Firefox 4 Beta 10 has been released by Mozilla.  This update, on the heels of the Beta 9 release, really only brings more stability to an already amazing new browser interface.  The official release notes as far as changes go have been pretty sparse, but it seems stability is the big update this time around.

Here is the official word from Mozilla themselves:

This release continues our work to improve performance and stability in Firefox 4 Beta by including improved memory usage, remote blacklisting for hardware acceleration and better Flash support for Mac OS X users.

How Do You to Upgrade to Firefox 4 Beta 10?

You can go download the new beta to try it for yourself or if you are already using Firefox 4 Beta 9, click on the Firefox button, then go to Help > About Firefox to get the update.

Notice any other big changes? Let me know!  Also, be sure to keep giving Mozilla feedback through the Feedback button in the Firefox 4 interface.

A few days ago I introduced you to a version of Firefox that was optimized for Windows users.  Today, I have something a little different.  Swiftfox is another optimized build of the Firefox browser,  but this time it is for Linux users to enjoy.

Built from the most cutting edge Firefox source code available, Swiftfox has builds for both AMD and Intel processors. Here is a little ‘bit more about the browser from the developers:

There is now an installer available that is distro independent. It is a script that downloads and installs Swiftfox in the /opt directory and attempts to use existing Firefox plugins. The installer is probably the best way for most users to install Swiftfox. If your distro is Debian based you will want to install using the deb files as the apt repository will provide automatic updating. More info is available at the deb file page.

You should also be able to use all of your old favorite Firefox plugins, with no additional configurations needed.  I think this is a fantastic alternative to your basic Firefox browser, and if you are a Linux user – you should definitely check it out.

You can learn more about Swiftfox over at getswiftfox.com.

Quickly create PDFs anywhere from any source on the Web.  The add-on PDF Download will let you save just about any type of content from any webpage as a PDF file.  The extension also promises to remove the pain you can experience when you encounter PDF files online too.

Almost every single time I run into a PDF online, I run into problems.  This add-on has solved that issue completely.

Some of the features include:

• View PDF online. Convert PDF to an image and display it in the browser for quick viewing.
• Convert Web pages to PDF. Convert any (unsecured) Web pages to great looking PDF files, and then save, share, print or archive them.
• View PDF as HTML. View the contents of PDF files faster and eliminate browser problems by instantly converting any Web-based PDF to a browser-friendly HTML Web page.
• Control PDF files in Firefox. Stop crashes and get the upper hand on Web-based PDF files by automating and controlling how your Firefox or Flock browsers deal with them.
• Works in your language. Through the help of our users, PDF Download is now available in 19 languages and counting.

This might be one of the better PDF-related Firefox add-ons out there today.  You can pick it up and try it out at the Firefox Add-ons web site.

Once TweakTube has been installed, you can access it from Tools > YouTube – Options in the Firefox menu bar.  Once inside, here are some of the general options you can tweak around with:

• AutoPagerize – Inserts the next page of results as you are reaching the bottom of the page you are on.
• BetterTube – Auto-embeds the video file, enlarges it, and provides a link to download the video
• Colorful Buttons – Makes the Youtube buttons colorful, and adds a few other improvements
• Enhancer – Download link, quality selector, rollover preview, media controller, resizer, etc.
• Free Youtube – Plays videos with your local FLV-capable media player (VLC recommended)
• Middle-click Multi-selected Links – Middle-click on buttons and select multiple videos with ctrl+click
• Prewatch – Displays a tooltip for YouTube videos with video information and a small player for a preview
• Serialize Multiple Videos – Play multiple videos (requires “Multi-selected Links”), ctrl+click to select, shift+click to play
• Simple Flash Blocker – Disables autoplay of videos, so that you need to click them in order for them to play
• The Movie Dude – Cross-links movie sites so you don’t have to
• Small Tweaks – Black background for videos, comment dates, related videos are now scrollable, and more
• Video Downloader – Downloads videos in MP4, FLV, 3GP and MP3 format

When it comes to your watching experience on YouTube, you can tweak things in that aspect too.

• Better Loopy – Displays a link below YouTube videos to enable/disable auto replay
• Coralized – Uses Coral Content Distribution Network (www.coralcdn.org) to accelerate video performance
• YouTraceX – Video history
• Lights Out – Turn the lights out for easier watching of YouTube videos
• HD Suite – Shows HD videos by default and shows quality icons on video thumbnails
• VidzBigger – Automatically scale videos to largest possible size and HQ/HD quality video
• Random Video Playlist – Pick a user, and this script will automatically watch random videos from that user
• Resizer – Move the YouTube player to a spot where it has more room, and make it bigger
• Windows Media Player – Replaces Flash-Player with Media Player
• Real HD Player – Expands video but not when it should be normal size

If you play with one YouTube add-on this weekend, TweakTube had better be it.  You an also change the overall style of the YouTube pages between eleven different color and background layouts.

This add-on is definitely worth checking out, if you spend a lot of time browsing through videos on YouTube.  You can download TweakTube on the Firefox add-ons website.

