Usually tailored by the companies outside of Mozilla, plugins are an useful addition to the Firefox browser. QuickTime Plugin, for example, allows you to view multimedia content right from your Firefox browser; Powered by Adobe, the Shockwave Flash plugin allows you to view flash content on websites.

Similarly, there are plethora of useful third-party plugins available to enhance your browsing experience. However, these Firefox plugins aren’t updated automatically, and there is no easy way to find out from within the browser if the particular plugin has security vulnerabilities that can exploit your privacy.

Use Plugin Check to Update Plugins

Mozilla’s “Plugin Check” is a nifty way to find out the number of plugins linked with your Firefox browser. With the help of this tool, you can check the plugins, update vulnerable plugins and get to know the details of each plugin installed on your Firefox browser.

Visit Plugin Check from your Firefox browser to keep your plugins up-to-date.

You can read the original blog post here Check and Update Vulnerable Plugins of Firefox Browser.

Opera has released the Opera 11.01, the newest version of its popular web browser. This updated version of Opera browser adds stability improvements and closes the critical security holes–especially the vulnerability that was reported in the Opera community last week.

Opera has listed the changelogs included with the Opera 11.01 update, which includes numerous fixes including the fix for mouse gesture sensitivity. The support for the Javascript URLs has been eliminated while the recognition issues and the site specific issues have been taken care of in this update.

As Opera points out, this is a recommended update for every Opera user. All you have to do to download Opera 11.01 is to head over to the official website and download the appropriate version for Mac, Windows or Linux. You can also update Opera from your browser by clicking on Menu –> Help –> Check for Updates.

You can read the original blog post here Download Opera 11.01 Update–Provides Security Fixes And Stability Improvements.

Google is a company that has always been able to impress us. Over the past few years, their Internet Brower – Google Chrome has been able to offer web users a completely fast, unique and special way to take advantage of the digital world.

With a few bugs here and there, it was something that Google said that they can fix in time. That time has come and Google Inc. have released their all new Chrome 8.0 browser which promises to do much more than just help users surf the web.

The all new Google Chrome 8 browser comes bundled with a bunch of features that no other program has been able to match up in terms of speed and compatibility. Sources have revealed that the new browser is said to have complete adaptability with the impending web store launch which has been kept on hold for a long time.

The new Chrome 8 offers a multitude of new apps and program support structures that were missing in its predecessor firmware solutions and now comes with extended support functions. Additionally, the new Chrome 8 browser comes with a built in PDF viewer and a rounded off 800 bug fixes that has made it the fastest browser yet.

For now, there is just a two line official word given out on the stable release of the new Google chrome 8 browser but it certainly is worth downloading.

Click here to download the stable version of Google Chrome 8 For Windows, Mac and Linux.

You can read the original blog post here Download Google Chrome 8 Browser.

The latest pre-release version of the Opera browser, Opera 11 Beta is here. And just like every other version of Opera, this one comes packed with exciting new features.

Although the interface remains pretty much the same, but there are a few new bells and whistles. The two worth mentioning features are: tab stacking and addition of extensions.

One thing that Opera has worked extensively on, that no other browsers have, is in enhancing the tab features. This time, Opera has implemented tab stacking — to organize tabs in a better way. You can drag multiple tabs together and group them alongside each other.

Then we have Opera extensions. These are free add-ons that adds fuel to your Opera 11 engine. As of this writing, there are around 150 extensions available on the Opera website ranging from productivity to social networking tools. Since the Opera 11 alpha release, over 500,000 extensions have been downloaded.

Also, visual mouse gestures, HTML5 support and search prediction are part of the Opera 11 innovative browser.

Download Opera 11 Beta Browser

Opera 11 browser is great. With an easy to use interface, Opera unite and tab stacking – there’s really nothing to complain about. Go ahead and give a shot at Opera 11 browser, the installation is blazing fast, too.

Download Opera 11 beta version by clicking here.

You can read the original blog post here Download Opera 11 Beta Browser.

You may have heard about augmented reality being a key focus area for mobile applications now. In that case you may also know that there are very few tools to help include augmented reality technology in modern apps. And this is exactly where the new Layar Player, which has just been released, can come into play.

The problem is that while content is published on various augmented reality browsers, even individual apps aspire to have the tech on board. Layar is the most popular browser for this tech and the company has developed code which can be use by iPhone developers to embed Layar content in their apps.

What will this result in? Well, all apps will become akin to an augmented reality browser. Though some vendors like Total Immersion offer licensed SDKs that can be used to construct apps with augmented reality from scratch, the Layar solution is much simpler. And more importantly, it is free!

