One of our goals with Internet Explorer 8 was to improve the experience of managing add-ons by bringing more types of add-ons into the management experience, and to make that experience more usable. Originally introduced in Windows XP Service Pack 2, we’ve updated the management UI in a big way for IE8.

Here’s a screen shot of the new UI:

A familiar interface…

When you look at the Manage Add-ons UI, you’ll probably feel comfortable with it quickly – it looks a lot like a Windows File Explorer window or the Control Panel in Windows Vista. You choose a category of object types from the left to view that list on the right. Select any item in the list and the details pane at the bottom will display information about the selected add-on.

Most changes you make in Manage Add-ons take effect immediately, although some (like disabling a toolbar or explorer bar) might still require you to restart Internet Explorer.

… with lots of improvements over IE7

You can resize the window to fit your screen resolution and personal preference, and can choose custom columns, grouping, and sorting order. These preferences will be remembered the next time you open Manage Add-ons.

Additionally:

• You can select multiple Add-ons from the list (CTRL+click or drag to multi-select)
• The list supports right-click context menu actions
• Details about add-ons can be copied to the Windows clipboard and into email, a document editor, or a spreadsheet so you can share the list with tech support (or friends or family) more easily

No updates are required to existing controls to show up in this list

Developers do not need to make changes to existing controls to continue to be managed in IE8. However, with the richer set of information and controls put in the hands of the user in IE8, control authors might wish to provide more detailed information with their controls. While the same set of information (such as publisher or version) is available in IE8 as was available in IE7, now it’s easier for users to view it. Add-ons without sufficient information (like an empty publisher name or version number) are often removed or disabled by users.

Add-on developers should read this article and this blog post about ActiveX best practices for more information on how to properly develop IE add-ons.

It’s easier to get information about installed add-ons and find new add-ons with IE8

More detailed information about installed add-ons is available at a glance with IE8. We’ve also added links to make it easy to accomplish common tasks:

• Find more add-ons with a single click. Just click “Find more add-ons…”
• Don’t know what an add-on does? Click “Search for this add-on via default search provider” and we’ll help you find information about it online via your current default search provider
• Want to know more about add-ons in general? Click “Learn more about add-ons”
• Clicking “More information” displays more detailed technical information about installed add-ons, including file names, versions, and other properties. You can even view or clear the list of websites that ActiveX controls are allowed to run on for per-site installed ActiveX controls
• Right-click any add-on to get easy access to common actions (like enable or disable)

New types to manage

In Internet Explorer 8, the list of add-ons you can manage has been expanded to include Explorer Bars, Search Providers, and Activities.

Explorer Bars

Explorer Bars are an extensibility type like toolbars that are supported by previous versions of Internet Explorer and IE8, but not listed in Manage Add-ons prior to IE8. With IE8 they are available so you have more control over what’s running in your browser.

Search Providers

In IE7 we added support for OpenSearch Search Providers, but they had their own, separate management window. We’ve kept the functionality of the management experience for Search Providers in IE8, but moved it here. IE8 helps you to quickly see what Search Providers are installed, which is your default, and where it is sending information when you submit a search. Additionally, you can change the order that Search Providers are listed (IE7 always sorted them alphabetically).

Internet Explorer 8 continues to support the OpenSearch standard for Search Providers. You can read more about OpenSearch here.

Activities

Activities, which are new to IE8, are also managed from the Manage Add-ons window. Just like Search Providers, you can view, manage, and remove installed Activities, find new Activities, and learn more about Activities directly from this window.

