Firefox 25 Arrives With Web Audio API Support, Guest Browsing On Android

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Firefox 25 Arrives With Web Audio API Support, Guest Browsing On Android

Posted by timothy on Tuesday October 29, 2013 @06:17AM from the glad-the-browser-wars-continue dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Mozilla today officially launched Firefox 25 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. Additions include Web Audio API support, as well as guest browsing and mixed content blocking on Android. Firefox 25 can be downloaded from Firefox.com and all existing users should be able to upgrade to it automatically. As always, the Android version is trickling out slowly on Google Play. The release notes are here: desktop, mobile."

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I can't remember by i+kan+reed · 2013-10-29 06:20 · Score: 4, Insightful

I can't actually recall the last time I was actually enthusiastic about a Firefox release. Nowadays it seems like a chore that rewards my expenditure of effort with features I will never use.
I mean... I get that mature software doesn't necessarily deliver awe-inspiring features all the time, but in that case, why is it news?
1. Re:I can't remember by royallthefourth · 2013-10-29 06:42 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Web Audio API actually is an interesting feature.
  See some of it in action: http://mohayonao.github.io/timbre.js/
2. Re:I can't remember by eepok · 2013-10-29 06:45 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  A chore? How do YOU install new Firefox releases? All I do is go to Help->About Firefox->Check for Updates->Install.
  It's not exactly spring cleaning.
3. Re:I can't remember by eepok · 2013-10-29 06:57 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Frozen.
4. Re:I can't remember by ultranova · 2013-10-29 07:05 · Score: 2
  
  I mean... I get that mature software doesn't necessarily deliver awe-inspiring features all the time, but
  
  But we're talking about Firefox. It's not mature by any stretch of imagination.
  
  why is it news?
  
  Hype. The whole purpose of ditching major.minor.build versioning was to get the hype of a major release for every single new build. Well, that and it makes it less convenient to maintain old branches in bugfix state, thus forcing everyone to buy into every new feature and feature removal unless they want to be pwned. The developers have a vision and you will share it, dammit!
  
  --
  Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
5. Re:I can't remember by cOldhandle · 2013-10-29 07:09 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  It's a chore to find how to re-enable core features that have been removed and disable terrible additions (like the recent giant green arrow animations every single time a file is downloaded)
6. Re:I can't remember by Luckyo · 2013-10-29 07:11 · Score: 2
  
  The chore comes from having to spend minutes to hours to some cases days researching how to unfuck yet another UI snafu that mozilla's designers pushed in the update.
7. Re:I can't remember by Spiridios · 2013-10-29 07:12 · Score: 2
  
  Web Audio API actually is an interesting feature.
  See some of it in action: http://mohayonao.github.io/timbre.js/
  This is the feature I've been waiting for since I like to write games and port them to HTML5. I have an audio-only game that only worked in Chrome until today because I had the audacity to require left/right panning.
8. Re:I can't remember by tlhIngan · 2013-10-29 07:18 · Score: 2
  
  It's a chore to find how to re-enable core features that have been removed and disable terrible additions (like the recent giant green arrow animations every single time a file is downloaded)
  Even then there are some that just don't have a way to re-enable. Like autocompleting URL bars that autocomplete entire URLs, and not just domains or partial URLs. Even more annoyingly, Firefox refuses to autocomplete ports - so if you visit http://localhost8080/ Firefox oh-so-helpfully autocompletes just "http://localhost".
  But I go to direct deep URLs on a lot of things.
9. Re:I can't remember by cant_get_a_good_nick · 2013-10-29 07:48 · Score: 2
  
  Id upgrade it just for avoiding driveby malware attacks. IE6 was/is horrible in this regard, not sure how targetted is FireFox 2.0 on Linux.
10. Re:I can't remember by cffrost · 2013-10-29 08:53 · Score: 2
  
  Even then there are some that just don't have a way to re-enable. Like autocompleting URL bars that autocomplete entire URLs, and not just domains or partial URLs. Even more annoyingly, Firefox refuses to autocomplete ports - so if you visit http://localhost8080/ Firefox oh-so-helpfully autocompletes just "http://localhost".
  But I go to direct deep URLs on a lot of things.
  FF plugin "Calomel SSL Validation" has a checkbox on its Optimizations tab* to toggle the behavior you described. The prefs dialog must be accessed via the Tools menu; the toolbar button's sole functions are: 1) Changing color to indicate a weighted, aggregate measure of the security quality of an encrypted connection, and 2) when clicked, displaying score-points and the details from which they were derived (cert match,cyphers, key lengths, hash algo).
  TLS 1.1 & 1.2 were added a couple versions back, but remain off by default. This plugin adds control of some of this functionality. See WP's TLS article and it's cited notes/bug reports regarding FF's implementation details/issues: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security
  * This plugin's secondary functions are numerous and disparate. I'm tired, so see first link if you want to know anything else about it.
  
  --
  Thank you, Edward Snowden.
  
  "Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
Re:Unfortunately... by tuffy · 2013-10-29 06:32 · Score: 4, Insightful

What's wrong with the HTML5 audio tag for simple playback of static audio files?

