Internet Explorer 9 Beta

 

Microsoft this week made available the Beta version of the brand new Internet Explorer 9, which is their attempt to finally release a standards-compliant, HTML5-compatible, web browser. These were features that the opposition have been touting for several years now, particularly given most major browsers these days are all based on the same rendering engine, WebKit. It's also the first version of IE to boast full hardware acceleration, which should be a great improvement in the performance stakes.

So, having now used the browser for a full 24 hours, what are my initial thoughts? Well, leaving aside the obvious caveat that this is Beta software, and thus is not going to be as fully optimised as the final version will be, and the fact that there are probably several killer bugs sitting in the code - the fact is, I really like the thing. It's a great improvement over IE8, which at times felt extremely laggy and slow, and did seem to have some serious issues at rendering certain web sites. Here's my top 6 new features:

1. The new minimal Aero glass-heavy interface

The fact is, IE9 just looks stunning. Gone are all the unnecessary bits of UI chrome, and instead the web sites themselves take centre stage. It's actually quite strange to load up IE9 after having used IE8 these last few years. Seeing so few buttons on screen, and so much real estate dedicated to the sites themelves, well, I'm sure Chrome users are giggling at this comment, but it's great to see Microsoft following their lead, and really dedicating the browser window to the main reason we use the app.

2. The integration of Aero Snap

It's amazing how something so tiny can be such a cool little feature, but I'm finding myself falling in love with the ability to snap tabs out of windows, drag them around the screen from window to window, snap individual web sites to the left or right of the screen. The Aero Snap implementation is just gorgeous, and seriously Microsoft - how on Earth did we live without this feature before now? We've had it for apps these last 12 months in Windows 7, but now it finally comes to IE9 as well. Nicely done.

3. Hardware Acceleration FTW

Yes, IE8 was bloated. Yes, IE8 was slow. Yes, it sometimes seemed to really struggle to open up a tab at times, or render a page properly. And yes, I will admit I was very skeptical that Microsoft really could pull off the speed improvements they had been promising all year. Which is why I am pleased to eat humble pie, and state that the new IE9 Beta simply purrs along. It feels silky smooth, and I guess a lot of that is because of the hardware acceleration that has been implemented. So, yeah, about time!

4. HTML5 is nice, but still not essential

While it's definitely nice that Microsoft have started implementing some of the HTML5 features into Internet Explorer, I guess what's become clear already is how far away we still are from HTML5 being a necessary element within the browser. That's likely to change in the next 5 years, so it's good that Microsoft are onto this now. And it is fair to say that the HTML5 implementation here feels nice and solid, with the demos on their web site being of particular interest to me. Good to see where we're going.

5. IE finally boasts a Download Manager

OK, welcome to 2003 Internet Explorer. Yes, it is very true to say that all the rival browsers have boasted a decent internal downloads manager for several years now, and yes, it is true that Microsoft have really been dragging their heels on this one. Still, at least it's in there now, and actually works quite OK. Although I do believe there is a few bugs still present in the manager, as I do occasionally see downloads fail in certain window uses. But a great feature has finally arrived, which is a good thing.

6. The ability to pin web sites to the Windows 7 taskbar - OMG this is so awesome!

If there's a SINGLE reason to get the new IE9 Beta, it's the ability to pin individual web sites to the Windows 7 taskbar, and have them opened in their own colour-coded dedicated IE9 window. Some sites, such as Bing and IMDB, are already taking advantage of the Windows 7 Jump List feature, which looks like it has a lot of promise. This is one feature to keep an eye on as time goes on, but already it's something I cannot believe I've lived without with for so long. This is easily the killer IE9 feature.

So, there you go. My off-the-cuff IE9 Beta review. Already standing proud as an excellent release, I am looking forward to seeing where IE9 goes as we get closer to the final release in a year or so's time. Already there's enough good stuff going on here under the hood that I fail to see how IE9 could not be a great reason to stick with the stock browser when you get a new PC. No longer do I think will you need to automatically need to download a better browser when you first turn your new PC on.

No, now switching to a different browser really will be nothing more than down to personal preference...

