Announced on the official IE Developer Blog yesterday, Internet Explorer Public Beta 1 adds a raft of new features to Microsoft's default browser - including graphics acceleration, which is enabled by default to deliver a speedier experience.

The user interface has been overhauled too, with a pinning mechanic added, similar to the one used for applications in Windows 7, which allows sites to be pinned to the task bar. Interestingly, Microsoft appears to have taken a leaf out of Google Chrome's book and added functionality for sites to launch OS-embedded alerts when they're pinned to the taskbar, bringing your attention to them without stealing focus.

With an overhauled interface, the team behind IE9 claims that a lightweight look means that the user's attention is directed at the page rather than the browser, providing a much smoother experience of the Web.

Fans of the Aero Snap feature of Windows 7, which allows windows to be dragged to certain areas to be automatically resized to exactly fill half the screen, will be pleased to hear that the same functionality has been added to Internet Explorer - only rather than affecting entire windows, it affects tabs, and allows users to easily see two tabs side by side.

Windows users can download the beta from the not at all pretentious BeautyOfTheWeb.com site. Once it's installed, Microsoft hosts a test drive to walk you through the new features and have a play with HTML 5.

Will you be installing the new beta, or will you wait for others to iron out the inevitable bugs before upgrading? Is this too little, too late from Microsoft to tempt you back from your alternative browser?

- Source “bit-tech.net”

Google Instant is now the default search method in France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and the UK and only works on Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE8 browsers.

When you use Google and start typing in a search term your results are now instantly shown rather than you having to press Enter and wait for the results to load. As more letters are added to the term, the results are narrowed down.

Google reckons this will save two to five seconds per search, which works out at 11 hours saved every second if everyone around the world uses it.

It differs from Google's current auto-complete function. Auto-complete will bring you a list of possible suggestions but won't automatically generate the results for that query unless you hit enter.

But some surfers simply don't like the changes and others have reacted angrily to Google Instant.

One Twitter member wrote: "Is Google Instant the end of Search as we know It?"

Another added: "I like Google Instant but sometimes it reminds me of those annoying people who never let u finish what u r trying to say."

One Web User reader even labelled it as "an extremely annoying and distracting feature".

Whereas other Twitter members have welcomed the changes. One said: "I'm kind of ridiculously excited about Google Instant."

Another added: "Love Google New Feature: "Google Instant". Faster Searches, Smarter Predictions & Instant Results. =D" whilst a third tweeted: "I love Google's new 'Google Instant' I go on it just to see the results change."

Security experts have voiced concerns though that Google Instant may encourage and help Blackhat SEO campaigns and link poisoning.

- Source “www.webuser.co.uk”

With the fuss that Microsoft has been making you’d have to be blind and death not to have noticed the release of Internet Explorer 9. The browser has hit the market with impressive stats and claims to be the first browser to deliver full hardware acceleration of all HTML5 content.

At the start of September, what is proving to be Microsoft’s biggest rival, Google released their IE competing Chrome 6. But whilst it took IE a year to evolve from 8 to 9, Chrome 7 is already being prepared to go head to head against Microsoft’s impressive new web browser.

Chrome 6 may be new to us, but in the Google office, its old news. They’re already making bold claims about what 7 will be able to do. “It will be 60 times faster than (the fast) Chrome 6 and 2D graphics performance and canvas acceleration is now available in trunk and canary builds of Chrome 7, though the browser is still in the very early beta stage so things will likely change before it’s fully released.

And Google isn’t the only browser looking at hardware acceleration. The latest beta builds of Mozilla’s Firefox also include hardware accelerated components for improved performance.

It’s not yet clear when Chrome 7 will be available “With Google Chrome’s fast release cycles, we expect to be able to get these enhancements to users quickly and add new performance improvements over time.” Says James Robinson, Software Engineer at Google.

- Source “neowin.net”

Google is continuing to kill off support for Internet Explorer 6 in its services; the search giant has announced that two more of its Web properties will stop supporting IE6 as of March 1. "Many other companies have already stopped supporting older browsers like Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers," a blog post on the Official Google Enterprise Blog begins to explain. "We're also going to begin phasing out our support, starting with Google Docs and Google Sites. As a result you may find that from March 1 key functionality within these products -- as well as new Docs and Sites features -- won't work properly in older browsers." Older browsers, according to Google, include anything prior to IE7, Firefox 3.0, Chrome 4.0, and Safari 3.0.

Although one might think this is a reaction to the Internet Explorer's vulnerabilities notably exploited in the recent series of Chinese-based attacks against Google and 30 other tech companies, which Microsoft has since patched, the truth is Google has already done this with many of its other products. Google's Orkut and YouTube started phasing out IE6 support about six months ago and Google has been using Gmail to convert IE6 users to Chrome for over a year.

