Internet Explorer 8 Beta

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 will be synonymous with the first build of the browser available outside of Microsoft. The Redmond company has been dogfooding early pre-alpha and alpha builds of IE8 throughout 2007, and it looks like the successor of Internet Explorer 7 has hit the Beta 1 milestone. At the end of the past week, a selected pool of testers were invited to join the IE8 Beta 1 program. Emails from the Internet Explorer team pointed IE8 testers to Microsoft Connect for the Beta 1 bits in what it referred to as a limited technical beta program. According to Microsoft, the IE8 Beta 1 test driving is a limited program, accessible through invitation only. But at the same time, the company is making headway toward the public availability of a Beta version of Internet Explorer 8. For the time being however, IE8 test driving is limited to web developers only. "We are nearing the launch of Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 and we will be making it available for the general public to download and test. IE8 Beta 1 is focused on the developer community, with the goal of gaining valuable feedback to improve Internet Explorer 8 during the development process. We have identified you as a qualified beta tester and we would like to offer an opportunity to join our limited technical beta program for Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. Participation in the Technical Beta will enable you to evaluate a common release of Windows Internet Explorer 8, the ability to submit feedback, post bug reports, download software answer surveys on product quality as well as vote on top bugs filed by others from the technical beta program. This is a very exclusive program, by invitation only," reads an excerpt of the email sent out by the Internet Explorer Team via ActiveWin. Despite the fact that the email mentions the public availability of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, this is not the case for the time being. Dean Hachamovitch, IE General Manager, did promise that the first public Beta of IE8 would hit by mid 2008. Also, Hachamovitch is scheduled to speak during the opening keynote address at MIX08 in early March, and he will give the first taste of the browser. So far, Microsoft indicated that the new features built into IE8 would be showcased next month at its web-centered conference in Las Vegas. But there is still no definitive word on when the general public will be able to get the bits for Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. "The only way to submit feedback is to enroll in the Windows Internet Explorer 8 Technical Beta program. As such, we would be happy to have your participation. To accept this invitation and to apply to become a member of this program, follow this link (If this link does not work for you, copy the full link and paste it into the Web browser address bar.) Follow the steps shown to you by that program to apply to become an active participant. You may be asked to take a survey, or submit other preliminary information. To report a problem or to ask a question, visit the Contact Us page (found at the bottom of every page). We hope to see you in the technical beta! Best regards. The Internet Explorer Team," is also stated in the email.

The Best Antivirus in 2008

A new year... A new beginning... And the inevitable security solution smackdown. In this context, AV-Test has thrown together in the same arena no less than 24 antivirus products from the heavyweights of the security market. The security solutions were tested against in excess of 1 million malware samples from the last six months. According to Av-Test's Andreas Marx, the test involved only the top of the line, "'best' available Security Suite edition" from each vendor, last updated on January 7, 2008, and running on Windows XP SP2. And yes Microsoft's Windows Live OneCare 2.0 was tested, but no, it's not the best antivirus of 2008. Well, of the beginning of 2008, anyway...

"First, we checked the signature-based on-demand detection of all products against more than 1 Mio. samples we've found spreading or which were distributed during the last six months (this means, we have not used any 'historic' samples.) We included all malware categories in the test: Trojan Horses, backdoors, bots, worm and viruses. Instead of just presenting the results, we have ranked the product this time, from 'very good' (++) if the scanner detected more than 98% of the samples to 'poor' (--) when less than 85% of the malware was detected," Marx revealed.

In terms of signature-based on-demand detection, Windows Live OneCare 2.0 held its own. Microsoft's security solution ended up detecting a total of 992,880 out of all the malware samples thrown against it, and accounting for a "Signature Detection" rate of 96.9%. This is nothing short of an excellent score for Windows Live OneCare, an antivirus that at the beginning of 2007 managed to occupy positions only towards the bottom of the security solution pack in early 2007. In the latest AV-Test "Signature Detection" test OneCare 2.0 came on top of F-Prot (986,961 – 96.3%), Panda (979,409 – 95.6%), McAfee (959,919 – 93.7%) and Nod32 (953,936 – 93.1%).

However, OneCare 2.0 was bested by the likes of AVK 2008 (1,022,418 – 99.8%); AntiVir (1,020,627 – 99.6%); Avast! (1,018,204 – 99.4%); Trend Micro (1,009,662 – 98.6%); Symantec (1,006,849 – 98.3%); AVG (1,005,006 – 98.1%); BitDefender (1,003,902 – 98.0%); Kaspersky (1,003,470 – 98.0%);
Sophos (1,001,655 – 97.8%) and F-Secure (999,806 – 97.6%). The complete results of the "Signature Detection" test from AV-Test can be accessed here, courtesy of Sunbelt Software.

