Firefox 42: Find out what is new

By Martin Brinkmann   Firefox 42 will be unveiled officially on November 3, 2015 by Mozilla. This guide walks you through the core changes and feature editions of Firefox 42 for the desktop and Android.
All other Firefox channels will receive updates as well on this date. In particular, this means that Firefox Beta will be updated to Firefox Beta 43, Firefox Developer Edition to version 44, Firefox Nightly to version 45, and Firefox ESR to version 38.4.
The information you find below covers only Firefox 42 and no version that is still in development. I suggest you check out our Firefox category here on Ghacks if you are interested in keeping an eye on future changes as we cover those regularly here.
Firefox 42 is a big update that brings along with it notable new features and the long awaited 64-bit version of the browser for Windows.

Firefox 42 download and update

If you are running Firefox already you may use the internal update checker to download and install the new version. Please note that updates may not yet be available depending on when you are reading this post.
To check for updates tap on the Alt-key on your keyboard, and select Help > About from the menu that opens up.
This displays the current version of the web browser and whether an update is available. If it is, it may either be downloaded and installed automatically or manually depending on the update settings of the browser.
If you are new or want to download an installer instead, use the following links to do just that.

1. Firefox Stable download
2. Firefox Beta download
3. Firefox Developer download
4. Nightly download
5. Firefox ESR download

Special Case: Firefox 32-bit to 64-bit

Firefox about:buildconfig page

You cannot upgrade a 32-bit version of Firefox to 64-bit directly. What you need to do instead is download and install the 64-bit version, and have it use the Firefox profile that you are using in the 32-bit version so that you don't lose any data in the process.
I suggest that you create a backup of the profile before you do that though to be on the safe side.
How do you know if you are running a 64-bit version of Firefox? Load about:buildconfig in the browser's address bar and check the "target" string under build platform. If you see "64 in the string you are running a 64-bit version of the browser.

 

 

Firefox 42 Changes

The introduction of 64-bit stable builds are not the only important change in Firefox 42.
Private Browsing with Tracking Protection





Originally designed to come out with Firefox 39, Tracking Protection is finally launching in this version of the web browser.
It is an add-on for the browser's private browsing mode that blocks a selection of web trackers automatically in that mode.
To enable or disable it, load about:preferences#privacy in the browser's address bar and check or uncheck the "Use Tracking Protection in Private Windows" box on the Privacy page once it opens.
The effect? A comparison of the loading time of the top 200 Alexa websites came to the conclusion that load time dropped by 44% on average with Tracking Protection enabled. In addition, it reduced the average data usage by 39% and the number of HTTP cookies set on the system by 67.5%.


New Control Center with site security and privacy controls





A new shield icon is displayed under certain conditions in regular browsing and private browsing mode.
In regular mode, it will tell you if the connection to the site is secure or not. In private browsing mode, information about trackers found on the page and controls to disable the Tracking Protection feature are added.


Audio indicators and one-click audio muting





Audio indicators and muting options are finally available in all versions of Firefox. The browser indicates if audio is playing in any of the tabs open in it with an icon that it adds to the right side of the page title.
You may click on the icon to toggle the audio at any time to either mute the audio or unmute it. Please note that this won't affect playback of the media content on the page in any way though.
This can be very useful to indicate where audio is coming from, especially if it starts playing in the background, for instance when triggered by advertisement or an auto-playing video on a page.


Other changes

• Improved performance on interactive websites that trigger a lot of restyles
• Login Manager improvements: improvements to saving usernames and passwords, options to edit and show all logins in line, and migration of passwords from Chrome and Internet Explorer on Windows.
• Media Source Extension support is available on all sites visited in the web browser.
• WebRTC improvements: IPv6 support among other things.

Developer Changes

• CSS Filter Presets (click here for additional information)
• Debugging Firefox for Android over WiFi (see this page for additional information)
• ES6 Reflect implemented
• Firefox OS simulator configurations in WebIDE (see this page for additional details)
• Source code of pages are displayed in tabs now instead of new windows. You may revert the change however.

Firefox for Android

Most changes made to the Android version are identical to those of the desktop version. This is true for Tracking Protection in private browsing for example or under the hood improvements.
The changes listed below are exclusive to Firefox 42 for Android.
Android changes

1. External urls (for instance from chat applications or email apps), can be opened in the background now in Firefox for Android.
2. Family friendly browsing supported when restricted profiles are created on tablets.
3. Voice input for searching from the URL bar supported.

