The Mozilla organization has just released a new update of both FireFox, the browser, andThunderbird, the email client, which now integrate a full blog/RSS reader/aggregator along with a number of new features.

Mozilla FireFox is a standards-compliant, open-source, free browser which has a strong and rapidly increasing user base of enthusiastic users.

Mozilla Thunderbird is the flagship edition of the Mozilla Organization email client, a promising email alternative to Outlook.

New features in the Firefox Preview Release announced yesterday include:

• Live Bookmarks, which help users discover a new dimension to the web by allowing them to create bookmarks that display dynamically updated content such as news headlines. Live Bookmarks let users view RSS feeds, a technology that web content providers use to easily create and disseminate news headlines and summaries.
• Improved searching within web pages: Firefox now highlights search terms when the user is looking for keywords within a page.
• Security improvements: the new release provides additional protection to users against spoofing attacks, the practice of tricking users into believing they are on a trusted site when they are not.
• Improved pop-up blocker: new pop-up blocker blocks even more pop-ups while making it easy to view pop-ups when necessary.
• Plugin finder service: Firefox now includes a plugin finder service that makes it a breeze to install plugins, starting with the Macromedia Flash Player for Windows. Additional plugins will be added in the coming weeks.

Among the new key features available in the new Thunderbird email client release:

• Aggregation of multiple email (POP3) accounts into a single global inbox.
• Foolproof migration from other email clients
  Switching to Thunderbird has never been easier since Thunderbird can now import all of your settings, mail folders and address book data from your old and clunky email applications such as Outlook Express, Outlook and Eudora.
• Automatic email protection
  In order to help protect your privacy, Thunderbird now automatically blocks remote image requests in e-mails from senders you don't know.
• Quick email Search
  Quick Search supports many different types of search criteria.

While Newsmonster, a browser add-on RSS news aggregator has been available for about one year, the entry of major browser makers as Opera and Mozilla into the RSS arena provides for a significant increased rate of adoption of this new powerful emerging technology.

For Windows, Mac and Linux computers. Free.

[Revised and updated Sept.15th 2004 11:45 GMT+1]