Awesome Browsers

We cringe at the idea of another new Microsoft browser, but the IE9 Beta is out, and supports HTML5, hardware acceleration, and is more standards-compliant than ever. Demos here.

Built with JavaScript and WebGL, this 3D demo shows off what’s truly possible in a web browser. You’ll need a recent copy of Google’s Chromium. Hit “L” while the demo plays for a fun surprise.

The Wilderness Downtown by Chris Milk uses Chrome to create an interactive and hyperactive music video for Arcade Fire’s “We Used To Wait”, and showcase the power of HTML5. Try it here.

Do you miss/hate your ex? Move on with your life using Ex-blocker. It creates a plug-in that (mostly) blocks any ex-related content, for up to 5 exes! Also proven to work against Justin Bieber.

Firefox 4 won’t just bring a sleeker UI or faster browsing. Firefox Creative Lead Aza Raskin and colleagues are working on a new way to organize, share and use tabs, called “Tab Candy.” Delicious.

Loyal Firefox users – the Awesome Bar, your browsing history, bookmarks and even opened tabs can now follow you everywhere you go with Mozilla’s Firefox Home for the iPhone. Isn’t that magical?

There’s a lot to like about Opera – built-in mouse gestures, server-side compression and even torrent management. The latest adds features like faster JavaScript handling and geolocation.

Remember Google’s incredible Chrome speed test video? The Opera guys thought they’d poke a little fun at Google’s slow-mo browser test with their own. The results may shock you. Or not.

Opera somehow convinced Apple to approve Opera Mini for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. You can – nay, should – download the free speedy browser for free before Apple changes their mind.

If you liked the quirky Google Japan ad, this Chrome Features video by Google UK is a not only a rundown of the browser’s abilities, but an exercise in Rube Goldbergian creativity.

Also fresh from Google today: over 300 Chrome Extensions are now available for Windows users, while Mac and Linux finally get their own version of the Chrome browser.

Opera 10 Beta is now open to the public; chief amongst its new features are visual tabs, a new theme, a compressed browsing option for mobile phones and Bittorrent support.

Now available: Google Chrome 2 throws in a few nice features like autofill and a more flexible tab page, but stays true to its speedy roots by boosting JavaScript performance by 30%.

Just launched: Google’s brand-new browser, Google Chrome. It aims to minimize memory bloat (you can selectively shut down tasks) and is lightweight, with a 500KB install file.