On July 29, Neowin.net reposted some screen shots from what they believe to be a newly leaked test build of IE 9. That build includes a new download manager, but doesn’t yet feature the new user interface. For all of its improvements, there’s a good chance that Microsoft’s browser will have been surpassed by its competition by the time it finally ships.

The Web Developers are keenly waiting for the new browser. There is a significant improvement of Internet  Explorer 9 in comparison with Internet Explorer 8, with considerably improved standards compliance and functionality. The software giant has been releasing preview releases for testers and web developers. The basic idea is to  get the rendering engine correct before they put it in a useful interface.

This is a major update for the company as they are going to support a lot of new web technologies. This is going to make things easy for a lot of developers out there. One of the biggest improvements is expanded support for HTML5 and use of hardware acceleration. The stable edition is unlikely to arrive within this year though it would be cool if they can launch it by December 2010.

To be real honest, IE6 is pretty bad. If your traffic consists of IE6 users or you’re developing for an industry where IE6 is still being used, just remember to always validate your code and you’ll get rid of a lot of the inconsistencies. But often, that is lot easier said than  done! <sigh>

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Blame Businesses — sad truth but most clients want IE6 support. Even MS recommends you don’t use IE6. Which is probably why they’re already at IE8 and IE9 is in development. It’s one thing to willingly use IE6, but it’s something far more dastardly to force others to use it against their will. Corporate IT, stop stalling and deploy a newer IE! Wake up fellas.

For batteries to work, they need to be placed in the right way. It’s one of those fundamental notions that we all pick up from an early age. But Microsoft has just announced an innovation that turns all that on its head – literally. Known as “InstaLoad” battery installation, the technology allows you to insert a battery without having to worry about positive and negative polarity. That’s idiot-proofing of the highest order!

The most impressive part is the low-tech way this is handled. Each contact in the battery compartment has both positive and negative terminals. If the fat, flat end of the battery is pressing against them, it touches the outside contact. If it is the pointy positive end then it makes contact with a slightly recessed inner contact. This, combined with some simple circuitry, makes sure the current is always running the right way. Isn’t that simply brilliant?

In Microsoft’s own words: “unlike existing electronic solutions designed to address battery-polarity installation, InstaLoad is a mechanical invention that does not drain battery power or require expensive electronic circuitry.” Moreover, the technology works with most barrel-type batteries, so your AA, AAA, C and D batteries are all compatible. It also doesn’t matter whether the batteries are disposable or rechargeable.

“We believe the InstaLoad feature can make a difference in the lives of those people who need and use these products on a daily basis,” said Rusty Jeffress, corporate vice president, Specialized Devices & Applications, Microsoft.

Also Read: Researchers Develop Tiny yet More Efficient Nuclear Battery

Microsoft is offering commercial licensees both a license to the InstaLoad technology and a license to the InstaLoad logo for use on product packaging and marketing materials. This logo program will help users identify those battery-operated products that feature InstaLoad technology. InstaLoad is the first technology offering by Microsoft Hardware for licensing to a broader industry, across a variety of battery-operated devices.

In addition, Microsoft offering a no-charge InstaLoad evaluation kit, which includes a detailed design specification and demo unit to help device suppliers quickly start their product prototyping. And under a Royalty-Free License Program for Accessibility Products, the InstaLoad technology will provide an additional usability benefit for battery-operated accessibility devices that are designed for people with hearing, vision or learning disabilities. Way to go Microsoft — hopefully, once InstaLoad arrives in our day-to-day gadgets, we’ll never have to look at + or – signs on the battery again.

Though tattoos have no practical use, many people still want to have a tattoo engraved on them. People  like these who look at tattoos with an aesthetic taste will admire and engrave the same on them.

However entertaining these might be, I find this bizarre! I intentionally don’t wear clothes with brands, as I believe they should pay me to advertise their brand. So to make it permanent is ridiculous to me. Would you engrave a tattoo on your body part just because you are a fan of the brand/technology/gadget?

