http://blogs.windows.com/ie/default.aspxen-US7.x Productionhttp://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/05/09/building-internet-explorer-10-a-browser-that-is-perfect-for-touch.aspxThu, 09 May 2013 16:00:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:4e327383-cfce-48ab-89f0-7400e0a59971Roger Capriotti When you consider that browsing the web remains one of the most popular activities on a tablet , it’s surprising the experience isn’t better. People should expect more from the browsing experience on a tablet. Browsing speed has been important to web users, but with the emergence of new form factors like tablets, browsing needs are more diverse than ever before. Page load time is now table stakes. For smaller, touch-enabled devices, the ability to browse the web quickly and effortlessly through an interface that is built for touch has become increasingly important to users. For these tablet users, the new browser performance benchmark is touch. Touch has become the new fast. While most tablet browsers work with touch, they aren’t touch-first browsers . Simply adapting a desktop browser or smartphone browser to a touch device doesn’t create a great experience. When we started building IE10 we recognized that browsing on tablets had been relegated to second-class status, useable but in an underwhelming way when compared with apps. A recent study by Penn Schoen Berland showed that 8 out of 10 iPad users experienced an issue with the web – including broken functionality and difficulty navigating the page. These iPad users actually preferred using an app for the majority of common Web scenarios because they found the web browsing experience to be lacking. As we built IE10, we were determined to bring a solution to users who were unhappy with their tablet browsing experience. We designed IE10 from the ground up to be the best browser for tablets, and most importantly, the best browser for touch. Touch is an area of technology that is ripe for innovation, and one that we invested heavily in for IE10 on Windows 8. We worked with partners to build sites like Contre Jour and The Hunger Games Explorer to showcase what a browser designed for touch can do. Take a look at the video below to hear directly from our engineering team about how they worked to set the new standard for touch browsing (and see the cool “magic fingers robot” that they use to test touch on tablets). When we launched Windows 8 with IE10 on tablets, we believed we had built an entirely new Windows browser designed for touch. Some folks noticed how different Internet Explorer 10 on a Windows 8 tablet is.           In fact, a study by Mozaic Group showed that more than 8 out of 10 iPad users say they would be very likely to consider swapping their iPad for a Windows 8 tablet running Internet Explorer 10, if it meant having a better browsing experience . Source: Mozaic Group’s study reports Internet Explorer 10 on a Windows 8 tablet improves the browsing and overall tablet experience enough to drive iPad users to consider switching (November 2012). By looking at the IE user interface in a new light, we built features that make browsing with touch fast and fluid on Windows 8 . We added features like flip ahead and multi-finger touch support, providing an amazing touch experience that rivals anything anyone has ever done with a browser on new devices. A performance study by Principled Technologies demonstrates how touch became the new fast for browsing as users could more quickly hit their favorite sites or do the most common web tasks with IE10 on a Windows 8 tablet. Source: Principled Technologies reports that Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8 is faster than Chrome on Android and Safari on iPad on common Web tasks (November 2012). And while we believe that IE10 on Windows 8 is the best tablet browsing experience available today, we’re ever dedicated to ensuring that users can enjoy the Web on any browser they choose . Knowing how important web experiences and touch capabilities are to consumers, we continue to help developers create sites built for touch but that also work great with mouse, keyboard and pen. We are actively contributing to the standard work in this area, submitting Pointer Events to the W3C to allow developers to write to one set of input mechanisms across mouse, pen and touch to ensure they work across all browsers and operating systems. From this, we’re really pleased to see how quickly Pointers has progressed towards a web standard, showing the value of IE’s support to help developers build innovative, touch-optimized sites. IE10’s fast and fluid, touch browsing experience is different than anything that has been done with a browser on a tablet before, and different than any other browser on Windows. People who have used IE10 on Windows 8 agree and are voicing their enthusiasm for the entirely new Windows 8 browser. Try IE10 on your favorite Windows device today and see the difference, and if you are a developer check out some of the tools we’ve made available on GitHub , or Pointer Events samples available at WebPlatform to give your site the best touch interaction available on the web. Roger Capriotti Director, Internet Explorer Marketing http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/05/01/internet-explorer-brings-new-web-experience-to-the-living-room-with-xbox-and-dailyburn.aspxWed, 01 May 2013 13:11:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:ea9de2b9-c84a-4c53-aa01-6d56dc4bd6f7Chewy Chong On the Internet Explorer team we love the web, and we’re always looking for ways to make it better. Today we’re excited to announce our partnership with DailyBurn.com , which lets you make the most of the browser on your phone, tablet and IE for Xbox 360. DailyBurn allows users to sync their workouts, interact with personal trainers or track their nutrition goals across devices, all on the web. We’ve come to calling cross-device experiences, like our partnership with Daily Burn, the companion web . IE on Xbox 360 is one of the most popular browsers out today, and that great browsing experience just got better: to ensure all Xbox users have access to this new experience, we’ve worked with our friends on the Xbox team and DailyBurn to create some compelling offers: · Starting today, May 1, all Xbox LIVE users will have one-month’s access to the IE for Xbox 360 app surf, explore and experience the web with sites like DailyBurn. · Also starting today, DailyBurn is offering all users two months free access to all online workouts and nutritional advice and programs via IE on your Xbox 360 or PC . Over the last few years, we’ve seen an explosion of scenarios where people are multi-tasking on one device while consuming content from another. In the US alone, 85% of smartphone and tablet owners are consistently using these devices as companion experiences to watching TV. Our partnership with DailyBurn is just the beginning of real-world examples popping up that demonstrate the potential of companion web scenarios. What’s valuable about the companion web is that you can use multiple devices simultaneously, or sequentially, with the end product always resulting in an increase in consumer interactivity. For example, I’m a new dad and I love working out but don’t always have the time to go to the gym. Firing up DailyBurn via IE on my Xbox, and syncing my fitness goals to my Windows Phone or Windows 8 device, provides an easy way for me to track calories burned and interact with the trainers—all while completely engaged with my devices. We believe the companion web has many user scenario options, and this concept will fuel the next generation of interactive web experiences as tablets, smartphones and PCs are now a part of 93% American households . Working with the DailyBurn team has brought Xbox fitness enthusiasts a new, exciting way to experience their workouts through IE and DailyBurn’s Get Fit for Summer Program. “The Internet Explorer team understood our mission to bring a convenient and new experience online that allows our DailyBurn subscribers to achieve their fitness goals in an easy and convenient manner using the gadgets they love,” said Andy Smith, DailyBurn.com CEO, “The IE team’s initiative to move the web forward and partner with us to bring this experience to Xbox provides our fitness fans with just another option to stay active and live a healthy lifestyle.” To give you a sense for what happens behind the scenes with Daily Burn on Xbox 360, here are a few technical backend details: · When a user is about to start a new workout through the web, we open a new communication channel with the server. To connect a companion device to IE on the Xbox we use a QR code, which is effectively the same as typing in the URL that is also available and seen from the screen. Opening that address through a phone or tablet will connect the device in a handshake through the server to the Xbox. · Once this happens, messages are sent frequently between the Xbox and the companion device to ensure that everything is synchronized based on the current status of the video. The cool thing about building companion web experiences is that the developer is not tied to a specific platform or standard. For example, you can develop these sites using WebSockets for a faster