Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 released

Mozilla has released Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 to the public. The new version of the browser includes improvements to performance, compatibility and speed.

A number of new tools have been added to the open-source browser which include a new tab-switching shortcut that shows previews of the tabs you're switching to.

Another feature shipped in the beta is the Geode add-on.

Unveiled last week, this feature can pinpoint a user's location and then feeds geo-specific data to third parties so they can provide information about local services.

One new feature that Mozilla has been working on since the summer is Trace Monkey JavaScript.

This under-the-hood feature significantly speeds up page rendering; in tests it boosted rendering speeds up to 40 times over those of Firefox 3.0.

However, this new feature has not been enabled by default in the test version, though you can choose to activate it.

Firefox is the second most popular browser in the world with around 20 per cent of surfers regularly using it.

www.firefox.com