At noon eastern time today, Microsoft is poised to officially release Internet Explorer 8. The browser has been available in Beta for a while now, and today's official release should offer somewhat dramatic speed increases from previous versions, and Microsoft is claiming that the browser should be up to 50% faster on some sites than competing software. Additionally, the new version includes an "InPrivate" mode, similar to options available for both Firefox and Safari (that many have referred to jokingly as "Porn Mode" in the past), that allows you to browse privately without leaving traces of what you've been looking at in the browser's history. Also, Microsoft claims that it has concentrated on security in IE 8, claiming that it successfully blocks 2-4 times as much malware as its competitors.

However, at security conference CanSecWest yesterday, a hacker going by the handle Nils, successfully hacked into IE 8 relatively easily and quickly in the conference's Pwn To Own contest. This doesn't mean that IE 8 would be a horrible choice, however, as both Apple's Safari browser and Mozilla's Firefox browser were also quickly hacked by participants in the contest.

UPDATE: The release is live and you can now download IE 8.

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