And neither is IE6. In the past, we’ve called IE6 the zombie browser that can’t be killed and it’s certainly lived up to that moniker. However, regarding that last piece of news (Microsoft’s upcoming automatic updates) it looks like IE6 may finally get phased out. For real this time. Or maybe not.

Here’s Webmonkey.com with the details:

The new auto-update feature will only apply to users who’ve opted into the automatic updates through Windows Update. Those that have opted in will be upgraded to the latest version of IE available for their system. If you’re still on Windows XP that means you’ll be updated to IE 8. Vista and Windows 7 users will move to IE 9. The Windows Blog notes that when upgrading, your home page, search provider, and default browser settings will not be affected.

Web developers still supporting IE 6 may not need to do so much longer if Microsoft’s auto-update strategy pays off. Since the new auto-update mechanism will apply to IE 7 as well, it too may not need to be supported much longer. Of course, even in the best case scenario where IE 6 and 7 users drop below 5 percent worldwide, web developers would still need to contend with IE 8. While IE 8 was a huge step up from its predecessors, it still lacks support for most of the HTML5 and CSS 3 features found in modern web browsers.

Somehow, IE6 usage currently stands at 8.4% worldwide. That includes a whopping 27.9% in China. As such, we’re going to hold off on pronouncing IE6 dead for the time being. However, the browser’s days are clearly numbered. Right?

For parents, new milestones usually mean posting a select, few pictures to Facebook (give or take 50) of an an event like your child sitting up for the first time. Perched like a top-heavy teddy bear, staring wide-eyed at the camera and being photographed with adoration from many, many…many angles.

For uTest, it usually means hitting the local pub and celebrating together with a pint or two (give or take).

But this milestone was special. Our company, headquartered outside of Boston, opened up our first office in Silicon Valley. Exciting stuff for our founding members and newcomers alike! Granted, with so many recurring clients out here in the Bay Area, uTest has had a West Coast team for over a year, incubating in the Sunnyvale Plug & Play Tech Center.

But to keep up with demand, we’ve expanded pretty fast and definitely outgrew the nest. So now we have a space of our own in bustling downtown San Mateo, one block from the Cal Train and smack dab in the middle of a ton of great restaurants and shops.

What better way to celebrate the milestone and break in our new digs than throw a party! With our CEO Doron Reuveni and the executive team in town, that’s exactly what we did.

Living by the quote of our CMO Matt Johnston– “We take our work seriously, but not ourselves”– we spent a warm summer night celebrating with about 75 of our investors, customers, partners, new neighbors (the good folks at Attributor), new and old friends in the industry, the Chamber of Commerce…and even Mayor Jack Matthews.  Sushi, drinks, and music in the company of some of the Valley’s smartest, funniest, and most fascinating people. It doesn’t get better than this.

In fact, we’re already thinking about throwing another party in a few months for the many who couldn’t make it to this one.  Who knows…we may have a whole new milestone to celebrate.  And cleared space on our camera.

If this contest has taught us one thing, it’s that uTester’s are amongst the most creative people in the world! We had entries ranging from the source code of Facebook (not sure Mark Zuckerberg will be happy about that one) to Charlie Sheen’s blood (at least someone wants him) to suggestions for a hairy mole (not sure what to make of that one)! As for the incredible amount of votes cast in this contest already…well, let’s just say they would make a politician green with envy.

So who took home the second iPad 2? That would be Fernando André. Congratulations to another deserving winner!

As one contest ends, another begins! This week you need to think hard and guess which celebrity is hiding under Hopper’s magnifying glass? Simple you say? Not so fast! Hopper has made it his lifelong ambition to look beyond what the human eye can see, so you really going to have to put your thinking caps on for this one!

So head on over to our Facebook page for your chance to win one of the two remaining iPad 2′s! Good luck, you’re going to need it!!

(This post was written by the blog team at Blonde2.0)

We asked people to guess what was under the magnifying glass and over 230 people chimed in.  We got some pretty funnny and creative guesses, ranging from an iPad cover (lobbying for the prize?  haha) to a mole to an Oreo.  One uTester even thought it was it was a meteorite!  But the correct answer was…drum roll, please… a dog’s nose! 

The first person to submit the correct answer was super sleuth Becky Presgraves, who won a brand new iPad 2. Congrats, Becky!!   

Check Out This Week’s Contest and Get Involved!

