Communication Technology and ZTE were revealed as the first manufacturing partners, with operators like Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia, and Telenor all committed to offering Firefox OS devices.

Mozilla is hoping to change how developers today must re-write their apps to run on the various closed mobile-phone platforms available, with apps that can run in a browser but still look and feel like a native app with access to underlying phone capabilities like calling, messaging and games

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Firefox – How to retrieve and decrypt stored passwords

Firefox is one of the most popular browsers of the world. We all are Firefox lovers. Firefox has grown so popular thanks to its various addons and extensions which make Firefox really easily customizable to suit our needs. So, we will now discuss how to retrieve and decrypt stored password using another computer.

Things which are necessary for this hack to be successfull:
1. Physical access to victim machine
2. Victim’s passwords saved in victim’s Firefox.

Usually, whenever passwords are stored in Firefox, they can be easily seen by going to Tools -> Options ->Security and hitting on Saved Passwords.

But, if the victim if shrewd enough to use Master Password, on hitting Saved Passwords, you are prompted to enter Master Password. Master Password thus protects victim’s password from being seen by any stranger and you are unable to hack his Email passwords which are stored in Firefox browser.

This article shows you how to bypass Master Password of victim Firefox. So, follow the steps below to hack his Email account password, even if Master Password is in role.

Steps to retrieve and decrypt stored passwords:

Let us assume that victim uses Vista Operating system and you(hacker) are using Windows XP.

1. On victim computer, go to:
For Windows Vista:
C:\Users\RAJ\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\iosjcyzp.default
For Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\tez96yyu.default

Replace RAJ and Administrator with your victim’s computer username.
and copy “signons.sqlite” file to your pen drive or any removable drive.

Note: If you are unable to find “signons.sqlite”, simply go to C drive and search for “signons.sqlite”. You will get it for sure.

2. Now, come back to your computer and paste this “signons.sqlite” in your Firefox by using the path in Step 1.

3. After you’ve pasted “signons.sqlite” file in your firefox, open Firefox browser.

4. Go to Tools -> Options -> Security tab. Hit on “Show password” and this time, you will be able to see victim mail accounts in popup box. Hit on “Show password” again and you will be able to see his hacked email account passwords. Now, you don’t have to enter any Master password.

What is Logic behind this Firefox hack???

Firefox stores all the remembered passwords in two files:
1. Signons.sqlite and
2. Key3

Signons.sqlite is used to store all online username and passwords in encrypted form while Key3 file stores information about Master Password. So, in this hack, we are stealing victim’s Signons.sqlite file (and not Key3) and opening it in our Firefox. Naturally, our Firefox shows victim’s password and thus, we are able to hack email acccount passwords.

Really, this is one of the most vulnerable aspects of Firefox. Infact, Firefox stealers use this same logic for stealing Firefox saved passwords and thus to hack email accounts of victim. I have tried my best to keep this tutorial simple. If you have any problem in this Firefox hack to hack Email accounts of the victim, please mention it in comments.

Mozilla Marketplace is now open for business

Mozilla has become the next in line to try their hand at the digital download storefront game by launching the Mozilla Marketplace. Much like Google’s Chrome Web Store, Mozilla users will be able to download web apps and games albeit in a limited capacity for now as the service is still in an experimental stage.

The layout and navigation of Mozilla’s store is similar to the App Store or Google Play but that’s where the similarities end. As Bit-Tech points out, the functionality behind the Marketplace goes a step further than simple browser apps. Programs that are downloaded from Mozilla’s store are treated as actual desktop apps, meaning they are available independent of the browser. Windows users can access them from the Start Menu and even uninstall app traditionally through the Control Panel.

Since this is an early release, anyone wanting to try the Mozilla Marketplace will need to download and install the Nightly build of Firefox 16 as functionality for the store isn’t yet available in the public release.

It’s also worth pointing out that there are less than 200 apps currently available in the store, although the majority of them are free. This number will no doubt increase as the Marketplace eventually finds a home in public builds and more developers hop on board.