Security updates / fixes

Mozilla reveals security patches after the official release. We will update the review as soon as they become available.

• 2015-133 NSS and NSPR memory corruption issues
• 2015-132 Mixed content WebSocket policy bypass through workers
• 2015-131 Vulnerabilities found through code inspection
• 2015-130 JavaScript garbage collection crash with Java applet
• 2015-129 Certain escaped characters in host of Location-header are being treated as non-escaped
• 2015-128 Memory corruption in libjar through zip files
• 2015-127 CORS preflight is bypassed when non-standard Content-Type headers are received
• 2015-126 Crash when accessing HTML tables with accessibility tools on OS X
• 2015-125 XSS attack through intents on Firefox for Android
• 2015-124 Android intents can be used on Firefox for Android to open privileged files
• 2015-123 Buffer overflow during image interactions in canvas
• 2015-122 Trailing whitespace in IP address hostnames can bypass same-origin policy
• 2015-121 disabling scripts in Add-on SDK panels has no effect
• 2015-120 Reading sensitive profile files through local HTML file on Android
• 2015-119 Firefox for Android addressbar can be removed after fullscreen mode
• 2015-118 CSP bypass due to permissive Reader mode whitelist
• 2015-117 Information disclosure through NTLM authentication
• 2015-116 Miscellaneous memory safety hazards (rv:42.0 / rv:38.4)
• MFSA 2015-115 Cross-origin restriction bypass using Fetch

Additional information / sources

• Firefox 42 release notes
• Firefox 42 Android release notes
• Add-on compatibility for Firefox 42
• Firefox 42 for developers
• Site compatibility for Firefox 42
• Firefox Security Advisories
  
  
  
  Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2015/11/02/firefox-42-find-out-what-is-new/

Introducing the new Google+

Introducing the new Google+

November 17, 2015

If you head over to Google+ today, you’ll see that things look a little different. Since we last posted, we’ve spent a lot of time listening to what people using Google+ had to say. There were two features they kept coming back to: Communities, which now average 1.2 million new joins per day, and Collections, which launched just five months ago and is growing even faster. Whether it’s the Nonfiction Addiction Community, where people can be found discussing the best in Crime or Travel storytelling, or the Watch Project Collection, where more than 40,000 people are following an antique watch hobbyist, these are the places on Google+ where people around the world are spending their time discovering and sharing things they love. And so we’ve reimagined Google+ to help them do that. Today, we’re starting to introduce a fully redesigned Google+ that puts Communities and Collections front and center. Now focused around interests, the new Google+ is much simpler. And it’s more mobile-friendly—we’ve rebuilt it across web, Android and iOS so that you’ll have a fast and consistent experience whether you are on a big screen or small one. You’ll need to opt-in to this new version of Google+ on the web to see the changes—check out our Google+ post for more on how to give it a try.

Creating great products that solve real needs and make life easier for people is something Google is always striving for. Your feedback got us this far—as we continue to refine Google+, we’d love to keep hearing from you. In the meantime, we look forward to seeing how today’s changes help kickstart even more conversations around everything from Zombie Cats to Vintage Calculators.

Source: https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/11/introducing-new-google.html

Edit your online visibility with Google About Me

Google's About Me page enables you to manage Google account information that are publicly available on the Internet.
Whenever you create a social media account, and sometimes others as well, you expose some information to the public.
While there is no guarantee that anyone else stumbles upon the information ever, it means that it is theoretically possible that it happens.
Public means that the contents get indexed by the social network site and third-party sites as well. If you use a search engine to find information about someone on the Internet, these public information may be returned.
Since that is not always desired, social networking sites provide you with options to manage what you reveal about yourself up to a point.
Google's About Me page makes this simple. All you need to do is visit https://aboutme.google.com/ in your browser of choice, sign in to your Google Account if you have not already, to see what others see about you.