communication if real-time updates is a requirement, or you could use a more traditional pulling system if reaching a broader audience is of importance, and the scenario can handle a delay of a few hundred milliseconds. To check out the DailyBurn experience and see how IE can make this experience seamless and convenient across your favorite devices, check out the video below: Now get off the couch, turn on your Xbox and get started on your DailyBurn workout! Chewy Chong Senior Product Manager—Developer Relations, Internet Explorer http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/04/24/celebrating-the-best-of-the-web-with-the-help-of-our-great-partners.aspxWed, 24 Apr 2013 18:58:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:15f88051-e75a-417b-98b6-a1b71a82ac5dRoger Capriotti On the IE team, we are humbled to have worked with a variety of partners to create beautiful, immersive experiences on the web like Atari , Contre Jour , Project Prometheus , Pulse , and viral videos like Child of the 90s . This year some of these efforts have been recognized for innovative work through awards at SXSW Interactive , and most recently, the Webby Awards ! The Webby Award nominations span a few categories, including: Best Online Commercial for Column Five’s work on the Child of the 90s video, Best Use of Animation or Motion in a website with Contre Jour, Best games website for Contre Jour and Atari, and best use of video or moving image for Project Prometheus. There’s only one day left to vote for these awesome experiences on the Web, so be sure to check out the nominations below and vote for your favorite! For more context on some of our partnerships, here’s a quick rundown on a few of the Webby-nominated site experiences we’re proud to be part of: · Atari: As you might remember last summer, we unveiled the Atari Arcade with the help of Grant Skinner and the team at Plain Concepts, bringing eight classic Atari games to life with IE10 and multi-touch. We’re excited that the Webby Awards loved it as much as fans did and nominated it for a Webby’s People’s Voice Award in the Best Games Website category. Click HERE to cast your vote for Atari Arcade as Best Game Website. · Child of the 90s: We had a lot of fun creating this video with Column Five. It went viral quickly collecting more than 28 million views since its launch three months ago! If you like it too as much as we do, click HERE to cast your vote for Best Online Commercial. · Contre Jour: Back in October, we announced our work on the groundbreaking game, Contre Jour , where we brought a very ambitious use of HTML5 to the browser, and showcasing the most updated web standards. Contre Jour was a collaboration between the IE team, Clarity Consulting and Mokus Games, which has been nominated for two Webby Awards and was also recently honored at the SXSW Interactive Awards, where it was named Best of Show ! Click HERE to cast your vote for Contre Jour as Best Game Website and HERE in the Best Use of Animation or Motion Graphics category. · Project Prometheus: Last spring, we partnered with Fox Studios and Ignition Interactive to create the Project Prometheus Training Center , giving fans the chance to compete to be a crew member on the virtual Prometheus ship, built entirely in HTML5. The Webby Awards have nominated this website for Best Use of Video or moving image. Click HERE to cast your vote for Project Prometheus in the Best Use of Video or Moving Image category. As you can imagine, all of our partners are excited to be nominated for such prestigious Internet awards. In particular, our friends at Mokus Games are flattered to be nominated: “I’m excited and honored to have my work with Contre Jour recognized by the Webby’s, where I’m among great company of other beautiful sites and experiences on the web,” said Maksym (Max) Hryniv, Contre Jour creator. “The partnership with Internet Explorer really helped Contre Jour bring the story to life online, making for a beautiful and immersive experience on the web.” Again, we want to congratulate our partners on their achievement as Honorees and Nominees of the 2013 Webby Awards and thank them for their great work in bringing beautiful and immersive experiences on the web with IE. Thank you to all those who have already shown their support to honor the nominees and truly make the Web a first-class experience! The winners of the People’s Voice vote and the prize winners will be announced next week on April 30 th . Stay tuned! Roger Capriotti Director, Internet Explorer Marketing http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/04/22/consumer-survey-85-of-americans-are-concerned-about-their-online-privacy-far-fewer-take-action.aspxMon, 22 Apr 2013 10:26:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:c4cdbfe6-364b-4e99-a21a-0f5ee1d61f5dRyan Gavin At Microsoft, we take our responsibilities for protecting your privacy very seriously. It’s a priority across all our businesses, and an area where we continue to work closely with others throughout academia, government and industry. And while we don’t pretend to have all of the answers, we do want to help raise awareness for how you can have greater choice and control as you browse the web. To that end, today we are launching a new consumer awareness campaign focused on online privacy, with resources at www.Microsoft.com/YourPrivacy . We want to help people learn more about the tools and technologies Microsoft provides that give them have greater control over personal information as they browse the web and use their favorite Microsoft devices. As part of this, we’re also launching an advertising campaign to kick start awareness and conversation. Here’s an example of the TV spot:   You can also take a new online quiz called Your Privacy Type to help you discover your privacy tendencies and preferences, along with tips on how to turn your newfound awareness into action. As important as privacy is to most of us when we’re asked, it can still be a complicated matter. Very few of us believe that sharing some personal data online is a bad thing. It’s part of our everyday routines to fill out profiles, login to sites, and oftentimes provide personal information like our credit card or phone numbers in order to take advantage of all the web has to offer. In fact, the more personal and relevant the web gets, the better it can get. Yet, at some point, we all draw a line where we are uncomfortable sharing more. And when we think we’re being tracked, particularly by those we may not have a direct relationship with, our tolerance drops. And while tracking isn’t bad per se, we typically reach our information-sharing breaking point with very personal data, like items related to our kids or our health. That said, everyone is unique when it comes to what we feel comfortable sharing with whom. Providing customers with the tools and technology that allow you to have more choice and control is something Microsoft has been doing for quite some time , and today’s products like Internet Explorer, Windows, Xbox, and Outlook.com make it easier to manage and control your privacy. As we look forward, the privacy conversations will certainly continue and evolve. It has been great to see those organizations that have come out in support of our approach to privacy. Microsoft is committed to stay engaged with consumers as well as government, industry and consumer-advocacy partners to help better define the line between public and private while offering more controls through technology. Ryan Gavin General Manager, Windows http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/04/14/internet-explorer-partners-with-the-hunger-games-to-spark-a-catching-fire-revolution-on-the-web.aspxMon, 15 Apr 2013 03:32:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:0674afd6-decb-40fc-ba45-773359167bfcRoger Capriotti With the second film in the blockbuster The Hunger Games franchise, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire , set for release November 22, Internet Explorer has teamed up with Lionsgate to bring you The Hunger Games Explorer – the go-to destination and hub online for fans to get all the latest on The Hunger Games in an interactive and rich experience like nothing else on the web. Whether you’re a superfan or not, it’s hard not to get excited about The Hunger Games: Catching Fire after seeing the trailer premiere at the MTV Movie Awards. Part of what makes The Hunger Games experience so great is the devoted fan base of the books and movies, who have broken all sorts of social media records with their conversations about the beloved series. Starting tonight with the global launch of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire trailer, fans can now visit The Hunger Games Explorer to be immersed in this world, track every development of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, including tweets, exclusive images and videos, and then share their thoughts and excitement with others around the world creating a global conversation. The Hunger Games Explorer lets fans explore the online world of The Hunger Games in a way they’ve never be able to before. “We have the best fans in the world, and starting tonight they have a home on the web where they can be a part of The Hunger Games experience and contribute