internet

Aiming to demonstrate that its commitment to interoperability goes beyond fancy statements, Microsoft said Monday that it is shifting its plans for the next version of Internet Explorer to make the program more friendly to Web standards.

The software maker said that a planned standards compatibility mode will now be the default rendering engine when IE 8 makes its debut. Microsoft has already said that the new browser is capable of passing the Acid2 rendering test.

"We think that acting in accordance with principles is important, and IE 8's default is a demonstration of the interoperability principles in … Read more

There is talking, and then there's talking.

Microsoft's CFO Chris Liddell told investors on Monday at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference that Yahoo has "not yet formally responded" to Microsoft's unsolicited buyout bid.

Apparently, nothing has changed over the past two weeks, since we reported that Yahoo had not formally responded to Microsoft's offer and had remained "radio-silent."

And on the flip side, you have Liddell's boss, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, telling folks at CeBit in Hannover, Germany, that "a range of dialogue" has been occuring between the … Read more

In the next two weeks, observers of the Microsoft-Yahoo courtship will get a telling signal as to whether it's headed for a shotgun marriage or a friendly embrace.

Yahoo has the option of extending the March 14 deadline for shareholders to nominate an opposition slate of directors for its next annual shareholder meeting, though it is expected to maintain a hard deadline.

"It's unlikely but not out of the realm of possibility to extend the date to nominate directors," said Bruce Goldfarb, chief executive of proxy solicitation firm Okapi Partners. "I don't see the … Read more

The existing bandwidth between Asia and North America is crowded. Following FCC approval of a U.S.-China link last month, Google and five other companies have announced a Japan-U.S. link to be completed in early 2010.

The $300 million fiber-optic cable will stretch approximately 10,000 km (6,214 miles) under the Pacific. "Google's partners in the consortium, dubbed Unity, comprises Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, KDDI, Pacnet, and Singapore Telecommunications," Yahoo News reported.

Internet users in East Asia are familiar with sometimes sluggish speeds on transpacific transmissions. In my experience, connections are for some reason … Read more

Comcast hits the snooze button http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9879848-7.html

FCC may do-over Comcast Net Neutrality hearing due to presence of paid Comcastards http://www.boingboing.net/2008/02/27/fcc-may-doover-comca.html

EU slaps Microsoft with $1.35 billion fine http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9880256-7.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7266629.stm http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080226-heavy-fine-looms-in-ongoing-microsofteu-tussle.html

Wikileaks gets legal help after domain name deletion http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9880958-38.html

Google disaster: Comscore reports awful January http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/2/2008/2/google_disaster__comscore_reports_awful_january

Apple planning iPhone SDK … Read more

On Monday, Adobe Systems rolled out its new Web 2.0 development tool, Adobe Integrated Runtime, or AIR. Following its release were some concerns from the security community.

AIR, formerly Adobe Apollo, is a runtime environment that allows developers use HTML, Flash, AJAX, Flex, and other Web 2.0 tools to create desktop applications. One such application built using Adobe AIR comes from Nickelodeon Online.

But some security experts are concerned about local file access by AIR applications. Recently, Firefox experienced a vulnerability that could have allowed remote attackers to access a targeted file system. To mitigate this, Adobe says … Read more

Microsoft will shortly make available the test version of Internet Explorer 8, which is set for final release in the first half of this year.

The Web site ActiveWin on Monday published the contents of a beta invitation, which said Microsoft is nearing a launch date for Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, which will be available for download and testing.

According to the Internet Explorer blog, the next version of Microsoft's Web browser is set for release in the first half of the year.

Microsoft executives are expected to reveal further details about the browser's features at the … Read more

Browsers just naturally seem to slow down over time. Maybe it's because the add-ons start to accumulate, or because you forget to clear their cache and perform other standard maintenance via Windows Disk Cleanup app. But there are also some simple settings changes you can make to keep Internet Explorer and Firefox running at top speed.

Increase the number of simultaneous connections in Internet Explorer: This tip has been around for a while, but if you haven't implemented it yet, you can see a real boost to your browsing speed. It entails a Registry edit, so create a … Read more