Slashdot Mirror
Firefox 11.0 For iOS Arrives With Tracking Protection On By Default (venturebeat.com)
The new version of Firefox 11.0 for iOS turns on tracking protection by default, lets you reorder your tabs, and adds a handful of iPad-specific features. The latest version is currently available via Apple's App Store. VentureBeat details the new features: Tracking protection means Firefox blocks website elements (ads, analytics trackers, and social share buttons) that could track you while you're surfing the web. It's almost like a built-in ad blocker, though it's really closer to browser add-ons like Ghostery and Privacy Badger because ads that don't track you are allowed through. The feature's blocking list, which is based on the tracking protection rules laid out by the anti-tracking startup Disconnect, is published under the General Public License and available on GitHub. The feature is great for privacy, but it also improves performance. Content loads faster for many websites, which translates into less data usage and better battery life. If tracking protection doesn't work well on a given site, just turn it off there and Firefox for iOS should remember your preference.
Tracking protection aside, iOS users can now reorder their tabs. Organizing your tabs is very straightforward: Long-press the specific tab and drag it either left or right. iPad users have gained two new features, as well. You can now share URLs by just dragging and dropping links to and from Firefox with any other iOS app. If you're in side-by-side view, just drag the link or tab into the other app. Otherwise, bring up the doc or app switcher, drag the link into the other app until it pulses, release the link, and the other app will open the link. Lastly, iPad users have gained a few more keyboard shorts, including the standard navigation keys from the desktop. There's also cursor navigation through the bookmarks and history results, an escape key in the URL bar, and easier tab tray navigation (try using the keyboard shortcut Command + Option + Tab to get to and from the tabs view).
Tracking protection aside, iOS users can now reorder their tabs. Organizing your tabs is very straightforward: Long-press the specific tab and drag it either left or right. iPad users have gained two new features, as well. You can now share URLs by just dragging and dropping links to and from Firefox with any other iOS app. If you're in side-by-side view, just drag the link or tab into the other app. Otherwise, bring up the doc or app switcher, drag the link into the other app until it pulses, release the link, and the other app will open the link. Lastly, iPad users have gained a few more keyboard shorts, including the standard navigation keys from the desktop. There's also cursor navigation through the bookmarks and history results, an escape key in the URL bar, and easier tab tray navigation (try using the keyboard shortcut Command + Option + Tab to get to and from the tabs view).
No-Addons-Edition 11.0
About 6 months ago I bumped the default firefox tracking protection all the way up, and my web browsing experience has been faster and cleaner than it has been. The only downside has been sites that display messages saying "Hey, I see you are using an ad blocker!" I smugly say "No I'm not, you are serving garbage! Nevermind, I'll find another site!" I've had coworkers who poo-pood Firefox for a while asking me for help stopping creepy ads. I hope that other browsers follow suit, it might go a long ways toward advertisers cleaning up their act. If they can't server their ads anymore, they will need to either clean them up so they get whitelisted, or (unfortunately) get sneakier.
The Atlantic's troubleshooting guide deliberately treats users of tracking blockers the same as users of ad blockers, insistently referring to "ad or tracking blockers" in the same breath each time. The wording appears intentionally constructed to dodge "I want the ads, just not the tracking." My first guess is that ads that are not based on tracking users, such as those seen on Daring Fireball and Read the Docs, have a CPM much lower than ads that are based on tracking users, and this lower CPM is lower than the lowest CPM that will fully fund both the writing and the hosting of The Atlantic.
Version 11? Is this March of 2012?
isn't removing social share buttons quite large website breakage for an average user? Such users wont notice lack of regular tracking scripts as they are largely invisible and useless for them, but sharing news/blog posts seems to be a pretty common use case for social media.and those buttons are the easiest way to do so.
Firefox on iOS is getting serious, and has other tricks up its sleeve. For instance, it has a frikkin' Night Mode. Tap the hamburger menu at the lower right, then tap "Enable Night Mode".
It's a damn shame that iOS doesn't allow you to set a default browser, but I still use FF on iOS with pleasure.
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
Its a good idea, but its easy to get around. Most major analytical programs like Piwik and Google Analytics have a server side API. I know with our users we started noticing that uBlock Origin was blocking Google Analytics, so we made a fallback server script to track them.
Granted it's not remotely the same platform, but definitely on Windows I get a lot of (Not Responding) if I try to use Firefox a little too quickly after it's been open for more than a little while. And regardless of OS, if I type too quickly on Thunderbird, every once in a while it'll just sort of sit there and then finally treat all my keys at hot keys, often doing tons of shit, sometimes even sending the email I was working on, because for whatever reason it decided to remove focus from the actual message body text box.
Firefox is still the best browser for web development, as any other version of Firebug except the one for Firefox sucks, and Thunderbird is still largely a great mail client, but overall, what the hell is the deal with Mozilla as a framework/software stack/etc that it never seems to get less shitty or have less memory leaks? I get tracking that stuff down can take a long time, but it's only increased over the last decade since I first remember complaining about it.
See subject & ÃPK Hosts File Engine 10++ SR-1 32/64-bit https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=ZYrPWpW_H-ykggel7JLwBg&btnG=Search&q=APK+site%3Astart64.com/
Ads/script/malware rob speed/security/privacy/bandwidth.
Hosts add speed (via hardcodes/adblocks), security (vs. bad sites/malware/poisoned dns), reliability (vs. dns down), & anonymity (vs. dns requestlogs/trackers).
Less power/cpu/ram + IO use vs. DNS/routers/addons/antivir + less security bugs/complexity & faster vs. av/addons/routers/remote dns!
Avoids DNSChangers in routers/IP settings & dns redirect (99++% of ISP DNS != patched vs. it) + DNS tracking & lighten DNS load & resolve faster via local RAM!
* Via what u NATIVELY have in a FASTER kernelmode IP stack (does more w/ less).
â
APK
P.S. - Accept NO substitute for more speed, security, reliablity & anonymity that does more for less vs. ANY other single "so-called 'solution'"... apk
Isn't PC up to Firefox 80 by now?