By including the Layar code in existing iPhone apps, developers can easily embed the Layar content. Layar says that it is as easy as embedding YouTube links on a webpage. This is undoubtedly the perfect solution for brands which want augmented reality in their apps, but are not ready to invest in a completely new app for this purpose.

There could be a wide range of applications for embedded Layar content in this manner. You could find store locations on your mobile phone retailer app, with an augmented reality view. However, for more advanced stuff such as barcode scanning on mobile phones, separate SDKs will have to be used.

But for all other looking to try a free and simple augmented reality solution for their apps, this is the real deal. Let’s see which new apps use the Layar code for augmented reality.

You can read the original blog post here The New Layar Browser Player: An Augmented Reality Revolution.

Yahoo! has just unveiled its grand plans for the end of the year as well as looking ahead into 2011. There are some major product feature upgrades in the pipeline and you should know that plans are afoot to bring the ‘lost Yahoo!’ Yahoo has lost a lot of ground to Google, Gmail and Bing in recent times, but the company looks determined to take all challenges head first in the near future.

For starters, the Yahoo Mail has been revamped completely. It is now faster and easier to use. IM has been integrated in mail and there is Twitter and Facebook integration as well.

Search engine has been upgraded too. You will get a variety of search results, which will try to solve your query quicker. For example, searching the name of a movie, will give you options from where you can buy the tickets!

There will also be a dedicated Yahoo Mail app for the Apple iPad, because Yahoo recognizes that the tablet platform needs attention. Even a Starbucks community powered by Yahoo! has been showcased!

2011: Future of Yahoo!

Yahoo has also made it clear that the fact that it does not own an OS will not be an impediment to its growth in the mobile platform. It believes that carriers will actually prefer Yahoo, irrespective of the OS being used on their mobile devices.

Yahoo also stressed on its advantages of Gmail and Hotmail in terms of significantly lower amount of spam. The company has also been focusing on improved data center design and layout, to cut costs.

So, where does this roadmap lead Yahoo to? Though the company declined to share any goals, it has been reported from close sources that Yahoo plans to have 1 billion unique users in the next 3 year period and earn a revenue of 10 billion dollars in the same period of time. Huge!

While these projected numbers are certainly impressive, the question is: are they realistic? Probably not; if recent trends are taken into account. Though Yahoo can get to the number of unique users with strategic acquisitions, the revenue target may be a bridge too far because they are currently at just 6.5 billion.

You can read the original blog post here Yahoo! 2011: New Search Engine, Email Service. Big Announcements, Big Plans!.

After months of speculations and sneak peeks, the latest Internet Explorer 9 has just been launched officially. The first beta of the Microsoft’s IE9 browser can now be downloaded and this is your chance to take a look at the new interface which has had a series of developer previews in the past few weeks.

At first look you should notice the change quite easily. There is now a single bar for entering the URL and managing tabs. Moreover the browser is integrated closely with Windows 7.

This is a snappy browser- make no mistake about it! If you have always been disappointed with how poorly the Internet Explorer fares against the Firefox and Chrome, you may be in for a pleasant surprise, finally. The much talked-up hardware acceleration and new JavaScript engine seems to have made the difference in this browser.

Does the latest Internet Explorer 9 actually match up to the Google Chrome and Firefox browser?

Well, benchmark tests are yet to be done, but when you use it- the hands on feel is almost the same.

The unification of the URL and search box and the appearance of dialog boxes on the bottom of the screen, are some steps that have been taken to give the websites more screen real estate. Microsoft deserves an applaud for this new approach to enhancing the user’s browsing experience. You can also pin websites to the taskbar now.

One more thing: No IE9 for Windows XP

It a slight dampener that the IE9 is not supported on Windows XP right now and it is highly unlikely that the final version will either. So, you must upgrade to Windows 7 if you plan to use this browser.

Download IE9 Browser

You can read the original blog post here The Internet Explorer 9 Browser: Out Now, Officially! Download IE9 Beta Browser..

Most major browsers are focusing on speed gain via hardware acceleration. But if the latest Firefox 4 with Jaegermonkey is anything to go by, there is a lot of room for improvement even in terms of JavaScript support. The Jaegermonkey project was launched earlier this year and you can view the first preview version now.

