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Russia departs daylight saving time, returns to standard time this weekend, with an extra hour of sleep

In addition to the end of Central European Summer Time this weekend… the Russian News and Information Agency, Novosti, announced this weekend (October 25) that daylight saving time ends in Russia this Sunday “when the country will put clocks back one hour, giving people extra hour in bed.”

Nice to know that Novosti advocates sleeping in. ; )

“At 3:00 a.m. local time on Sunday clocks will be changed to 2:00 a.m. The changeover will begin with Russia’s easternmost territory of Chukotka and move westward through eleven time zones to the enclave region of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea. Most of Europe will also change their clocks, although North America will wait another week.”

“Most computers will automatically adjust to the time change, but clocks and household appliances that show the time will have to be adjusted manually.”

Yes, and current versions of the Windows operating system should not require any change, as the DST and time zone settings for Russia are unchanged in 2008 from previous years.  Much of Russia follows Moscow Daylight Time (UTC +4:00h) when Russians start to observe daylight saving time on the last Sunday of March, and then follow Moscow Standard Time (UTC +3:00h) when they end DST on the last Sunday of October.  These changes are the same as the dates for the start and end of European Summer Time. 

Although it’s been reported that there was some discussion in Russia of discontinuing their observation of DST, no changes by the government have been decided as noted in my previous post.  From what I have been told, this has been discussed by the Russian parliament many times over the past several years, but no changes have been made.

For more general information from Microsoft Russia, check out the search results on microsoft.com.

[Added 102708] Remember: daylight saving time ends this weekend in much of the United States and Canada.  The difference in the changes between Europe and North America could cause some confusion… so watch your cross-Atlantic and Pacific meeting times.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Russia; 4,880,000 (up from 4.3M a month ago); 1,940,000 (up from 900K a year ago, down 200K since last month)

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Halloween, Daylight Saving Time, Bill Gates’ new company and other mysterious things I’ve read this week

Halloween clip art from Office Online Here’s a blast from the past (December 2006): What do candy, Microsoft products and Congress have in common?  You can read more about this in the latest news on the subject.  If you thought tracking the machinations of various daylight saving time and time zone changes around the world was tough, Paul Tennant of the Eagle-Tribune reports that in Haverhill (MA), trick-or-treating is Saturday night this (and every) year rather than on Friday, October 31.



“While Halloween is always Oct. 31, in Haverhill trick-or-treating is always the fourth Saturday of October. This year it will be Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m.  City Human Services Director Vincent Ouellette said that the earlier time for trick-or-treating was established several years ago by the mayor and City Council for safety reasons.



“There is a lot less traffic on a Saturday night,” said Ouellette, who supervises the Recreation Department. Also because it is still daylight saving time, having trick-or-treating between 5 and 7 Saturday gives people an extra hour of daylight, he said.”


I revisited another previous post on Halloween activities and found a post just in time for Halloween: how the Anatomy of a Lego Minifig is quite spooky…



“After killing and dissecting an endless amount of Lego minifigs, artist/designer/mad doctor Jason Freeny has created the definitive anatomy map of the iconic figure, showing all the details and naughty bigs that we weren’t able to catch in our exclusive tour to Lego Minifig factory in Denmark. Jason has plenty of experience on cutting apart other species too, like gummy bears and balloon animals…”


And a bit of Halloween-inspired humour from YouTube – The Dark Knight Trailer Recut – Toy Story 2.  It really must be seen to be fully appreciated.

 

And last for this scary holiday, a real fear fest with a humourous bite: The Financial Crisis, as Explained to My Fourteen-Year-Old Sister — The Bygone Bureau.  “You’re 14 and have no source of income. What would convince me to lend you money if I’m not sure you can pay it back?”

Surely my boys have read this post and are preparing to leverage their extensive collection of Pokémon and other “valuable” trading cards to help finance their next major investment, likely a heavily leveraged credit default swap fund or collateralized debt obligations.


Enjoy the rest of your weekend.


