ProxTube is a simple extension that is focused on a specific function and does it very well and also it works very fast as compared to proxy based solutions that comes to mind immediately. Proxies does work but they are slow and sometime can be tricky to use. ProxTube is much more elegant solution that just works. Countries like Germany, Netherlands, Spain are confirmed to be working and are mentioned by the developer. I expect that it will also work in other European countries as well and may be in some other parts of the world. Its functionality can enabled or disabled from a simple toolbar button that is added after installation. One advantage that ProxTube has over the other solutions/services that are available is that unlike many other it will not redirect to any other website as user will stay on YouTube to unblock the video, so its more safe to say from security and user privacy perspective.

Firefox users can download the ProxTube from official Firefox extension repository.

Unblock Blocked YouTube Videos Using ProxTube in Firefox [Tip]

Low Quality Flash is such an extension that approaches the problem of low performance of flash from a different perspective. Basically it modifies the JavaScript on HTML pages to alter OBJECT and EMBED tags on a page setting Adobe Flash objects to "Low Quality." This can vastly improve performance on lower-powered platforms like older computers, cheap netbooks, and cellphones using Firefox Mobile. Latest version of the Low Quality Flash even includes an option to turn-on the medium quality flash in contrast to the low quality flash which is a compromise but might be suitable for some users which consider the contents rendered in low quality to be really not acceptable but medium quality might be ok for them as a good compromise. This is because changing the quality of the flash as done by this Firefox extension can improve the performance (or frame rate) of the flash content but it will also reduce the rendering quality of this content, and it might be very noticeable in some cases depending on the content that a user is viewing. In any case, this is an attractive option for the low-end PC users or for those users using flash in Firefox Mobile version.

Download Low Quality Flash Extension for Firefox

[via]

Improve Flash Performance & Frame Rate in Firefox Using Low Quality Flash Extension

Mozilla has recently released the Firefox 8.0 final version and the number of changes as compared to the previous version are minimal at best. One of highly demanded features that Firefox users have been asking for a long time is the official support for 64-bit builds of the Firefox. Unfortunately, we didn’t get it yet – not even with the recent release of the Firefox 8.0. Firefox 9.0 is not expected to get this 64-bit support either. It seems from some reports that Firefox 10 might be the release when Mozilla will finally add the support for 64-bit builds. Situation is quite frustrating considering that how many users these days are using the 64-bit builds of Windows 7 (or Vista).

Luckily for us, all the Windows users on the 64-bit OS there are some third-parties that are releasing the custom compiled and highly optimized builds of the Firefox for the 64-bit Windows. Pale Moon is one such project that is currently releasing these optimized custom builds of the Firefox which are available for not only 32-bit but also 64-bit. Both types of builds are optimized for speed, efficiency but keep in mind there are some small set of features that are disabled to gain the maximum performance. There are related to accessibility and parental controls and as such not a big issue for the most users. But just a thing to keep in mind. Currently latest Pale Moon builds are only available for Firefox 7 but we can expect that Firefox 8 builds will also be added soon. In any case, as I said in the start the number of new features in Firefox 8 is underwhelming at best.

Highly optimized for modern processors
100% Firefox sourced: As safe as the browser that has seen years of development.
Uses slightly less memory because of disabled redundant and optional code
Significant speed increases for page drawing and script processing
Stability: experience fewer browser crashes.
Support for SVG and Canvas, and downloadable fonts including WOFF
Support for HTML5 and WebGL (v4+)
Support for Firefox extensions (add-ons), themes and personas
Support for OOPP (Out-of-process plugin execution)
Able to use existing Firefox profiles, bookmarks and settings with this migration tool

Head to the Pale Moon project page to download the optimized custom builds of Firefox for Windows (both 32-bit and 64-bit builds are available).

Download Highly Optimized Firefox 64-bit Version For Windows [Pale Moon]

According to the release notes one of the big changes is the big improvement in the memory consumption department where in some cases browser can use up to 50% less memory as compared to the last version! On the webpage rendering front, Canvas operations has been significantly improved on Windows and many other small features including bug fixes and stability fixes. See the full change log below:

• Drastically improved memory handling for certain use cases
• Added a new rendering backend to speed up Canvas operations on Windows systems
• Bookmark and password changes now sync almost instantly when using Firefox Sync
• The ‘http://’ URL prefix is now hidden by default
• Added support for text-overflow: ellipsis
• Added support for the Web Timing specification
• Enhanced support for MathML
• The WebSocket protocol has been updated from version 7 to version 8
• Added an opt-in system for users to send performance data back to Mozilla to improve future versions of Firefox
• Fixed several stability issues
• Fixed several security issues

Download mirrors are available on the following link for the Firefox 7.

Firefox 7 Final Released: New Features and Download Links

Here is the changelog for the Firefox 6.0 (beta versions) as provided by Mozilla:

The address bar now highlights the domain of the website you’re visiting
Streamlined the look of the site identity block
Added support for the latest draft version of WebSockets with a prefixed API
Added support for EventSource / server-sent events
Added support for window.matchMedia
Added Scratchpad, an interactive JavaScript prototyping environment
Added a new Web Developer menu item and moved development-related items into it
Improved usability of the Web Console
Improved the discoverability of Firefox Sync
Reduced browser startup time when using Panorama

Download Firefox 6.0 (Windows/Mac/Linux)

Download Firefox 6.0 Final Version For Windows, Mac & Linux

Now there is an interesting extension called Google+Facebook that allows to access the news feed of your Facebook profile right from within the Google+ interface and even allows to post status updates from there (text only for now). In the future we are expecting that this application will be enhanced with new features and more polish will kick in. Another limitation is that status likes and post comments are not reflected when viewing the Facebook feed from within the Google+ interface. But we hope that these issues will remedied in the future.