If you missed the 1st competition, you have three more chances to win an iPad 2.  We’re sponsoring one per week, so log-on and ante in! 

This week, we’re asking you to tell us what YOU want to see under Hopper’s magnifying glass!  If your idea receives the most ‘likes’ at the end of the week, you’ll will win an iPad 2.  So make sure to lobby your friends and get them to vote for your entry!  

For a chance to win, check out our specially designed Under Hopper’s Magnifying Glass app on Facebook here.  Good luck, and may (Hopper’s) force be with you-

Now it’s your turn to take a look through Hopper’s magnifying glass in our latest Facebook competition. Starting every Monday, for the next four weeks, you’ll have a chance to play, and even win a brand new iPad 2!

Here’s how to enter: Just go to our Facebook page and look out for our special ‘Under Hopper’s Magnifying Glass’ tab. Each week, we’ll be uploading a new challenge related to Hopper’s magnifying glass. Submit your answer to the challenge that has been posed for that week for your chance to win. Complete rules and conditions can be found here (PDF).

Here’s how to win:

Starting today, there are four challenges… one per week:

• For the first challenge, Hopper found something mysterious under his magnifying glass.  Can you guess what it is?   Be warned, it’s harder than it looks! The first correct answer posted wins an iPad 2.
• In the second challenge, what do you want to be magnified under Hopper’s Magnifying Glass? The answer that receives the most ‘likes’ will win……so go crazy and get your friends to vote for you and you could win the iPad 2.
• For the third challenge, an unknown celebrity has unwittingly found themselves under Hopper’s magnifying glass. This goes way beyond HDTV…  Can you guess who it is?? The first correct entry posted wins the iPad 2.
• For the final challenge, you’re on the hot seat!  You’ll need to get really creative and submit a magnified photo of yourself. The submission with the most likes at the end of the week will win the final iPad2 so make sure you have the most unique and original submission.

So what are you waiting for??  Go take a look under Hopper’s Magnifying Glass and tell us what you see! HAVE FUN!

(This contest – and post – was put together by Blonde2.0)

The two-day conference, which precedes the annual G8 economic forum, had many noteworthy moments all tracked to the max via twitter (see the infographic here courtesy of Mashable and Synthesio). Many of the 25,000 tweets were in response to comments from Sarkozy who called for tighter regulation of the internet. Speakers such as Eric Schmidt cautioned against regulating things before fully understanding them, saying that “we’ll move faster than any government.”

Most notable was the release of research done by the McKinsey Global Institute (highlights of the 50+ page report were published by Business Insider here), which shows the internet as being responsible for 20 percent of the economic growth for the 13 countries included in the study and for an estimated 2.9 percent of total worldwide GDP. These numbers put the internet at a more powerful driver of economic growth than agriculture or utilities.

All in all the eG8 was a great way to try and bridge the gap between the technology industry and policymakers, who often have a very hard time understanding each other. Only time will tell whether this open forum was a lot of gum flapping, or a positive sign that government wants advice from the world’s tech leaders on internet policy.

As explained in our opening ceremony post, the three countries that receive the most cumulative “likes” would make it to the medal round.

From there, each country’s winner would be chosen on the basis of three criteria: 1) creativity and quality of submission, 2) number of likes and comments and 3) judges’ discretion. Top finalists from each of those three countries would then be awarded an iPad, an iPod Touch and an iPod Nano respectively.

With that in mind, let us now take a look at the winners:

Gold: Philippines

It wasn’t just the 4,000+ “likes” that helped the Philippines take the gold, as the creativity and quality of the bug submissions was truly remarkable. Al Porcil, for example, submitted this hilarious Chuck Norris bug from Google. Apparently, one cannot find find Chuck Norris via search (because he finds you). Good to know.

That bug, in addition to several others, was enough for Porcil to secure the top honor: a brand new iPad from Apple. Other finalists included Michael Jeffrey Ramos, AppLe Garrucho Quiatchon and Val Gamutt. Congrats!

Silver: India

Despite widespread participation in terms of bug submissions, India fell short in terms of “likes” with 1257 and wound up with the Silver medal. But what they lacked in “likes”, they more than made up in effort and originality. Consider Manas Mehta’s, who showcased an uncanny ability to summon error screens at will. For this talent and active participation, Manas will be on the receiving end of a new iPod Touch. Other finalists from India included Sreenuraj Varma and Mohit Verma. Badhai ho!

