Accelerators are a kind of context menu, similar in a way to the right click > send to functionality in Windows itself. While browsing a website in Internet Explorer 8 you can select a string of text by holding down the left mouse key and dragging the cursor around.

Once text is highlighted the Accelerator icon will pop up beside it. It presents a number of different commands that can be applied to the selected text, like 'search for this text in Google Maps', or send to a blog, etc. In the first example the selected text string would be directed to a Google Maps search tab that would immediately bring up the location on Google Maps. All of this is done without opening up a separate tab for Google Maps, or copying and pasting any text.

The Accelerator feature requires add-ons, so the real functionality of this tool will unveil itself slowly as authors create them. On a side note, of all the new features that Internet Explorer 8 introduces, Accelerators is one of the top highlights for me. Given time, I can see many uses for Accelerators to increase productivity on the web.

The third most significant new feature in IE8 is something called InPrivate Mode. Many analysts have been quick to labeled this the IE8 "porn mode" because of its cash only, no names given approach to web browsing. In Private Mode is the equivalent of the Incognito mode in Google Chrome. This feature disables all of the auto-caching, cookie retention and history saving that Internet Explorer 8 typically does. It erases all local traces of what the browser was doing as soon as the InPrivate window is closed.

It's important to note that this browser clean-up is only done locally, so internet service providers and any websites that log access and usage will still have records of browsers that connect to them, regardless of privacy modes being enabled.