Mozilla introduced Jetpack, an application programming interface designed to permit developers to apply web development technologies and skills to building Firefox add-ons, in May 2009. Since the initial, 0.1 version release of the API, no less than four updates were introduced, focused mainly on resolving bugs with the initial build, but also on introducing new API features. On June 11, Mozilla labs brought to the table Jetpack 0.2, defined as a major refresh compared to the minor updates delivered since the solution was first launched. The evolution of Jetpack from 0,1 to 0.2 offers developers a new Firefox experimental UI element and fresh APIs.
“Besides numerous bug fixes (including a particularly nasty one that would hide prevent extensions from being in the status bar), there are three main additions: slidebars, jetpack.future, and persistent storage,” revealed Aza Raskin, head of user experience for Mozilla Labs. “Slidebars are a reinvention of the old sidebar feature of browsers. They allow quick access to a wide range of both temporary and permanent information at the side of your browser window.”
Raskin stressed the fact that Jetpack was put together to serve a double purpose. First and foremost, the solution is designed as a platform for experimentation. However, this aspect needs not to lead to the exclusion of developers using Jetpack as a solid and comprehensive set of APIs capable of extending Firefox. In this context, Mozilla Labs now allows Jetpack developers to import features from the future, as long as they are experimental in nature, which is the case of Slidebars, for example.
“One of the most requested features in the Jetpack development mailing list was for the ability to persistently store data across restarts. We’ve added simple storage to the future module,” Raskin added. “Mozilla Labs is a virtual lab where people come together online to create, experiment and play with Web innovations for the public benefit. The Jetpack experiment is still in its infancy and just getting started.”
Posted in Firefox | No Comments »
December 17, 2008 by
Jason There’s no easy way to secure IE against similar flaws that will inevitably be discovered and used by hackers to their advantage in the future. For this reason and in response to pleas for help by many Pctipsbox readers here’s my recommendation on the best way to surf the Web more securely:
Step 1: Switch to Firefox, Opera, Chrome, or another contender and configure it to be your default browser. Use IE only to visit sites that require Microsoft-specific technology probably because they rely on ActiveX to function. (For example, you need to use IE to download patches at the Windows Update site.) I recommend Firefox because of the numerous add-ons available for that browser, some of which I describe in Steps 2 and 3.
Step 2: Install the Firefox add-ons known as User Agent Switcher (see UAS’s download page) and IE Tab (download page).
User Agent Switcher lets you change your browser’s identity. If a Web site demands the use of IE but actually works fine with other browsers, you can change the name of the operating system and browser the site thinks you’re using. Many “IE only” sites render perfectly well in Firefox and other browsers. Read More»
Posted in Firefox, Internet | No Comments »
November 03, 2007 by
Jason You cannot imagine life without Firefox but over time, your favorite browser keeps getting slower and slower.
Not only is it slow, Firefox sometimes hangs for no reason, consumes a large amount of memory and CPU usage can climb to 90% or more when you have multiple tabs open simultaneously.
You have uninstalled most of the extensions and toolbars, deleted all the cookies and internet temporary files, cleared up the file download queue and disabled the background check for software updates but none of this has helped you speed-up Firefox. Read More»
Posted in Firefox | 3 Comments »
October 09, 2007 by
Jason Problem: You cannot imagine life without Firefox but over time, your favorite browser keeps getting slower and slower.
Not only is it slow, Firefox sometimes hangs for no reason, consumes a large amount of memory and CPU usage can climb to 90% or more when you have multiple tabs open simultaneously.
You have uninstalled most of the extensions and toolbars, deleted all the cookies and internet temporary files, cleared up the file download queue and disabled the background check for software updates – but none of this has helped you speed-up Firefox. Read More»
Posted in Firefox | 5 Comments »
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