Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): The Auto Dial Firefox extension automatically places shortcuts to your most frequently visited web sites inside all of your new, empty tabs. Mozilla Labs recently suggested that empty tabs could be put to better use by offering no-cost options for the user (i.e., if what you want isn't what's offered, it doesn't hurt anything). Although not as inspired as the undeveloped concept at Mozilla Labs, Auto Dial fits perfectly with this idea. If you want more control over the content built in to new tabs, check out the previously mentioned Speed Dial extension. Auto Dial is free, works wherever Firefox does.

Six months after Beta 1 hit the streets, Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 to brave testers. The new beta includes features that make it look like a viable choice of modern browser, like a smart address bar (sound familiar?), tab grouping, private browsing, find in-page, suggested sites related to the current page, and more. Let's take a look at what's coming out of Redmond in the browser arena.

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Having reported on the new beta of IE8, I was keen to get it installed, but soon confronted an error message telling me I had to dump beta 1. That looked tricky, since it didn't appear in the Vista uninstall programs dialogue, and Microsoft's own knowledge base article wasn't any help. However, as this handy blog post points out, Internet Explorer 8 is viewed by Vista as an update, not a program, so you need to click on 'View installed updates' in the program uninstall screen to locate and get rid of it. (And yes, of course you have to reboot.)

Microsoft has released the second beta of Internet Explorer 8, promising "anyone who browses or works on the web will enjoy IE8 Beta 2." There wasn't anything in the first beta that would make me switch from Firefox 3 for my day-to-day browsing needs, but I'll be curious to see if they've improved on the sluggish performance of that initial build and how the rather obvious AwesomeBar clone plays in practice.

In the UK, Apple has just been busted by an advertising standards body for claiming that the iPhone offers "all the parts of the Internet", despite the conspicuous absence of support for widely-used technologies such as Java and Flash. Advertising regulations aside, the Safari browser on the iPhone is a major selling point, but there's no doubt it doesn't render everything perfectly. How have you found the iPhone browsing experiences? Do you find yourself cursing the absence of Flash, or is a Wi-Fi screen in your pocket more than ample compensation? Share your thoughts in the comments. (I prefer a browser that more actively reformats for mobile screen sizes rather than relying on a zoom feature, but that's probably a question of taste.)

One of the best features of the built-in browser on the BlackBerry is its support for keyboard shortcuts, making it easy to navigate pages (space for Page Down), find information (F), open new pages (G) and access bookmarks (K) without needing to use the scroller. You can find a full list of the supported keyboard shortcuts on the new (and droolworthy) BlackBerry Bold by selecting 'Browser shortcuts' on the Help menu. One option that isn't mentioned on that list remains very useful: press the D key to send your browser into the background. Since I've equipped one of the BlackBerry's quick access keys to launch the browser, I regularly use this to allow easy copy-and-paste between browsers and the BlackBerry notepad. Hitting D returns me to the notepad; hitting the shortcut takes me back to the browser.

Here's an interesting twist on browser history: a Web-based calculator which looks at the sites you've visited, weights that against whether those sites have a larger male or female readership, and then makes an educated guess on whether you're male or female. I came up as 92% male, which sounds about right. How do you score?
Using your browser URL history to estimate gender  [Mike On Ads]

Leading design and user interface company Adaptive Path released a series of concept videos that show how they envision the web will work in the future called Aurora. Designed and narrated by Jesse James Garrett ( a.k.a. "the AJAX guy"), Aurora shows off some advanced tech in everyday life situations in four parts. If you missed our previous coverage of the Aurora launch early this week, get the full set of four video clips right here.

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Windows Mobile only: The newly-released Opera Mobile 9.5 beta offers a host of features for surfing on your handheld device. The browser operates in full-screen mode to maximize the amount of web site you see without cluttering things up with toolbars. Restore access to the toolbars by tapping small silver arrow in the lower corner of the screen. Opera Mobile also has support for full-screen browsing similar to Microsoft's experimental browser Deepfish. You can look at the entire page at one time and choose which area you want to zoom in on for closer examination. The full page browsing is handy for manoeuvring around web sites that aren't mobile phone-optimised, instead of playing the scrolling game to figure out if you can find what you're looking for. Opera Mobile 9.5 beta is a free download for Windows Mobile only.

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In Firefox's Help menu choose Check for Updates to download Firefox 3.0.1, a minor update that fixes Firefox 3's most common causes of crashes. This update won't shouldn't cause any add-on incompatibilities (but apparently does here and there according to commenters). [via]

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