MacDefender has morphed into something that only hours after Apple updated OS X to “defeat” the threat is able to defeat Apple’s defenses. AppleInsider reports that the new package is called “Mdinstall.pkg” and it gets past the security update Apple just released.

This is the fake warning we saw in Chrome while searching Google. Notice the yellow warning at the top of the window.

We were hit today with the warning while doing some searching for images in Google Image Search. The good news is that we were using Chrome, instead of Safari, and the browser prevented the download with a warning at the top of the screen telling us of the download and asking whether to allow it. Because we recognized the fake warning, we hit the back button and stopped the download to keep our system clean.

Apple needs to take one more step beyond its already aggressive steps and update Safari to have the option to open files after downloading turned off by default. For now, you should switch to an alternate browser like Chrome or follow these steps to turn off automatic file opening by Safari.

Another method of protecting your Mac and your wallet is to install Mac security software. Traditionally OS X users have been under the same pressures as Windows user when it comes to viruses and malware, but that looks to be changing. Check back in the coming days for a list of available Mac security software. There are a few good OS X security options out there including Avast for Mac which was just released by the popular developer of Windows antivirus software. If you prefer to get your software form the Mac App Store, check out the free VirusBarrier Express Mac security app. We haven’t had a chance to evaluate these apps, but they offer another tool in keeping your Mac free of malware and viruses.

The best solution is to keep malware off your Mac is to avoid opening files you download unless you were actively going to a site to download a specific file.

MacDefender Defeats Apple Update, Use Chrome to Avoid It is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

At Google I/O the search giant announced that this summer some interesting Chromebooks are coming from Samsung and Acer, with others likely to follow. A Chromebook is a netbook computer running Google’s Chrome OS.

Is there room for a fourth mobile operating system? Microsoft Windows still dominates with Apple’s Mac OS X coming on strong and grabbing a lot of mind share. Linux in its dozens of variants is still a niche OS on the notebook with maybe a couple of percentage points of the overall notebook install base. Can the new Google Chrome operating system grab enough traction to be successful?

What does success look like for Google? It doesn’t have to beat Microsoft or Apple, but it would have to grab enough market share to climb above Linux or it would most likely be seen as a bust. Google’s mission is to be the method by which people go to the Internet in every sector of electronic life. Android is going a great job as is the Chrome browser in both Windows and Mac. Now they want to be your operating system too.

Google has a good strategy on the surface, but the devil is in the details. As we reported, they plan to target students and businesses. Why  not? That is where the big guys make their money. The plan is to rent these Chromebooks for $20/month or $240/year to students through volume licenses via their schools – 10 seat minimum. That sounds like a great deal! Most netbooks cost around $300-$400 with the high-end netbooks going for $500 and Apple’s version of the netbook, the MacBook Air, starting at $999. If the Chrome OS and the hardware is usable, then paying $240 for a netbook is a good deal. For business users it is a little more at $28/month. That is still not bad, again on the surface.

The problem is when you look at the fine print. Their plan is not a per year basis but a three-year term. Warner Crocker reported at our sister site Gottabemobile.com that the details are now surfacing saying that the $20/month deal for students and $28/month deal for business users is based not on single year contract but a three-year contract. That makes it a $720 netbook for a student after three years and $1,008 for the business plan after three years. There also doesn’t appear to be a way to exit the contract without paying for the rest of the lease.

Why on earth would anyone buy one of these for either $720 or $1,008? You can get an 11″ MacBook Air for a grand and it can run both Mac OS X and Windows. It will also run the Chrome browser which will allow you to do most of what these Chrome OS netbooks can do. The $20/month price sounds good but $720 for three years sounds so ridiculously overpriced that it is laughable. For $720 a student can get a full-powered Windows computer that will be able to run the Chrome browser and do most of what these netbooks can do plus a lot more. It would make more sense to pay for the Acer or Samsung system up front, and in fact that is something some businesses are hoping to do.

To succeed, Google has to make these overpriced netbooks truly appealing is either make Chrome OS so good that we just have to have it or to make the hardware so awesome that we are willing to put up with any old operating system to use them. From early looks neither will happen. A third option is to really make this a one year commitment. At $20 or $28 per month for one year, I would jump at a chance to use one of these sight unseen, but not for a three-year commitment. This may not be Google’s failure. Acer and Samsung could be the culprits since they have to make the hardware. Whoever is to blame for these bloated prices and long contracts, Google will be the one looking bad when they have half a percent of the notebook market after those first three-year contracts are finished.