Bronze: Portugal

With just shy of 900 “likes” (893 to be exact) Portugal took the Bronze medal in the uTest Bug Olympics. For his Quicktime bug (and awesome name) Fernando Andre was awarded the iPod Nano. Fernando was closely followed by Sara Port and Afonso Castelio. Óptimo!

Other participating countries included Croatia, USA, Singapore, South Africa, Greece, Israel, Argentina, UK, Japan and Vietnam.

We hope that everyone had as much fun participating as we had watching and judging. Unlike the “regular” Olympics, we promise to host the competition more frequently than every four years, so be sure to “like” us on Facebook to stay up-to-date on our latest events.

In light of the holidays, we’ve made this contest easy! All you have to do is follow uTest on all 3 social networks and let us know with a simple tweet.

RULES:
1. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and become a fan on Facebook
2. Tweet to @uTest with hash tag #FollowedAll3
3. Include your top three prizes (from grab bag below) in your tweet. That’s it!

(e.g. @uTest I want to win the iPad, Xbox 360 or Cash! #FollowedAll3)

Each week (for the next four weeks!), we will draw two names from all tweets containing the hash tag, #FollowedAll3. You can tweet once a day (to increase your chances). All winners then have the opportunity to choose one prize from our grab bag below (first come, first serve). And because we’re so excited to start the new year, the eight prizes add up to $2011! Here’s the grab bag:

• iPad ($400) – Winner: @atulangra, 12/15/10
  
• Kindle ($139) – Winner: @scottaleavitt, 12/28/10
• Xbox w/Kinect ($379) - Winner: @fcapucci, 12/17/10
• Wii ($200) – Winner: @enofal, 12/30/10
  
• PlayStation 3 ($300) – Winner: @sreenurajvarma, 12/21/10
• iPod Touch ($229) – Winner: @eat7herich, 12/23/10
  
• Boxee Box ($199) – Winner: @rriky92, 1/06/11
  
• Cash ($165) – Winner: @nandagopalr, 1/04/11

Happy 2011 everyone! The contest will run from Mon, December 13 — Fri, January 7 @ 5pm ET. As the prizes are chosen, we will list the winners and cross out the prizes right in this post (e.g. iPad ($400) Winner: @jennymoebius). Make sure to check back in to the blog to see if YOU are the lucky winner! We will also contact winners by DM on Twitter.

Congratulations to all the winners!!!

Official terms and conditions

Concern about privacy is hardly a new topic.  Back in 1999 Scott McNealy, then the CEO of Sun Microsystems notoriously said, “you have zero privacy.  Get over it.”  I love the brevity, Scott, but that is not going to get you on a Hallmark card anytime soon.  Yes, the web brought on a change in the level of privacy that users may expect, but the role of marketing has always been to predict the intent of potential customers by tracking user behavior.  Computers and the internet, however, have yielded a seismic shift in the cost, speed, availability and sheer amount of data – perhaps changing at a rate faster than humans can conceptually deal with, and thus creating debates about how to strike a balance in this brave new world.

In 2010, however, we’ve seen more information about the reconciliation of online and offline data. From cars, to finances, to the recent announcements about the TSA’s new full-body scanners, it’s no longer just our web browsing history that’s available to evil marketers like myself.  Here’s a quick rundown of a few privacy issues, how they can be exploited, and what you should know about protecting yourself:

Full Body Scanners

The US Transportation Security Administration (or TSA) recently deployed 450 full body scanners at airports.  The goal of the scanners is to provide security officials with a quick scan of a person for weapons and/or contraband.  The scanners, however, have raised concerns about safety and privacy.

While the radiation risk is to the employees operating the machinery, the privacy threat is real.  Airlines most likely knows your name, address, credit card, and anything else in their database from your online purchase.  From there, it’s not much a leap to determine precisely who you are.  Yes, you’re anonymous in number, but could airline industry marketers use such information?  What if a local gym, heath food store, or weight loss program did an instant analysis of your body fat and targeted their marketing at you? Is there any guarantee the images aren’t being stored?  Or shared? There’s a lot of uncertainty about the future of these scanners and the data they derive.

Short of refusing to fly, your options are limited.  The TSA, unfortunately, has the ultimate say in who gets on the plane and who doesn’t.  Plan for the worst, hope for the best.  …and maybe threaten to arrest them.