Managing Add-ons in No Add-ons Mode

IE7 and IE8 support “No Add-ons Mode,” a troubleshooting mode. When you run IE this way, no 3^rd party code runs, which allows you to do things like disable troublesome controls or repair Windows via Windows Update (which is why that control is allowed to run in this mode). You can start No Add-ons Mode in a few ways:

• Type iexplore –extoff in the Run box on the Start menu
• Click “Internet Explorer (No Add-ons)” under All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools
• Right-clicking the IE icon on the Start Menu (if IE is your default browser) and selecting “Browse Without Add-Ons”

In IE7 you couldn’t run Manage Add-ons while in No Add-ons Mode, but in IE8, you can. In fact, if you click the information bar that appears when you’re running in No Add-ons Mode, it offers a quick and convenient access point to Manage Add-ons:

Remember, No Add-ons Mode is designed for troubleshooting IE. It’s probably not the way you want to experience websites all the time, as a lot of important functionality is often provided via add-ons.

To exit No Add-ons Mode, simply close that browser window.

In Summary

We designed the Manage Add-ons interface to be more comprehensive in the types of objects it manages and the types of actions you can take. I’m interested in hearing any questions and feedback about this new management experience. Just leave a comment in the blog and I’ll read it!

Thanks!

Christopher Vaughan
Program Manager

Many commonly used applications and Windows system components depend on the MSIE WebBrowser control to render webpages from within their program. Unlike live sites, pages loaded within these controls are typically static resources stored in libraries and executables on a system. While webmasters can easily alter their site to render properly in the new version of IE, many software vendors do not have the resources to instantly push out new versions of their applications with updated internal pages. In order to ensure that these existing applications remain in working order, IE8 renders pages running within instances of the WebBrowser control in IE7 Standards Mode by default.

Per-Application WebBrowser Control Rendering Settings

The test container shown above uses the IE7 Standards Mode run by default within WebBrowser control containers. While this mode works well with existing applications, developers building new applications may want to use the new IE8 Standards rendering mode as shown below.

When an executable loads an instance of the WebBrowser control it scans the registry to check whether the executable wants IE7 Standards or IE8 Standards mode.

To run a WebBrowser control in IE7 Standards Mode, insert the following values into the registry:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_NATIVE_DOCUMENT_MODE]

"MyApplication.exe"=dword:11170

To run in IE8 Standards Mode insert the following registry value:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_NATIVE_DOCUMENT_MODE]

"MyApplication.exe"=dword:13880

In both of these instances, MyApplication.exe should be replaced with the name of the executable that will be running WebBrowser controls in a specified mode.

User-Agent String and WebBrowser Quirks Mode Rendering Issues

Specification of an IE rendering mode also applies to IE5 Quirks Mode. To run instances of a WebBrowser control in IE5 Quirks Mode, insert the following value into the registry:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_NATIVE_DOCUMENT_MODE]

"MyApplication.exe"=dword:C350

Due to a known bug in the IE8 Beta 1 build, the User-Agent String returned by the browser instance will state that it is “MSIE 8.0” (as shown in the screenshot above). Knowledge Base Article 183412 provides a workaround for this scenario.

IE Version Targeting and WebBrowser Rendering Modes

As with webpages displayed in an IE window, pages hosted in a WebBrowser control can also override rendering settings by using the X-UA-Compatible meta tag to specify a rendering mode. For more information on formatting and values for the version targeting META tag see Scott Dickens’ latest post here.

Matthew David Crowley
Program Manager
Internet Explorer Extensibility

I don't know if Leanord Shapiro is a blogger or whether his work appears in the Washington Post on a regular basis.
What I do know is that this post about Mixed Martial Arts and CBS is absolutely ridiculous and worthless.

Nor do I have any idea what " Special to washingtonpost.com" means. Does it mean that this is exclusive to the newspaper's website ? My guess is that in this case it actually describes Mr Shapiro's reduced faculties and no one wants to use a pejorative adjective. Hence the use of the word "special".

What I do know is that Mr Shapiro is hopelessly out of touch, and unquestionably uneducated about Mixed Martial Arts and the athletes that participate when he says "You put two guys (usually heavily tattooed) in a ring enclosed by a cage, surrounded by a howling mob, and just watch the blood flow as they pummel themselves into submission, or occasionally break a bone or three. That's entertainment?"

