by Lee Mathews on April 1, 2011 at 09:00 AM

Microsoft has shared some news about the state of its most and least loved Web browsers -- Internet Explorer 9 and 6, respectively. Even with IE9 only recently exiting beta, Microsoft reports that 3.6% of Windows 7 users are now running the new browser (no mention of Vista... what's with that?). The post also reveals that the adoption rate is almost five times what IE8 garnered in the early ...
by Vlad Bobleanta on March 31, 2011 at 04:00 PM

Microsoft has announced that people who use both Hotmail and Internet Explorer 9 are now able to see a desktop notification of how many messages have arrived since they last checked their Inbox. Unlike Chrome's desktop notifications, these won't be pop-up bubbles. In fact, the pinned Hotmail icon will simply change to display a number next to it -- that shows how many messages have arrived ...
by Lee Mathews on March 30, 2011 at 07:30 AM

Over on the Internet Explorer Blog, Microsoft has posted results from an extensive comparison of the top five Web browsers. The goal: to determine whether Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 4, Chrome 10, Safari 5, or Opera 11 is able to squeeze the most life out of your laptop's battery.
A baseline was determined with test systems sitting idle, and then browsers were pointed at about:blank, a ...
by Sebastian Anthony on March 28, 2011 at 05:31 AM

Using some early numbers from both StatCounter and Net Applications, Mozilla's noisiest hominid, Asa Dotzler, has illustrated Firefox 4's meteoric rise to around 5% of Web browser global usage share. Internet Explorer 9, which launched two weeks ago, seems to be enjoying a much more casual stroll in the park with just 1.5% of the global Web usage share.
Interestingly, we can see IE9 dipping ...
by Vlad Bobleanta on March 21, 2011 at 05:20 PM

Internet Explorer 9 was officially released exactly one week ago. Even if the download numbers for its first 24 hours of existence weren't bad at 2.3 million, they were nowhere near Firefox 3's record-breaking 8 million. During the week that has passed since its launch, IE 9 has managed to secure about 1% of the browser market according to Clicky Web Analytics.
However, starting tonight, ...
by Sebastian Anthony on March 17, 2011 at 09:40 AM

Firefox 4 RC1 has survived the rigors of public beta testing and, come March 22 -- just five days away! -- it will drop its Release Candidate tag and become Firefox 4 final.
This isn't to say that Firefox 4 RC is bug-free, but it does mean that there are no significant issues that would warrant an RC2. The only real issue that the Mozilla Dev mailing list has been dealing with is Vietnamese ...
by Sebastian Anthony on March 16, 2011 at 04:43 PM

Internet Explorer 9, in its first 24 hours of availability, has racked up a grand total of 2.3 million downloads. An impressive number, until you compare it to the latest major releases from Mozilla: Firefox 3.5 was downloaded 5 million times in 24 hours -- and Firefox 3, back in 2008, holds the world record for any piece of software with over 8 million downloads in one day.
Of course it isn't ...
by Jay Hathaway on March 15, 2011 at 05:00 PM

In a bit of Microsoft/Hulu cross-promotion, Hulu is offering a free month of its premium Hulu Plus streaming video service to users of Internet Explorer 9. To qualify, you just have to download IE9 and use the new taskbar pinning feature to pin Hulu.com to your Windows Taskbar.
If you pin Hulu, you'll see the free Hulu Plus offer appear in your IE9 jump list starting on March 28th. Hulu is ...
by Sebastian Anthony on March 15, 2011 at 01:40 PM

Ladies and gentlemen, today we bring you tidings of one of the most important developments in Web browser history: Internet Explorer finally has a decent spell checker that works on 32- and 64-bit Windows XP, Vista and 7. It's called Speckie, which, if you're completely devoid of higher brain function and need a helping hand, is a concatenation of spell check IE.
Speckie is a free download, ...
by Lee Mathews on March 15, 2011 at 09:15 AM

Not too long ago, Microsoft released an extension for Google Chrome which enabled H.264 HTML5 video playback. Now Google has returned the favor by offering a WebM plug-in for Internet Explorer 9 users. In a move which we can only describe as oozing with self-confidence, Google points out that there are some known issues -- visit this page, and revel in its blankness.
If you plan on using IE9 ...
by Sebastian Anthony on March 15, 2011 at 12:00 AM

Moments ago, kicked off by a hipstertastic soiree at the SXSW convention, the final build of Internet Explorer 9 was made publicly available. You can now download it from the Beauty of the Web site.
There are no significant changes between the RC and the final build; it's more of a spit-and-polish than anything else. Microsoft tells us that performance has been improved on low-end machines ...
by Sebastian Anthony on March 9, 2011 at 11:25 AM

Posting on the Internet Explorer blog, Microsoft's Senior Director for Internet Explorer has just confirmed a March 14 release of IE9. It will be released at 9pm Pacific Time to coincide with a Beauty of the Web party being held at SXSW.
It sounds like the party will be pretty wild, with live music from Yeasayer, the Head and the Heart, and Fences. We're told that over 1,500 people will be ...
by Sebastian Anthony on March 8, 2011 at 02:58 PM

Not too long ago, we shared some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts for Internet Explorer 9. Now, the folks at Microsoft have compiled a whole slew of tips for IE9 users, from novices to seasoned surfers.
There are four categories at the moment -- Faster ways to get to your websites, Top keyboard shortcuts, Change and manage search providers, and Manage add-ons -- and there's also a good ...
by Sebastian Anthony on February 18, 2011 at 12:00 PM

Update: Microsoft has now confirmed IE9's release at 9pm Pacific Time on March 14.
According to a source that's intimately familiar with the situation, Microsoft will release the final version of Internet Explorer 9 at the SXSW conference on March 14.
This information tallies nicely with what we already know: Microsoft has said that there will only be one RC, and March 14 very nearly fits ...
by Sebastian Anthony on February 17, 2011 at 02:10 PM

Did you know that Internet Explorer 9 has add-ons? Like, real, experience-altering extensions? Head on over to the IE Add-ons Gallery and take a gander. Marvel at how the most popular add-on in the U.K. has a mind-blowing 18 ratings.
Truth be told, there isn't a whole lot to choose from, but if you do end up using a few add-ons or toolbars, you may run into the Add-on Performance Advisor. If ...