gUM is a new HTML5 DOM API that allows the browser to capture local camera and/or microphone streams directly, and not through third party plugins. This means JavaScript developers can now quickly and easily write code to access the user’s camera or microphones (with the user’s permission, of course) without having to install anything because the support is already inside the browser.

We still currently prefix gUM as mozGetUserMedia because the standards committee is not yet done defining it. So, gUM demos that work with Chrome (using the navigator.webkitGetUserMedia call) will need to be modified to include the moz prefix.

Here’s a simple example of how to use the new gUM API. My four-year old and her Firefox bear (both interested in becoming active contributors to the Firefox project) really like this page:

gUM is also the first API component of WebRTC, which enables real-time, interactive, peer-to-peer audio/video calls and data sharing. The other big pieces of WebRTC, PeerConnection and DataChannels (a Mozilla first), still have some rough edges we’re smoothing out, but will also be enabled by default soon. You can try them now in Nightly or Aurora 20 by browsing to about:config and changing the media.peerconnection.enabled pref to “true”.

We know gUM is a powerful new tool that will make the Web even more incredible, and we’re thrilled to enable this new functionality in our browser.

- Maire Reavy, Product Lead, Firefox Platform Media

WebRTC is a powerful new tool that enables web app developers to include real-time video calling and data sharing capabilities in their products.  While many of us are excited about WebRTC because it will enable several cool gaming applications and improve the performance and availability of video conferencing apps, WebRTC is proving to be a great tool for social apps.  Sometimes when you’re chatting with a friend, you just want to click on their name and see and talk with them in real-time.  Imagine being able to do that without any glitches or hassles, and then while talking with them, easily share almost anything on your computer or device: vacation photos, memorable videos – or even just a link to a news story you thought they might be interested in – simply by dragging the item into your video chat window.

This has become a reality.  We’ve created a demo that combines our Social API and WebRTC.  You can talk and share in real-time, while chatting, as if your friend were in the same room.  Take a look at the video above, where our Chief of Innovation, Todd Simpson, runs you through some of these cool future features.

getUserMedia allows a developer to capture the user’s camera and microphone data (with the user’s permission) easily.  It was actually pretty complicated for a browser to capture camera or microphone data before getUserMedia.  Expect to see browser apps that can capture and readily manipulate camera data (think Instagram) popping up as this new technology takes off.

PeerConnection enables the audio and video calling.  It is secure, hassle-free, and peer-to-peer.  This means you can expect high quality, low delay, encrypted calls from one WebRTC browser to another.  This is also something that was incredibly difficult for a browser to do until now.  Prior to WebRTC, video calling applications were either stand-alone, isolated apps (like Skype) or browser plug-ins which lacked the tight connection to the browser internals to guarantee a good quality call.

We share data in WebRTC using DataChannels, which Mozilla is the first to implement.  DataChannels is a powerful component of WebRTC that can be used by itself or combined with an audio/video chat to send almost any data that the browser can access.

Please have a look at our demo video, which shows some of ways you can combine these WebRTC components. We currently support basic person-to-person video calling and data channels in Firefox Beta but it has to be turned on in about:config. Check out this post on Hacks if you’re interested in finding out how to do this and for more information about developing apps using WebRTC.  As always Bug reports are highly appreciated. Please file them on Bugzilla under “Product:Core”, “Component:WebRTC”.   We plan to add support for video conferencing apps, faster call connection, and additional audio/video options, so stay tuned for more on this.

We hope you’re as excited as we are to start seeing some of the awesomeness that WebRTC has to offer the Web.

- Maire Reavy, Product Lead, Firefox Platform Media

This release features a selection of showcase apps in the areas of games, productivity and news & media that users can browse, install and use. Among the first apps ready for testing are Distant Orbit, Jauntly, Soundcloud and Twitter.

It’s still early days for Firefox Marketplace Aurora – we’ll be adding payments, ratings, reviews and more soon- stay tuned.

Just last year, we started working to turn the Web into a viable apps development platform. We created the Firefox Marketplace to allow developers to build, distribute and monetize rich, immersive apps that use Web technologies like HTML, JavaScript and CSS. We’ve made amazing progress developing Web APIs across platforms as we work to unlock the power of the Web on mobile, just as we did on desktop.

