It’s fully customizable and provides search options for over 32 BitTorrent torrent tracker sites. From MiniNova to BushTorrent, from TorrentReactor to BtJunkie, it has a wide of variety of public and semi-private sites to choose from.

In addition to allowing you to search each site by keyword it has another great feature that allows you to quickly scan through the RSS Feeds of the sites as well. With the click of a toolbar button it will display the either the latest uploaded torrent traackers overall or by category.

The only drawback about the toolbar is that it comes with a lot of what I call “fluff,” unnecessary features and buttons that really aren’t needed at all. I’ll go through these real quick so we can focus on what the Torrent Search toolbar has to offer.

Here is what it looks like just after installation

….and here is how more or less want it to look

To get started click the “Torrent Search” toolbar tab and scroll down to “Toolbar Options.”

In the “Personal Components” section I’d deselected them all. The “E-mail Notifier” is kind of a cool feature as it allows you to get a popup alert whenever you receive an e-mail as you surf the internet but, unless you have more than a handful of e-mail accounts it’s kind of unnecessary. The Popup Blocker and Weather Forecaster speak for themselves: spam.

In the “Predefined Components” section there’s only 3 you really need, the RSS Feeds and the quick links, each of them selected below.

This last one, “Useful Components,” is kind of an added bonus though altogether unneeded. I tend to use MS Paint and Notepad a lot, so it’s nice to have a toolbar quicklaunch link at hand.

So now that we have the Torrent Search toolbar “fine-tuned” it should roughly look like this:

The first feature of the toolbar, the search query allows you to search for torrent trackers “Google style.” Type in the name of the torrent tracker you’re looking for in the top and then select which site you wish to search. The screenshot below shows an example search for “Lost” on The Pirate Bay.

…and here are some of the sites that you can choose to search from.

The next feature on the toolbar is the first of the RSS Feeds to look through. It carries the RSS Feeds of The Pirate Bay and a handful of others, the list of which is shown below. You can scroll down each feed and take a look at all the new torrent trackers listed for each of those sites, and then merely click on the ones that interest you.

The next RSS Feed button on the toolbar separates the torrent tracker sites by category to make your search even easier. Categories include: Music, Music Videos, Movies, TV Shows, Games, Software, Anime, Books, Audio Books, Comics, Pictures, and Other. Again choose a category and then scroll down the torrent trackers for the one that you want to download.

All in all the Torrent Search toolbar is a pretty darn easy way to click through some of these more popular public torrent tracker site RSS Feeds without ever having to leave whatever page you may be looking at it. Live Bookmarks for Firefox for is always another option but, this toolbar limits its to a single button and doesn’t clutter your Bookmarks Toolbar.

DOWNLOAD THE TORRENT SEARCH EXTENSION FOR FIREFOX

SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”

Firefox is known for its open-source software that allows programmers to toy with features and help with bug fixes. Now, there is a media player to rival Windows Media Player, Winamp and other like players.

Songbird is at version 0.2 so take that into consideration as you hear about the pros and cons. This software will continue to be improved and changed but right now, it features the ability to play MPEG Audio (mpga), MPEG Layer 3 (mp3), MP4 Audio (mp4a), Ogg Vorbis, Speex, AAC, WMA, FLAC; and lesser known, LPCM, ADPCM, and AMR.

The creators of the program don’t claim to have a “better” product or a bug-free version just yet, but it’s certainly got features you can utilize. While installing the software you are asked if you want to include extensions, for iTunes import, Shoutcast, audioscrobbler (last.fm), or Wikipedia. It offers to scan your system for media files and then continues with the basic installation of the software. You can also set the program up for iPod sync. which many will look for.

There are mini-modes, skins (they have renamed this to “feathers”) and most of the basic options you would expect from a media player. All in all it seems to be a great addition to the media player family. Keep in mind it is open-source and will bear many improvements over time…probably much faster than Microsoft-based software.

In the shadows of this ruckus another Mozilla offspirng hatched a few days earlier: Songbird version 0.2, called the developer preview, was released a good week before Firefox 2.0. Songbird promises to be an extraordinary media player. Open Source, XUL-based, easily extendable, and with some unique networking features.

Some of these features are already included in the 0.2 release. But of course it’s an early preview, mostly targeting developers, so one shouldn’t expect CD burning capabilities or anything else too fancy. Early Firefox adopters might remember Phoenix. It like that, but with music. And a better mascot.

