Category: News

Security

Firefox 138.0.3 fixes two crashes and some other issues

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla plans to release a new point update for its open source Firefox web browser later today. Firefox 138.0.3 is a non-security update that fixes three issues in earlier versions of the web browser, including one crash issue.

If you use Firefox on the desktop only, you may ask yourself if you missed the Firefox 138.0.2 release. You may have, as this special version was only released for Firefox on Android.

Firefox 138.0.3: the fixed issues

Firefox 138.0.3 fixes a WebGL-related crash. Mozilla notes that Firefox could crash when websites that use WebGL were opened. WebGL, which stands for Web Graphics Library, is used to render 2D and 3D graphics using JavaScript.

Web games and other interactive or animated content may make use of WebGL. So, if you ran into crashes while running the recent version of Firefox, there is a good chance that this was caused by the WebGL bug.

The update fixes a second crash. This one occurred on websites where certain SVG effects were applied to very small areas.

Firefox 138.0.3 fixes two additional issues:

  • Videos looked washed out on Linux under Wayland, if HDR was not supported on the system.
  • The keyboard shortcut Alt-C did not work as expected in the sidebar search.

Mozilla has not published the official release notes at this time. The release notes will be published shortly after the Firefox 138.0.3. You can access them here afterwards to check them out.

The new update is only available for the desktop versions of the Firefox web browser. Furthermore, Firefox ESR are not updated, as they appear to be unaffected by the issues.

Mozilla plans to release the next major version of Firefox and Firefox ESR on May 29th, 2025. The following versions will be released on the day:

  • Firefox 139
  • Firefox 115.24 ESR
  • Firefox 128.11 ESR

Now you: where you affected by one or several of the fixed bugs? How do you handle point updates usually? Do you install them right away, postpone their installation, or skip them? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Flickr restricting free account downloads to push Pro subscriptions

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

The photo hosting and community site Flickr has been a popular option for free and paying users from all over the world to back up their photos to online storage, share them with others, find new photos to download, and to interact with other community members.

The site changed its owner years ago and since have been getting worse for free users ever since. First, new owners SmugMug limited free users to 1000 photos, down from 1 terabyte of photo storage, and to 50 non-public photos.

Now, starting May 15th, 2025, free users face another limitation on the site. Their ability to download photos is limited to 1024 pixels and less in resolution. Means: free users can’t download the original resolution of a photo anymore nor the large version of it, including their own uploaded photos.

Why Flickr is making the change: Flickr says that it is implementing the change to address “the misuse of free accounts as cloud storage for original files”. This voilates Flickr’s terms of services and affects the performance for paying customers negatively.

The change does not affect the uploading of photos “of all accepted file sizes to a free account”. Flickr notes that creative commons photos can continue to be downloaded in all available sizes, provided that they are not set to private. Additionally, Flickr Commons members are also exempt from the change.

Photos will display in high quality on the site and “embeds and external links” won’t break either.

Flickr recommends upgrading to a paid Pro account to keep the downloading functionality.

Closing Words

Is Flickr still a popular option for photographers and still going strong community-wise? Many of the recent changes limit free users on the site, likely to push more users into subscribing to a Pro account. I can’t really say how well the strategy works, but the limitations are certainly driving some Flickr users to different photo hosting platforms.

Speaking of which, do you upload photos to online photography sites or photo storage sites? Or do you prefer to keep photos and images on your local devices and systems only? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Google Maps is getting a new feature that you either love or dislike

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google Maps is quite the handy helper-app in many parts of the world. While it is not excellent everywhere, many use it to find restaurants, shops, places of interest, or for directions.

Soon, Google Maps is getting a new feature that is using Google’s Gemini AI to identify places in screenshots you take so that you can save them to a list.

Here is how Google describes the feature:

If you ever have trouble keeping track of all of the screenshots you take of travel blogs, news articles or social media posts when you’re researching places to go for an upcoming trip, you’ll want to try out this new Google Maps feature. It uses Gemini capabilities to identify places mentioned in your screenshots and helps save them to a list for you, making travel planning a breeze.

Taking screenshots? Identifying the locations of place? Adding them to Google Maps? It may sound like a niche thing for many.

Good news is that you need to enable the feature to start using it. If you do not, none of your screenshots get analyze by Gemini.

