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Dean Hachamovitch finished his demo of Internet Explorer 9 at MIX10 a short while ago. He did a variety of demos for folks to see. Many of these you can try for yourself with the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview on the Test Drive site. To do these demos, a variety of Windows PCs were used. I thought I would call out those PCs and their specs.

In the first part of the demo, Dean used an HP xw8400 Workstation. Dean used this PC for demoing interoperability and standards (same markup!). This PC comes with dual Intel Xeon 5150 2.66GHz processors, 4GB of memory, 150GB hard drive, and NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500 graphics.

For the GPU-Powered HTML5 demo Steven Sinofsky, President of the Windows and Windows Live Division, dropped by to take part in showing off IE9 with Dean. Both he and Dean used identical PCs for this demo. The Windows PC they both used was the Dell Studio XPS 1640. The Studio XPS 1640 models they used had a Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz processor, 4GB DDR2 800MHz, ATI Mobility Radeon 3670 graphics, and a 500GB 7200 RPM Drive.

For the HTML5 YouTube and Video Carousel demos, Dean used the Dell Studio 1555. This PC comes with an Intel Dual Core T9600 2.8GHz processor, 4GB of memory, a 250GB 7200 RPM SATA hard drive, and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 graphics.

Special note from me: the Studio 1555 is the very same model I use as my everyday laptop here at work. I refer to it as “The Goat” due to the special design on the back. You can see the design here. Dell’s Design Studio has 200+ designs to choose from for customizing your Dell laptop.

The netbook Dean used was the HP Mini 311 which comes standard with an Intel Atom N270 1.6Ghz processor, 1GB of DDR3 memory, 160GB 7200 RPM SATA hard drive, and NVIDIA Ion graphics.

You’ll notice a few of these PCs use NVIDIA graphics. NVIDIA posted a blog post earlier today about GPU computing and highlights IE9.

The breadth of different types of Windows PCs used in today’s demos of IE9 at MIX10 shows how the browser takes advantage of the power of modern hardware while utilizing fewer resources.

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Yesterday was Day 1 of MIX10 in Las Vegas and a lot of really cool things were announced – specifically around developing for Windows Phone 7 Series. You’ll find the gist of the Day 1 news from MIX10 here on the MIX10 website. Today is proving to be an equally exciting day as yesterday with Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager for Internet Explorer, taking the stage for Day 2 Keynote to show off what we’re doing with Internet Explorer 9. Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) is the next version of our Internet Explorer web browser. Steven Sinofsky first gave an early look at IE9 last year at PDC09. But today at MIX10, Dean is officially going beyond the “early look” phase by diving deeper into the specific investments we’re making to the platform behind IE9 and delivering code in the form of a Platform Preview. To be specific, we are highlighting 3 key investments we’re making in IE9 today.

Performance, specifically with JavaScript: We are announcing a new JavaScript engine for IE9 which is designed to make Internet Explorer faster. This new JavaScript engine for IE9 places us faster than the shipping version of Firefox today on Webkit.org’s SunSpider benchmark test.

Standards and Interoperability: We are committed to the ideal of having the same markup (tags, script, and language) work across all the different browsers. This makes it easy for developers to develop their websites. With this commitment, HTML5 is at the center of IE9, and IE9 will include extensive support for DOM, CSS3, SVG standards and XHTML.

GPU-powered HTML5: We believe that HTML5 applications will take advantage of the latest in PC advancements to offer a truly graphically rich and functional experience that customers and developers want them (and expect them) to be. IE9 is the first browser designed to take advantage of modern hardware by shifting from the CPU to the GPU for hardware-accelerated SVG, enhanced JavaScript performance, and GPU-powered HTML5. By moving IE9 to the GPU and taking advantage of the latest Direct2D technology in Windows, webpages will load faster, graphics will be improved and users can take advantage of the modern hardware in their Windows PCs while taking fewer resources from their PC.

With these key investments for IE9, this translates into a great opportunity for developers to build rich websites.

