Comment 59 for bug 572074

i worked around this by creating a bookmarklet with location set to "javascript:window.open('about:blank');void(0);" and assigning a keyword to it, 't' in my case.

if i need a new tab next to the current, i either click the bookmarklet or type 'ctrl+l', 't', 'return'.

i hope this helps some of you who might not want to install an addon for basic functionality.

i would still prefer an option to enable this behaviour natively.