KaKoo

Mozilla has released an updated version of its F1 browsing extension. F1 is from the Mozilla Messaging team and is designed to make it easy to share links across various social services. Rather than having to rely on “share this” buttons on a web page, users can just hit F1 on their keyboards (or “function” F1 for Mac users) and select the service they want to use.

When Mozilla released the first iteration of this extension back in November, we welcomed the idea of a browser-focused sharing system. With the latest release, however, Mozilla has really upped the ante and improved the look and functionality of the extension, as well as adding support for more services.

---

New Look and Feel

---

The old version of F1 wasn’t unattractive — in fact we complemented the clean design. The problem, however, was because sharing buttons spanned the horizontal length of the browser, it could get cluttered and ungainly if used with too many services or on browser windows of odd widths.

The new interface features a vertical layout that stacks each service on top of another, displaying the sharing template only for a selected service. The content of the browser also remains unchanged in this implementation, with the overlay simply floating atop the webpage.

We like this look much better and find it effective and unobtrusive. This new video shows the plugin in action:

---

New Services and Features

---

In addition to a new UI, F1 has also added support for more services. LinkedIn joins Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, Google Apps and Yahoo. Facebook and Twitter have also received additional capabilities. Users can now send a direct message to other Twitter users using F1 and they can also share with group walls on Facebook.

Finally, the Google Apps and Gmail templates have received an update to include a thumbnail of the link being shared.

The latest version of F1 isn’t just about adding new features — it’s also about taking old features away. This release will only work on the Firefox 4 beta. That means users of Firefox 3.6 will need to make the move to the Firefox 4 beta or forego the update.

Mozilla says that the decision to move to Firefox 4 only was because of some of the new UI techniques. Now in its 11th beta, Firefox 4 is stable and fast. We wouldn’t say that F1 is a reason to make the move to the new browser but it will be one of the many benefits.

What we would love to see with F1 would be an API that developers can use to plug their own services into the plugin. Having one sharing bar built into the browser is a useful concept but it gets more useful when more services are supported.

What do you think of F1? Do you use any browser extensions or bookmarklets to easily share links? Let us know.

More About: f1, Firefox, mozilla, mozilla messaging

For more Social Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Social Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

John Lilly, the CEO of Mozilla, is stepping down from his post and moving to venture capital firm Greylock Partners, according to AllThingsD.

Lilly became the CEO of Mozilla in January 2008, when he was promoted from the COO position. His move comes just as the non-profit revealed detailed plans for Firefox 4.0.

The AllThingsD report states that Lilly will be joining Greylock Partners as a venture capitalist, although he could eventually create another startup. It’s unclear why he is leaving or whether it was his decision or he was asked to step aside.

Mozilla’s Firefox is the world’s second most popular browser in terms of market share. Last month, it held 24.59% of the market, compared to Microsoft Internet Explorer’s 59.95% and Google Chrome’sGoogle Chrome 6.73%.

We’ll let you know when we learn more about this story.

Update: This is the email Lilly sent to Mozilla employees announcing his departure:

Everyone,

As my five year anniversary at Mozilla approaches, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to move on to my next role sometime later this year. This won’t happen today or tomorrow–I expect to be here and working for several months yet, and I’m planning to stay on the Board of Directors.

This is a tough note for me to write–I feel so incredibly lucky and humbled to have worked on such an amazing project, with such spectacular people, for the last few years.

But I’ve always been a startup guy at heart–Mozilla was originally going to be a quick volunteer effort for me, but quickly turned into a full time job, and at the beginning of 2008 turned into the CEO job that I have now. I’ve really been missing working with startups, and want to learn how to invest in and build great new startups, so am planning to join Greylock Partners as a Venture Partner once we transition here.

I’m in no rush, and the most important thing to me is to build the strongest Mozilla we can, with the best leadership possible. So my plan is to stay through that transition–we’re starting a CEO search now, and plan to do it in as transparent a way as possible–which means I’ll continue in my CEO role as normal for several more months, at least.

I’ll have more to say on the transition as we figure things out more clearly, but for now, business as usual. We’ve got FirefoxFirefox 4 to ship, and Firefox on multiple mobile platforms. We’ve got our web services like Weave to stand up and make available to millions of users.

For now, though, I really want to communicate a deep gratitude to each of you — over the past few years we’ve done an amazing amount together, and changed the world in so many meaningful ways. 400 million users are directly touched every day by the work we’ve done so far, and many, many more are using better browsers because of our work. There are many more contributions and victories to come.

John

---

For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on TwitterTwitter or become a fan on FacebookFacebook

---