Like Google’s Chrome browser, Mozilla announced earlier this year its intention to move to a fast release cycle for new major versions of its popular browser for Windows, Linux and Mac, Firefox. Following the launch of Firefox 4 in March — which brought major design changes from Firefox 3 — Mozilla moved up its schedule and released Firefox 5 in June, just three months after the previous upgrade, adding a “Do not track” feature for all browsers and platforms, as well as other HTML5 and CSS improvements, although the UI design remained largely unchanged from Firefox 4. As part of Mozilla’s new channel-based alpha and beta testing, Firefox 6.0 is already available as beta, whilst Firefox 7.0 has been made available as early developer preview (or alpha) in the Aurora channel. You can read more about Mozilla’s new “every six weeks” policy here.

While waiting for the future Firefox 6.0 and 7.0, Mozilla’s Product Visual Designer with the Firefox team, Stephen Horlander, has posted some mockups of what the future Firefox could look like on Windows and OS X machines. The images, posted as a presentation on Mozilla’s website, don’t necessarily reflect any upcoming feature in the next versions of Firefox, but they provide some kind of insight into the kind of discussions the team is having in regards of what could come next.

As you can see from the image above (more here), the proposed solution unifies Firefox’s top bar to accomodate tabs, a Home button, a new tab button, as well as integrated add-on manager that has its own tab (much like Google Chrome opens its settings in new tabs, rather than windows). The mockups have been built on top of OS X Lion, as you can tell from the window texture and the traffic lights in the upper left corner. Speaking of which, Horlander has also played around with Lion’s monochrome and popovers, implementing monochromatic icons for cut/copy/paste, bookmarks and tab controls inside a settings popover accessible from a gear icon next to the address bar. Another screenshot shows native full-screen support with minimal chrome when browsing a website. On the PC side, the proposed changes are similar, but based on Windows’ default theme.

It’ll be interesting to see whether these Lion-inspired changes for Firefox on the Mac will evolve into an actual release in the coming months. Meanwhile, Windows users can install this fan-made theme that takes some of Horlander’s UI elements, and applies them to the current version of Firefox.

With the release of redsn0w and the first unofficial widget for iOS 5 over the weekend, we noted how developing widgets for the new Notification Center could open a big new opportunity for developers willing to invest on features not implemented by Apple — e.g. widgets in iOS 5 are limited to the iPhone and the Stocks and Weather applications. We first detailed UISettings on Saturday, a widget that, similarly to toggles for popular iOS 4 tweak SBSettings, allows users to quickly activate iPhone hardware functionalities like WiFi, Bluetooth and Brightness.

Since the release of UISettings, several developers have started playing around with the concept of widgets in Notification Center. Besides some obvious updates to UISettings that brought an improved design and stability, others have released new tweaks to enable new functions in the area otherwise reserved to notifications. Spring Prefs, for example, is an upcoming widget by @GreySyntax that will put system information in the Notification Center. Available RAM, firmware version, IP and uptime — they all can be viewed right under the status bar of iOS 5 with a pulldown gesture. In the same sneak peek, you can also see a custom Notification Center theme that gets rid of Apple’s much criticized linen background for a more elegant transparent effect and minimal layout. (more…)

If you’re an iPhone developer, you know how long it takes to turn a mockup realized in Photoshop, Illustrator or Fireworks into a working app that can be tested to see if your idea is actually working on a device’s screen. Whilst an app screen may look good in Photoshop with its fancy graphics and menus you first sketched on your notebook, there’s always the risk that, once running on a real device with an actual multitouch display, your idea will simply suck. Prototypes, a new Mac app released today at $39.99, is a new tool for developers aimed at making the process of converting a mockup into a tappable and shareable application super-simple. Prototypes won’t magically turn your .png’s into Cocoa code, instead it will allow you to display these images on an iPhone or iPod touch screen, and allow users to tap around and get the idea of how an app works.

From Prototypes’ desktop view, developers can import image files and start building a new project. Once all the images are in, Prototypes offers the possibility to create connections and links between objects and pages, add tappable areas and establish dependencies between app menus and sections. What Prototypes basically does is simple: it takes all your app mockups you’ve created in Photoshop, bundles them up in a package, and takes care of including animations, transitions, hotspots, and more to give users the feeling that they’re using a real application while, in fact, they’re just tapping on “smart images” connected by links. It’s genius. Of course you won’t end up using an app on your phone — you’ll simply be running a bookmark saved from the web that’s nothing but a living mockup meant for testing purposes.

Prototypes also offers developers a way to share these mockups with users, their boss, or friends: by hosting a mockup on the free ptyp.es service, devs will be able to easily allow everyone to “install the app” using Mobile Safari and a special PIN code for extra security. You can try one of Prototypes smart mockups by heading over this link with your iPhone, saving the page on your Home screen, and entering 12345678 as PIN.

I think Prototypes is an incredible idea and a great time-saving utility for iOS developers that have been looking for ways to test a mockup without actually writing code. You can get the app here at $39.99.

You could share PSDs with Dropbox, DM screengrabs, or email PDFs containing sketches for your proposed iPhone app, but why not collaboratively share those latest ideas with Upstage, the latest project from the folks who’ve brought you Boxcar? Upstage is another recent project gunning to simplify iOS developer’s needs to share and collaborate ideas frictionlessly online. Providing frames for popular iOS devices, you’re allowed to upload screenshots to create a series of screens that can be shared with clients and coworkers. I didn’t see any markup tools inside the app for quick sketching or circling, and developers will have to keep in mind the various resolutions for their devices if they wish to upload their designs. While the service is in public beta, you can help the Upstage team improve, add features, and iron out bugs by giving the service a trial run.

[Upstage via ReadWriteWeb]

In the shadow of today’s big announcements regarding the Mac App Store, some leaks, I mean mockups, showed up. Not to detour you from downloading lots of new Mac Apps, but don’t forget the iPad 2 is still hot news.

So MIC Gadget actually thought they had leaked pictures of the next gen iPad (updated with “mockups”). If a small blog can get screenshots of the Mac App Store (and post them), why can’t MIC Gadget get iPad 2 pictures? Well, they’re obviously fake. Anyway, here’s some interesting mockups of the upcoming iPad 2 for your enjoyment and we even included Joy of Tech’s list of iPad 2 “dreamy” expectations (and maybe ours). More after the break. (more…)