For more from Dean, he’s posted a blog post about his MIX10 Keynote over on the IEBlog. I definitely suggest checking it out. You can also watch the keynote on demand here.

In talking about the platform behind IE9, we wanted to give developers a way to try out the investment we’ve done to-date with IE9. Today we’re announcing the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview. The Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview is simply a preview of the platform subsystems code that is “under the hood” of the browser. This Platform Preview is designed specifically for developers so that they can get an early sense of some of the changes in the browser including capabilities, performance, and standards support (investments I mention above).

The Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview includes the IE9 Test Drive website that presents a series of tests that allow developers to test the functionality of the investments we’re making with HTML5, Java Script, etc. To ensure we’re keeping developers actively engaged and aware of our continued work in key investments in IE9, we’re also announcing today that we’re making a commitment to deliver updates to this build approximately every 8 weeks leading up to the beta of Internet Explorer 9.

One thing I need to be clear about – the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview is not a full-fledged web browser to be used for everyday browsing of the Internet (it doesn’t even have a “back” button). It is designed specifically to run side-by-side to your regular browser and is simply a preview of the platform investments we’re making in IE9 designed for developers to learn how to take advantage of these investments in their websites. For everyday browsing of the Internet, I highly recommend continuing to use Internet Explorer 8. If you’re not necessarily a developer (like me) but want to get an idea on what we’re going to be doing with IE9 and the direction we’re going, I certainly recommend giving the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview a test drive and try out some of the tests we’ve included. In particular, seeing how it performs on new hardware is pretty exciting.

We’re very excited today to be able to talk more about the work we’re doing in Internet Explorer 9. As we move toward the beta for IE9, you can expect to see more posts from me on IE9 moving forward.

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Microsoft Hardware has announced today True Color Technology – designed to enhance the color and brightness of webcam video in the worst of lighting conditions. True Color Technology is a new image processing technology that automatically adjusts the picture quality to provide more colorful video.

In support of True Color Technology, Microsoft Hardware is also announcing 3 new LifeCam models that support True Color Technology. All of these new LifeCam models not just support True Color Technology, but include 720p HD sensors and Auto Focus technology as well.

LifeCam HD-5000

LifeCam HD-5001

LifeCam HD-6000 for Notebooks

The LifeCam HD-5000 and the LifeCam HD-5001 will have an estimated retail price of $49.95 and will be available later this month. The LifeCam HD-6000 will have an estimated retail price of $59.95 and be available in May. The LifeCam HD-5000 and LifeCam HD-6000 will be available for pre-sale on Amazon.com and Buy.com starting today.

If you’re a LifeCam Cinema owner like me, you’ll be happy to know there is both LifeCam software and a firmware update for the LifeCam Cinema available now that enables True Color Technology!

The Microsoft Hardware folks have also launched a new Microsoft Hardware blog today. Check it out and make sure to subscribe to their RSS feed!

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MIX10 officially begins tomorrow in Las Vegas. MIX is an annual event we put on for designers and developers to learn about Microsoft’s broad web platform and tools. Essentially we’re bringing a bunch of designers and developers together to talk about bringing together the clients, servers and cloud services to create great rich web applications.

What an exciting week this week will be! I won’t be attending MIX10 myself this year, so I will be joining the many who could not attend by watching MIX10 unfold online – and live.

The Day 1 keynote and Day 2 keynote will begin at 9am PDT on Monday and Tuesday and will be delivered by Scott Guthrie, Joe Belfiore, Dean Hachamovitch, Doug Purdy, and Bill Buxton. These keynotes will be streamed live at the MIX10 website.

Immediately following each keynote (10:30am PDT), Channel 9 Live will begin streaming with a ton of live content throughout the day and a lot of special guests. You can check out the full Channel 9 Live schedule here and who will be stopping by! They have a lot of great people coming by – from Scott Hanselman to Dean Hachamovitch to Loic Le Meur from Seesmic! Again, all of this will take place on the MIX10 website. You can submit questions through @c9live to be answered on Channel 9 Live throughout each day. Go ahead and send your questions, tell them Brandon sent you

There is also a MIX10 Virtual Press Room set up on the Microsoft News Center for all kinds of press materials and links to MIX10 content from around the web. You can follow @MIXEvent for the latest on MIX10 on Twitter as well.

