Flash 9 Beta For Linux! (and others)

It has been too long since Adobe/Macromedia has released an update to Flash for Linux. Many sites require version 8, but only seven existed, until very recently. It turns out that Adobe has a publicly available beta of Flash 9 for Linux available here. I can't think of any sites that specifically require >=flash 8 off the top of my head, but the new version does seem to work quite well with google video and the like.

Not a Linux user? Still want to try out the latest and greatest? There are also versions for Windows and Mac at the same site.

IE7

If anyone is keeping track of Microsoft, it is worth noting that they released the final (if it can be called that) version of IE7 to the public. I have only used the version incorporated into Vista, but it is a vast improvement over IE6 (came out during the Win98 era after all). IE7 does most of the things Mozilla and Opera have been doing for years; the most significant? tabbed browsing. It also handles RSS and keeps track of some phishing sites. So, if you must use IE, I would go get IE7 here. If not, check out Firefox or Opera, or SeaMonkey, or any of the many other good browsers, and ditch IE6.