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Over at Mozilla designer Stephen Horlander’s Blog, a new set of GUI mock-ups for Firefox 4.0 has been posted for all to see. The newest set have a new ‘App Button’ in similar vein to Office 2010 and WordPad/Paint in Windows 7. This will store all the important functions that are currently shown in the two Page and Tools buttons in Google Chrome. The colouring is there to keep some form of identity to the browser.

Another note is the Toolbar buttons, which have a new glossy appearance and have a shade of blue compared to the original grey. The site status bar is now coloured vividly to show a site’s security credentials, along with the URL. The Address bar has been properly recessed into the window amongst other updates.

View the whole set of images here.

gHacks has announced that Opera 10.5 has been released a few days ahead of its December 22, 2009 release. Which is probably the best thing that could happen to Opera which is suffering in the competition to being the World’s favorite browser. In July 2009, Opera’s market share was only 2% of English-language sites according to Hits Link. Images in this post are courtesy of Techie Buzz.

The leaked build, which are legitimate but from an older build than the actual general release, shows us a “new interface, better compatibility with Windows 7, private browsing, and a new rendering system that should provide for fast browsing on the Internet”.

Expect to see some tweaks and bug fixes when the actual 10.5 release hits the tangled tubes of the Internet. Carakan, Opera’s new ECMAScript/javascript engine, is not present in the current release. You can find the leaked Opera build if you can search in the right spots, so have fun “Googling”.

Non-profit Mozilla and its Firefox 3.5 Internet browser have managed to dethrone Microsoft and its Internet Explorer 7 browser. This comes as the first time that Firefox has beaten out Internet Explorer in browser market share as a single version.

As the chart released by StatsCounter show, Firefox 3.5 has spun past all other Internet browsers in user choice as a single version. Internet Explorer comes in first, however, with 55 percent of the market share with all versions combined.

Mozilla’s browser ended the week with 21.93 percent of the market share. IE7 came in a close second with 21.20%. The successor to IE7, Internet Explorer 8, comes in third with 20.33 percent, with IE6 coming in fourth.

Combined version’s market share still shows Internet Explorer as the king of web browsers with 55.42 percent of the market share. Firefox ended with 31.95 percent so it still has a little while to go before it surpasses Internet Explorer completely. Perhaps publicity of Firefox 4 will bring them ahead of the Microsoft-branded Internet browser?

Opera managed to lose points from it’s share decreasing it from 2 percent in June to 0.94 percent now, letting Safari 4 bring in just over 3 percent.

Microsoft has now entered the market of digitally distributing PC games by offering its popular “Games for Windows” catalog for download in a new platform called Games on Demand. With its already popular Xbox 360 Games on Demand platform, Microsoft is looking to create a little more competition against Stardock’s Impulse and Valve's Steam.

The big difference between Games on Demand and another program like Steam is the fact that PC games can be purchased using both Microsoft Points and actual cash money. Microsoft could be on to something as Impulse and Steam have already proven that the digitally distributed store model.

"With Games on Demand, we didn't just want to create a cut-and-paste version of existing digital distribution services," said Mike Ybarra, general manager of LIVE Engagement Services, in a comment to Kotaku. "We challenged ourselves to deliver an integrated platform that takes full advantage of the unique capabilities offered by the LIVE service. Our goal has always been to create a seamless online gaming experience for the Windows community, and Games on Demand is a great step toward that end."

Current PC games included in the platform’s initial launch are Resident Evil 5, Red Faction: Guerilla, DiRT 2, a free Live-enabled version of Tinker, a Windows Vista Ultimate exclusive, a Live-enabled version of World of Goo and Osmos, and Fallout 3 among others.

View: Games on Demand

We were surprised yesterday to hear that Nokia is moving ahead with both Symbian and Maemo phones, but reassured by their admission that the Symbian UI kinda blows. Well, now we have juicy screenshots of improvements they've got in mind.