So, what happened to the Personas add-on for Firefox, now that Personas’s quick skinning abilities are built into the browser?  Well, it has become Personas Plus.  With this add-on installed, you get one-click access to the full Personas experience.  You can quickly change between all the Personas out there and a few more neat things too.

Some of the extra features you get with Personas Plus include:

• Enjoy instant access to over 35,000 designs
• Choose favorites and switch designs anytime
• Create your own design for your computer
• Access the newest designs and features

The Personas Plus add-on for Firefox also makes testing Personas you are creating yourself much easier too.  You can pick up the Personas Plus add-on over at the Firefox Add-ons web site.

Want to be able to download some of the best HD 1080p videos from across the internet, but missing that Firefox add-on that promises to get it all done in a simple way?  KeepTube is the video downloading extension you might want to take a look at.

According to the author of the KeepTube add-on you can:

Download Youtube Videos (HD 1080p & 720p/HQ MP4, FLV, 3GP) Dailymotion (HQ MP4, FLV), Megavideo (HD/HQ FLV) Google (HQ MP4, FLV), Vimeo (HQ MP4) Break (HQ MP4, FLV), Veoh (HQ MP4, FLV), Metacafe, Spike, Myspace, Facebook, Current, and more!

They even supply a neat chart covering all the video downloading basics they provide, that others don’t.

Color me impressed.  The positive thing about the KeepTube add-on is it supports a lot of websites.  Bad news is, it still will not support every single website you might watch videos on.  However, that is an eventual flaw all these video download add-ons have.

On the negative side, I really don’t like how this add-on puts itself all over the browser.  Give me one simple button or addition to the webpages I visit.  It seems like it is invading my space, just a little ‘bit.

Overall, if you don’t have a video downloading add-on you are in love with yet – give KeepTube a shot.  It gets the job done, supports tons of websites out there and you can download it for free on the official Firefox Add-ons website.

All in all, 2009 was a great year for Firefox.  It grew by leaps and bounds, and continues to be the best alternative browser out there.  Firefox Facts did pretty well in it’s own right too – surpassing the 7,000+ RSS subscriber mark.  So with today being the last day of 2009, let us all sit back and revisit some of the best posts of the year.

Here are 10 of the most read stories, tips, tutorials and reviews I have posted here in 2009.  Hope you check out some classics you might have missed, or revisit a favorite post or two.

#10 – Love (or Disable) the New Tab Button in Firefox

Love it, or hate it – Firefox got one more addition to it’s browser that seems to have gotten a mixed reaction from the fans. The open new tab button rests at the end of your tab bar in Firefox 3.5 giving you an easier user interface to open a new tab.

• More Tab Fun – Move the Close Tab in Firefox

#9 – 10 Popular Web Designer Tools for Firefox

Thanks to Firefox and some of the great add-ons that have been developed for it, your browser is your best friend when it comes to web site design.  From CSS tools, to promoting your domain, here are 10 of the most popular web designer tools for Firefox.

• Top 10 Greatness – Top 10 Personas Backgrounds for Firefox

#8 – Add Another Bookmarks Toolbar to Firefox

Have more than a few bookmarks you want to keep handy on the bookmarks toolbar in Firefox but don’t have the room?  Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar, an extension for Firefox, will help you solve that issue by letting you add as many bookmark toolbars as you need.

• Popular Add-ons – Most Downloaded Bookmark Add-ons

#7 – Firefox Private Browsing Mode Help and FAQ

Want to increase your privacy on your PC?  With the release of Firefox 3.5, our favorite browser now has a Private Browsing mode.  Usually your browser remembers the web sites you have visited, your user names and passwords, your browsing history and more.  However, with this newest addition to the Firefox 3.5 feature list, you can now go incognito on the Internet.

• Firefox Tip – Easier Access to Private Browsing Mode

#6 – Convert YouTube Videos to MP3

The experimental add-on YouTube 2 MP3 will convert and download YouTube videos in the .mp3 audio format.  There is no doubt that YouTube has a large collection of music videos, so this type of service was bound to happen eventually.

• More YouTube Tips – 1-Click YouTube Video Downloader

#5 – Speed up Flash Videos in Firefox

Want to speed up your flash video watching?  By default, Firefox takes a sort of “snapshot” of whatever you are doing every ten seconds.  Why?  It is so that the browser can restore itself, just in case of a crash.  Now you might ask, what does this have to do with flash videos?  Well, the snapshot action is what is causing your ten second delay, at times, with watching flash videos on the Web.

• Firefox Hacks – More Fun Tips with About:Config

#4 – 10 Popular Themes That Are Firefox 3.5 Ready

One of the negative side effects of a new version of Firefox rolling out is the fact that some Firefox theme creators neglect to update their themes to the newest versions.  So, when updating our browser, that leaves some of us in the dark, when it comes to using the themes we know and love.  However, this time around many more popular themes have been updated to support Firefox 3.5 and here are my favorite ten for you to choose from.

• Skins Galore – All the Great Firefox Themes I’ve Reviewed

#3 – Skip to the Download on Rapidshare, Megaupload and More!