Google Missing the Mark with Chromebooks is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

It looks like Samsung will release a new notebook with the Google Chrome OS according to reports of a leak a Dutch site ChromeNieuws.nl (Google Translation). The original site at Google Chrome OS code site where the leak first showed up is no longer available.

Below is a screen shot of it.

The beginning of the Chrome invasion we reported before will begin with this notebook codenamed Alex. It will have the following specs:

• 1.5GHz Atom N550 CPU
• 2GB of RAM
• A SanDisk SSD drive – total capacity unknown at this point
• Display with a resolution of 1280×800
• 3G support
• Synaptics TouchPad
• Wi-Fi
• Ethernet
• Bluetooth
• Namuga Webcam
• Realtek ALC272 audio
• Flash memory card reader
• USB ports
• VGA output

These details sound very netbook-like to us, although we don’t know the size of the device. Because it is running the cloud-based Chrome-OS it doesn’t need to be that powerful a system.

Chrome OS was developed by Google with a lot of fanfare last year when they gave away notebooks called Google Chrome CR-48 for testing last year. We got a look at one and the reviews were mixed.

Next month is the Google Chrome developers conference called I/O. Expect to hear more about this and other Chrome devices.

Will Chrome OS devices sell? That depends on two primary details – price and capability. What price point would entice you to forgo an operating system that runs everything locally for a cloud based system like Chrome? And what functionality would have to be present for such a device to sell? One possible business model would be for Google to subsidize these devices. Their business is advertising and if they can get more people looking at their ads, they make more money. Profit on the device itself is not as big an issue for Google. OEMs like Samsung need to make money. Unless Google subsidizes the cost of the notebook, this model doesn’t work for third-parties like Samsung.

The other option is to include some killer feature that will draw users. Very few OEMs have succeeded in doing this kind of marketing, so we doubt this can work either unless the killer feature is simplicity. If you can make a notebook that is as simple as the iPad and cheaper, then you might have something that will draw users to buying. If Samsung can provide the cheap hardware and Google the simple interface, then a $200-$300 netbook-like device with a slightly bigger screen (12-13 inches) than most of the 10-12 inch devices out now might have a chance.

Samsung Alex Coming wth Chrome OS: Google Chrome Notebook is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Microsoft announced earlier this month that they would be accelerating Internet Explorer 9 adoption by automatically pushing it through Windows Update. A lot of users might not be happy with this decision since there are websites and web applications that are still being optimized for the browser. Not everyone want’s Internet Explorer 9 automatically installed, so this guide will show you how to stop IE9 from installing automatically through Windows Update.

Microsoft’s Announcement about IE9 installing through Windows Update:

Since its availability on March 14th, IE9 has been available for manual download and we are pleased by the early and continued enthusiasm for IE9. We are seeing not only strong customer and business demand, but some of the highest web and application compatibility rates in IE history, not to mention all the sites that are taking advantage of HTML5 and IE9’s Windows 7 integration. On March 28^th, we began to upgrade existing IE9 Beta and RC users through Windows Update.

How to Prevent Internet Explorer 9 From Automatically Installing

Click Start, type: windows update.

Hit Enter on your keyboard.

Click the link to view important updates are available.

In the list of Important right click Windows Internet Explorer 9 for Windows 7, right click it and click Hide Update.

That’s it! Internet Explorer 9 will not install itself automatically.

When you are ready to install Internet Explorer 9, just go back to Windows Update, and under Control Panel Home click ‘Restore Hidden Updates’.

If Internet Explorer 9 was installed automatically, you can uninstall it manually, and your previous version of Internet Explorer will be restored. For more information, check out our guide on to how to uninstall Internet Explorer 9.

How to Prevent Internet Explorer 9 from Automatically Installing Through Windows Update is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

Another busy week is wrapping up and we’ve pulled together the biggest notebook, tablet and smart phone news of the week, including our Best of CTIA winners, to help you get caught up on what’s going on in technology.