to the excitement for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ,” said Danielle De Palma, senior vice president digital marketing, Lionsgate. “The Hunger Games Explorer is not only a place for fans to spark the conversation around Catching Fire , it is also a destination for us to continue to provide fans with new content, experiences and unprecedented behind the scenes access.” When a fan enters The Hunger Games Explorer, they can manipulate the site to customize The Hunger Games: Catching Fire info exactly how they want it – they can tailor and filter content in and out of their stream, pull in fan blogs and tweets in addition to messages from the Capitol, and interact with other fans across the globe. The site is also the destination for all official content straight from Lionsgate, including trailers, excusive videos, photos of the cast and more. The Hunger Games Explorer takes full advantage of multi-touch technology, letting visitors swipe and scroll with the flick of a finger. Fans can also “spark” – similar to letting fans “like” objects while driving discussion around each bit of news or fan-created content. We partnered with Lionsgate and RED Interactive Agency to create The Hunger Games Explorer , which provides a unique way for fans to explore and be a part of The Hunger Games discussion happening in all corners of the web and around the world. The challenge was to engage fans, give them what they hungered for, and give them a reason to share content and return time and time again. Our goal was to create the best fan site possible, showcasing responsive web design, multi-touch and HTML5, so it really shined on Windows 8 with IE10, as well as other modern platforms across the web. The resulting community allows users to interact and engage in conversations in a much easier, more interesting way across platforms and devices. We’re really proud of what we’ve created and make sure to stay tuned and check back often as there is lots more to come. Be sure to check out our behind the scenes page here on how we made this magic happen - and may the odds be ever in your favor! Roger Capriotti Director, Internet Explorer Marketing http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/04/02/ie10-and-the-webby-awards-partner-to-highlight-the-future-of-the-web.aspxTue, 02 Apr 2013 14:15:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:81b0f2ab-a704-401f-9693-b28483357479Chewy Chong Today we’re excited to announce our partnership with The Webby Awards to unveil the new Winners Gallery + Archive using the best of IE10 capabilities and the latest web standards. Every year, The Webbys honors outstanding achievement online including beautiful site experiences and sets the standard for the best of the web. Now with partnership from IE, they can showcase the last 16 years of Winners in their new online gallery built perfect for touch. Through bringing this site to life, IE and The Webbys have made a one-stop experience to show how the web has evolved over the years and the breadth of possibilities that now exist to make beautiful, responsive, and immersive experiences. Starting today, visitors can experience and interact with all past Webby Award and People’s Voice Winners, Nominees and Honorees for each category in an easy and fluid design that brings the content to the forefront of the user experience. The site allows you to share past Winners with friends via social channels, or easily find your favorite Winner using type-to-search functionality. “The Internet Explorer team clearly understood our mission to bring an entirely new experience online that matches the beauty and innovation we see every year in our Winners,” said David-Michel Davies, Executive Director, The Webby Awards. “The IE team and our partners at Area 17 came together to create a vision of a gallery that is rich, interactive, and provides a showcase for the work we have celebrated for the past 16 years.” In addition to our partnership with the Webby Awards, today we’re also announcing new features to modern.IE, a site that provides tools and resources to help developers build amazing sites, such as Webby Award-winning sites. These updates include additional ways to test your site’s compatibility cross-browser and more options to scan and detect site issues. These tools help create beautiful experiences like those highlighted in the Winner’s gallery. More in-depth information on the updates to modern.IE can be found on the IEBlog . The Winner’s Gallery Shines with IE Before today, the gallery portrayed the Winners with very little content. In the new gallery, Nominees and Winners come to life in a sleek, functional, and beautiful site built perfectly for touch devices. With IE10 on a Windows 8 touch device the gallery truly shines, using easy gestures to navigate the previous Winners, fluid page scrolling, responsive design and type-to-search functionality. We also used the latest web standards to build this site, referencing modern.IE to test the site’s compatibility cross-browser. If you are interested in learning more about the work that went into bringing The Webby Awards Winners Gallery + Archive to the web, take a look at the technical tear-down that includes the making-of video. More on modern.IE and how to build the next Webby Award winning site For designers and developers, today we announce the availability of the Windows QuickStart for iOS including Parallels Desktop 8 and Windows 8. We have also updated modern.IE with new enhancements and virtualized copies of IE10 on Windows 7 and IE8 on Windows XP for testing purposes. We are excited to bring The Winners Gallery + Archive to life with the Webby team, and pay homage to the amazing work that has been created through a beautiful gallery that is worthy of the award winning work on the web. We're big fans of the amazing work web designers do every day to make the web more beautiful and we are humbled to be a part of that process. Chewy Chong Manager—Developer Relations, Internet Explorer http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/03/20/progress-celebrating-one-year-of-the-browser-you-loved-to-hate-campaign.aspxWed, 20 Mar 2013 14:29:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:3ae98bd1-425c-40c7-945b-d3c8a36a5f49Rebecca Wolff It has been incredibly exciting to see such strong engagement and support from web browser enthusiasts and others over the past year with The Browser You Loved to Hate campaign. With over 25 million total video views worldwide to date, we know we struck a chord with you. Whether you were simply entertained or began to question your assumptions about Internet Explorer, we are happy to entertain and help people learn that something’s changed with IE.   Just one year ago, we launched The Browser You Loved to Hate – a Tumblr dedicated to telling the story of Internet Explorer’s comeback. Whether it was introducing you to Eugene or Officer Cupcake , reminiscing about the 90’s or letting you know that comebacks do indeed come in many shapes and sizes, there was one common theme – reintroducing you to the new Internet Explorer. So, if you are someone who hasn’t been happy with IE in the past or someone who simply hasn’t used IE in a while, we hope the Browser You Loved to Hate has been fun and gotten you to take a second look at IE. And so on this one year anniversary, we wanted to say thanks to our supporters. And for all of you who are still on the fence about IE, we invite you to take a look at the new Internet Explorer. Rebecca Wolff Internet Explorer Marketing Manager http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/03/13/the-web-s-first-multi-touch-game-contre-jour-best-of-show-sxsw.aspxWed, 13 Mar 2013 16:55:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:5e98a234-7ff2-47dc-ac2d-cc98732c9275Roger Capriotti We are proud to announce that Contre Jour , a collaboration between the Internet Explorer team and Mokus Games, has been named Best of Show at the SXSW Interactive awards. On a night celebrating the very best in digital technology, Contre Jour was selected as the judges’ overall favorite project. Contre Jour, which also took home the award for the Amusement category, showcases the incredible possibilities of IE10, multi-touch and HTML5. Contre Jour started as an iOS game earning multiple accolades, including the 2011 “iPad Game of the Year” and a 2012 Webby award nomination for “Best Tablet Game.” Bringing Contre Jour to the web has resulted in arguably the most ambitious use of HTML5 to date. Coupled with the entirely new IE10 browsing experience, the game play of Contre Jour on the web is simply stunning. It is as fast and fluid as many native apps, and with IE10 and Windows 8, it is perfect for touch. Once you start playing in IE10 on Windows 8, you immediately forget you’re on a website. Perfect for Touch: Contre Jour with IE10 really helps paint a picture of what is possible when it comes to the future of touch on the web. IE10 not only provides a browser UI that is perfect for touch -- dedicating 100% of the pixels to the site with a full-screen chromeless UI -- but provides developers a new set of multi-touch capabilities that change what is possible on the web. In fact, Contre Jour is the first game brought to the web that actually requires multi-touch