True to its word, the Mozilla Foundation has released the 4th Firefox 4 Beta version this week. The interesting thing about Firefox 4 Beta 4 is that it comes with syncing capabilities. To be more precise, Firefox Sync is built into this latest Beta version of Firefox 4.

I have to say I have always been a big fan of Firefox Sync. I liked the add-on ever since it was in its early stages, a time when it was called Weave Sync. There is much to like about this application. Thanks to it you can keep your bookmarks, saved passwords, preferences, browsing history and open browser tabs in sync across platforms. The website you bookmarked on your work computer for example will be added to the Firefox browser installed on your home computer.

Firefox Sync is not the only add-on that Mozilla integrated into the Firefox 4 browser. The Test Pilot add-on is deeply integrated into the browser as well. All the Firefox 4 Beta versions we’ve seen so far feature an add-on called Feedback; this add-on is based on Test Pilot. As its name so adequately points out, its purpose is to gather feedback from all the Beta testers.

Getting back to Firefox 4 Beta 4, here are the other new bits and pieces the browser brings to the table:

• Firefox Panorama – known as Tab Sets and Tab Candy before that, this feature gives users a visual overview of all open tabs and allows then to sort and group tabs. When you hit a key combination (it’s supposed to be CTRL + Space) the browser will display each tab as a tile. You can play around with the tiles – create tile groups, take tiles out of a group, label groups, open only a group of tabs.
• An experimental API to make JavaScript animations more efficient.
• HTML5 video "buffered" property now supported.

If you would like to get Firefox 4 Beta 4, you can download the browser here.
If you would like to get the Firefox Sync add-on, you can get it here.
If you would like to get the Test Pilot add-on, you can get it here.