Posts Tagged IE is 15

Microsoft Future Gazing Film

Jun 23

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Charles Arthur and Jemima Kiss point out that there is a ‘Star Trek’ effect in the technology world. Because a generation grows up watching futuristic gadgets in awe these actually shape the product design of the future. Motorola had a big hit with the Moto Razr (it was the biggest selling phone in its year of launch) but perhaps its design features were ‘inspired’ from somewhere else?

Microsoft have put together a great future gazing film looking at the future of interfaces. It’s really worth taking in. Thanks to Libin Pan for the mention

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The Future of Interfaces

Jun 21

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Whenever Microsoft launches something really cool it’s great for us here at Internet Explorer. We’ve been inundated with e-mails and buzz this past week following the spectacular launch of Xbox Kinect at E3 last week. No expense was spared – the show started with a 45 minute display from Cirque de Soleil to really communicate the freedom of movement you have with Kinect. Take a look below to see what everyone is getting so excited about.

Whenever a revolutionary new system comes into play – be it in consoles, mobile phones or even kitchen appliances the question is raised – when will I see this built into my computer? Kinect points to the future of interfaces and suggests that the vision in Minority Report is less far away than we ever imagined. Take a look at this fascinating presentation at TED from John Underkoffler (it really gets going about 7 mins in).

His prediction is that this style of interface will come as standard in your computer within 5 years. This week on the IE blog we’re going to do a bit more future gazing, showing Microsoft’s predictions for the future office and cool computers running IE that will amaze you even now.

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Working 9 to 5 with Web Slices

Jun 4

Posted by Blue E Blogger in Tips & Tricks | No Comments

With the emergency budget around the corner for June 22nd many businesses both large and small will be watching carefully to see what new ‘efficiency savings’ will be taken to reduce the countries £157 Billion deficit… and the effect it has on the FTSE and Dow Jones.

Continuing this week’s theme of working smarter with IE, we’ve highlighted a few more Web Slices you can use to make small efficiency savings at work.

http://www.ieaddons.com/en/details/finance/Finance_from_Bing/

http://www.ieaddons.com/en/details/news/CNN_Top_Stories/

If you’re a fan of The West Wing you’ll know that Pizza is the answer for a long night in the office.

http://www.ieaddons.com/en/details/shopping/Dominos_Pizza_Slice/

And if you’re really tired of working 9 to 5, then take a look at Dolly Partons’ own webslice. IE wonders if the song would have been as popular if she’d worked 8.30am – 4.15pm?

http://www.ieaddons.com/en/details/music/Dolly_Parton_News_and_Video_Diary/

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Bringing Home Practice into the Office

Jun 3

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We’ve had lots of people asking us for a bit more information on Web Slices and how they work. Take a look at the video below for a full tutorial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqXR79P_Uzo

Onto today’s post, then…  In today’s ever more connected world it’s easier than ever to work from home. But it’s a bit of a debate in the IE office as to whether it makes you more productive or not. Surely you’ll be distracted by the screaming kids or the washing machine??

Well the data’s in from RescueTime – working from home can boost productivity by as much as 22% with more time spent on the tasks that mattered for work. A full breakdown can be found below and on their blog at http://blog.rescuetime.com/2009/11/18/does-working-from-home-make-you-more-productive-yes-with-data/

A friend of ours pointed out that even though they’re at a FTSE 100 company (that we’ll keep nameless) their computers were so old “they literally have to crank them up in the morning, like a classic car.” This insight is telling – many companies do delay updating computers to a point that causes a worrying loss of productivity.

We’ve had a great response to IE 8 from the web community and reviewers have said “Upgrading to IE8 from IE7 is a no-brainer”. So this is another aspect where a homeworker can outperform an office worker – by have more up-to-date software at home.  If your office is a bit behind you might want to give your management a nudge… upgrading to IE8 and Windows 7 will boost productivity every minute you’re at your desk.

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Mash-Up IE with Bing Maps

Jun 1

Posted by Blue E Blogger in Tips & Tricks | No Comments

In our last post we hinted that the Internet Generation have pretty short attention spans. This new ‘slash/slash’ generation have multiple interests and expect knowledge and information at their fingertips because they’ve never known anything different.

So ask yourself this – how often do you become frustrated copying and pasting information from one page to another, only to return to the web page you were just at?! For today’s new generation cut and paste just doesn’t cut it anymore, which is where IE accelerators come in.

You’re probably surfing the net while listening to a new mash-up of Kanye West vs. Beethoven’s 5th and just don’t want to click away to bring up a map of the new underground club you’re off to on your weekend trip to New York. With IE accelerators just right click on an address and navigate to ‘Map with Bing’ and a map will appear in the page you’re in.

To download the Bing Accelerometer make sure you have IE 8 installed and send your browser to:

http://ieaddons.com/gb/details/mapping/Bing_Maps/

There’s loads of other time saving IE add-ons for the busy internet user – take a look at http://ieaddons.com/gb/

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The IE Generation will Shape Our Future

May 26

Posted by Blue E Blogger in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

It’s amazing to think that IE is now 15 years old, with version 1.0 launched back in 1995.  So today’s 18 year old will have been surfing the net with IE since the age of 3.

Today’s (only slightly older!) IE blogger remembers a time when information was far scarcer. With a nasty history teacher setting an assignment on Romulus and Remus (back in 1992) we found the two books in the library ‘out’ and scrambling for a source, asking relatives for the story of the Greek Myth. Unsurprisingly we didn’t get the best grade in the class.

But a new generation have been used to using Windows and IE from day one. Information is available at your fingertips, on your phone, netbook or laptop. The Future Laboratory call this the ‘slash/slash’ generation:

“The Slash/Slash generation are best described as do it all teens and twenty-somethings that undertake multiple careers – often creating brand names for themselves. In the age of online communities and digital media, the mash up of platforms empowers online creatives to be good at a number of things rather than just one. Why just be the lead singer of your electro band when you can also have a YouTube channel, T-shirt line, club night, record label and you can DJ, sell illustrations and make remixes.” – http://neilbennett.blogspot.com/2008/02/slash-slash-generation.html

This new generation who have grown up with the Internet are sharing information like never before – via social networks, wikis and blogs. Growing up with knowledge at their fingertips will fundamentally drive science and invention forwards faster than ever in the next 15 years – and we cannot wait to see the results.

The next post will look at how the slash/slash generation can mash-up IE with accelerators to speed up search even more. If you’re part of this generation of 18 – 25 year olds and fancy yourself as the next Bill Gates take a look at www.lifeacademy.uk.com

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