CNET reported how Mac buyers may face an “Apple tax” (October 13, 2008).  Ina Fried posted that “Apple may offer lower-priced machines on Tuesday, but one top Microsoft official said Monday that Mac buyers will still be paying an “Apple tax” following her interview with Brad Brooks, the vice president of the Windows Consumer Product Marketing team.

TechBlog: Updated: Want proof that Microsoft is feeling threatened by Apple?:  October 13, 2008 — “Updated: Want proof that Microsoft is feeling threatened by Apple? “In the past, when Apple has been on the eve of releasing new notebooks or desktops, Microsoft has let that event pass. Maybe the company would make a spokesperson available to react to the announcement, but that’s about it.”


Bill Gates’ mysterious new company – TechFlash: Seattle’s Technology News Source — Bill Gates’ mysterious new company By Todd Bishop and Eric Engleman on Oct 22, 2008 at 11:38 AM – “The bgC3 logo.Just months after his Microsoft farewell, Bill Gates is quietly creating a new company — complete with high-tech office space, a cryptic name and even its own trademark. Public documents describe the new Gates entity — bgC3 LLC — as a “think tank.” It’s housed within a Kirkland office that the Microsoft co-founder established on his own after leaving his day-to-day executive role at the company this summer.” Also see BGC3.com, not to be confused with “m3”


Windows 7: A Turning Point for Microsoft? – PC Magazine’s Lance Ulanoff posts that “Microsoft reverses the years-long practice of building everything under the sun into its popular personal computer platform. The now officially named Windows 7 carries the heavy burden of Vista’s disappointments. Consumers, business users, and pundits have foisted such high expectations on the currently in development OS’s back, that it will be a miracle if the final result satisfies anyone. However, lost amid all the hand-wringing is Microsoft’s startling decision to lighten Windows 7’s load. “In a stunning reversal, Microsoft announced that future versions of Windows would no longer feature e-mail, contact management, calendar, photo management, and moviemaking in the initial install. Instead, Microsoft customers will be encouraged to download these apps from Windows Live online services.”


Want to go back to school?  Then you’ll take interest in in how Yale’s MBA dean will found Apple University – (October 22, 2008 1:50 PM as posted by Tom Krazit) “Joel Podolny will leave his position as dean of Yale’s business school to join Apple in early 2009. Apple has hired the dean of Yale’s School of Management to head up a new program called Apple University. It’s not clear exactly what Joel Podolny will be working on at Apple…”

Selling Computers Without Performance Anxiety? – Rob Pegoraro posted (October 20, 2008) that “Something odd is happening in the personal-computer business: While a lot of manufacturers still lead off their ads with the usual blizzard of numbers — processor speed, installed RAM, hard-drive capacity — some new models come with sales pitches that largely ignore those traditional performance metrics.”



“Apple’s new MacBook and MacBook Pro may be the most public example of this — the company’s presentations for each model lead off with a loving description of the new manufacturing process used for each. “But Apple has prominent company in this marketing approach. Dell touts the compact size and environmental appeal of its Studio Hybrid desktop, not how fast it can crunch through an Excel spreadsheet. And this morning, HP announced two new desktops and a monitor, all designed to have a “reduced impact on the environment”; the clock speeds of these PCs’ processors was saved for a footnote in the press release.”


How Microsoft will compete with ‘free’ | Outside the Lines – CNET News‘ has a guest post from Jean-Louis Gassée, who I first met at Apple and nearly worked for at Be a few years later (I didn’t pursue the job opening).  Gassée cover how “Microsoft’s future business model will borrow from both Apple and Google to compete with the free world of software.”  Gassée is a smart man, and this is a good read.

I also saw this past week how some new Apple ads tweaked Microsoft marketers (October 20, 2008 11:09 AM PDT, posted by Tom Krazit).



“Still, negative advertising, while effective in an election year, grows old. And it plays into the sorely outdated fanboy us vs. them mentality that the vast majority of consumers couldn’t care less about; most people in America do not define themselves by the computer that they use, as hard as Apple and Microsoft are trying to make that happen.”