Google's stance on IE6 varies from Microsoft's because the search giant does not need to support Windows XP, the operating system with which IE6 first shipped, as long as Microsoft (which will support XP and IE6 until April 8, 2014). Google can thus pull IE6 support on its many Web properties and urge users to upgrade. Microsoft, on the other hand, which has stated time and time again that it wants to see IE6 disappear as much as anyone else, won't force anyone to upgrade (though it's worth noting that the software giant's Office Web Apps won't support IE6 either, just like Google Docs). Instead, it says the decision is ultimately up to the user, touting IE8's many features over IE6, particularly in the area of security, in an attempt to push users to upgrade. IE6 ended 2009 with a market share of 20.99 percent.

Less than six months after the apparently successful launch of Windows 7, Microsoft has decided to cut the umbilicus to the operating system many end-users - especially businesses - clung to during the Vista era.

Windows XP SP2 is the OS many people used for many years, but on 13 July Microsoft will support it no more. It is still supporting XP SP3 however, so Microsoft is not yet forcing XP users to upgrade, but this is a strong signal to XP users nonetheless.

A version of Windows that is having the umbilicus completely severed on 13 July is Windows 2000 and anyone still using Vista RTM (SP0) will be compelled to at least get the latest service pack on 13 April. Of course Microsoft would rather they moved up to Windows 7.

In case you're wondering why running an OS that Microsoft no longer offers support for, the announcement offered the following warning:

Keeping your PC up to date and as safe as possible is something that people need to think about beyond just being on the latest service pack. I want to remind everyone of the benefits of keeping Windows Update turned on. Through Windows Update, not only are you provided with the latest security updates and service packs for Windows at no cost, but also the latest updates to products such as Internet Explorer 8 and Microsoft Security Essentials

- Source Hexus.net

Apple’s tablet is now in the wild, dubbed iPad. It’s essentially a giant iPod touch, with a 1024-by-768 9.7-inch display. Plenty of information about the device is available on Apple’s website, but what will it mean for web designers? Here are five things you need to know about Apple’s device when creating your next online masterpiece.

1. It runs Safari
The good news for web designers is that iPad runs the same operating system as Apple’s other handhelds, which means its browser is Safari—albeit the mobile version. In the main, this shares the same guts as the desktop version, which is one of the most advanced browsers around, with excellent support for open standards. Get your site up and running in Safari for Mac or PC and it’ll work reasonably well on iPad—with some caveats, as explained in the following three points.

2. It doesn’t run Flash
Apple’s clearly not going to budge regarding Flash. The company recently noted that plug-ins—‘plug-ins’ clearly being a euphemism for ‘Flash’—were the largest cause of crashes on the Mac, and Flash can cause performance problems, which are more evident on lower-powered devices such as iPad. Furthermore, Apple increasingly likes control over code run on its devices, and unless it buys Adobe it won’t have that over Flash. The upshot: if you want web animations on iPad, use open standards. If you want entirely Flash websites to work on iPad, create a dimension-jumping machine, because it’s not going to happen in this world any time soon. (See also: any other third-party plug-ins.)

3. It’s a giant iPod touch
Although iPad has an optional keyboard dock, it’s still primarily a touchscreen device. To that end, you touch the screen to interact with something. That might seem obvious, but many web designers use a lot of hover effects for important things (including mega menus), which work poorly or not at all on these kinds of devices. Also, fingers aren’t as accurate as mouse pointers, and so links and targets must be sized accordingly. However, iPad retains iPhone’s ability to pinch-zoom, and it has a larger screen, so you’re not too limited.

4. It’s hugely usable
One of the major plusses of iPhone and iPod touch is usability. A two-year-old can use the devices without any major problem, and there are thousands of apps that you can download for free. Effectively, Safari is just one app of many, meaning your website is in direct competition with a bunch of other content. In other words, if your site isn’t as usable as at least a very good download from the App Store, you’re stuffed.

5. It could be the future
We suspect by the time you read this, a million articles online will be claiming iPad will be Apple’s biggest disaster since the Cube. But they said the same about iPhone, which sold 8.75 million units in the last quarter alone. With Apple’s iPad pricing surprisingly sensible (the low-end model is $499—about the same as an unlocked iPhone 3G), and with the company clearly gunning for the home user who doesn’t require advanced computing, this device could be a major hit. Also, where Apple leads, others follow. Expect Apple to be rapidly aped by a number of copycat competitors, ripping off the interface and producing their own Apple-like touchscreen devices. Either way, web designers need to be mindful of iPad, because if Apple discovered one thing, it’s that iPhone (and iPod touch) users do a lot of web browsing—and the same will be true for iPad.

A research note by Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar released on Monday suggests Apple is indeed working on a smaller iPad tablet.

