As we near the GA for Firefox 3.6, the majority of press briefings have been completed and we’re readying for launch day!

Here’s a quick round up of coverage around the second release candidate for Firefox 3.6!

Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate 2 Coverage Report

CNET, Mozilla releases second Firefox release candidate

Crenk, Download Firefox 3.6 RC2 Web Browser

DeviceMAG, Mozilla Releases Second RC for Firefox 3.6

Downloadsquad, Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate 2 now available

Geek.com, Nearly finished: Mozilla posts the second Firefox 3.6 release candidate

Ghacks Technology News, Firefox 3.6 RC2 Released

Lifehacker, Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate 2 Available for Download

Maximum PC, News Mozilla Stomps on Bugs, Launches Firefox 3.6 RC2

PC Magazine, Firefox 3.6 Receives a Second Release Candidate

Softpedia, Download Firefox 3.6 RC2 (Release Candidate)

The H, Mozilla releases Firefox 3.6 RC2

The Register, Near-ready Firefox 3.6 gets second RC sausage

Tom’s Hardware Guide, Mozilla Releases Firefox 3.6RC2; Final Next Week

ZDNet, Firefox 3.6 RC2 now available

Here’s a quick round up of US press coverage of the Firefox 3.6 release candidate.  Anticipation is building for the final release – coming soon!

Ars Technica: Firefox 3.6 almost ready, release candidate available

eWeek: Mozilla Rolls Out Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate

InformationWeek: Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate Available

Inquirer: Firefox 3.6 release candidate is out

ITProPortal: Mozilla Unveils Firefox 3.6 RC1 Browser

Mashable: Firefox 3.6 RC1 Now Available

Maximum PC: Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate (RC1) Now Available for Download

OS News: Near-Final Firefox 3.6 Out for Testing

PC Pro: Firefox 3.6 RC1 released – final build to follow soon?

PC Magazine: Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate Publicly Available

ReadWrite Web: New Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate…One Last Time?

Register: Mozilla teases surfers with near-final version of Firefox 3.6

SoftSailor: Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate 1

SoftPedia: Firefox 3.6 Final Coming Right Up

TechDigest: Test version of Firefox 3.6 available for testing

TechRadar: Release candidate arrives of Firefox 3.6

TechSpot: Mozilla releases the first Firefox 3.6 release candidate

Tom’s Hardware Guide: Firefox 3.6 is Almost Done, RC1 Download Here

Tuaw: Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate now available

Web Trends: Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate 1 Now Available

Web Monkey: Firefox 3.6 Enters the Home Stretch, Release Candidate Arrives

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

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

Firefox 3. Beta 4 was released on Monday. It’s gotten much attention in the press given this release likely represents the final beta for Firefox 3.5. Coverage has been positive, focusing on improvements around speed and performance, private browsing, and geolocation.

Mike Beltzner spoke with TG Daily’s Wolfgang Gruener and commented about the significance of a beta release. Wolfgang writes, “While Mozilla releases nightly builds of the browser on a continuous basis, each new beta may not be as interesting to users as those rare betas for Safari and IE. ‘It is a fundamental difference in the way how our culture works,’ Beltzner said. Mozilla believes that its beta software is a crucial tool for developers, while other browser makers are using their beta browsers for marketing purposes. ‘Internet Explorer has such a long upgrade cycle. And when a beta is released people end up installing that software since they believe it is the latest and greatest.’”

U. S. coverage highlights include:

CNET,  ComputerWorld, ReadWriteWeb, TGDaily, InternetNews.com, Lifehacker, Mashable, PC Magazine, BetaNews and InfoWorld

On Tuesday, our mobile team released Fennec 1.0 Beta 1!

Scott Gilbertson at Wired writes, “The latest Fennec beta brings in two new features from its desktop cousin — The “awesome bar” search engine, which makes it easier to get to frequently visited sites with less typing; and also new is  TraceMonkey, the same, much-improved JavaScript engine set to arrive in Firefox 3.5. Other improvements in the latest release include faster panning, better zoom tools, and other performance related tweaks.”

You can read more about this important mobile milestone in TechCrunch, Lifehacker, CNET, Ars Technica, Network World, Gizmodo, and PC World.