The biggest news of the week was arguably the CTIA Wireless 2011 show in Orlando which was the showcase for a collection of cool phones, tablets, apps and accessories. We were on the show floor to go hands on with the hottest devices which will be arriving at carriers like Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon as soon as April.

You can see our Best of CTIA Winners at Notebooks with videos, or click the individual links to see our individual coverage.

Best Smartphone of CTIA 2011: HTC EVO 3D

Best Tablet of CTIA 2011: HTC EVO View 4G

Best Simultasking and Multitasking Smartphone of CTIA 2011: Kyocera Echo

Best Gaming Smartphone of CTIA 2011: Sony Xperia Play

Best Affordable Smartphone of CTIA 2011: Nokia Astound

What we love about CTIA is that the devices are actually coming to market soon, instead of taunting us for months on end.

Notebook News For the Week of March 25th:

Over at Notebooks we have reviewed the new Lenovo ThinkPad x220, and covered a collection of announcements about new consumer notebooks which means that you can actually start buying some Sandy Bridge notebooks!

New Notebooks for March 2011:

• iBUYPOWER Releases a Trio of Sandy Bridge Gaming Systems
• Gigabyte’s Powerful P2532 Notebook May be Thinnest Sandy Bridge Machine
• New Alienware M11x R3 Specs Leak, 2nd Gen Core CPU
• Gateway NV51B05u and NV51B02u Arrive With AMD Fusion, Start at $399
• Sony VAIO with Thunderbolt and External GPU in the works
• Toshiba Portege R800 Notebooks Get Priced, Worth the Wait

Notebook News:

• The Right Price for Core i7 Notebooks Revealed [Buying Advice]
• Japan Quake To Disrupt Consumer Notebook Supply During Back to School Rush
• Apple MacBook Pro 2011 Users Reporting Issues
• Chrome 11 Beta Available with Speech Input, GPU Acceleration and New Icon

Tablet and SmartPhone News for the Week of March 18th:

• 4 Ways to Protect the Back of the iPad 2
• HTC ThunderBolt Gets An Easy Root Method
• Top 5 Reasons to Jailbreak on iOS–Should You Do It to Your iPhone, iPad?
• Amazon Appstore for Android Coming March 22?
• Rumor: iPhone 5 launching in Q3 with 4-inch display, metal chassis
• Wife Makes Husband Return iPad 2, Apple Sends Him Free Replacement
• Nook Color to Get App Store, Flash and Angry Birds As Early as April

Notebook and Accessory Reviews:

• Twelve South BookArc Stand Review: High Quality MacBook Stands
• OnLive Gaming Review: The Future of Gaming
• Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Review
• Review: Kanex iAdapt HDMI Adapter for MacBooks
• iPad 2 App QuickShot Uploads Photos to DropBox Instantly

Popular How To Articles for the Week of March 18th:

• Listen to Music and Your Surroundings w/ Audio Monitor Pass Thru on Mac
• How to Fix Bad Group Photos with Photo Fuse [Fix a Face]
• How to Enable Pinch to Zoom and Twist Gestures in Firefox 4
• How to Sync files between 2 computers with Windows Live Mesh.
• Internet Explorer 9: 9 Tips For Getting Started & Getting More from IE9
• How To Upgrade to a Fast Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid Notebook Hard Drive (Review)
• How to Setup Time Machine on Your Mac [Mac OS X]

Weekly Wrap Up: Notebook, Tablet and Smart Phone News for March 25th is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Despite lofty goals of getting its netbook prices down to $200, Asus has so far been unable to achieve that feat despite using free Linux distributions rather than loading the lightweight systems with Windows licenses. However, with the aid of Google software, Asus may finally be able to bring down its netbook prices to $200-$250.

The lower price point will help Asus compete with, yet not be cannibalized by the rising popularity of tablets in the portable computing segment. Most tablets begin at around $300 in pricing; a sub-$300 netbook may offer consumers an incentive to choose that form factor.

According to DigiTimes, “The sources believe that Asustek’s new netbook should either adopt Google’s Android 3.0 or Chrome OS in order to achieve such a price level, and the new model is expected to attract consumers who only need to perform office work and Internet browsing.”

That model is expteted to arrive in June. An Intel-based single-core netbook from Asus is already on the market with a price tag of under $300.

With Google, Asus May Finally Launch a $200 Netbook is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Notebooks.com.