Nokia's device top dog, Kai Öistämö, reiterated that they don't see the Symbian OS as the problem—just the interface. Accordingly, they're planning two big interface milestones for 2010, the first of which will arrive by mid-year. They plan to:

"Use a new optimized graphic architecture with a focus on graphics and responsiveness, showcased beautifully on a large capacitive screen. Later in the year, a completely new visual architecture re-working of the UI will drastically reduce the complexity throughout and bring fresh appeal. We will execute here." Big screens hey? That concept tablet in the slides sure looks interesting...

Beyond reduced clutter, Nokia also plans to improve input methods (including multi-touch and single tap controls). "Two taps to get to music and video instead of 8, and email access in two steps instead of four….There will also be a significantly improved browser experience."

"The interface will be over three times faster than our current high-end devices in many areas…Scrolling will move up to over 60fps compared to 15fps on our current high-end devices."

If they deliver, it may help Symbian phones (both smartphone and dumb) level off out of their nosedive into irrelevance. And interestingly, Nokia also plans to release its first Maemo 6-powered "mobile computer" late next year, too. FYI: The screens are from yesterday's webcast of Nokia's Capital Market Day for investors: [Nokia]

A woman is potentially facing three years in jail for recording three minutes of New Moon, the sequel to Twilight. Three years. In Jail. Over Twilight.

Samantha Tumpach claims that she should not face the harsh punishment intended for bootleggers, because all she was doing is recording family members singing "Happy Birthday" to her sister in the theater. Any footage of the movie screen was completely accidental, according to Tumpach.

I honestly don't care about whether she was trying to bootleg the movie or not, I just plain think she should be jailed for considering a surprise birthday party at a showing of New Moon a wise idea. [Sun Times via Digg]

In this installment of Now Available: Dell's snazzy Vostro 1015 laptop, WowWee's sweet-as-cinnamon pico projector, the not-so-hot Samsung Omnia II, and the Nokia N900, a smartphone that's so smart it's not even a smartphone.

Dell's Vostro 1015, the rare business laptop that brings a halfway elegant design to the boardroom table, is now available. The base model of the 15.6" laptop costs $429 but only comes with a 2.2GHz Celeron 900 processor, so you will likely want to make the jump to the $629 model which sports a 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo T6670. You know, to ensure that Excel performs snappily. Or at least for making sure you can snappily Alt-Tab back to Excel when the boss strolls by. The $629 price tag also gets you 3GB of RAM, a 320 GB HD and Windows 7 Professional. To check out more details on the Dell Vostro 1015, head over to Dell.

The Samsung Omnia II is now available at Verizon for $200. Though the Omnia II sports a pretty 3.7" touch screen, that beauty is only skin-deep; John thought just about everything else was a hot mess. The phone runs WinMo 6.5 mucked up with Samsung's 3D-Cube TouchWiz 2.0 UI and is the first phone to feature Swype input technology, which may or may not save you some time when you're texting all your friends to tell them that your new phone sucks. The Omnia II packs a 5-megapixel camera, an 8 GB HD, and supports both social networking widgets and Microsoft Office Mobile. To be the first person to submit an expense report via Swype, head to Verizon.

The Nokia N900 Maemo which, Nokia will have you know, is mobile computer and not a smartphone, is now available. For $570 you can fetch an unlocked N900 with a 600 MHz processor, a 32 GB hard drive, a 5-megapixel camera capable of capturing 800 x 400 video, and all the other expected bells and whistles. The N900 has a slide-out hardware keyboard for all your texting—err, mobile computing—needs, supports playback of a wide range of both audio and video file formats and offers VoIP integration. All of this is packed into Nokia's Debian-based Maemo OS which the company's announcement boasted as offering "computer-grade performance in a compact size". Ooh and ahh at the impressive N900 and its correspondingly grandiose website here.

The Cinemin Swivel Pico Projector by WowWee, a $300 pocket-size projector designed for use with other pocket-size devices, is now yours for the having. The Cinemin swivels on a 90-degree hinge for versatile projection without a tripod, which is sweet like cinnamon but only offers 480 x 320 resolution, which is like the minimum of cinema, thus Cinemin. That might not be what they had in mind with the name but I'm sticking to it. You can get your hands on the little guy over at Amazon.

