Although we put this online yesterday, it's the big release we've all been waiting for. Firefox 3.5 is here and it's been worth that wait. Our immediate thoughts was that this appears far faster than the previous Firefox 3.0.x. Pages loads more quickly, images render more smoothly and so on. The latest version also supports more of the latest web standards, including HTML 5.

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 is available for download in 70 languages and across multiple platforms, so you can grab a version for Windows as easily as you can for your Mac. It ships with a private browsing mode which will enable you to surf the Internet, without leaving a trace behind on your computer. Ideal if you share a desktop computer between family members. You'll need to check whether you favourite add-ons are compatible with the new version.

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 link.

We've been using Firefox 3.5 for a month or so now and you wouldn't know it was only a release candidate. Very stable, very fast and it's going to be a key release when it's available - and the rumour is tomorrow, the last day in June. However, if you have multiple editions of Firefox 3.5 installed across various computers, you'll want to keep your bookmarks, preferences and other information in sync.

Mozilla Weave 0.4 for Firefox is an updated version of the Firefox synchronisation tool that has always made sure your bookmarks and passwords are in sync, but the latest version will now synchornise your preferences. It also will give you the same identity support (based on Open ID) across your editions of Firefox, so you can quickly access a secure web page, so you don't have to remember your login information.

Mozilla Weave link.

We're big fans of Opera 10. Although we can't use it at work - it isn't supported by our CMS - it's a key browser and works well on our Mac laptop. Safari seems lightweight in comparison. The latest Opera Unite, which we put online yesterday, now enables you to take your Opera 10 to a new level. You can use it to share date, files, photos and other information with other users. This means a small team, who chose to use Opera Unite as their primary browser, could share their files and work. But should they?

Opera Unite doesn't use any encryption to protect your most important data. Now, for most people this is going to be fine. But if you wanted to share documents which contain information about how to admin your server or company accounts, then you may want to think again. On top of this, Opera Unite requires you to open and use an Opera account, where the data goes via their proxy server. You have to agree to this via the Opera Unite EULA and that you won't use the service to share data where you do not own the content (or a license to share your files). In theory, Opera could track the files and content you are sharing as it goes via their servers.

Opera Unite for Windows link.

Although we're not yet hosting Firefox 3.5 RC1 (it should be released publicly at the end of June or July) on v3.co.uk/downloads, we're busy testing it for compatibility across our systems, including our internal CMS. So far, so good.

The first impression is that it's far faster than the older Firefox 3.0.x, which is the current public release version. It's clear to see a big difference if you use 3.5 for a few hours and then revert back to the current 3.0.11 release. There are also big improvements to the support for the latest web technologies, including HTML5, new CSS properties and much more. There's a private browsing mode which means that the sites you visit will not be recorded or stored on your drive, keeping your privacy safe.

Be aware that some themes, add-ons and extensions may not yet work with the latest Firefox 3.5 RC1 and some may need to be updated manually using a test version of the add-on from the developer's website.

Download Firefox 3.5 RC1 link.

Only recently Opera announced that they were going to reinvent the web. We all wondered what this could mean. Opera 10 was already in public preview, so surely it couldn't be a new version of this browser. If it had been, it was poor PR. Luckily for us all it's a brand new way of handling your media files with other web users. Opera were one of the first browser developers to add BitTorrent support to the browser. This enable you to download files more quickly from the Internet. The next stage is to enable you to share your files.

Opera Unite for Windows and for Mac (Linux version also available) have been released as a public preview through Opera Labs. Unite is technology that enables you to add various modules to your browser. These modules include the facility to share files, host and share your photos and even setup your browser as a web server. Remember though, you have to keep your computer running in order to provide the files to other users.

Opera Unite for Windows and for Mac links.

There are various new add-ons that enable you to share your bookmarks and passwords across your various Firefox browsers, wherever they are installed. If you have Firefox on your work PC, add a bookmark and you'd find it automatically appears on your Mac laptop (with Firefox). Passwords are the same. You can keep your web login and passwords synchronised securely across your various browsers. Problem is that you can't share your add-ons, so you have to spend time individually configuring each edition of Firefox, every time you install the browser.

Mozilla Firefox Add-on Collector 1.0.2 is a free official tool from Mozilla that enables you to publish your add-ons as a 'collection' which you can migrate to other Firefox installations. You can also share your collection with other users and download new add-ons as part of a pre-compiled collection.

Mozilla Firefox Add-on Collector link.

Only the other week Google moved v2 of their Chrome web browser from development to a public release and are steaming ahead with v3. On top of this, Opera released a public preview of v10, across all platforms, with us pleased with the quality of the browser. With Internet Explorer 8 released this year, and Firefox 3.5 expected by the end of Summer, 2009 is becoming a year of the web browser. It's such a competitive market. That's only a good thing for us consumers.

Apple Safari 4 for Windows was released this week at the WWDC, at the same time as the Mac version. Apple claim this is the 'worlds fastest web browser' and it's certainly quick. It supports the latest web standards (including HTML 5), is the first public release final version to pass the ACID3 test and includes a new faster Javascript engine.

Apple Safari 4 for Windows link.

When we first started browsing the web, the easiest and quickest way to find similar websites was to locate your favourite site and similar follow the web links on the 'Links' page. Most sites contained a 'Links' page which enabled you to follow and store sites you thought were of interest. As soon as Ask, Yahoo and Google started to take over the search engine market, it became far more commercialised and we now rely on these search engines to find relevant sites. However, due to the commercialism of the engines, certain sites tend to appear closer to the top of the list and you have dig deep down in the search results.

SimilarWeb 0.8.5 for Firefox is an add-on that enables you to load your favourite site and then see a list of similar sites which you can use as an alternative.

SimilarWeb link.

If you're a Mac user seeking an alternative web browser, then there are a number of new options, including the latest version of Opera 10, which is now available a public preview. This is as good on the Mac as on other platforms. You can also choose between the official interface and a Mac OS X native version. However, the big wait has been for the Mac version of Google Chrome which was promised many months ago. It's been a fairly big hit across the Windows platform and there are now Mac and Linux versions available.

However, bear in mind that the version of Google Chrome for Mac OS X is a very early beta version aimed at developers and advanced users who know how to protect their own privacy. This early Mac version doesn't support video streaming, contains little privacy protection and so much more. You can find more information here.

Google Chrome for Mac link.

We hope you've had time to take a look at the latest Opera 10 Preview? We're impressed. It's fast, well designed, ships with a number of new features and is an impressive all-round browser. The only downside is that our internal CMS doesn't support Opera, which makes it tricky to use it as our primary browser. Damn. One of the key new features of Opera 10 is the way it gives you a visual preview of your open tabs and, if you want, you can expand your tabs so you get a small image of each open tab. Think Omniweb and how that browser handles your websites.

Tab Sidebar 2.0.1 for Firefox is an add-on that's been around for a while (and, despite other sites claiming that someone would develop a similar feature for Firefox, this was last updated in Summer 2008!) and enables you to add a visual preview of each tab, rather than use the traditional tabbed system. It takes some getting used to. Switching between open tabs, using the visual system, is perhaps more ingenious, but maybe less productive.

Tab Sidebar link.