A few weeks ago I had the chance to sit down with Songbird founder Rob Lord and chat with him about his plans for the Open Source player. He told me about his vision of the media web, Songbird’s business model and the similarities and differences between Songbird and Firefox.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the things that make Firefox popular. It’s obviously more than the sum of our features, since there are other browsers that include more features in the default install. We’ve known that for a while, though. The popularity of Firefox compared to Mozilla Suite (Seamonkey) clearly proved that the design maxim of “less is more” applies to more than just interior decorating. However, people do love their pet features, so I don’t think that being a small-footprint, tightly-focused browser is the only thing that drives Firefox’s popularity.

When talking to John Borland of the MIT Technology Review a couple of days ago, I compared Firefox to the Honda Civic. As he says in the article, it was half in jest … the more I think about the comparison, the more I think it fits. By default, Firefox is a simple, sleek, efficient, reliable and effective web browser. It’s “unpimped” out of the box, focused on the singular task of connecting you with your online destination and providing useful tools that help you get there and do the things you want to do. If you’re the type of person who tinkers, though … well, the sky is the limit. Just like the Honda Civic, a passionate community has grown around tricking out Firefox with mods and tweaks to shape the tool into one that fits the user perfectly.

It’s this combination of simple-by-default, but customizable-by-choice that allows us to provide a tool that is both “less” and “more” at the same time. There will always be ongoing debates about when a specific feature should be included as part of the default package, and that’s a good thing. It ensures that we’re focusing on what all users want, which keeps us attractive when users are making choices about which browser to download. It also ensures that we add features because we believe we should, and not just because we can. Finally, it gives our users a sense of delight and ownership in making their browser their own with various themes, extensions, plugins and tweaks.

New Tabbed Browsing

Just like Microsoft’s new IE7, Firefox 2.0 has individually tabbed browsers to make opening and closing them much easier. Each of the tabs has its own close button.

Also, if you open too many new tabs, have no fear. No longer will they be bunched together in an intelligible fashion. A scroll arrow will appear on both sides of the displayed tabs and allow you to scroll through to select the one you wish to view.

Spell Checking

Sometimes you’re in a rush, and can’t remember if it’s “i” before “e” or the other way around. Firefox 2 has built-in spell checking to keep you from making any mistakes in your blog posts and Web-based email, so you can worry about more important things.

Search Suggestions

Some of the search engines in Firefox 2 can read your mind, and actually suggest search terms for what you’re looking for. Just start typing into the Search bar, and a drop down list of suggestions will appear. (Works for Google, Yahoo! and Answers.com.)

Session Restore

Losing your place while you’re doing things on the Web is a pain. Now, with Session Restore, if Firefox has to restart or closes when it comes back you’ll pick up exactly where you left off. The windows and tabs you were using, the text you typed into forms, and the in-progress downloads you had running will all be restored. You can even set Firefox 2 to always restore your previous session instead of loading a home page, so you’ll never lose your place again.

Web Feeds (RSS)

What do news headlines, indie rock podcasts, and pictures of kittens have in common? They’re all things that you can subscribe to with Web feeds. Firefox 2 gives you full control over Web feeds, showing you a preview and letting you choose how you want to subscribe. You can use a Firefox Live Bookmark, or a feed reader that you’ve installed on your computer, or through a Web service such as My Yahoo!, Bloglines or Google Reader.

Live Titles

Keep an eye on that auction or the status of a delivery using the new Live Titles feature in Firefox 2. Compact enough to fit as a bookmark label, Live Titles are regularly updated summaries of the most important information on a Web page. As the information on the page gets updated, so does your Live Title. Try one out in Firefox 2 by bookmarking www.woot.com.

Integrated Search

Firefox helps you find whatever it is that you’re looking for. The Search bar comes pre-loaded with search engines for Google, Yahoo!, Amazon, eBay, Answers.com, and Creative Commons. Wherever you are on the Web, you can enter a search term in the Search bar and receive immediate answers from the search engine you’ve chosen. You can select a new search engine from the Search bar menu at any time, and add search engines from hundreds of your favorite Web sites.

Live Bookmarks

Firefox Live Bookmarks let you view Web feeds such as news and blog headlines in the bookmarks toolbar or menu. With one glance, quickly review the latest headlines from your favorite sites and click to go directly to the articles that interest you.

Pop-up Blocker

Firefox keeps you in control of the Web pages you’re viewing, blocking annoying pop-ups. Firefox’s pop-up blocker notifies you when pop-ups are blocked via the information bar or icon on the lower right of the screen.

