Firefox's Hello

Firefox Hello | A Browser comes with its own Instant Messaging

Firefox Hello

   In the latest update of Firefox 41, it is now the first browser to have built-in instant messaging.

Firefox's Hello, developed and built directly into a browser which will let us to send and receive instant messages when we are in a video call in Firefox for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Hello is WebRTC (Web Real Time Communication) powered which enable us todo video chating. This can all be done without the need for setting up an account or giving up any of our personal information. Hello icon in the menu bar or customization panel, simply click the ‘Start a conversation’ button to create your first conversation. Now when you start a conversation, a window opens showing a self-view until the person you have invited clicks on the link and joins you. While you’re waiting for them to join, you can navigate away from this call window to a website. Hello will then notify you when another party joins the room. The Hello icon will turn blue and you’ll get an audio alert.

Firefox Hello Chat Window

Every conversation uses a unique URL for two people to communicate more easily over video or audio. You can create multiple conversations (Groups) and name them for different occasions, making it easier to go back to the people you speak to regularly without having to create a new link each time. We can label the conversation as ‘Team’ for weekly check-in with a co-worker and another ‘Family’ for our regular family catch-up. All the conversation are saved and can be retrieved whenever required.

To contact someone directly, you just need to make sure both parties have Firefox Accounts. If your contacts have a Firefox Account and are online, then you can call these contacts directly from Firefox. We can easily import contacts to your Hello address book from Google Account. Just select ‘Import Contacts’ from the address book and then sign into your Google account to give permission.

Firefox Hello as a comprehensive tool for communicating over the Web, will be testing new features like screen sharing and online collaboration so people can be more productive and get the most out of their video calls in the near future.

Project Nilgiri

Indian Railways + Google Fibre | Free Hi-Speed WiFi in Railway Stations

Project Nilgiri

  Indian Railways and Google Fibre has joined to create India’s largest network of free WiFi across railway stations. This partnership has been named as ‘Project Nilgiri’. Google Fiber, the cutting edge technology to provide high speed Internet service. The masterstroke which Google has played to partner with RailTel, which provides infrastructure and platform.

The pilot project of ‘Project Nilgiri’ will be setting up Wi-Fi hotspots at approximately 400 stations across India over a span of 4 months from now.

RailTel, a public sector unit has already laid optical fiber cable across 32,500 kms and work is in progress for rest of 29,500 kms. As per Wikipedia, RailTel has “state of the art multimedia telecom network using SDH/DWDM-based transmission systems and high end routers for MPLS-IP network.” And the best part is that, Department of Telecommunications has already allocated 2.7 GHz band to RailTel for launching broadband and other Internet based services.

Google Fiber, famous among tech lovers who loves speed for browsing, streaming or downloading content on the internet. Google Fibre currently provides speeds up to 1 Gbps in USA. Google has already started this at its Hyderabad campus, which is the biggest outside USA.

Google is working closely with Railtel, where fiber network running along railway tracks in rural and urban regions covering 70% of India’s population.

Wi-Fi connectivity will be free to passengers after mobile number verification through (OTP) One-Time Password sent over SMS. First 30 minutes will be high speed after which speed will be reduced but connectivity will still continue. Now, Indian railways provides Wi-Fi connectivity in moving trains for selected routes like Rajdhani Express using satellite communication technology. Project Nilgiri in phase 2 expansion plans to provide Wi-Fi on board moving trains using its cutting edge technology.

Currently, the download speeds are somewhere in the 7 Mbps, while upload speeds are in 5 Mbps range. In near future (WLC) Wireless Lan Controller will be set up in Mumbai and Chennai after which latency will fall to 1-2 ms and speed will be increased. So everyone is looking forward to this welcome move.

Internet Service Providers in India like Airtel, Idea, Tata DoCoMo, Aircel and Reliance may find this news as disturbing. As Google and RailTel can make some serious inroads with such a huge infrastructure coverage and technology.

Bugzilla Hacked

Mozilla says Hackers Stole Information from Bugzilla

   Mozilla, creator of the Firefox web browser, said hackers had stolen security-sensitive information from Bugzilla, its bug tracker, and used it to attack Firefox users.

The account that the hackers broke into was shut down shortly after the company discovered it had been compromised.

Mozilla said, that the hackers may have used information from Bugzilla to exploit a vulnerability which allowed them to search for sensitive files and upload them to a server.

A version of Firefox, the world’s second-largest browser by users, released on Aug. 27 fixed all the vulnerabilities.

Bugzilla is an open-source tool used for tracking bugs or flaws in software that result in incorrect or unexpected results. While Bugzilla is mostly public, access to security sensitive information is restricted to certain trusted users.

Mozilla said it had conducted an investigation on the breach and notified relevant law enforcement authorities.

Rise in cybersecurity threats and a jump in the number of reported incidents have led companies and governments to beef up their security platforms and software.

Google Street View Goes Alone

Google launches Street View as a standalone App

Google Street View

     Google has launched its Street View application - that enables users to get a 360-degree.

The app uses Google’s Photo Sphere technology, but the app also now supports dedicated 360-degree cameras.

Users will now be able to upload their photo spheres (360-degree panoramas) to the app, while separately exploring Google Maps standard content. Notably, Street View is replacing iPhone's Photo Sphere Camera application. Users can easily look around using a finger to navigate.

Also, a new ‘Explore’ section allows the users to see explore both official content from Google, and images contributed by the public.

The new app is available on the iOS App Store and Google Play.

'For all the Street View fans out there: exploring the world just got even easier'