ie

Facebook has released a benchmark designed to help developers test just how powerful desktop and mobile browsers are at running a new generation of games built with a new generation of Web standards.

One of the most important of those standards is the JavaScript programming language, which is ubiquitous on the Web and ever faster in browsers. Enter Facebook's JSGameBench, designed specifically for measuring game issues such as displaying "sprites," the graphics out of which animated characters are made.

"Although there are many other benchmark suites that measure JavaScript performance, we wanted to build one focused … Read more

The upcoming release candidate of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 browser is said to include a new feature that will let users selectively pick which parts of Web pages can load ActiveX elements.

According to blog WinRumors, which is citing its own sources, the security-focused feature will be included inside the first release candidate for IE9, which is expected to arrive later this month. The filter will come in the form of a toggle that sits alongside the recently announced tracking protection feature--the one that blocks third-parties from tracking user behavior from site to site. Together, the two features … Read more

Microsoft wants to give Web developers a way to get their feet wet with emerging HTML5 technologies.

Today the company is launching HTML5 Labs, a standalone site that will include demo code for two cutting-edge HTML5 technologies that aren't quite finished: Web Sockets and IndexedDB. Developers who want to try to build sites with either specification will be given code that Microsoft plans to keep updated as each one progresses on its way to becoming a stable part of the standard.

In a phone interview with CNET last week, Jean Paoli, general manager of Microsoft's Interoperability Strategy Team … Read more

Today's show is more than a little off the rails, thanks to talk of the Sean Connery "Jeopardy" bot, a giant pancake maze visible from space, moochie friends, and air-groping. But there's news here, too: Facebook adds facial recognition to photo tagging, the Mac App Store is coming, and the dangerous success of the Stuxnet virus. Also, don't drink Donald's beer. --Molly

There's nothing better than feeling invulnerable down there.

You'd think these would have been standard-issue for years, but bomb-proof boxers developed by a British firm are being sent to troops fighting Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

Blast Boxers from Cardiff-based BCB International are lightweight, Kevlar-lined shorts that can protect privates' privates from improvised explosive devices. The shorts are comfortable and machine-washable, it says.

British shoppers are snapping them up and sending them to loved ones, according to The Sun.

BCB has tested the boxers with IED-like explosives (check it out in the ad here). The company says they're … Read more

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

Google announces the Chrome Web Store with apps for the Web and gives an in-depth look at the forthcoming Chrome Operating System

Google also shows off a new Android tablet running the newest version of Android called Gingerbread

The next version of Internet Explorer 9 will let you specify which Web sites are not allowed to track you

Sprint is considering selling off Nextel to save $11 billion

A new virus is spreading over Twitter through URL shorteners

Bejeweled 3 is out

Microsoft this morning detailed changes to Internet Explorer 9's security features that will better enable users to keep sites from tracking their activity across browsing sessions.

The feature, which is set to arrive in the first release candidate of IE9 early next year, uses a list to tell the browser which third-party page elements sites can and cannot be blocked from tracking. This includes elements ranging from advertisements to more mundane things like embedded widgets from particular providers.

On Microsoft's IE blog, Dean Hachamovitch, head of Internet Explorer development, explained how it works:

HTTPWatch Basic Edition is a free browser plug-in that collects and displays information about Web sites. It's a trial edition of HTTPWatch Professional, with which it shares many features, albeit with limitations, mostly for Web sites with nonproprietary log files. The Basic version also displays a logo banner on printouts. Both work with Microsoft Internet Explorer as well as Mozilla Firefox. You can save the information HTTPWatch Basic Edition collects as a log file and view it with an included utility, HTTP Studio.

We downloaded and installed HTTPWatch Basic for Internet Explorer. During the process, we allowed the plug-in'… Read more

The Web is the next vanguard for 3D graphics, but programmers who want to embrace the new dimension next year will have to place a bet on one of two competing technologies: Flash or WebGL.

For years, Adobe Systems' Flash software has been the way to bring graphical games like Crush the Castle, Bloons, Desktop Tower Defense, or Stunt Bike Pro to the Web.

But at the same time, Web standards advocates have toiled to build such technology into the Web itself and not rely on the proprietary and sometimes insecure Flash Player plug-in. That work following in Adobe's … Read more