"Secondly, we checked the number of false positives of the products have generated during a scan of 65,000 known clean files. Only products with no false positives received a 'very good' (++) rating. In case of the proactive detection category, we have not only focussed on signature- and heuristic-based proactive detection only (based on a retrospective test approach with a one week old scanner). Instead of this, we also checked the quality of the included behavior based guard (e.g. Deepguard in case of F-Secure and TruPrevent in case of Panda). We used 3,500 samples for the retrospective test as well as 20 active samples for the test of the 'Dynamic Detection' (and blocking) of malware," Marx added.

Windows Live OneCare 2.0 is among the few security solutions that have scored a ++ in the test for False Positives. This means that OneCare 2.0 has generated no false positives, a task also completed by the security solutions from Symantec, Nod32, and Fortinet. However, OneCare 2.0 was ranked as having only a poor proactive detection, and a very poor response time to new malware being issued (more than 8 hours). But at the same time, out of all the malicious code it had to go through, OneCare 2,0 only missed two rootkits. The Anti-virus comparison test of current anti-malware products, Q1/2008 can be accessed here.

"Furthermore, we checked how long AV companies usually need to react in case of new, widespread malware (read: outbreaks), based on 55 different samples from the entire year 2007. 'Very good' (++) AV product developers should be able to react within less than two hours. Another interesting test was the detection of active rootkit samples. While it's trivial for a scanner to detect inactive rootkits using a signature, it can be really tricky to detect this nasty malware when they are active and hidden. We checked the scanner's detection against 12 active rootkits," Marx said.

First Google Earth Update for 2008

They’ve kept a low profile so far, but when they came up with it, it was well worth it. The Google Lat Long Blog comes with a post from Wei Luo, a senior GIS Specialist detailing all of the changes and updates that have happened. In decreasing order, based on the level of how exciting the additions are, here they come:

First, they’ve made tremendous work with the roads in 26 countries, adding and updating to have everything up to date in Russia, Malaysia, Thailand, Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Bodies of water will be labeled in whatever language you have the Google Earth software set to, and places names in Taiwan, Russia, Australia, New Zealand Brazil and Turkey will be labeled in their local language. Not very cool, but definitely useful for non-English speakers that want to use Google Earth.
National Geographic, one of their more popular layers, has been expanded to three new continents, Europe, Asia and South America. I don’t know if you understand the magnitude of that, but as an example, they have included everything, "from China's fearsome Taklimakan Desert, where Marco Polo traveled, to the hyacinth macaws of Brazil." I think it’s too much to ask for a complete Discovery History layer, right?

And last but by no means least, a team of USGS scientists have put some work into re-engineering the Earthquake layer to provide better and more accurate information. If you want to, you could even zoom out further enough and observe that quakes most often happen where tectonic plates meet / collide and, by following the line of such natural catastrophes, you easily see the boundaries of the plates. Now, I'd look at it, and I will, especially because every site is linked to information about the magnitude, depth and date of the earthquake.

Norton Antivirus Protects Yahoo Messenger Starting new version 9

Yahoo Messenger 9 is expected to bring a totally new chating experience to all its fans out there and the Sunnyvale company really struggles to reach this goal.
Following the recent implementation of several new functions (embeddable clips displayed straight into the YM window, new contact list and others), the folks at Yahoo rolled out a brand new security function of the Yahoo Messenger users: automatic file scanning for consumers of Norton Antivirus 2007/2008 and Norton Internet Security 2007/2008, all of them for the Windows operating system.The interoperability means that every time a user who installed one of the mentioned Symantec software solutions receives a file on Yahoo Messenger, it is automatically scanned in the background and, in case there's something dangerous, the access/execution is blocked. With a continuously growing number of computer infections attempting to spread themselves on instant messengers, this function should be expanded to other security vendors in order to protect a wider segment of users.Please note that this auto-scanning functions only works with Norton Antivirus 2007/2008 or Norton Internet Security 2007/2008 and Yahoo Messenger 9.0.0.222 Beta or above."Chat is a great way to spontaneously get photos or other files from friends and family. It’s also an easy way to inadvertently get a virus or spyware onto your computer. Yahoo engineered Yahoo IM 9.0 with special antivirus integration capabilities. Symantec responded immediately by partnering with Yahoo to deliver a new, tighter level of integration between Yahoo IM 9.0 and Norton Internet Security 2007/2008 and Norton AntiVirus 2007/2008. Norton is the first and only antivirus software to take advantage of this new feature of Yahoo IM," the official page of the Symantec/Yahoo Messenger deal reads.