And of course we’ll have some blog posts coming this week around MIX10 too! I will also be doing some tweeting from @windowsblog as well.

Like I said, this week is shaping up to be very exciting!

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The Games on Demand “Spring Sale” continues this week with BioShock 2. BioShock 2 is available at 25% off ($37.49 USD) now through tomorrow March 15th 5pm Redmond time (Pacific). If you purchase both BioShock 2 AND the Sinclair Solutions Tester Pack add-on pack through Games on Demand, you will receive a free gift of 800 Microsoft Points!

Remember, to take advantage of these deals and Games on Demand, you need to be running the Games for Windows – LIVE client which can be downloaded here.

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As developers evolve, so do their applications. And, we are evolving with them. To-date, Windows 7 has sold a record-breaking 90 million licenses making it the fastest selling operating system in history. This creates an awesome opportunity for developers to create some stunning software applications for a vast audience. We’re recognizing that there is an ongoing trend today with developers creating applications that bring together the best of the Web with the best of the Windows. A great example of this is Seesmic for Windows. Seesmic has adopted the Windows Platform as its delivery mechanism today for bringing Twitter to your Windows PC. For geeks like me, Seesmic provides Seesmic for Windows. And for the more casual user, they have Seesmic Look.

We are excited about what we’re seeing from developers like Seesmic and others and are encouraged by the future development of applications on the Windows Platform. There are 3 million developers and the majority target Windows. To help them stay connected with us and the community; we are introducing a new website today called Develop for Windows. We heard feedback from developers that they would like to be able to easily discover important resources for developing for Windows. We are looking to provide just that on the new Develop for Windows website. The new site will allow us to hear from developers and to provide them a single place to find all the resources and tools they can use to build great applications for Windows.

The Develop for Windows website is our direct connection to the developer community, and vice versa. Developers who visit the site will be able to learn about developing for Windows by seeing what’s new with Windows 7, get sample code and special “kits” to jump-start developing a Windows application, and of course pointers to lots and lots of Windows developer content at the Windows Developer Center on MSDN. The Develop for Windows website will also provide special “learning tracks” for developers to experience the technology they are developing for.

We also encourage developers to remain active in the Windows developer community by visiting the Windows forums, learning about local events they should attend and looking at what other developers are building. Microsoft puts on several events each year specifically targeting the developer. This last fall we had PDC09, which allowed developers to attend the Windows Bootcamp and learn about building applications that take advantage of Windows Touch, Sensor and Location Platform and a few other Windows 7 Technologies. Next week, we have MIX10 which is a fantastic event for developers looking to create the types of applications for Windows, mentioned above that bring in the best of the Web with the best of the client experience on Windows.

If you’re developing applications for Windows or looking to begin developing applications for Windows, the new Develop for Windows website is perfect for you. This is just the beginning. We’ll be adding a dedicated social media hub for developers, a developer hero showcase, event content on demand, and fresh videos of developers building innovative applications. Add the site to your Favorites and keep checking back as we’re going to continue to provide updated content on the site based on the feedback we receive from developers. We’ll also have some tips and highlights after MIX10 on Silverlight and Visual Studio 2010 as well!

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Yesterday, Denon announced that much of their current line of audio and video (A/V) receivers have earned Compatible with Windows 7 logo.

The following models have received the logo:

• AVR-4310CI
• AVR-3310CI
• AVR-990
• AVR-4810CI (recently released and shown above)
• ASD-51W
• ASD-51N

Denon has also said that their new A/V receivers, scheduled to be announced in 2010, will also carry the Compatible with Windows 7 logo.

As you’re building your stereo system at home or looking to update an existing stereo system, you should definitely consider A/V receivers such as Denon’s models that carry the Compatible with Windows 7 logo. That means these receivers work great and can take advantage of Windows 7. For example if one of the Denon receiver models above powers your stereo system at home, you can use Windows 7’s Play To feature to streaming your music to your stereo system over your home network.

