Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate 2 released

Just today, Mozilla, famous for their Firefox browser, have released the second release candidate for the upcoming version 3.5, for public use. This build comes not long after the first release candidate, and as you can expect, packs some changes. The Washington Post has a great overview of all the next features in the updated browser.

Private Browsing:
Firefox 3.5 includes a private browsing feature, much like the other main browsers on the market now, which means that you can surf the Internet without leaving a trace; history is not recorded, so it's perfect for those that are... looking for gifts for others. The one problem that people see with the Mozilla solution to this is that the browser does not show you if you are in private browsing mode; you'll just have to remember, although, you will get an occasional message the pops up.

To add to the privacy factor of the new 3.5 version, you can open up the History page, and then by right-clicking an item of history, you can choose to 'Forget this Site'. By doing so, you will (as expected) have all items of that URL gone from history.

Location Services:
Firefox 3.5 brings the interesting feature of location services; you can find your location by I.P. address, using nearby WiFi networks via Google Location Services. If you're using a WWAN card in your notebook, you can use the nearby cellphone towers to pinpoint your location. As it stands, this new service isn't particularly useful as not many sites support it, but in the future it could be very handy. The Washington Post tested it out and their location was found to within a couple of blocks, so if you're in a new city, using it to find nearby restaurants or other services could be extremely useful.

The other features that are improved in this new release candidate aren't exactly new, so they're not worth mentioning here (tear-off tabs and restoring your session from a crashed browser). If you want to download the second release candidate, you can either use the automatic updater within Firefox, or visit this link.