The he shows his sexist side with " Oh yes, women will also fight it out on CBS, yet another revolting development."

Then to show how little mis-informed he is " Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is getting involved, promoting MMA matches and also airing them on his HDNet channel on DirecTV. For that alone David Stern ought to fine and suspend him. He probably yells at those refs, too ".

Hey Leanord, HDNet is on every smart cable and satellite provider reaching more than 66mm homes. But if you get us on DirecTV, thats great. Maybe you should actually try watching one of our MMA events, or Inside MMA on Friday Nights on HDNet. You might learn what MMA fans have come to love about the sport. Its one of strategy, discipline, athleticism and determination. What I really love about MMA is that anyone can be beaten on any given day. Its not a cliche. The number of undefeated fighters at the top of the ranks are few and far between and even those fighters will tell you it would be tough to stay undefeated. More importantly, the top fighters in the sport from Randy Couture, to Fedor, to St Pierre, to Silva to Jackson and more want to fight the best. Thats what makes this, and any sport fun. Recognizing the best striving to be the best.


To your question "So why is it that nearly any time I happen to surf past the Spike or Showtime cable networks that currently carry MMA events, the combatants are beating the bloody bejabbers out of each other?"

Maybe rather than surfing past the fights, you should actually watch one. Or better yet, since you apparently cover Football, talk to a player on the Redskins or better yet, the team doctor and ask them if they "beat the bloody bejabbers out of each other". Then ask them this, "are there automatic suspensions for any hints of concussions or injury after every game or simply for precautionary reasons ?" There are after every fight in MMA

In fact, the argument can easily be made that MMA is far more science and humane than boxing has been. In MMA a fighter must know multiple disciplines in order to be successful. In MMA, a fighter need not fight until he or she is knocked out. Unlike the shame of "throwing in the towel" or "No Mas" its acceptable to tapout and avoid injury when a fighter is beaten.

Furthermore, to refer to MMA fans as " a howling mob " further proves your ignorance.

I could go on and on about MMA. Its always easy to dismiss what you don't understand. As you prove.

MMA is easily the fastest growing sport in America. Participation is growing with kids starting classes as young as 6. Its this generation's equivalent to karate classes for kids of previous generations. Which makes the prospects for MMA even more exciting. Today's crop of athletes started by learning a single discipline and then adding others. Future generations will learn them all and add their own enhancements. The best is yet to come.

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After a successful run with the IE7 beta, we’re bringing back our monthly online Expert Zone Chats with members of the IE team. The first is this Thursday, March 20^th at 10:00 PDT/17:00 UTC. These chats are a great opportunity to have your questions answered and hear from members of the IE product team.  In case you miss the chat, a transcript will be published afterward and available online.

As we saw with the IE7 beta, these chats are a lot of fun and we hope you can join us online.

Kristen Kibble
Program Manager

I can't help myself. I have to keep this discussion about blogging going.

Is blogging just the end result of someone's input into a Content Management System. Of course it is. So what. You could point a URL to a daily post in a discussion forum. It would have far better interactivity than a blog, and would be just as easy to post as often as the author would like. Does that make the output purely a forum post ? Or for those old school among us, putting up a page on a website could be a blog, a column, a report, whatever. The manner of how you post something to the web is not even worth discussing. A blog is a blog is a blog.

If you blog, regardless of what software you use, you are a blogger and what you produce is a blog. If you want to call yourself a columnist, so be it. If you are a reporter in a 1 page internet only publication, yes you are.

From there, only one question comes up. Why. Why ? Why do you do what you do. Is it because:

You get paid to do it ?

Because you want to promote something or to promote yourself ?

Because you want to start a discussion ?

Because you want to communicate with customers, fans or ??

Because its a way to say whats on your mind ?

Because you want to make money from it ?

I'm sure there are other reasons to communicate on the web. What software you use, even whether you use video, text and/or pictures, really doesn't matter.

What matters is why you do what you do.