The page lists among other things public contact information, work history, places, sites, gender, birthday and other personal information.
Next to each section is an edit button that you can click on to add, edit or remove information from it. For instance, you may quickly change the visibility of an email address displayed to the public, or add a new site that you contribute to.
The information provided are a reflection of what is shown on the Google Plus about page. While you may edit them on the page as well, it is not as straightforward as on the About Me page as it lists information visible to only the account owner as well on that page.
Plus, it seems easier to open the Google About Me url than the Google Plus url.
The About Me page links to the Privacy Checkup online tool which lets you review and adjust "what data Google uses to personalize your experience" and "update what information you share with friends or make public".
Here is a quick rundown of what it allows you to do:

• Choose what Google+ profile information are shared with others.
• Whether people with your phone number find you when they search for it.
• Choose who can see your YouTube videos, likes, and subscriptions.
• Choose whether to remove geo location information from photos you share.
• Manage Google activity and history logging, e.g. location history.
• Select whether you want ads based on interests.

Closing Words
Google's About Me page does not reinvent the wheel but it makes it easy to edit account information quickly on a single page.

Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2015/11/11/edit-your-online-visibility-with-google-about-me/

The Beginner's Guide to Google+

When Google+ entered the social space in 2011, it was met largely with skepticism. Joining a crowded field with platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, many users questioned the need for another social network.
But roughly two years later, Google+ has established itself as the second-largest social media site in the world and boasts a monthly active user base of 235 million. And some of the products that Google built into the platform, such as Hangouts and Communities, along with its added integration in Google News that can benefit an active poster, have made Google+ an intriguing network for all users.

See also: The Beginner's Guide to the Hashtag

If you're a newbie to Google+, these tips will help you get started.

Creating a Google Account

First things first, in order to have a Google+ account, you must have a Google account. To do that, go to plus.google.com and find "Create An Account" located at the top right of the screen. From here, you will be asked to provide a few pieces of information, including your name, birthdate and current email address.
Next, you'll be prompted to add a profile photo to accompany your Google Account. You can either take a web camera shot of yourself to add to your Google profile or upload a headshot. Regardless, the image must be a minimum size of 250 x 250 pixels.

After adding your profile picture, you will then be redirected to your new Gmail account. From this new account, you can navigate to Google+ from the dashboard icon located on the top right in your account.
You are now ready to add friends, family and others to your Google+ Circles.

Creating Circles

The first time you access Google+, a screen will prompt you to add people you know or want to follow, as well as a list of suggested users Google has curated for you to follow — also known as a Circle.
Much like how Twitter works, you can follow someone and see all the activity that he or she publishes publicly. When you want to add someone to a Circle, there are already four default Circles you can choose from: "Family," "Friends," "Acquaintances" and "Following."
But if you want to add a person or brand page to a Circle that isn't listed, you can create a new Circle in the open box provided below the list.

Circles act very much like filters — you can share content with those in your Circles and you can see what they choose to share publicly. People and brands will be notified when you have added them to your Circles, but they don't know which Circle or who else is in that Circle with them.

Adding Extra Details to Your Google+ Profile

After you've added all your favorite people to Circles, Google will ask you to share just a little more information about yourself — including your current place of employment, where you went to school and where you live — to make your profile a bit more interesting. These sections will be public initially, but you can edit the visibility of this information once you have your profile set.

See also: The Beginner's Guide to Facebook

Google+ is a very visual platform, so beyond your profile picture, you also have quite a bit of real estate on your profile page for a cover photo. If you're a Facebook user, you already know the large cover photo on that platform, which is 851 x 315 pixels. But Google+ takes that to an even more extreme level: 2120 x 1192 pixels.

With your profile set up with a profile picture, cover photo and background information, you're ready to browse the network.

Navigating the Stream

When you arrive at the Google+ home screen, you will see a variety of posts, products and more.

On left sidebar of the platform, you'll see 10 options to choose from, including "Profile," "What's Hot," "Communities," "Events" and "Hangouts On Air," among others, many of which we will cover shortly. On the right side of the screen is your Hangouts box, which shows the list of individuals or brands in your Circles. From here you can text chat or video chat with those on the list.
In the center, you will see all posts from your list of Circles. You can filter through these posts by navigating to the Circle of your choice — from "Friends" to "Following" and more. This section will also include posts that Google+ has deemed popular on the network.
When interacting with posts, there are a number of things you can do, including +1'ing a post (which is essentially "liking" the post), sharing the post or commenting on the post. On the top right of each post, there is a downward carrot symbol that gives you more options for things you can do with this post, such as viewing its activity, embedding the post, muting the post or linking to the post, among other options.

Now that you know how to interact with a post, let's dig into how to create your own.