Here are Google’s instructions on using the new feature:

  1. Navigate to the You tab.
  2. At the top of the You tab, you’ll see a Screenshots list with a badge that says “Try it out!” Tap the badge. This will open a video showing you how the feature works — you’ll even be able to test it out alongside the video.
  3. You’ll see a request to allow Google Maps access to your photos. Choose when it has access. (There’s also a manual option if you don’t want to give Maps full access, more on that later.)
  4. Next time you take a screenshot that includes location information, head to Google Maps after.
  5. If Maps recognizes a place, a message will pop up telling you that it has places ready for you to review.
  6. Tap “review,” and decide if you want to save the image to your screenshots list or not. (You can add these images to other lists later, too, if you want.)
  7. You also have the option to upload screenshots manually: When you’re in the app select the Screenshots list under the You tab. From there, you can upload screenshots manually. The rest of the process is the same!
  8. You’ll see the saved places directly on your map or can get to the list through You tab to access while you’re on the go.

It sounds as if the image needs to have location information for the feature to work, but Google also says that the feature uses Gemini to identify locations. Google added several safeguards to the process to block users from using the feature unknowingly.

So, who is this feature for? Google gives the answer in the introduction. It is for people how take screenshots of travel blogs, news articles, or social media. It may also work for users who save images that they find, as they can upload them to Google Maps to see if Gemini can identify the locations.

It can be handy, if you do your research mostly in apps like Instagram or TikTok, especially if location information is not revealed by the poster.

Those who do not can safely ignore the feature, as it needs manual activation.

Note: Google may gain access to all screenshots that you take on your devices, if you enable the feature.

Now You: what is your take on the feature? Handy and you would use it, or something that you would not want to use no matter what?

Expect more ads in AI chats soon, courtesy of Google

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

How do many of the AI startups make money? Many have launched products that are freely available and without ads. There are multiple answers to the question, depending on the business’ strategy. Some want growth at all costs to sell the business later on. Others plan to introduce ads or subscriptions at a later point in time.

Soon, users from all over the world will see more ads in chats with AIs, as Google is expanding its Adsense program to chats.

Bloomberg reports that Google is expanding Adsense to keep its edge in the advertising vertical. Tests with select startups such as iAsk and Liner have begun already reportedly.

New types of AI-powered services spring up virtually everywhere on the Internet. Liner, for example, is an AI-powered search engine, while iAsk promises answers to questions that users may have.

Most services have in common that they are not page-based websites. Blogs or regular websites publish static pages most of the time, whereas interactions with AI are usually dynamic.

While companies may display Adsense on the pages, they were not particularly optimized for the queries of users. This changes with the rollout of the new Adsense format.

Integration means that ads may show up in chats. Where and how depends on the AI service, but users should expect to see an increase in advertisement, especially on AI sites that are not operated by billion Dollar companies.

Good news is that content blockers should be able to deal with those ads, just like they are regarding ads in search or on websites.

Now You: do you use AI services regularly? If so, for what purpose and what do you like or dislike in particular when you compare the AI service to other means of acquiring the information?

Waterfox Private Search engine

Waterfox Private Search: a first look at the privacy-friendly search engine

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

The developer of the Waterfox web browser announce Waterfox Private Search earlier this week. The new search engine is in open beta currently, which means that you can give it a try if you want to.

Waterfox Private Search pulls data from other search engines privately, unlike Brave Search, which uses its own engine for search results.

Here are the details:

  • Waterfox Private Search is a meta-search engine. Means, it will support several search engines and not just one. During the beta, results come only from Google Search though.
  • A proxy is used for communication with the supported search engines. Means, the search engines won’t see your IP address or other information.
  • The search engine won’t feature any AI content, e.g., AI summaries.
  • There will be two tiers in the long run.
    • An ad-supported tier, that shows “privacy-friendly advertisement” that won’t track users or create user profiles. These will be contextual ads based on the search.
    • A subscription-based tier that removes all advertisement.

You can point your browser to Waterfox Search to give it a go.

The search engine works as expected. You type in a query and get results. These come from Google, but it is refreshing to see that the main focus is on the search results and not added content. While you do get some, such as a “People Also Ask” module, the main focus is clearly on returning web links to the user.

A click on the options menu displays just a few. You can change the location there to get results from a different region and use the domain blocklist to exclude certain websites from the results.

You may also switch search engines, with Bing, Brave, and Mojeek listed, but not yet selectable.

