Mozilla Firefox Aurora Marketplace Opens For Android Users, Time to Get Testing

As apps become a commonplace with both an increased interest in web apps and smartphone usage, there are more and more options for where users can get them. Mozilla Firefox has joined other companies, like Google, and developed its own web and mobile app marketplace.

Mozilla Lab’s Engineer Manager, Bill Walker, made the announcement in a blog post yesterday. In his statement, Walker said that this pre-beta version of Mozilla's Aurora Marketplace was released as a way for the company to get proper feedback from users before releasing the beta and full versions.

Our goal is to collect as much real-life feedback as possible about the Marketplace’s design, usability, performance, reliability, and content,” he says. “Feedback from early adopters helps us enhance the quality of the Marketplace before it is released to larger audiences.”

With their marketplace, Mozilla aims to bring together not only those who use apps for business and recreational purposes, but aims to give users the opportunity to be a bigger part of the Marketplace and Mozilla community. In his post, Walker mentions that Mozilla is always looking for ways to engage with their users, as they can both browse current apps and submit and develop their own ideas for apps.

Firefox Marketplace also offers APIs for app submission, payments, and app discovery,” he says. “Like everything Mozilla does, this ecosystem is always open — users have choices and developers have control over their content, functionality and distribution.

The site also offers potential developers tutorials, FAQ’s and other material to help with the creation and development processes

What’s Available?

As the marketplace is in development, there are a limited amount of apps available. Even though the choice is limited, all of the apps on the site are available for free. Users can either search an app, or browse categories that range from Games and Lifestyle to Education and Business and News. Some of the current Apps include, The Boston Globe, Twitter, MixCloud and WordWars.

Where to Get it

If this marketplace venture proves to be successful, once it’s finishing beta testing it will become part of the Firefox OS that Mozilla has set up for mobile users.

Mozilla Firefox Aurora is available for download through Mozilla’s website to mobile users who have Android phones (version 2.2 and higher). Users can also choose to scan the QR code on the download page instead of downloading the program. In order to use the apps, users must configure their mobile device to accept non-market apps.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Privacyfix Extension for Chrome, Firefox Puts Users in Control of Their Online Privacy

We have become a society intent on not letting Facebook’s privacy settings get the better of us. Thanks to a new browser extension for both Chrome and Firefox, we are a step closer to simplifying our lives.

Get in Control of Your Privacy

With the goal of putting the user in control of their own online privacy, the Privacyfix browser extension scans for privacy issues based on your Facebook and Google settings, the other sites that you visit and the companies tracking you. Privacyfix directs users to the settings they need to fix, and can warn of new privacy issues as you surf the web — so you'll know when sites like Facebook change their privacy policies or have privacy breaches.

Additionally, your information will not be compromised further by using PrivacyFix — the application has been engineered not to transmit or share any of your data, including history, cookies or privacy settings. Because all of the ratings and calculations for Privacyfix happen inside the browser, with generic formulas and data being sent from their server, the only data that a browser sends to PrivacyFix's server is standard technical data (like IP addresses), which the company says is promptly deleted.

Tracking the Outcome of Better Privacy Controls

What are the long-term implications of an extension like this? Will users be curious enough to learn about how specific sites are using their information? Upon learning that sites may be collecting more information than users thought, will they be moved to make more educated choices? If they decide not to share information, will companies update their policies?

Of course, it’s too soon to know. Additionally, it’s too soon to know if we can get the right people using these extensions. Three years ago GetSafeOnline.org found that students are more likely to put themselves at risk of online fraud than any other adult demographic in the United Kingdom. Twenty-eight percent admitted to entering personal details into a website from an unsecured computer, over double the national average of 11 percent. Almost one in five students (19 percent) regularly posted valuable personal information, such as their date of birth or home address, on social networking sites, almost double the national average of 11 percent. 

Are students likely to install these extensions on their browsers? It will be interesting to see how PrivacyFix markets themselves to this vulnerable demographic. The appeal, in the beginning, will be to those who are already proactive about protecting their privacy online — so getting this app into the hands of those who can benefit from it most will be most important.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com