Internet Explorer 9 hits beta, but will it win users?

Ever since Internet Explorer beat Netscape and turned into the web industry’s least favourite boat anchor, Microsoft has been struggling to turn the tide. IE7 was little more than a statement that it planned to become a contender again, and IE8 was a decent overhaul, but one whose success came firmly from being a Microsoft release rather than because of any intrinsic improvements over its rival Firefox.

Best known for its search engine, Google has developed a range of interesting and useful free tools. Here’s our pick of them!

Google made its name as a search engine but over the years it has also built up a selection of free online tools. The benefits they offer range from a better way to find things online, to full-blown programs that rival expensive commercial software. In this article, we will introduce you to 10 of the best.

Our top 10 tools are all tried and tested versions, but you may find some other Google tools that have the label ‘Labs’ attached to them. This means the tool is still being worked on in Google Labs, which is essentially a trial area for Google to demonstrate new tools it is developing. The idea is that anyone can try them out and leave feedback. Should a tool work well and get enough positive responses, it may eventually make it out of Labs as fully fledged Google tool.

The next big computing platform won’t be Mac or Windows. It’s already here and it’s the web! And the drive to offer the most compelling window to the web possible, via the browser, is intense.

What will your web browser look like in 2015? Five years doesn’t always bring dramatic change to technology – today’s desktop PC, for instance, isn’t that different from its 2005 predecessor – but browsers are undergoing major changes that will alter our day to day computing lives.

Not only will web browsers become a common place in cars, but they’ll also incorporate voice recognition, text-to-speech and touchless gesture controls for applications where keypads, touchpads and touchscreens can be inconvenient or dangerous while driving, for instance. Browsers will stream internet radio to our cars, and perhaps even adopt a 3D-style interface – only without the clunky glasses.

For many people, Facebook is the first stop in any web-surfing session. It has developed into a highly engaging combination of online bulletin board, personal scrapbook and group communication network. But did you ever wonder why, being all those things, Facebook is free?

Do you know what they are?

Google base in simple terms is an online database provided by Google. Users can add almost any type of content to the database in structured formats (such as XML, EXCEL, PDF etc). Recipes, classified ads, lecture notes - pretty much anything you can think of can be posted for free to Google Base.