Internet Explorer 8 is final

The new version of Internet Explorer has just come out of beta and is a seriously huge step for a company like Microsoft. While it still has problems handling JavaScript (and thus, it doesn't pass the Acid3 web standards test), it has several end-user features that people will definitely like.

OK, maybe most of these features have already existed in the form of a Firefox extension (but some IE8 features were inspiration for some extensions as well) or just derived from several browsers outright (but then again, I'm not complaining about that), but it definitely lays some innovations in the table. And yes, those features just might be worth the traditional reboot after installation.

Web Slices

Just as Safari lets you select a part of a webpage to post into Mac OS X's widget environment, Internet Explorer 8 lets you get up to date on the several parts of a specific website. A fine example of what you can do with Web Slices is shown above.

Unfortunately, you'll have to install this add-on as it isn't built-in with the browser.

Accelerators

Although it's present in specialty browsers like Flock, Internet Explorer 8 gives the masses a more comprehensive list of shortcuts or "accelerators" to choose from. Let's say you don't know the meaning of the word "schadenfreude" and you see the word on a webpage. Double-click that word and several options will appear. It's either you blog it, find it on Wikipedia, etc. etc. etc..

Domain Highlighting

It sounds like a subtle cosmetic change, but it's a rather important security feature. Why? Because usually people don't get conscious of the URL when they could be accessing a fake site, I mean, you can know if a website is phishing you and stealing your information by just looking at the URL, but one will not do this always especially when the domain name isn't even noticeable. OK, Chrome users already know this, but since IE8 is a mainstream browser, it's all for the good.

Color-coded tabs

Complementing the domain highlights are the color-coded tabs. Basically, IE8 gives websites of the same domain the same color of tabs, so you can know whether that website you just accessed suddenly brought you to a fake version of it. In theory, that is.

Compatibility mode

Since Microsoft made Internet Explorer 8 a little more standards-compliant, there is bound to be a few issues involving old websites designed for older Internet Explorer versions. You can access this via a button beside the Refresh button. Just hope that you won't mistaken the two of them.

Individual tab management

While IE8 won't be able to let you rip tabs to form another window, you'll be able to have the benefit of a feature similar to Chrome. Let's say a tab froze up because of a plug-in like Adobe Reader or Flash. Usually, you'll have to press Ctrl+Alt+Del and terminate all important data in all the other tabs, well not anymore. You can just exit that tab and continue the work you've been doing in the other tabs.

InPrivate Browsing

Just like Safari's Private Browsing and Chrome's Incognito mode before it, Internet Explorer lets you surf like a rockstar without leaving evidence. Still, the parents have the upper hand if they are tech-savvy, because they can enable Parental Controls and simply disable this feature.

Cross-site scripting filters

Internet Explorer 8 promises to be the most secure browser in the planet, and the efforts show. With cross-site scripting filters ("cross-site scripting" involves one site sending err, messages to another one, hackers may use this system to put malicious code into genuine websites), Internet Explorer 8 finds out whether this is occurring and stops you from going inside the site.

Smart Search

Now when you type a search term, Internet Explorer gives you results as you type- and they're illustrated too!

Admittedly, I won't go back to Internet Explorer unless I'm desperate, but version 8 is very compelling nonetheless. Download it now.

Safari opens 4 beta

It's the proud granddaddy of the Private Browsing mode... it's Safari!

The public beta for the newest version of Apple's browser Safari is available for download for both Mac and Windows. There are some interesting new features that may somehow resemble other browsers such as:

Top Sites

Taking a cue from Chrome's home page and Opera's Speed Dial, Top Sites gives you an elegant view of the sites you visit the most.

This twist here, however is the fact that you can display up to 24 thumbnails, you can pin a site you like into a position so it will stay and place and you can see whether a site has new content when a star is clipped on the top-right of the website's thumbnail! That sounds really cool for people who usually go to sites like Twitter, Blogger, or any news site.

Cover Flow

While highly unnecessary, it's still pretty nice to be able to browse your history, bookmarks, etc. on this view. This way you are able to actually get a huge thumbnail of the website in question.

Full History Search

This feature lets you search your history as you saw it. If you remember a caption from a photo you viewed, or a shred of text in that site, you can type it and Safari finds it for you. Does it work well? Who knows, especially for Flash sites?

Tabs on top

Safari takes another page from Google Chrome- it puts its tabs on top to save precious screen real estate. Hell, it even adds the effing Plus button!

Spanking New Engine

Safari already renders sites pretty fast but the new Nitro Engine renders sites faster (theoretically, at least). Apple has some benchmarks, but why trust the benchmarks released by Apple itself? Let's wait for some third-party to do so.

Still, if you're interested in how much faster Safari is from the competition, it claims to be 30 times faster than Internet Explorer 7, 3 times faster than Firefox, and slightly, very slightly by just the thousandths digit, faster than Chrome. Don't know if this is true for real world conditions, but we'll see.

Native Windows Look and Feel

This is a big, big, big plus for Windows Safari users. Now Safari will adapt to Windows Aero or Windows XP's themes,a s well as their native fonts. Still, if you like the grey anti-aliased look of past Safari versions, you can choose that.

ABOVE: Windows Vista. BELOW: Windows XP.

Developer Tools

HTML coders can test web code on the spot with Safari's developer mode.