A click on the themes icon in the main interface displays a good dozen or so themes that you can switch between. There should be something for everyone, from very light to dark, colorful and even cyberpunk.

As far as search options are concerned, there are just a few available as menus. A click on the settings icon shows an option to disable autocorrect and to set a specific time period for the search.

You may also switch from web search results to images, videos or news. Other options, including shopping or books are not available.

The loading of search results takes a bit longer, but not too long to be unpleasant. It remains to be seen if the loading time will change when traffic increases.

Initial verdict: Based on a preliminary test, Waterfox Private Search is a refreshingly focused search engine. I did not spot any ads during my tests, but these will come in the future. Privacy-friendly ads are not anything new, but they are more than welcome and if they are implemented in an unobtrusive way, likely not a problem for the majority of Private Search users.

There is certainly the question of sustainability. Ads play a key role here and so does the subscription-based tier. This only works if enough users sign up or see ads when they use the search engine.

Now You: which search engine is your favorite currently and why? Feel free to leave a comment down below to join the discussion.

Yahoo is working on a web browser and eying a Chrome acquisition

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Yahoo, once an Internet powerhouse, is only a shadow of its former self. This is not keeping company officials from working on new products and services to restore some of the former glory of the company.

Yahoo, apparently has been working on a browser prototype for the past couple of months and expressed interest in acquiring Google Chrome in a “from zero to hero” type of scenario.

The information was revealed on the fourth day of Google’s antitrust trial. Yahoo is not the only company that expressed interest in acquiring Chrome. The AI companies OpenAI and Perplexity have also expressed interesting in buying the world’s most popular web browser.

General manager of Yahoo Search, Brian Provost, testified before the court that about 60 percent of all search queries were made through web browsers. Chrome, the leading browser on mobile and desktop, is responsible for the bulk of these searches.

On desktop, Google Chrome has a market share of over 66 percent according to Statcounter. Since Google owns Chrome and has made Google Search the default search engine, it is fair to say that the bulk of searches that originate from browsers is flowing through Google Search. Google has also struck deals with Apple and Mozilla to make its search engine the default.

While Yahoo is prototyping a browser, it is in discussions with “other companies about buying a browser”. Provost did not reveal the names of the companies. An acquisition would speed up the entire process.

Yahoo would replace the default browser with Yahoo Search to push its own search engine to new heights. Interestingly enough, Yahoo Search is powered by Microsoft’s Bing search engine. It still has a market share of about three percent.

Now You: If Google is forced to sell Chrome, which company would be your favorite to buy the browser?

AI

Why you may not want to say “thank you” or “please” to AI

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

What is the proper etiquette when chatting with AIs? Do you say “thank you”, “please” or “see you next time”, or do you prefer the direct approach and avoid any form of politeness when communicating with AI tools?

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was recently asked about the electricity costs that these pleasantries would generate. According to him, processing these cost “tens of millions of dollars”.

If everyone would stop being nice to AI, at least in this regard, AI companies electricity bills would go down noticeably. While that has no immediate benefit to the user, it is at the very least beneficial to the environment.

Altman ended the answer with a joke, stating that the money was well spend as “you never know”, referring to the possibility of an AI uprising and the potential saving of people who have been nice to AI in the past.

You might say that AI causing havoc to bring doom to the human race might not be persuaded to let humans live based on their use of “please” or “thank you”, and you are probably correct here.

Where does this leave the statement? When you avoid please or thank you, you will help AI companies save power, which is beneficial to them, but also the environment, at least potentially.

About “The ActiveX content in this file is blocked” messages in Microsoft Office

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft is changing how Microsoft 365 and Office 2024 handle documents with ActiveX content. Currently, Office displays a prompt that informs users that ActiveX content found in the document is disabled and that they may enable it.

Going forward, Office simply shows “The ActiveX content in this file is blocked” instead, with no option to enable it from the prompt directly. The notification includes a link that opens this support page.

Here are the highlights:

  • ActiveX controls are disabled by default going forward.
  • Users may not interact with existing elements or create new ones by default.
  • This change applies to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Visio.
  • Users may still enable ActiveX controls.

Microsoft recommends that Office users answer the three questions before they consider enabling ActiveX controls again:

  • Were you expecting to receive a file with ActiveX?
  • Are you being encouraged to change your ActiveX settings by someone you do not know?
  • Are you being encouraged to change your ActiveX settings by a pop-up message?

