Users of the Netscape Navigator 9 browser will see the following major upgrade notice available today, released as Netscape 9.0.0.6. When the Netscape 9.0.0.6 upgrade is accepted and run, the following notice will appear, denoting the end of support date (March 1) and the recommendations of Flock and Firefox:

AOL support for Netscape browsers has been extended one month, to March 1st. Mozilla, Flock and AOL are working together to provide tools to ease the migration of existing Netscape browser users to our recommended Flock and Firefox alternatives. Both Flock and Firefox are built on the same Mozilla Firefox codebase.

There will be an update made available for Netscape 9 users through the established Netscape browser update feature that will streamline the process of choosing from these two great browser alternatives.

We've updated the Friends' Activity Sidebar Firefox extension to include the option to be notified of your friends' votes (in addition to their stories and comments). To use this new feature, install version 1.1 of the extension from Mozilla Addons, and after restarting your browser, open the FAS options dialog via Tools > Add-ons > Netscape Friends' Activity Sidebar > Options. Check the "Notify me of new votes by my friends." box and click OK.

In the spirit of holiday generosity, we give you this:

The Netscape Digg Tracker

Based on our own Friends' Activity Sidebar and by using the public Digg API, this extension allows you to monitor your friends' activities on Digg!

Netscape's Digg Tracker extension helps you keep tabs on what stories your Digg friends are submitting, commenting on, and digging. A new toolbar button (shown below) features the Digg mascot. When there is new activity by your friends (i.e., a new comment or a new story submission), the button will be activated and the digger will be shown with his shovel. Clicking on the activated button will open a list of your friends' activity in the sidebar, allowing you to easily browse the stories in which they're being active.


Figure 1: The two main states of the toolbar button.

Each time you view your friends' activity, you will only be shown activity that is new since the last time you opened the sidebar. In addition, the top 5 stories from Netscape.com will be shown below your friends' activity. At any time, you can click the toolbar button to view these links, even if there is no new activity to display. The extension defaults to showing you the submissions of the friends of Kevin Rose, Digg's founder and chief architect. You can have it alert you to your own friends' activities by entering your username in the options dialog.

Note: The sidebar limits activity to five stories/comments for each friend. To view more of a friend's recent activity, click on their avatar or username to be sent to that friend's profile.


Figure 2: Netscape's Digg Tracker Sidebar

Netscape's Digg Tracker is compatible with Firefox 1.5 through 2.0.0.* as well as the latest release of Flock and can be downloaded from Mozilla Addons.

Happy Holidays from Team Netscape to Team Digg!

Today we released two Firefox extensions that hook into Netscape.com: the Sitemail Notifier extension and the Friends' Activity Sidebar. We hope that these extensions will allow you to get even more value out of Netscape. Both extensions are compatible with Firefox 1.5 through 2.0.0.* as well as the latest release of Flock.

Sitemail Notifier

The Sitemail Notifier extension adds a button (shown below) to your toolbar that indicates when you have new sitemail messages at Netscape.com. Clicking the button will bring you to your messages page.


Figure 1: The two main states of the sitemail button.

Friends' Activity Sidebar

The Friends' Activity Sidebar (FAS) extension helps you keep tabs on what stories your Netscape friends are submitting and commenting on. A new toolbar button (shown below) features Chad, the older, more mature brother of AOL's little yellow chat mascot. When there is new activity by your friends (i.e., a new comment or a new story submission), the button will be activated and Chad will send a friendly wave your way. Clicking on the activated button will open a list of your friends' activity in the sidebar, allowing you to easily browse their stories and comments. Each time you view your friends' activity, you will only be shown activity that is new since the last time you opened the sidebar.


Figure 2: The two main states of the FAS button.

Note: The sidebar limits activity to five stories/comments for each friend. To view more of a friend's recent activity, click on their avatar or username to be sent to that friend's profile.


Figure 3: The Friends' Activity Sidebar

Suggestions for future extensions or improvements on these extensions are most definitely welcome.