Today, at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, a California startup is set to announce a new Web browser based on open source Mozilla technologies, the software at the core of the popular FireFox browser. Dubbed Flock, the new browser is designed to improve the handling of bookmarks, surfing history, blogs, and RSS feeds. The company, also known as Flock, calls it a "social Web browser."

"The browser has integrated tools that empower users to better communicate and smooth out some of the more hairy parts of living and working online," according to a company statement. "The Flock crew lives and breathes this stuff every day and wanted better tools to do the things that the Flockers love doing."

Tightly integrating existing Web services, Flock will allow users to store bookmarks online and easily share them with others. "We've created a Web services API layer that enables a user to choose which service to use," the statement continues. "We don't want to compete with services, just integrate." The browser will also include an integrated search engine for quickly locating individual bookmarks.

Likewise, the browser will offer a blog editor and an RSS reader compatible with existing Web log and news feed services. Users will be able to drag and drop content from the Web, including article text and photo, directly into the blog editor.

The company has yet to make even an early version of the browser available to the press, but will demonstrate some on the features at the Web 2.0 Launchpad workshop.