Internet Explorer 9 has been released, this IE 9 Review will let you know what’s new and how Internet Explorer 9 compares to Chrome and Firefox.

Last August Internet Explorer celebrated its 10th anniversary making it one of the oldest surviving web browsers on the market to date. Its interesting when you look back to the late 90’s, it was a time of heated competition in the web browser market specifically between Microsoft and Netscape Communications.

Of course, we know how that story ended with Microsoft dominating the market for a few years, until the resurrection of Netscape technologies in an open source format called Mozilla later morphed into the Mozilla Firefox Web Browser which debuted in 2004. Since 2003, the web browser competition has been heating up again and interesting enough, Microsoft which lagged for years because of complacency and fiasco’s surrounding the Windows Longhorn project which almost subsumed everything surrounding it is once again competing at a fast pace. Since 2007, Microsoft has released two new versions of its browser, Internet Explorer 7 and 8.

It’s a different landscape though, specifically the new challengers, Google Chrome (known best for its popular search engine), Apple Safari, Opera Software and Mozilla Firefox along with a few niche brands are all in the race to be the most popular web browser.

So what is Internet Explorer 9 is all about?

A number of things happened along the way to Internet Explorer 9, including the release of Google’s Chrome in particular which launched in the fall of 2008 and changed things tremendously.

Instead of primarily focusing on compatibility with websites which was atrocious in its early stages, Google focused on simplicity, usability and security. When you launch the new Internet Explorer 9 for the first time, you will immediately experience some of those same philosophies that have inspired Google.

What I particularly love about Internet Explorer 9 is how sleek and inviting it is to use, but dig deeper and you start appreciating a browser that is both simple in design yet powerful in its capabilities especially when it comes to integration with the Windows desktop. It is probably one of the key advantages that bring down the competition a notch.

Internet Explorer 9 is also the most standards compliant version of the browser to date, it includes a wide array of support for technologies such as CSS3 and SVG and a new JavaScript engine called Chakra, HTML5 audio, video, canvas tags, WOFF, CSS3 2D transforms and HTML5 semantic tags. All of these additions and improvements should help Web Developers create better cross platform experiences while not abandoning Microsoft for more friendly alternatives that have innovated ahead of IE over the past few years. Before I go any further, let’s start with some of the fundamentals.

Installation

I installed Internet Explorer 9 on my main computer running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit with Service Pack 1 installed. Installation was a breeze and took approximately 1 minute without even requiring a restart. I have noticed something ever since Microsoft launched its Windows Live Essentials 2011 suite of digital tools, it’s the focus on simplicity, when you hark back to the days of programs basically taking over your desktop and requiring that you do this and that before you even attempt to execute setup. Internet Explorer 9 is a breath of fresh air with its simple, yet elegant installer.

Simple, elegant Setup experience in Internet Explorer 9

Internet Explorer 9 is also supported on Windows Vista Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Windows Vista users will miss out on some of the desktop integration, but apart of from that, functionality wise, it’s identical to running it on Windows 7. Windows XP users, no IE9 for you, and it’s for obvious reasons, it’s not some artificial lock off on Microsoft’s part to get you to upgrade.

As Internet Explorer General Manager Dean Hachamovitch puts it “Building a modern browser requires a modern operating system.”

Microsoft said that the reason for dropping Windows XP are based on technical reasons, such as lack of support for Direct2D and DirectWrite DirectX APIs (applications programming interfaces) in Windows XP. These API’s in addition to security technologies are built into Windows Vista and Windows 7 just cannot be back ported Windows XP.

Windows XP is a 9 year old operating system, the extra burden to support 3 separate versions of Windows (XP, Vista, 7 in addition to various editions and Server releases is probably a bit too much even for a company with the resources of Microsoft). Its time people move on to Windows 7, if you want to experience the benefits of Internet Explorer 9, upgrade to Windows 7 or at least a minimum of Windows Vista SP2 (preferably Windows 7).

Internet Explorer 9 is a modern browser, that requires a modern operating system (Windows Vista or Windows 7) with modern technologies built in with support for Direct3D which adds hardware acceleration to the list of powerful features built into the browser. So, Windows XP users, if you want what IE 9 has to offer, you will just have upgrade or stick with Internet Explorer 8 or one of the third party alternatives.

