Internet Explorer 8

Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft plans to give the browser a good and proper launching today at noon EDT. You'll be able to download the browser from the IE8 page at that time. Right now clicking the download link will get you Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1. The latest version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer is now available to download, and I've been taking a look at the newly released browser.

Browsers have arguably become more important than the underlying OS in the modern, connected world. So take note when Microsoft announces an update to the Web-dominating software favored by your IT department. When the clock strikes 12:00 noon in New York, Microsoft says it'll release its much anticipated Internet Explorer 8 software to the world.

Overall, IE8 is a welcome improvement over previous Microsoft browsers, and I believe it is on a par with rivals such as FireFox and Safari in terms of features, performance and ease of use. This may not be enough to tempt back users who have defected to FireFox over the last few years, but it is definitely worth the upgrade for those still using older versions of IE.

Edward Liddy

Edward Liddy, chairman and chief executive officer, conceded in testimony prepared for a hearing by a House Financial Services panel. "I share that anger, he said. AIG is under fire for $220 million in retention bonuses paid to employees in its troubled financial products division. The most recent payment of $165 million began to be paid last Friday and caused a furor.

Liddy told lawmakers that the company grew into an internal hedge fund that became overexposed to market risks. AIG is the largest recipient of federal government emergency assistance. It has received $170 billion in bailout help and the government holds a nearly 80 percent stake in the company. On the eve of the hearing in the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, condemnations of AIG and the bonuses were coming fast and furious, with the matter for the most part dominating news in Washington.

AIG chief Liddy has asserted that bonuses the company paid were necessary to retain the best and brightest talent, an assertion he expressed directly to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a letter, adding that bonus contracts with employees were finalized well before Congress approved financial bail out funds in late 2008. In a congressional hearing on Wednesday, the CEO of American International Group, the troubled insurance company, will face tough questions from angry members of Congress.

Chris Dodd

Chris Dodd, in particular, over AIG bonuses that he gave only a cursory, half-baked review of the facts. As a headline read, "Caught Red Handed," Hannity almost completely ignored Senator Dodd's explanation for the "bonus protection" he supposedly placed in the stimulus bill and all but declared Dodd responsible for the bonuses. With video.

At the beginning of tonight's Hannity, he announced, "Democratic Senator Chris Dodd slipped an amendment into the stimulus package last month that protected bonuses agreed to before February 11, 2009, meaning the AIG bonuses, and Senator Dodd tells FOX News this evening that he wasn't responsible for - well, the February deadline.

What Hannity never explained (and there was no balancing guest on the show), is that Dodd's original amendment did not include protection for bonuses. Indeed, as Media Matters notes, it included restrictions on executive compensation. The amendment was later modified in conference and put into the final bill with that modification. Dodd says it occurred without his knowledge. Foxbusiness.com included these details in its rundown of the situation.