Mozilla Invests Millions to Amp Up Thunderbird

Mozilla's Postbox has killer search, tabbed browsing, and a price tag

(NEWSER) - We're getting flooded with more and more email, but the tools used to read messages haven't matured much in recent years, says Wall Street Journal tech writer Katherine Boehret. A new program called Postbox, from the same developers behind the Firefox web browser, aims to change that—it features real-time search, tabbed browsing, and smarter handling of attachments. Postbox has "terrific features," she writes, but "it can be hard to suddenly see your email in a different way." More»

(NEWSER) - The No. 1 reason many Firefox users refused to upgrade to the browser’s latest version was fear that it would expose their deep, dark—think "naked"—online secrets, PC Pro reports. Firefox 3’s new address bar suggests your bookmarked sites as you enter URLs, which 25% of people who declined to upgrade cited as their motivation. “A lot of people contacted us to say that they had certain bookmarks they didn’t really want to have displayed,” a Firefox designer says. More»

It's not the fastest browser anymore

(NEWSER) - Mozilla's Firefox is still good, but it doesn't stand out as much as it used to, Walter S. Mossberg writes in the Wall Street Journal. The latest edition of the web browser, version 3.5, works well on both PCs and Macs, but "Firefox has lost its traditionally biggest advantage: greater speed than its rivals." In tests, Mossberg found that it often lagged behind Safari 4.02 and Chrome 2.0. More»

New browser is faster and ready for HTML upgrade

(NEWSER) - Firefox, once lauded for “speed, stability, and customizability,” seemed lately to have fallen behind the competition—but with version 3.5, out today, it’s back and better than ever, writes Farhad Manjoo for Slate. The new version “adds a much-needed speed boost” alongside bug fixes. And best of all, its use of updated HTML code could “prompt a re-engineering of the Web itself.” More»

Google becomes first of email's big 3 to integrate audio, video

(NEWSER) - Users of Google's Gmail service can now see and hear each other, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The company rolled out video and voice additions to the chat function in its Gmail interface yesterday, putting the world's third-biggest free email provider a step ahead of rivals Microsoft and Yahoo in the race to make email a more social—and profitable—application. More»