In a new beta that they’ll be releasing tomorrow, Microsoft is making the transition to Silverlight for their online mapping application. In this new beta are quite a few interesting features, which are outlined below:

• High Detail Street Level Images:

Moving into that familiar territory previously rules by Google Maps, Microsoft is trying to gain some ground. With the release tomorrow, Microsoft says they’ll have about 100 U.S. cities mapped out with street-level images taken by the company itself, much like those that Google captures. In addition to that, however, using a combination of geo-tagging and phenomenal algorithms, they’ve incorporated some of the technology we saw when Photosynth was released from Microsoft Live Labs at the end of 2008.

We’ll be able to “walk” through the images captured by users around the world, and essentially have a 3D view of everything in the area from a combination of those users’ photographs.

• Extra Info:

In addition to the images, we’ll be able to access traffic data, weather stats, information about local companies, financial stats, and local news for the city in question. For example, when we’re zoomed into New York, we’ll be able to access the headlines for that day, the current weather condition, and the traffic data for the street we’re viewing.

This is a very innovative way to congregate data from places all around the world.

• Tweets and Facebook:

Microsoft has already set up a partnership with Twitter that will allow Microsoft to analyze the geolocation metadata embedded in tweets with their recently-announced geolocation service. Bing Maps will display relevant Tweets based on importance and the location in question if the user requests them.

Although a deal hasn’t been made yet, Microsoft has plans to set up a deal with Facebook and provide users with yet more data based on geolocation: Facebook photos and status updates. There’s nothing conclusive about this yet, but I’m assuming that when you’re logged into a Facebook-connected Windows Live account, you’ll be able to view relevant status updates and photos from your friends at various locations.

If executed properly, Microsoft could use this tight social network integration, and their powerful image congregation services to gain a huge share of the market. There are some awesome innovations present in this new app – they just need to use them correctly.

Earlier this week, Microsoft released their completely free anti-virus/anti-spyware solution,but it deserves our official endorsement, and that’s right here.

That’s right, we’re officially recommending Microsoft Security Essentials as our free Anti-Malware utility of choice. Not only is it simple, easy to use, and effective—it also barely slows down the computer compared to some of the giant “suites” out there.

As a real-world test, I installed MSE and started downloading from some really shady sources—pirated video games, crack files, etc. I simply opened up the directory containing the files, and MSE had already detected the threat and offered to quarantine the files.

The same thing happened again when I tried to extract a pirated piece of software that contained a virus. (I specifically downloaded one containing a virus to test… but please, don’t try this at home).

Of course, it should go without saying that you should STILL BE CAREFUL! when downloading files—you can’t simply trust your anti-malware utility to protect you all the time, because new threats come out daily. Don’t download from shady sources, don’t install crapware on your computer, and whatever you do… make sure to use a custom install and be prepared to uncheck the options for junk software when installing.

Download Microsoft Security Essentials from microsoft.com

So well all know the world's not ending in 2012, so I get to graduate happily from secondary school and Microsoft gets to brainwash more children with another operating system. But thankfully, people won't have to complaining about upgrades for another three years, because Codename Windows 8 (just as creatively named as Windows 7) is set for release around 2012.

In reality, news like this isn't surprising, as larger companies tend to get started on their next products right away to keep the wheels spinning, but it's nice to know approximately when Microsoft plans to drop us another OS, though it may be delayed again like Vista, thanks to it being a "Major Release".

Google have recently shown a few select people a new UI for their Search engine, now, thanks to Gizmodo this is available to all. The process only takes a few short steps and is a great improvement over the regular UI. Here’s how to do it.

1. Go to Google.com.
2. Once it loads, enter this code into your web browser's URL address field:

javascript:void(document.cookie="PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com");

There shouldn't be any http://google.com in front of that. Just that code.

