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This has been a big week for Microsoft, what with MIX10 going on and all that. They’ve announced more details about Windows Phone 7 Series (more later in this post) but the other big announcement involved the company’s internet browser. Internet Explorer has been the butt of jokes for a very long time now and for good reason. IE had slow rendering speeds, did not support the latest web standards, and just plain sucked big time. This time, Microsoft hopes to correct everything that went wrong with IE with a new version, Internet Explorer 9. The browser isn’t finished yet; heck, a beta version isn’t even available yet. For now, it’s just the rendering subsystems with a simple UI that allows web address entry and not much else. But it’s big because a lot of people believe IE 9 is Microsoft’s opportunity to become relevant in the web browser scene again. IE 9 will support HTML5 and other new web technologies, as well as offer a speed boost through GPU acceleration. There’s still a long way to go before IE 9 sees wide release, and for Microsoft’s sake, we hope they get it right this time.
As for Windows Phone 7 Series, it seems Microsoft is taking a bad page out of Apple’s book regarding two features many people deem important. It was confirmed that WP7S will NOT support full multitasking and will NOT have copy and paste. Ouch. What the company is now saying about why they omitted those two features is basically the same as what Apple was saying before: that people don’t want to multitask because it drains the battery faster, and that people don’t need copy and paste. Oh come on MS! Yes, we know Apple sold millions of iPhones without those two features (they finally added copy and paste last year and may add full multitasking this year), but you’re not Apple and you don’t have the iPhone. You’re trying to catch up with the iPhone, and not including those two features is not the way to do it.
More on smartphones now: mobile app company Flurry estimates that more Motorola Droids were sold over the first 74 days of availability compared to the original iPhone. The company says about 1.05 million Droids were sold compared to about 1 million iPhones 74 days after launch. A possible reason could include the fact that the original iPhone sold for $400 and $600 at launch while the Droid was only priced at $199 US. There’s also the fact that Verizon spent a ton marketing the Droid. It’s a big win for Android then. Well, not really. The same study estimates that only 135 thousand Nexus Ones were sold over the same number of days after it was launched. Is the Nexus One a flop then? It could very well be.
We end today’s post with some great gear. We know carbon fiber as a strong, lightweight material used in many high-tech applications, including Formula One cars. Well, chopsticks apparently need to be strong and lightweight. Say hello to this amazing set of carbon fiber chopsticks. It costs $150 US, is dishwasher safe, and comes with a chopstick rest. Check it out over at carbonfibergear.com.
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