A new version of the Linux distribution Linux Mint is now available. Linux Mint 22.1 is a long term service release that will be supported until 2029. Downloads are already available on the official website and various mirror servers.
As always, Linux 22.1 is available in three editions: Cinnamon, Xfce, and MATE. Cinnamon is the most popular version, Xfce is a lighter version that does not support some of the Cinnamon features, but is lighter on resources because of that. Mate is a traditional edition that continues to be supported.
Tip: check out the list of known issues here before you start the upgrade or installation.
APT dependencies modernization, which lays the groundwork for future improvements.
Night Light support, which “adjusts the screen to help reduce eyestrain, headaches, and improve sleep quality”. You can configure it under Settings > Night Light.
New default theme with “smoother, rounded elements and darker tones”, and cleaner, modern dialogs.
Wayland compatibility improvements by using native dialogs for better integration.
Mozilla plans to release a point update for Firefox 134 later today. Firefox 134.0.1 is a small non-security update that addresses three main issues.
The details:
Fixes a startup crash that prevented some users from upgrading from Firefox 133.
Fixes user interface hangs on YouTube and Google Docs.
Fixes an issue with the search engine menus.
Firefox 134.0.1: the fixes
The big fix of this update is the crash fix. A bug prevented some Firefox Stable users from upgrading the browser to the recently released version 134.
Mozilla found out during an investigation that the bug affected some Firefox 133.0.3 users only. Once Firefox 134.0.1 gets released, it should be downloaded on those systems automatically and the update should run through without issues. Note that it is also possible to download and install Firefox manually from Mozilla.
The second issue affects some Firefox users who open YouTube or Google Docs in the web browser. The issue is caused by ghost windows being opened on the Google properties, according to Mozilla. Each of these windows is using between 30 and 100 megabytes of memory and memory usage could go up to several gigabytes as a consequence.
The third and final issue that Mozilla fixed in Firefox 134.0.1 impacted the selection of search engines in the browser. Some users reported that they did not see any search engines in Firefox, others that they had issues interacting with search engines.
Mozilla says that the issue has been caused by a search settings migration that it ran and that failed for some users.
All three bugs appear fixed in the new update. Note that it may take hours or even days after the release of the update before it reaches most Firefox Stable users. You can run a manual check for updates going to Menu > Help > About Firefox after the update has been released to install it as soon as possible.
Now You: do you use Firefox? Did you ran into any of the issues mentioned?
Mozilla has released the first Firefox update of 2025. Firefox 134, Firefox 115.19.0, and Firefox 128.6.0 are already available.
The details:
Firefox 134 is a smaller release with just a few new features and changes.
It is also a security update.
Tip: Most Firefox installations are configured to update automatically. You can speed up the process by selecting Menu > Help > About Firefox.
Firefox 134
The official release notes list just a few changes. The new version introduces two new features:
Support for hardware-accelerated HEVC video playback.
Touchpad hold gestures support on Linux.
Hardware-acceleration should improve resource usage when that specific type of video is played in Firefox. The Linux feature works by placing two fingers on the touchpad of the computer. This stops any momentum scrolling happening at the time.
Other than that, search engine Ecosia is being added to more regions as an option.
Another change is being rolled out to users from the United States and Canada only. It changes the New Tab layout of the browser. The main difference is that Firefox displays “thought-provoking stories” now there as well, plus the obligatory sponsored stories.
Here is a sample image that Mozilla released that shows the new tab page:
Mozilla lists the applied security fixes on the advisories website. The aggregate severity rating is high and 11 security issues rated high and moderate have been addressed in the update.
Firefox ESR updates
Mozilla maintains two Firefox ESR versions currently. Firefox ESR 115.19.0 is only available for older versions of Windows and macOS.
The current branch version, Firefox ESR 128.6.0 is only available for newer operating systems and versions.
Both release notes pages list just security fixes.
