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IE8 Download Page Goes Live - Features Revealed

March 5, 2008
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In preparation for MIX08 (or so it seems), Microsoft has taken the wraps off of the public download page for the first beta of Internet Explorer 8. Unfortunately, the download links them selves are not yet live. Owel, the new features page will have to do for now… I guess.

So, what new features can we expect? Well, there’s Activities, Web slices, Favorites Bar, Automatic Crash Recovery and an Improved phishing filter, to name a few. But what does it all mean, Basil? I’ll start with Web Slices, as this feature seems to be ringing some bells. With Web Slices, the user can crop out a preferred section of a web page and add that small section of the site to a link within the new Favorite Bar. Click on the link, and that section of the page will open in a small pop-up window right in the toolbar. Yep, sounds familiar alright… Ah, yes; Safari Web Clip! Owel, it’s a convenient feature and I’m glad to see it implemented in IE8.

Continue reading ‘IE8 Download Page Goes Live - Features Revealed’

Catch MIX08 Live, 21st Century Style

March 5, 2008
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MIX08 VectorballAh, live streams, whether we couldn’t snatch a ticket to an event or just couldn’t risk detrimentally affecting our title as mouse potatos, you’ve always been there for us. If you’re one of the unfortunate few many who are not attending this year’s MIX conference in Las Vegas; no worries, Microsoft’s got you covered.

MIX08 will be streamed live for you to enjoy from the comfort of your own home. If you’re interested, just keep an eye on The Official MIX08 website for updates. The live stream should be up just in time for the keynote which kicks off at 9:30AM PST, so set your alarm clock and grease up that F5 key!

For those who are a tad behind, Dean Hachamovitch (it took me a few times too, don’t worry), General Manager of the IE team, will be among the keynote speakers this year. And of course, he won’t be on stage empty-handed. Dean is expected to be providing us with a first second look at Internet Explorer 8!

Update: The streams are up and available in three different flavors as usual :)

Internet Explorer 8 Beta Leaked?

February 28, 2008
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As I’ve been working on the design of my blog lately, I decided to go and check my traffic stats to see just what browsers I should focus on for compatibility. After taking a look at the Internet Explorer stats, I was surprised to find this:

IE8 Traffic Stats

Hello! What do we have here? Either my blog has captured the interest of the IE Dev team (not that I think it isn’t possible!) or Internet Explorer 8 Beta is starting to make the rounds on the net (albeit slowly, it seems). Looks like we might have some interesting times ahead of us.

Responsiveness: Vista SP1 vs. Vista RTM vs. XP

February 26, 2008
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Vista says: Yay!Nick White has provided us with an update on the latest tests for overall responsiveness between Windows Vista, Vista SP1 and Windows XP at the official Windows Vista Blog.

Microsoft has once again commissioned Principled Technologies to do some testing on its latest OS to see just how much of a real world performance gain it provides over it’s predecessors in both home and office environments. To be honest, there isn’t all that much to write home about.

Some of the key findings listed by the company note that the increase in overall responsiveness of Windows Vista SP1 over Vista RTM and Windows XP, if any, are nothing more than fractions of a second.

The tests conducted ranged from various typical home user tasks such as opening up a program or editing and saving a file, to various business oriented tasks such as running system searches, creating Excel, Word and other various office files, saving and sending emails as well as launching and using Adobe and Quicken applications.

Overall, I wouldn’t be bragging about any performance gains. Any increase in responsiveness greater than a second was a rare sight in the company’s findings. On most of the tests conducted, differences ranged from zip (or “natta” if you prefer) to roughly half a second.

The only situations in which there was any noticeable difference in results, were mostly with Adobe and Quicken applications while running on Windows Vista SP1, which at times were up to 6 seconds faster over Vista RTM and Windows XP.

So what does this all mean for you? Well, if you’re running Windows Vista SP1, the next time you launch Microsoft Outlook, cheer up and know that it is taking approximately 0.31ms less to load than on Windows Vista RTM.

Have a look at the full reports right over here.

Apple Releases Penryn MacBooks and MacBook Pros… Wait, what?

February 26, 2008
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Penryn MacBookIt’s yet another great Tuesday for Mac lovers. Strangely, we got a little more than we were expecting today. Without much fanfare, Apple has released the much (and I mean MUCH) anticipated Intel Penryn based line of MacBook Pros. But wait, what do we have here? New MacBooks as well? Wow, for the first time in a while, Apple has surprised us with a nifty little upgrade to a product line that didn’t manage to get out to the rumor sites before hand. Well, at least not until yesterday.

In addition to the updated Penryn processors, the MacBook Pros are now the latest MacBook line to feature the Multi-touch trackpad, as found in the MacBook Air. Unfortunately, the MacBooks were not lucky enough to receive this feature this time around (but hey, next Tuesday is right around the corner). The MacBook line has, however, been updated slightly in terms of pricing. The prices the selves remain the same, but Apple has decided to be a little more generous in terms of hard drive space as well as RAM. The three models of MacBooks are now equipped with 120GB, 160GB and 250GB hard drives respectively and the two higher models now come with 2GB of memory standard (as oppose to having to pay $250 for an extra 1GB).

The pricing and base specs for the new MacBooks are as follows:
$1099. Macbook 13″ 2.1GHz / 1GB / 120GB / Combo Drive/ White
$1299. Macbook 13″ 2.4GHz / 2GB / 160GB / Super Drive / White
$1499. Macbook 13″ 2.4GHz / 2GB / 250GB / Super Drive / Black

On the Pro side, a major highlight of this release is of course the integration of the new Multi-Touch Trackpad, allowing additional hand (finger?) gestures to be used as oppose to the standard two finger scrolling found on the MacBooks. But that’s not all, the two higher models are now equipped with 512MB of video memory to go with those nice 8600M GT’s. Last but not least, last year, Apple refreshed it’s 15″ MacBook Pro’s to incorporate new, brighter, thinner and more power efficient LED backlight LCD display panels, however the 17″ model was left out. Well, good news, the 17″ model has finally gone LED. Now if only Apple would put some LED into those MacBooks.

The pricing and base specs for the new MacBook Pros are as follows:
$1999. Macbook Pro 15″ 2.4GHz / 2GB / 200GB / 256MB Vram
$2499. Macbook Pro 15″ 2.5GHz / 2GB / 250GB / 512MB Vram
$2799. Macbook Pro 17″ 2.5GHz / 2GB / 250GB / 512MB Vram

Both the updated MacBooks and MacBook Pros are available via the Apple Store starting today.

Time for a makeover… kinda

February 25, 2008
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After working with Ryan from BlueScreenOfDeath on a new theme for his blog (which is still in the works), I’ve gotten in the mood to do a bit of work on my own blog as well.

I never got the design quite how I planned it as I was eager to push the site out. So over the next few days, I’ll be working on the design of Geek’s Anatomy a tad.

Should something go wrong, please ignore it, I probably already know :P

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