Mozilla launches Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 with ‘Porn Mode’

Mozilla Monday released Firefox 3.1 Beta 2, the first version of its flagship browser to turn on a much faster JavaScript engine and sport a working privacy mode.

Following the first beta by about eight weeks, the newest preview switches on TraceMonkey, the JavaScript engine Mozilla initially touted back in August. Beta 1 included the new engine, but it had been disabled by default; users were required to manually edit the browser’s configuration file to turn on the engine.

Also present in Beta 2 is “Private Browsing,” the privacy mode that Mozilla decided to add in September, but didn’t make add to a test build until early last month.

Private Browsing was a reaction to similar additions in other browsers, including Apple’s Safari, Google’s Chrome and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8. Privacy mode lets users surf without leaving obvious traces of where they’ve been, which has led to the feature being dubbed “porn mode” in a nod to one of its more obvious uses.

- from Macworld