For most of us, we start on the furthest reaches of the long tail of all content. To make money from whatever it is we produce is not only difficult, its near impossible. To get off the long tail is near impossible as well. Only a few will ever find their way to a point of generating enough consumers of our content to have any choice in whether we monetize or influence a material number of people. Others of us will still be in the long tail, but have influence in a small verticial segment important only to those who already know us, or come to know us. Its possible to be a big player in a small pool, and get paid for it, still reside on the long tail.

The hope by all on the longtail is that the "quality" of the publication will garner enough consumers to move them off. Like the artist whose art is better, the band or musician whose music is better, the producer, director or actor whose video is better. Everyone hopes that quality of content is the final arbiter of attraction and success.

The worst part of it all is that when you are on the long tail, it takes a lot of money or luck to get off and 99.99pct , never get off. Which is exactly the definition of the longtail.

Thats for individuals.

For corporations who publish on the web (as opposed to aggregate 3rd party content), again, regardless of what content management software they use, or what they call themselves, the longtail is death. If you are a blogger, and you work for a major media company, you are born with a silver spoon in your mouth. You are granted a platform with traffic. Thats the good news. The bad news is that you also have ratings. If you can't hold your traffic or build upon it, you better hope you generate sufficient value in other places, or your days of publishing on the web may be numbered. For those of you who haven't noticed, paid bloggers do come and go from media websites if they don't produce. But wait, there is worse news.

The media companies that have traffic foundations and can dual purpose people so that they can publish off line and online come with their own set of problems. They are paddling as fast as they can to retain their offline businesses. Newspapers, to continue to use them as an example, are pushing as hard as they can to sell papers and retain advertisers. For those who think that a newspaper is just like a newsletter, you have never been a paperboy.

To try to maximize online traffic and resultant revenue, newspapers turned to blogging. Saul Hansell of the NYTimes commented that blogs are used uniquely and thoughtfully by NYTimes reporters to communicate new information and create discussion. That's great. It's a way for the paper to drive readers to their website, keep them as readers and hopefully add more readers. It's using whatever content management system they use to give more value to readers. Wonderful.

Unfortunately for them, they are now in the same old grind that they are in with the newspaper business. Their articles, I mean blogs, vs everyone elses' blogs. They hope that readers believe that their content is better and that brings them back. They hope like the new TV show following the hit, that they can retain audience. An approach which puts them on the exact same content treadmill as even the smallest blogger. . For some on the NYTimes website, as with any and every other newspaper website, they will manage to stand out from the crowd. The majority will not. They will bump their way down to where everyone else is. Such is the nature of the content business. No matter what anyone at the NY Times thinks.

That is the endgame I see for newspapers that publish complimentary content on their website. You can call it blogging. You can even call it something else. The point I didnt make clear enough in my previous post, is that it has to be something else. No matter the quality of the writer, its just another stab at an audience in a medium where there are no barriers to entry. Its just one more example of the newspaper business following everyone else onto the web and doing exactly what everyone else is doing, but expecting they will be better because they are "The big paper". Thats a huge mistake.

Call me crazy, as many out there have, but I would have made every effort to be different in a way that leverages brains, technology and size. I would have sat down and tried to figure out the answer to the question "What leverages our strengths and pre empts every blogger out there so that people perceive blogging as the low end and our presentation as the future of the medium"

You wouldn't have to get it right out of the gate, but you could send a message that you are striving for more and those with "merely a content management system for blogs" will not be able to do what you do.

This is the bias that comes from 25 years in the technology business. A feature that anyone can add is not a sustainable differentiation. Since you can easily add it anytime, like everyone else, instead, always look for what can set you apart and pre empt the competition

Or you can following the pack. The longtail is there waiting for those who do

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First, let me offer a great big thank you to Youtube from me and everyone on the internet, including many small businesses. Im just guessing here, but based on reports coming from Compete and others, I don't think its a stretch to say that Youtube subsidizes the cost of more than half the user generated internet bandwidth consumed in the United States.