To get started:

1. Download Firefox Aurora on your Android phone
2. Open Firefox Aurora and in the Options Menu, choose “Apps” (if you don’t see “Apps” as an option, choose “Tools” then “Apps”)
3. Browse the Marketplace, install and use apps
4. Click settings (in the Options Menu), then tap on “Feedback” to let us know what you think

The Firefox Marketplace will initially be available with Firefox for Android Aurora. Support for Firefox OS and Firefox on other platforms will come in the future.

To find out more about developing Web apps for the Firefox Marketplace, you can read this Hacks blog post.

You can learn more about the Aurora release of Firefox Marketplace and the Firefox apps platform here.

What’s New in Firefox Aurora:

• Improved Site Identity Manager: To prevent spoofing of an SSL connection with favicons.
• Google Search SSL by Default: Firefox Aurora now enables HTTPS by default for Google searches.
• Opt-in Activation for Plugins: Plugins can now be configured to load on click. This requires activation on about:config.
• See Complete Listing: Firefox Aurora Notes for Windows, Mac, Linux.
• For Developers: Firefox Aurora Hacks.

Try these new experimental features now and start testing.
Download the latest Firefox Aurora and provide feedback. Feedback on these new features help us determine what makes it to beta and final releases.

The latest Firefox Aurora is now available, including early-stage features like New Tab, a redesigned default Home Page and Awesome Bar Auto-Complete.

New Tab Feature

What’s New in Firefox Aurora:

• When opening a new tab, users are now presented with thumbnails of their most recent and most frequented pages.
• The redesigned Home Page provides a central start location where users can access their Bookmarks, History, Settings, Add-ons, Downloads and Sync Preferences. The new Home Page is an early stage feature; expect more to come in future releases!
• The Awesome Bar now completes URLs as you type them.

Redesigned Home Page

Download the latest Firefox Aurora and provide feedback. Feedback on these new features help us determine what makes it to beta and final releases.

For more information:

• Updates to Firefox Developer Tools
• Platform Updates
• Long, technical release notes

We turned the New Tab feature on by default to make it easier for you to test on Aurora. We plan to turn the feature off again on February 16th (next Thursday). You can easily toggle the preference if you want to continue testing it on Aurora past the 16th. Just go to about:preferences and set ‘browser.newtab.url’ preference to ‘about:newtab’, ‘browser.newtabpage.enabled’ to ‘true’ and restart Firefox Aurora.

You can easily file bugs using the following link: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Firefox&component=General or read more about the open bugs here bug 455553.

You can also leave your feedback here if that’s easier (#newtab). We’re looking forward to your feedback!

The new Firefox Aurora for Android update includes a new native Android interface that we need your help testing. Users will experience a faster start-up time, new design, improved start page and more.  This Firefox Aurora update also includes Flash support. Look for further Firefox Aurora updates soon that will add features like Firefox Sync, additional add-ons support and more.

We need our adventurous group of Firefox Aurora users to help us test these new features and file bugs or provide feedback as we continue to improve performance and features. For tablet users who want to keep using the new optimized tablet UI, please download Firefox Beta.

See the full list of new features in Firefox Aurora for Android: Firefox Aurora Notes for Android

For desktop users, check out the Firefox Aurora notes for Mac, Windows, and Linux/For Developers: Firefox Aurora Hacks Post.

The latest phase of our add-on compatibility plan has arrived in Aurora, and we need your help to test it! Since Firefox 4, we have been automatically making add-ons hosted on AMO compatible with new Firefox releases. Now, we have extended automatic compatibility to non-hosted add-ons, which account for 75% of all add-ons in use (currently in the hundreds of millions). This means you should see less of the incompatible add-ons dialog, and more of your add-ons should just work.

You can read more about the plan, including how we determine eligibility for automatic compatibility here. For additional background reading, check out this blog post.

Once you have Aurora installed, all add-ons that are compatible with Firefox 4 or later can be installed without extra steps. Firefox will install them even if they are declared incompatible in the manifest file.

If you don’t already have Aurora installed, you can get it here. With Aurora, you’ll see our newest features before they go beta, and have a chance to send us feedback before the final release.

Enjoy these new tools, and let us know what you think!