Microsoft has released a beta of Internet Explorer 8 for the benefit of people developing next-generation web sites. But the code is unstable and not recommended for casual download.

The beta is not billed in its own right on the Microsoft site, but an install link is slipped in on a page headed Internet Explorer 8 readiness kit.

New features include WebSlices, which work rather like an RSS feed: instead of a text alert you get a grab of part of a web page, such as a weather or traffic report, with graphics and interactivity. It also alerts you when a monitored web page changes.

IE8 also introduces Activities, which are services that can be installed and managed by the user. They fall into two categories: Look-up and Send. A Look-up activity would allow you to select the address od a restaurant and automatically to be taken to a map of its location.

A Send Activity would allow you to select a portion of an interesting articler and have it transferred automatically to the a blog-edit pane.

IE7's Links bar has been revamped and renamed the Favourites bar, and includes links to programs as well as to sites.

An improved Phishing filter warns you when you go to sites masquerading as legitimate ones to trick you into giving banking details.

An Automatic Crash Recovery feature is designed to return you as closely and as quickly as possible to your browser's status at the time of the crash.

This is particularly pertinent in this Beta 1 developer release, which is reportedly not stable enough to be used for everyday browsing.

IE platform architect Chris Wilson writes in a message to developers, who Microsoft hopes will create sites supporting features such as WebSlices: "We are eager to ensure that the transition to Internet Explorer 8 is seamless for you and your audience, and to give you a head start on using many of the new features with your sites and services."