Mozilla have released Firefox 3.5.4 and Firefox 3.0.15 with a basket full of bug and security fixes.

Firefox 3.5.4 closes 11 security issues, 6 of which were rated as critical, 3 moderate, and 2 low. A total of 124 bugs were fixed for this release. A full list of changes can be found in the release notes.

Firefox 3.0.15 closes 10 security issues, 5 of which were rated as critical, 3 moderate, and 2 low. A list of changes can also be found in the release notes.

The two updated will be pushed out to exsisting Firefox 3 and Firefox 3.5 users, or can manually be downloaded.

Download Firefox 3.5.4
Download Firefox 3.0.15

Opera has announced that they have over 3 million Opera Turbo users speeding up their web experience since the release of Opera 10 on September 1st.

“Those three million consumers viewed almost 668 million compressed Web pages” said the press release.

“The numbers tell us that Opera Turbo solves critical bandwidth issues. People everywhere experience either slow, congested networks or must pay as they go for Web access. It is an issue that affects everyone, from the business traveler to the Internet café user. Opera Turbo has become universally useful,” said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software.

Opera Turbo uses Opera’s powerful servers to compress Web pages, boosting browsing speeds on crowded Wi-Fi hotspots, tethered mobile phones and even dial-up internet links.

Opera Turbo can be found in Opera 10, and is a free download.

Mozilla have announced that they will support the Web Open Font Format (WOFF) from Firefox 3.6.

Firefox will be the first browser to support WOFF, but support in other browsers is expected to follow.

The WOFF has several advantages over current TrueType and OpenType formats in that it is compressed.

One example given by Mozilla Hacks shows a 3.1MB TrueType Font compressed to a 1MB WOFF, quite a massive saving.

WOFF support can be seen in the latest nightly release of Firefox.

It looks as if Windows 7 support is on its way for Firefox 3.6, rather than Firefox 3.7 as previously announced.

The move is likely to come with this weeks upcoming release of Windows 7 to the public on October 22nd.

Features supported include jump lists which can be accessed by right clicking on the Firefox icon and allows users to perform their most recent tasks. Tab preview is also included which shows all open tabs when hovering over the Firefox icon, and gives the users the ability to jump to any tab from the previews.

Users will also be able to monitor the progress of their downloads from the taskbar, without needing to be in Firefox.

The feature is expected to appear in future beta versions of Firefox 3.6 in the coming weeks, and can be seen in current nightly builds of the browser.

Google has pushed out a new version of Google Chrome to users, version 3.0.195.27.

The releases fixes a few issues:

• Fixed an issue where menu items for certain Indian languages were not properly visible.
• Add support to blacklist the faux www.paypal.com certificate.
• Added NTLMv2 support on Windows.
• FFmpeg files now properly have NX/DBCompat enabled.
• V8 crash fix.

The update will be pushed out to current Chrome users automatically, or can be downloaded from the Google Chrome website.

With the browser about to enter beta, Firefox 3.6 is set to get computer orientation detection. The feature which is set to appear in the mobile version of the browser, Fennec, will also be added to Firefox 3.6 before its final release.

“Originally built as something that we would include for our upcoming mobile browser release, we’ve made it available on desktop systems as well. Many modern Macbooks and Thinkpads contain devices and drivers that expose this information. We’ve added support for Linux, Macs and some Thinkpads where drivers and devices are available.” wrote Christopher Blizzard, a Mozilla employee.

A demo video can be seen below:

Microsoft has made changes to the browser ballot screen that will be shipped with Windows 7, and rolled out to past versions of Windows in European Union countries, in a bid to keep the European Union happy.

The ballot screen will give users the easy choice to download and install up to 12 different browsers, with the big 5 – Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera heading up the list.

Changes to the ballot screen include:

• Make it so competing browsers can be downloaded from the ballot screen more quickly and easily
• Ensure equivalent placement on the Windows 7 taskbar for Internet Explorer and all other browser icons
• Add introductory information, improving the design of the ballot page about each browser to help users make more informed choices
• Alphabetize the list of browsers so that the five most popular are listed first (by vendor), followed by the next seven most popular (also alphabetically ordered), so that 12 choices are displayed in total
• Provide the browser ballot to users for five years

The browser ballot screen is set to be rolled out to users on October 22nd, the same day Windows 7 goes on sale worldwide.

Mozilla have today released Fennec 1.0 beta 4 for Maemo enabled Nokia devices.

Changes since beta 3 include:

• Build now works on the N900
• Streamlined bookmarking, editing, and management
• Install and manage search engines
• Improved touch-friendly theme
• Improved panning and zooming performance
• Support for add-on options in the Add-ons Manager
• Integration with Maemo5 system UI controls
• Notification of tabs opened in the background
• Numerous other bugs and polish issues addressed

Download links can be found in the Fennec Beta 4 release notes. Fennec is the mobile version of Firefox, and is set to be released some time in 2010.

Stephen Horlander, a Visual Designer for Firefox, has revealed some Firefox 3.7 and Firefox 4 mock-up designs for Mac computers.

The designs are based on feedback and comments left about the firm user interface direction for Firefox 3.7 and 4 designs. Below are possible Firefox 3.7 and 4 interfaces for Mac.

More details, variations and information on these designs can be found on Stephen Horlander blog post.

Mozilla is set to extend its new plugin check feature, which debuted in Firefox 3.5.3 and would check on first run if Adobe Flash player was up to date.

The feature which was so successful, is expected to be expanded in Firefox 3.6, covering other plugins such as Adobe Shockwave Player, Adobe Acrobat Reader, RealPlayer, Windows Media Player and Java.

While not fool-proof, it’s certainly a forward step for browser security. More information on the plugin check feature can be found on the Mozilla blog.