on particular levels. These kind of multi-touch experiences have typically been limited to apps, but with IE10 and its extensive touch support, the team has been able to deliver an elaborate and engaging game that requires users to get hands on to complete levels. New worlds and a truly ambitious use of HTML5: The visuals are stunning, and the math behind making all these features come alive is intense. With hundreds of active elements on the screen at any point in time, the level of interactivity is pretty unprecedented. Unlike other games, the elements in Contre Jour are not simply made up of images or sprites—most of the elements in the game are drawn dynamically using just math and physics on an HTML5 canvas. To display all these elements, it uses four or more canvases in tandem—where most websites only use one at a time. Only hardware accelerated browsers like IE10 can stitch these canvases together to create the fast and fluid experience you would expect when playing a game like Contre Jour. And just when we thought this couldn’t get better, it did. We launched 2 new worlds of the game right around Valentine’s Day. The New Friend World is a sweet treat for players, featuring beautiful new sunset themed levels that provide a beautiful background to Petit’s love story. These levels are exclusive to the Web and introduce a brand new character to join Petit, named Amie. Amie, French for “friend,” is a fluffy, vibrant and energetic partner-in-crime to Petit, and flies through the levels helping Petit on his journey to find his true love, The Rose. Like Contre Jour, sites like the newly released Vyclone , Pulse and Atari are part of our continuing efforts to showcase what is possible on the web today, and how touch and IE 10 are changing the way users interact with the web. We had a great time building this game, and encourage you to check it out. You can play the game at www.contrejour.ie . Roger Capriotti Director, Internet Explorer Marketing http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/03/13/bringing-touch-video-editing-to-the-web-with-vyclone-and-internet-explorer.aspxWed, 13 Mar 2013 13:01:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:95468974-cd37-4f5c-a692-6ecb578c0513Roger Capriotti Today we are excited to announce a new web experience with social video editing start-up, Vyclone . Vyclone has a very popular mobile app that allows users to co-create, sync, and edit multiple views of a single shared moment – like a concert, sporting event, or birthday. With the new Vyclone web editor released today, users can now edit and share crowd sourced video to the web using just a browser and HTML5. Best part about it? It’s built for touch, allowing users to explore social video editing as naturally as they would on mobile phone, but with a modern browser like Internet Explorer 10. Check it out here . Does this sound familiar? You go to a concert and there is a sea of phones in the air, are as common as lighters once were. It’s human nature to want to capture the moment and share it with the world. But Vyclone takes that one step further. With Vyclone, users can access everyone else’s video to make their own director’s cut from the best views at the concert – instead of one point of view, videos can showcase the same event from multiple points of view. What makes this new web experience unique is the collaborative approach Vyclone has taken to crowd sourcing video. The process is simple—once video is recorded from an individual’s phone, it can be shared to the cloud, where it’s available to everyone else who was at that event. (Users can also make video footage private as well.) Here’s where it gets really fun—once the video is uploaded, users can remix their content, using all of the footage uploaded by other users at the concert. With endless possibilities for storytelling and complete artistic control, users mash up scenes to create their ultimate, uniquely personal social video to share as they see fit. This type of experience wasn’t always possible online, and Vyclone is a great example of how far the web has come. Now, through modern browsers like IE10, the web has incredible business opportunity due to the breadth of users, coupled with an app-like experience that customers have come to expect. This was compelling to Vyclone, as the mobile platform is inherently limited by mobile hardware and the number of pixels developers can squeeze into an experience, whereas the web provides the greatest reach of any platform and limitless hardware capabilities. A great example of how the web experience improves on the app experience is in the sheer number of videos a user can remix at one time. The phone provided space for four videos, but with the web experience users can remix as many as nine different videos - with potential for more in the future. While Vylcone’s web editor will work in any modern browser, the immersive experience of video editing truly comes to life with IE10. IE10’s unparalleled touch capabilities really shine when users can swipe and tap their way through edits on nine source videos at a time. With Vyclone, video editing is actually faster than with a mouse, as users can edit as fast as their fingers can tap the screen. And off-line support allows Vyclone’s web editor to take a big leap forward, combining the richness of apps to the ubiquity and power of the web. Just a few years ago, creating this experience with no plug-ins or installed software but just a browser and HTML5 would have been science fiction. We’re so excited to share the future of social video editing with Vyclone! Getting to work collaboratively with the Vyclone team has been an incredible experience. Be sure to try out the experience today and share something great with Vyclone and IE10, and if you’re at SxSW, head over to the Vyclone double decker bus on 1 st and Trinity to see the experience in action and to hear some great up and coming artists perform. Roger Capriotti Director, Internet Explorer Marketing http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/02/26/internet-explorer-10-now-available-for-more-than-700m-windows-customers.aspxTue, 26 Feb 2013 13:59:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:c5afdf00-b535-4def-ba37-2bde8f5ad06cRyan Gavin Today we are excited to announce the availability of IE10 for Windows 7, bringing the most modern and high performing version of IE to over 700M Windows customers. IE10 delivers a 20% increase in real-world site performance over IE9 making IE10 the fastest modern browser on the market according to third parties . IE10’s advancements run deep, from a 60% increase in supported modern web standards to industry leading security , privacy and reliability that makes IE the browser of choice for millions of Windows customers worldwide. For a deep-dive on all of the great enhancements that come to Windows 7 with IE10 head over to the IE Blog for the full update. You can download IE10 starting today. Perfect for Touch In conjunction with the release of IE10 we are also introducing a new IE commercial which features singer, song-writer, and composer Blake Lewis . We came together with our friend Keith Rivers and Blake to showcase what is possible on a new Windows 8 touch device with Internet Explorer 10. Check it out… The site you see Blake interacting with in the spot is also live today at ExploreTouch.ie . The Explore Touch website provides the individual music components of Blake's track – vocals, strings, bass and other elements – in an interactive touch player that you can use to mix, explore and experiment with via multi-touch on IE10. Built entirely in HTML5, Explore Touch takes advantage of the innovative touch support of IE10 to create a site that can be swiped, tapped, scratched and rotated to fully explore the richness and depth of Blake’s track, Your Touch . We are huge fans of Blake's new track so we made it available for streaming for a one-week exclusive at ExploreTouch.ie , and as a free download from Xbox Music . Whether you have a great new touch device with Windows 8 or are a Windows 7 customer who is about to have your web experience upgraded with IE10 – we invite you to hit play and turn up the volume. Thank you for helping us continue to create a more beautiful and more touchable web! Ryan Gavin, General Manager, Internet Explorer http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/02/18/hold-your-own-heist-robert-kirkman-39-s-thief-of-thieves-now-interactive-online-through-ie10.aspxMon, 18 Feb 2013 16:34:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:4de7d71e-a6c4-4479-aeda-806c14d19da1Steve Lake A message from the Internet Explorer Developer Relations team… Today we’re excited to announce the online debut of Thief of Thieves: Experience , an interactive online game based on the comic book series from Robert Kirkman and Skybound, his imprint at Image Comics. The site is a showcase of the new features in Internet Explorer 10, including full multi-touch capabilities and HTML5 support. We thought bringing the comic book style to the web would suit the immersive, chromeless browsing experience on Internet Explorer with Windows 8. The Thief of Thieves comic tells the story of Conrad Paulson, alias Redmond - a happy coincidence as that just happens to be the hometown of Microsoft’s headquarters. Redmond is a master thief who steals from other thieves to make up for his past robberies and gain redemption. Each arc of the comic is written by a different writer echoing Robert’s experience in the writers' room on The Walking Dead television series. Thief of Thieves was an instant hit when it was introduced in February, 2012, so much so that AMC immediately began developing Thief of Thieves as a potential series with Robert serving as creator/executive producer and writer. Needless to say, we were beyond excited to work with Robert to bring the style of the books online. With the Thief of Thieves: Experience , fans can create their own secret thief identity, practice their skills in larceny, and ultimately participate in one last job -- the big heist. “I’m really pleased with how well the web experience captures the setting we were trying to build for Thief of Thieves .  