Mozilla Releases Firefox 26.0

The Mozilla organization today released a new version, 26.0, of its Firefox Web browser, for all platforms: Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.  The new version includes fixes for 14 identified security vulnerabilities, five of which Mozilla rates at Critical severity.  There are also some other bug fixes:

• Text rendering on Windows 7 or 8
• Improved page load times
• MP3 back end on OS X

This version also incorporates some new features:

• Java plugins default to “click to play”
• H.264 is supported on Linux
• Password manager supports script-generated password fields

More details are available in the Release Notes.

Because of its security content, I recommend that you update your system as soon as you conveniently can.  You can get the new version using the built-in update mechanism, or you can get a complete installation package, in any of 70+ languages, from the download page.

Google Updates Chrome to 29.0.1547.65

Google has released a new version, 29.0.1547.65, of its Chrome browser for all platforms: Mac OS X, Linux, Windows, and Chrome Frame.  The major change in this release is an updated version of the bundled (“Pepper” based) Flash Player plug-in.  More information on the changes is available via the Release Announcement.

Windows and Mac users can get the new version via the built-in update mechanism; Linux users should check their distribution’s repositories for the new version.  If you need to get a complete installation package, you can download it here.

Google Releases Chrome 29

Google has released a new major version, 29.0.1547.57, of its Chrome browser for all platforms: Mac OS X, Linux, Windows, and Chrome Frame.  The new version incorporates some additional features:

• Your profile can be reset to its original state
• Suggestions offered when you type into the “Omnibox” will weight your recent activity more heavily
• There are several new APIs for applications and extensions

This release also includes fixes for 25 security vulnerabilities, including at least five rated by Google as High severity.

More information on the changes is available via the Release Announcement.

Because of the security content of this release, I recommend that you update your systems as soon as you conveniently can.   Windows and Mac users can get the new version via the built-in update mechanism; Linux users should check their distribution’s repositories for the new version.  If you need to get a complete installation package, you can download it here.

 

Google Updates Chrome to 27.0.1453.110

This past week, Google released a new version, 27.0.1453.110, of its Chrome browser for all platforms: Mac OS X, Linux, Windows, and Chrome Frame..  The new version incorporates fixes for 12 identified security vulnerabilities.  Google rates one of these as Critical, and 10 as High severity.  More information is available in the Release Announcement.

Because of the security content of this release, I recommend that you update your systems as soon as you conveniently can.   Windows and Mac users can get the new version via the built-in update mechanism; Linux users should check their distribution’s repositories for the new version.  If you need to get a complete installation package, you can download it here.

Google Releases Chrome 26

Google today released a new major version, 26.0.1410.43, of its Chrome browser for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, and Chrome Frame.  This release incorporates fixes for 11 identified security vulnerabilities, two of which Google rates as High severity.  The new version also includes some new features:

• “Ask Google for suggestions” spell checking improvements (e.g. grammar and homonym checking)
• Desktop shortcuts for multiple users (profiles) on Windows
• Asynchronous DNS resolver on Mac and Linux

Further details are available in the Release Announcement.

Because of the security content of this release, I recommend that you update your systems as soon as you conveniently can.   Windows and Mac users can get the new version via the built-in update mechanism; Linux users should check their distribution’s repositories for the new version.

Update Tuesday, 26 March, 22:14 EDT

Ars Technica has an article on the new Chrome release; it has a useful description of some the new spell-checking features.

Google Releases Chrome 24.0.1312.57

Google has released a new version, 24.0.1312.57, of its Chrome browser, for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Chrome Frame.  This appears to be a bug fix release, focused on two bugs (renderer crashes and microphone problems) on the Mac OS X platform, and a renderer problem with Chrome Frame.  There do not appear to be any security fixes in this release; more details are in the Release Announcement.

Unless you are suffering from one of the bugs fixed in this release, I don’t think there is any reason for rushing to get the upgrade.  (I do think that there is a lot to be said for keeping your system’s software up to date, within reason.)  Windows and Mac users can get the new version via the built-in update mechanism; Linux users should check their distribution’s repositories for the new version.