Microsoft Starts Countdown For IE6

7 March 2011 12:09 AM

With Internet Explorer 9 nearing launch and developers clamoring for HTML 5, the software maker is hoping the countdown will quicken the browser’s extinction.

Slideshow: Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 Beta Revealed

Microsoft has launched a countdown site to track what the software maker hopes is a sooner-than-later death for the 10-year-old Internet Explorer 6.

With IE 9 near completion, Microsoft said Friday its time for IE 6 fans to say bye bye to the trusted friend that clings to life despite being superseded by three generations of the Web browser. “C’mon IE6, it’s time for a modern Web, so nice knowing you and all that but … buhbye,” Steve Clayton, director of cloud strategy for Microsoft, said in the company’s blog.

Microsoft’s IE 6 Countdown site says 12% of worldwide Web users were surfing with the old brows as of the end of February. Asia is where the browser is used the most. China leads with more than 34% of Internet users still on IE 6.

Microsoft plans to continue with the countdown until IE 6 usage follows below 1%. A year ago, 21% of Web users were on the outdated browser.

Web site developers face the biggest problems in having IE 6 on life support. With so many people still using the browser, they have to continue to support it with older technology, while also programming with new technology for the younger browsers. Microsoft said IE 6 is one of the biggest hurdles developers face while trying to move the rest of the Web to HTML 5, the latest of the core markup language for Web sites. Among the best features of the new technology is the ability to play video on a page without the need for proprietary plug-ins.

Microsoft is also hot to get IE 6 users to upgrade to IE 9. The release candidate of the new browser shipped in February, marking the final milestone before it is officially released this year.

Microsoft is hoping IE 9 will reverse Internet Explorer’s slipping market share. In February 2009, IE’s various versions accounted for a collective 70% of the market. Today, they represent about 56%. The browser’s main rival for years has been Mozilla Firefox. More recently, Google Chrome has been gobbling up share.

Maintaining a dominant position is important to Microsoft because it means greater influence with developers.

Now in its fifth year, Web 2.0 Expo is for the builders of the next-generation Web: designers, developers, entrepreneurs, marketers, and business strategists. It happens March 28-31 in San Francisco. Register now.

Tragic last voyage of a titan of the sea: 45ft whale dies after being washed up on Kent beach

4 March 2011 5:39 PM

In its prime it would have majestically patrolled the waters as one of the world’s largest creatures.

But yesterday this stranded sperm whale cut a tragic sight, lying partially submerged in the sticky wet sand of the Kent coast.

The 45ft mammal was spotted at Pegwell Bay near Ramsgate in the morning. Rescuers were called, but experts later confirmed the creature had died. Thanet Council faces the task of removing the corpse.

Tragic: A Kent Coastguard and a police officer next to the dead body of a sperm whale, showing the scale of the 45ft-long mammal at Pegwell Bay in Kent
Tragic A Kent Coastguard and a police officer next to the dead body of a sperm whale, showing the scale of the 45ft-long mammal at Pegwell Bay in Kent.

Whale beachings are rarely explained. Scientists attribute them to natural and environmental factors such as rough weather, weakness due to old age, hunting too close to shore and navigation errors.
The public have shown great interest in the corpse but are advised to stay away from the beached whale due to health risks related to bacteria and its odour, a spokesman for the Maritime and Coastal Agency said.

“Our advice is to stay away as much as possible. It could be dangerous due to bacteria and it will probably get quite smelly,’ he said.’As the tide was on the flood, the advice was to leave it to see what happened when the water flooded around it.’It now appears to be completely expired.”


Stranded Whale beachings are rarely explained, although scientists attribute them, amongst other things, to old age and navigation errors.

Tragic last voyage of a titan of the sea: 45ft whale dies after being washed up on Kent beach.Grim discovery The huge whale was found dead early yesterday morning on the Kent coast.

A Thanet District Council spokeswoman said it was seeking advice from the Institute of Zoology to determine how best to move it but they were currently being hampered by the high tide.
A Kent Police spokeswoman said yesterday an officer was on the scene and authorities were also liaising with experts at London’s Natural History Museum, who may be called in to take samples of the sperm whale’s jawbone.

Like dolphins, sperm whales can carry tuberculosis and lung disease and so the public would be well advised to stay away from the corpse. Incidences of whales of this size washing up on the Kent coast are rare, a Kent Coastguard spokesman confirmed.