The good news is that Windows, OS X and Linux are all fully supported in the pre-alpha version. Interested parties can click here to get started.

"Australis" theme for Firefox now available for download

Earlier this year Mozilla outlined plans to unify the look and feel of Firefox across desktop and mobile offerings through a new theme known as Australis. The design aims to bring a fresh and consistent style to the browser while still conforming to the underlying platform and best of all, it’s available right now as a preview build for anyone to try.

The most obvious new feature of Australis is the curved tabs at the top of the browser window. These look very similar to Chrome’s tabs but Australis’ seem a bit more refined. Only the active window is shown as a curved tab – all other tables tend to fade subtly into the title bar.

The new tabs were designed and built by Mozilla developer Jared Wein and Frank Yan over the past few weeks. Wein said in a recent blog post that he feels they are pretty close but would like to see if they can draw the tabs using a method that would lend itself to better platform integration.

Adventurous users are encouraged to download and test the new preview build. Since it’s still in a very early stage, we wouldn’t advise anyone working in production environments or with mission critical systems to participate. As of writing, the Australis build is only available to Windows users.

I’ve been testing the new build as I worked on this story and thus far, I have no complains. The new tab system looks great although I can see where some might complain that inactive tabs could be a bit difficult to read if you have a dark desktop wallpaper.

"Australis" theme for Firefox now available for download

Earlier this year Mozilla outlined plans to unify the look and feel of Firefox across desktop and mobile offerings through a new theme known as Australis. The design aims to bring a fresh and consistent style to the browser while still conforming to the underlying platform and best of all, it’s available right now as a preview build for anyone to try.

The most obvious new feature of Australis is the curved tabs at the top of the browser window. These look very similar to Chrome’s tabs but Australis’ seem a bit more refined. Only the active window is shown as a curved tab – all other tables tend to fade subtly into the title bar.

The new tabs were designed and built by Mozilla developer Jared Wein and Frank Yan over the past few weeks. Wein said in a recent blog post that he feels they are pretty close but would like to see if they can draw the tabs using a method that would lend itself to better platform integration.

Adventurous users are encouraged to download and test the new preview build. Since it’s still in a very early stage, we wouldn’t advise anyone working in production environments or with mission critical systems to participate. As of writing, the Australis build is only available to Windows users.

I’ve been testing the new build as I worked on this story and thus far, I have no complains. The new tab system looks great although I can see where some might complain that inactive tabs could be a bit difficult to read if you have a dark desktop wallpaper.

Two Firefox add-ons already bypass SOPA's domain censorship

As resistance grows against the Stop Online Piracy Act, some activists are getting creative. If passed, the legislation would allow US Internet service providers to block access to offending domain names at the behest of Hollywood -- that's the gist of it, anyway. Two new browser extensions demonstrate how this process can be automatically circumvented, making SOPA-like regulations an exercise in futility.

First up, "DeSopa" allows Firefox users to click a button and resolve a blocked domain through foreign DNS servers, sidestepping domestic restrictions. DeSopa can't currently resolve subdomains and it can only resolve one tab at a time along with other limitations, but developer Tamer Rizk hopes his add-on will prove to Congress that will "help them err on the side of reason and vote SOPA down."

A group known as MAFIAAFire has created a similar extension called "The Pirate Bay Dancing" (aplay on the film Dirty Dancing). The plugin automatically routes your website request through a random proxy, again bypassing your ISP's blockade. An earlier version of this add-on was released in April after the US Department of Justice along with Immigration and Customs seized domain names.

"This is just a start, now that we have opened this can of worms people can expect many add-ons, extensions and plug-ins from us," the group told TorrentFreak at the time. "Our goal is to reverse governments attempts to censor the Internet, and nearly anything the anti-piracy people put up to protect their dinosaur business models." "We really are tired of the corruption...Enough is enough."

