Firefox 3.6 features improved functionality

The newly released Firefox 3.6 may be just a point upgrade, but it does offer some welcomed capabilities and improvements over Version 3.5 that make it worthwhile, reports eWeek.

The most noticeable new feature in the upgraded Mozilla browser is Personas, previously available only through an extension. Essentially simple themes for the browser, Personas allow users to make changes to the look of the browser.

With Firefox 3.6, Mozilla has also made a welcome improvement to the way in which the browser handles classic plug-ins. This version now tracks plug-ins, and users can view a Web page to see if their plug-ins are up-to-date or need to be upgraded.

Intuit and Microsoft will create Web applications to automate a number of tasks for small to medium enterprises (SMEs), says ABC News.

Those include time-consuming tasks like tracking expenses or managing documents, the companies said. The applications will be sold to small businesses through Intuit's App Centre.

The companies plan to integrate the technology of Windows Azure, Microsoft's system for building software that runs over the Internet, with Intuit's Partner Platform, which lets developers build applications for businesses QuickBooks financial software.

Motorola will unveil an Android application store for mobile phone users in China, hoping that third-party applications will take off in the crucial Asian market as they have in the US and elsewhere, states the Chicago Tribune.

Schaumburg-based Motorola, which is betting big on Google's Android platform as it turns around its mobile devices business, already has encouraged growth in applications by hosting conferences in the US and making resources available to software developers.

The concept of mobile phone applications is still nascent in China, where Apple's iPhone, which is largely credited with popularising apps in other countries, was officially unveiled at the end of October.