Launch Internet Explorer 9 for the First Time:

The interface in Internet Explorer 9 has been streamlined to focus on the content of the web page removing some of the overbearing qualities of past versions. It’s a philosophy itself first spoken about with the introduction of the Windows AERO User Experience. The idea of making the content of the window be the star.

With Internet Explorer 9, the web page is front and center more than ever. The toolbar area has been exquisitely designed, Microsoft has dropped the number of toolbars down to just one. The Navigation buttons (back and forward), Address Bar and Tabs have been fused together along with a few toolbar controls (Home, Favorites and Tools). This might come across as controversial and I personally am still in the adjustment stags

. What I love though is the simplicity of it all, there is not this heap of features presented, just the essentials that a user needs especially since the idea of web pages are more app centric in this release. Having a litter of tabs in one window is not necessarily the best idea, you can read on further to understand why.

I notice when I launched the browser for the first time, I was greeted by a small notification strip at the bottom of the window recommending I Speed up startup and browsing by disabling add-ons.

Clicking the ‘Disable add-ons button, leads to a dialog which will display a list of add ons that might be affecting web browser performance. Talk about intuitive, this gives users better insight about how they can improve the performance of their web browsing experience.

As you can see in the above screenshot, add ons with red bar indicate how much time they are taking to load. Those with gray bars are minimal and can be left alone. This is a really great feature!

Internet Explorer 8 Bar

Internet Explorer 9 Bar

Internet Explorer User Experience

Website’s are probably not something users pay much attention to in the sense that, a lot of the details invested in application development and user experience that are often applied to desktop programs. With Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft hopes to change that thinking, the aim is to make website’s more app centric. In fact one of the cool things you can do with Internet Explorer 9 optimized website’s on Windows 7 is pin them to your Taskbar just like any other application such as Word or Photoshop.

A number of high profile web developers have focused on revamping their websites just for IE 9, these include Ebay, CNN, Redbull, Amazon.com and IMDB, to name a few. During the beta, Microsoft announced 70 partners who had all optimized their sites for the beta, hundreds more have done so since and you should see a lot of interesting websites build great experiences around Internet Explorer. The intention really is to blur platforms a bit, to make the web as much a part of the desktop as possible.

It’s an interesting approach, what I believe this will do is create better brand consciousness among web developers to focus more on the quality of the website, such as how easy it is navigate, the use of colors and layout, even down to the most minute details such as the Webicon.

Pinning a Website to the Windows 7 Taskbar with IE9

When you pin a webicon to your Taskbar, you will notice familiar Windows 7 functionality, such as the ability to right click the icon and access Jump List. This is great for my favorite sites that I open first thing everyday, such as Twitter, Facebook, CNET News, ZDNET and many others. There could be more intuitiveness about how you pin a webicon to the Taskbar, I thought you did it by right clicking a Tab, but later discovered this is done by holding down on the website’s webicon in the Address Bar, then drag it to the Taskbar. Although drag and drop is a natural action over the years, a quicker method would be to have a right click the webicon menu in the Address bar with a pop menu displaying option to pin to the Taskbar.

Co-branded identity

Here is an interesting branding idea I noticed is a part of Internet Explorer 9. Web developers can now customize IE 9 to reflect the core identity of their site. An example of this is through elements such as the Back and Forward Navigation buttons with colors specific to that website. Similar color coordinated colors for applications on the Taskbar, such as a blue button representing Microsoft Word. It’s a more engaging way for sites to embrace the desktop and a bit of personality along with clear identification to a user.

Chrome and Firefox have a lot of catching up to do with features like this.

This is just a tip of the iceberg though, the key integration is when you check out the Jump List features. Not all sites support it at the moment, but I am sure they will over time. Two examples are Twitter and Facebook. When you pin either social network to the Taskbar, you will see unique Jump List Tasks such as @Mentions, Direct Messages, New Message, Search and Favorites. Facebook offers its own unique task such as News, Messages, Events and Friends. This immediately blows Chrome and Firefox out of the water. The idea of opening up the browser and typing in a URL or click a favorite link to your site then navigating to a specific location is unnecessary. Jump List integration is just spectacular!