“The new ads will get a chuckle out of most viewers, as the polished comedy team of Hodgman and Justin Long could teach Seinfeld and Gates a thing or two. But God forbid that Apple should ever stumble with the rollout of a new operating system; they’ve taught Microsoft just how to respond.”


Annals of Culture: Late Bloomers: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker — Malcolm Gladwell has an article in the New Yorker (October 20, 2008) and asks “Why do we equate genius with precocity?”



“Thanks to Sabrina for this link. “Genius, in the popular conception, is inextricably tied up with precocity—doing something truly creative, we’re inclined to think, requires the freshness and exuberance and energy of youth. Orson Welles made his masterpiece, “Citizen Kane,” at twenty-five. Herman Melville wrote a book a year through his late twenties, culminating, at age thirty-two, with “Moby-Dick.” Mozart wrote his breakthrough Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-Flat-Major at the age of twenty-one. In some creative forms, like lyric poetry, the importance of precocity has hardened into an iron law.”


If you are into the audio, Gladwell also offer Better Late: Online Only: The New Yorker Podcast – “This week in the magazine, Malcolm Gladwell asks why we equate genius with precocity. Here Gladwell talks about how artistic prodigies differ from late bloomers and the kinds of support over decades that some artists need to realize their gifts.”

Home Server Hacks – always a great resource for Windows Home Server, along with WebGuide: Windows Home Server.


Microsoft fights legal ‘hijack’ of Windows Update – On October 15th, I read how “Microsoft Lawyers representing consumers in a suit over Microsoft’s “Windows Vista Capable” marketing program recently proposed distributing the class-action notice via Windows Update — the same mechanism that the company ordinarily uses to automatically send out its security patches. In a new filing in U.S. District Court in Seattle (PDF, 15 pages) the company reacts strongly to the idea.”  No kidding.

Read Kara Swisher’s article on how “Yahoo Shares Dropped on AOL Non-Deal: Here’s Why and What That Means” from AllThingsD


A must download: the Microsoft Security Assessment Tool – The Microsoft Security Assessment Tool (MSAT) is a free tool designed to help organizations like yours assess weaknesses in your current IT security environment, reveal a prioritized list of issues, and help provide specific guidance to minimize those risks. MSAT is an easy, cost-effective way to begin strengthening the security of your computing environment and your business. Begin the process by taking a snapshot of your current security state, and then use MSAT to continuously monitor your infrastructure’s ability to respond to security threats.

Vista Wow Starts Now … at Apple – John Paczkowski of AllThingsD reports that “Apple COO Tim Cook demonstrated a new MacBook running Windows and said this of the “dramatic increase in the Mac’s market share… was driven partially by “something we didn’t do: Vista.” “I think it’s fair to say that Vista hasn’t lived up to everything that Microsoft hoped it would,” Cook said. “And consequently, it’s opened doors for a lot of people to consider switching to the Mac. And Apple has been the beneficiary of this.”


Photoshop Contest: John McCain Gets Absolutely Humiliated by Technology, Photoshop

Tags: articles, what I read, Microsoft, blogs


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Windows Vista, Windows 7, conferences and other things taking up my time

Generally the lack of posts in October is directly related to the (growing) amount of work on my plate at the office.  It’s been very busy, as we increase efforts in advance of PDC and WinHEC, and the efforts we have currently on track.

It was with interest that I read today in the Seattle Times an article from Times technology reporter Benjamin J. Romano, "With Windows 7, Microsoft faces a future full of challenges."  Romano writes that "when the company divulges details of Windows 7, the successor to much-maligned Vista, it will do so against a backdrop of growing competition from Apple, a battered Windows brand and the global economic crisis."

"Microsoft has made big changes in how it builds Windows since releasing Vista, in part to avoid repeating past mistakes.