3. Hit enter.
4. Reload or open a new Google.com page and you will have access to the new user interface.

The Microsoft Office 2010 Beta is now live. The previously available Technical Preview is now outdated, and users can download and install the official Beta versions.

The official website for the pre-release office suite offers lots of information to everybody about the different applications offered within the suite, its functionality, what's new, and the most important thing: the actual suite itself. Similar to other beta programs from Microsoft, testers will need to submit a Live ID in order to download the suite and retrieve a product key to activate it. TechNet subscribers can also find this in their catalogues.

Along with the desktop suite, users can test the Office Web Apps and Office Mobile. The first one is an online adaptation of Office 2010, available for use through Windows Live Skydrive (the files have to be uploaded via Backstage View in the desktop version of the application in order to use this functionality) allowing for work from anywhere with Internet access (and isn't blocking SkyDrive), while the latter is for Windows Mobile users.

Office 2010 Beta does not offer many new features over the Technical Preview, though it has been improved both visually and performance-wise. The co-authoring (collaboration) feature is something you may want to check out, and of course, the Web Apps.

The desktop version requires a processor running at 500MHz, 256MB of RAM, 3GB of hard drive space, and a 1024x768 resolution. It also requires one of the following: XP SP3 (x86), Vista SP1+ (x86/x64), Server 2003 R2 (x86/x64), Server 2008 SP2 (x86/x64), or Windows 7 (x86/x64).

Download it here (Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta).

Google held a small event today where they officially announced and showed off Google’s operating system adaptation of their highly successful browser – Chrome. While what they showed off isn’t anywhere near completion and is in fact Chromium OS (the difference between this and Chrome OS is exactly the same as the difference in the two browsers). We’ll get you up to date with Google’s latest innovation, and everything you’ll need to know in here.

What is it?

Simply put, it’s Linux and Chrome smashed together into an operating system. In other words, Google took the open-source operating system and modified it with a nice build of Chromium and added some functionality to it in order to optimize it as a full operating system versus a simple browser.

Google’s even provided a nice video about it, which should cover the basics.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QRO3gKj3qw)

There’s also Google’s other explanation:

“Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks" and "most of the user experience takes place on the web." That is, it's "Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel" with the web as the platform. It runs on x86 processors (like your standard Core 2 Duo) and ARM processors (like inside every mobile smartphone). Underneath lies security architecture that's completely redesigned to be virus-resistant and easy to update.”

What’s so special about this?

So we’ve all seen the three big contenders: Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. This one technically fits under Linux, but it’s something different at the same time.

The image above is Google’s visual representation of what goes on when you boot an OS versus what goes on when you boot into Google’s OS. As you can see, Google is focusing on a shooter boot sequence, therefore a shorter boot time, and therefore getting the user to what they want, and fast. We’ve seen Microsoft work on this in Windows 7, first promising a sub-15 second boot, and later changing it to a sub-30 second one, but Chrome OS is even faster, which we’ll cover in just a bit.

Chrome OS also offers virtual desktops, which is like our multiple app instances, so basically just more than one window open for Chrome.

What’s really special about Chrome OS, and this is the actual purpose of it, is that it’s built for the typical user. The typical user that primarily uses the Internet. The one that really doesn’t need power and all those other apps. You could even say it’s the Wii of operating systems.

It’s fast, but how fast?

Fast. Just, fast. The live demonstration today offered us a 7 second boot to the login screen, then another 4 seconds to get to the desktop. 11 seconds. You wouldn’t even be logging into your account on Windows by that time. Some might even think: If it’s so fast, this thing must be really simple and/or crap! And that’s a good point. How exactly did they get it to be so fast?

There’s the custom firmware and optimized kernel, allowing the OS to skip a lot of hardware checks that current OS’s are forced to do. Also, the operating system itself is essentially a browser, which well, isn’t all that big. With those requirements, hardware requirements aren’t high; therefore manufacturers can sell larger “netbooks”, as in current laptop-sized computers with current netbook hardware, something many consumers would enjoy.

Wait, so where is everything?

