HitsGarden

If you’ve just got used to Internet Explorer 7 you probably won’t want to know that the beta version of IE8 has now been publicly unleashed. One of the key features of Microsoft’s latest browser is crash recovery and if it throws a wobbly when it is restarted there’s an option to ‘restore last session. Other highlights include a new Favourites Bar, which is a bit like the old Links bar but as well as web page shortcuts it can also hold RSS links and a new facility WebSlices. This displays a thumbnail view of specially configured web pages. It depends on web developers creating the mini preview pages, and so far not many do, so don’t hold your breath on this one. Read the rest of this entry »

A growing number of people, concerned about personal privacy and security are opting to get off the grid but that’s always been a bit difficult with the Internet. It knows where you are, and what you are doing, but there are ways to become totally anonymous.

One way is to use TOR, or The Onion Router. It’s a network of virtual connections or relays, dotted around the world, operating in complex ‘layers’ (that’s where the Onion bit comes in) that stops you from being identified or tracked when you are online. Ironically much of the development work for TOR was sponsored by the US Naval Research Laboratory but now it’s gone independent, and it is free to use. Read the rest of this entry »

The MTBot prototype is by all means not a new project from Microsoft. In fact, the project for the Windows Live Messenger machine translation bot debuted quietly in the summer of 2007. To this date the initiative remains nothing more than a prototype and, despite this, it is available to all Windows Live Messenger users for test driving. The brainchild of Helvecio Ribeiro, SDET w/ MSR Machine Translation, the Machine Translation Bot is designed to break the language barriers via Windows Live Messenger. The bot is a clear indication that machine translation technology can be seamlessly combined and integrated with instant messaging. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you seen the price of a decent office suite? Why bother when you can get everything you want for free, and much more besides. ZoHo is the latest online office suite to hit the headlines and this one really piles it on thick with a very well specified word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, Wiki tool, note taker, groupware mail client, project management program, CRM (Customer Relations Management) software, web conferencing, online database, organiser and chat facility. There’s also a website monitor, viewer and lots more besides and it’s all free.

According to the most recent polls and researches, 25% of the users currently use FireFox. While this is a great step forward compared to 10% it was 1,5 years ago, still most surfers choose IE. The sad point is, they don’t actually “choose” IE. They get it by default with Windows, and since the vast majority of us does run this or another version of Windows, we don’t get to choose a browser. When we finally get to study the net and what else it has to offer us, we get used to our buggy little IE that would freeze whenever it finds fit, and we just don’t see a point anymore in switching to FF.So, “ONLY” ¼ of the users use Firefox, yet this browsers seems to attract developers crazily, maybe because it’s mostly used by webmasters. I can’t even count the amount of extensions and add ons that has been developed for Mozilla’s leading browser over the past year alone. ALL the leading social networking sites has been optimized for fast and easy use with Firefox, this includes: Read the rest of this entry »