Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1

The first Beta of the whole new Internet Explorer 8 is all set for download with its new features. There are many features which are enhanced in this version. The IE 8 can be installed on Vista SP1, XP SP2, Server 2003 SP2 and Server 2008. The first Beta can be downloaded from Microsoft site. The Zoom feature which was shipped in IE 7 has been enhanced and renamed as Zoom Version 2. Web developers can design their web pages in considerations with the Zoom API’s.











Now there is no need for administrative rights to install Active x controls, a subset of features present in Vista operating system has been built into this application. The new feature named Loosely coupled Internet Explorer is an effort to separate the dependences of the different components on one another. The Data Execution & Prevention (DEP) and No-Execute (NX) are the features which exists in IE 7 to prevent the buffer overflow attacks. These features are enabled in IE 8 by default. Managing Add-ons is more easier and user friendly in IE 8.


The link bar of IE 7 has been renamed to Favorites bar in IE 8 allowing users to easily access their favorite web contents like links, Feeds, WebSlices and even Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents. IE 8 has a build in Automatic Crash Recovery Feature to prevent the sudden process killers in case of uncertainty. The Phishing filter has been improved with a more comprehensive feature called Safety filter. Apart from blocking known phishing sites, safety filter also blocks sites known to contain malicious software that could harm your computer or steal your information. Don’t worry about your speed, Microsoft has also done some home work to make your browsing experience safely and quickly. This application is compatible with web designing tools and technologies like CSS, Expression Web, Visual Web Developer Express and many more.

IT Administrators will have access to block unsafe sites over the group policy in an Active Directory Domain.


Want to check IE 8, download the First Beta of IE 8 from Microsoft

Read more about this product at Microsoft Resources

Know the Weekness of this product. But don’t worry, this is the first Beta of this product. The real version is yet to come in which would be a bug free IE 8.

Time to Purchase your IPhone

Yes the time to purchase your IPhone is very near. With the new updates released and also with the new 16GB model in market, the only thing we should wait is to check the price cut.

There are news that Apple will cut short its IPod and IPhone prices in next few months, this is definitely to create room for the upcoming 3G model to speed up your browsing experience. Apple is also expected to release its SDK which will help its customers a lot. There are also speculations that Apple is looking forward to get the support for the most popular web based voice call engine, “Skype”.








So your patience in purchasing your IPhone has proved to be fruitful. There would be a $100 cut in the present models, the 16GB IPhone would be around $399 when compare to the current price $499. With this, you can see the price of an 8GB IPhone to be $299, this also tips the price fall of the 32GB IPod touch from the present $499 within next few months.

With the recent software update of Jan 8, Apple has rectified many bugs and enhanced its features. Now you can re-arrange your home page icons. Movie rental have come to ITunes. With Wi-Fi or cell towers, you can get the best out of Google Maps. Create your own web clips and add them for one touch viewing. Send text message to a group. With this update, purchasing music is a touch away.

The reason for such a drastic price cut is due to the fall in Flash NAND based memories. According to sources, the price of a 4GB flash memory has declined over 73% since Aug 2007.


Read the guess about how the 3G IPhone would be with all the enhanced features.

$44.6 Billion is not a Fare Deal for Yahoo

Jerry Yang, the CEO and the co-founder of Yahoo revealed the reason for rejecting Microsoft’s offer to takeover Yahoo @ $44.6 Billion. According to him, this amount is too low, he also wrote that Yahoo has emerged as an independent player in Internet market, they are expecting a growth of almost 75 % till 2010. By then, Yahoo would be a $ 75 Billion company.









Yahoo is a recognized brand, said Jerry! They have about 500 million users accessing its free service across the globe every day. He also disclosed his partnership with some of the top players like Comcast and eBay

According to me, this is very good news for Google as they have already planned to oppose this bid on legal grounds. As internet is a free bird which Microsoft is trying to make a licensed availability. But no worry as both Microsoft & Yahoo even when together cannot defeat Google.

Microsoft to bid $44.6 billion to take over Yahoo

Microsoft in its ever made boldest bid of $ 44.6 Billion is aiming for Yahoo to beat their competitor Google. As I have mentioned earlier Google has attracted around 58% of the total search market in US, whereas both Microsoft and Yahoo could'nt go more than 40%.




Yahoo is the most visited site on the World Wide Web. Founded in 1994 by Stanford Ph.D. students David Filo and Jerry Yang, Yahoo began as a hobby and has evolved into a leading global brand. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with a presence in more than 20 markets and regions around the globe. Even Yahoo has acquired many companies starting from Four 11 to recent Right Media's acquisition. There are also speculations that they are aiming at popular social networking site MySpace. The Q4 2007 results state that there was a 20% growth in marketing sector this fiscal year.

Yahoo in its official statement disclosed that they would take quiet a bit of time to review Microsoft’s agreement in which they would look Yahoo as an individual company.

Sony Vaoi X 505 or Apple MacBookAir

Yes, that’s the question which everyone is asking since the recent release of Apple's MacBook Air. Both are quality laptops, but hear is my view about them.

Sony claims that the battery life is 2.5 to 4 hrs, however Mobile tech review of Sony’s X 505 laptop reveals that the battery life is only 2.5 hrs on charge when using the built in power management. Sony X505 has 10 inch LCD display, where as MacBook Air has 13 inch LED display is the largest display in a 3 pound laptop and is just bright as the MacBook Pro’s 15 inch LED display. The processor used in X505 is Pentium M Processor with 1.1 GHz clock speed, where as Apple has a special kind of processor designed by Intel for its thinnest notebook computer, It is a Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 1.6 (upgradable to 1.8 GHz at an additional $ 300). This is 64 percent smaller than the normal Core 2 Duo processors. The most interesting feature about MacBook Air lies in its touchpad, which has a pinch of the feature of a Surface Computer, apart from pointer functionality, it also allows you to rotate, enlarge your photos. I know you all have something in your mind, that’s about the touchscreen feature, however the touch feature is limited only to the touchpad and not to the screen, if touchscreen feature is included, it would be a ground breaking news same as that of the IPhone news. Sony offers 512 MB DDR RAM however the Apple MacBook Air comes with 2GB DDR RAM. The hard disk in Sony’s X 505 notebook is 20 GB, however Air has 80 GB Hard disk with 4200 RPM (a bit slower than the normal hard disks used).

All the above features, definitely reveals that Air is the most affordable thinnest laptop. The only reason you will go for Sony’s X 505 is the price, if it is less than that of Air, you would go for Sony. If any of you are willing for, here’s one @ $1,000. I see one more advantage of going with Sony is the way of replacing the battery, its user-friendly process however you have to take you MacBook Air to Apple’s service center for the surgery.

Check the Crunch Gear for detailed comparison between X 505 and Air.