14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla is working on integrating features that would normally be part of a web service directly into the browser. One example of this is the Firefox Contacts add-on, which creates a sort of local and integrated address book by pulling contact data from various sources either online or from local address books. The project is in its infancy, but with Firefox Contacts 0.3.1, it’s starting to take shape.
“In this release, we’ve added support for Yahoo! and Facebook contacts, put people into the AwesomeBar, and enhanced Contacts’ ability to find information about people by asking around the web,” Mozilla Labs’ Michael Hanson wrote.
“As part of this release, we’ve added experimental support for ‘person:’ URLs. You can look up people in your contacts list, or anybody on the web, using this technique. Firefox will combine information found from your local address book with web-based information to create a profile page about the person.”
Firefox Contacts 0.3.1 brings support for two new services, two of the biggest in the world, Yahoo and Facebook. Yahoo Mail is the most popular email service in the world and access to Yahoo Contacts greatly expands the number of available contacts for most people. And the importance of Facebook contacts needs no explaining, with close to 500 million users and probably one of the most complex and relevant social graphs out there, the addition of the social network is a great boon for the add-on.
In terms of features, the latest version brings support for “person:” addresses. Typing a person’s name in the AwesomeBar will bring up suggestions for contacts matching the name. You can then check out a local page for the contact that aggregates all the data Firefox has been able to grab from various services. The feature works for people who aren’t in your address book as well, just point it at a URL and the add-on will try to retrieve as much info as possible.