It is called “Private Browsing mode, where all user activity traces including history, cache, download history, saved passwords, searches, cookies, and others, are removed as soon as the user returns to normal browsing mode”, as Percy Cabello for Mozilla Links says in the latest article.

This new mode, will be easy to activate by clicking a button into the Tools menu: this will require a confirmation and, after the browser has restarted, you will be able to surf the web, without leaving any trace on the host PC.

Though, if you’d like to know more about this upcoming feature, check out the full article on Mozilla Links

Now you can take place in a world record by helping out your favorite browser to set the record for most software downloads in 24 hours.

All you will need to do will be to actually click a button and download Firefox 3 within the 24 of the Download Day 2008, which has yet to be decided.

Right now, on the official site, you can have a look at how many people have pledged to participate and, if you are a blogger or own a website, get one of the affiliate buttons and spread the word.

For more information you can read the FAQs page.

PicLens 1.6 video demo

Previously, back then when we reviewed it, it allowed you to display images from a research on an endless 3D wall for better browsing of the results.

New version 1.6 has added two important features that I thought you would like to know about:

1. YouTube Support: Apart from photos, you can now browse between YouTube videos and watch the directly from within the wall.
2. Firefox 3: Yes! Now the extension also fully works in Firefox 3.

Link: http://www.piclens.com/

I liked it so much that I decided to integrate the latest updates in the right sidebar, and to include a button in my posts that lets automatically post articles to it.

FoxieWire is a website completely dedicated to Firefox, in which people can post news, reviews, add-ons, and everything concerning Mozilla Firefox from other blogs and sites.

With a Digg-like interface, users can then vote for posts, which can increase their ranking place and visibility.

FoxieWire also provides many tools:

• Banners: A series of small banners is available for you to put on your website and lets other people add your articles to FoxieWire.

  

• Firefox Add-on: A dedicated add-on, that adds a new voice to your right click menu and lets you post articles directly.

  

  That’s what you get after you install the extension:

  

• Wordpress Plug-in: FoxieWire Wordpress integration that adds a small button on your posts, in different locations that you can choose from the option menu, for easily submitting posts.

  

Since I am still exploring this wonderful site, I suggest you go look for other interesting features that I am still not aware of, and let me know if you want them to be added.

Link: http://www.foxiewire.com/

I personally don’t like beta versions: sure it’s cool to have something before the official release date, but you know it is not as the final product. I have had an experience with Windows Vista RC1, for example, so I was one of lucky guys to have it…But was was the real advantage? None, as many functions were still being tested and not at their best.

While I was reading articles about Firefox 3 Beta 4, I came by a great website that I really didn’t know of, called Mozilla Links.

I bet I am the only one on Earth who didn’t know it, but we learn something new everyday.

Anyway, apart from advising this great blog about Mozilla, I want to point your attention on two articles they have about the new Beta, with an in-depth review and download links:

• Firefox 3 Beta 4 Review
• Firefox 3 Beta 4 Now Available For Download

Photo Credit: Tom van Beveren - Edited by Nicolo’ Canali De Rossi

Even if the news is pretty old, as it was announced in October 2007, in these days everyone is talking about it, offering previews and screenshots of the new mini-browser by Mozilla.

Here are some articles I think you should give a visit to:

• Firefox Mobile Previewed
• Mobile Firefox: First Screenshots Unveiled
• They Shrunk My Firefox! Mozilla Shows off Mobile Mockups
• Mozilla’s Mobile Browser User Interface Prototypes

And obviously don’t forget to visit the Firefox Mobile Wiki Page.

In order to avoid it, apart from using your good sense in visiting trusted sites, you can have a look at our Mini-Guide: How To Avoid Hacker Attacks And Make Firefox More Secure.

Here is what Aviv has discovered:

Summary

Mozilla Firefox allows spoofing the information presented in the basic authentication dialog box. This can allow an attacker to conduct phishing attacks, by tricking the user to believe that the authentication dialog box is from a trusted website.

Affected versions

Mozilla Firefox v2.0.0.11.
Prior versions and other Mozilla products may also be affected.

Technical details

Mozilla Firefox displays an authentication dialog, whenever the visited web server returns 401 status code, and the “WWW-Authenticate” header. In order to specify basic authentication, the “WWW-Authenticate” header should have the value [Basic realm="XXX"] (without the brackets). The Realm value, which in this case is XXX, will be displayed in the authentication dialog window.

While Firefox does not display the characters in the “WWW-Authenticate” header Realm value after the last double-quotes (”), it fails to sanitize single-quotes (’) and spaces. This makes it possible for an attacker to create a specially crafted Realm value which will look as if the authentication dialog came from a trusted web site.

There are at-least two possible attack vectors:

1. An attacker creates a web page with a link to a trusted website (e.g. Bank, PayPal, Webmail, etc.). When the victim clicks on the link, the trusted web page will be opened in a new window, and a script will be executed to redirect the new opened window to the attacker’s web server, which will then return the specially crafted basic authentication response.
2. An attacker embeds an image (pointing to the attacker’s web server, which will return the specially crafted basic authentication response) to:
1. A mail which will be sent to a webmail user.
2. RSS feed which will be consumed by a web RSS reader.
3. A forum/blog/social network page.

A video which demonstrates the first attack vector can be found on YouTube. A better quality video can be download from here.

A video of a real live attack on a forum, which used basic authentication but without exploiting the vulnerability, can be found on Zull’s weblog (Hebrew).

Since this is the first post of this blog, we just wanted to introduce ourselves.

Universe Firefox is a web-site, and more specifically a weblog, about the free Mozilla’s web-browser. It is run by two Italian students who just wanted to experiment on their skin how it feels to have and run a blog, all by themselves, without the help of anyone.

It has been a while since we have decided to open one, but there were too many options bouncing around in our minds. The world of computers and the Internet itself is so wide that we couldn’t really pick a subject and, all of a sudden, we thought: “It is all about new Internet services, P2P clients, instant messaging…but why don’t we talk about what you really need to browse the internet? A web-browser?”

And so we did!

Universe Firefox, in fact, is going to be, or at least will try to be, a good resource for anyone who wants to be updated with Mozilla Firefox, know how to do things, discover everything about the million plug-ins and add-ons that have been built, and also to take advantage of all the web-based tools that can make Firefox even more powerful.

We look forward to hearing from you soon,

Nicolo’ and Giovanni.

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