Tragic last voyage of a titan of the sea: 45ft whale dies after being washed up on Kent beachFailed attempt Animal experts waited for low tide to try and rescue the whale which sadly died.
Tragic last voyage of a titan of the sea: 45ft whale dies after being washed up on Kent beachWashed up The sperm whale was discovered dead on the beach at Pegwell Bay near Ramsgate.

The iPad 2

3 March 2011 4:23 PM

The iPad 2

Apple has just made its second-generation iPad official! It features a 1GHz dual-core A5 chip and, finally, cameras, both on the front and rear. The new CPU is said to be up to twice as fast, with graphics performance up to nine times better than on the original iPad, while power requirements have been kept the same. Battery life is, consequently, unaltered, with Apple promising 10 hours. Pricing, too, has been left unchanged, starting at $499 for a 16GB WiFi-only iPad 2 and stretching up to $829 for a WiFi + 3G SKU with 64GB of storage. The new tablet will come with an HDMI output capable of 1080p — which will set you back $39 for the requisite dongle, called an Apple Digital AV Adapter — but there will sadly be no rumblings of Thunderbolt connectivity here. What you will get is an enlarged speaker grille on the back, as expected, and the same 1024 x 768 resolution and IPS LCD screen technology as on the original iPad.

Update from Engadget: We’ve gotten our first hands-on with the iPad 2 and, boy oh boy, it’s fast! – awesome.

The iPad 2

720p video recording at 30fps will be on tap from the rear-facing camera, which can also do a 5x digital zoom if you’re into that kind of thing, whereas the front-facing imager will record at a more modest VGA resolution, also at 30fps.

There’s a new cover for the device, which is best defined by Steve Jobs himself: “We designed the case right alongside the product. It’s not a case — it’s a cover.” Basically, it’s a magnetic flap that protects the front and automatically wakes and puts the device to sleep according to whether it’s open or closed. Guess we know what that proximity sensor was about now. These Smart Covers will cost $39 in plastic or $69 if you opt for leather.

The iPad 2 is 33 percent thinner than its predecessor, at a mind-melting 8.8mm, and a little lighter at just over 600g, while paintjob options have been expanded: you’ll get a choice between white and black. It’ll be available on both AT&T and Verizon, and all variants start shipping on March 11th. Apple Retail Stores will start sales at the unusual hour of 5PM, which will probably make online pre-orders the fastest way to get yours.

The iPad 2

In terms of new software, Apple’s launching iOS 4.3 alongside the new iPad and bringing with it much improved Safari performance as well as FaceTime, Photo Booth, iMovie and GarageBand (the latter two costing $4.99 a piece) apps specifically for the newly camera-enriched iPad. Personal Hotspot capabilities are also arriving in the latest version of the OS, but they’ll be exclusive to the iPhone 4, so you won’t be able to share your 3G iPad’s connection. The minimum compatible version of iTunes for the new iPad 2 will be the freshly released 10.2.

The iPad 2

Justin Bieber’s Hair Sells for $40,668 on eBay

2 March 2011 7:38 PM

Justin Bieber’s Hair Sells for $40,668 on eBay (post)

Records, nail polish, movie tickets, hair: it’s official, Justin Bieber can sell anything. A lock of his freshly-chopped tresses, which he’d gifted to Ellen DeGeneres in a signed box the day after his much-buzzed-about cut, was put to auction on eBay last week, and today, sold for a whopping $40,668. The entire sum will be donated to animal rescue organization The Gentle Barn Foundation, per DeGeneres, and the winning bidder will get to meet the teen superstar the next time he appears on The Ellen Show. Bieber and DeGeneres shared a few silly Tweets leading up to his talk show appearance last week, with the host asking the singer to bring her a “surprise” when he visited. After receiving Bieber’s hair, DeGeneres immediately put it on eBay, and within an hour the bid was already up to $10,000. No word on who Wednesday’s winning bidder was just yet, but no doubt that today there’s one less lonely girl out there. –Kate Hogan

have your say in the comments below. ..If i could get $40,668 for my hair i’ll be selling it all!

Live: From Apple’s iPad 2 event

2 March 2011 6:54 PM

We’re going to be liveblogging Apple’s iPad 2 announcement (and whatever else they have in store). Check back at the times below, and get ready to make history together!