Microsoft buys Multimap to boost advertising strategy

Microsoft continues to make acquisitions to boost its online services and advertising strategy. Early Wednesday the company said it snapped up Multimap, a U.K. company that provides online mapping for Europe, North America and Australia.
The companies did not disclose the terms of the deal. Multimap, based in London, will act as a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft and employees will be integrated into the company's Virtual Earth and Search teams in its Online Services Group (OSG), Microsoft said.
Multimap has staff in the U.K., U.S. and Australia, and Microsoft said it is not sure yet if those employees will stay where they are or move to other offices. The Multimap office in the U.K. will remain open and employees will continue business as usual there, the company added.
In addition to providing online maps, Multimap also offers location-based services to find local businesses, hotels and restaurants, as well as business services to provide mapping, proximity searching, routing, aerial images with map overlay, and local information to business Web sites.
Microsoft has been looking for ways to boost the value, and thus revenue, of OSG, which oversees MSN and Windows Live. Microsoft hopes to leverage these properties to sell online advertising and generate revenue in this area to compete with Google.
Last week the company said it purchased Seattle startup WebFives, formerly Vizrea, which provides a Web-based file-sharing service for Internet and mobile video, photos, audio, and blogs. Microsoft also made its largest acquisition to date to boost the revenue of OSG with its purchase of aQuantive digital advertising and marketing services firm for US$6 billion earlier this year.
In addition to making acquisitions, Microsoft also has been partnering with online content and service providers to offer online advertising. On Monday, the company announced a deal to be the exclusive provider of display and contextual advertising for CNBC.com, a deal similar to ones it already has in place with Facebook globally and Digg in the U.S.
All of these efforts are part of a now two-year push to add services and content for its online brands to boost the revenue of its Online Services Business segment. To date, Wall Street analysts have said they are unimpressed by the growth of this segment, and Microsoft's moves seem to be evidence the company is getting that message loud and clear.
Revenue from online services grew only 8.7 percent from $2.3 million to $2.5 million for Microsoft's fiscal year 2007, ended June 30. For the company's first quarter 2008, during which the aQuantive deal closed, revenue from OSG was better, up 25 percent year over year. But even Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell acknowledged when first-quarter earnings were revealed that Microsoft would like to see more growth from this business segment.

Download the Official Windows XP SP3 Overview

The official overview of Windows XP Service Pack 3 is available for download straight from Microsoft. While the Redmond company has been synchronizing the development milestones for Windows Vista SP1: Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn; and Windows XP SP3, the third and final service pack for Vista's predecessor, was slipped into the background. In Microsoft's perspective, Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 can be nowhere than at the center-stages of the upcoming releases for the first quarter of the next year. Planned by mid 2008, XP SP3, although long overdue and heading for approximately 80% of the operating system market, is not on Microsoft's priorities list.
With the Release Candidates of Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 heading to increased testing pools the past week, and with Microsoft cooking the first public build of the first refresh for its latest Windows client, the official overview for XP SP3 is the only crumb from the service pack fiesta over at the Redmond company. The Release Candidate of XP SP3 in a pre-final stage has already shipped to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. With Vista SP1 RC going public any day now, a similar release of XP SP3 is not far behind. The overview for XP SP3 has recently been made available, but Microsoft refreshed its availability as of December 10.

Google launches iPhone app

Google has fully signed up to the hype around Apple's first mobile device, announcing this week that it is launching an iPhone application.
The Google iPhone application is designed to bring all the Google services and applications, like Google search, Gmail, Calendar and Reader, into one user interface on the iPhone, making it easy for people to find, use and switch between them and access information wherever they are.
The new application is designed to take advantage of the multimedia capabilities of Apple's Safari internet browser, which comes as standard with the iPhone and the web 2.0 browser technologies (like asynchronous JavaScript and XML or AJAX) that Google said made Gmail and Google Maps possible on the desktop.
"In supporting these advances in web technology, the iPhone's Safari browser not only delivers an excellent mobile Internet experience; it enabled our product and engineering teams to create an optimal Google experience on a mobile device," said Google in a statement.
Although the application currently only works on the iPhone, Google added it is committed to making the application device-independent and that it is working to develop new, fast and easy-to-use mobile technologies available on more devices.
Steve Kanefsky, the Google mobile software engineer who developed the iPhone application, wrote in a blog that he wanted to create a user experience that was "fast" and "fluid," in contrast to traditional mobile internet browsing.
"I set out to create an application that would preload my favourite Google products and allow me to switch between them instantly," he said. "I wanted web results as well as image, local, and news results without having to repeat my search. I wanted to check Gmail and my news feeds in Google Reader without having to load a new page every time. I also wanted Google Suggest to save me time typing queries on the virtual keyboard."
The company also pointed to a recent example of its mobile development work called My Location, which is a Google Maps-for-mobile feature that shows users their location directly on the map with or without GPS.