Today is the launch of Firefox 4. If you're using an older version of Firefox, you can simply ask it to Check for Updates, and you'll get a shiny new browser. There's a ton of great stuff in this release, but three things in particular excite me.
The first is the incredible work that's been done to improve performance: startup, graphics, JavaScript, etc. I have personally filed dozens of bugs on performance issues in Firefox, and watched them get fixed one by one. This new browser doesn't just feel faster, it is faster.
The second thing is WebGL and 3D on the web. We've been working on WebGL (previously Canvas3D) since 2007, and I'm thrilled that our demos and libraries will work for more than just the few people willing to download our hacked-up builds. WebGL is already all over the web, and if you're just getting started with it, I encourage you to do some searching--many amazing demos exist right now.
The third thing, and closest to my heart, is the new Audio API in Firefox 4. That's a year of my life right there, and some of the work I'm most proud of that I've done with Mozilla. In celebration of the launch, and since more people can finally run them, I thought I'd link you to some of our favourite audio experiments and demos. Enjoy them, and then please make new ones that go further. As of today, the web is officially open for business for all audio hackers, electronic artists, and musicians!
- http://videos.mozilla.org/serv/blizzard/audio-slideshow
- http://www.nihilogic.dk/labs/pocket_full_of_html5/
- http://cubicvr.org/CubicVR.js/bd3/BeatDetektor1HD.html
- http://cubicvr.org/CubicVR.js/bd3/BeatDetektor3HDFX.html
- http://haptic-data.com/sketches/html5/fft1.html
- http://audioscene.org/scene-files/yury/tts/index.html
- https://people.mozilla.com/~prouget/demos/boomboom/index.html
There's many more listed here if you haven't had enough. Remember to View Source and copy what you see. If you have others, toss them in the comments.