You can download the new IE9 Beta by visiting the new Microsoft site Beauty of the Web.

Microsoft LifeCam Cinema

For more details about the Microsoft LifeCam Cinema, click here.

September 11, 9 Years On

Today marks 9 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred on the US mainland. Say what you will about the event, but there's no escaping the fact that 9/11 was the day the world changed - and changed in a very big way. Suddenly, terrorism went from something that seemed distant and remote, solely happening in Middle Eastern countries, and in the recent past of Northern Ireland. The fact is, 9/11 marks the day the War on Terror began, and the concept of terrorism went global. Barely a news cycle has gone past since 9/11 without a reporter mentioning the latest terror attack somewhere in the world, or the latest threat to world security posed by terrorism. No, the 21st Century has definitely been defined by the War on Terror, and that all started in earnest on September 11, 2001.

So while there are services and such like commemorating the victims who died on that tragic day in the US, I thought I'd use the opportunity to write a slightly more personal reflection on what September 11, 2001 means to me. And I want to do that by regaling the story of what I did on that day. I guess like most major events in the world, one remembers exactly what they were doing when extremely big news events occurs, and 9/11 was definitely one of those for me.

I remember being woken up at 7:00am by my parents, who were shoving The Courier Mail in my face, which was running with the headline "US ATTACKED", and I have to be honest - it was a chilling headline. Not something I ever expected to read it, let alone have shoved in my face at 7am in the morning. I remember getting out of bed, and reading the full coverage in the paper (and that's saying something, given I have always been anti-newspaper, and in particular anti-The Courier Mail!). I got ready for uni pretty quickly, and decided to head in a bit earlier than normal, to drop in at the Student Rep Council building and see what the vibe was like there.

Now, back in 2001 I was Assistant Treasurer on the ACU SRC, and so occasionally opened up the building in the morning if I was the first person to arrive at uni. I arrived at around 8:30am on this particular day, about 30 minutes before we normally opened up, and I discovered that the place was already open, and a hive of activity. Finding a room with several dozen uni students already in it before 9:00am is quite a rare feat, and inside the building the clear majority of people were watching the local TV broadcasts, all of whom were in Breaking News mode. This was the era before 24 hour news channels, and so to have the ABC on one TV in the room, 7 on another, Nine on another, and Ten on the last one - well, it was quite a sight.

Normally, also, the room was quite noisy, but not today - everyone was talking in hushed whispers, trying to focus on the news as it unfolded. There was a real air of worry and concern in the SRC building, and as I entered the Council office (I was Assistant Treasurer at the time) I asked about the weird vibe. It seemed we were all in agreement - the world had changed, and no-one honestly liked how it had changed.

I hung around the SRC building for about an hour, before heading off to a Drama rehearsal we had on. We were producing a stage show of Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the time, which seemed like quite a fitting piece of symbolism given what was happening in the US at the time. I remember it being quite a muted affair, with a group of us heading off to lunch after the rehearsal in the uni canteen. I remember this lunch well, because all we could talk about was the US terror attack, and how worrying a development it was. I remember a few people mentioning the idea, even in slight jest, that we should all find a remote piece of land somewhere and live in an eco-commune or something, to avoid any attacks on Australian soil. A wild idea, yes, and not one made in all seriousness, but it does highlight how worried we all were at the time. I even remember being joined for lunch by our uni Drama lecturer at the time, who joined us in our discussions around what the US attacks meant going forward.

It ended up being quite a surreal day, but the events in the US left its mark on all of us who were alive at the time. It was a sad time, a worrying time, and I for one in so many ways wish it had never happened. The world has seemed a much scarier place since 9/11. But as we mark the significance of the day, and the effect it has had on those of us still here, we need to remember those who did lose their lives in the events of that day, and the families and friends those people left behind. That is, I feel, where the most significance has been left.

My hope going forward into the new decade is that we see an emergence of tolerance towards Muslins, and that more people realise that those people who carry out acts of terrorism cannot be tied up by race, or religion - it's not as simple as that. We need to remember that in this world, there are a million shades of grey, and it's only when we look at things in black & white that problems emerge. Terrorism seems a lot more complicated than anyone ever first realised, but I guess in some strange way there is a simple solution to the ills of world - that we just get on with each other.

