Tag: beta

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Beta Released

Today marked the Beta Release day for the next release from Ubuntu, bringing us from Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex to Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Beta.

If you’ve been waiting for a stable version of Jaunty Jackalope to upgrade to then you may have found the right version with the release of this Beta. Although Beta indicates that the product is not complete and may contain a few bugs, I have been using Ubuntu 9.04 since the early alpha stages and have watched it develop into what it is now…which is a very solid Beta release with no problems that I’ve experienced.

If you’re ready to upgrade then you can find a simple step by step guide that I wrote: How-To: Upgrade to Ubuntu 9.04 and ext4

If you’re still not ready to upgrade then you’ve only got a month to wait until the Final Release is scheduled to be made public.

To get a full list of changes that have been introduced in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope thus far, please take a look at the Beta release notes.

The Ubuntu Dust theme is now available in the Themes list as well. I highly recommend that you give this theme a try and take a look at my Dust skin for Opera.

Also new with 9.04 is a redesigned boot screen and login window. Some new artwork, such as backgrounds, have been added to the mix as well now, however, I don’t think they are completely finished just yet.

Google Chrome: First Look at a First Release

Details regarding Google Chrome, which if you haven’t heard yet is Google’s new web browser, were recently leaked through a comic that Google released to a selected crowd of people and then the the world when it was leaked online.

The comic images show many different features of the Google Chrome browser and help to explain what’s different about Google’s browser compared to other browsers that are already available. It’s worth a read and you can read it here.

After refreshing my browser for nearly an hour, Google’s Chrome web site finally became live and I jumped at the chance to download this brand new product and give it a review.

Well the review will come shortly, however, I will go a head and reveal some screenshots of the browser and a first look response: shockingly impressive, simple and very stable!

If you want to download Google Chrome and try it for yourself then just navigate over to http://www.google.com/chrome and download and install away. Google Chrome is currently only available for the Windows platform, but Macintosh and Linux should be available soon!

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Now Available

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 is now available for testing! If you would like to learn more about it’s release you can find plenty of information on the official release blog post.

If you would like to download and test Internet Explorer 8 yourself, you can find it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/ie8

You’ll find versions for 32- and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008. In addition to English, IE8 Beta 2 is available in Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), and German. Additional languages will be available soon.

If you would like to see an overview of the new features implemented in Internet Explorer 8 then you can find them in great detail here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/08/27/internet-explorer-8-beta-2-now-available.aspx

Enjoy the early notification so you can be one of the first to test out Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2!

UPDATE (2008-08-28 @ 12:38 AM):
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 passes the Acid2 Test! Reports were made back in late December 2007 that internal builds of Internet Explorer were passing the Acid2 Test, but now we have a public release that is passing.

On the Acid3 Test, Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 scores a 21/100 with a notification at the top of the window stating that:

This website wants to run the following add-on: ‘MSXML 3.0 SP10’ from ‘Microsoft Corporation’. If you trust the website and the add-on and want to allow it to run, click here…

After running the “MSXML 3.0 SP10” add-on, Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 still only scores a 21/100.

Google Suggests: Now out of Beta

Google Suggests, which is an auto-complete feature for the popular Google search engine, has now graduated from Beat school and is now available directly on Google’s main page! The official announcement is in The Official Google Blog.

Previously the Suggests feature was only available by using a specific link to the beta version or by installing a 3rd party script or plug-in to alter Google’s main page.

If you used or tested Google Suggests while it was in the Beta stage (for around four years) then you probably realized that not much has change at all except possibly performance.

According to Katie Watson, a representative from Google’s Global Communications & Public Affairs, not everyone is able to directly use this feature just yet:

This feature is gradually rolling out over the course of this week. Some people might not be able to see it until as late as Friday, so it could take some time.

If you just can’t wait then you may have to use the old link instead until it becomes live and available to you.

11 Orgoo Invites left if anyone wants one!

I’ve still got 11 invites left for the new email service called Orgoo that integrates all of your favorite instant messaging services into the same window!

It’s a very cool new email service mainly aimed towards the younger generation, but everyone would love the integrated instant message features that Orgoo offers. It’s currently invite only, but I have 11 left to give out! If you’re interested in trying Orgoo and want an invite then all you need to do is email me with an invite request.

You can find my contact information on the About page (link located at the top). Please make sure that the subject contains [Orgoo Invite], otherwise it will most likely go straight to spam. 😉

Make sure that you mention in the comments that you sent a request as well and I’ll make sure to check my mail and send you an invite immediately. Check it out while the invites last! Else you’ll most likely be waiting for a while. If you request an invite from the main page then chances are it will take you a while to receive it, so you should take advantage of my offering. 😉

Zenbe: Everything you need in your email!

ZenbeZenbe is an exciting new e-mail service! Zenbe makes an effort to push the limits of email as we know it today.

Zenbe’s goal is to pull web services that we use everyday into one easily accessible window. If you’ve every used Digsby (an instant messaging client that I blogged about earlier) then you’ll love using Zenbe.

Zenbe can pull all of your other email accounts into one, allowing you to check them all from Zenbe instead of logging into each email service individually.

Zenbe sports a side panel that you can show or hide any time you want, which features an Agenda or Calendar tab, Address book tab, To-do list tab and a Facebook tab! The Facebook tab gives you a quick overview of what’s happening with all of your friends!

ZenPages allow you to easily share calendars, task lists, files, even email, with whomever you like…whether they use Zenbe or not. They’re also customizable, allowing you to add a map, a slideshow, a video, an RSS feed, nearly any kind of embeddable widget.

Zenbe also includes a tab at the top of the page that contains all of the files that have been emailed to you for a quick overview and makes searching for attachments a piece of cake! You can also upload files to this section to email to others or just save for later use!

Zenbe is current in the popular web 2.0 private beta stage, but you can request an invitation from the homepage! If you jumped on the Gmail bandwagon when Gmail was new then you’ll enjoy testing Zenbe and seeing the cool new features that Zenbe has to offer! Take the tour and see what you think!