Now it is your turn. Do you run Firefox? If so, which version? How happy are you with the browser currently? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
Firefox users who run outdated versions of the web browser will run into troubles in March 2025 according to Mozilla.
The details:
A certificate used by Mozilla for various services, including Firefox, will run out on March 14, 2025.
Recent versions of Firefox are unaffected, as they include the new certificate.
Old Firefox installations are affected. Issues include that add-ons will stop working and that DRM-content may refuse to play.
Firefox installations on all supported platforms but on iOS are affected, if they do not meet the following minimum versions:
Firefox Stable 128 or higher.
Firefox ESR 115.13 or higher.
Upgrading Firefox is the only way to prevent issues caused by the expiring root certificate.
Firefox users may select Menu > Help > About Firefox to run a check for updates. The browser should display the newest version automatically so that it can be downloaded and installed.
Firefox users who do not update the browser may run into several issues, according to Mozilla.
Installed add-ons will be disabled.
DRM-protected content, may fail to play “due to failed updates”.
Features that rely on remote updates will stop working.
Systems “dependent on content verification could stop functioning properly”.
Firefox will still run if it is not updated, but some functionality won’t be available anymore. Mozilla notes that outdated versions of Firefox may also have security issues that were fixed in newer versions.
Mozilla explains that the issue is caused by an expiring root certificate. Root certificates are used mainly for verification purposes. Expired certificates cannot be used anymore, which results in the issues.
Firefox users who run outdated versions should consider upgrading to a newer version that supports the new root certificate. (via Sören Hentzschel)
Firefox Translate is a built-in translation feature of the Firefox web browser that is special. It is special, because its translation engine runs locally. That’s great for privacy, as no translation service needs to be contacted on the Internet with information on the site you visited or the content that you want translated.
The main downside to Firefox Translate is that it supports fewer languages. One of the main shortcomings was missing support for the languages Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.
Good news is, that Mozilla has added support for the three languages to Firefox Nightly. In other words: you can now translate webpages that are in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean using Firefox’s built-in translation feature. Yes, that works offline as well.
Once you have installed the latest Firefox Nightly version, you have these languages at your disposal. Note that you need to download language packs for these languages in the settings before you can get started.
Here is how that is done:
Load about:preferences in the Firefox address bar or select Menu > Preferences.
Scroll down to Translations on the page.
Select the Download button next to any language that you want to translate using Firefox.
The languages become available immediately after the downloads complete.
Firefox may either suggest to translate a webpage when it is opened, or you may select the translate icon in the address bar to display the translate interface.
Hit the translate button to translate the webpage to the selected language. A click on the translate settings icon displays the usual options. These include never translate a specific language or always translate it.
Closing Words
It will take some time before support for the new languages arrives in Firefox Stable. Still, the integration is a major milestone for Mozilla and part of the Firefox user base.
While there is still work to be done, as major languages are still unsupported, translate functionality is a major win for users of the Firefox web browser.
Have you tried Firefox’s translate functionality? What is your take on it? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
Mozilla has released another Firefox extension after Orbit. Deep Fake Detector is a free beta extension for Firefox that determines whether text has been created by AI or humans.
It is part of Fakespot, a service that Mozilla acquired some time ago. Fakespot checks reviews on popular shopping sites to determine whether they are legitimate.
The new browser extension uses Fakespot’s ApolloDFT Engine, but it works with text on any website.
Using the extension is quite simple: You select some text and either right-click on the selection and select “Scan for Deepfakes”, or activate the add-on’s icon in the Firefox toolbar to do so.
The extension needs an active Internet connection and the text that you have selected is passed on to the detection engine. The result tells you the AI’s assessment in regards to human or AI authorship.
It is interesting to note that the extension queries multiple services. It does rely on Fakespot’s own engine, but also three additional ones (ZipPy, Binocular, and UAR). These may not always come to the same conclusion, as you can see on the screenshot below.
