ie 10

For a while there, the browser was winning the war.

New startups launched online services rather than packaged software. Browser makers raced to transform the Web from a place to publish documents into a general-purpose programming platform. People spent more and more time using the Web instead of software that ran natively on devices.

Then the era of modern smartphones and tablets began. And in 2012, it became clear that Web app advocates will have to work a lot harder to build a universal software foundation. Here's a look at what happened this year in the world of the … Read more

If you despise Internet Explorer, you are a twerp.

You are a sad, lonely doofus who sits alone, night after night, posting stupid, negative comments about a browser that is simply above your station.

You are so truly, irredeemably pathetic that your greatest achievement is to have won a karaoke competition at your local bar in 2008.

No, these are not my harsh words. We never bathe in harshness here.

These are the thoughts and sentiments that emerge from a rather touching new ad produced by Microsoft.

In hyping IE10, the company has decided to confront its critics in the … Read more

Peter Swire, an Ohio State law professor and privacy expert who has worked with the Obama administration, is stepping into a contentious process to create a standard way to let people stop Web sites from tracking their online behavior.

Aleecia M. McDonald announced today she's stepping down as co-chair of the Do Not Track standardization effort at the World Wide Web Consortium. She previously worked for Firefox maker Mozilla, which launched the current DNT technology after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sought a mechanism to block online tracking, but she currently works for a program within Stanford University'… Read more

Update, November 16, 2012: The method for pinning Web sites with Chrome was added to this blog post.

The Windows 8 Start screen comes prepopulated with lots of tiles, some of which you won't ever use. Instead of wasting that precious space, you can remove the tiles you don't use and pin your favorite Web sites to the Start screen for quick and easy access. Here's how:

Step 1: Open Internet Explorer from the Start screen and go to the Web site you want to pin.

Step 2: Click the pin icon in the lower right-hand corner … Read more

Yahoo will ignore "Do Not Track" requests from Internet Explorer 10 because, it claims, Microsoft is violating the concept's intent by turning it on by default.

Today's announcement reignites a conflagration that started with Microsoft's announcement in May, and became even more incendiary earlier this month when the Digital Advertising Alliance said advertising companies that choose to ignore Do Not Track requests "automatically set in IE10 or any other browser" would not be penalized.

Yahoo said in a blog post this afternoon that the choice to enable Do Not Track should be … Read more

It's been almost a year and a half since Microsoft released a test build of Internet Explorer (IE) 10 for Windows 7. Since that time, Microsoft officials have refused to comment as to why there were no further builds or when a final version of IE10 for Windows 7 would be available.

On October 17, there was finally a ray of hope for those IE10 loyalists wanting Microsoft's latest browser on Windows 7. In an IEBlog post, Microsoft officials said a new preview of IE10 for Windows 7 would be out some time in November 2012.

Microsoft delivered … Read more

Microsoft plans to make a touch-optimized version of its MSN portal available to users running Windows 8/Windows RT and Internet Explorer 10 as of October 26.

Microsoft officials are showing off a near-final preview of that portal in New York during Advertising Week, which kicks off this week on October 1. They also will be showing off new touch-centric Windows 8/Windows RT ads that will be available on MSN and on select Windows Store apps during this week's advertising confab.

The updated MSN portal will be available only to Windows 8/Windows RT and IE 10 users, … Read more

Apache, the most commonly used software to house Web sites, will ignore Microsoft's decision to disable ad-tracking technology by default in Internet Explorer 10.

Microsoft set IE10 and Windows 8 so that, by default, Web sites that observe the Do Not Track (DNT) standard won't track people's behavior. The move was made to "better protect user privacy," the company said.

But protecting user privacy turns out to be a thorny matter in practice -- at least when a standard has to be palatable to advertisers as well as browser makers and people surfing the Web. … Read more