So simple, so simple indeed...

Julia Gillard IS The PM!

Source: ABC News

Well, after an anxious 17 days (and an anxious 17-minute speech by Rob Oakeshott!) we finally have a brand new Government. Well, as new as can be expected when it's the previous Government being returned to power. Yes, it was finally revealed yesterday afternoon that Julia Gillard would formally get to be Australia's first properly elected female Prime Minister, after Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott backed her in a minority Government. The deal basically means that Windsor and Oakeshott will support the ALP in not blocking supply, and in votes of no confidence, but aside from that, it would appear anything is possible in this new Parliament. Having said that, it would appear the Independents were able to negotiate a set of reforms to secure their support for the Government, most of which do seem to make a fair bit of logical sense.

It ended up being quite a tense day, all things considered. We'd known since the weekend that the 3 Independents were due to make their decision final at some stage this week, but that slowly dripped down to Tuesday being the big day. Then Tuesday arrived, and all looked set for the mid-afternoon press conference - that is, until Bob Katter made waves around the Canberra Press Gallery at lunch time by calling his own snap press conference, which he used to announce that he would be supporting a Coalition minority Government. Which did disappoint me slightly, given how straight-shooting Bob had been since the election. I honestly thought he would go with the ALP, but I guess in the end it would appear his decision really meant nothing in the grand scheme of things - which could be how he meant it. My gut theory tells me he knew mid-morning that both Windsor and Oakeshott were going to support the ALP in theory, and he decided to bump out early and support the Conservative side of politics to avoid upsetting his electorate. Still, I guess we'll never really know what happened that morning...

His press conference was notable for one thing, though - the fact he tried to squeeze the entire Canberra Press Gallery into his personal office, not exactly a space designed for that many people. It made for some interesting images for the day, if nothing else!

So then we came to the Windsor / Oakeshott press conference, and as was long suspected, both men backed the ALP in Government. This didn't come as a huge surprise to me, in all honesty - neither man seemed to have a great love for the Coalition, in particular the National Party, so I would have been surprised to learn that they were supporting an LNP Government. Similarly, given both of them had mentioned several times how significant they saw health & education investment, along with the NBN going ahead, it seemed clear to me that the ALP was a natural fit. The deal that they secured with Julia Gillard seems to make a lot of sense, but I guess the fear is it turns into a mini pork barreling exercise at some stage. We don't want a repeat of the National Party's regional investment funds disaster from a few years ago, I daresay. But I think it is a good idea that they were able to get this kind of simple commitment, most of which I daresay the ALP would have done anyway. And besides, if nothing else, investing in health, education, infrastructure, and the NBN is what the ALP seem to stand for at present, so it wasn't a huge leap.

The only caution I can see is that the ALP most likely won't want to spend too much time and money on regional electorates, and create a perception the inner-city electorates are "missing out". Doesn't matter how wrong such a perception might end up being, but hey - image is everything in politics!

Naturally, Tony Abbott and the rest of the LNP are "disappointed" over the decision yesterday, which I guess is LNP code for "You picked the wrong side, you bastards!". To say that Abbott will not be happy with this outcome is sure to be the understatement of 2010, and I think we're going to see a pretty concerted effort over the coming months on the part of the LNP to do whatever they can to undermine the ALP Government. We've already heard them banging on about the ALP having lost "the legitimate right to govern", and similar crap like that - I reckon we can expect to see the echo chamber gather in strength between now and Christmas, particularly as they will want to do anything they can before the new Senate sits in July 2011. The LNP will, no doubt, be helped in their efforts by a very willing and very vocal News Ltd stable of publications, and sadly I guess the ABC will give it a bit of a helping hand at times as well - using such emotive headlines as "Labor clings to power" and ""Gillard retains grip on power" (my emphasis) is hardly the most unemotive language one could use, is it? Ho hum.