Yep, you read that right. If you thought that the internet only used free as an incentive back during the Bubble Years, think again. I'm sure I speak for 10s of millions of us who have hosted videos on Youtube when I offer much gratitude to Google for their generosity. Never could even I have imagined that when they bought Youtube it would be such a costly mistake. If buying a company in order to subsidize the video bandwidth of the internet isn't crazy.., I dont know what is.

Fortunately for Google, they have unquestionably the world's best network and most likely the world's lowest bandwidth costs. So if anyone is going to be able to afford that cost, it would be Google.

As long as their stock price doesn't fall another 50pct that is. At that point even the most forgiving shareholder may ask about the wisdom of subsidizing all things video on the internet. Particularly when they realize that they have forgotten to price in the overhanging risk of the legal copyright challenges still in play against Youtube. Those lawsuits have not gone away, and the risk certainly has not been reduced. They simply are not front of mind to shareholders these days.

But they may be front of mind at Google. Maybe It's just the cynic in me, but I think the primary reason behind the enhancement of Youtube APIs and the removal of the Youtube watermark have more to do with copyright than anything else

You see, when Youtube offers their API and allows users of all shapes and sizes to host video on their own sites, rather than on Youtube or Google, the copyright risk to Youtube disappears. At that point Youtube is truly just a service provider and they have no idea what content they are hosting. That gets them legal.

Currently, Youtube is not allowed to know what content is being uploaded and available on their website unless it is content for which they have a signed deal. Pundits like to attribute the lack of ads around content to advertisers concern for the uncertainty of proximity to who knows what kind of video. I don't see it that way. There is always a price advertisers will pay for Run of Site ads. The risk is not the advertisers' its Youtube's. They can't place ads according to user uploaded content because they aren't supposed to know what or where that content is.

So back to the APIs.

If a website uses the API to post a video on their own site, they assume all the copyright risk. Youtube is in the clear.

Pushing the copyright risk to the site using the API is great news for Google. They now control that's website's video economics because they are still assuming 100pct of the bandwidth costs. Because of this 1999 style generosity, Google is hoping that the website will now take advantage of any and all of their advertising programs that generate revenue for the site and of course for Google. I think thats a trade off most sites wanting to host video will make. Particularly with all the options that Google/Doubleclick can now offer and of course the fact that their Terms of Service include the following preclusion from selling advertising in and around the Youtube hosted content:
"the sale of advertising, sponsorships, or promotions targeted to, within, or on the API Client or YouTube video content;"

So because of the API, Google goes from not being able to generate more than trivial revenue on Youtube to being able to generate limitless revenue on 3rd party sites.

Now that is not crazy. Thats a smart move if they can get traction with it.

In fact, a some point in the future, don't be surprised if Google makes it more and more difficult to upload video on to Youtube by REQUIRING you to sign a license for the content first. Thats a heck of a lot cheaper than paying 150k dollars per infringing download.


If I am MicroSoft, I'm freaking out realizing that something needs to be done to pre empt this move.

Your move MicroHoo.

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The Firefox 3 T-Shirt Design Contest is drawing to a close! You can still submit your entry, but time is running out - the deadline is this Sunday, March 16.

We’ve already received close to 1,200 submissions and have created a community of over 2,800 members on the Flickr contest group! There are many great designs in the image pool and we’re proud of the creative talent that has come through so far. The winning design, as chosen by the Mozilla community, will be featured in the Mozilla Store as the official Firefox 3 t-shirt.

Please make sure to read the submission and design guidelines on the contest website carefully when creating your artwork. I also encourage you to join the Flickr group FF3 T-Shirt Design Contest to view the current submissions and to get more detailed information about the contest posted on the discussion boards.

Thanks again and keep up the great work!

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Hi,

My name is Jane Maliouta and I’m the program manager for IE8 Deployment and Management.