After the installation this extension actually adds another tab right besides the Home tab for the Facebook. So the placement of the interface seems quite natural (see the screen shot above).

Download for Google+Facebook extension for Google Chrome and Firefox!

Get Your Facebook News Feed in Google+ and Post Status Updates via Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer Extension

After the release of the long awaited Firefox 4 Mozilla has really pushed the full throttle button on the development of new versions of the Firefox. Soon afterwards Mozilla released the Firefox 5 which was more of an incremental improvement over the Firefox 4. And just recently Firefox 6 has entered the beta stage. Furthermore Mozilla has updated the Aurora channel to Firefox 7. Which basically means alpha versions of the browser that has gone through minimal testing. And finally there are now nightly builds of Firefox 8 available that you might want to try if you really want to live at the bleeding edge of the Firefox technology!

We do know that Firefox 6 will include a number interesting features such as new “scratchpad” for developers to test JavaScript in a live environment, and then there is support for more CSS3 and HTML5 standards. But it’s the Firefox 7 where the real fun starts. As we know that Mozilla will target some long standing memory leaking issues in Firefox finally in this version of the Firefox. According to what is known so far Firefox 7 will include mechanism for increased garbage collection frequency and defragmentation of memory chunks to minimize the memory leaks that can reduce the footprint of the application by up hundreds of megabytes! Other enchantments includes to tweaks to the address bar – similar to the Opera and Chrome http:// prefixes will be removed and www. prefixes will also be grayed to more emphasize the domain name.

As for the Firefox 8 there is little known so far about the definite features in the final builds but we do know that web developer tools such i.e. Style Inspector and Highlighter Tool will be introduced but they are not yet in the nightly builds that have been released so far. Firefox 8 will also mark the first version of the Firefox to introduce the specific 64 bit builds for Windows users – another long requested feature by the Firefox users.

Future for sure looks bright for the Firefox as the development and versioning of the builds accelerated to combat the increasing threat from the other browsers in particular Google Chrome.

Firefox 7 to Get Major Reduction in Memory Footprint! & Insight on Upcoming Features in Firefox 8

Tabs Always In Titlebar is one such extension that allows you to maximize the vertical space by moving the tabs bar and integrating it right with in the title bar! As you know there is some vertical real-estate in the title-bar that was not used otherwise, now that can be used to show tabs using this extension. It can save you a few inches more of your vertical space, which is particularly valuable in this era of wide-screen displays. Have a look at the picture above to get the idea. In fact, this is the only feature that is provided by this tiny extension but very useful one I would say.

For more advanced users you can play around with the extensions.tabsalwaysintitlebar.offset property in about:config to to move the tabs closer to the top by increasing this value, or use negative value to move them down.

You can download the Tabs Always In Titlebar for Firefox from here. BTW it should work with Firefox 5 and upcoming Firefox 6 and 7 as well!

Show Tabs in Titlebar to Save Vertical Space in Firefox [Tip]

Firefox 5 has been released ahead of the schedule and final version of this popular browser can be download right now. Firefox 5 includes a number of incremental enhancements as compared to the Firefox 4.  Some of the new features include the CSS animations support, Do-Not-Track header preference that has been moved  to the privacy section for increased visibility. Another notable thing is Firefox development channel switcher that has been introduced in previous Firefox beta has been now removed. Probably it wasn’t that much utilized by users anyway.

Most of the changes are actually lying under the hood, for example performance and page rendering speed enhancements. Performance enhancements are actually noticeable in my experience with the beta versions of the Firefox 5 that I was using for last couple of weeks. This is particularly true for the more complex multimedia intensive websites. Also, the GUI feels a little snappier, but these observations are subjective and not based on any scientific results you know.

Here is the list of new features/enhancements according to the Mozilla:

• Added support for CSS animations
• The Do-Not-Track header preference has been moved to increase discoverability
• Improved canvas, JavaScript, memory, and networking performance
• Improved standards support for HTML5, XHR, MathML, SMIL, and canvas
• Improved spell checking for some locales
• Improved desktop environment integration for Linux users
• WebGL content can no longer load cross-domain textures
• Background tabs have setTimeout and setInterval clamped to 1000ms to improve performance
• The Firefox development channel switcher introduced in previous Firefox Beta updates has been removed

One of the issues that has bothered many people is related to the compatibility of the older Firefox 4 extensions with the Firefox 5. As many of them are still not compatible with the newer version. This bugs many people and is a big hurdle for them to migrate to Firefox 5. However, in my experience in fact most of the extensions are indeed COMPATIBLE with the Firefox 5, provided that there compatibility versions is bumped up. It is true for about 90% of the extensions that I used. So how to bump the compatibility version to Firefox 5 for the not compatible extensions and make them work? There are many ways to do it, but I would recommend to use the Add-on Compatibility Reporter from Mozilla. That will force Firefox 5 to enable otherwise in compatible add-ons to work. Note that, although this will work for the most add-ons there, but there are still some that requires more detailed fixes from their developers to make them work with Firefox 5.

You can download the Firefox 5 (Linux), (Mac), (Windows) versions from Mozilla FTP servers.

Firefox 5 Final New Features & How to Make Older Extensions Compatible [Download Links Included]

Underlying as I can see this uses the web service at http://www.youtubemp3s.com/ to achieve its magic. In other words, if you are not using Firefox or don’t want to install this extension, you can go directly to their website, put the YouTube video URL there and download the corresponding mp3 file on your computer. Of course, uTube2mp3 extension makes the experience much more seamless in case you are using the Firefox.

You can get the uTube2mp3 Firefox extension from here.

Download Any YouTube Video as MP3 File Using uTube2mp3 in Firefox (or Any Other Internet Browser Using Webservice )