Admit it, there are some things that you just don’t want in your browser history. Firefox understands. Firefox is going to make it easy for you, by making “private” browsing just a little more private.
How are they going to pull that particular trick off? By enabling you to make individual tabs private at your leisure:
The latest versions of Firefox 20 Beta have been updated to allow people to choose private browsing on a per-tab basis. Private browsing disables built-in browser recording, including history and cookies.
This is a pretty big change for Private Browsing aficionados, since previously in Firefox switching to Private Browsing would save all your tabs, close the window, and open a new Private Browsing window without any previously-running tabs. The new behavior allows Private Browsing tabs to run side-by-side with non-Private tabs.
Before you ask, yes, Firefox on Android also has this capability. Although if you’re using your mobile phone to look at whacking material, we know exactly who you are, and please stop doing that. It makes the morning commute just that much more unpleasant.
Why, precisely, is Firefox making it much easier to browse the seedier side of the Internet on the down-low? Competition. Google Chrome comes standard on Android, for obvious reasons, and as a result, it’s holding down quite a bit of the browser market, something you can track with this handy widget. In order to claw that market share back and be the browser everybody loves again, Firefox is going to have to get a little nasty.
We can’t wait for the disasters this particular idea generates, though. You know it’s only a matter of time before that creepy guy from work realizes doesn’t even need to have a spreadsheet up to switch pages. Maybe you should alert your HR manager now?