You may disable models in the settings of the extension. There you find ratings for each of the used models and options to disable them.
Ratings include the speed of analysis, domain versatility, short and long text handling. If you have a preference, you can disable the others to focus the analysis on that one engine.
What is it good for?
The Internet is flooded with AI-generated texts already. Be it reviews on shopping sites, blog posts, comments, posts in forums or on social media sites, and in many other places.
Finding out if a text has been generated by AI can be useful to determine trust. While that should not be the only factor, it may be useful to weed out AI-generated content to focus on the human-generated content instead.
The developers have big plans for the extension. They want to add image and video analysis in the future, which would make it more versatile and useful.
Closing Words
All in all, Deep Fake Detector is a useful extension that may help you detect AI generated text on the Internet. While it may be wrong at times, use of multiple models may decrease the chance.
Most models rely on Internet connectivity as computations are run on servers and not on user systems. This is the case for the extension as well. This may change in the not-so-near future, but for now, it is the norm and little can be done about it.
What is your take on the extension? Would you use it to check text? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
Orbit by Mozilla is a browser extension that brings AI-functionality to Firefox. It was announced in September 2024 and is currently available as a beta.
Orbit supports a few options right now, but there are also limitations. As far as these are concerned, it is available only for pages in English at the time of writing.
Main features include:
Getting a quick summary of a webpage’s or a video’s content.
Interact with the AI in a chat-like interface.
What about privacy?
Mozilla says that Orbit does not use user data for training. It is based on Mistral 7B, which is one of the top small large language models out there.
The service does not require an account, which is good for privacy. Downside is that prompts are lost when you navigate away from a page.
Mozilla states in the privacy policy that is is getting information when the service is used.
We receive basic telemetry data by default, which we use to improve the performance, stability, and security of the Service, including information about your device, including hardware configuration and device operating system; browser information, such as browser type and settings; log files and usage data; and event information, such as errors or crashes. We may also receive additional information about your device, such as country, language, operator and OEM, which we use to prevent fraud and abuse, enforce our terms, and improve the security of the Service.
Orbit uses third-party services and shares some information with those. It uses the Google Cloud Platform as well as Sentry for application performance monitoring.
Using Orbit
First thing you do is install Orbit in Firefox. You get a privacy prompt after installation. Here you select whether you want basic telemetry to be shared only or more.
Once that is out of the way, you see the Orbit icon floating in the right corner of webpages. Hover over the icon to display the available actions. The top two, Summarize and Ask Orbit, are the main actions.
Summarize provides a short summary of webpages, emails, videos, and other content on a specific site. It is designed to return the essence of the page, but it may be too basic, especially on longer pages, emails, or videos.
The ask Orbit option is available as a standalone option and also after summaries. It works like other AI chat tools. Type a query and wait for the AI to respond.
The option works well with summaries. Start with a summary and then ask Orbit for additional details.
I tried this on several videos, and it worked really well (using transcripts). Orbit answers follow-up questions that you may have, and it worked surprisingly well in tests.
You may also chat directly with Orbit. Chats are limited to content on the active webpage. This limits Orbit.
Closing Words
Orbit, all in all, is an interesting helper extension. While it shares issues with every other AI-tool out there, mainly hallucinations, it is designed to help users make sense of content that they see in front of them.
It worked well with videos, especially with follow-up questions. Still, it may be necessary to verify the information that the AI provides, especially if it is critical.
Have you tried AI tools in recent time? If so, which is your favorite and why?
You may recall that Alphabet is currently under investigation in the United States and that a potential breakup of the company is looming over the company’s head.
The Verge reports that Alphabet has made a counteroffer. Clearly, the company does not want a splitting-up. The counteroffer does not include the splitting up of any company services or products.
Instead, Alphabet suggests the following remedies:
Browser companies should get more flexibility and the ability to change default providers every 12 month period.
Android device makers should also get more flexibility and options to preload any apps.