The Quintessential Awesome Bar

Firefox first offered the option for people to use the address bar to do almost anything. It can get you sites by name, by address, or by a snippet of the address.

Search Suggestions

Mac Safari offers the Inquisitor plug-in for this feature. Now, you probably wouldn't need it. Powered by Google, Safari automatically suggests search terms and search addresses.

Zoom ala iPhone

Multi-touch gestures on the new MacBooks are able to zoom text like the iPhone's version of Safari. You can also use this feature by clicking the Font increase button.

Better Standards Compliance- made even better

It passes the famous ACID test. A perfect 100.

Windows is annoying- with pictures!

DISCLAIMER: This is not gonna be a Vista bashing post since I've since downgraded from XP and will only be able to collect screenshots from that OS, nor is it a Mac patronizing post. Even if I didn't have a Mac right now, I'd still be bound to do something like this anyway. Without further ado, here are some annoying screenshots that you'll agree on with me.

1) Automatic Updates

Look familiar? Yeah it's that thing that pops up when the Windows has finished downloading your updates. Gee, if only we could say "Not Now" like in Mac.

You're probably saying, there's the Restart Later button! What are you complaining about? Well, let's just say that this dialog box is like a roach. You kill it, but it doesn't stay dead at all. In fact, no matter how many times you kill it, it'll simply come back to pester you. That's how this dialog box works. It's stupid. If I want to "Restart Later", I'll do my own damn business and Restart- not imply that you should come back to me every 5 minutes!

I'm on Windows XP SP3, and yet Microsoft still doesn't want to make this go away or put a "Not Now" button.

The only cure? Disable automatic updates from the Control Panel. But why bother when updating your software is only crucial? You may not admit it, but you know you're gonna be lazy if someone advised you to update your computer.

2) Printer Job DeletionI don't know if it varies from printer to printer, but from my experiences with different printers, deleting a print job is simply hard unless the printer is actually turned off. Look at that print job above. It says deleting, but in reality it's not deleting, it just stays there.

So OK, the typical scenario. I print a job, but I forgot to turn the printer on. I turn it on, and it doesn't print. What do I do next? I delete the job and try again.

I highlight my job, and press the Delete button. This dialog box appears (pictured below), and I click Yes. What happens? The aforementioned scenario in the first paragraph.
So what do I do? I have to save my work, memorize the pages open in my browser, say "brb" to my Yahoo! Messenger friends, and Restart the computer. After restarting, then it prints.

The thing that can prevent this headache is to simply delete the job before turning on the printer. But whoops, too late, you have to learn lessons the hard way, kid.

3) Internet Explorer 7- in generalConsider the above picture a stolen shot.

So here's the thing: every time I open Internet Explorer 7, I find it bailing out on me when it has barely operated for 5 seconds. The best thing about it is that it opens, probably as fast, as Chrome, the only thing is that the latter actually works for more than 5 seconds!

Am I the only one who's experiencing this? It's not that big of a loss to me since I use either Firefox or Chrome, but it's still annoying!

4) Sheer stupidity
Take a good look at the picture. Notice anything different?

If you don't then I'll play the role of Captain Obvious: it doesn't look like a Firefox document, moron!

If you had the decency to declare a web page a Firefox document, at least make the effort to make it obvious to the n00bs out there. What? Does XP become nauseous when 2 browsers are present in a computer? Doesn't it accept that I have ignored Internet Explorer 7 forever and that I've set my default browser to Firefox, so it shoves the Internet Explorer icon to my face?

Whatever the case, you have to admit that this reeks of idiocy. Can't XP make up its mind?

Let's hope every one of these are gone not only in Vista, but in Windows 7.

Seriously Stop Using Internet Explorer

If you haven't seen it on Yahoo!, then I'll tell you: STOP USING INTERNET EXPLORER.

A new security vulnerability has been found, and it's effing serious. Tens of thousands of sites are littered with malicious code (and hackers can reproduce this code on other sites as well) and it seems to only affect Internet Explorer, regardless of version. Yes, even beta 8.

Still, malicious code isn't anything new to Internet Explorer users, and Microsoft will come out with a patch, right? Well, it's better to be secure than screwed by the time Microsoft releases a patch, because it seems that the malicious code that exploits Internet Explorer's vulnerability can be used to get your passwords.

I advise you to switch now. For speed, there's Chrome. For standards compliance, there's Safari. For customization, there's Firefox. And for nifty extra features, there's Opera.

Mozilla goes for the Guiness

Tomorrow marks a milestone on the Firefox browser's life as it ups the ante one notch with its new release: Firefox 3. Right now there are more than 1.5 million pledges for download of the Firefox browser- although I think that the number will increase even further in the next 24 hours, especially in the US.

With faster web page loading, and markedly faster opening than that of Firefox 2- as well as the controversial "Awesome" bar, and safer security- Firefox 3 is probably gonna be make even more of a splash than that of Firefox 2 with 24% global browser user base today thus unseating Internet Explorer from the 90% mark.

If you want to pledge for download of Firefox 3, click here. Whether or not I do, I'll download it anyway.

But there's one thing:

Flock's going in with the same features- and it's a markedly better browser than Firefox (for me, anyway)!

Still, I don't think Flock's coming out with updates at this time, so I'm gonna take a look at Firefox 3 and help stop the Microsoft monopoly because it will be slower compared to Firefox!