Jokes aside, ck has a review up at spherebox if you’re interested to read more about it. :)

Now the other piece of computer hardware which I got hold of recently is the Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000. Yes, I actually bought a M$ product. >:| I’ve procrastinated for months in getting a new keyboard even though the 2 year old Logitech standard keyboard keys have gotten really stiff requiring rather strong key beatings which probably weren’t kind to my wrist and fingers.

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Read the rest of the review at spherebox.

Since it has been a long time since I last used it, I exported my feeds from Bloglines to OPML format and subsequently imported it into Google Reader. No drama here as this process was flawless. There was a delay of a few minutes before all the imported feeds showed up with the recent items in the subscriptions list on the left.

Once everything was in place, the updated Google Reader proved to be pretty impressive. Compared to its predecessor, the interface is now a lot more usable (finally has a decent scrollbar and tree view) and in short, seemed like a AJAX-ified Bloglines. The ‘scroll tracking’ feature is rather intuitive as it would mark items as read when you scroll past them which is rather handy if you want to switch to other subscriptions (feeds) or tags (folders) and get back to it later (most other RSS readers would mark all items in a subscription as read the moment you open it). However, this feature doesn’t seem to work properly with subscriptions which only have 1 item which didn’t require any scrolling to read it (manually marking the item as read was required instead).

Besides that minor issue, I don’t have any other negatives to bring up. I would definitely take back the negative comments I made about it. ;) The latest update makes it very compelling to switch and its similarity to Gmail would make it a perfect candidate for those who already use Gmail and want to get started with using an RSS reader.

So while I was getting awed by the updated Google Reader, I noticed subtle user interface changes to the left pane of Bloglines. It was announced by the Bloglines team soon after I noticed it, and in my opinion, were excellent minor tweaks.

AJAX is now used in the left pane which makes it a lot snappier as the whole frame is longer refreshed. Very impressive for such a minor change as it definitely delivers a huge difference in responsiveness. Besides that, they have also reduced the time it automatically refreshes the feeds.

Since my last post on Bloglines, I’m happy to report it has not gone down at all and has been reliably delivering all the updates of my feeds. Kudos to the Bloglines team for the great work they’ve done!

The resurgence of a strong competitor to IE in the form of Mozilla Firefox has caused Microsoft to restart its efforts in this arena. After about a year and a half since the announcement that the 7th version of IE was in development, Release Candidate 1 (latest version at time of writing) of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) has been released to the public for testing. A RC1 status would mean a close to complete final version where the goal would be to iron out bugs which appear before the final release is shipped. With lots of promise by Microsoft that this browser will help stem its eroding market share, here are the new features which have been introduced to regain its foothold.

New look-and-feel (and name)

First thing you would notice once you start it up is the name change. As part of Microsoft’s rebranding exercise, it is no longer called Microsoft Internet Explorer but Windows Internet Explorer instead. The overall look and feel of the browser has been tweaked rather substantially, with the placement of buttons changed and certain toolbars hidden from view by default. Compared to Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), it is slimmer and thus takes up less vertical screen space. The address bar is now sandwiched between the back/forward buttons and the stop/refresh buttons which are on its left and right respectively. Most other browsers have these buttons grouped together on the left of the address bar and if this was aimed to differ it from other browsers, I personally believe it is a mistake. Another addition where the idea seems to have originated from other browsers is the search box, located at the right of the stop button.

Tabbed browsing

A greatly overdue feature that should have been implemented years ago is tabbed browsing. It allows multiple websites (tabs) to be contained within a single browser window which reduces clutter on your taskbar when you have too many IE windows open and also allows you to quickly switch between different pages more efficiently. IE based web browsers such as Maxthon and Avant Browser have long had this feature by encapsulating multiple windows into its shell, but this is the first version of IE from Microsoft which has tabbed browsing built-in.

A nice feature which is currently unique to IE7 is the ability to visually preview the content of the currently available tabs and switch between them through the Quick Tabs function.

Security features

Security vulnerabilities have continually plagued IE6 allowing alternative web browsers to use this point to lure people away to use their browsers instead. ActiveX, a technology which is enabled in IE to enable interactive content on websites has constantly been the main entry point of spyware/malware infections as it is easily exploited. In IE7, an ‘ActiveX opt-in’ mechanism has been put in place to ensure only the essential ActiveX controls are enabled while the rest are disabled unless explicitly allowed to.

Phishing filter

Phishing (pronounced ‘fishing’) to the uninitiated is using scam-like techniques to fraudulently gain sensitive information such as credit card details or passwords. Tricks usually revolve around emails which are carefully disguised as legitimate official correspondence from financial institutions with links pointing to a fraudulent website. The phishing filter built into IE7 would scan websites you visit and immediately block access if it finds a match in Microsoft’s database of known phishing sites. If the site is not found in the database but contains elements of a typical site of that nature, you would be alerted as well. Judging by its usefulness, it seems odd that this feature is actually disabled by default.

RSS

As publishers everywhere have started syndicating their content using RSS (Really Simple Syndication), it was only natural for IE to support this. A feed reader and discovery tool is included in IE7 which enables the automatic detection of a feed presence as well as viewing and subscribing to feeds.

So, should you upgrade to this browser when the final version is released? Well, it actually will be done automatically unless you tell it otherwise. The update to IE7 will be automatically distributed as a high priority update through Windows Update when it is released.

That said, IE7 does indeed resolve shortcomings prevalent in IE6 besides introducing much needed features to bring it up to par with alternative browsers currently available and thus is a worthy update. Unfortunately, Microsoft would have to do a lot more if it wishes to regain the market share it has lost as the new version does not offer anything revolutionary but only manages to keep up with the two of its closest competitors, Mozilla Firefox and Opera.