More Windows 7 Integration

The integration doesn’t end there either, Internet Explorer 9 also takes advantage of other Aero functionality such as Snap. One of the cool effects in Windows 7 is Aero Snaps which allows you to snap to windows to the side of the screen which automatically fills the half of the screen. This is great for doing reference or comparison activities. With Internet Explorer 9, it’s a breeze.

Here is an example, I have two tabs open in my Twitter window (my Twitter Home Page and my @Mentions page), suppose I want to compare the two at the same time. With IE 8 or Firefox, I could do a Tear off tab action then use then use the Aero Snaps feature to compare both windows. But why bother going through all that process?

What I will do is simply drag the window with my Twitter Home page to the left of the screen. Now check out the next option.

Here you can see I am simply dragging off the tab for my @Mentions window to right.

There I go, as easy as that. Now I can do whatever comparison or reference I want with both windows on screen. When I decide that I am finished, all I need to do is simply drag it back into the original window! How amazing is that?

It’s synergies like these that show the level of sophistication and thought that has gone into the user experience for this release of Internet Explorer 9. It’s another example of why Internet Explorer 9 was not possible on Windows XP.

Security and InPrivate Browsing

Tracking Protection or “Do Not Track” formerly called InPrivate Filtering, is a consumer focused security feature that helps to protect your online privacy. What IE 9 will allow you to do is prevent sites from tracking your online movements. Do Not Track is opt-in technology that requires users to find, download, and install tracking lists that will block certain websites from following users online. It is expected that third party providers will help to construct tracking lists support this feature.

Another great security improvement in IE 9 is ActiveX Filtering, with this technology, users can have more control over what gets loaded on a webpage. So, you can have certain ActiveX controls or none at all loaded on a particular web page if you wish. With ActiveX Filtering, you can turn off ActiveX controls for all Web sites and then turn them back on selectively as you see fit.

With ActiveX Filtering, you choose which sites are allowed to use your ActiveX controls, while all other Web sites cannot use them. ActiveX Filtering helps limit the impact that ActiveX controls have on your browsing experience since the controls can run only on specific sites. ActiveX Filtering also prevents Web pages from showing potentially unwanted content that relies on ActiveX controls.

Internet Explorer 9 Performance

Performance is probably the most critical area of the Internet Explorer 9 experience. Microsoft has made some critical improvements. I noted earlier such as the Disable Add on feature, but this is only a minor aspect. Internet Explorer 9 is going at the deepest level meaning the entire computer contributes to the browsers speed, these include processor, memory and in particular Video Graphics or Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).

Microsoft calls this Accelerated Graphics. This provides are more dynamic web experience by utilizing the power of the GPU to handle the rendering and processing of video and images to speed up presentation and load time of pages.

For example, watching HD Videos in IE 9 is much smoother compared to Firefox and Chrome, this is not a biased assumption, you can try it yourself and see the difference especially with CPU usage, IE is less taxing on the system compared to Firefox. This is based on low level improvements introduced in Windows 7 and Vista through Direct2D.

I decided to try out 15 of my favorite websites I tried last year in my Internet Explorer 8 review, along with two other browsers, Firefox 3.5.9 and Google Chrome 9.

I did these tests on a 8 MB  Cable Connection. They are unscientific, since I timed the loads using a stop watch, but do show evidence of speed gains.

Cool Internet Explorer 9 Features

I want dive more into changes to user interface. As you can see the interface is major update, its refreshing, inviting and attractive. It makes you want to use it and benefit from it more. Internet Explorer 8 included some well needed improvements to the Address Bar such as auto complete suggestions for sites that you might want to go to, suggestions are based on your history of websites you like to visit, your personal web browsing history and feeds that you have subscribed to.

Typing in a URL offers some address bar tricks, if you click the arrow below the URL in the middle, it will reveal a number of commands:

• Go to – Enter
• Navigate to – Ctrl + Enter
• Open in a new tab – Alt + Enter
• Open in a background tab – Alt + Shift + Enter

Autocomplete suggestions in IE 8 as noted are based on your sites visited, browser history. In Internet Explorer 9, you can now get real time feedback based on Bing results. This is turned off by default and you will have to manually turn it on (privacy reasons). The most dramatic improvement is the fusion of search into the Address, just like Google Chrome with its Smart Bar feature. So, you not only can enter URLs, you can do web searches right there too.

