New version of social Web browser Flock

NEW YORK -- Developers of a "social" Web browser called Flock have released a new test version.

Like its predecessors, the Flock 2 beta uses building blocks from Mozilla, an open-source community in which thousands of people collectively develop free products. The newest version of Flock incorporates improvements from Mozilla's Firefox 3 browser, which is scheduled for release Tuesday.

Flock emphasizes the social aspects of the Web with features like better integration with news-recommendation site Digg, online hangout Facebook and group-messaging service Twitter.

For instance, Flock's media bar lets you view images from Yahoo Inc.'s photo-sharing site Flickr without having to visit Flickr directly.

The new version of Flock promises to display Web pages faster and run complex Web applications like Google Inc.'s Gmail twice as fast as the previous version.

Like Firefox 3, the new Flock also adds protection from sites known to distribute viruses and other malicious software, not just those that engage in "phishing" scams.

Flock released the test browser Monday for Windows, Mac and Linux computers. Firefox 3, in tests since November, has a final release due out Tuesday for the same platforms.

Firefox is the main browser made by Mozilla, but other volunteers and companies have adapted Mozilla's core technology to produce Flock and other browsers.