Today’s web is defined by speed. 

The web today is more than just static pages, it’s loaded with rich video, photos, graphics, and audio that elicits the need for speed. The pressure is on for web sites to keep their pages loading fast to avoid the common problem of click and ditch, people abandoning a web site when it is unable to load quickly.  Each second and even fractions of a second matter, and when added up over an entire year they equate to nearly a full day lost per year, according to calculations based on comScore and Keynote data*.

Next to security and ease of use, our customers have told us that speed is one of the most important factors when choosing what websites to go to. In fact, it’s one of the top five improvements that customers consistently request of media sites. Our research shows, a sluggish load time leads to consumer dissatisfaction and on average people abandon content sites if they do not load quickly enough. The average page load time in the news and information category is more than 3.5 seconds.

We suspected that people would be even more sensitive to page latency on touch-enabled tablets running Windows 8, and we saw a unique opportunity to build a faster, more modern site using the features available in Internet Explorer 10 and Windows 8.  To test the engineering methodology after the new site launched, Microsoft commissioned a study to benchmark the performance of MSN for Windows 8 against the previous version of MSN, and also against other sites in the news and information category.

Today, Principal Technologies, Inc., released the results of this study that showed MSN for Windows 8 is more than 4x faster on average than 8 top major online competitors as measured by page load time across the landing site, topic hubs and articles. According to the study, MSN for Windows 8 is three times faster than earlier versions of MSN.

Because Internet Explorer 10 was designed to take advantage of the system architecture of Windows 8, rendering complex page layouts and high resolution images is faster and more fluidly. That’s why load times for MSN for Windows 8 are more than four times faster on average than other leading news and information sites.

Other notable findings include:

• Sports on MSN for Windows 8 is more than 7 times faster on average than other major online sports sites, e.g., ESPN and NFL.
• News on MSN for Windows 8 is more than 3 times faster on average than other major news sites, e.g., CNN and New York Times.
• Finance on MSN for Windows 8 is more than 4 times faster on average than the WSJ and Forbes sites.

We invite people to view the results for themselves here. You can experience the new MSN on Windows 8 on any Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 device.

- Bob Visse, General Manager, MSN

* We referenced comScore and Keynote to calculate that figure. comScore provides the total number of pages viewed on average by a user, which was 38,665 in the United States in 2012. Keynote is the leading monitor of website performance and publishes indices that indicate the average load times for the majority of major sites on the web. We took the average of 5 major indices: news, social networking, top retailers, government top 40 and business top 40, to come up with an average load time for internet pages which was 2.04 seconds.  When annualized, this comes to approximately 22 hours per year.

The next 2 My Damn Channel original comedy series are now in production in New York City and we can’t wait to share them with you!

“The Mark Malkoff Challenge” and “Life: A Gamer’s Guide” have been picked up straight to series with 13 episodes of each ordered by our new partners at MSN. Both series will premiere on MSN Entertainment [www.entertainment.ms​n.com/videopreview] and will also be available on the My Damn Channel Comedy Network [www.MyDamnChannel.co​m] .

Here’s what you need to know:

• He’s raced a New York City bus while riding a Big Wheel, he watched 252 films on Netflix in one month… so what will Mark Malkoff do next? “The Mark Malkoff Challenge” puts this comedian/filmmaker to the test to find out if he can overcome the odds and accomplish unusual feats of bravery on the streets of New York City. “The Mark Malkoff Challenge” will premiere next month on MSN Entertainment’s Comedy and Downtime channels, starring and written by Malkoff, executive produced for MSN by Smita Shukla and produced for My Damn Channel by Dean Peterson. 

• “Life: A Gamer’s Guide” features Brian and Mike, good friends and professional gamers who show their audience how gaming techniques can apply to everyday life. Coming from our Hell’s Kitchen studio, it will premiere next month on MSN Entertainment’s Comedy and Nerdcore channels.  Executive producers are MSN’s Jeff Purcell and My Damn Channel’s Melissa Schneider.  Also for My Damn Channel, Julia Hoff is producer, and Nate Bennett is writer/producer.

Here is what our Founder/CEO Rob Barnett has to say about today’s big news:

“While My Damn Channel Comedy Network continues to acquire and produce original series, we’re expanding our list of premium partners by announcing our new deal with Microsoft that will include licensing My Damn Channel originals to MSN and the production of new, original comedy. The MSN executive team gave us the green light—twice—with full season orders on two original series to start our partnership, and we’re excited to bring our brand of professionally-creat​ed laughter to a whole new audience.”

