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Today’s topics include the release of Firefox 42, Microsoft Power BI’s new capabilities for exploring big data, Google’s emphatic denial of rumors that it intends to phase out Chrome OS, and Juniper Networks’ offer of a disaggregated version of its Junos Network OS.
Mozilla has released the Firefox 42 browser, which provides users with improved privacy and security. The new privacy feature in Firefox 42 is called Tracking Protection and currently works inside Firefox’s Private Browsing mode.
The basic concept of Private Browsing mode is that a user’s history and session cookies are not retained after the browser is closed. Tracking Protection adds a new dimension by restricting the ability of third-party technologies from tracking a user.
Microsoft continues to add new ways of exploring big data to its cloud-powered business intelligence offering, Power BI.
Today, the software maker announced a new tool called the Timeline Slicer, a top-requested feature. According to Microsoft technical fellow Amir Netz, the Timeline Slicer is a graphical date range selector used as a filtering component in Power BI.
For iPhone users tired of the Power BI app’s vertical orientation, Microsoft has added a new landscape mode that mimics the look and feel of the browser-based experience.
On Monday, Google emphatically reiterated its commitment to the Chrome PC operating system in an attempt to squelch persistent rumors that the company plans to fold the OS into Android.
Hiroshi Lockheimer, senior vice president of Android, said Google has been working on ways to meld the best elements of Chrome OS and Chromecast. However, the company has no plans to discontinue Chrome as has been widely speculated.
In fact, according to Lockheimer, Google has plans to release even more features for Chrome OS, such as a new media player, a visual refresh based on its Material Design user interface guidelines and improved performance.
Juniper Networks is expanding its open networking efforts with a disaggregated version of its Junos networking software. Additionally, new access switches will not only work with the disaggregated Junos, but also support the 25 Gigabit Ethernet and 50 GbE standards.
The vendor announced the new offerings Nov. 3 at its inaugural NXTWORK 2015 user conference in Santa Clara, Calif.
Juniper is among a number of established vendors that are building out their portfolios of open networking offerings that enable customers to run third-party software on their branded systems.