Elliott C. Back: Internet & Technology

Internet Explorer 7 beta 2 has been released for public consumption; you can download it yourself from Microsoft. Installation of the ~11MB installer is relatively easy, with three points of interest:

• Windows Genuine Advantage Validation: You are required to validate your copy of windows to install IE7b2 on your computer, which is annoying at best, and a showstopper at worst.
• Microsoft Malware Tool: Microsoft runs their malware removal toolkit before installation to assure that your components are fresh and easy to use. Now you can’t blame IE7b2 because of lingering exploited flaws in an earlier release.
• A new look for the installer, pictured below.

Here is a screenshot of the new themed installer in progress:

Of course, at the end of installation, you are “required” to restart your computer.

Although profit doubled in q4, they still missed their projected earnings by a large margin. Maybe now the share price will start to reflect actual worth of the company, instead of VC wet dreams…

There is a good discussion going on over at Digg, where Anon writes:

I’m trademarking the term “Google Bubble” right now. Maybe Wall Street is finally seeing that the only thing they’ve done is a sparce set of average (or less) quality releases. I can’t believe this didn’t happen sooner, like when they unveiled the amazing “Google Pack” lol

Another digg’er is making some money short selling the stock:

I shorted this at $439 earlier today, before the earnings. Shorted right into that nice runup we saw before Greenspan spoke. I would be VERY careful about buying this in the morning. Although there is a chance this stock will rebound some, this is a “dead cat bounce” as we call it. There is a lot more to come off the share price, and I am not convering my short at this point. I love this company, but their market valuation is way out of whack.

There’s a new Wordpress Theme Contest going on at kcyap.com. The deadline is the end of February, so get them in soon! My entry will kick ass. Here’s a sneak preview of the tagging features:

Tags tie everything together–especially when they’re computed automatically and by your visitors.