It seems that passion still burns strong. "DNS and IP blocking is probably the most dangerous part of SOPA/PIPA in terms of 'breaking the Internet,' so we tackled that first. We will be going after the other parts of SOPA in later releases but probably not in 'our usual plugin form' -- the other parts require different solutions that we have already started work on," MAFIAAFire said late last month.

The group described Internet censorship as an overwhelming game of whack-a-mole, and that's proven accurate thus far. SOPA has been outwitted on many levels before even becoming law. More than being a technological proof of concept, the add-ons have given "good guys" an opportunity to flex a little muscle. The US demanded that Mozilla remove the MAFIAAFire add-on in May. It refused.

After two days of heated debates, the House Judiciary Committee adjourned its markup session on SOPA until after Congress' winter recess (despite attempts by committee chairman Lamar Smith toreconvene this week). When discussions resume 2012, Congress is expected to enlist the aid of some experts, as few members have a firm understanding of the technology they're trying to regulate.

Firefox 9 released, touts 20-30% more JavaScript performance

The latest stable build of Firefox -- version 9, for those not up to speed with Mozilla's rapid-fire release schedule -- is readily awaiting your download (Windows | Mac | Linux). The update comes just over a month after the release of Firefox 8 and the first beta of Firefox 9. Despite the relatively brief development cycle, Mozilla has crammed plenty of changes into December's revision.

The largest change appears to be the addition of Type Interface, which reportedly improves JavaScript performance by 20-30%. It remains to be seen how that translates to real world performance, but every millisecond counts. ExtremeTech tested a pre-release build of Firefox 9 this summer and recorded notable gains in Kraken, V8, Fishbowl and other benches with Type Interface enabled.

Folks updating from Firefox 8 can also expect support for querying Do Not Track status via JavaScript, font-stretch (a CSS property), better text-overflow support as well as improved theme integration for OS X Lion. Apple's operating system also receives two-finger swipe navigation, though we're not entirely sure what this entails. Firefox 9 also touts improved support for HTML5, MathML and CSS, as well as the obligatory bug fixes, which are too numerous to list here.

Given Mozilla's hasty development cycle, Firefox 10 and 11 are already available in alpha forms and we wouldn't be surprised if the former reached beta before the end of 2011. We don't see anything particularly exciting about the next stable build, but it should fix an annoying bug that causes the back and forward buttons to stop working when visiting Google+. WebGL gains anti-aliasing and the forward button will be hidden until you navigate back. More details here.

Mozilla renews Google agreement for default search in Firefox

Mozilla has just announced it is renewing its search partnership with Google for another three years, putting to rest concerns that the non-profit organization could lose its primary source of revenue.

Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed beyond Mozilla's comments that it will be significant and mutually beneficial for both parties. In 2010, Google contributed 84% of Mozilla's $123 million total revenue.

The previously standing three-year arrangement had expired at the end of November. Mozilla said at the time that it was in "active negotiations" with Google, but with Chrome steadily growing its market share many believed Google could use that as leverage to cut down on a competitor or just let them go.

Coincidentally, Firefox began offering a "Firefox with Bing" at the end of October, adding more weight to the idea that Firefox might stike a deal with Microsoft instead. Mozilla is safe for the next few years, but the company would do well to try and diversify its sources of income to be less dependent on a single company -- which also happens to be one of its strongest rivals.

Just last month, Chrome overtook Firefox in global usage for the first time, according to StatCounter. Chrome has also surpassed the latest version of Internet Explorer in worldwide market share, though Microsoft still dominates the desktop browser landscape when counting all versions of IE in aggregate.

Firefox is trying to regain some momentum with a rapid release schedule using alpha, beta and stable channels -- a la Chrome. The stable version of Firefox 9 was released yesterday, just six weeks after Firefox 8.

Chrome on track to overtake Firefox by year's end

Google’s Chrome is on track to surpass Mozilla’s Firefox as the second most popular browser globally by the end of the year. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer holds a solid lead among all other competitors, according to data from free website analytics company StatCounter.