And in a similar fashion, I was quite dismayed to see the level of ridicule Rob Oakeshott received for daring to speak in something more than a 30-second sound-bite as he explained his position before announcing his decision to back the ALP. Is it no wonder politicians talk the way they do? Anytime they attempt to do otherwise they cop it from all sides. His approach, while agonising for those of us watching live and gagging to hear his decision, was commendable. We need more of it. Sadly, though, the general public will just hear that "That Oakeshott bloke never shuts up!". Bah.

Well, I guess the 2010 Election saga is now over - or is it? I guess this is really just the end of Chapter 1, or maybe 2 if we assume Chapter 1 was the ALP leadership spill (with the Prologue being the first 6 months of this year). Whatever chapter number this was, I guess the next chapter is sure to be interesting, as we see our first real minority Government at a Federal level formed in several decades try to function. While I hope the ALP Government can go a full 3 year term, I am also a realist. I fully expect us to be back at the polls in the second half of 2011, maybe the first half of 2012. And if we do, it'll be because the LNP couldn't handle getting so close, and yet still being so far, that they become intolerable.

The real people I feel sorry for are the Australian people, who don't deserve a non-functioning Parliament. I hope everyone in Canberra remembers this when they resume work later this month. It's time to get on with the job, and try and make a go of this. Some exciting opportunities are ahead of us, so let's get in there and sort out the issues facing us.

Hanvon Windows 7 Tablet PC

Source: Hanvon

There's been a lot written in the tech press these last six months about Apple's iPad, the world's first tablet computing device. A lot has been written about how revolutionary this device is, and how it is set to re-define the entire future of computers. The fact that the iPad is essentially a super-sized iPod Touch doesn't seem to resonate all that well with the iCabal, however, nor does the fact that the iPad isn't actually the world's first tablet computing device. The concept of the Tablet PC goes back at least a decade, in particular with Microsoft's attempts (driven essentially by Bill Gates, himself a big supporter of the Tablet PC) to release a tablet device. Windows XP, Windows Vista, and now more recently Windows 7 all attempted to slowly include more and more Tablet PC functionality, with the aim of bringing true touchscreen input devices to market.

So while the iPad might be the most high profile of these, and while the Windows-powered Tablet PC hasn't exactly taken the world by storm, in the wake of the iPad's release there have been a slew of attempts at releasing not just Windows 7-powered tablets, but also Android tablets (as recently as Samsung's own Galaxy Tab). I've never been terribly interested in owning a Tablet PC, since I couldn't see what a Tablet PC could do that a more traditional laptop, and more recently a netbook, could do better.

That was until I walked into my local Officeworks last month and saw the Hanvon B10, a Windows 7-powered Tablet PC with a full multi-touch 10" powered by an Intel Celeron ULV processor. It was essentially a netbook without half the form factor, and at an extremely competitive price, I decided that since I was in the market for a new netbook (my 2 year old ASUS Eee PC was really starting to show its age - those things are clearly not made for durability!), I might as well give this a go. So what are my impressions?

Well, first up I must say that the unit itself is absolutely gorgeous. The thing is incredibly thin and light, particularly so when placed alongside a modern 2010 era netbook. OK, so stick it next to the ridiculously thin iPad and the Hanvon B10 looks extremely fat, but whereas the iPad sacrifices functionality over form (it basically has zero ports on it, which would be impossible given it's too thin to support even a single USB port) the B10 comes with HDMI output, 2 x USB ports, along with headphone and microphone sockets. There's simply no real way you could make the B10 thinner without removing some of these ports, since the unit is barely a mm or two thicker than the actual ports themselves. It even comes with a 320gb hard drive, which is vastly superior to the flash memory included in the iPad. In fact, on storage costs alone, the B10 is financially competitive, given you get more GB's for your buck here compared to any model of iPad. It even comes with a front-facing webcam, making it perfect for video chatting in Windows Live Messenger or Skype.

The only downer there is that because it is a traditional hard drive, I find myself feeling incredibly worried about moving the device around too much, lest I wreck the drive. Still, this isn't a primary machine, so the data on it is replicated from my primary desktop PC, so I am never going to lose anything specific to this device even if the drive did fail. And I am sure it won't anytime soon, since I guess this is just an irrational fear on my part.