It’s a great way for fans of the of the Thief of Thieves comic books to immerse themselves in Redmond’s world and really interact with the story,” said Robert Kirkman. Under the hood, the Thief of Thieves: Experience , built in partnership with Skybound and creative agency Bradley and Montgomery, is firmly built on web standards.  This includes the new Pointer Events specification recently accepted and published by the W3C.  This specification enables a unified way for developers to accept input from users (such as touch or mouse) while allowing the user to leverage other means of input in the future, without the site owners having to rebuild their experience.  IE10 supports this specification and it makes for a fun touch-first means of experiencing the Thief of Thieves story via the web. The Thief of Thieves web site also makes heavy use of scalable vector graphics (SVG), which provides rich graphics regardless of a user’s zoom level or screen size.  Animating these rich graphics enhances the story telling but in the past has caused issues with performance, which could impact a user’s overall experience.  To optimize for this heavy load, the Thief of Thieves site uses new performance and animation standards like requestAnimationFrame to ensure that paint requests are being synchronized with the refresh rate of the hardware, ensuring the performance remains fast.    In addition, we’ve used: · CCS3 animations for some of the larger scene transitions on the site; · MSGesture API for handling more advanced pointer interactions like the safe cracking exercise; · pageVisibility API to detect when an open page isn’t being actively used so we can control audio appropriately; and · setImmediate API to improve performance and power consumption on tablet devices. setImmediate like setInterval and setTimeout is a timing API and requests the CPU to process the instruction as soon as it’s possible to. You can read more about the technology behind the scenes including code snippet and an example of the game mechanics used like the A* pathing algorithm in JavaScript here . We’ve had the pleasure of working with great partners leading up to and through the release of IE10 to showcase the power of HTML5 and multi-touch – Pulse , Atari and Contre Jour , to name a few – and Thief of Thieves is no different. Be sure to download IE10 to check it out, and let us know what you think. Happy heisting! http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/02/12/contre-jour-returns-with-beautiful-new-levels-to-excite-fans-around-the-globe.aspxTue, 12 Feb 2013 14:00:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:2eba811a-0229-4fbe-a5a7-c646b5914e44Roger Capriotti In October , we introduced the world to the adorable creature Petit by bringing the groundbreaking game Contre Jour to the web with Internet Explorer 10 and HTML5. Today, we are excited to announce that Petit is back with 20 new levels to play on the web. Just like the game we launched this fall, these new levels show off the power of browsing in IE10 with fully accelerated HTML5, and advanced multi-touch support for a first class browsing experience on a tablet. We were thrilled with the positive response and global momentum from fans playing Contre Jour from over 100 countries. Bringing this successful app to the web has allowed more people from all over the world to enjoy Contre Jour. For example, since October, there have been nearly one million visitors to the site from Brazil , a market where Contre Jour previously had very little presence through other platforms, making Contre Jour a truly global experience. Given the resounding success of the game worldwide, game creator Maksym Hryniv (Max) and the team at Pixel Lab decided to work with the IE team again to create two new “worlds.” “Bringing my game to the web really helped me reach new fans all around the world,” said Max. “The first version was so successful that I wanted to create something truly unique for the web version. I decided to create a totally new chapter with visuals, gameplay and a new character. I think fans from my home country of Ukraine all the way to China and the U.S. will be pleasantly surprised by the look and feel of the new levels.” The New Friend World is a sweet treat for players, featuring beautiful new sunset themed levels that provide a beautiful background to Petit’s love story just in time for Valentine’s Day. These levels are exclusive to the Web and introduce a brand new character to join Petit, named Amie. Amie, French for “friend”, is a fluffy, vibrant and energetic partner-in-crime to Petit, and flies through the levels helping Petit on his journey to find his true love, The Rose. The new Moonlight World looks more similar to the other Contre Jour worlds, and showcases the power of IE10 as a touch browser. Contre Jour was truly designed to be a touch-first game—in fact, it was the first game brought to the web that actually required multi-touch on certain levels. Check out the twenty new levels of gameplay for yourself at www.contrejour.ie and send a Valentine Card to share the Valentine’s love with your friends and loved ones this upcoming holiday. Roger Capriotti Director, Internet Explorer Marketing http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/01/31/introducing-modern-ie-testing-sites-for-internet-explorer-made-easier.aspxThu, 31 Jan 2013 10:55:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:8cb2e124-4cf0-4077-afc7-c9cc28ef1890Ryan Gavin Today we are introducing modern.IE , a free set of tools and resources designed to make it easier for developers to ensure their sites work beautifully across Internet Explorer as well as other modern browsers. As part of the modern.IE release, we’re excited to announce a special partnership with BrowserStack , a leading browser testing service that lets developers test their site on any browser on any Windows OS. For any web developer that visits BrowserStack via modern.IE , we’re offering three months of this service for free over the next year. IE9 and the recently released IE10 represent an entirely new chapter in IE’s long history. We have made a lot of changes over the last several years: adopting automatic updates to move customers to the latest version of IE; the introduction of Platform Previews for early developer feedback; and the full embrace of modern web standards , coupled with cutting edge performance and advanced touch capabilities , just to name a few. At the same time, we recognize that customers on older versions of IE continue to be a real challenge for developers testing their sites, particularly for those developers on non-Windows devices. We want to help. We want the web to move forward. And we genuinely want web developers to spend more time innovating and less time testing. That is where modern.IE comes in.     A new code detection wizard to detect common coding issues modern.IE is part of our commitment to offer the tools and resources that make developing for the web –and IE – just a little bit easier. As part of this, modern.IE features a wizard that scans for common coding practices that might prevent users from having their best experience on a site. Developers start by entering a webpage URL that they want to test: In a few seconds, modern.IE reports the webpage results in the below three categories, and includes recommendations on how to update the site: 1. Address common problems that result from supporting older versions of IE. This wizard detects the most common compatibility issues – like an outdated jQuery web framework – and helps developers find a solution quickly. We also indicate when there are known compatibility issues that might prevent a site from rendering in the latest version or pre-release of IE. Together with Platform Previews, this can make it easier for developers to plan for and address differences from version to version. For security and privacy reasons, we don’t disclose these technical details on the site. Instead, developers can easily contact us, receive this info, and get IE engineering team support at no cost. 2. Help the site work well across browsers, across devices. The wizard also includes a set of emerging best practices on the web that apply to the growing range of form-factors – mobile, desktop, tablets, even large-screen TVs. Implementing feature detection, coding with CSS prefix best practices, building