Streamlined Interface

The user interface in Firefox 2 has been updated to improve usability without altering the familiarity of the browsing experience.

Accessibility

Firefox delivers a better browsing experience for everyone – including those who are visually impaired. Firefox includes support for DHTML accessibility. Web developers can create pages that reduce the amount of tabbing required to navigate a document to minimize keystrokes for those with mobility disabilities. Firefox also includes support for Microsoft Active Accessibility, Microsoft’s accessibility API standard for Windows. This support allows Firefox to work with screen readers such as GW Micro’s Window-Eyes and Freedom Scientific’s JAWS. Firefox 2 (Windows version) meets US federal government requirements that software be easily accessible to users with physical impairments

Phishing Protection

Phishing Protection takes Firefox’s security to a new level, helping to safeguard your financial information and protect you from identity theft. When you encounter a Web site that is a suspected forgery (known as a “phishing” site) Firefox will warn you and offer to take you to a search page so you can find the real Web site you were looking for.

Open Source, More Secure

At the heart of Firefox is an open source development process driven by thousands of passionate, experienced developers and security experts spread all over the world. Our openness and active community of experts helps to ensure our products are more secure and updated quickly, while also enabling us to take advantage of the best third party security scanning and evaluation tools to further bolster overall security.

Automated Update

Firefox’s update system always checks to see if you’re running the latest version, and notifies you when a security update is available. These security updates are small (usually 200KB – 700KB), giving you only what you need and making the security update quick to download and install. The automated update system provides updates for Firefox on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in over 40 different languages.

Protection from Spyware

Firefox will not allow a Web site to download, install, or run programs on your computer without your explicit agreement. Period. You will be notified whenever downloading or installing software, and Firefox will always tell you what’s happening so that you can stay in control of your computer.

Clear Private Data

Firefox offers the ability to clear all your private Web browsing data with just one click with the “Clear Private Data” tool. You can be confident that when you clear your private data in Firefox it’s gone – whether you are using your own computer or one at the library.

An Add-on for Everyone

You can choose from over 1,000 add-ons at the Firefox Add-ons Web site. A Firefox add-on can help you comparison shop, share bookmarks with your friends, see the weather in a corner of your browser, write to your weblog, get news, listen to music – all from inside the browser you already love. You can even change the appearance of your browser – from buttons to colors and fonts – so that it matches your own personal style.

Add-ons Manager for Extensions and Themes

The new Add-ons Manager improves the user interface for managing extensions and themes, making it even easier for you to customize Firefox 2. Install, uninstall, enable and disable your add-ons in a single place.

Search Engine Manager

You can now quickly add, remove and re-order your search engines in the Search bar. Firefox 2 will also detect when a Web site has a search engine that can be installed, and will install it for you with a single click in the drop-down menu.

DOWNLOAD FIREFOX 2.0

….also read:
Speed up Firefox by up to 500%!

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Now it speaks volumes about the open source nature of Firefox that this is even happening. I mean don’t think Microsoft’s IE team will be holding roundtables anytime soon. Can you imagine what would happen if they took enhancement ideas and requests? This makes reason number 1o million and one why I love Firefox and only use IE as a last resort short of suicide.

What’s even more startling is that you can comment on other peoples comments. You can criticize the enhancement requests of others making for an even more balanced, open, and honest exchange of ideas and thoughts. Rather than a boring and static “gimme gimme” list you have to duke it out on the merits of the ideas you proffer.

The Mozilla team writes:

If you have ideas about features listed here please create a new wiki page off of your user page that outlines your ideas (mockupswelcome!)and add a link to that page in the “References” column, or linkto existing pages with examples, design thoughts, interesting articles, etc.
If you have ideas for features not listed here please add them to the most appropriate group below. Include any references to more detailed implementation ideas.
If you would like to comment on features listed here please do so on the discussion page rather than in the list itself.
Please include a summary comment that describes your change so that it shows up in the page history view.
Please make a User page for yourself with contact information so that if we need clarification of your idea, we can get in touch with you.

So what are people already asking for you wonder? Well, one guy has asked for a floating toolbar, writing “Allow the user to pull all toolbars off the top of the window and create a floating toolbar. These floating bars could be overlapped, tiled, etc to save screen real-estate.”

I like this idea a lot. Firefox has so many dam cool plugins and extensions that I’m already 4 toolbar boxes deep right now and looking to save space any way I can. From Stumble!, a very extension by the way that takes you to sites you otherwise would never check out, to the trusty Google search query box, a floating toolbar would be a must have on my Christmas wish list.