Opera: A relatively well known Browser as well.  This is slowly becoming more and more popular, it has become well known for its speed, and generally referred to as; “the fastest browser”, even though the upcoming IE9 is being projected as the fastest browser till now.  Opera is a tidy and well rounded Browser and is now incorporated into Nintendo’s Wii system.  A unique system with Opera is the ability to zoom into an entire document or page without issue.  This doesn’t just re-size text, the entire page is expanded.  This is one of my favorite Browsers as its speed gives me little hassle and the tab system is kept tidy, even when shrouded in toolbars! And yes, there is a version of Opera for the Android too.

Netscape Navigator: This is probably the oldest of the bunch, catching up with the likes of Firefox. This browser could be one of the champions if it got some decent coverage.  This is also a very clean system and has a whole host of add-ons similar to Firefox.  There are many people that consider the Netscape add-ons to be more informative and more thought out.  In terms of diagnosis they seem to be much more in depth and informative.

Google Chrome: Right, this was also an obvious one, but it still isn’t as popular as you think.  This Browser does work very much like Firefox, but in my opinion doesn’t have quite as goo layout.  The thin blue strip at the top feels a bit lonely, and the tabs looked as though they have been rushed.  However unlike Firefox, Chrome very rarely has issues and isn’t likely to break down on you.  You can get add-ons for Chrome but they are still limited and ongoing in production.  This is still quite a young Browser, so it has plenty of room to grow!

Chameleon: A simple mans browser, with some very old school reminiscent features of Internet Explorer 6.  The general layout is hardly what I would call attractive, and there isn’t all that much you can do with it, which means there us much less to go wrong.  It is a very fast browser and although the tabs are untidy, are easy to spot, and because they are small you can fit quite a few in one window.   As said this is for those that just want something standard, if you still use Internet Explorer 6 but don’t want anything fancy, then this is your Browser!

Flock: This is for all you youngsters or social media experts.  This browser comes under the same wing as Firefox, built by Mozilla.  You can utilize this browser as a means of watching all of your social networks with ease.  Instead of having multiple tabs you can have all of your social networks split into separate widgets where you can monitor the most important information from each one.  It’s basically like having a master control page on your web browser where you can monitor all of your social activity and that of your friends!  As for the searching the web side, it is all pretty similar to Firefox, with some problems but without quite as many add-ons.

The program, which was launched with Live Search back in May 2008, offered cash rebates to online shoppers who bought items by searching them on Bing. It initially attracted more than a 1000 sellers offering rebates. Microsoft also launched a strong marketing campaign to promote the feature and claimed that it was “showing traction with advertisers and consumers”, but the program kept facing financial issues. To make matters even worse, in April 2010, Bing held 9.43% of the US search engine market share, down from 9.62% in March.

People owed cashback on purchases will have up to 12 months after the feature closes to redeem it, Microsoft said. The company also will provide customer support during that period. But this is apparently why the cash-back program is ending — “After a couple of years of trying, we did not see the broad adoption that we had hoped for,” Yusuf Mehdi, senior VP of Online Audience Business Group at Microsoft, said in the Bing blog.

The cashback program has had its critics. Samir Meghani, co-founder of price-comparison search engine Bountii.com, claimed last November that the rebate did not always mean shoppers were getting the lowest price available on the Web. As an example, Meghani cited how a camera available on Butterfly Photo site could be bought for less money by going directly to the site, rather than through the cashback program. Microsoft later said it was working with the merchant to fix the inconsistency.

Bing cash-back promo is ending. But not all is lost! According to Microsoft, what was learned will be put into new programs delivering great shopping experiences that help you make better shopping decisions, get great deals, and save time and money on the way. After all, shopping is still one of the most important tasks people engage in while using search! They also already have new ideas for merchants and advertisers to get a broader array of products and offers into Bing and will share more details on that later this summer.

Windows gets freaky. To delete something, the user needs some space and for that he has to delete something else. Where do I begin the process of deletion and where do I end? Phew!

This is awesomeness at its peak. Wait, what? I am not able to detect my type. Please help!

What do you do when you experience an unresponsive program? You run for the ultimate rescue and hit the key combination Ctrl+Alt+Delete, so that you can get rid of the unresponsive program, right? But what happens when Task Manager itself becomes unresponsive? Go figure…

Come on! Give us a break. It’s an old error from Windows 98. We are pretty sure that nobody uses it (Win 98) anymore but the error is kind of cute.