StatCounter’s top five browsers in September 2011 show that Internet Explorer holds a 41.7 percent market share while Firefox has 26.8 percent of users and Chrome is just behind at 23.6 percent.

When viewing the same data over the course of the past year, it becomes clear just how rapidly Chrome is closing in on Firefox and how many users are leaving Microsoft’s offering. In October 2010, Chrome only had a 12.4 percent share, Firefox was at 31.2 percent and IE was at 49.2 percent. IE lost 7.5 percentage points in just one year while Chrome added 11.2 percent. If these same trends continue, Chrome should top Firefox before the end of the year.

As noted by Computer World, other stats providers often report quite different findings. For example, Net Applications'August 2011 report indicates that IE holds a 55.3 percent share while Firefox sits at 22.6 percent and Chrome is a bit further back at 15.5 percent.

The reason for the discrepancy between reporting sites has to do with how each company gathers and reports data. Net Applications is said to theoretically paint a more accurate picture because they factor in the Chinese market. As such, companies like Microsoft typically tend to quote Net Applications’ results when citing market share.

Adobe releases Flash-like HTML5 design tool Adobe Edge

Adobe Systems today announced the first public preview release of Adobe Edge, a new HTML5 web motion and interaction design tool available for free on labs.adobe.com for Mac and Windows. Web designers can use the tool to bring animations, similar to those created in Flash Professional, to websites using standards likes HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.

Because HTML5 is a moving standard, Adobe says it is adopting an open development methodology for Adobe Edge. For now, this means the company is releasing the software on the Adobe Labs website sooner than it would during a normal development process in order to allow user feedback to help shape the final product. Adobe Edge is not yet even considered in beta. It is being designed as a fast and lightweight professional-grade tool that complements Adobe's existing Web tools, such as Adobe Dreamweaver CS5.5, Adobe Flash Professional CS5.5, and Adobe Flash Builder 4.5.

The preview enables you to add motion to existing HTML documents without hampering design integrity of CSS-based layouts, and it also allows you to create visually rich content from scratch, using familiar drawing tools that produce HTML elements styled with CSS3. You can import standard Web graphics assets such as SVG, PNG, JPG, and GIF files and style them using CSS3. The design stage utilizes WebKit to enable design, preview, and manipulation of content. The timeline feature lets you define and customize motion applied to HTML elements. Content created with Edge is designed to work on modern browsers including those on Android, BlackBerry Playbook, iOS , HP webOS, and other smartphone mobile devices as well as Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer 9.

"Over the last year Adobe has delivered on several significant HTML5 milestones including contributions to jQuery, submitting code to WebKit, and enhanced HTML5 output in Creative Suite 5.5," Paul Gubbay, vice president of Design and Web Engineering at Adobe, said in a statement. "Now, with Adobe Edge, we're taking our HTML5 tooling to a whole new level and look forward to getting some really useful feedback from the community over the next few months, as we refine the product."

Google Chrome surpasses Firefox, takes #2 spot in the UK

Internet Explorer remains the most popular browser in the United Kingdom with 45% usage, though likeFirefox it's way down from the 55% high it enjoyed just a year ago. Safari is the 4th most used web browser in that country with a 8.5% market share.

The Guardian reports that Chrome is the first product that Google has advertised nationwide on British television.

Exactly a month ago we reported on several metrics for worldwide browser usage where we observed Chrome was still ways off from reaching the second spot with a 13% market share, versus 21% of Firefox, and a very dominant 53% position from Internet Explorer. On the other hand, TechSpot readers who are undoubtedly ahead of the curve predominantly use Firefox and Chrome browsers (61% combined) versus 30% for Internet Explorer users. This in spite of the fact Internet Explorer 9 is not a bad browser, regardless of what others have to say about it.

To share one last interesting figure about browser usage, Firefox controls the browser market in Germany with 6 out of every 10 users running it