The menu “wish list” also has a request for allowing the user to “…specify the font (and especially the font size) used in menus and toolbars. This is especially useful for those of us with failing eye sight or those with high resolution screens (that cause the fonts to be too small).” Now my eyesight’s just fine, but it would nice to choose the font type and size irregardless of the theme that you may currently be using. Some guys have a done a great with the color and design aspect of their themes but, in some cases the font selection has taken a backseat to aesthetics.

Another great idea is to allow users to “Capture all pages in the window (including links up to user selectable depth) directly to PDF file.” This would make for better archiving of static material instead of the default “cut and paste” option.

Download control, like in IE where you have the option to “open” and run a download file instead of saving it is also a nice one.

For you MAC guys and gals looking for OS X style widgets, one guy writes:

Use OS X’s provided widget set, especially for text area, button, radio, checkbox and select elements. Native widgets feature spell check among other niceties. This would go a long way towards making Firefox feel more like a “real” OS X application. The current UI does not follow many of the common idioms on the Mac which causes confusion when switching between it and other Apple apps. This could greatly impact adoption on OS X, particularly among less savvy users who don’t understand why it’s different.

Now the MAC OS and I practically speak in broken english to on another but, this idea sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Lastly, I like some of the virus and malware protection suggestions. A reader requests:

*Integrate a sandboxing feature automatically. (Like Sandboxie -http://www.sandboxie.com/)
*Integrate virus scanning and malware protection for retrieved content/files
*Integrated support for 3rd party Anti-virus scanners
*Firefox to run in a “Protected mode” like IE7/Vista (see the Sandboxing above)

I like the notion of the sandbox feature but am skeptical about more program integration ideas. Simple is oftentimes better.

In any event, I hope all you out there take the opportunity to check out the Mozilla Wiki page and help to make Firefox 3.0 a thing of beauty.

Firefox accounted for 12.5 percent of September’s global browser market, said Aliso Viejo, Calif.’s Net Applications. That’s an increase from August’s 11.8 percent, which was up from the 11.3 percent in July. Internet Explorer’s share slipped to 82.1 percent in September, down from August’s 83 percent.

Also making gains was Apple Computer’s Safari browser, which by the end of September was up from 3.2 percent to 3.5 percent. Safari’s September numbers were its highest since April.

“Internet Explorer continues to lose market share with Firefox and Safari showing a steady increase over the past 9 months,” said Net Applications in a statement.

Mischa Spiegelmock has now said that the talk “was to be humorous,” and that the presentation covered a “previously known Firefox vulnerability that could result in a stack overflow ending up in remote code execution.” In other words, they didn’t discover a new flaw.

Spiegelmock said that the code they presented to attendees does not not actually work, lowering fears that a true zero-day exploit could be in the wild. To make matters more embarrassing, Spiegelmock also said that no one has successfully executed arbitrary code using the attack. “I have not succeeded in making this code do anything more than cause a crash and eat up system resources, and I certainly haven’t used it to take over anyone else’s computer and execute arbitrary code,” according to comments on Mozilla’s developers blog.

As to the claim that there are 30 known exploits in Firefox, Spiegelmock said that the claim was made only by Wbeelsoi, and indicated that it, too, has not been verified.

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Mischa Spiegelmock and Andrew Wbeelsoi told the ToorCon hacker conference that the Javascript in the decade old code make it a doddle to cause stack overflows.

According to ZD Net, they think Firefox is impossible to fix without a total rewrite of key sections of the code. The ironically named Window Snyder, the Mozzarella Foundation’s security supremeo, said she was going to do a bit of investigating.

She thought it might be a variation on an old attack, although that is exactly what Spiegelmock and Wbeelsoi are saying.

Firefox 2.0 is an modest step in the browser’s development, as some of the more widely anticipated (and cooler) features having fallen by the wayside during the development cycle. Not making the cut for 2.0 were a new bookmark and history system that originally appeared in an alpha build, which were axed due to developer concerns that their inclusion would further delay the release of 2.0.

There are some new features to be excited about, though. Version 2 has a nice, integrated spell checker so you can proof your well-thought-out comments in the OpenForum. Also featured is a new antiphishing tool like that in Opera 9 and the upcoming Internet Explorer 7 that warns users when they are entering a potentially malicious website.

Firefox 2.0 also sports some modest improvements to its search engine management feature and tweaks to its tabbed interface.

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