Mozilla has just released the latest version of Firefox browser for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android devices. As expected, it was released with the IonMonkey JavaScript complier which it says provides faster JavaScript performance for web games and other long lived web applications. IonMonkey replaces SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine which had been its JavaScript booster in previous versions. Mozilla says IonMonkey outperform SpiderMonkey by more than 25%.

For more on this release, please click here.

To show off how IonMonkey performs, Mozilla is highlighting BananaBread, a 3D web game developed by its Developer Network in HTML5, WebGL and JavaScript.

To get Firefox 18 in Windows and Mac, go to the download page on Mozilla.org and download a copy. Or open your current version and go to Firefox –> Help –> About Firefox to get updated. Android devices can get it from Google Play Store.

In Ubuntu, you may have to add addition software sources, which I will show you later. In a few days, you may be able to get it just by updating your system.

Here are some of the new features added to Firefox 18:

  • Faster JavaScript performance via IonMonkey compiler
  • Support for Retina Display on OS x 10.7 and up
  • Preliminary support for WebRTC
  • Support for new DOM property ( windows.devicePixelRatio )
  • Improvement in startup time through smart handling of signed extensions certificates
  • Support for W3C touch events implemented, taking the place of MozTouch events
  • Improved responsiveness for user on proxies

To install it in Ubuntu, press Ctrl – Alt – T on your keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run the commands below to add its PPA.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa

 

firefox-18_ubuntu

 

Finally, run the commands below to update your system and upgrade Firefox.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

 

firefox-18_ubuntu_1

 

Enjoy!

 

firefox-18_ubuntu_2