UPDATE TO ALL:
Please check engadget! for the latest pictures and news.






10:15AM Doctors are using the iPad… and spending more time with patients. Also, the iPad has been performing brain surgery.

10:14AM Chicago schools… using the iPad, seeing huge gains.


10:13AM Yes, Apple.

10:13AM Phil: Some people call this a post-PC device.

10:13AM Gist of the video — the iPad is magical. Sales were through the roof. Stuff is amazing.


10:12AM Phil Schiller: No one predicted this would be as successful as it’s been.

10:11AM Hmm… screen just says… Video. Oh there we go.

10:11AM “We made a video about 2010, the year of the iPad…” Video time!

10:11AM “One of the things that’s helped us roll this out so fast is our retail stores. They were built for moments like this. We have hundreds of Apple stores now. Without them, we wouldn’t have been successful.”


10:10AM Ouch — Honeycomb logo… 100 apps.

10:10AM “There’s never been anything like this for photography… 65,000 apps specifically for the iPad.”

10:10AM “They’re taking advantage of this incredible, magical UI.”

10:10AM “Fantastic games, a lot of apps for business and vertical markets. The things people are doing here are amazing.”

10:09AM Steve is showing off some of the iPad app selection.

10:09AM “Samsung put one out last year. They said ‘our sell-in was quite aggressive, 2m, but our sell out was quite small’.” Zing!


10:09AM “Many have said this is the most successful consumer product ever launched. Over 90% market share… our competitors were flummoxed.”

10:08AM “We sold 15m iPads… that’s more than every tablet PC ever sold.”

10:08AM “When we said the iPad was magical, people laughed at us. But it’s turned out to be magical. And people questioned whether it was an ‘unbelievable’ price — well ask our competitors.”

10:07AM “Today we’re here to talk about Apple’s third post-PC blockbuster product. That’s how we think about these things. We started with the iPod, then we added the iPhone, and then the iPad. Every one has been a blockbuster.”

10:07AM “We’re in a position where most of our revenue comes from these products.”

10:06AM “Lastly — we recently shipped our 100 millionth iPhone.”


10:06AM “A lot of people have tried to copy this.”

10:05AM “Another milestone… let’s look at the App Store. We recently paid out over $2b to devs in total. Devs have earned over $2b from selling their apps on the App Store.”


10:05AM “Now Amazon doesn’t publish their numbers, but it’s likely this is the most accounts with credit cards anywhere on the internet.”


10:05AM “That’s iBooks. As you know, that’s one of our three stores. They all use the same Apple ID to access them. Recently, we just crossed 200m accounts.”




10:04AM “We have over 2500 publishers in the iBookstore.”

10:04AM “Users have downloaded over 100m books in less than a year. Today we’re announcing that Random House is bringing over 17k books.”

10:03AM “We’ve got something great to announce today, but first some updates. First iBooks.”

10:03AM “We’ve been working on this product for awhile, and I didn’t want to miss it.”

10:03AM Standing ovation for Steve Jobs. People are flipping out. He looks good!

10:02AM Whoa! Steve is out!

10:02AM The lights are going down… we’re about to begin!

9:59AM “Ladies and gentlemen, our presentation will begin shortly. Please switch devices to silent mode.”

9:58AM As you can by the photo, the chair / table setup is here… just like when Steve showed off the first iPad.

9:58AM Did we mention that they’re playing a lot of Beatles right now?

9:56AM For those wondering — no sign of Steve here, but Jony Ive is in the front row.

9:54AM If you’re seeing any trouble with comments, don’t panic. It looks like Disqus might be experiencing the Apple effect right now.

9:52AM It’s all Beatles all the time here.

9:51AM Joz is also in the house, just being Joz.

9:50AM Packed house today — we can see Tim Cook and Phil Schiller near the stage right now. Expect to see more of them.

9:46AM Okay, we’re in our seats and… the Beatles are on the sound system.

09:31AM We’re inside and waiting to sit down! All the usual suspects are here — and we’ve heard that Pixar’s John Lasseter is somewhere in the mix as well.

08:00AM – Hawaii
10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow
11:30PM – Mumbai
03:00AM – Tokyo (March 3rd)
05:00AM – Sydney (March 3rd)

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