--
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
Re:Unfortunately... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-10-29 06:32 · Score: 2, Informative

Just use the html5 <audio> tag, no js required.
The api is for playback control and advanced processing & effects.
I'd care but... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-10-29 06:34 · Score: 5, Interesting

The developers refuse to release a 64-bit browser, fix bugs, keep breaking 3rd party plugins between releases, like Citrix/Xen apps for example, or create a Metro option for the kiosk market. That would be news worthy instead of this rapid release schedule of major version releases.
1. Re:I'd care but... by kthreadd · 2013-10-29 07:15 · Score: 2
  
  $ file -L /usr/bin/firefox
  /usr/bin/firefox: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.26, BuildID[sha1]=0x351721d7eba5940fb79872c01865bfcf86eda51d, stripped
  Looks 64-bit to me.
2. Re:I'd care but... by tlhIngan · 2013-10-29 07:24 · Score: 2
  
  The developers refuse to release a 64-bit browser
  64-bit is available in the nightly builds. It's not in the main tree because more people would have problems with it (most plugins, like flash, are 32-bit only)
  It's why the default browser even on 64-bit OSes is 32-bit - plugin compatibility. Unless you're Google which ships Flash with every version of Chrome and can thus ship a 64-bit version with the 64-bit version.
  Doing so in Firefox would just lead to a bunch of support tickets on why Flash refuses to work.
3. Re:I'd care but... by royallthefourth · 2013-10-29 07:45 · Score: 2
  
  More than 4 gig of memory is a waste for a browser.
  Obviously you are not a serious Javascript experimenter! Now that we've got canvas, WebGL, web workers, and audio, there's plenty of memory intensive stuff we can do inside the browser. The only limiting factors that distinguish web pages from real applications nowadays are your understanding of Javascript and how shitty of a browser you're willing to target.
4. Re:I'd care but... by Arethereanyleft · 2013-10-29 07:45 · Score: 2
  
  Same here. I'm really tired of the almost-daily random crashes. And why is it that when I start after a crash or reboot, it tells me it can't restore my session, but then when I click the button it does so without fail?
5. Re:I'd care but... by NoMaster · 2013-10-29 12:38 · Score: 2
  
  And why is it that when I start after a crash or reboot, it tells me it can't restore my session, but then when I click the button it does so without fail?
  Because it's not actually restoring your session - it's reaching across the void between dimensions, piercing the paper-thin veil that separates this from that, and stealing the session from another reality.
  The reality Firefox has reached in may differ only in the angular momentum of a single sub-atomic particle. Ever notice that sometimes the session you get back is not quite the same as the one you 'lost'? That, for example, one tab may have subtly different content, or that it's on the page you'd been on before you clicked the link? At other times, greater divergence between realities can more profound differences. My wife - then girlfriend - once borrowed my laptop after FF had crashed on me, only to be shocked by multiple tabs full of midgets being blown by ducks.
  Lucky for me she understood that my last-second scream of "no, dont!" was simply meant to stop her from seeing I'd been idly browsing wedding rings, curtains, and Michael Buble CDs, and didn't hold it against me.
  You wouldn't, however, know any of this - because the Mozilla folks have never provided a useful or detailed changelog.
  If they had someone might have twigged that, rather than the problem leading to a solution, what has in fact happened is that the solution leads to the problem. Your session disappeared because Otheryou stole it; however, Otheryou's session disappeared because you stole it.
  Causality is fucked up, and I blame Mozilla...
  
  --
  What part of "a well regulated militia" do you not understand?
Re: Bloated horseshit by Anonymous Coward · 2013-10-29 06:49 · Score: 4, Informative

Not anymore.
The last 2 (well, now 3) versions of Firefox have been stellar. Look at the benchmark tests. These latest Firefox versions are smoking everyone else, including Chrome. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/chrome-27-firefox-21-opera-next,3534-12.html
Re:privacy by i+kan+reed · 2013-10-29 07:21 · Score: 3, Informative

If you don't turn off "phishing protection" it's absolutely true.
Maybe I'll go Android by omfglearntoplay · 2013-10-29 07:25 · Score: 2

I find browsing on the vendor built in browsers to be TERRIBLE. All the adds and crap flying around is twice as bad on a little tablet or phone because it is too easy to misclick. And browsing is already slower b/c of all the ads loading, it just ruins the experience for me.
Thank GOD for Firefox and the tweaks you can apply with 3rd party pieces. LOVE IT and I will NEVER change to something else.
1. Re:Maybe I'll go Android by c0d3g33k · 2013-10-29 08:56 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Recommended. Firefox on Android still has many issues, but recent stable versions are much, much better than the first beta versions. There aren't that many add-ons available, but the ones that are available make the Android tablet browsing experience much more pleasant. The ones to look for: Adblock Plus, Self-Destructing Cookies, Ghostery and NO Google Analytics. Visit your favorite sites with the stock/vendor browsers, compare with Firefox+addons and decide for yourself.
Re:Bloated horseshit by Forbo · 2013-10-29 07:29 · Score: 2

Or you could use Chromium.
Re:Firefux by Grant_Watson · 2013-10-29 07:45 · Score: 4, Informative

Your tone is flamebait, but your question is valid. Firefox has a project called MemShrink whose focus has been on reducing memory usage. In the time they've been going they have found and fixed leaks in Firefox; come up with better ways to find leaks in add-ons, which were the biggest culprit; changed how Firefox handles memory used by add-ons to eliminate virtually all such leaks; and optimized Firefox's memory management in a bunch of non-buggy cases.
So yes, if memory usage is what drove you away from Firefox you should take another look.
Re:Unfortunately... by robmv · 2013-10-29 10:05 · Score: 2

How do you think someone will write a relatively good web game without some kind of programming language API for sound?, Web Audio API is more than simple play and stop calls
Re:Unfortunately... by TechyImmigrant · 2013-10-29 10:18 · Score: 2

They could write a program instead. A web browser is just about the worst container for an application.

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