From time to time we like to produce a topical bonus strip. The last time was when the iPhone 4 was launched, and the media was full of woe about its antenna problems. This time we’re touching on a couple of recent developments – one more widely reported than the other. The first, of course, is the latest round of information to be revealed courtesy of the wikileaks website. With so much classified information being released, what’s an orbiting alien to do, but to check the content to ensure that their presence hasn’t been revealed.

The second topic that this strip references is the launch of the FirefoxLive. For anyone not sufficiently versed in über-cute endangered bamboo-eaters, there are two animals with the name “panda”: the large black-and-white Giant Panda, and the smaller, unrelated, raccoon-like Red Panda. The latter is also known as the “Firefox”, which also happens to be the name of one of the most popular web browsers. What’s a browser vendor to do when your main product is named after a cute endangered animal? The obvious answer is to partner with a Firefox-breeding zoo in order to set up a live webcam monitoring some young cubs, and encourage people to download the beta version of your next browser release in exchange for treats for the cubs. That’s basically the purpose of the firefoxlive.org website, which was launched last week. If you like your critters almost too cute for words then you owe it to yourself to visit the site.

[EDIT, March 2012: The Firefox Live website is now closed, as explained in this blog post]

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This comic is also available in French

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↓ Transcript
G1: You're not supposed to be using that computer. What are you doing?

G2: Umm… Erm… I'm just checking wikileaks… to see if any information has been released that refers to us…

G1: Ah, yes. Good idea. Carry on!

G2 (thought bubble): Phew! That was close. Now where was I…?

[Scene shows G2 has actually been looking at FirefoxLive.org]