How to enable ActiveX Controls in Office again

Here are the required steps to enable the controls again. Please note that the change applies to all affected Office applications and all documents that you open in them. In other words, you cannot just enable ActiveX controls for a single document.

The workaround in this case would be to enable the controls and disable them again once you are done with the document in question.

To enable ActiveX Controls:

  • Select File in Office and then Options.
  • Switch to Trust Center.
  • Select the Trust Center Settings button.
  • Activate the ActiveX Settings option on the page.
  • Make sure “Prompt me before enabling all controls with minimal restrictions” is set on the page.
  • Select OK.
  • Select OK again.

Tip: if you never access documents with ActiveX Controls, set the preference to “Disable all controls without notification” instead.

Firefox Link Previews

Firefox’s Link Preview feature is quite good – here is why

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla has officially launched a preview of the upcoming Link Preview feature of its open source Firefox web browser. Unlike traditional link preview extensions, Firefox’s implementation offers a modern take by incorporating AI for summarizing key points.

The AI runs locally on the device, which is excellent for privacy. The tradeoff is that computing will usually take longer, especially on older or slower systems.

Enabling Link Previews in Firefox

The feature is available as a preview currently in Firefox Beta and Nightly. You need to enable it before it becomes available.

  • Load about:config in the Firefox address bar.
  • Confirm the security prompt to continue.
  • Search for browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled.
  • Toggle the state to True to enable it.
  • Restart Firefox.

Tip: the preference browser.ml.linkPreview.outputSentences defines the number of A_generated keypoints. The default is three. The preference browser.ml.linkPreview.allowedLanguages defines the supported languages, which is English at the time.

Using Link Previews in Firefox

Hold down the Shift and Alt keys on the keyboard before hovering over a link. Firefox displays an overlay that lists key information, including a preview thumbnail, full title, reading time, and a meta description.

Below that is a list of keypoints, generated by AI, that summarize key elements of the linked webpage.

Note: Generation of the keypoints takes longer on first use of the feature. It was relatively speedy on my fairly potent HP laptop, but took quite some time on an older system. This is a one-time process.

Keypoint generation is not instant, but it took a few seconds usually after the initial setup. The processing is relatively quick, even on longer articles, e.g., those on Wikipedia.

The quality of the keypoints is quite good. You should realize that this is not a summary of the article, but three key arguments or points made in the article. It is often good enough for a quick overview of the content, which is the main purpose of the preview feature.

To sum it up:

  • AI runs locally, which is great for privacy, but adds to the processing time.
  • Keypoints give good overviews usually.

Closing Words

Link Previews is a useful feature that bakes privacy-friendly AI into Firefox. While it remains to be seen how popular the feature will be once it launches, it is definitely a welcome addition in the browser.

An option to change the keyboard shortcut from Shift-Alt would be welcome, as it may improve usability.

Now You: do you use link previews? What is your take on the feature that Mozilla added to Firefox?

Thunderbird for iOS: first alpha coming this year

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

The Thunderbird open source email project is making huge strides. After readying the first mobile version of Thunderbird for Android, the team has set its sight on the second big mobile operation system Apple iOS.

The details:

  • The repository of Thunderbird for iOS is not publicly available on GitHub.
  • The developers aim for an alpha release of the mobile client in late 2025.

Philipp Kewisch, mobile engineer at MLZA Technologies, the organization behind Thunderbird, revealed the good news officially in a message.

The project is just at the beginning and the developers are not openly looking for code contributors at this stage.

Kewisch explains the next steps that are going to happen:

What is next? We’re simultaneously working on some of the iOS essentials and architecture prep. These are all the basics of what types of objects and interfaces do we need, how do they play together, what does the database look like, etc. We’ll start sharing some preliminary details on this soon and give you the opportunity to share your feedback.

This means that it will take a while before iOS users can get their hands on a public prototype of the email app for their mobile operating system.

The greater picture is interesting though. One of Thunderbird’s main weaknesses up until now was lack of support for mobile apps. Mobile users had to use a different email client or access web-based email instead to access emails on mobile.

The release of the Android client and the future release of the iOS client closes that gap.

To make this a true contender for Gmail or Outlook, Thunderbird’s team is also working on a web email service.