Windows 8 Beta Candidate Build 8220.

With the upcoming Windows 8 Beta release (set for February), a leak from PCBeta has revealed some of the interesting features and changes.

Now, we won’t go too deeply into the Windows 8 itself, which no longer has the start menu orb and now includes a Ribbon like Windows Explorer, but looking at the screenshots below, you can see at least one new Internet Explorer 10 feature, which is:

When viewing the “About” window, IE10 now has an option to enable/disable auto updates.

Overall, it looks like the UI is yet to be updated for the desktop version of Internet Explorer 10.

[Via: PCBeta]

Back in 2011, we’ve posted an article called “Alternative Windows Phone 7 Web Browsers? We Need Them“, where I complained about the lack of web page compression in the mobile version of Internet Explorer.

Well, I went a step further and sent few emails to Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, suggesting him to add Opera Turbo like feature for the upcoming IE10. He replied something along the lines of “Thanks, I’ll think about that”.

Turns out, Windows Phone 8 version of the Internet Explorer will in fact feature web page compression technology. According to a few recently leaked details (some of them were just confirmed by Microsoft insider), the software giant will use proxy servers that are set to reduce the web pages site by as much as 30%.

Nokia Lumia 900

And if you are wondering what else is coming, check the following list:

Windows Phone 8 Features

• Support for dual cores
• Support for four different resolutions, though no specifics were given
• NFC support added, including payment and content sharing with WP8 and Windows 8 machines
• Carrier control and branding of “wallet” element is possible via SIM or phone hardware
• MicroSD support added for expandable storage
• Transitions to core components from desktop, including kernel, network stack, security components and media support
• Simplified porting of desktop apps to mobile
• Zune desktop integration scrapped in favor of new, unnamed syncing app
• Deeper Skydrive integration, including ability to sync data such as music collections
• Xbox Companion app will get Windows 8 partner client
• Native code support, simplified porting from Android and iOS
• App-to-app communication and integration
• Skype client with deep OS hooks that will make it almost identical to placing standard voice calls
• Camera app now supports “lenses” which allow third parties to skin and add features to camera interface
• DataSmart tracks and reports usage via app and live tile
• Gives preferential treatment to WiFi, can automatically connect to carrier-owned hotspots
• Proxy server will compress websites in Internet Explorer 10 up to 30 percent
• Native Bitlocker encryption
• Support for proprietary, custom built apps to be deployed behind company firewalls

Now, obviously I had nothing to do with such feature integration, but hey, it doesn’t hut to think that way.

[Via: Engadget, PocketNow]

Back in 2011, we reported that Microsoft will ditch plugins support from its Immersive Internet Explorer browser in favor of the HTML5.

Now, software giant reports that when the touch friendly version of IE detects some sort of plugin, Flash for example, it will offer them a one click option to switch to the desktop version of IE10.

How exactly will this happen? See the screenshot below

According to Program Manager, John Hrvatin, “This mechanism provides a short-term mitigation. The desktop browsing experience and most plug-ins were not designed for smaller screens, battery constraints, and no mouse. Providing an easy way to the Windows desktop is the last resort when no comparable plug-in free fallback content exists.”

Available for IE9 as well.

Back in 2011, Microsoft has revealed a Compact Inspector feature for Internet Explorer 9, which allows web developers to quickly notice the IE’s platform changes and tweak sites accordingly.

Now, with the new Metro UI overtaking pretty much everything, the software giant has revealed a tweaked version specifically for IE10 and as you might have guessed, it does use Metro tiles.

In case you are using the developer preview of Internet Explorer 10, simply add the following line of code to your web site (before any other scripts) and click on the following widget

src="http://ie.microsoft.com/TestDrive/HTML5/CompatInspector/inspector.js">

Don’t forget to include the script tags.

And if you have no intentions on using it, there is a Test Drive web site, which allows you to play with the new Compat Inspector.

Back in 2011, Google has launched a HTML5 based Angry Birds game, which could be played for free with a WebGL compatible web browser.

Now, Microsoft has decided to follow Google’s lead and promote Internet Explorer in a similar fashion. As a result, “Cut the Rope”, a highly popular game on various mobile devices has been ported to HTML5.

If you are not familiar with this game, it’s really pretty straight forward, all you have to do is cut the rope and hope to catch all the yellow starts during the outcome.

With a total of 25 levels, it sure looks like a nice game to burn some of your precious time.

Play Cut The Rope.

IE team cooks another cake.

Following Austria, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway, United States has joined a list of countries that have now less than 1% of the Internet Explorer 6 users.

To celebrate such occasion, Microsoft had to order another cake, which was probably eaten by the Steve Ballmer himself.

Obviously, the next question that you might want to ask is: what about other countries? Well, IE6 still has 7.7% of the global market share as in the China itself Internet Explorer 6 is still used by a whopping 25% of the users.

Want more details? Check the IE6 Countdown!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this]

Just a year ago, Microsoft would only release a new version of IE during the launch of Windows “Next”. However, since then it has increased the frequency of Internet Explorer releases as the upcoming Windows 8 OS will now IE10 instead of IE9.

Well, if recent rumors are to be believed, then the current Microsoft strategy will remain like this for a while. According to the “leaked” roadmap, the software giant plans to introduce Internet Explorer 11 sometime in 2013, followed by Internet Explorer 12 in 2014.

MIX 2013
HTML platform (IE11)
Win8 PU RC
Beta
Apollo+1 SDK

Build 2014
Win9 RTM (IE12)
Win9M RTM
CTP
Xbox PU preview

Who knows, maybe after Windows 9, Microsoft will increase the frequency of its browser releases again.

What do you think?

[Via: MSNerd]

With Christmas approaching at a rapid rate, Microsoft has decided to launch a HTML5 powered web site “Let It Snow”, which showcases the benefits of GPU accelerated graphics.

If your are up for a challenge, set the number of snowflakes to 4,000 and enjoy the show. There is even a hidden message for you to “uncover”.

However, in case your web browser can’t handle that much snow, there is always another option: IE9 or IE10.

Happy Holidays!

Google denies the charges.

Remember the study by Accuvant, which concluded that Google Chrome is the most secure web browser?

NSS Labs, a California based company that publishes web browser security results of its own, has issued a statement, which claims that Google is pretty much on its own now and has already done some dirty things to undermine Firefox’s and other web browsers growth.

As their own study revealed, Google Chrome had an incredible effectiveness increase against the malware in an 11 day period, which jumped from 8% to 40%. However, both Firefox and Safari has declined to less than 2%

What does it mean? According to NSS Labs: Google is keeping some blocking protection from the Safe Browsing API (application programming interface) tapped by Firefox and Safari.

Vikram Phatak, the CTO of NSS Labs said: “It appears Google has purposefully withheld important malware protection from its Safe Browsing feed coinciding with its break from Firefox and release of the Google-funded report by Accuvant,”

According to Mr. Phatak, the company who funds various studies will always drive their own methodology, resulting in a flawed study.

When asked about their own special relationships with Microsoft, where they funded NSS Labs studies to demonstrate Internet Explorer’s superiority, he said: “There’s a reason why we don’t do that anymore.”

Whether or not this was before or after last study, remains to be seen.

[Via: ComputerWorld]
[Picture Source: Gizmodo]