Microsoft Explorer 8 Beta is now available for direct download (here) with its new and interesting features like:

• Activities. “Activities are contextual services to quickly access a service from any webpage. Users typically copy and paste from one webpage to another. Internet Explorer 8 Activities make this common pattern easier to do.“
• WebSlices. “WebSlices is a new feature for websites to connect to their users by subscribing to content directly within a webpage.“
• Favorite Bars. “In Internet Explorer 7, the Links bar provided users with one-click access to their favorite sites.”
• Automatic Crash Discovery. “Automatic Crash Recovery (ACR) is a feature of Windows^®Internet Explorer^® 8 that can help to prevent the loss of work and productivity in the unlikely event of the browser crashing or hanging.“
• Improved Phising Filter. “For Internet Explorer 8, we are building on the success of the Phishing Filter with a more comprehensive feature called the “Safety Filter.“

For more details please check this page or check this video.