When you install Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 there are a few important things to do before you start. First, I recommend you review the system requirements to make sure IE8 is supported on your computer. Second, take a look at the IE8 Release notes to find known issues and workarounds, so you’ll know what to expect during installation. Third, if the installation fails, we have a knowledge base article on Troubleshooting IE8 installation that guides you through a few workarounds.

Here is some additional information that you might find useful when installing IE8.

Which platforms can I install IE8 on?

IE8 is supported on the following operating systems:

• Windows Vista
• Windows Vista SP1 (final version only - Currently available to MSDN and TechNet Plus subscribers and Volume License customers)
• Windows XP SP2
• Windows XP SP3 (RC2 candidate - Build 3311 or higher)
• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
• Windows Server 2003 SP2
• Windows Server 2008 (final version only)

IE8 is not supported on pre-release versions of Vista SP1 and XP SP3. When installing on earlier builds of Vista SP1, IE8 just won’t install and you will see this error “The installation does not support your operating system’s current Service Pack version.” When installing on earlier builds of XP SP3, the wizard will proceed but your system will be missing KB946501 which is required for IE8, and hence, your installation will be terminated.

What Operating System languages can IE8 be installed on?

The IE8 beta is currently available in English only. You can install it on any supported localized operating system. For example, if you are running German Windows Vista, you can install IE8. When you switch between languages in the Windows Vista UI, IE8 will continue to appear in English.

How can I tell if I successfully installed IE8?

After IE8 installation is complete, the final screen of the Install Wizard indicates that Internet Explorer installation completed successfully.

After you restart your computer and launch Internet Explorer, you can open the Help->About Internet Explorer dialog to see the version number 8.0.6001.17184

How do I uninstall IE8?

On Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 Platforms:

• Open the Windows Control Panel and click Add or Remove Programs
• Select Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 and click Remove
• Your computer will be reverted to IE6 + previous IE6 security updates or IE7 + previous IE7 security updates
• You can confirm that by going to Tools->Help About next time you launch IE
• Be sure to check for any new security updates

On Vista or Windows Server 2008 Platforms:

• Open Control Panel and click Programs
  • Click Programs and Features, and click View installed updates, and then select Windows Internet Explorer 8
  • Click Uninstall this update
• Your machine will be reverted to IE7 + previous IE7 security updates
• You can confirm that by going to Tools->Help About next time you launch IE
• Be sure to check for any new security updates

Are there any required updates for IE8?

There are 2 required updates for IE8:

• KB943302 –This update is required for Vista RTM installs only. It will be installed for you automatically as long as you leave the “Install the latest updates” option checked when going through the Setup Wizard.

If this update is not on your computer when you try to launch IE8, you will be prompted to manually install this KB.

• KB946501 –This update is required for multi-core XPSP2 x86 computers only. Similar to the one above, this update will be installed for you automatically as long as you keep the “Install the latest updates” option checked when going through the Install Wizard.

If this update fails to install or you unselect the checkbox, you will not be able to install IE8 until this update is on the computer.

You can find out more about updates that get installed during IE8 setup from knowledge base article KB948564.

What do I do when I run into issues installing IE8?

Check out the knowledge base article on Troubleshooting IE8 installation. If after trying the recommended workarounds you still can’t install IE8, go to the IE Beta Newsgroup to see if there are any known solutions available. Microsoft MVPs and IE Team members are monitoring this newsgroup and they will help address your issues.

Thank you,

Jane Maliouta
Program Manager

Edit: Updated "Operating" system; updated KB number to KB948564

Much is being made of my decision to ban bloggers from the locker room. To me its pretty amusing. In particular I find it amusing that there is a presumption that if a blogger works for a big company, they must be better. The logic extends to the conclusion that if only I would evaluate the different blogs and make a qualitative selection, then big newspaper bloggers would be chosen as among the best. Let me just say, that should I go that direction, that I find quite a few individual bloggers to be far better than those earning a salary to blog . In fact, some of those blogs are written anonymously.

Which leads to my firm belief that newspapers having "bloggers" is easily one of the many bad decisions that newspapers have made over the past 10 years.