plug-in free, and using responsive web design can each save testing time across new browsers and devices, and provide a more consistent user experience in each of them. 3. Consider building with some new features in Windows 8. This includes suggestions for touch-enabled browsing and Start Screen site tile(s) for your site. The wizard doesn’t offer a complete checklist for coding the modern web, but it is intended to focus on the things that can make a real difference in the overall user experience. We plan to continually improve, and add to, modern.IE and we want the developer community to help us in this effort. We encourage developers to share their feedback on how we might improve it. Free Virtual Testing Service with BrowserStack Another big pain point for developers is access to the many browsers and platforms required to thoroughly test for the web today. modern.IE includes special access to BrowserStack , a leading virtual browser testing site that lets developers test their site on any browser available on Windows – regardless of what OS their test machine is running. For developers who visit the site via modern.IE , we’re offering three months of free service over the next year. Services like BrowserStack mean that developers won’t need to worry about maintaining their own test machines as that the browsers on the service are maintained in the cloud. We have also created add-ins for developers using Chrome or Firefox, which will give developers single click access to the BrowserStack virtual testing service right from their browser of choice. Additionally, we are making available free virtual images for developers to download and run local versions of Internet Explorer with Windows for testing – even on Mac, Linux, or PC. Developers can download these on modern.IE . Best practices and sample code for cross-browser coding After spending time with, and listening to, hundreds of developers and partners from across the globe, we have compiled the top 20 tech tips that address most of the compatibility issues developers have coding for the web – and IE – today. It can be a challenge to code for modern browsers while supporting older versions in a simple or cost-minimal way. With so many dev tools, code frameworks, and searchable raw code, it’s not always clear what the best resources are to build with. While this list of tech tips doesn’t include every insight shared by developers, it represents some of the most common patterns and practices to make coding for the web easier. The list has also been moderated by two coding experts we trust to help developers: Dave Methvin , President of the jQuery foundation, and Rey Bango , our own Technical Evangelist and former member of the jQuery Project. We want to make this list better over time, so give us feedback . Helping build a more modern web modern.IE is just another part of our continued commitment to help developers spend less time testing and more time building amazing sites. The next time you’re testing your site, try out the tools on modern.IE and start your next project with BrowserStack. Ryan Gavin General Manager Internet Explorer http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/01/23/internet-explorer-our-favorite-90s-comeback.aspxWed, 23 Jan 2013 17:06:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:46b80993-a4b7-4164-aae8-8ed221e22611Roger Capriotti Last year was a pretty great one for Internet Explorer. From hitting a year high on worldwide share to making some new friends like Officer Cupcake and Eugene Filon , we poked some fun at our past while helping the skeptics learn about the latest version of IE. Performance tests continued to show Internet Explorer 10 as the fastest browser on Windows 8 and security reports showed it was also the best browser to protect users from malware. Which is why we thought it was time to invite those of you who haven’t thought about Internet Explorer in a while to take a trip down memory lane. Internet Explorer is a child of the 90s , but we have done some serious growing up. Maybe IE was your first browser, but you haven’t used it in a while. We aren’t sure if pogs or trolls will make a comeback as well, but we do know a lot has changed with Internet Explorer. A lot of people are coming back to discover a new Internet Explorer - a browser that is fast, fluid and perfect for touch, which sets IE10 apart from other browsers. Internet Explorer 10 and Windows 8 together provide a new experience that offers the best of the Web and the best of apps on one device. And, these new fans are not keeping this good news to themselves. Whether they are developers or consumers, they are sharing their enthusiasm for the new IE:                Or check out what press are saying about IE10: · “IE10 is fast, fluid and tons of fun.” - Gizmodo · “Internet Explorer 10 Bests the Competition on Windows 8 tablets.” - WIRED · “Microsoft is clearly on to something with Internet Explorer 10.” - TechCrunch So, we invite you to reconnect with Internet Explorer 10 as part of Windows 8, or download the Release Preview of IE10 for Windows 7 here and enjoy the entirely new Internet Explorer! Roger Capriotti Director, Internet Explorer Marketing http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2012/12/13/ten-reasons-why-internet-explorer-10-is-best-for-business.aspxThu, 13 Dec 2012 17:11:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:8565a138-717f-4bf2-8f2e-c21a7d4345fdRoger Capriotti The web browser is not only important at home or in school. For business, the browser is a key tool for accessing line of business apps, connecting with customers and partners, modernizing employee desktops, and enabling employees the flexibility to work from anywhere. Choosing the right browser is critical for organizations, and a choice that has far-reaching impact on organizational security, productivity and application development costs. Today we are happy to share the findings of Forrester Consulting, who evaluated considerations that IT managers weigh when deciding on a browser and whether to support or allow the use of nonstandard browsers. Forrester’s Business Case for Standardizing on a Single Modern Browser in the Enterprise is now available and reveals business priorities that reaffirm Internet Explorer’s choice as a great browser for business. Forrester found that ninety-six percent of firms today standardize on a single browser for company-issued PCs , as there are increased costs associated with supporting or allowing nonstandard browsers within the enterprise. For example, Forrester found that firms spend an extra $4,200 per web app annually to support multiple browsers . For a large corporation, that translates to almost $400,000 per year just for web apps. Any potential benefits were clearly outweighed by support, maintenance, and other costs - as most firms with multiple browsers experienced cost increases in excess of 20% overall . This is in line with conventional wisdom, which says to pick one browser but develop sites to common web standards. Last year, we shared nine reasons why Internet Explorer 9 is the best browser for business customers . Forrester’s findings reinforce the need for organizations to standardize on a single browser. Here are ten reasons why we think Internet Explorer 10 should be that browser: 1. Fast . IE10 is fast, improving upon the significant speed advances in IE9 . PC Magazine recently showed that Internet Explorer 10’s SunSpider JavaScript performance was faster than Chrome . On another micro-benchmark, Tom’s Hardware found that “ Internet Explorer 10 smashes the competition, performing 37% better than even the latest version of Google’s Chrome ” on Windows 8. As we’ve discussed previously on the blog , Internet Explorer is built from the ground up to perform incredibly well on real-world web sites , not just micro-benchmarks. In September, for example, Strangeloop Networks found that “ Internet Explorer 10 rendered pages faster than other browsers ” for the top 2,000 Alexa retail websites. New Relic confirmed this in November, claiming that IE10 and IE9 had the “ fastest browser response time on Windows. ” User productivity is often cited as a reason to upgrade browsers, and results like these reinforce that we’re taking the right approach as we strive to build the fastest, most productive web browser available. Internet Explorer 10 renders pages 8% faster than Chrome ( Strangeloop Networks, Fall 2012 ) 2. Fluid . All graphics, video, and text in IE10 are hardware-accelerated , with app-like performance for web sites. The good news is that hardware acceleration is balanced with battery power, ensuring you can be productive for longer periods of time before having to recharge. Mobility and productivity go hand in hand. 3. Perfect for touch. Whether you are considering purchasing corporate tablets or simply supporting employees who bring their tablets to work, look no further than Internet Explorer 10. IE10 is perfect for touch, and handles simultaneous points of touch and gesture-based input for demanding web apps and games. Pinch-to-zoom just scratches the surface of what a real touch interface can do. Try the web-based Contre Jour for one example. Modern web apps will continue to push the boundaries of touch. 