On Oct 30, Mozilla released Firefox 3.6 Beta 1.  Then on November 11, Mozilla released Firefox 3.6 Beta 2.

These betas of Firefox 3.6 introduced several new features:

• Users can now change their browser’s appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
• Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
• Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
• Support for the WOFF font format.
• Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
• Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.
• A mechanism to prevent incompatible software from crashing Firefox.

Beta 1 coverage highlights:

CNET, ComputerWorld, Internetnews.com, PC Mag, PC Pro, PCWorld, ReadWriteWeb, ZDNet

Beta 2 coverage highlights:

BetaNews, CNET, DailyTech, DownloadSquad, GoMo News, InternetNews.com, Lifehacker, PCMagazine, The H,  Webmonkey, WebWorkerDaily

On Oct 20, Mozilla joined several organizations in endorsing the Web Open Font Format (WOFF) specification.  We also announced the intent to implement the specification starting in Firefox 3.6.

Wired’s Michael Calore on the WOFF spec:

This is a significant step forward not only for the emerging open format, but also for type on the web in general, which is still stuck in a state of mild turmoil.

For years, designers have been limited to using only a set of five or six common fonts on the web. But thanks to new font rendering tools within the emerging HTML5 and CSS3 standards, web designers now have the ability to use newer, more visually interesting typefaces — and make that type appear more consistently across browsers, operating systems and screen resolutions.

Coverage highlights include:

CNET, Technology Review, Webmonkey, Holy Info, The H, and Online PC.

Last week Mozilla’s security program manager, Brandon Sterne, posted an update to Mozilla’s plan for its Content Security Policy (CSP).  The news has gotten positive attention in the press and has resulted in more than 10 articles since the post.

The Register’s Dan Goodin comments on CSP’s potential. He says, “Still, CSP is worth watching – and if you’re a web developer, even playing around with. If it works as intended, it could prove to be one of the more promising solutions for a Web 2.0 world that’s built first and is only later, if ever, patched.”

Johnathan Nightingale spoke with ComputerWorld’s Gregg Keizer. Gregg notes, “‘This isn’t a single trick that’s meant to counter a single kind of attack,’ said Johnathan Nightingale, the manager of the Firefox front-end development team. ‘This helps sites solve cross-site scripting, but it’s more than that. They now have a way to shut everything dynamic off, so that no matter what content gets added to a site, if it’s on the page and they’ve sent us policy instructions in its header, we shut it down.’”

Additional coverage highlights include: Threatpost, Security Focus, PC Magazine, ITChuiko, The Inquirer,  InternetNews, InformationWeek, The H and Beta News

Last week Ken Kovash, Mozilla’s manager of metrics, wrote a blog post on Mozilla’s metrics blog analyzing the results of Mozilla’s campaign to warn users if their version of Adobe Flash is out of date. Ken noted that in just one week 10,000,000 people have clicked on the “flash update” link below.

Sean Michael Kerner from Internet News helps put that number into perspective. He says, “That potentially means that 10 million people were running older out-of-date and insecure versions of Flash. It means that despite Adobe’s own efforts to get people to update with their own update mechanisms and public outreach that 10 million people were still left out of the loop.”

Mitchell Baker and Johnathan Nightingale also commented on the success of the effort in blog posts last week.

ComputerWorld’s Gregg Keizer includes comments from Adobe in his article, “Adobe on Thursday confirmed a spike in traffic to its Flash Player update page, and applauded Mozilla’s move. ‘For us, anything that others do to help users stay up-to-date is a good thing,’ said Brad Arkin, Adobe’s director for product security and privacy. ‘We’re glad to see Mozilla doing this.’”

Additional coverage includes GHacks, Download Squad, Geek.com, SC Magazine and InformationWeek and Heise.

Earlier this month Mozilla announced that beginning with the Firefox 3.5.3 and Firefox 3.0.14 security and stability updates, Mozilla will warn users if their version of the Adobe Flash Player plugin is out of date. Old versions of plugins can cause crashes and other stability problems, and can also be a significant security risk. Mozilla is focusing on the Adobe Flash Player both because of its popularity and because some studies have shown that as many as 80% of users currently have an out of date version.

Since the Firefox 3.5.3 and 3.0.14 security updates have gone out,  the news has gotten significant attention in the press, with most of the discussions being centering on the positive implications of the updates for users.

Sean Michael Kerner, from Internetnews.com comments, “There are many (millions?) users that open their browsers every day and browse sites using outdated versions of Adobe Flash. I suspect that most of those users don’t have a clue that they are using vulnerable software…Having the browser, the place where most users interact with Flash, as the place where an update notification is made is just such an obvious (and great) idea.”

Geek.com’s Mathew Humphries says, “With Firefox’s growing user base and little reminders popping up regularly to tell you plug-ins are out of date it will surely have a positive impact on those updating software like the ever-vulnerable Flash player. Although it won’t stop malware targeting the browser and Flash in particular it will mean more of those attacks are blocked before they can do any harm.”

Other coverage highlights include: PC Magazine, SC Magazine, TechSpot, Heise, The Washington Post, PC Pro, Ghacks Tech News, ZD Net, and Computerworld.

While we received the bulk of coverage around the Firefox 3.5 launch in June, some great pieces are still being written. Last week, Financial Times writer Paul Taylor published a positive review of Firefox 3.5. Taylor notes,

No other browser can match the variety or sophistication of the add-ons already available for Firefox, and none has gone as far as Firefox in embracing the technology standards that will help power tomorrow’s internet-based applications.”