Windows create an error report when you get an error. What if, an error occurs while creating an error report? Confusing huh?

Height of security! This error message was generated when Windows 2000 users logged into an MIT Kerberos realm and got a shock of their lives on attempting to change their password. They were given a seemingly impossible task of setting a password with 18,770 characters that was different from the last 30,689 passwords. Thankfully, this uncommon error was fixed with the release of SP3 for Windows 2000.

Errors are unexpected. Investigate? Shall I transfer the case to FBI or the CIA?

Windows gets confused. See this for proof!

Someone once forgot to plug the keyboard to the computer. I found this error message to be hilarious because it asks you to press F1 or DEL when it knows that no keyboard is connected.

Error while sending the “Recycle Bin” to “Recycle Bin”

And this one is epic fail! Error while sending the “Internet” to “Recycle Bin”. But don’t worry its just an error and it is NOT the end of the Internet. In fact, this is the proof that “The Internet” is here to stay and can not be k1lled!

If you know the original source to any of these images please contact us.

This is not the first time Windows 7 was found with some security holes but according to the company, the issue also only exists if users have the Aero theme installed. By using Windows 7 Basic or Windows Classic themes, the path malcode could take is switched off.

The bug would most likely make most machines reboot its affected system according to a blog post by Jerry Bryant, Microsoft spokesman. This kind of malware may also open a door for more attacks (Backdoor attacks) when it is silently installed into your system but attackers need to bypass memory randomization protections to break in.

The malicious bug can give hackers the power to exploit its victim. What it does is it will trick the victim into viewing an image file on a website or email. The driver will then emulate the Windows XP display driver for interactions with earlier graphics engines.

A spokesman said that Microsoft is working on a security update for affected versions of Windows, although the company suspects that making workable hacks using cdd.dll is unlikely.Microsoft is working on a security update for affected versions of Windows, although the company suspects that making workable hacks using cdd.dll is unlikely. In the meantime, users experiencing this attack can prevent it by disabling the Windows Aero Theme. Change it to Basic theme or Turn it off on Windows Control Panel, Appearance and Personalization.

The ONLY thing Internet Explorer is Good for is Downloading Firefox or Google Chrome!

But ironically, you don’t even need IE for that. If you need to download FF, just do it through FTP, and if you want chrome, download FF and then chrome! It is a known fact that IE is an inherently buggy and inferior browser, which fails to adhere to rules which almost every other major browser has no problem adhering to.

In essence, IE does suck as a browser. Some people just don’t know it because good programmers code around it so you don’t have to suffer from it.

Also Read: “If Browsers Were Girls/Women [Infographic]“

This one too: “If Browsers Were Mode of Transportations [Infographic]“

Why Office 2007 documents don’t open in older versions of MS Office?

Microsoft has added new Office Open XML Formats to Microsoft Office Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007 and Word 2007. The new formats help by improving file and data management, reducing file sizes, and improving recovery of damaged files. Office XML Formats uses a ZIP compression technology to store documents. So if you receive a document that someone has saved in Office 2007 format, but all you have is an earlier version of Office that can’t read it, there are some steps you need to take.

Luckily, the fix is easy: Download and install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. (Take special care to read the Overview on that page – it’s important that you have all High Priority updates from Microsoft Update installed before you install the converters.) The compatibility pack works with Office 2000, Office XP and Office 2003.

So if you have Microsoft Office 2003 on your computer and your friends are using Office 2007 and sending you e-mail with attachments, this is your way to convert Office 2007 files to into Office 2000, 2003 or Office XP format and open e-mails from Office 2007.

MOCPWEP2007FF enables you to open/edit/save Office 2007 documents in Office 2000, 2003, or XP without any work on your part. Just make sure that your office has the latest Service Pack installed – either SP3 for Office 2000 and XP, or SP1 for Office 2003.

But what if you don’t use Windows? What if you are a Mac or Linux user? Still then don’t worry. To convert the .docx file, use one of the several online converters that convert docx files into doc. With most of these converters, all you have to do is — upload your file, select your preferred format (.doc is just one choice), and enter your email address. In a moment, you should get a note containing a link to download the converted file. And most of such services are free service.

With MS Office 2010/2011 round the corner for release, it would be interesting to watch if Microsoft changes its file format, again!