Posting on the Platform

Google+ makes it incredibly easy for your posts to target a large or small group of accounts when you post on the platform. When you try to post on Google+, you will need to select who you want to share it with — whether that's with the public, "Family" or with just one person, for example.

Much like with Facebook, you can tag individuals or brands in your posts. Tagged users or brands will get notifications that they have been mentioned on the platform. A tagged post can also serve as a private message with an individual or group. If you do tag another page, be cognizant of whether you want to share that post with just that person, brand or Circle, or if you want to share it publicly while also tagging that page or multiple pages.

Communities

If you're looking for where a lot of the conversations take place on Google+, look no further than Communities. Launched in December 2012, Communities are where users can find vibrant discussions around very specific topics with other users who are just as interested in the conversation. And the topics on the platform seem endless — ranging from social media to animals to comedy and more. In order to join the conversation, all you need to do is request to join.

See also: Google+ Communities: A Beginner's Guide

Sharing to Communities is much like sharing to a Circle. Although you can post to the Community directly, you can essentially share to these pages from anywhere on the platform. If you are posting to a public Community, this post will also show up on your profile page and will be visible to users who navigate to your page.
There are also private Communities, where you have to request to join in order to post content or see other users' shares. And unlike public Communities, anything you post within a private Community is exactly that — private from anyone outside of the group to see.

Hangouts

Google+ Hangouts are one of the most popular features on the platform. There are three types of Hangouts — the text chat version that has essentially replaced Gchat, private Hangouts and Hangouts On Air. For this tutorial, we will be discussing the latter two: Hangouts and Hangouts On Air.
Hangouts are a great option for individuals or companies who want to host a private video chat with up to 10 different accounts. Unlike Hangouts On Air, this will not be publicly viewable and will only be seen by those who are invited to join. You can initiate a Hangout from the Hangouts box on the right side of the web platform, or from an individual's profile page.

See also: The Beginner's Guide to YouTube

Hangouts On Air are the public version of Hangouts, which can be viewed by all and are also archived as YouTube videos. You can navigate to this by finding the "Hangouts On Air" icon in the options on the left sidebar of the platform. In order to start a Hangout On Air, your account must be associated with a YouTube account; otherwise, you will not be able to move forward.

Hangouts On Air also allow you to video chat with up to 10 users (including yourself). Because you are choosing to host a public Hangout, it's important to follow a few easy, and important steps:

• When possible, try to host Hangouts On Air when you are in a place with high Internet connection speeds.
• Have headphones in case there is audio feedback on your end.
• Set yourself up with good lighting.

Not all of these are always achievable — in fact, Google now offers an audio-only mode and a bandwidth slider within Hangouts On Air if you are in a location with low bandwidth.

Events

Google+ Events is an essential tool for individuals and brands who want to promote everything from a Hangout On Air to fundraising events to private parties. An added layer for Events is that it can fully integrate within Google Calendar for added organization.
Events can be found on the left sidebar of the social platform. When you arrive in the Events section, you will have to click "Create Event" to get started.
The Events interface is incredibly easy to set up. As with scheduling any kind of calendar event, you should create a strong event title, set the day and time, location (if needed) and any details that are necessary to explain the event. Finally, similar to using Google+ posts, you can set the event to be seen publicly or to be seen by just a select group of people.

What's Hot

The "What's Hot" section of Google+ is one of its major standouts as a social network. As with Hangouts and Events, you can find this section on the left sidebar of the platform. "What's Hot" shows the posts, topics and hashtags that are trending on Google+ at any given time, as well as suggestions for Communities that may interest you.

Speaking of hashtags, Google+ has gone all in with hashtags, and it has added a whole new level to social search on the platform. Using hashtags in your posts can improve your content's discoverability. Beyond that, though, Google+ will also suggest related hashtags for your posts to make them resonate more on the platform.

Google+ Mobile

The Google+ mobile app is a highly-functional, scaled-down version of the desktop platform. You can still post links and photos from the platform, filter through Circles, create events and more on the mobile app.
Google has also created its own standalone Hangouts app, with which you can interact with those in your Circles through text or video chats, just like you would on the desktop version.
This guide is only the beginning of what can be a deeply immersive social experience. But if you are new to Google+, this will be enough to get you started.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Image: iStockphoto, samxmeg

Source: http://mashable.com/2013/10/27/google-plus-beginners-guide/#9WalHeYXmSqy