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Firefox 3 has private browsing features built right in, but if you're running an older version it doesn't mean you have to give up your privacy altogether. Here are five Firefox extensions that will keep your browsing discreet and private no matter what version of Firefox you're using:

TrackMeNot - This extension runs in the background as you browse and periodically sends out random queries to search engines so your actual searches get lost in the crowd. Your search activities stay hidden so sites like Yahoo! and Google won't be able to gather any meaningful data from your visit.

It seems like it was only a few weeks ago that Mozilla added the 10,000th design to its Personas gallery of Firefox browser skins. Oh, wait. It was only a few weeks ago -- May 14th, to be exact. Not bad for a project that only launched in March. This week, a mere four months after Personas opened its digital doors, there are now 20,000 different designs available for tricking out your browser's header and footer.

It's not too late to get in on the act and have your own handmade Persona added to the gallery. Mozilla's templates and explicit instructions make it dead-simple to create and submit one in a matter of minutes. How easy is it? Well, I haven't got a lick of design talent whatsoever and I was able to put one together that won't scare small children. Read on to find out how.

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past year, you know that microblogging is all the rage. Web sites like Twitter, Identi.ca, and Laconica are incredibly popular for exchanging snippets of information, chatting with others, and quickly sharing links to interesting online content. It's really a pain to jump from site to site to read your friends updates or provide your own, so here are five microblogging extensions for Firefox to help you out.

ShortenURL - Microbloggers don't want to waste precious characters on long URLs so it's customary to shorten links you display in status updates. Pasting a Web site location into URL shortening service homepage is so last week now that you can do it right from your browser's toolbar. ShortenURL makes quick work of this repetitive task by letting you crop Web addresses right from the toolbar. It supports over 100 URL shortening services already but if that's not enough, you can request more.

Ubiquity, the extension that adds command line functionality to the Firefox browser, got a major upgrade this week. Ubiquity 0.5 supports a bunch of new languages and drops the need to use hyphens in commands. The development team is also experimenting with smart suggestions, a feature that lets Ubiquity make educated guesses about the meaning of unfamiliar data.

The good news is Ubiquity 0.5 adds nice features and updates to this handy tool. The bad news is that it breaks compatibility with third-party commands. That is sure to cause headaches and workflow problems for some of Ubiquity's 400,000 users. Fortunately, Mozilla has a plan.

Firefox is a wonderful browser in so many ways but its password management leaves a lot to be desired. Fortunately, there are several add-ons to help manage your passwords and easily generate new ones in a flash.?

Show My Password - If you're tired of having your password field scrambled even though no one else is around to peek over your shoulder, then try this add-on. It shows your passwords as you type them, making typos easier to catch before they slow down your logins.

Mozilla released Firefox 3.5 today, roughly one month since it was pushed out as a Release Candidate. The major update delivers several new features and performance improvements that make this new version one you won't want to miss.

Firefox 3.5 is designed with new Web standards in mind and contains support for new Web technologies that will make it more interactive and speedier. Indeed, our own Sam Dean took the beta version out for a spin and was happy enough with the speed to use it as my primary browser and reach for an older Firefox version when I need extensions.

As the release of Firefox 3.5 approaches (codenamed Shiretoko), Mozilla Japan has come up with a unique way to promote the version. They've teamed up with Japan's Shiretoko Nature Foundation and designed an interactive Web site named Discover Shiretoko that teaches visitors about the new browser version as well as the national park after which it was named.

Shiretoko and Firefox: A Story in Four Parts examines how Firefox and the Shiretoko World Natural Heritage Site have more in common that it may seem at first glance. Both, for instance, rely heavily on the power of the volunteer community.

Though the Opera browser isn't open source, it's free and its new server-in-a-browser feature, Unite, is really making significant inroads toward online collaboration. If Chrome and Firefox are to keep their edge over Opera, their development teams had better sit up and take notice.

Opera's Unite technology lets users run chat rooms, host Web sites, and share files that even people not using Opera can access. The interaction is all done via a central Opera Unite server ? Opera Unite uses a proxy between the server and its clients (found at operaunite.com) to avoid the need for any special firewall configuration, writes the development team. Unite launched today with six features but is calling on the Opera community to design and create any new services they'd like to see available.

Read on to have a look at what Opera unite can already do and why Google and Mozilla haven't cornered the market on browsers just yet.

Apple's open source browser Safari doesn't always get the love it deserves. That's probably because in its original state, Safari isn't as inviting as Mozilla's Firefox browser with all its native bells and whistles. Nevertheless, Safari has a cadre of loyal fans.

Productivity is the buzzword these days so if your browser of choice can't help you power through your to-do list each day, then it's not very useful. If you've been lukewarm over Safari because you think using it will impede your workflow, then try these handy productivity add-ons before giving up on the Apple browser altogether.

I love the tabbed browsing feature in Firefox so much that it's not uncommon for me to have upwards of 20 open at a time. Unfortunately, several of them are often blank pages because I've forgotten where I was planning to go once I open them.

I've always wished that Firefox would intuitively know that if I highlight an address on a Web page and open a new tab, it's probably because I want to map it. Apparently, I'm not the only one longing for that feature. Mozilla is developing an extension that takes its best guesses about why you've opened a new tab in your Firefox browser.