We’ll have more info soon—including exact premiere dates—so stay tuned!

- Maria Diokno, editor-in-chief, MyDamnChannel.com

The countdown is on for the first-ever live-streamed, crowd-sourced wedding which will be broadcast this Valentine’s Day! The Knot had their audience pick everything—the couple,  the rings, the wedding flowers, the cake the hair and makeup the groomsmen’s formalwear, the bridesmaid dresses and even the dream gown.  You’ll have to tune in though on 2/14 to see which of the four gowns was chosen, since that’s one result The Knot wouldn’t reveal. (You can’t let the groom see the gown before the wedding.)

“This is going to be the wedding of a lifetime – an absolutely beautiful, one-of-a-kind and unique experience for one of these five lucky pairs,” says Carley Roney, cofounder and editor in chief of TheKnot.com.

And, she’s right. The best of the best of the industry are involved with planning this couple’s big day. Wedding planner Amy Shey Jacobs curated the theme options and an ice castle themed wedding was voted on as the day’s décor (modern-ice-castle).

With only a few days till the wedding, the voting continues and today the voting for the couple’s dream honeymoon kicks off.

Keep following TheKnot.com/DreamWed​ding for more details and tune in on 2/14 for the big event when Sierra and Andre, the dream wedding couple, become husband and wife!

-          Jamie Miles, The Knot

The holiday season is wrapping up, and with that, the time of year when many of us decide to make New Year’s resolutions that we hope will help improve our lives in one way or another.  And for many people, resolutions focus on improved health and fitness. Even though I am not a big fan of resolutions and prefer to help people better themselves throughout the year, the New Year is a good time to focus on goals! In fact, a recent MSN and Impulse survey revealed that nearly 30 percent of people said they want to eat healthier in the New Year, either by eliminating junk food or starting a new diet, but 39 percent also cited ‘lack of time’ as the reason they’re not typically successful in sticking to resolutions.

I’ve joined forces with MSN to help provide some easy-to-follow tips and advice as part of MSN Healthy Living’s feature on the 21 Days of Healthy Habits. Each day will feature new content from me and a number of other expert contributors to help you discover the best plan of attack for a healthy lifestyle in 2013.

Here are a few of my favorite tips for getting started:

Think of every meal as a “Monday morning”:

• People too frequently throw in the towel after making one “bad” diet decision. Instead, think of every meal like a “Monday morning”. Don’t we all start the week off on a healthy note?  If you compartmentalize each meal you will be much less likely to let one little slip throw you completely off track.

New Year, New You…Clean Slate, Clean Pantry:

• Clean out your pantry: Spend five minutes pulling out items that are either OLD, unhealthy, or you simply over-consume. Ditch ‘em or donate to a local food pantry and make room for NEW healthier foods. This also helps you get organized for meal planning.

Technology Is Your Friend:

• A recent MSN and Impulse study showed that more than 75 percent of people use apps or search online for health and fitness tips. MSN is a fantastic one-stop resource where you can quickly get advice, tips and inspiration.  And for those of you on Windows 8, you can easily access MSN and a myriad of health tips on Healthy Living with the swipe of a finger faster than ever before.  

Become a Planning Professional:

• Going out to eat? Have your strategy ready, whether it’s ordering a child’s portion, splitting an entrée, asking for sauce or dressing on the side, or having fruit for dessert.

• Write down a list of produce you want to eat this week. People who commit to a concrete plan to eat more fruits and vegetables are twice as likely to stick with that plan.  Adding veggies to your meal can automatically help you reduce overall caloric consumption at the meal.

Exercise the Buddy System... Literally!

• Everyone knows it is more fun to work out with someone else, so ask around at work or in your neighborhood for a new weight-loss buddy. Finding someone you can brag to a little about your successes—or confess to when you’ve had a setback—will provide solid support, and may even provide a little healthy competition. In fact, studies show you work out harder when you’re exercising with someone you perceive to be in better shape than yourself.

Embrace your Inner Chef:

• If you were super busy with all of that last minute holiday planning, I’m sure cooking healthy dinners was far from the top of your list. Now that the New Year is upon us, take the opportunity to experiment in the kitchen. Try some new spices or a new kitchen gadget. Maybe you got a slow cooker for the holidays or a new mandolin. Give them a test drive with a new, healthy recipe!

Cheers to a healthier you in the New Year!

