explorer

Technically, Microsoft hasn't banned non-IE browsers in Windows RT, the forthcoming Windows 8 version for machines with ARM processors. But as Mozilla sees it, Microsoft may as well have.

Why? Because Microsoft permits only its own software to use a restricted set of Windows interfaces. This means Firefox and other browsers don't get access to the same application programming interfaces (APIs), which in turn means they don't get the same abilities and will effectively be crippled, said Mozilla spokesman and longtime participant Asa Dotzler.

"Without these APIs, it is not possible to build a modern Web … Read more

Microsoft may be looking to integrate Internet Explorer 9 into Xbox 360 consoles sometime in the near future, according to The Verge. Redmond is also said to be testing the use of Kinect voice and motion control to help users browse the Web.

This move would bring Microsoft closer to integrating more of its products into the same ecosystem. Right now, Xbox 360 has Bing video search and Kinect voice recognition. Although some users are pleased about not having to type in TV show and movie names, the feature has gotten mixed reviews from consumers who say they have to speak loudly and use very specific commands.… Read more

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Microsoft muscles aside other browsers and cements the dominance of Internet Explorer. The browser market, deprived of competition, stagnates.

That, of course, is what happened during the first browser war of the 1990s and beyond, on personal computers. Today, Mozilla's top lawyer warned that Microsoft's behavior threatens a repeat of history, because it's telling Mozilla that it's barring Firefox from forthcoming Windows 8 machines that use ARM processors.

"They're trying to make a new version of their operating system which denies their users choice, competition, … Read more

It's tough to get noticed in the Browser Wars, let alone get ahead, but it helps to have an angle. Visual Explorer Ultimate is a free Web browser optimized for viewing and downloading video online. It offers a lot of security features, too, such as privacy, antiphishing, and ad-blocking capabilities, and it works with your Internet Explorer favorites. It requires IE5 or better installed in your system, too.

Visual Explorer's up-to-date interface includes a unified address-search bar called the Navigation Bar, built-in Google search field, and tabs. The default light blue color scheme and toolbar style give Visual … Read more

Sometime in the next 12 months, Google Chrome will become the world's most popular browser, knocking Microsoft's Internet Explorer off the mountain it has ruled for more than a decade.

This fact should scare the pants off of Facebook.

In July 2008, IE controlled 68.5 percent of the market, according to Statcounter, while Chrome wasn't even on the market. Now Microsoft's browser is down to 34.8 percent market share while Chrome controls 30.9 percent of total browser usage. Chrome has grown by a percentage point the last few months, while IE has dropped … Read more

Blockbuster-moviemaker-turned-aquanaut James Cameron's solo dive in the Pacific to the Mariana Trench's Challenger Deep site last month opens up a vast, under-explored region of the world's oceans to researchers. There, scientists hope to discover, retrieve, and study a host of previously unknown organisms and chemical compounds that may someday help solve decades-old medical mysteries.

"What better place to look for adaptations and unusual compounds that have unusual characteristics than in the most extreme environments we can go to on this planet," says Richard Lutz, a professor of marine ecology and biology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents … Read more

Internet Explorer users accustomed to working with Favorites will find life a bit different in the new Windows 8 Metro version of the browser.

The desktop flavor of IE10 still lets you create Favorites to manage your Web sites, but the Metro edition does away with such legacy options. Instead, you're given the option of pinning often-used Web sites, as described in a new Microsoft blog. Pinning a site places a tile for it on both the Metro Start screen and in the browser when you click in the address bar.

That process sounds convenient in theory. No more … Read more

Although many of the world's patent lawsuits have done little to change status quo, the bitter fight between Microsoft and Motorola Mobility is now impacting Germany's workers.

German news agency DPA reported today that Microsoft has ended its relationship with Arvato, which has provided logistics services for the software giant and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Germany-based Betelsmann. Microsoft will now relocate its logistics services to the Netherlands, according to the news agency. Dozens of jobs will be lost in the move.

DPA is reporting that Microsoft made the move for one reason: its legal troubles with … Read more

Yahoo is doubling down on the Do Not Track craze with plans to implement the service across the its entire global network.

The Web heavyweight said today that it install a Do Not Track mechanism in its sites by early summer. The service, which Yahoo says has been in development since last year, lets users "express their ad targeting preferences to Yahoo."

Do Not Track technology has been around for quite some time, and is currently available in most major browsers. The offering lets users inform a site's servers that they don't want their activities monitored … Read more