The Firefox 3.5 press release is available here.  We also compiled a guide to frequently asked questions. You can also check out this video for a guided tour of what’s new in Firefox 3.5.

Mike Beltzner, Director of Firefox has a comprehensive post here.  The post includes a list of some of the coolest Firefox 3.5 features, excerpted below.

• Firefox 3.5 is available in more than 70 languages – get your local version.
• We have included tools for controlling your private data, including a Private Browsing Mode, and the ability to go back in time and Clear Recent History.
• Firefox 3.5 has support for the HTML5 <video> and <audio> elements including native support for Ogg Theora encoded video and Vorbis encoded audio.
• The browser features faster performance on complex websites thanks to the new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine.
• Users can enjoy Location Aware Browsing using web standards for geolocation.
• Web developers can make use of native JSON parsing, and web worker threads.
• This release includes improvements to the Gecko layout engine, including speculative parsing for faster content rendering.
• Firefox 3.5 supports new web technologies such as: downloadable fonts, CSS media queries, new transformations and properties, JavaScript query selectors, HTML5 local storage and offline application storage, <canvas> text, ICC profiles, and SVG transforms.

Alix Franquet and Rainer Cvillink recently tracked down a bunch of Mozillians to find out which aspects of 3.5 they’re most excited about, and the results are pretty interesting. Definitely check out the video (and see how many faces you recognize).

Stay tuned for more Firefox 3.5 news soon!

Stuart Parmenter, Mozilla’s mobile team technical lead, highlights some of the exciting new features in his blog post, excerpted below:

For these releases we have worked on improving the user experience, replacing our old theme with a much nicer looking one and fixing numerous usability issues. We’ve continued to increase performance and responsiveness. We’ve revamped how you install Add-ons, improved our download manager and the whole look of the application. We’ve started work on making forms on web pages easier to use, providing a nicer combo box UI than before.

For more details visit Stuart’s post. Congratulations on these milestones!

Wow! was the only word that can really sum up the Open Video Conference last weekend in New York City. It was an amazing confluence of people from the worlds of online video, art, free culture, open content and web technology. This is not a group that comes together often, but it turns out sparks fly when they do (in a good way).

Photo: Kid Kameleon, CC BY SA NC

…

Of course, the big take away is that open video is both important and fun. Dean, Elizabeth, Ben and all the volunteers did an AMAZING job organizing an event that showed this. They invited the right mix of people, programmed the right content and threw the right parties. The organizations that backed the event also showed tremendous leadership and prescience — Participatory Culture Foundation, Kaltura, the Yale Information and Society Project and iCommons. All of these people and orgs deserve a huge thank you (I hear clapping!).

Next steps: start doing the small and easy things (open video awareness and documentation), and figure out a way to pick up some of the hard stuff along the way (better codecs, easy tools, deeper connections to the people who make video). The good news is there are alot of people and orgs that want to make it happen, and they are gathering around this idea of an Open Video Alliance (the umbrella for the conference). Good things ahead.

PS. A full video archive of the conference sessions is coming soon. In the meantime, you can see one of the demos that Blizzard and Paul Rouget gave here and Blizzard and my slides here.

Read Mark’s full wrap-up of the Open Video Conference.

Is your non-profit or community organization in need of technology help? Do you need help with your website, setting up WiFi at your office, or learning how to use Twitter? If so, Mozilla would love to hear from you!

This September, the Mozilla community is helping fellow public benefit organizations. During Mozilla Service Week (Sept 14-21), people all over the world will conduct public acts of technology-related service. Our community is looking for volunteer opportunities. By utilizing our community’s talents for writing, designing, programming, developing, and all-around technical know-how, we believe we can make the Web — and the world — a better place for everyone. Here are just a few ideas of how we can help:

• Help build or upgrade a website.
• Teach you how social networks and Twitter can help you find new members and supporters.
• Set up a wireless network at your office or meeting place.
• Translate your offering into another language.
• Show you how to use VoIP (Internet telephony) to help reduce your costs.

There are countless ways technology could help improve the great work you do, and the Mozilla community wants to help make that difference.

How can your non-profit or community group get help?

We are working with the volunteer organization Idealist, so if you already have a need in mind, you can register your organization at Idealist and describe the technical help you are looking for. Mozilla’s volunteers are searching Idealist and will locate your organization.

You can also find out more on how to list your needs and find volunteers on the Mozilla Service Week website. Furthermore, if you need additional guidance you can contact us.

Mozilla Service Week Volunteers

You can already start helping by contacting and checking in with organizations. Please talk them through what they need to do, and even help them post.

The Mozilla community has a history of changing the the Web in all kinds of amazing ways.

Join us for Mozilla Service Week, as we help you change the world.