The processor itself, a Celeron ULV 1.3ghz unit, is pretty snappy, certainly snappier than the Intel Atom N280 I was coming from on my old Eee PC. Sure, it ain't about to run rings around my new Dell Desktop PC, but hey - it's not bad for what it does. It even comes with 2gb of DDR3 RAM, which ain't bad at all. Windows 7 certainly powers along nicely, and while you certainly wouldn't want to multi-task more than 2-3 apps at a time on this thing, it's more than powerful enough for running Windows Live Essentials, or the Zune media player.

While we are talking about software, I should discuss the touch interface of Windows 7. It's fair to say Windows 7 cops a fair bit of flack from the tech press for not being as perfectly suited to a Tablet PC as, say, iOS, but in all honesty, Windows 7 does a pretty good job of adapting itself to finger input. OK, so it can occasionally be a bit fiddly, and yes, the response time isn't as smooth as iOS. But hey, I am running a full desktop OS here on this device, not some jumped up phone OS! Windows 7 comes into its own when you want to plug in an external device, such as a digital camera or printer, and it is here that iOS can only ever dream of having this level of interactivity. The fact is, you get all the benefits of Windows 7 on a full PC, but with the added benefit of a full touch interface. I honestly feel it's a decent trade-off.

Speaking of input, my personal bug-bear of touchscreen-only devices remains here - and that is, the virtual keyboard. OK, so the keyboard on Windows 7 is super nice to use, and is very big and pretty responsive. But I do hate having to manually turn it on every single time I want to enter data into a text field somewhere. If the thing can auto turn off, why can't it auto turn on? Still, for long typing spells at least I can use a USB keyboard, something the iPad cannot do.

Hanvon have sensibly kept the usual forms of bloatware off this thing, and it ships with as vanilla a Windows 7 installation as you can get these days. It does ship with last year's Windows Live Essentials suite, so it's worthwhile updating that straight away, as well as installing Microsoft Security Essentials. But what the B10 does come with, and this is easily the killer feature of the device, is the full Microsoft Surface suite of applications. These are the programs you will want to use when showing off the device to your iPad-loving iCabal friends.

The Surface suite is a set of apps and games that were developed off of Microsoft's "big arse table" concept device, the Surface. Designed for a fullscreen multitouch interface, the Surface apps include a Globe app (essentially a multitouch version of Bing Maps 3D), photo collage app (in which you are able to move photos around on the tablet device as if they were real photos sitting on a table), a nice fish screen saver (including interactive water effects etc), along with some pretty basic but cool physics and touch-based games. You can find out more about the various apps by clicking here, but sufficed to say, these are the first demos I offer to people when they ask about my B10, and so far they have failed to wow people.

Even if I get asked "Is that an iPad?". Sheesh.

Anyway, I have to be honest - the Hanvon B10 has been one of my better purchases in recent years. It is an awesome netbook replacement, and is a pretty comparable iPad-like device, where you trade off some response times and native touch interface for the power of Windows 7, and the abilities that come with such an OS, such as HDMI output and USB input support. So is there a killer negative feature that needs to be discussed?

Yep - and it's a definite big one, for I am talking about battery life. Sufficed to say, the battery life on this thing stinks. The iPad can comfortably go an entire working day without needing a recharge, whereas the B10 can barely last 3 hours without needing a recharge. Sure, this time could be increased by reducing the screen brightness, or turning off wifi - but honestly, battery tech in 2010 should be able to provide a longer life than this! Luckily, this is a consumption device for me, not a creation device. So while it is an annoyance on the battery life, it's not really a massive deal breaker for me, although I am sure it would be for some.

Overall, I am very happy with my Hanvon B10, and if you are looking for an eye-catching netbook-level device that can easily go head-to-head with the iPad (in all areas except battery life, natch), then visit your local Officeworks and check out the B10. You won't regret it. Now to finish off, since I am not the only man happy with my B10, here's a video review I found on YouTube, courtesy of Engadget. Enjoy!