Mozilla has released Firefox 3.5, a major update to the popular Web browser. Coming one year after the launch of Firefox 3, version 3.5 introduces many new features, as well as new support for a wide variety of Web standards, the company says.

Firefox 3.5 makes claims to being the best performing browser Mozilla has ever released and delivers radically improved ]avaScript performance, a new Private Browsing mode, native support for open video and audio, and Location. Aware Browsing. The newest version of Firefox is more than two times faster than Firefox 3, and 10 times faster than Firefox 2 on complex websites, the company claims.

Firefox 3.5 includes the new TraceMonkey ]avaScript engine, which is supposed to deliver unprecedented performance with today's complex Web applications. It also delivers the first native integration of audio and video directly into the browser. Now everyone can easily watch open format Ogg Theora videos. Web developers can use these technologies to design pages that interact with video content in new and exciting ways, offering richer interactive experiences beyond controlling playback and volume. Meanwhile, location-aware browsing saves you time by allowing websites to ask you where you are located. If you choose to share your location with a website, it can use that information to find nearby points of interest and return additional, useful data like maps of your area. It's all optional- Firefox doesn't share your location without your permission.