Business

Steven Sinofsky Microsoft's president of Windows Live division yesterday discussed Microsoft's highly-anticipated Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) at the MIX10 conference in Last Vegas. Building hype was clearly at the top of his agenda, but not escaping ... the presentation was this tidbit: IE9 won't run on Windows XP. "We've built Internet Explorer 9 from the ground up on top of the Windows 7 platform," Sinofsky giddily reported to his Sin City crowd during Internet Explorer general manager Dean Hachamovitch's keynote address. (Source: seattlepi.com ) Internet Explorer 9: New Graphics Engine Sinofsky ... (view more)

Say what you will about the iPad's unique (or, according to some critics, 'questionable') design, the upcoming Apple device is already being well received by consumers. In its first weekend of pre-order availability, the iPad sold over 150,000 ... times, at one point moving at a rate of 25,000 per hour. Apple's iPad became available for pre-order last Friday. During that first full day of availability, sales peaked at an incredible 25,000 units per hour, before cooling off to about 1,000 an hour on Sunday evening. Cumulatively, sales for the three-day period reached 152,000 units. iPad Early ... (view more)

Facebook has overtaken Google as the most visited website among United States users. It's the first time Google has lost the top spot since September 2007. The revelation comes from Hitwise, a web analysis firm that gathers data directly from ... Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in order to help advertisers get a better idea of how to reach particular markets. Because the data comes from ISPs, it's considered more accurate than some methods which only gather data from individual sites or users. According to the firm, last week Facebook accounted for 7.07% of all US website visits, compared with ... (view more)

Tactics used to make new hard drives more efficient could cause problems for Windows XP users. It may mean any new drive bought after next year could be noticeably slower to use on the operating system. The issue involves the way hard drives are ... broken down into individual sectors. Until now, it has always been standard for hard drive sectors to be 512 bytes in size. However, not all of each sector is used for storing data. Instead, there is a marker to denote the start of the sector: a space used for codes which are used to check if there is any error with the sector and its contents, and a ... (view more)

Google is rumored to be testing a search tool for Dish Network-powered televisions. It would allow users to search both for programming on the satellite broadcasts and for online videos. According to the Wall Street Journal, the service is being ... tested with a small group of employees. Based on Android and designed for use with a plug-in keyboard, the service would work with Internet-enabled television sets. Those are becoming more popular with the advent of streaming versions of rental services such as Netflix and even Blockbuster. (Source: wsj.com ) The idea appears to be that the service ... (view more)

It's being reported that the first Service Pack for Windows 7 (Service Pack 1) will be released before the end of this year. Critics suggest the early release may be an attempt to stimulate purchases among corporate users. The reports stem mainly ... from TechARP, a Malaysian hardware site with a strong record of accurately predicting Microsoft release dates. (Source: theregister.co.uk ) Windows 7 Service Pack 1: Cumulative Fixes A service pack is a collection of security updates, bug fixes and software improvements. It brings together updates which have been issued through Windows Update since ... (view more)

Apple has confirmed that the first iPads will be available to US customers on April 3rd, 2010. However, some users will be disappointed to learn it won't be useable as a makeshift modem for other devices. The first batch released will be WiFi only. ... The model adding 3G connectivity, meaning Internet-based apps can be used anywhere, will be available in late-April. Both models are set to be released in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late-April as well, before appearing in other countries later this year. US customers can pre-order both models ... (view more)

Microsoft yesterday unveiled its March Patch Tuesday offering, and by comparison to recent months it was a relatively calm affair. Only two security bulletins addressing eight vulnerabilities were announced, but they were joined by a warning related ... to a new zero-day Internet Explorer flaw which does not yet have a fix. Both of the bulletins Microsoft released in accordance with its March Patch Tuesday have been designated "important". That's a big step down from this past February's Patch Tuesday , where about one-fifth of the 26 vulnerabilities were considered "critical," Microsoft's ... (view more)

Many small businesses were put off the Windows Vista operating system (OS) because of early complaints about compatibility problems and its tendency to bog down older machines. However, positive reviews of the new Windows 7 have finally started to ... shake upgrade fears amongst smaller companies, and Microsoft says they're starting to see these firms make the shift away from previous stand-by Windows XP. Microsoft's claim that small businesses are diving into Windows 7 after taking a pass on Windows Vista was made by company Vice President Brad Brooks during an interview earlier this week. " ... (view more)

Many within the tech world are expecting Microsoft to announce a beta version of Internet Explorer 9 at the upcoming MIX 2010 conference. While nothing is yet confirmed by Microsoft, the new version of the popular browser is expected to boast ... improved support for open web standards. Microsoft has in the past been criticized for not fully supporting open web standards. Considering that most Microsoft software produced is proprietary and closed source, the push towards open web standards for Internet Explorer is a huge change for the company, and many critics believe it will yield high returns ... (view more)