Much of what I am about to say can be considered semantics, but guess what, marketing and branding are all about semantics and perception.

Consider this a rule in marketing that could be added to my Startup Rules.

Never, ever, ever consider something that any literate human being with Internet access can create in under 5 minutes to be a product or service that can in any way differentiate your business.

If you feel that you must offer this product or service as a means of "keeping up" or as a checklist item that you must have for competitive reasons, then do everything possible to brand the product or service in a manner that segregates it from the masses. Perception is reality. If you can leverage your existing brand to create the perception that yours is different from the masses in some meaningful way, then you must do everything you can to do so.

Creating a perceived differentiation can take the form of promoting better execution or quality of the product or service, or it may be something as simple as just branding it with a different name than the mass product or service.

Failure to do so will pull your brand down to that of the masses or elevate the masses to a position of being better able to compete with you.

A blog is a blog is a blog is a blog. The NY Times Blogs on their website are blogs. People who have blogs have a hard enough time coming up with a definition of what blog is. Potential or even current readers have no real idea of what the term blog reflect in terms of quality or content.

I'm sure the NY Times, like all major media outlets hopes that because it is branded a NY Times blog, that readers will have the perception and expectation that it will be of a higher quality than say, Blogmaverick.com .
That when readers actually read the blog, they will see that its of a higher quality than say, Blogmaverick.com. It may well be that some do. The marketing reality however is that there is a significant risk that they will not. That rather than assigning the brand equity of the NY Times to the blogs hosted, they will take the alternative path of assigning their perception of what a blog is to the NY Times, there by having a negative impact on the brand equity of the NY Times. That's an enormous risk for any mainstream brand to take.

If I worked for the NY Times, or any other media company with any level of brand equity, I would have done everything possible to define the section of our website that offers ongoing as anything other than a blog. I would make up a name. Call it say.....RealTime Reporting.

RealTime Yankees: Catch in depth, up to the minute reports on the Yankees as only the NY Times world re known staff of Sports Writers can bring up

RealTime City Hall: The NY Times has more journalists covering the action at City Hall than anyone else. Catch in depth, up to the minute reports on NYC politics as as only the NY Times can.

Brand it RealTime. Brand it anything. Make sure you market it as having the characteristics unique to your staff that NO ONE ELSE on the net can bring.

if I were marketing for them, I would be doing everything I could to send the message that "The NY Times does not have blogs, we have Real Time Reports from the most qualified reporters in the world. Like blogs we post continuously , 24x7x365 to keep you up to speed, unlike blogs, we have the highest level of journalistic standards that we adhere to. A copy of which is available at....." You get the picture.

I would also market it as an extension of the print version. All the news that cant fit in print. In the sports world, I think this is where main stream media really has dropped the ball. There is no shortage of speculation and opinions on the net. There is an incredible lack of depth when it comes to game and team coverage.

Maybe its my own prejudice as an insider. I would much rather read any article on 82games.com or even some of the stuff that John Hollinger writes (although I think that the PER stuff is meaningless, i like how he tries to go in depth to analyze performance) than the stream of consciousness riffs that we find on every blog, regardless of host.

When I see content branded as a blog, I'm probably not going there unless its via a link from some other source. If I happen to find my way to a given blog multiple times, Im probably going to subscribe to the RSS feed. Even the, I don't ever consider a blog an authoritative source. I don't ever expect that all sources were confirmed and facts were check. Regardless of who hosts it. That's not a good thing for newspapers. They still have a chance to assign some level of authority to what they produce for their websites and calling it a blog is a huge mistake

Remember, there is TV , and there is HBO. A blog is a blog is a blog

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Hi, my name is Helen, I am a Program Manager on the User Experience team of Internet Explorer, and I’m happy to introduce the IE8 Favorites bar!