Social Networks

Social networks, like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, face scrutiny on two sides.  The manner in which such companies handle and utilize user data is scrutinized, but also what information will be utilized by advertisers and/or made available to 3rd parties (whether it’s evil marketers or just “friends of friends”).

Want proof of users’ respective ignorance to the power of social networks?  Look no further than PleaseRobMe.com, who consolidated Tweets about people leaving their houses unoccupied.  While this behavior and data still exists (see people going on vacation for a couple weeks), sites like PleaseRobMe and YourOpenBook.org certainly illustrate the potential vulnerability of our over-sharing ways.

It’s not just nefarious individuals who can exploit this information, though.  Corporations have long been using Facebook to profile potential employees, but can now use publicly available data to fire current employees.  Governments are also beginning to utilize data — as the Israeli armed forces recently used public information on Facebook to track down draft dodgers.

Strides have been made — big-league players like Facebook and Google publish straightforward info on how to manage one’s privacy settings.  (See Facebook Privacy Controls and Google Privacy Center)… not all global powerhouses from the past have been so user-friendly.

Behavioral Marketing

Google is a data magnet, consuming and harvesting everything in its field of in.  From mining unsecured Wi-Fi data, to Street View (and getting banned by the Czech Republic), watchdog groups have long been wary of any one company having so much data (read as: power).  Needless to say, they know a lot about you.

Companies like X+1, however, take it a step further by harnessing this information for the good of marketing.  WSJ.com recently did a nice article on the power of X+1 and their rival companies.  To oversimplify, X+1 cross references data from numerous sources to paint a picture of you as an individual.  X+1 can then use this information to serve you relative marketing promotions.  I find this level of targeting fascinating but there are tools that you can use to opt-out of this granular level of targeting.  NAI has a tool to let you mass opt-out of behavior targeting across many companies.

Location-Based Services

Location-Based Services (or LBS) such as FourSquare, Gowalla, and Facebook Places, are the essence of removing the privacy layer between you and retailers.  LBS games allow you to “check in” at your favorite companies, thereby allowing them to offer you specific promotions.  While the games are currently only triggered by specific “check in” actions, there are a lot of people concerned with the potential privacy exploits.  As CNET points out, “Facebook application developers are able to store their own check-in data in the Facebook Places database and retrieve information from the database.”  In English, this means that companies could potentially access your history and more personal information than you anticipated.

Cars

For better or worse, this ain’t your father’s car.  Automobiles are becoming more wired by the day.  To be more specific, vehicles are becoming more wired for the better while drivers are becoming more wired for the worse.  Driving while texting is now banned in several US states, including uTest’s home state of Massachusetts.

GPS-based speed limits are one of the original tools of monitoring your location.  Basically the software would cap your speed based on your global coordinates, preventing motorists from exceeding the local speed limits.  Cool in concept, but are people willing to drive cars that can be remotely turned off at any point?

There’s been talk of a possible solution, though: blocking your cell signal.  The logistics of these requirement are still years away and becomes more of a political discussion than a privacy one, unless the technology utilizes your cell phone’s location to automatically turn your phone on/off to calls and data.

Before either of those concepts reach implementation I’m hoping that before we get to that point we have Google cars hit mass market (I cannot wait for the day that I can cruise down the highway to work at 100+mph… from the back seat while playing Angry Birds).  Google Cars will certainly have privacy concerns, though as it will inevitably know where and when you’re going, and possibly who you’re with (via cell phone and/or RFID’s).  And if Google wants some “test drivers” for this world-changing innovation, I think I may know where they can find ~31,000 beta testers.

I’m interested in hearing what tech/privacy options you think will be have the biggest impact (for better or for worse) in 2011.  And how will you tell your parents to protect themselves online?  As for me, I’m going into private browsing mode.

CONGRATS to:

-1st place: @rodydio, the geo-party app, wins an iPod Touch
-2nd place: @Ed_Wing, the thoughtful alarm clock app, wins a Nano
-3rd place: @OrenTodoros, the swear-in-any-language app, wins a Shuffle

Thank you again to everyone who participated, including the incredible voter turn out! 621 people turned up to support their favorite apps. Special thanks to our honorable mentions @linzlovesyou, @statelessSH, @Omeriko21, @the_qa_guy and @eurekalopes.

There were so many good ideas – let’s hope someone out there is listening and creates them for us. We’d be happy to test them!