The thing with Chrome OS is that it’s our launch into cloud computing. Almost everything you’ll be pulling onto the screen with this will be from the large cloud, commonly referred to as the Internet. Even with that fact, Chrome OS will still utilize your computer’s components that we traditionally use for our applications and gaming for just about everything inside the improved browser. And speaking of applications, all of them will be web apps, so you’ll have to use the Google Apps (which are quite nice, and we also saw a Google Wave refresh earlier, which will suit Chrome OS quite nicely), along with anything else you can find on the web, such as Microsoft’s anticipated Office Web Apps.

In case you aren’t in a place where you can get access to the web, the HTML5 functionality will store data for offline use. But if you are online, your friends can hope onto your netbook and log right into their accounts, since everything’s in the cloud.

Plus, there’s no hassle of installing or updating due to this fact, unless the OS itself receives an update.

What’s the catch?

First off: no hard-drives. Chrome OS only supports flash drives. Google is also hoping for Chrome OS to be paired with devices that are approved by them and deemed an official Google Chrome OS Device.

It doesn’t look that different from Chrome, the browser. The only difference would be the clock and two “tray icons” at the top right corner and app tabs, along with one in the top left corner that acts as a sort of “Start Menu”.

Oh, and that whole Linux thing? Linux really isn’t very much of a part in this.

Plus, Chrome OS isn’t for everyone: "If you're a lawyer, editing contracts back and forth, this will not be the right machine for you."

That’s it?

No, there’s definitely changes down the road. For example, here’s Google’s concept:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ57xzo287U)

Where can I get it?

The completed version of Chrome OS won’t be done for another year, though you can grab the source here and give it a quick spin if you want. Be warned though, this isn’t even a beta yet, so it’s bound to have its quirks. Google Chrome OS is also intended for netbooks, but will work with desktops and laptops. Stay tuned for news about Google Chrome OS, as we will be sure to keep our eyes peeled and to inform you about it!

Update: gdgt has packaged up a VMWare image along with one suited for Virtual Box in which you can give Chrome OS a test spin. If you have an account with gdgt, go right ahead and download it. If not, they’ll guide you through setting one up. Once you’ve downloaded the image, the kind folks at Engadget have created a video outlining the install and setup process that will help get you on your feet.

Electronic Arts Inc. is shutting down its Westwood-based game developer Pandemic Studios just two years after acquiring it, putting nearly 200 people out of work. The struggling video game publisher informed employees Tuesday morning that it was closing the studio as part of a recently announced plan to eliminate 1,500 jobs, or 16% of its global workforce. Pandemic has about 220 employees, but an EA spokesman said that a core team, estimated by two people close to the studio to be about 25, will be integrated into the publisher's other Los Angeles studio, in Playa Vista. EA bought Pandemic, along with sibling development studio Bioware Corp., in 2007 for a then-record $775 million in cash and stock.

In an internal memo posted on the news blog Kotaku, Nick Earl, senior vice president of the EA Games label, said Pandemic is being closed to "improve our cost structure, ensure quality and build schedule integrity for this studio." EA reported a loss of $391 million last quarter on a 13.5% drop in revenue. The company is trying to reshape itself to produce fewer console games and focus on online games that generate revenue from advertising and subscriptions. Last week it agreed to buy Internet social gaming developer Playfish Inc. in a deal worth up to $400 million.

Pandemic was started in 1997 by former employees of Santa Monica publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. Co-founders Andrew Goldman and Josh Resnick, who have been with the company that entire time, are leaving as part of Tuesday's studio closure. Next month, EA will release the last game developed by Pandemic, a World War II action thriller called the Saboteur. Other games made by Pandemic for which the Playa Vista team may produce sequels include the over-the-top action series Mercenaries and military tactical franchise Full Spectrum Warrior.

Mionix, the Swedish manufacturer of professional high-end gaming accessories today unveiled their new gaming mouse, Mionix Naos 5000. Ergonomically designed and stuffed with new and innovative features, Mionix Naos 5000 not only stands out from the crowd, it sets new standards when it comes to comfort, tracking capacity and customization options.

