Can it ward off its increasing competition?
This is Microsoft’s first update to their infamous browser since August 2006. Back then, Internet Explorer was the king of the web browsers. But with Mozilla Firefox nipping at its heels, not to mention Google’s introduction of its own browser, Chrome, and IE 8 has a lot more competition to ward off. Microsoft needed to make IE 8 faster, safer and easier to use than ever.
IE 8 aims to reduce the need to copy something from one web page and paste it onto another. Called Accelerators, these little actions can be called up by highlighting the text on a page and clicking on a small blue icon that appears. Users can add Accelerators to reflect their own search, email and other habits. IE 8 also adds much needed functionality to the built-in toolbar search box. Users can type a word into the box and a preview of suggested searches or results appears in a drop-down list, and they can easily switch between different search providers by clicking small icons in that window. By clicking on the icons, the list refreshes. Microsoft has also added a toolbar button that opens a menu of the most recent news headlines. Users can add several “Web slices” to keep track of information that is frequently updated. Microsoft is also adding a tab function, whereby each web page has its own tab, and if one web site crashes, only that tab will be affected, not the entire browser.
IE 8 also has some new privacy features. One is a mode for web browsing that does not remember what sites were visited and does not store cookies. IE 8 also lets users block ads from companies that track their web surfing habits across a number of sites. It has improved protection against malware and known phishing scam sites. It also has built-in technology to protect against “cross-site scripting,” a scheme where hackers insert code into legitimate web pages that compromise a person’s computer without their knowing it. IE 8 disables the bad scripts but in most cases allows others needed for a web page to run as usual.
IE 8 also helps people who create web sites prevent an attack called “click-jacking,” where someone thinks that they are clicking on a legitimate button when they are really activating an invisible, malicious action. Microsoft has promised to adhere to web standards or agreed-upon ways of reading web designers’ code and displaying the page as described with IE 8. For any sites that don’t display properly with IE 8, Microsoft has added a button that reverts to the old, nonstandard way of operating.
With so many new features added to IE 8, Microsoft hopes to remain the number one web browser. If you want to download Internet Explorer 8 and try out these new features for yourself, go here.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
What the f**k news update
The Iraqi who threw his shoe at former President George Bush in December of 2008 was sentenced to 3 years in prison today. Muntadhar al-Zeidi, 30, was a correspondent for a small Iraqi-owned television station based in Cairo, Egypt. It was the minimum sentence he could receive. He could have gotten up to 15 years. There has been mild protest in Iraq over his sentencing. I think what he did was hilarious. Bush deserved it. There are many, many worse things that could have and probably should have been thrown at Bush.
This financial crisis continues to bring out the best in people. Three executives from a car dealership in Nebraska were arrested. Recently, 81 cars worth $2.5 million and the 3 executives had gone missing. Legacy Auto Sales owner Allen Patch, controller Rachel Fait and general manager Rick Covello were all arrested separately on Thursday.
Alabama man who committed the worst massacre in state history owned DVDs on how to commit acts of violence. Michael McLendon, 28, killed five family members and five other people before fatally shotting himself Tuesday. He started at his house by setting his mom on fire and then proceeded to reign bullets over the town of Samson until he took his own life after a shootout with police in nearby Geneva at Reliable Products, the metals plant where he worked until 2003.
As if I needed more reasons to loathe the Republican party. They are getting their undies in a twist over the Chairman of the GOP, Michael Steele, telling GQ in a Feb. 24 interview that abortion was an "individual choice" and opposed a constitutional ban on abortion. All of the GOP "pillars" are lining up to say that abortion is not a choice (for women at least). They are also upset that in the same interview he said that homosexuals can't just stop being gay. That it is genetic. This kind of crap gets my undies in a bunch. How dare these people have the audacity to think that they can mandate what is right for everyone. A minority of people get to choose what is right for the majority. And don't even get me started on their push for a Constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage. Once again, a minority of people think that they can choose what is right for everyone. Homosexuals pay taxes, abide by the law, and live and breathe just like everyone else, yet they are constantly derided, bullied, discriminated against, and they can't get married, adopt children or have any of the benefits those things entitle them to. The Republican party is the party of hypocrites and traitors to the ideals of the US where everyone is entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
This financial crisis continues to bring out the best in people. Three executives from a car dealership in Nebraska were arrested. Recently, 81 cars worth $2.5 million and the 3 executives had gone missing. Legacy Auto Sales owner Allen Patch, controller Rachel Fait and general manager Rick Covello were all arrested separately on Thursday.
Alabama man who committed the worst massacre in state history owned DVDs on how to commit acts of violence. Michael McLendon, 28, killed five family members and five other people before fatally shotting himself Tuesday. He started at his house by setting his mom on fire and then proceeded to reign bullets over the town of Samson until he took his own life after a shootout with police in nearby Geneva at Reliable Products, the metals plant where he worked until 2003.