Please note: the Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate is a public preview release intended for developer testing and community feedback. It includes many new features as well as improvements to performance, web compatibility, and speed. We recommend that you read the release notes and known issues before installing this release candidate.

A new version of the Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate is now available for download, containing fixes based on the feedback obtained from the previous release candidate. This updated milestone is focused on providing a preview of the functionality provided by the new features and changes that will be included in Firefox 3.5. A video highlighting some of these new features is also available. Ongoing planning for Firefox 3.5 can be followed at the Firefox 3.5 Planning Center, as well as in mozilla.dev.planning and on irc.mozilla.org in #shiretoko.

Testers can download Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate builds for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in over 70 different languages. Developers should also read the Firefox 3.5 for Developers article on the Mozilla Developer Center.

Users already running a Firefox 3.5 Beta or Release Candidate can obtain an update to this latest Release Candidate version by selecting “Check for Updates…” from the “Help” menu.

Note: Please do not link directly to the download site. Instead we strongly encourage you to link to this Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate milestone announcement so that everyone will know what this milestone is, what they should expect, and who should be downloading to participate in testing at this stage of development.

The Extend Firefox contest is back challenging developers to make the next great web experience!

This global developer contest awards prizes for developing new Firefox Add-ons for the upcoming production release of Firefox 3.5. Last year’s contest received over 100 add-on submissions of some of the coolest and most innovative add-ons to-date and with Firefox 3.5 really raising the bar in terms of features, you can expect this year’s competition to be intense!

We’ve worked hard to line up great documentation and resources for contestants along with awesome prizes for the winners. Along with MacBook Pro laptops, the contest’s sponsors are providing professional development tools, software and books which are sure to complement any developers toolkit & library!

All entries will be judged by a panel of experts, with Grand Prize and Runner’s Up prize packages awarded for add-ons that take advantage of the new capabilities being introduced in Firefox 3.5 and that demonstrate excellence in user experience, innovativeness, and use of open standards. In addition, we’ve added two new categories this year for the best shopping add-on and the best gaming and entertainment add-on. Hot!

Special thanks to our sponsors, Manning Publications, InformIT, MacroMates, Sofa and ExpanDrive, for offering up some cool prizes and for helping to promote and get the word out to the wider development community!

Extend Firefox 3.5 is open now and runs through October 2nd, 2009.

Official contest rules and information are available at http://www.extendfirefox.com/.

Wondering how you can get a head start on Mozilla Service Week (Sept. 7 - 21, 2009)? You can roll up your sleeves and help an organization in need of technology-related service now or help get the word out! This summer it will be critical to not only expose Mozilla Service Week to would-be volunteers worldwide, but help identify and approach non-profits or local organizations that can use our help.

That’s where you come in — the Mozilla community has always been adept at spreading the word! Help drive thousands of privileges to serve and hundreds of opportunities by taking a few moments to promote Mozilla Service Week. Here’s how:

• Download site badges, banners, and buttons to add to your blog, your social network profile, or your email signature.
• Download a Mozilla Service Week flyer. Print it out and hand it out at a local event or post at work, at school, or at your community center.
• Start planning your service activity and challenge your friends to join you using PledgeBank.
• Get the word out by posting news, video or pictures on your blog, twitter, or social network site. Tag your posts with “mozservice09″ so they’re easy to find.
• Share your story of what you’re planning to do for Mozilla Service Week here or on your favorite social networking site.
• Flaunt your support for Mozilla Service Week with a customized Persona, a skin for Firefox.

Everyone should have the opportunity to know how to use the Internet, have easy access to it, and have a good experience when they’re online. So if you have a talent for writing, designing, programming, developing, all-around technical know-how or a knack for spreading the word, join the Mozilla Service Week effort today.

Discover Shiretoko was born as a collaborative project between Japan’s Shiretoko Foundation and Mozilla Japan. Shiretoko is a national park in Northern Japan - it is also the codename for the latest version of Firefox. The campaign is designed to help more people learn about Shiretoko national park and the newest version of Firefox.

You can read a full post about Discover Shiretoko on Foxkeh’s blog.

To contribute, just record a short video of you or your friends doing something really fast - anything from folding clothes to playing ping pong - then visit www.fastestfirefox.com to upload. We’ll edit our favorites into a single clip, and if we use yours you’ll get a supercool Firefox 3.5 t-shirt (plus the satisfaction of helping the open web and spreading Firefox, of course). The only catch is that the submission deadline is June 28, so time is running out.

We’ve also been collaborating with some truly incredible Guinness World Record holders. Earlier we shared videos from the world’s fastest clapper and the world’s fastest sport stacker, and our latest in that series comes from Todd Taylor, the world’s fastest banjo player. Watch Todd in action and prepare to be blown away.

If you still need more inspiration, check out this one-handed Rubik’s cube video from community member Daniel DJ Cruz Chan, then send us a video of your own!