A new release of Mozilla’s Firefox web-browser has been made available for download.

Feature-wise the update adds a handful of security-minded tweaks that are designed to help protect your searches on Google and help you to identify secure and insecure sites.

Now, before you scratch your head in confusion let me remind you that a new version of Firefox pops out every 6 weeks. You haven’t woken up in several months in the future; you haven’t stepped through a time-loop; it’s simply that Mozilla maintain a really rapid release schedule.

This marks the 14th Firefox release overall, and 4th one this year alone.

What’s New?

With a rapid release schedule to adhere to major changes are not deployed in every release. Firefox 14 is a prime example of this.

HTTPS Google Searches for added security (read more on this)

Favicon tweaks to the URL bar

Pointer Lock API (primarily aimed at games developers)

The favicon tweaks are worth mentioning. The URL bar will no longer display the favicon of a website (though the tab still will). Instead one of three icons will appear: –

Most sites: a grey globe favicon

a grey globe favicon HTTPS: a grey padlock icon

a grey padlock icon SSL: a green padlock icon

Automatic Upgrades

If you use Ubuntu – or one of its derivatives – this Firefox update will be automatically pushed out to you via Update Manager in the coming days.

Ergo, you don’t need to lift a finger to get it.

But if you’re impatient to see the new green padlock favicon (amongst other changes) you can grab a tarball of the release @ mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/