Microsoft IE8 explorer has some cool new features

Can Microsoft's (MSFT) Internet Explorer Web browser reclaim chunks of market share swiped by upstart Firefox?

The arrival last week of Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), just two years after Microsoft's last major browser upgrade, IE7, should help answer that question.

IE8, which can be downloaded free, has cool new features: "Web slices" let you quickly call up selected content from a Web page — such as updates from an eBay auction page — via the IE8 favorites bar; "accelerators" make it easier to cut and paste text from one page and insert it on another.

Beyond that, IE8 has restored some of Microsoft's lost bravado. Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Windows product management, insists IE8 is uniformly faster at loading Web pages than Firefox 3, despite debate in tech circles about this claim.

"I feel very good that IE8 will be a reason to keep using IE," Nash said in an interview. "And for our previous customers, who may not be using IE today, IE8 will be a compelling reason to come back.

"Web browsers were once so mundane that Microsoft took five years to upgrade IE6, introduced with Windows XP in 2001, to IE7. Millions still use IE6. Meanwhile, Firefox, introduced in late 2004, has racked up significant market share and popularized features, such as tab browsing, which lets you quickly click back to several open Web pages.

As of last month, Firefox commanded a 22% global market share vs. 68% for IE, according to Net Applications. Meanwhile, Opera, Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome are staking out potentially huge new turf for browsers on computing devices other than laptops and desktop PCs.

Web browsers have emerged as the doorway to an interactive Internet, which people are increasingly accessing on mobile devices, cars, TV recorders, even video gaming consoles. "We're really happy to see Microsoft isn't standing still anymore," says Mike Beltzner, Firefox director of development. "But we're not standing still, either."

Firefox 3.5, due this summer, will up the ante by supporting HTML 5, a new Web standard that makes it easier to embed videos on Web pages, and "canvas," which lets artists hand draw images on Web pages.

Apple and Google are moving aggressively in browsing on cellphones, while Opera is gaining a foothold with its Opera Mini, a free cellphone browser popular with BlackBerry and Windows Mobile users. And Opera is the browser that connects Nintendo's Wii gaming console to the Web.

"Our browser runs on any platform or device," says Rod Hamlin, Opera senior vice president. Microsoft supplies a version of IE for Windows Mobile devices, and a separate Web interface for Xbox 360.

IE8 could help the software giant regain ground in these browser wars. "So long as IE8 delivers as advertised, I believe it could help slow or even largely halt Windows users moving to alternative browsers," says Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "Whether that will be enough to draw back customers who have already migrated remains to be seen."

source: usatoday.com

IE8 Has Arrived

With a greater focus on standards-compliance, it seems possible that Microsoft’s latest browser may redeem itself in the eyes of standards-savvy designers and developers.

As you may have heard, yesterday marked the official release of Internet Explorer 8. This new version of the oft-reviled browser has a completely rewritten rendering engine that was built, from the ground up, with the CSS 2.1 spec in hand. Improvements in this version include

• the death of hasLayout
• object fallbacks
• stylable legend elements
• generated content (including support for dynamic attribute insertion via attr())
• CSS counters
• support for the quotes property
• outline control
• data URIs
• full access to the style attribute via the DOM
• mutable DOM prototypes
• and much more

This browser is a giant leap forward for standards support at Microsoft, but reviews so far seem mixed. What do you think?

source: http://www.webstandards.org/

For better internet speed

Following complaints from subscribers regarding inadequate broadband speed being provided by the Internet Service Providers (ISP), TRAI has today issued guidelines for better Internet/ broadband services.

The majority of the grievances received by TRAI allege that the available broadband speed is lower than the subscribed speed.

The regulatory body states that non-availability of subscribed speed at the subscriber's end deteriorates the performance of applications run by users and in turn restricts the utility of broadband connection.

The trouble arises in spite of the existing "Quality of service of Broadband Service" regulation that was issued in the year 2006.

TRAI states that a number of factors impact broadband speed such as length and quality of local loop, bandwidth availability at ISP gateway, congestion in the global internet, problems with subscribers' equipment like insufficient memory, Operating System, Virus, etc.

Even though the existing regulation stipulates parameters for speed of connection and bandwidth utilization, it is because of such complexities monitoring of these parameters is complex, says TRAI.

The authority proposes, to begin with, that it is important to enhance subscriber education and awareness for better understanding of Internet services.

Based on the above point, the following are the guidelines for ISPs:

1. Provide adequate information to subscribers regarding Internet/broadband services being offered and marketed as a good business practice.

2. Provide information regarding contention ratios (number of users competing for the same bandwidth) adopted for different services by service providers in their tariff plans submitted to TRAI, manual of practice, call centers and on their websites."

3. Publish contention ratio for different Internet/broadband services on their website quarterly to facilitate subscribers to take informed decision.

4. Ensure availability of minimum required bandwidth in their network according to maximum contention ratio suggested by TRAI for different services based on number of subscribers.

Since guidelines are recommendations, and in this case, it means there aren't any deadlines to meet by the ISPs to start adhering to these guidelines.

Moreover, it is mentioned in the guidelines issuance notification that "any regulatory burden in present economic environment of Internet sector may increase the cost of service provisioning and will adversely impact the growth of broadband. The Authority prefers least regulatory intervention while providing greater flexibility to service providers to ensure better quality of service to internet/broadband subscribers."

Therefore, subscribers cannot expect ISPs to be in a hurry to enlighten subscribers with the nitty-gritty of why they cannot be assured better broadband services.

Source: Techtree.com

Nokia's laptop confirmed by CEO

A couple of days back when the initial reports about Nokia planning to enter the laptop business first came out, they were treated with skepticism.

However, with confirmation coming from the head-honcho at Nokia, its CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, it seems pretty sure we'll be seeing Nokia competing with the likes of Dell, HP and Acer in the coveted Notebook PC segment. Please note that Nokia has confirmed that it is THINKING of entering this segment, so if you were looking for specs and scoop pictures, you're here a tad too early.

The Finnish handset maker seems to be flowing against the current as far as this move is concerned. This is because; in the past, we have seen PC Makers jump in to the mobile phones market. This might just be the first time that someone with deep phone manufacturing experience goes the other way round, and enters the laptops segment.

Now, if Nokia decides to enter the Netbook segment as well, that would make one interesting news!

Source: Techtree.com