"When we started this project our goal was to create a fully adjustable and innovative gaming mouse with unique features. It has been very challenging and we put in a lot of effort to archieve our goals. Mionix Naos 5000 is a big step forward to become one of the world's leading manufacturer of gaming accessories with a wide range of gaming products that gamers can identify themselves with. We are very proud to be the first Swedish manufacturer of gaming accessories to develop a gaming mouse", says Carl Conradsson, Mionix.

WHERE INNOVATION MEETS PERFORMANCE

The design of Mionix Naos 5000 is interesting due to the fully support to all five fingers. It has been under development since the beginning of this year and has been tested by gamers, both professionals and amateurs in order to find the perfect ergonomic grip.

The new innovative weight tuning system is completely new to the market. Gaming mice with traditional positioned weight tuning systems sometimes gets heavy in the back. In order to prevent this, Mionix Naos 5000 has a centralized weight tuning system that improves the weight distribution of the mouse. Another stunning feature is the S.Q.A.T (Surface Quality Analyzer Tool), a smart tool that measures the tracking quality of the mousepad surface.

Mionix Naos 5000 carries only carefully chosen high-end components. The 6 integrated LEDs supports extensive color options and can be configured from the software among other functions such as adjustable lift-distance, dpi sensitivity, macros and much more. Mionix Naos 5000 also has a built-in memory that manages up to 5 profiles, when you go on LAN just plug in your mouse and start immediately, no driver or other software needs to be installed.

A STAR HAS BEEN BORN

This prominent gaming mouse is named after the star Naos, a blue super giant and one of the brightest stars in our galaxy. Naos means "ship" and is enough powerful to create comet tails and huge clouds of auroras visible from Earth. Naos is constantly moving away from its original position in the constellation of Vela and it spins about 100 times faster than our sun. Since its birth it has covered a distance of 400 light-years. No one knows exactly why Naos has such a high rotation speed, but an explanation to this phenomenon lies in the gravitational interaction between many other stars.


FEATURES

• Truly ergonomic design - Truly ergonomic design with support for all five fingers
• Maximum grip - The rubber coating ensures a maximum grip
• Balanced weight tuning system - A unique weight tuning system for an optimal weight distribution
• 5040 dpi laser sensor - Remarkable tracking performance built for gaming
• 128 KB built-in memory - Bring your settings and recorded macros with you stored into one of the 5 profiles
• Customizable LED light system - Personalize your mouse with extensive color options
• S.Q.A.T : Surface Quality Analyzer Tool - Surface Quality Analyzer tool to measure the tracking quality on a certain surface
• 3 steps customizable dpi in-game adjustment - Set 3 dpi values and switch easily between them in-game
• 7 programmable buttons - The buttons can be assigned to any key, mouse command or macro
• In-game profile switch - Switch easy with a click between stored profiles in-game
• Adjustable polling rate - Tune it all the way up to 1000Hz through the software
• Plug n Play - Completely Plug n Play, software needed only for configuration

Recommended price: 71,99 € +VAT

In the fall of 2003, a group of friends from Sweden decided to launch a BitTorrent tracker named ‘The Pirate Bay’. It soon became one of the largest BitTorrent trackers on the Internet, coordinating the downloads of more than 25 million peers at its height.

Despite this success, The Pirate Bay operators today decided to pull the plug and close down the tracker permanently. The evolution of the BitTorrent protocol has made trackers redundant they say, as BitTorrent downloads work well with trackerless solutions such as DHT and PEX.

“Now that the decentralized system for finding peers is so well developed, TPB has decided that there is no need to run a tracker anymore, so it will remain down! It’s the end of an era, but the era is no longer up2date. We have put a server in a museum already, and now the tracking can be put there as well,” the Pirate Bay crew write on their blog.

Aside from this shutdown, there is also another major development quietly under discussion.