Kumar claims Apple will offer a smaller 7-inch model for release sometime in 2011, possibly as early as the first quarter of next year. Kumar's predictions are reportedly based on conversations with Asian component manufacturers, including Pegatron, which supply Apple with parts for its mobile devices. Kumar also told MSNBC that Pegatron, was assembling 20 million CDMA versions of the iPhone 4 on Apple's behalf, further fuelling rumours of the smartphone being available shortly on US carrier Verizon.

The current iPad comes with a 9.7-inch diagonal screen. The new iPad, would be a similar size to Samsung's newly announced Galaxy Tab, which offers front-and rear-facing video cameras, supports Adobe's Flash and runs on Google's Android.

Kumar suggests the new compact iPad will also offer front-and rear-facing cameras for FaceTime video conferencing and face to face chat, introduced with the iPhone 4, and now available with the new iPod touch introduced earlier this month.

"Apple will be playing catch-up on the videoconferencing features," Kumar said in an interview, quoted by Bloomberg.

Kumar added the decision to produce a smaller iPad could be simply down to price. "Apple might be trying to address a lower price point. They want to stay competitive," Kumar told MSNBC. The cheapest iPad currently costs £429/$499 for the 16GB model for the Wi-Fi only model, while the flagship 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G model is £699/$829.

As for the current iPad: "Maybe it's making a leap of faith they'll discontinue the 9.7 inch model, but they could continue. On the flip side, it's a forecasting logistics nightmare. It's very likely the current generation will eventually sunset. It may not be a hard stop."

Typically, Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment on Kumar's research note. In June, Apple announced that it sold its three-millionth iPad, just 80 days after the tablets's US introduction.

Rodman & Renshaw is billed as a full-service investment bank dedicated to providing corporate finance, strategic advisory and related services to public and private companies.

Last month, Taiwan's Digitimes newspaper reported that Taiwanese companies were starting to assemble a 7-inch iPad for Apple.

Economic Daily News financial newspaper followed up with a similar story a week later. The Chinese-language newspaper was among the first to correctly report that Apple was making a tablet when other news sources insisted it would be a smaller MacBook style netbook.

- Source networkworld.com

Now that the iPad is out let's think about whether it is a useful tool for us designers. Sure it can serve all the business and entertainment needs we have, but does it have the ability to help us professionally? Can the iPad makes us more creative, more efficient and can it help us with our everyday design tasks? Let's take each activity we do as designers and see if iPad has a place in it.

Being informed

As a designer you need to go through a lot of information. Part of it is inspiring and relaxing, such as looking at other people's work, reading about trends, etc. You can do this right now on a computer screen and some of it in printed magazines. You could try to use your laptop to be away from your desk too. The iPad however will allow you more freedom and flexibility. It's much easier to sit with an iPad in hand than trying to find space for a laptop on small table at a cafe.

The other part of being informed needs concentrated effort, like reading emails and doing tutorials. Emails can be done while commuting on the iPhone, but iPad will be much easier to use. Tutorials and other serious stuff will have to be done on the big screen.

Bottom line, the iPad has a place here and somewhat helpful.

Getting connected

Most of us gravitate to less phone calls and more written communication, in email, chat and various project management applications. The iPad can't make phone calls, but can do all the rest better than an iPhone or a laptop as it's more convenient to carry around.

The iPad has a place here too.

Doing research and background work

Must of our actual work is getting ready for work. Looking through what others have done in the related industry and finding inspirational and resource material for the job at hand. While this can be done on an iPad, it is more efficient to do it on the largest screen available to you. Also, saving files for reference needs to be done on the computer where the actual work will be done.

The iPad can be of help here, but will not be the primary device.

Sketching and ideation

It's easier and more intuitive to do this on paper, but I imagine your designers adopting the iPad for this purpose.

Limited use here.

Doing design work

Besides the fact that iPad can't run Adobe CS applications at the moment the screen at 1024x768 isn't suited for serious and efficient design work.

The iPad will not replace your big screen and computer until it has a larger version running all OS X apps.

Presentation

Most of us already show our designs on a laptop screen or on a projector when presenting. The iPad will be a great device to present your work especially when you're dealing with your client on a one-on-one basis. It's not suitable for large group of clients.

Showing your portfolio with the iPad's is also very effective and cool.

Clearly the iPad has a great role here. It can essentially sell you and your work to clients.

Recreational design related activities

If you like sketching and doodling for artistic release the iPad will be of great help as it's big enough for half serious work and small enough to carry around easily. You could of course do it with a simple pen and paper.

You may like reading magazines and books about design and art in general. The iPad can be helpful here too, but printed books and magazines can still be an easier and cheaper option at this point.

In short, the iPad is useful but not essential.

Conclusion

The iPad will save you time and effort in design related support activities and will play a huge role in presenting your work. It will not replace your phone, laptop or desktop. At the price of US$500 I think it's highly recommended for designers. You can earn that money back in just one job that the iPad helped you get.

- Source http://creativebits.org