In other Firefox news…last Friday, Mozilla released Firefox 3.6 alpha. There have been several positive press articles emphasizing speed improvements and new features.

Coverage Highlights: Computerworld, Lifehacker, CNET,  PC Magazine,  TechSpot, Internetnews.com, IT Pro, Webmonkey, Ars Technica

Last Friday, the official Spread Firefox download counter reached one billion. To date, there have been more than 80 original pieces of coverage with most of the coverage being extremely positive and excited about the billion download achievement.

David Colker from the L.A. Times commented on the milestone:

Quite a feat for a browser that unlike Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Apple’s Safari is run by a nonprofit organization with fewer than 250 employees.  Despite it’s lack of big corporate backing –or maybe partially because of that lack—Firefox has become hugely popular worldwide”

John Paczkowski from All Things D quoted Mozilla CEO, John Lilly:

As Mozilla CEO John Lilly told me this morning, ‘It’s a billion votes–a billion intentional decisions–for people to take control of how they interact with the Web. We–the whole Mozilla community, really–are really proud to have been part of building a product that’s been downloaded so many times, but more importantly, we’re all proud to have helped people take more control over their online lives by making intentional decisions.’”

And Ryan Paul from Ars Technica said:

Firefox has transformed the Internet by bringing innovation and a strong standards-based browsing experience to the masses. Its swift rate of advancement has been accompanied by rapid adoption, leading to the emergence of an enormous following of loyal users. The Firefox phenomenon has contributed greatly to leveling the playing field on the Web and reigniting competition in the browser market.”

Coverage highlights include: BBC News, CIO Today, CNET, Examiner, Fast Company, Geek.com, Information Week, Info World, Lifehacker, The Mirror, PC Magazine, PC World, The San Francisco Business Times, Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, The TechHerald, TecZone, The Guardian, ZDNet, ReadWriteWeb, TechCrunch, VentureBeat,

We’ve had a phenomenally busy few months at Mozilla.  I’m pleased to share a number of highlights from Mozilla’s media coverage around the 3.5 launch and more!

First up, Firefox 3.5 launched to much fanfare and widespread coverage in major media outlets including USA Today, Fast Company, Seattle Times,  ABC News, MTV, BusinessWeek, CNET, NPR, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, and more.  Firefox 3.5 also enjoyed top trending topic status on Twitter on launch day.  If you look closely, you can see that we’re beat Michael Jackson

Last week, John Lilly was a guest on the NBC Bay Area show Press:Here, a Sunday morning news roundtable discussion show about Silicon Valley featuring top tech leaders and world class technology reporters.  You can view the segment here.   Creative Commons VP, Mike Linksvayer is interviewed immediately after John so be sure to check out the full episode!

And finally, this past weekend Mozilla was featured in The New York Times Sunday Business section.  The article includes photos of Mitchell Baker, John Lilly, and a number of Mozilla engineers in Mountain View and Toronto (via video satellite).

Earlier this week the Mozilla Add-ons team released Add-on Collections, which enables anyone to create their own collection of add-ons that can be shared with their friends, posted on blogs, and featured on the Firefox Add-ons website. The news has gotten a lot of positive attention and feedback. Many people are excited to be able to more easily discover and share the wealth of Add-ons, enabled by Collections and a redesign of the Add-ons site.

Lifehacker’s Kevin Purdy discusses some of the benefits of Collections:

By creating a new collection, which you can make private or public, you basically create an up-to-date backup of your must-have Firefox extensions. For frequent re-installers, a good collection is going to be a must. For those looking to help out Firefox newcomer friends or keep a group of workers updated, it seems like a pretty nifty tool.

PC Pro and Beta News have even made their own Collections. Check them out!

Coverage highlights include:

The New York Times, Geek.com, PC Pro, PC Pro, Pocket lint, Lifehacker, Mashable, BetaNews, GHacks, Heise and Tech Radar

Mozilla Labs recently announced a call for participation in its latest project, Jetpack. Jetpack explores new ways to extend & personalize the Web.

Jetpack was received positively by the press, with many people noting that the already impressive size and dedication of the Mozilla add-ons community should help make the project a success. There seemed to be some initial confusion over the differences between Jetpack and Greasemonkey, but we continued to push the message that Jetpack was in part informed by the success of Greasemonkey, and that you’ll likely see support for Greasemonkey scripts to Jetpack to allow them work even better together.

The Register’s Cade Metz spoke with Aza Raskin about the goals of the project. He writes, “‘We want to enable more people to participate in the creation of browser functionality, following the Mozilla mission of making the browser yours, making the web yours,’ Mozilla’s head of user experience Aza Raskin told The Reg. ‘What if any eighth grader with a little skill could change the browser? What would that mean for the web?’”

CNet’s Josh Lowensohn notes some exciting benefits the release brings to users, “Besides no restarts and no breaking with updates, the most exciting aspect of Jetpack is how it can give users more control over what they see on a site, and how they can interact with its content. Like Ubiquity (another Mozilla Labs project), it also appears to be putting these add-ons right in the hands of users as soon as they visit a site with Jetpack controls, which means there’s less of a need to promote it in an add-ons directory to have users find it.”

US Coverage highlights:

PC Advisor, Lockergnome Blog, Trusted Reviews, Pocket-Lint, Internet News, Slashdot, TechSpot, InfoWorld, Ars Tehnica, CNet, PC World, eWeek, TechNewsWorld, ChannelWeb, InformationWeek, The Register, N4G, Vnunet.com

EU coverage highlights:

PC Pro, ComputerWorld UK, Heise Online, ZDNet, Yahoo UK & Ireland, eWeek, Computeractive, Digital Arts,