No suggestions for CNN.com in Internet Explorer 8

Suggestions from Bing, I can even choose other services such as Google – Internet Explorer 9

The new Tab window button is so much faster than Internet Explorer 8. I am sure many of us know how molasses slow it was, not anymore! It opens instantly and displays a list of your most recently visited websites. It looks like Tab Gallery has been incorporated into the new New Tab page.

The use of colors in these changes are very interesting. Users will notice that a display of the sites that you visit most often are shown, along with a color coordinated bar below each, indicating how actively you visit the site. The length of the bar is an indication of frequency.

From here you can perform tasks including reopening closed tabs along with your last browser session. You can also hide sites you don’t see or reveal or even start an InPrivate Browsing session. It would have been nice to have non-adjacent selection support here to quickly close a batch of sites on the fly.

The three buttons at the top right don’t reveal anything new, the Home button does as it suggest, takes you to your home page. The Star reveals all your Favorites, History and Feeds. The Bolt (Tools menu) list all common Options and Settings for the browser. I am disappointed that Internet Explorer 9 does not introduce a new Internet Options window. I personally think its cluttered and need to be revamped with a similar look and feel to the one in Microsoft Office 2007/2010. It would be nice if the IE Team added a File menu tab similar to the one in Office 2010 apps, with a Backstage like interface.

Internet Explorer 9 Wishes Come True

Last year I asked for some things I would have liked to see in Internet Explorer 8, let’s see if these features made it into Internet Explorer 9.

Download Manager – Trust me, Internet Explorer needs this feature, I find options like Pause/Resume and Manage very handy in FireFox and Safari.

Result: Yes, finally! Microsoft has introduced an interesting approach for downloading and running an executable in Internet Explorer 9. The old download dialog has now been phased out and replaced by a notification strip at the bottom when you click a download link, you have the option of running it, saving it or click cancel. You can click the View Button which will reveal the all new Download Manager. The Internet Explorer 9 Download Manager allows you manage downloads, pause, resume and even scan your downloads for malicious code.

The all new Internet Explorer 9 Download Manager

You can quickly access the Download Manager by pressing CTRL + J or click the Tools menu and click View Downloads.

Better Text Selection: Non-adjacent Selection of text on web pages.

Result: Didn’t make it. Maybe for IE 10.

Customizable toolbar: I personally wouldn’t mind if buttons such as Home, Feeds, Print, Page, Tools and Help were on a another toolbar group such as the Address bar group, I need more real estate for Tabs that’s much cleaner. The new Favorites Bar in particular eats up a lot of space.

Result: Nope, and for obvious reasons, the new layout is more focused on putting emphasis on the web page instead of the browser window.

List View layout for Options: Similar to Office 2007 Options dialog. Also make the Advance settings a part of the list view Options, this includes: Accessibility, Browsing, International, Multimedia.

Result: No, but we can hope for IE 10 on this one also.

Print Preview Tab: Make Print Preview utilize a Tab instead of opening a separate window.

Result: Nope, but what I notice is that Printer Preview took a long time to compose a window of the preview.

One Installer: One unified 32-bit and one unified 64-bit installer.

Result: No, you must download for Windows 7 64 bit, Windows 7 32 bit, Windows Vista 64 bit and Windows Vista 32 bit. Microsoft, would love if Microsoft could have simplified this.

Conclusion

It’s safe to say Microsoft is once again in the browser game. Internet Explorer 9 is a polished, well designed, elegant browser, which keeps up with the competition while at the same innovating with new experiences that you can surely expect rivals will have a hard time copying and pasting into their next updates.

The key things that set Internet Explorer 9 apart from previous releases is the focus on standards compliance, performance, Windows 7 integration and user experience.

When it comes to standards compliance, the Internet Explorer Team understands that this is a different game and web developers will simply go where they are acknowledged and respected.

Performance, it’s no lie that Internet Explorer has lagged for years, both in web page performance and the browsers functionality, actions like opening a tab was atrociously slow in IE 7 and 8, IE 9 fixes that and adds new capabilities end users will appreciate.

The integration with the operating system and hardware technologies such as accelerated graphics support will help to further prove just how powerful and worthy an upgrade IE 9 is.