Want to skip the totally unnecessary “wait to download” pages on Rapidshare, Megaupload and more?  SkipScreen, and add-on for Firefox is here to help.

#2- All About Perspective – Firefox Wallpaper

Firefox wallpaper that I would actually see myself using is hard to find.  The main reason behind third is that I don’t really like text on my desktop, and I really don’t like feeling like a marketing campaign either.  So with that said, what type of Firefox wallpaper does make me happy?

• Desktop Decorations – Five Star Firefox Wallpaper

#1 – Beginner’s Guide to Greasemonkey

In a nutshell, Greasemonkey is an add-on for Firefox that allows you to customize a web site’s look and function.  Now you don’t have to be a coder to use it though, because there are already hundreds of scripts out there available for free that you can use to help you do a number of different things.

• Another Great Guide: Beginner’s Manual to Stylish

I hope you have enjoyed reading all the Firefox Facts tips, tricks and more this year – and you’ll subscribe to the RSS feed, visit daily and be entertained and informed all the way though 2010 and beyond.  This site wouldn’t be a success without you, so thank you for making Firefox Facts on of the most popular Firefox tip related blogs out there today. Happy New Year!

BONUS – Check out the Best of Mitchelaneous (2009 Edition)

Now, I know what you are going to tell me before you even say it.

“Mitch, there are already a million and one video downloaders out there, why review another one?”

Number one, you are right – there are way too many.  So what makes the 1-Click YouTube Video Download any different?  It cuts out the useless junk, and gets right to the meat and potatoes.

Other plugins make you pass through one place, that goes to another, and then finally after you turn in a circle three times you might have the video.  This add-on doesn’t make you do that dance.  Instead, it adds download links under the videos on YouTube.

All you do is select if you want to download the .flv version, the .mp4 version, or the HD version (if available).  Click the link, the download starts and you are done.

You can pick up the 1-Click YouTube Video Download add-on for Firefox on the Firefox Add-ons web site.

Picking a location for all of your downloaded files is an easy thing to do.  All you have to do is go to Tools in the menu bar, then Options, then in the Main tab, pick your place to save your downloads.  What if you want all your downloaded .zip files in a folder named “Archives” and files downloaded from Mozilla.org to go into a folder named, “Mozilla Downloads”?  Then you need the Automatic Save Folder add-on for Firefox.

This extension allow you to specify where each file you are downloading will be saved too.  If you are using the Firefox option “Save the files in this folder”, the file will be saved automatically to that location. If you are using the Firefox option “Always ask where to save the files”, Firefox will show you suggested path location choices to save your file to.

How to Start Sorting Your Downloads

Your downloads will play by the rules you set up for them.  Here are a few example situations:

If you want all your executable files .exe to be saved in a specific folder:

• domain: all
• filter: .exe
• folder: your executable files folder

Now if you want all the files from a particular website (mozilla.org for example) to be saved in a Mozilla folder:

• domain: mozilla.org
• filter: all
• folder: your Mozilla folder

As you can see the possibilities for customizing your files and where they are downloaded to are endless.   You can also use dynamic variables to create a dated folder:

• folder: X:\root folder\%Y% %m% %d%

Another neat feature is the ability to automatically accept the download.  There is no need to click the OK button.

You can learn more about how to customize and use the Automatic Save Folder extension for Firefox on the official web site, and download it from the Firefox Add-ons web site.

Since Facebook is the king of the hill when it comes to social networks, there have been a lot of add-ons dedicated to making it better.  Facebook is great, but is not without flaws.  Thankfully, these Firefox add-on developers have worked out some of the kinks and have masterminded some of the best add-ons for Firefox to date.

Here are my top five Facebook add-ons you can add to Firefox.

Friendbar

Facebook and Twitter are now easier than ever to use. Friendbar displays a running stream of text and photo updates right on the toolbar, and allows you to post updates, to like, comment, update, retweet, dm, and reply from the toolbar itself.

Facebook Toolbar

Facebook seems to quickly be outgrowing the other social networks by leaps and bounds.  It is hard to find a friend that hasn’t switched over to it from the other social networks like MySpace and the like.  So with that said, why not grab a toolbar that will help you get a little more out of your Facebook usage and help you stay connected with your friends even better?

Facebook Photo Album Downloader

In need of a way to download all the images you may have uploaded to your Facebook photo album?  Sure you could go through each image, click by click and download each one individually.  Why do that though, when you have FacePAD.  This extension will let you grab all the photos from any album you need on Facebook.

Facebook Video

The popular Greasemonkey Facebook video script is now a full-fledged Firefox addon that lets users download or convert Facebook videos, and embed videos outside of Facebook.

Facebook Dislike

You can “like” things on Facebook, so why can you not “dislike” things too? If you use Facebook, and you have Firefox – you can now add the feature some have really been wanting. You get the ability to dislike things that your friends have posted.

There are my top five, which one is your favorite?  I would have to say that the Facebook Photo Album Downloader is probably the most functional, so in turn – my favorite of the favorites.  What also would be the Facebook flaw you wish you could fix?  You might just be the inspiration for some Firefox add-on developer’s next creation.