Today Microsoft released Beta2 of Internet Explorer 8. The browser is available in English, German, Simplified Chinese and Japanese, and will follow with another 21 languages in mid-September.  You can download IE8 Beta 2 now at http://ww.microsoft.com/ie8.

To get a feel for the new IE8 experience, check out the videos here, download the product, and try it out.  

Following are the notable features…

·        Accelerators - Highlight an address, click the blue button and hover over “Map” or try Right Clicking a Page and Choosing Translate with Windows Live. Check out the new IE Gallery that has cool accelerators and slices from Digg to FaceBook to Ebay

·        Web Slices - Visit Live Search, search for “Seattle Weather” (or major city relevant to your region), hover over the rich search result and click the green button.  Click it to add a Weather Web Slice to your Favorites Bar.

·        Search Suggestions - Go to your Instant Search Box (top right) and type a search to see search suggestions in action.

·        Navigation - Use the new Smart Address Bar to quickly find sites you’ve visited before.  The Smart Address Bar searches your history, favorites AND feeds for pages that match what you’re typing.

·        Security:  IE8 has the best security features in the market today from its updated Smartscreen phishing and malware filter to domain highlighting to the industry leading cross-site scripting filter so I feel my machines, my identity and my family will be safer on the Internet.