The world of Web browsers - those programs that determine how you experience the Internet - is expanding to include tools for certain subsets of people.

Now there are browsers designed for specific demographics like children, autistic people and online social media users.

The kids' browsers help youngsters stay away from the darker corner of the Internet. They also can be set to limit a child's time online - a tool that might help some adults, too.

Here are a few to check out: Buddy Browser, Kid Rocket and KidZui.

Also check out this parents' guide to Internet safety, from NPR.

ZAC Browser is designed to help austistic people surf the Web more intuitively. It's visual instead of text based and tries to eliminate computer functions and visuals that an autistic person might find distracting.

And Flock, a browser built on Mozilla Firefox technology, is designed to help social media users get more out of the Internet. A new version beefs up the browser's compatability with Twitter and Facebook, VentureBeat says. Both of those social-networking sites live in a sidebar on the browser.

What do you think of these new ideas for browsers? Know any targeted browsers I've missed?

Mozilla released its latest version of Firefox, the world's second-most-popular Web browser, on Tuesday. Available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux in more than 70 languages, Firefox 3.5 is the browser's first major upgrade since the launch of Firefox 3 in June 2008.

Firefox 3.5 claims to be more than twice as fast as Firefox 3 and has a host of new features,
including a private browsing mode, customized downloadable fonts, the ability to show video built into Web pages without plug-ins, and geolocation technology that lets Web sites know where you are.

Early reviews have been positive. Slate's Farhad Manjoo tested a pre-release version and found it "hard to beat." An excerpt:

Though I can't call it the world's fastest browser—Chrome and Safari are just as fast—the new Firefox is no longer a lumbering beast. It launches quickly, fires up complex sites like Gmail and Google Maps without any hiccups, and runs tons of open tabs without crashing (an ever-present possibility in earlier versions).

And ComputerWorld's Preston Gralla says:

The just-released version 3.5 of Firefox is a winner, offering significantly faster Web browsing, better tab handling, a host of interface tweaks and, like just about every other browser on the planet, a "porn mode." If you already use Firefox you'll want to upgrade right away. If you're not a Firefox user, this version represents a very good opportunity to give the browser a test run.

In his review, CNET's Seth Rosenblatt is a little more cautious in his praise:

It is by no means the leap ahead that its predecessor Firefox 3 was, and it's clear that the competition isn't going away anytime soon.

How about you new Firefox 3.5 users out there? Anyone want to weigh in?