Well, the post says it all.

The Internet is a world of its own today. Many individuals can sometimes be noticed spending more time on their computers than in the real world. It’s true: the Internet is a big, important thing. But if  there is one thing more important than the Internet itself, it’s the way you get there – your Web browser.

Although there are tons of Web browsers out there, my article today will focus on the two that probably sound most familiar to the average end-users – Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox.

I started using Firefox in December of 2006. After seeing it’s dependability, speed, and thousands of add-ons from it’s community, Firefox is definitely the way to go.

Without giving IE a total loss, however, Microsoft has just recently shipped Beta 1 of IE8. And friends, I have to be honest here – some of the features are pretty interesting. In today’s article, I will be comparing them to those of Mozilla’s latest beta of Firefox.

Welcome to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1

It’s far from completion, but IE8 Beta 1 is proving to be just as useful as Firefox. For those of you wondering, Beta 1 is a pre-release of IE8. It’s not finished. Software is generally released in three stages: Alpha, Beta, and Release Candidates. Here, Beta 1 introduces a few new features.

Activities

If you select text, this neat little tool lets you get some useful options…

…such as instantly seeing a map of a location.

New Rendering Engine

IE8 uses a new rendering engine to display Web pages. Unfortunately, at this time, not all pages display correctly, so you can chose to have Beta 1 use the engine IE7 did to display sites.

Address Bar Security

The address bar highlights the domain you are visiting to help make “phishing” websites more obvious.

WebSlices

WebSlices are pieces of a page that a user can subscribe to. WebSlices will be automatically updated by IE8, and can be seen from the Favorites bar, complete with graphics and visuals.

Welcome to Firefox 3 Beta 4

It’s getting there, and Beta 4 of Firefox 3 shows that.

Firefox Sports Vista’s UI

I must make a disclaimer here: Firefox 3 does not natively support glass, but if you find the right extensions, you can make it happen.

The UI improvements I am talking about here are the unique icons Firefox 3 shows when running on Windows Vista…

…as well as context menu looks.

Beta 4 also fixes many bugs found in Beta 3, improvements in the download manager, page zoom (including graphics), and memory usage.

Final Thoughts

At this stage, IE8 and Firefox 3 both have a lot of potential. Although I am sure both will prove to be promising, Firefox 3 will be released sooner than IE8. And until IE8 RTM’s, I’ll still be using Firefox as my main browser. But I definitely won’t fear using IE.

It’s hard to believe that Easter is tomorrow. This year is going by fast  – it’s already the end of March. Anyway, let it go by, because I’m ready for the school year to end! Haha.

I am looking around for a new professional video camera. More on that in the next few weeks.

Easter tomorrow should be quite eventful – we’re staying at home and taking it easy.

Today I saw “Horton Hears a Who” with a few friends. To be honest, it was a challenge staying awake the whole time. The animation was very impressive, and the film had a great moral to it. But what can I say? It was a kids movie. But a pretty good kids movie I think.

Happy Easter, everyone.

My cleaned-up desktop on my laptop here at school.

Today I am posting from my votec class at school. There is not much going on, except for an annoying high-pitched noise that is coming from some unknown piece of electronic equipment. It was getting annoying (and still is), so I am listening to some music. Headphones are great.

Today is the last day of school this week (for me, at least). It will be nice to go on vacation for a while.

This picture has nothing to do with today’s post. I just thought it looked nice.

We only go to school this week Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Easter break will take up Thursday, Friday, and the weekend. It’s not much time off, but it is certainly better than nothing.

Picture of the sky while driving back from Massachusetts last April.

Today I finally was able to catch up on some sleep. It was very nice.

I uploaded both of my Heinz commercials so to my website at www.joshjasiel.com/heinz and they’re also on the front page of my website.

I also got a haircut today. It turned out great.

There isn’t much else I can think of right now, so I’m going to quit here for today. Leave some comments!

Today we have some awesome warm weather again. The temperature topped out at around 62. It’s so warm, I opened up my window in my room. The breeze feels really nice.

My friend Matt and I are going to start up recording the talk show this weekend, hopefully. We’ve been discussing some new things for it, and I think it’s going to turn out great.

It’s hard to believe April will be here soon. 2008 is already 3 months old. Time flies.

I finished the commercial for Heinz. It turned out great. I will upload it to my website Saturday, March 15.

I’m going to start working on my graduation video next. It’s going to be pretty cool.

There’s not much else to talk about, so I’m going to quit here for today. Comment!

The ketchup commercial is coming along nicely. I’m almost done with the rotoscoping. Once I finish the effects shots, I will spend about two days editing, and finally submit it to Heinz.

The dog situation has not been pleasant. I’ve come to the conclusion that Tucker is just an annoyance. I’ve tried to give the dog a chance but I just don’t see any good coming out of him. Between getting woken up by barks, bitten constantly in the mornings, and him nearly killing the other dog, I don’t see a lot of good. He’s still a puppy, but when is he going to learn?

I am going through pool withdrawal since we haven’t renewed our pass yet. We will eventually.. I hope it’s soon.

That’s all I can think of for now. Comment!

We got hammered today with about 3 inches of snow. It was supposed to be all rain today changing into snow around midnight tonight, but the snow came a little sooner than expected. This may be our last big snow of the season.

My weekend is booked with shots for the Heinz commercial. The joys of rotoscoping and the time it takes. It makes the work turn out great, though.

Aside from all that, nothing much else is going on. Mom’s birthday is Monday. She says she’s aging backwards now, and that every year she gets a year younger.

Enjoy your weekends folks! Comment!