The Cocoon Blog
The Internet as it should be: private, secure and virus free

As mentioned in a prior blog post, our developers ensure that each update comes with increased functionality and compatibility. Providing our users with a smart, sleek and trimmed add-on has become a top priority as security, privacy and functionality are enhanced with each stage of development.

We are happy to announce that this past weekend we added improved toolbar functionality. Now you can bookmark or add a note via new icons from the Cocoon toolbar:

You can access Cocoon bookmarks by clicking on the history icon in the toolbar. From the history page in list view, you will see a blue thumbtack icon to the left of a saved site. Clicking on the blue thumbtack [bookmark] will connect you with the page that you saved.

You can also access the bookmark feature in visual format by clicking on the blue thumbtack icon that appears in the upper left hand corner above the image:

Last week we updated Cocoon with two new privacy features:

1. Built in ad-blocking - server-side blocking of advertisements
2. Built in block Facebook tracking - prevents websites from identifying you through Facebook

Thank you for continuing to use Cocoon and we appreciate your feedback. If there is more that you would like to see changed or added, we would love to hear from you.

You can use our handy contact form or visit us on Twitter or Facebook!

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According to a recent report from Dasient, there were over three million impressions served per day on malicious web advertisements, with more than one million web sites estimated to be infected in the final quarter of 2010. The report also predicted that after three months of browsing, the average Internet user would have a 95% chance of hitting an infected page. Not surprising was that this same report found that most social media networks were prone to being used as distribution platforms for malware.

Our most recent Cocoon product update includes server-side blocking of advertisements. At Mashable this is the advertisement that I viewed with Cocoon prior to blocking advertising

With such constant bombardment of online advertising, my mind still has not learned how to filter out the graphics. Using Cocoon preferences all I had to do was place a check mark here

and advertisements turn into aesthetically pleasing white space…

Another New Feature: Block Facebook Tracking

You can now use Block Facebook Tracking to prevent websites from identifying you through Facebook and reporting this information back to the mother ship.

When you visit a website like CNN, you can see what your friends are recommending and sharing on CNN. Your friends can also see what you are recommending and sharing.

If you are not in the mood for reciprocity you can turn this feature off in Cocoon preferences.

You can now enjoy the news knowing you are safe from prying eyes and your friends will not be able to view your activity on CNN.

Thank you for continuing to use Cocoon and we appreciate your feedback. If there is more that you would like to see changed or added, we would love to hear from you.

You can use our handy contact form or visit us on Twitter or Facebook!

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I have a slight problem with over-organizing browser bookmarks. Sometimes my bookmarks fall so deep into a ravine of sub-folders, that my organization scheme becomes too difficult to deal with. That is when I realize that I’ve become the sad victim of bookmark over-indulgence. At that point in my frustration I turn to Cocoon history and perform a search, if I can remember any word in the website title a search of history will turn it up.

I often use Cocoon notes to annotate sites that I need to revisit – it’s great to be able to know just what I found important last time I was on that site. Clicking on the Important tab in history will pull up all my notes and sites I’ve marked as important with the thumbtack. If I know a word in the note I’m looking for, type that word in the search box and all my notes with that word appear in the query.

There are two ways to view Cocoon history. The default view is in list oriented format. This view includes the chronological dates of the sites I visited. It also includes any annotated notes; these are marked with a blue notes icon to the left of the web address.

The second way I view Cocoon history is in visual format (thumbnails). Each thumbnail view of the website also lists the number of pages that I’ve visited. One-click on the thumbnail stack will open up all the pages in visual format for that particular site. Once I open the thumbnail stack, I can also view any annotated notes that I saved.

Most of the time my preference is for visual format. I really like clicking on that thumbnail stack too!  While doing research, this view rocks. It gives me the ability to quickly scroll through the opened thumbnail stack to review notes and to see if I need to go back to a web page for more clarification. Whether you want to view your history in chronological order, visual format or a combination of the two, Cocoon believes that you should have options that will work for you. They work for me!

When we launched in mid January one of the things that was quickly brought to our attention was questions people had about our privacy policy. We knew what our beliefs were, and what values drove those beliefs and what policies we had created and would adhere to. So the legalese that our lawyers used to describe what we were doing within our Privacy Policy wasn’t, in all honesty, as much of a focus.

While it’s taken a month and a half, I’m happy (and even better – proud!) to say the legalese has been removed and our privacy policy now clearly matches our beliefs and polices, in a plain English, easily understood way.

Please go and read it here. We spell out; how we protect your privacy, how we measure Cocoon performance without impacting user privacy, and how you can provide feedback anonymously or not, to help us continue to grow and improve.

Thank you for being a part of Cocoon. We are proud to have you as a user and proud to protect your online privacy.

As a recent addition to the Cocoon team roster, I’ve received a crash course in user experiences. While my newly acquainted colleagues have been working around the clock on product development, I have sorted through a slew of comments and suggestions from our highly proactive users. In just under two weeks, I have yet to see a single suggestion go unnoticed and unaccounted for.

Our developers ensure that each update comes with increased functionality, compatibility and even screen real estate! Providing our users with a smart, sleek and trimmed add-on has become a top priority as security, privacy and functionality are enhanced with each stage of development.

The Cocoon toolbar and Cocoon Favorites bar can be fully hidden to maximize browsing space and Cocoon will now remember the state each toolbar was last in, each time you restart.

Like many people these days, I spend most of my time hammering away on a small laptop screen.  For me, this means screen real estate and browser simplicity is really important.  Check out the sleek, simple look Cocoon users can now employ without having to fiddle with preferences!