It"s that time of the week again, where Neowin takes a look back at all the recent front page news articles and goes over the top items. This week we uncovered some more Windows 8 information, the white iPhone 4, a major Facebook announcement and a very cool Windows 7 commercial.
#5 Internet Explorer 9 Preview 7 released
By: Andrew Lyle
Internet Explorer 9 is a the next highly anticipated browser from Microsoft, which brings a ton of improvements over previous versions, mainly HTML5 support. The new IE9 Platform Preview 7 was released this week, which brings a ton of improvements to not only HTML5, but also to JavaScript.
Chakra is the codename for IE9"s JavaScript engine, which has been greatly improved, up to 345%. This latest release of IE9 outperforms other browsers, including Firefox 4 beta 7 and Chrome 8 beta.
#4 Clever Windows 7 + Windows Live commercial
By: Andrew Lyle
This new Windows 7 + Windows Live advertisement posted on YouTube today is definitely the best ad from Microsoft in a long time. The short two minute commercial not only delivers the message of how easy Windows 7 and Windows Live is to use, but it also shows off how easy the software is to use on various devices.
The video includes a number of Microsoft products, of course, including an ASUS laptop, with the LifeCam Studio 1080p webcam, the Samsung Omnia HD and what looks to be the Pegatron MasterPad tablet PC running Windows 7.
#3 Facebook announces Facebook email - @facebook.com
By: Andrew Lyle
Facebook"s big announcement this week was that they are launching an email service. The email service will tightly integrate into the website, providing users a quick and easy way to communicate through SMS or email, receiving alerts instantly for those browsing the website, or for those with push email, on their mobile device.
The email service hasn"t officially launched yet, but they are looking for participants to beta test the upcoming service in the near future.
#2 Windows 8 slides contain hint at "desktop as a service"
By: Andrew Lyle
Very little news has leaked out about Windows 8, but this week we discovered that Microsoft plans to shift focus of their operating system to a cloud-based service. Windows as we know it may see a major shift, as Microsoft plans to offer Windows as a service. Desktop as a Service (DaaS) isn"t a new technology for Microsoft, as they have offered similar services for Windows in the past, but never the entire operating system as a whole.
What did our readers have to say?
Owen W said, "Wow, this is awesome!"
_DP said, "So what does this mean to the average user and why should I be excited?"
#1 Teen makes $130,000 selling ""white"" iPhone 4
By: Matthew Jones
When Apple announced the iPhone 4 back in June, they showed off the new phone in both black and white, with the black phone to hit the market first. The months followed, and no sign of the white iPhone 4, something Apple hasn"t released information on in awhile.
A 17-year-old from Queens started selling white iPhone 4 kits on his website. The website was featured on a number of other websites, and his business started booming. So far, the teenage claims he has made over $130,000 from selling conversion kits, transforming your phone from black to white.
What did our readers have to say?
nevaan said, "Another entry in the "Damn, I wish I"d thought of that" book"
MrBurrrns said, "470 kits shipped * $279 = $131,130. He can hardly make a 130,000 profit from that..."