Microsoft has launched a major update for its Edge browser, reducing key feature load times to achieve a global First Contentful Paint (FCP) of under 300 ms. FCP refers to the time between when a user initiates navigation and when the browser displays the first part of the content from the Document Object Model (DOM). Studies show that delays exceeding the 300 to 400 ms range can lead to noticeable drops in user satisfaction, so reaching this new threshold should make the browser feel more fluid and engaging for everyday use. To meet the target, the Edge team leveraged its proprietary WebUI 2.0 architecture instead of React. By emphasizing native web components, such as HTML templates and CSS styling, rather than relying heavily on JavaScript at startup, they achieved a 40% average reduction in load times across thirteen core features.

Microsoft tested the settings UI with the new update, showing a 4x improvement in that specific case with WebUI 2.0, compared to the older React page. Users can now access the Settings page, invoke Read Aloud voice playback, switch between Split Screen views, and manage Workspaces with minimal delay, even on lower-end devices. This release builds upon the significant improvements delivered in May 2024 with Edge 122, which produced launch times 42-76% faster, depending on hardware, and a February 2025 optimization targeting fourteen interface subsystems. Internal tests confirm that the settings panel, which was once a slight performance bottleneck, now consistently renders in under 300 ms across a wide range of machines. Microsoft also plans to extend these enhancements to Print Preview, Extensions management, and other elements through the remainder of 2025. Below is the 4x improvement in the Settings page UI.

If you're reading this news post right now, you have been making use of the World Wide Web. Easily one of the most relevant inventions in humanity's history, the World Wide Web has become an inextricable part of our lives, either personal, technological, commercial, political, or otherwise. It has become a fabric of reality, and has been the enabler of technological innovations such as the blockchain (in all possible protocols and permutations that currently exist), as well as an enabler for NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens). An NFT is a guaranteed, authenticated original digital file, essentially - and it doesn't matter how many copies of a given digital file are eventually made, the nature of the blockchain makes it so that ownership of the original work is crystal clear throughout the public blockchain sphere.

As such, it's in one way poetic that the Internet's source-code, as developed by Tim Berners-Lee, has now been married to an NFT - a piece of art that exists only in the online world. Auctioned with a $1,000 starting bid, the NFT for the world wide web includes the original time-stamped programming files, containing 9,555 lines of code written by Berners-Lee. This includes the implementations of the languages and protocols ( HTML, HTTP, and URIs) also written by Tim, and which are still the cornerstone of today's internet. The NFT also includes a 30-minute animated visualization of developers writing the code, a letter written by Berners-Lee where he explains the creation process, and a digital "poster" of the code featuring a graphic of his signature. All four items are digitally signed, and are thus authenticated as non-fungible originals - which led to the NFT's final sale price of $5.4 million.

In the past few years, Google has been paying Apple billions of dollars just for the company to keep Google as the default search engine in every aspect of the company's products. Starting from iOS up to macOS, they included Google as the default search engine. However, the deal between two companies might be coming to an end. In July this year, a UK Competition and Markets Authority took a shot at a deal claiming that the companies imposed a barrier on any market competition in the search engine space. Constant pressure from regulators and the fact that Apple doesn't want to be reliant on any company is possibly giving Apple ideas to launch its own search engine.

Recent changes in the spotlight search on iOS 14 and iPad OS 14 beta is making the software bypass Google search engine completely. As shown below (search and direct results), the company implemented a feature that makes the spotlight search go directly to search results instead of going to Google. The Applebot web crawler has seen some changes so it now renders pages in a similar way Google does and not just filter HTML. The web crawler also is updated to rank web pages just like it is made for a search engine. All of this is supposed to give Apple enough material so it can build something similar to a search engine. It is believed that the search engine wouldn't look like any classical one, but rather be embedded in Apple products and serve as a personalized search hub.

Unity Technologies, provider of the Unity multi-platform engine and development tools, is proud to announce Unity 4.0 is now available for download. Unity 4, announced in June, will consist of a series of updates designed to improve the product through an extensive improvement of existing tech and the rollout of new features. The first in a series of updates for Unity 4, this version includes significant additions such as DirectX 11 support and Mecanim animation tools. In addition users will have access to a Linux deployment preview and the Adobe Flash Player deployment add-on.

"Unity 4 will see the addition of an incredible number of new, highly advanced, features and continuous improvement across the tech to be released in smaller, faster increments than Unity has seen in the past," said David Helgason, CEO, Unity Technologies. "It's an exciting time for Unity and the 4.0 release marks the beginning of a great new era for our technology."

Club 3D presents its GeForce GT 640 graphic cards, both cards are low profile and come with a quiet single slot cooler (29 dBA*) and come with Dual-Link DVI-D, HDMI and VGA video outputs. The GeForce GT 640 cards are based on the GK107 chipset, and offer full support for PCI Express 3.0, DirectX 11.1, OpenGL 4.2 and OpenCL 1.2.

Aimed at the mid-entry level, the cards are a very affordable way to turn your PC into a multimedia and game computer. Like with all its Low Profile cards Club 3D offers more value with a Low Profile Kit (LP slot brackets included). The Club 3D GeForce GT 640 is the perfect solution for those that are looking for a small and affordable graphics upgrade.

As a world-renowned market leader, Gainward officially introduces Gainward GeForce GT 600 series graphics accelerators for the mainstream discrete VGA market -- Gainward GeForce GT 630, GeForce GT 620 & GeForce GT 610. The new GeForce GT 600 series offer better productivity and efficiency, provides smooth graphics in your games and multimedia contents while staying cool and power efficient. It is with the full support of latest DirectX 11 multimedia gaming standard and is supplied with Gainward components for greatest stability. Gainward GeForce GT 600 series are the ideal solution for price-performance conscience users with high demands.

This month is the 20th Anniversary of Wolfenstein 3D. To celebrate id Software and Bethesda have given us all a free browser-based version of its seminal shooter. John Carmack has also given a director's commentary, full of the usual fascinating Carmackchat. You can play the snazzy HTML 5 version of Wolf 3D if you're browsing in Firefox 10, Chrome 16, Internet Explorer 9, Safari 5, or newer. Fingers crossed that your work computer is updated vaguely frequently. id Software got distracted by Doom and Quake after the release of a Wolf 3D prequel, but the series returned in 2001 with Return to Castle Wolfenstein from Grey Matter and Nerve Software. Splash Damage followed this with the superb free multiplayer spin-off Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, then the last entry in the series was Raven's Wolfenstein in 2009. The iOS version is also going temporarily free in the App Store some time later today. Here is the Link

Today, we're happy to announce the release of Silverlight 5. Silverlight is part of a rich offering of technologies from Microsoft helping developers deliver applications for the web, desktop and mobile devices. Download Silverlight 5, a free plug-in less than 7 MB in size that can be installed in less than 10 seconds.

New features in Silverlight 5 include Hardware Decode of H.264 media, which provides a significant performance improvement with decoding of unprotected content using the GPU; Postscript Vector Printing to improve output quality and file size; and an improved graphics stack with 3D support that uses the XNA API on the Windows platform to gain low-level access to the GPU for drawing vertex shaders and low-level 3D primitives.