New Functionality on the Favorites bar:

The Favorites bar, previously known as the Links toolbar, has been updated with great new functionality that helps you get information from your favorite websites quickly and easily. The new IE8 Favorites bar still has your favorite links just one click away, but also allows you to add WebSlices (new feature debuting in IE8) and feeds to the Favorites bar, facilitating your navigation experience. The WebSlices and feeds on the Favorites bar will check for updates to content on your favorite websites without requiring navigation to those websites.

Here’s my Favorites bar which includes a feed, a folder containing a feed, and a WebSlice:

What is a WebSlice?

As Jane described earlier in her blog post , the new IE8 WebSlice feature enables you to see when updated content (such as auction prices or latest headlines) is available from your favorite websites.  A WebSlice is a piece of a webpage (a “slice”) that you can subscribe to. When you subscribe to a WebSlice, it appears as a shortcut on the Favorites bar.

Note that WebSlices will only appear on webpages that provide support for WebSlices. As of today, websites such as Ebay, Facebook and Stumble Upon have added support for WebSlices. Check out this page to learn how you can add support for WebSlices on your webpages.

Using WebSlices

There are two ways to see when a WebSlice is available on a webpage. One is that the WebSlice button changes color on the Command bar:

When you hover over a WebSlice on a webpage, you will also see a WebSlice icon appear next to the content that you can add to your Favorites bar. For example:

To add a WebSlice to the Favorites bar, you can either click the WebSlice button on the Command bar or click the WebSlice icon on the page.

In IE8, a simple glance at the text on a Favorites bar shortcut will give an indication of the item’s status. You will be able to tell whether or not the WebSlice has been updated since you last used it (the text will be bolded) and also if the WebSlice is expiring (the text will be bold and italicized) or has expired (the text will be gray). This information is especially worthwhile, for example, with auction items.

The IE8 Favorites bar allows you to preview the updated WebSlice content without leaving the website you’re currently viewing. Simply click the WebSlice shortcut on the Favorites bar to bring up a rich preview of the webpage, which you can then click to go to the website itself.

WebSlice Preview:

Adding Feeds to the Favorites bar

In IE8, you can now add Feeds to the Favorites bar. When you subscribe to a feed, you can watch for updates to it on the Favorites bar.
As you know, to subscribe to a feed and monitor it on the Favorites bar, you first click the Feed Discovery button to view the feed, and then click Subscribe to this Feed on the feed page. To then monitor this feed on the Favorites bar, click the Add to Favorites button, and then click Monitor on Favorites Bar. You can also drag and drop a feed or an entire folder of feeds from the Favorites Center to the Favorites bar.

By clicking on a Feed shortcut on your Favorites bar, you can quickly identify which feed items you have already read (they will be in plain text) and which you have yet to read (they will be bolded).

Extra Tips and Shortcuts:

• In addition to adding a link through the "Add to Favorites" button, you can drag and drop links onto the Favorites bar, drag the webpage icon from the Address bar to the Favorites bar or drag a link from a webpage directly to the Favorites bar.
  
  
• You can rearrange items on your Favorites bar by dragging items from one spot to another or by creating folders and organizing your favorite links, WebSlices, and feeds by dragging and dropping items into the folders.
  
  
• When an item within a folder updates, you will see the updated status on the folder itself. If a folder is unbolded, you will know that nothing has updated within that folder without even opening it.
  
  
• Navigating with the Favorites bar is convenient as well. To put focus on the first item on the Favorites bar, press ALT+B.
  
  
• Like regular links, the Favorites bar supports tab and window shortcuts. For example, you can Ctrl+Click or Middle-click on an item (or a folder) on the Favorites bar and this item (or the contents of this folder) will open in a new tab (or tabs) in the background.
  
  
• Similarly, Ctrl+Shift+Click on an item on the Favorites bar will open up this item in a tab in the foreground.

That’s a summary of the new ways that the IE8 Favorites bar will help you get information from your favorite webpages quickly and easily.

Thank you for trying IE8 Beta 1 and I look forward to your feedback on this feature!

Helen Drislane
Program Manager