The latest Firefox update has been released for general consumption and it’s loaded with big changes.

The most striking, of course, is the way the overall interface has been sleekified and rearranged. The default tool bar has been stripped completely clean, giving users the option to add only the tools they want. And adding those tools is super convenient: the Customize link is easily found on the new dropdown menu. A drag and drop page allows you to place tools and functions where they make the most sense to you. The only items you can’t move are the address field and dropdown menu icon (so you don’t inadvertently lock yourself out of the interface).

One thing you may have noticed even before the new UI is the tabs. Firstly—no second, first is that they’re very pretty—the difference between the inactive tabs and the active tab is much more dramatic. While I question the overall need (I personally wasn’t aware that the old inactive tabs were distracting) it does make for a much cleaner look. And, well, they’re pretty.

These visible changes reflect four priorities for the massive update:

1. To give Firefox users their most beautiful, deeply designed experience to date.
2. To streamline and declutter the default interface—in a sense, cleaning the slate—providing a versatile experience for the way people are using browsers today.
3. To make it easier for more users to customize their browser.
4. To improve consistency across multiple devices.

Ultimately, Mozilla aims to lay a foundation for seamlessly accommodating future features, and wants to make the browser’s inevitable growth and changes less of a roller coaster ride for users. While predicting the future of the web is a less-than-perfect science, it’s clear a great deal of careful and inspired thought has been put into this release.

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Apartheid. Fewer words have gained such infamy in the past half-century.

Pre-Mandela rule in South Africa illustrated how brutal institutionalized racial/ethnic discrimination can be. One might even argue that the U.S. has been a quasi-apartheid state for much of its history.

That is why John Kerry’s recent words carry such somber weight.

Last week, he stated before world leaders that Israel could risk becoming an apartheid state in its own right, if a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not reached.

Heavily loaded words—certainly the kind that will make some stomachs churn and some tempers boil over.

But could they be justified?

After all, Israel has a slew of laws discriminating against Palestinians—even those who are Israeli citizens.

And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent proposal won’t exactly discredit Kerry’s words, either.

There is no one infallible take on this. Yes, Kerry may have been a bit hyperbolic.

But just maybe, there’s a grain of truth to his claims.

What do you think? A justified firestorm… or a storm in a teacup?

Image courtesy of theatlantic.com

What does poverty look like?

We all have a library of images in our head that answer that question.

But today, the federal government paints a very different picture of poverty. 

Many poor families that the US government designates as poor own televisions, stereos and air conditioning. Plus, there’s no question that the poor in America are much better off than in many other nations.

But focusing on some of the relative luxuries enjoyed by the poor misses the point.

As the data above  shows, the prices of entertainment goods have fallen dramatically in the last 10 years. But more importantly, the prices of essentials like education, child care, and health care have been steadily creeping up. Yikes.

This tracks with a recent FiveThirtyEight analysis which concluded that inflation has hit the poor harder than the general population in the last two years. 

What’s even worse is that continued price increases on essentials make it harder to escape poverty.

As Jordan Weissmann of Slate put it:

A college education has become a necessary passport to financial stability. It’s hard to hold a job if you’re chronically ill. Working full-time is difficult if you can’t pay somebody to watch your child. While a high-definition television is nice, it won’t permanently improve your circumstances. 

So while it’s great that poor Americans can have nice things, don’t be fooled. Poverty in America still sucks. Big time.

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