In benchmarking tests done on the new Jaegermonkey version of the Firefox, the speed improvements are quite evident. It easily outperforms the newest Firefox 4 beta on both SunSpider and V8 benchmarks. But then again, Google Chrome is still the fastest on both these benchmarks. Therefore, the Jaegermonkey addition has done little in terms of how Firefox fares against Chrome.

But things are not that simple because, benchmark tests do not reflect how fast a browser will run when you use it in person, in the real scenario. This is why, it needs to be clarified here that the Jaegermonkey Firefox is a real improvement on whichever version you may have been using till now.

Moreover, despite Chrome achieving some staggering numbers in the benchmark test, you will barely notice much of a difference in speed between the Chrome and the new Firefox while using both in real life.

The Jaegermonkey team has put in a lot of work into beefing up the Firefox browser, including reverse engineering and endless debugging, which is a standard procedure before any browser upgrade can be previewed. Websites, which require enhanced Java support, should run faster on your system with the Jaegermonkey. The developers even claim that by the time it is ready for the final release even greater speeds will be achieved!

With improved JavaScript support on the browser and other advancements such as hardware acceleration and a better interface, the Firefox 4 is looking lean, mean and hungry for success. When it finally launches this fall, Chrome needs to watch out!

You can read the original blog post here Firefox Jaegermonkey Upgrade Beefs up Firefox Browser With Improved JavaScript Support.

We all know that the future of browsing lies with HTML5 and also that Google is doing its bit in educating people how powerful this HTML technology is. And now there is actual proof of the amazing video, audio and graphics rendering capability of HTML5. Google Chrome browser and Arcade Fire have just created a video which will tell you what HTML5 is all about.

This video is called The Wilderness Downtown and is directed by Chris Milk. The song ‘We Used to Wait’ plays in the background. This one-of-a-kind interactive video may be just a unique music video to some, but make no mistake – this is a showcase of what HTML5 technology has to offer.

To enjoy the video, visit this link from your Google chrome browser and type in your old house address (where you grew up). This triggers a video of a guy running in a hooded t-shirt. Then various windows pop up on screen, while Google Maps and Street View images of the address you typed in are integrated into the video.

One word of warning: the video is quite taxing on the processor and you may want to close all other applications before starting it up.

The entire video is rendered by HTML5, with the new windows popping up to the beats of the song. Sounds awesome, right? Just check it out once and you will not be able to hold back on the praise!

The graphics are quite amazing. For example, check out the superimposed images of birds over the bird’s eye view of your old dwelling and the animated trees on the Street View image. The experience is made complete with the ability to write a note to your ‘childhood self’ and even paint a picture using beautiful HTML5 fonts and powerful drawing tools. Arcade Fire will use these drawings and notes in their future concerts, so pour your heart into your creations!

This video is meant to establish HTML5’s credentials as the most interactive browser today. The multi-paneled views are a completely new way of web-browsing and the use of the browser as a background is unique too!

You can read the original blog post here HTML5 Awesomeness With Chrome Browser and Arcade Fire.

Firefox 4 Beta 4 is here and surely you can expect a lot of new features too. While you can explore the browser yourself to make many interesting discoveries, here are two features that deserves the spotlight: Panorama and Sync.

Panorama was previously called ‘Tab Candy’ is basically a visual tool meant to improve user experience with the Firefox. It lets you get an overview of all tabs which are currently open and allows you to group them into sets according to your preference. A drag and drop interface allows you to perform this action.

An icon at the right end of the bookmark bar takes you to the tab-arrangement screen. Here you can expand tabs, delete them and organize them as you like. While this maybe unnecessary if you prefer the default tab arrangement, but it surely is helpful when you have numerous tabs open at any point of time.

If the new tab management tool makes you happy, Sync will bowl you over. It’s no secret that we use multiple devices for computing: PC’s , laptops, tablets, smartphones etc. as our choices are not limited by any means.

But would it not be great if you could use the same browsing settings on devices you own. Sync allows you to do exactly that and you can use the same bookmarks, history, carry over passwords, form-data and even open tabs on other computers and the iPhone. So no longer do you have to spend time in updating your browser with favorites, bookmarks, passwords on a device you are using for the first time.

How does this work? Well, Firefox collects the required information from your primary computer and sends it to a secure a server from where you can download it later, when you wish to start browsing on a new computer.

For the iPhone, you need to have Firefox Home for Sync to work. If you have doubts about the security, rest easy, as all information is encrypted before being forwarded to the server. Overall, two great features for you to enjoy on the new Firefox 4 beta 4!

You can read the original blog post here Panorama and Sync: New Features in Firefox 4 Beta 4 Browser.