As if I needed more reasons to loathe the Republican party. They are getting their undies in a twist over the Chairman of the GOP, Michael Steele, telling GQ in a Feb. 24 interview that abortion was an "individual choice" and opposed a constitutional ban on abortion. All of the GOP "pillars" are lining up to say that abortion is not a choice (for women at least). They are also upset that in the same interview he said that homosexuals can't just stop being gay. That it is genetic. This kind of crap gets my undies in a bunch. How dare these people have the audacity to think that they can mandate what is right for everyone. A minority of people get to choose what is right for the majority. And don't even get me started on their push for a Constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage. Once again, a minority of people think that they can choose what is right for everyone. Homosexuals pay taxes, abide by the law, and live and breathe just like everyone else, yet they are constantly derided, bullied, discriminated against, and they can't get married, adopt children or have any of the benefits those things entitle them to. The Republican party is the party of hypocrites and traitors to the ideals of the US where everyone is entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Five things every college student should do while in school
I wrote this for a web site called College News, but I did not like the edits, so I am just going to post it here with all of its integrity intact.
1)Major with your heart, but minor with your head
Major in something you love, say 18th Century English Literature, but minor in something practical like Web Design or International Business. If you decide after you graduate that you don’t want to be a teacher or poet, you can always fall back on your Accounting major to pay your bills. Employers will appreciate your grammar skills but will appreciate them even more when combined with you’re A/P and A/R skills.
2)Learn how to manage your money
Learn how to manage your money. You do not want to graduate from school with $10,000 in credit card debt and $20,000 in student loans. You can always get the loans deferred until you get a job, but the credit card debt will be a burden. Credit cards should only be used if absolutely necessary. You do not need 1,000 songs from iTunes or to buy two rounds of drinks for the entire bar every time you go out. Haven’t you learned by now that people should like you for who you are not what you have?
3)Study abroad
You must study abroad. It is the perfect time of life for seeing the world. You are young and free and curious. It is a time to take Art History in Rome, to take Literature in London, to be able to experience your classes. It is also a great time to learn about you. You may find out that you love photography or cooking or have a knack for languages. And you will make wonderful memories that will last a lifetime.
4)Get an internship/job/volunteer or any combination of the three
Get an internship/job/volunteer or any combination of the three. It is not enough to do well in classes. Sure, grades are important when you first graduate. However, think how much more impressive your resume will be if you are a Journalism major with good grades, you wrote for the school newspaper and you had an internship with a Advertising Agency, writing press releases and copy. Or you volunteered at the local animal shelter, and you helped them put out their monthly newsletter. It shows you have time management skills, motivation, initiative and a desire to apply the skills you are learning in school.
5)Eat better and exercise more
Put that pizza down and go get a salad. It is not okay to abuse your body just because you are young. You need to be able to get the most out of your very expensive education, and the only way to do that is to be healthy. Your brain needs nutrition and sleep because it cannot function properly on beer and caffeine pills. Also, at what other time in your life are you going to have free access to exercise rooms, basketball courts and indoor swimming pools? There is never more time and opportunity to exercise than when you have hours of free time between classes. You will run circles around your peers, and as an added bonus, you will not have to buy new clothes with your credit card after you gain 20 pounds.
1)Major with your heart, but minor with your head
Major in something you love, say 18th Century English Literature, but minor in something practical like Web Design or International Business. If you decide after you graduate that you don’t want to be a teacher or poet, you can always fall back on your Accounting major to pay your bills. Employers will appreciate your grammar skills but will appreciate them even more when combined with you’re A/P and A/R skills.
2)Learn how to manage your money
Learn how to manage your money. You do not want to graduate from school with $10,000 in credit card debt and $20,000 in student loans. You can always get the loans deferred until you get a job, but the credit card debt will be a burden. Credit cards should only be used if absolutely necessary. You do not need 1,000 songs from iTunes or to buy two rounds of drinks for the entire bar every time you go out. Haven’t you learned by now that people should like you for who you are not what you have?
3)Study abroad
You must study abroad. It is the perfect time of life for seeing the world. You are young and free and curious. It is a time to take Art History in Rome, to take Literature in London, to be able to experience your classes. It is also a great time to learn about you. You may find out that you love photography or cooking or have a knack for languages. And you will make wonderful memories that will last a lifetime.
4)Get an internship/job/volunteer or any combination of the three
Get an internship/job/volunteer or any combination of the three. It is not enough to do well in classes. Sure, grades are important when you first graduate. However, think how much more impressive your resume will be if you are a Journalism major with good grades, you wrote for the school newspaper and you had an internship with a Advertising Agency, writing press releases and copy. Or you volunteered at the local animal shelter, and you helped them put out their monthly newsletter. It shows you have time management skills, motivation, initiative and a desire to apply the skills you are learning in school.
5)Eat better and exercise more
Put that pizza down and go get a salad. It is not okay to abuse your body just because you are young. You need to be able to get the most out of your very expensive education, and the only way to do that is to be healthy. Your brain needs nutrition and sleep because it cannot function properly on beer and caffeine pills. Also, at what other time in your life are you going to have free access to exercise rooms, basketball courts and indoor swimming pools? There is never more time and opportunity to exercise than when you have hours of free time between classes. You will run circles around your peers, and as an added bonus, you will not have to buy new clothes with your credit card after you gain 20 pounds.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)