My first Firefox extension! (FlashTracer)

Ok, it does nothing particular new, but it’s my first one 🙂

What it does?
If you have a flash debug player version you will see in the firefox sidebar all the swf trace output while running any of the swf in a browser window.
I have to say thanks to jayjam (Giuseppe Montemurro) who talks about the mm.cfg file yesterday at the From A to Web Adobe conference. I’d never read about this cool feature of the debug players.. and so I decided to make it as firefox extension.
I took 1 hour to make the XUL and js files, while the .xpi package was driving me crazy!.. the documentation is really terrible for my point of view.

Download and install FlashTracer from the Firefox extension page.

UPDATE: A new flash tracer called fbtracer has been released. This new extension is integrated into Firebug. Read more here

P.S. If you’re running the new 9,0,28 Flash plugin probably you noticed this extension wont work anymore. Adobe changed something and the plugin doesn’t read as previously the mm.cfg file so I’m invetigating on it. In the meanwhile you should tell the extension to point to this file: C:\Documents and Settings\{user}\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\Logs\flashlog.txt.

For mac osx it should be: username:Library:Preferences:Macromedia:Flash Player:Logs:flashlog.txt

Using this path the flash tracer works again.

For discussing about this extension please use the forum instead of the comments here 🙂

Google browser sync

I discovered today this great extension for Mozilla Firefox made by Google.

It synchronizes bookmarks, history, cookies and saved passwords continuously across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions.
It allows you to select which setting to be sent using encryption (for example the saved password, even if I just use this extension only for my bookmarks).
Using firefox using different computers every day I always had the problem of bookmarks syncronization. First I used another firefox extension, but I dont remember its name, then I decided to put my bookmark.html file under a CVS repository, but now that I discovered this extension I will definitively use this one.

download the firefox extension here:
http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/browsersync

Mozilla Firefox 1.5 Beta 1 Released

FireFox 1.5 Beta 1Mozilla Firefox 1.5 Beta 1 is now available for download. This is the first beta release of the next major Firefox, which will be widely promoted to end-users, is scheduled for later this year.
New features include an improved software update system, faster Back and Forward navigation (I’m testing it and it’s really fast!), a feature for clearing private browsing data, drag-and-drop reordering of browser tabs, a redesigned Options/Preferences window and better popup blocking. Web standards support is also improved:

  • Support for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
  • JavaScript 1.6 and more CSS
  • Accessibility is also better (including new DHTML accessibility features)
  • Security has been enhanced and there’s now greater support for Mac OSX

Please note that installing FireFox over previous version will disable almost all downloaded extensions which are not compatible with this version of Firefox.
Beta 2 is scheduled for release on Wednesday 5th October and the first release candidate is due on Friday 28th October.
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/

Firefox first victim

It seems incredible but the first victim of the cannibal Firefox (25 millions of downloads) it’s Mozilla itself!
In fact, even if already released some beta version of Mozilla 1.8, there will be no more a 1.8 final release anymore.
The unexpected success of Firefox shifts the development focus from the integrated Mozilla Application Suite to the new generation of applications — the Mozilla Firefox browser and the Mozilla Thunderbird mail and news client.
BTW, support and developement over current Mozilla versions will still continue.

read the full article: Mozilla Application Suite – Transition Plan

Mozilla announces beta release of XFORMS 1.0

The Mozilla Foundation today announced the beta release of the W3C’s XForms 1.0 Recommendation. XForms is the forms module standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which enables developers to deliver the type of next-generation, rich, portable web-based applications desired by corporate IT.

What is XForms? XForms tries to address some of the limitations with the current HTML forms model.
It is event handling based. XForms brings to the table is the separation of data from presentation, strong data typing, the ability to submit XML data to servers instead of name/value pairs, and a descriptive way to author forms so that they can be displayed by a wide variety of devices Download
For download instructions, beta release notes, and to learn more about the project, please visit the project page at http://www.mozilla.org/projects/xforms

IDN Exploit In Firefox

I found out today there is a pretty, well very serious flaw in the various non IE browsers. Firefox is the one I am most concerned about becuase I use it constantly.
This exploit affects all browsers except IE. It has to do with the International Domain Name [IDN] support in modern browsers. The attack allows an attacker/phisher to spoof the domain/URLs of businesses.
There is a proof of concept document that will show you exactly what it can do; there is even an SSL connection that works as well, so much for a secure connection. Try it out before you apply the fix, but not in IE! There are several articles and workaround/fixes out there. I have been messing around with them all morning and here is the run down.

  1. There is a fix listed on Boing Boing. It says to type about:config in the address bar, find network.enableIDN and set it to false. This only works until you close Firefox and re-open it. Then the links at proof of concept will work again. It also broke my Macromedia News extension, don’t waste you time on this fix!
  2. Back up the compreg.dat file first, if you attempt this fix! There is another fix listed on tech.life.blogged. This one says to edit the compreg.dat file that is located in your profile directory, eg. On XP: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.###\ Then you open the compreg.dat file in a text editor (I strongly suggest TextPad), find and modify the @mozilla.org/network/idn-service;1,{62b778a6-bce3-456b-8c31-2865fbb68c91} line. Change the 1 to a 0 and save the file. I tried this fix and it works, but the post states it is a permanent fix and it is not. The problem is that if you install a extension the compreg.dat file is reloaded and the 1 in @mozilla.org/network/idn-service; 1,{62b778a6-bce3-456b-8c31-2865fbb68c91} line is resored and the fix is lost. You will manually have to edit compreg.dat and change the 1 to a 0.
  3. The third fix I found at mozillaZine and advises to use AdBlocker to create a filter that will block any URL that uses characters that are outside the normal ASCII range. I have highlighted the steps to follow below:
  1. If you do not have Adblocker installed go here and install it!
  2. Once it is installed, in Firefox, goto Tools, Adblock, and open Preferences
  3. Important!! On the Preferences windows select Adblock Options and select Site Blocker: Note: Site Blocking will now have a check next to it.
  4. In the New Filter input box enter the following text: /[^\x20-\xFF]/
  5. Select Add next the New Filter input box to add the rule. Note: You will receive a Warning dialog when you select Add, just select OK to apply the filter.
  6. Select Done
  7. Go to the test page and select a link. The links will be blocked and should not load. Note: They had a paypal link but have since changed it. You still can see a nice sample of the domain spoofing.

I use Firefox everyday and love every minute of it. From what I read Firefox is working on a perminant fix that will eleminate this issue. I thought I would share this and the information I found out there about it, I would hate for a reader to expose personal information or financial data by this kind of attach. I always suggest to everyone on the internet, learn security, keep up to date on the kind of attachs going on, and most importantly, protect yourself and you data!

You can find out more details about the attach from The state of homograph attacks document.

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/02/06/shmoo_group_exploit_.html

Mike Chambers’ Firefox extension

Mike Chambers, a Macromedia Product Manager, recently released an extension for Mozilla Firefox.
It’s a very simple extension which keep up with the latest Macromedia news, information and weblog posts.
…It places a small icon on the FireFox task bar that, when clicked displays all of the latest information. The extension will periodically check for new data, and blink when it finds new information.
It also has support for Thunderbird.
It has been localized into 5 different languages too (Portuguese, German, Italian, French and Spanish)

Link: http://www.markme.com/mesh/archives/006574.cfm