Firefox Voice trial begins in beta

Mozilla's trial of voice technology in the Firefox browser has kicked off, letting users speak to search, open or close tabs, and more.

The idea was announced at the end of last year as part of Mozilla's Firefox Voice Campaign, but the beta extension has now been made available to install for those who have signed up, notes Ghacks.

"Firefox Voice is an experiment from Mozilla that lets you browse and get more done with your voice - faster than ever," the developer said on the campaign's website, where you can sign up for the trial. "We are looking for fearless early adopters who are willing to test the new add-on and give us feedback before the major public release."

Firefox Voice uses Google's Cloud Speech Service, the report adds, but Google doesn't record the results. The extension asks for a wide range of data, including all your websites, bookmarks and tabs, but that's partially because it uses voice to access those areas of the browser.

Once installed, the extension lets users click the microphone icon or enter a shortcut key to trigger the system. Then you can speak to close a tab, find a page, and run a search, as well as copy and paste, read text, and pause videos. The extension remains a beta, and you do need to register to get access.