Finally, user experience, Internet Explorer 9 is sexy, its sleek design, tight integration with the Windows 7 desktop with features such as pinned websites will provide users with a more intimate web experience while opening up a whole new way for web developers to communicate with their audience. Kudos to the IE Team on a job well done!

Internet Explorer 9 Review is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

Google has announced that it has shipped the last of its Cr-48 netbooks, which run on the company’s Chrome OS and looks reminiscent of Apple’s black MacBook of yore.

The Cr-48 was announced late last year and have been shipping to developers and pilot users. Google was delivered 64,000 units from Inventec, and now the company has shipped out all units. As part of Google’s pilot program, users who signed up for the pilot agreed to send information to Google in exchange for a free Cr-48 netbook.

Google advises those waiting for a Chrome OS hardware solution to await for this summer, when Acer and Samsung will be shipping retail units of their netbook designs.

Via: Engadget

No More Google Cr-48 Netbook for Now is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Notebooks.com.

Adding extensions to Chrome is an easy way to customize the browser to meet your individual needs and make it easier to get work done, or just to keep track of your day and listen to Pandora easier. We’ve rounded up our favorite Chrome extensions to make your browsing experience better.

Cloud Save – Cloud Save is a chrome extension that allows you to easily save a document, image or file to a cloud service like Dropbox or Box.net. Instead of downloading it and moving the file to the right folder, simply right click and you can send it where you want. This is one of the most useful add ons we have found for Chrome.

Pandora – The Pandora chrome extension makes it easy to control your Pandora music from whatever Chrome window you are working in. It’s great to be able to start plying in one window and then 20 minutes later in another window pause Pandora without hunting for the right window and tab. You can also control Pandora with commands typed in the Omnibar for mouseless control.

Evernote - Evernote is one of the most used apps in our browser. We use the web clipper to save notes for later, or to clip whole webpages to our notes so that we can access them later without looking all over.

Google Voice – The Google Voice Chrome extension allows you to call numbers with your Google Voice number, makes clickable phone numbers in your browser and allows you to send text messages without leaving the tab you are on. You can also look at your inbox with the extension and get an audible notification of new messages.

DayHiker - If you use Google Calendar to manage your life the DayHiker extension is a must have. This tool allows you to see a calendar, your appointments and create new meetings with a click on the icon. The DayHiker icon can be configured to change color when you have an appointment upcoming so that, with a glance, you can tell if you are busy today.

AwesomeScreenshot - If you take screenshots at all, this is the perfect extension for you. It captures the page you are looking at and allows you to trip and crop the image as well as add shapes, arrows and annotations without the need to open to paint. You can download as a PNG or upload to Awesomescreenshot and get a short link for sharing.

Copy Link Text – Copy Link Text is great for the times you need to copy the text that a link is made up of, or if you need top copy the link and the text in a HTML format that you can paste into a text editor. You can control how the copy works in the options. This is a must if you spend any amount of time copying and pasting in Chrome.

7 Google Chrome Extensions to Make Work (and Play) Easier is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

If you use Pandora, you need to get the Unofficial Pandora Chrome Extension which lets you use your keyboard to control Pandora without the need to keep a tab open or even use your mouse. The Pandora Chrome Extension is free and works with free and paid Pandora accounts, but is not officially supported or affiliated with Pandora.

In addition to bringing Pandora to your Chrome browser in an easy to access icon, you can control your Pandora listening using the address bar and your keyboard. After installing the extension you will be able to type ‘p’ then ‘tab’ in the address bar followed by a command to control your music.

With the extension you can use the following commands

• Play
• Pause
• Skip
• Like
• Dislike
• Tired
• Station <name> – chooses a station

Control Pandora with your keyboard video:

The extension works with Chrome out of the box, but you will need to do additional work if you want to use it with Chromium. In our short testing we weren’t able to get the keyboard controls to work all of the time using the latest Chrome beta, but it appears to work fine on the Windows 7 machine we tested it on.

The Pandora Chrome Extension is much nicer than the Adobe Air app available to Pandora One subscribers. As a subscriber I really hope that Pandora doesn’t step in to stop this extension; in fact Pandora should call up the developer and offer him a job…or at least a gift of some kind.

Pandora Chrome Extension Provides Keyboard Controls for Pandora is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.