4. Easy, site-centric design . Internet Explorer 10 for the desktop builds on IE9’s streamlined user interface that puts the focus on websites and your web apps . The new Internet Explorer 10 interface for Windows 8 dedicates even more of the screen to your sites, with full-screen web and navigational controls that appear as needed. Full-screen web browsing means that employees can spend more time focused on web apps and sites, not screen clutter. 5. Windows integration . With IE10, your websites and web apps feel like native applications. IE10 has seamless integration with Windows 8, increasing productivity by using common Windows 8 controls like search and share. Employees can also “pin” favorite sites as live tiles on the Start screen or Windows taskbar, receiving notifications without evening opening a browser. Developers can even build a Windows 8 tile for web apps in minutes, through Build My Pinned Site in Windows 8 . 6. Safer . According to Forrester, better security is the number one reason that firms upgrade browsers. IE10 is the safest Windows 8 browser against socially-engineered malware , building on the top-rated security features of IE9 with SmartScreen , new memory protections and Enhanced Protected Mode . Whether you look at socially-engineered malware block rates through third-party studies like NSS Labs , or software vulnerabilities through the NIST’s National Vulnerability Database , Internet Explorer helps lead the way in protecting you and your business. And if privacy is a concern, IE10 adds to IE9’s Tracking Protection by easily enabling the Do Not Track header, giving you better control over the browser’s communication with websites to help keep browsing history private. “ Browser Security Comparative Analysis: Socially Engineered Malware ,” NSS Labs, October 24, 2012. 7. Comprehensive management and deployment tools . IE10 offers extensive management and deployment options for big and small businesses alike, which is a significant factor in choosing a browser. You can deploy IE10 using Windows Update, WSUS, System Center Configuration Manager, Group Policy, a network folder, or even slipstream into your existing Windows images. The Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) enables you to create customized install packages in minutes for your own customized version of IE. Nearly 1500 Group Policies and full integration with System Center Configuration Manager give granular controls to companies needing them. For companies seeking simpler controls, there are tools available such as the Security Compliance Manager or the “Easy to Deploy” section of the IEAK for end-to-end security and management scenarios that match your particular environment. 8. Compatibility and migration support . Simplifying web app development is important to many businesses. Internet Explorer 10 preserves development investments with emulation for IE9, IE8, IE7, and “quirks” modes. Users can easily render sites by selecting compatibility mode, and IT Pros can places sites into compatibility mode through Group Policy. As you would expect, we provide numerous resources and tools to help with your migration to the latest version of Internet Explorer. And we provide the longest support life cycle of any browser, allowing you to upgrade your browser at your own pace. 9. Support for modern standards . Modern web applications require support for the latest Web standards. With Internet Explorer 10, we have delivered our most standards-compliant browser ever, including extensive support for industry standards such as HTML5, CSS3, SVG, and ECMAScript5.1. We are committed to modern Web standards and work closely with standards bodies like the W3C and Ecma International to help develop these standards and bring them to the marketplace. While any browser can claim to support some or all of a specification, test results from a comprehensive test suite are the best way to determine which browsers will render the same markup consistently. Microsoft created and maintains over 7,500 test cases that are shared with web standards organizations and the public, to ensure standards-based consistency across the ecosystem. Great standards support in Internet Explorer means that when you build sites based on modern Web standards, your sites will work across other browsers who have adopted these industry standards. Building on HTML5 with IE10 is the best way to develop for your business, today and tomorrow. 10. Total Cost of Ownership. Forrester confirmed that TCO is a significant factor in choosing a browser, stating that “IT pros overwhelmingly prefer to standardize on the browser that ships with their desktop OS. In fact, 70% associate that browser with the lowest TCO in addition to other best-in-category benefits, such as ease of deployment (82%), ease of support (79%), and predictable release schedules (73%).” Take a look at Forrester’s Business Case for Standardizing on a Single Modern Browser in the Enterprise , and assess the factors that are important to your business. Internet Explorer 9 continues to be a great business browser, and Internet Explorer 10 is even better! Try the Release Preview of IE10 on Windows 7 now, or you can use IE10 as part of Windows 8 today. Internet Explorer 10 is fast, fluid, perfect for touch – and great for your business too . Roger Capriotti Director, Internet Explorer Marketing http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2012/12/07/pmk-customs-gets-a-web-makeover-with-help-from-internet-explorer.aspxFri, 07 Dec 2012 13:55:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:aefffe46-1e2d-4b07-9aa3-e233efa21d11Roger Capriotti Over the course of the past year , the IE team has brought creative, fun and immersive experiences to life online through the browser in an effort to show how cool and touch-friendly the web can be. Today we’re excited about a collaboration we have with PMK Customs to release their PMK Design Labs , an interactive shoe design site that gives you control over colors to make your sneaker even more personal, custom and creative. We were inspired by the PMK Customs story as a successful small business, and saw an opportunity to use HTML5 and touch functionality to strengthen their website and make an experience that’s easier for their customers to use. Building on the custom sneaker culture started by Tinker Hatfield, Jeremy Scott, Sekure D, Dave White and AJ Ballard, PMK Customs is looked at as leaders in the growing community and culture of custom sneakers. For small businesses, their website is mission critical marketing and sales vehicle. In working with the Internet Explorer team, PMK Customs set out to prove that creating an engaging website is not just reserved for big companies with big budgets. But in fact, with little time and investment, businesses of all sizes can create web experiences that feel more like an app, that take advantage of the inclusiveness of the web, and provide rich and exciting new opportunities. All of which go a long way to increasing their business. Additionally, building websites in modern browsers like Internet Explorer 10 come with the added confidence that IE’s support for modern web standards and fast HTML5 rendering means that sites will work across multiple devices and modern browsers. Small business developers need only have to write their code once – so they can spend more of their time building these rich and immersive experiences for their customers. While PMK Customs started as a basic Wordpress site, the revamped site, which includes PMK Design Labs , features next-generation web technologies like HTML5, multi-touch gestures, an adaptive design layout that adjusts to screen size, Windows 8 features such as site pinning and snap view, and performance optimization for low-power tablets running ARM processors, like Surface RT. For more detailed information on the technologies used, check out the behind the scenes on the site. What are you waiting for? Get your creative juices flowing by designing your own sweet pair of sneakers at pmkcustoms.com/designlabs - and be sure to check out how developing for IE10 can be good for businesses of any size. Roger Capriotti Director, Internet Explorer Marketing http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2012/11/30/for-all-of-you-skeptics.aspxFri, 30 Nov 2012 18:13:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:c35235c8-e46e-4251-b1bf-799e533cf8baRoger Capriotti We’re glad everyone enjoyed meeting our dear friend Eugene yesterday; we’ve known him for quite some time now. Of course, if you haven’t had an opportunity to meet him yet, be sure to head over to The Browser You Loved to Hate or watch him in action below. We’re humbled by the positive reception IE is getting these days, including people who have highlighted: - IE10’s cool touch capabilities and speedy performance - IE10 on Windows 8 gives users a better touch experience than iPad and is catching the eyes of iPad users - IE market share worldwide is at its highest level in over a year So if you haven’t already taken another look, we’d encourage you to reconsider Internet Explorer. It’s perfect for touch, it’s amazingly fast and fluid, and it is hands down the best browser for Windows 8 . Roger Capriotti Director, Internet Explorer Marketing http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2012/11/20/take-ie10-for-a-spin-on-windows-8-windows-phone-8-or-windows-7.aspxTue, 20 Nov 2012 16:56:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:ed4a8f30-b139-488c-9e68-284ec5b5ce24Steve Lake Over the last several months you’ve seen us showcase what happens when you mix cutting edge HTML5, multi-touch and a modern browser, thanks to fun and immersive experiences like Atari Arcade , Pulse , and Contre Jour . But with Windows Phone 8 hitting stores, we thought it would be fun to push things even farther and start bringing these types of stunning experiences to mobile. With that in mind, we are pleased to announce enhanced mobile experiences for both Pulse and the Atari Arcade. So whether you are using a new Windows 8 device, a Windows Phone 8 or you are one of our Windows 7 customers , you have a lot of great online experiences to look forward to using IE10. It’s fast, fluid, perfect for touch and it makes your favorite web sites just shine. And with IE, it’s easy to just pin your favorite sites right next to your favorite apps for one-click access . Need a few ideas on how to start experiencing all that IE10 has to offer? Check out these great options, including the new Pulse and Atari mobile experiences.   