--Keri Glassman MS, RD, CDN and Author of The New You and Improved Diet

What would happen if Honey Boo-Boo entered a room Gangnam Style and Kim Kardashian tweeted about it? It’d sound a lot like the MSN 2012 Year in Review!

Covering everything from super-storm Sandy to the year’s top baby names, 2012’s most influential cats, the greatest photo-bombs of the year, and the year’s top tweets, the Year in Review on MSN has something for everyone. Showcased in one beautiful hub that brings all the top stories of the year together in a dynamic, image-rich format, Year in Review highlights the plethora of most clicked, shared, searched and tweeted topics of 2012.

Along with great new content from MSN News, Entertainment, Living, Money, Autos, Healthy Living, FOX Sports and more, we’ve also included the year’s top Bing searches, the year in hot web pics, and more. Even US gymnast McKayla Maroney would be impressed.

Join us for a look back at the year’s biggest stories. Click your way through the MSN year in review hub at http://living.msn.co​m/life-inspired/year​-in-review/.

-  Gina Cohen, Producer MSN

Back in February, we launched msnNOW, the first site of its kind to surface the latest buzz from social networks all in one place. Today, the first MSN channel is launching NOW content, moneyNOW. moneyNOW is MSN Money’s new destination for smart, original and entertaining takes on the latest business and investing topics that are buzzing on the web.

Wondering how much money rapper Psy is making from his record-setting YouTube video, Gangnam style? Find out at Money Now. Did you know that gun sales soared during Black Friday this year? Or that Japan Airlines is now offering KFC on flights? Those are the kind of conversation starters you’ll learn about on Money Now.  

But that’s not all. On moneyNOW, investors learn what companies their peers are searching for more information about and get to the bottom of controversies, like why Wall Street hates Groupon’s CEO. Instead of straight earnings news, you’ll find out why Tiffany may regain its lost luster. Instead of reading about Congressional budgets, moneyNOW goes right to the key question: Is the mortgage deduction at risk?

To stay abreast of the latest money trends, writers and editors review results from MSN’s proprietary Demand Dashboard, which sifts data from real-time sources like Twitter, Bing and StockTwits. These results are also filtered every few minutes and displayed in MSN Money's Trending now module, which you can find on MSN Money and moneyNOW. The Trending Now box displays financial keywords and stock tickers that are hot on search and social media. The results are determined by a computer algorithm, displayed automatically and not filtered.

The goal of moneyNOW is to inform and engage our readers. Visit today at http://money.msn.com​/now/ and come back often.

- Amey Stone, Managing Editor, MSN Money

Last year, we worked with Mozilla to add Bing as a search option that ships with Firefox. Since that time, you have asked us to make MSN even easier to access on Firefox.

So today we’re teaming with Mozilla to release Firefox with MSN a version of the popular Web browser that includes default MSN settings. Now Firefox users who are interested in staying in the know can use Firefox with MSN without having to take extra steps to navigate or customize their settings to MSN.

Firefox with MSN sets your home page as well as quick access to our most popular channels including MSN Now, MSN Living, MSN Sports, MSN Money and MSN Entertainment. If you already have the latest version of Firefox, then you just need to download the Add-on to set the same preferences.

You can download Firefox with MSN here starting today. We are excited to make it even easier for members of the Mozilla Firefox community to use MSN and Bing.

Please let us know what you think.

- Isabell Sheang, Senior Business Development and Strategy Manager

Windows 8 arrives this week!

Starting today, people running Windows 8 can experience MSN in a brand new way.  Designed exclusively for Windows 8, the all new MSN experience will be the first thing you discover when you launch Internet Explorer 10. The new MSN gives you a place where you can be informed, explore and let your curiosity reign. At first glance, you will notice MSN looks different. The new MSN experience is clean, simple and built for touch. Whether you’re following your favorite sports team or breaking news, the experience is intuitive and consistent. The content flows from the homepage to channels without interrupting the visual layout, and you’ll know what stories are most important, just by viewing the size of the story tile.

The new MSN experience for Windows 8 is fast. Because Internet Explorer 10 was designed to take advantage of the system architecture of Windows 8, rendering complex page layouts and high resolution images is faster and more fluid.  Now you can easily view images, slideshows and videos, without compromising the overall experience. The result is a cleaner more “app-like” experience that allows you use the Flip Ahead feature to swiftly jump from article to article with a simple gesture. As before, MSN for Windows 8 brings you trusted, world-class news from a variety of sources, including new content relationships with the Associated Press and Reuters.  

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

-          Bob Visse, General Manager, MSN