The first suggestion affects Mozilla and Apple for the most part. Both have search deals in place with Google that give them millions or billions each year for making Google Search the default search engine on their respective platforms.
With Google’s suggestions, Mozilla could sign search engine deals for different platforms. It might not be that beneficial to Mozilla, however, as there are not many search engine companies out there with the financial power to agree to deals.
In fact, Microsoft with its Bing search engine may be the only one that might be a potential partner.
To make matters worse, it may also give Google more of a bargaining chip when brokering deals with the organization.
For Android, device manufacturers would have more freedom to launch their devices with multiple search engines or apps. Google is enforcing certain rules right now, if device manufacturers want to include the company’s apps on their devices.
Closing Words
Google would retain control over all of its properties, if its proposed remedies would be found acceptable. Chrome or ads, for instance, are not even mentioned by Google.
What do you think of this? Should Alphabet be broken up? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
So, AI systems seem to be almost everywhere already or are in the process of being integrated into pretty much any device or product.
OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, has now announced that you may call ChatGPT to have a chat with the AI.
Call 1-800-ChatGPT, or 1-800-242-8478, to do so. You should note that you can only do so with a US or Canada number. If you live outside those two countries, you may be able to message the number via WhatsApp to at least have a chat on Meta’s messenger instead.
OpenAI has limited both options. Calls are limited to 15 minutes per month, presumably per phone number, and there is also a daily limit on WhatsApp, but that is not mentioned in the announcement.
Another restriction is that the cutoff-date is October 2023. This means that this particular version of ChatGPT does not know anything about events that happened after October 2023.
Privacy-conscious users should be aware that OpenAI stores conversations and messages, and that it may also review them. OpenAI says this is for a limited time only and only for “safety and abuse prevention purposes”. It is also only available for ages 13 and up, but it is unclear how OpenAI wants to make sure that the age limit is enforced.
Fax or Letters next?
With telephone conquered, Fax would be the next logical step for OpenAI to offer its services on. It might not be the most elegant solution, considering that it might take a while to get replies, but it would make for a great headline and do wonders for publicity.
Letters might also be an option. While it would take some serious time to get an answer or do a back and forth with the AI, it could be a great option for digital-detoxing.
Have you chatted with ChatGPT or another AI in recent time? What is your take on these systems? Useful addition or more off a plaything will little value? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
Google Search has been the major search engine in most regions for a long time. While it has changed a lot under the hood in that time, it is still used by many as the main tool for searches.
AI is threatening Google’s search dominance. While it is too early to tell how good AI-based search engines will be in comparison, Google is clearly aware of the danger.
To counter this threat, Google has started to push AI into Google Search. The main user-facing feature is AI Overviews, which displays a summary based on a user’s search query at the very top of the search results.
It works similarly to how Brave Search and other search engines display AI-generated results at the top. Verdict is still out on the usefulness of the solution.
File uploads
Soon, Google users might also be able to upload files directly on Google Search to ask questions about the uploaded file. Upload a financial report, and you might ask questions about it once Google has processed the file.
This is not a new feature, considering that several AI solutions can do the same already. Even Google has a very basic file upload feature baked into search already. You can upload an image to Google Images to find out matching images online. While no AI is involved, it at least highlights that Google has the technology in place already.
X user Khushal Bherwani published an image and a short video that shows the new feature in action. It seems to work as one might expect: you activate the file upload button on Google Search, pick a file that you want analyzed, and hit the upload button.
It is likely only available for certain file types. The video shows that the feature is not complete at this point. The upload appears to have worked in the video, but Google Search did not answer the question that the user asked about the file.
Closing Words
It remains to be seen if the feature will roll out to more users in the coming months or if it gets pulled before release. There is also the question of its usefulness and whether users feel comfortable uploading files to Google.
What is your take on the feature? Would you upload files to Google to get the chance to ask an AI question about it? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