TorrentFreak has learned that behind the scenes the Pirate Bay operators are talking to other BitTorrent site owners to encourage them to follow suit and completely ditch torrents in the future. BitTorrent has reached a point where trackers and torrents are no longer needed to download files successfully. Supported by all of the major BitTorrent clients, DHT and PEX can handle the transfers and Magnet links can largely replace traditional torrent files.

“We’re talking to the other torrent admins on doing magnet links and DHT+PEX for all sites. Moving away from torrents and trackers totally – like pick a date and all agree ‘from this date, we’ll not support torrents anymore’,” a Pirate Bay insider told TorrentFreak.

Switching to trackerless and torrentless downloading on public BitTorrent sites does indeed seem to be an option. Previously, many people thought that BitTorrent would collapse if a dominant tracker like the Pirate Bay went down, but this doomsday scenario never unfolded. In fact, the recent downtime of the tracker did not slow down or stop many transfers, as DHT and PEX seamlessly took over.

Those BitTorrent users who don’t want to go trackerless just yet can of course still use OpenBitTorrent and PublicBitTorrent, or indeed one of the many other alternative trackers currently available.

Whether or not The Pirate Bay and others will move away from torrent files in the future, the closure of the world’s largest BitTorrent tracker is nevertheless a milestone in the history of the Internet. Starting today, the Pirate Bay has changed its tagline from “The world’s largest BitTorrent tracker” to “The world’s most resilient (magnetic) BitTorrent site.”

Microsoft has “cut through the clutter” and unveiled the most major facelift to the web portal site in a decade. Buffing the new logo that Long Zheng managed to locate, the new MSN is simplified, clean, informative, and elegantly minimal. One of the first things that you notice is the simplicity of the new MSN; the press release even states that the new home pages has 50% less links than its predecessor.

“Now is the time to clean up the mess on the Web — people need less clutter and less hassle to find what matters most to them,” said Erik Jorgensen, corporate vice president, Microsoft. “Microsoft is uniquely invested in search, media experiences and technical innovation. Combining these assets to deliver our new MSN home page is a tremendous win for customers and advertisers.”

Along with the simplifying, there’s also some new spiffy features that’s sure to make MSN more useful for many. With a page dedicated to local news in an area of your choosing, Twitter and Facebook integration, closer Bing integration, and integration with the Windows Live “What’s New” feature, which ties in with 50 or so social networking sites.




Here are some of the key features in the new home page, quoting the press release:

•Innovative search technology from Bing. Deeper Bing integration on the new home page helps people make faster and more informed decisions and easily find the information they want from anywhere on the Web. Bing is deeply integrated as the core search service throughout the home page via key areas such as shopping, travel and local, and as a way of highlighting hot topics, trends or people.

•Information and news people care about. The new home page delivers against the No. 1 customer request — simplicity and ease of use — through its fresh design and smart categorization. In-line high-quality, top news and hot entertainment from trustworthy sources such as MSNBC, FOX Sports, Hulu and Hearst, and comprehensive local information provide a compelling one-stop shop for people to use as their home base online. More in-depth local information is offered on the new MSN Local Edition, which is the only local online source that smartly combines media with Bing search and provides access to real-time community news that is grouped by ZIP code.

•Convenient ways to communicate. Simplicity drove the clean integration of popular social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and Windows Live “What’s New,” which aggregates up to 50 Web activities, including Yelp, Flickr, Pandora and more, onto the MSN home page. People no longer have to jump from site to site to update their status, tweets or see what their friends are up to; the new home page makes it easy to view and update in-line.
With much of the online world turning to portal sites such as MSN for their news and other interesting content, it’s important that these sites are as useful and nice as possible. If you would like to explore the new MSN home page, which is currently in preview form you may do so here.

There was VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, but apparently, all those aren't enough. Instead, Paramount teamed up with Kingston and is selling Transformers 2 on some 4GB USBs, and will offer other movies on more USB thumb drives and SD cards, similar to the PSP's offer of movies on UMDs. The 4GB Kingston DataTraveler I USB drives should be reusable, though the movie's branding will be on it. The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen version is for sale for $30.