Denon’s A/V receivers with the Compatible with Windows 7 logo come with built-in Ethernet and wireless allowing the unit to connect right up to your wireless network.

Because Denon’s units are not just audio receivers but video receivers too, one of their devices connected through HDMI to a HDTV can receive HD video streamed from any one of your Windows 7 PCs in your home using Play To.

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Dell today, is introducing the Vostro 3000 series of Windows PCs targeting specifically at the Small Business customer.

The new thin, lightweight and durable laptop computers feature powerful processors, high-end graphics and built-in security, and are designed for small businesses; helping them stretch their budget and protect their data, and come with dedicated small business services and support to keep a small businesses moving.

Vostro 3000 series consists of a 17” model (Vostro 3700), a 15” model (Vostro 3500), a 14” model (Vostro 3400), and a 13” model (Vostro 3300). And they come packing quite a “punch”.

The Vostro 3000 series will come with the latest Intel Core processors, including, the optional the quad-core Intel Core i7 processor available on the Vostro 3700. The Vostro 3300 is one of the thinnest commercial 13” laptops with an integrated optical drive. And the Vostro 3400 can offer up to a full day of productivity while “out-and-about” with up to 8 hours (based on lab testing and could vary by configuration) of battery life with an optional 9-cell battery. The Vostro 3700, 3500, and 3400 can come with an optional high-definition WLED screen and the 3700 offers up to 1GB NVIDIA GeForce discrete graphics.

All of the Vostro 3000 series PCs ship with built-in microphones and webcams as well, a full range of wireless options including 802.11g/n, Bluetooth, and mobile broadband. Oh and Dell is also offering an optional fingerprint reader too!

For more information on the new Vostro 3000 Series Windows PCs, see this blog post on Direct2Dell by Alex Gruzen, Senior Vice President for Dell Consumer and SMB. More photos of the Vostro 3000 Series can be seen here on Dell’s Flickr page.

The Vostro 3000 Series of Windows PCs look to be a powerful family of business-class PCs perfect for the small business user.

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Last Friday I posted about the first of a series of hot deals that will happen at the end of every week this month. Last week it was a hot deal for Batman: Arkham Asylum. This week it’s Street Fighter IV. Starting today and running through to Monday March 8th 5:00pm Redmond time, Street Fighter IV will be available through Games on Demand at 50% off. That’s $19.99 (or 1600 Microsoft Points). Keep checking this page for hot deals for game titles available through Games on Demand. Remember, to take advantage of Games on Demand, you will need the Games for Windows – LIVE client installed. You can download it here.

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Back in August, I wrote a blog post about how Internet Explorer 8 offers the best protection against socially engineered malware threats. This week, NSS Labs released a new study that continues to show Internet Explorer 8 to be the #1 browser in blocking malware! When the first study was revealed, the Internet Explorer Team announced that Internet Explorer 8’s SmartScreen Filter had provided over 80 million blocks of malware. Almost a year after Internet Explorer 8 shipped, Internet Explorer 8’s SmartScreen Filter has provided over 560 million blocks of malware – averaging over 3 million blocks per day! Wow.

The SmartScreen Filter uses a special URL Reputation Service (URS) with data centers hosted around the world and has evaluated over 250 billion URLs to help keep Internet Explorer 8 users safe! Every day, the SmartScreen Filter URS processes about 4.1 billion URLs looking for malicious websites and files; and since it was first introduced in Internet Explorer 7, the URS has processed over 5.7 trillion requests!

Malware is the biggest and most common security threat facing people browsing the Internet today, and Microsoft is investing heavily in keeping people protected while using Internet Explorer with features like the SmartScreen Filter, Protected Mode, DEP, and more. Check out this post on the IEBlog for more info about the NSS Labs study and how to make sure the SmartScreen Filter is turned on. If you’re not already running Internet Explorer 8, or haven’t upgraded, this is a great reason!

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