Atari: In late August, the IE team and Atari reimagined this classic game line-up and brought them to the web with HTML5 and multi-touch at the Atari Arcade . Since then there have been over five million games played and it was named a Time Magazine top website of 2012 . The site takes ten classic Atari games and enhances them with multi-touch and social integration, letting you challenge your friends across the globe to favorites like Centipede, Asteroids and Pong. Now we’re excited that the gameplay has been extended to the mobile web – we worked with Atari and Grant Skinner again to ensure four of the original games you know and love – Pong, Missile Command, Asteroids and Super Breakout – have been updated to really light up on a smaller screen. What’s really exciting here is that Grant Skinner’s team made mobile enhancements to the CreateJS framework that we’re releasing to help developers build cross-platform HTML5 games. You can get the behind-the-scenes on the tech here .   Pulse: This summer we also worked with the folks at Pixel Lab to bring the award-winning news application Pulse online at www.pulse.me . The site is gorgeous and takes advantage of IE10’s advanced gesture support, letting you do things on the web that haven’t been possible before. For instance, pinching the screen lets you resize an article; a two finger side-swipe brings your reading pane into view; and a single swipe loads the next article in the queue. Pulse has now also been enhanced for mobile devices, with a special focus on IE for Windows Phone 8. The updated site is completely adaptive and built using responsive design best practices. As we updated the site, we also optimized for performance, so that difficult animations or transitions have been selectively disabled or swapped for mobile friendly equivalents. It also has been updated for the television by way of the Xbox – Pulse has been updated to provide a great Xbox experience, including optimizations to the site’s color, contrast and layout. No matter where our users are, they can see the beauty of the web at Pulse.me.   Contre Jour: If you just purchased a new Windows 8 device, another great site to visit is Contre Jour , which we released in early October with Mokus and the folks at Clarity Consulting. This game showcases the power of IE10, and takes advantage of the browser’s performance and multi-touch capabilities to provide a truly immersive experience – the browser controls melt away in IE10, so you feel like you’re in an app. There are a lot of sites – games included – that work with touch; but Contre Jour is the first game that is built for multi-touch, and even requires it at a few points to pass the more advanced levels. While we’ve been hard at work on these sites, we’re not done yet! We continue to look for opportunities to show off what’s possible on the web in the hopes of inspiring developers and consumers to expect more from the web across PCs, tablets, phones and game consoles. More to come soon! http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2012/11/06/internet-explorer-10-wins-again-on-performance.aspxTue, 06 Nov 2012 18:26:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:61863a9f-6575-47d2-90b1-29e5999feec7Roger Capriotti Internet Explorer 10 is fast and fluid, and built from the ground up for real-world performance. Growing evidence shows Internet Explorer as the fastest web browser on Windows 8 . 1. Earlier today, New Relic published additional evidence showing that Internet Explorer 10 is the fastest Windows browser. New Relic monitors page views for thousands of Internet sites, and found that IE10 and IE9 have the “ fastest browser response time on Windows, with IE10 showing a notable increase over IE9.” New Relic blog showing Windows browser response times. (Lower scores are faster.) Find your web browser on the chart above. Are you running the fastest Windows browser—or the slowest? 2. On September 24, 2012, Tom’s Hardware ran a story on RoboHornet, a set of open-sourced micro-benchmarks released with Google participation on Github . Not surprisingly, they found “Internet Explorer 10 smashes the competition, performing 37% better than even the latest version of Google’s Chrome.” Our team built a demo using RoboHornet to run the micro-benchmark suite in the context of a real-world scenario , releasing the demo as RoboHornet Pro . We believe that this type of real world testing is much more representative of web browser performance than micro-benchmarks . 3. On September 18, 2012, Strangeloop Networks published a report showing performance results from 2,000 of the world’s top retail sites, finding that “Internet Explorer 10 rendered pages faster than other browsers” and that “IE10 served pages 8% faster than Chrome 20.” The tests used Webpagetest.org , an open-source project primarily developed and supported by Google. These unpaid, independent endorsements are just three votes in favor of IE10’s real-world performance. Since the arrival of Windows 8 , millions more are using Internet Explorer 10 and learning first-hand that IE10 is fast, fluid, and perfect for touch. Roger Capriotti Director, Internet Explorer Marketing http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2012/10/26/internet-explorer-10-now-available-with-windows-8.aspxFri, 26 Oct 2012 15:38:00 GMTd5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:0906d81e-d6ed-4fdf-8b9d-d3f5b5d3c5a9Ryan Gavin Today, the Windows team shared that after much anticipation, Windows 8 is available to the world. Windows 8 represents a tremendous step forward in reimagining what people can expect from the devices in their life – whether PC, tablet, or something that can be both . The entirely new Internet Explorer 10 is a huge part of the reimagined Windows experience. IE10 is the Windows 8 browser. Built specifically to make the web a first class citizen on your new Windows 8 device right alongside apps. It is exceptionally fast and fluid when it comes to performance. Most importantly, IE10 is arguably the first browser that is perfect for touch . With an entirely new modern touch-first UI, IE10 raises the bar for what we should expect from the web on new modern devices. The underlying platform innovations in IE10 around touch are allowing developers to create new experiences that rival their native app counterparts . Check out this video from the recently released Contre Jour HTML5 game in IE10. There are a plethora of new features in Internet Explorer 10 that we are excited about, but we want to call out some of our favorites: Full-Screen Browsing: IE10 lets you enjoy the web as it was meant to be – with all of the focus on the sites you love. The browser appears only when you need it, and quietly gets out of the way when you don’t. Once you’ve experienced sites like Pulse with IE10, it’s hard to go back to having any chrome around your sites. Flip Ahead: With Flip Ahead, IE10 makes clicking “Next” obsolete. A simple “swipe” gesture allows you to advance to the next page, or article, or image on sites with “Flip Ahead” functionality. Try a Bing search on IE10 once you have enabled Flip Ahead and simply swipe forward or backward to navigate your results. Pinning : IE10 allows you to pin your favorite sites to the Start screen just like apps. Simply tapping the “Pin to Start” button in the navigation bar will create a tile on the Start screen so you can put your favorite sites right alongside your applications in a beautiful display that will truly make “Start” your home. Trying pinning Facebook , Twitter , or CNN with IE10 to see how it works. Snapping: IE10 makes multi-tasking easy by allowing you to simply “snap” IE10 to one side of the screen, while having another application – such as Mail, Xbox Music or Microsoft Office – open on the other side. It’s small but awesome example of how the web, through IE10, just blends seamlessly into your Windows 8 experience. Check out this short video that shows off some of these great new features in IE10. Welcome to IE10! Ryan Gavin General Manager, Internet Explorer