"Many executives involved with Vista have moved elsewhere within Microsoft or left the company. Those in charge now include Steven Sinofsky, who earned a reputation for keeping big projects on schedule as the head of development for Microsoft Office, and Jon DeVaan, who also leads a companywide effort to improve engineering."

I’ve seen several articles on how the Windows management team has (as Romano puts it "reduced the Windows bureaucracy and given front-line developers more responsibility." 

Is that a bad thing, distributing responsibility to the people closest to the code?

Windows 7 has been pumped in the press as the "most secretive product ever."  So, is it a bad thing that Microsoft management has "kept a tight lid on details about Windows 7"?  Companies do that every day, and have a devil of a time keeping a lid on new innovation, features and offerings.  I’ve found that Microsoft provides tremendous transparency on technology and applications to our customers and partners.  If there’s one thing I learned, many developers and systems administrators don’t like surprises.  They want the ability and reliability to plan. 

Perhaps the Steve Jobs’ approach of "one more thing" works for consumers and entertainment technology, but for enterprises?  I don’t think so.  Scott Bekker of Redmond Magazine wrote back in 2002 that as Microsoft provided a a roadmap for future software and technologies for enterprises, there were "no surprises…"  and I think that’s the way many IT professionals prefer it.  At least, that’s what I’ve heard often enough.

Of course, all this predictability doesn’t mean one can’t continue to work and provide products with added value.  That’s one of the reasons I’m personally looking forward to PDC, and the disclosures we’ll see around a number of product and services that we’re all very excited about.  As Wolfgang Gruener posted last month in the article on tgdaily.com on PDC 2008, there will be "no surprises" on Windows 7, noting that "22 out of 155 sessions will directly new features in Windows 7 – which makes the software the second-most covered topic (behind cloud services with 26 sessions) during the event…"

Also of note:  hand in hand with the above article in the Times is one on how PC manufacturers (OEMs, ODMs)are rolling out machines that can boot up in no time.

"Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo are rolling out machines that give people access to basic functions such as e-mail and a Web browser in 30 seconds or less. Asus, a Taiwanese company that is the world’s largest maker of the circuit boards at the center of every PC, has begun building faster-booting software into its entire product line.

"Even Microsoft, whose Windows software is often blamed for sluggish start times, has pledged to do its part in the next version of the operating system, saying on a company blog that "a very good system is one that boots in under 15 seconds."

It’s always good to hear (as we saw during a recent Springboard webcast) how Vista SP1 provides many of the enhancements today that people are looking for, and how PC OEMs are getting smarter about satisfying their customers with faster boot times and reduced "application overhead."  In the webcast, Gabe Aul noted that "driver maturity helps a lot" and Ed Bott offered a specific example. Link to Springboard series with MarkAt 6:20 in the video, Ed relates an hands-on experience with one customer who purchased a notebook PC with Vista in April of 2007, and had a negative experience (with Vista RTM). Ed recalls that he contacted the customer, arranged to get the machine…

"… a year later after SP1 came out, [I] refreshed all the drivers, installed SP1 and sent it back (to the customer) who said that "I don’t even recognize this machine, the experience is so dramatically improved." 

That’s one of the main reasons we’re considering a new computer this fall for home use, to replace an aging notebook. The improved performance with Windows Vista SP1 is a real selling point, along with hardware specs that will likely be more that ready for what’s to come in terms of future applications and services.

Tags: Microsoft, performance, Windows 7, Windows Vista, PDC 2008.

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Advisory: Late breaking daylight saving time changes in Argentina (again) for 2008-2009

Ever see the movie Groundhog Day?  Well, I feel like I’m re-living a past event.

The government of Argentina is changing their daylight saving time just as they did last December.  And once again, this fast-tracked change came with little advance notice and little reason for a fast implementation.  Many customers, enterprises may not have enough time to make any changes or deploy any updates to their networks or systems.

So, our teams in corporate worked with our incredible LATAM team on a new post to their TechNet blog and their website in Argentina on DST (thank you all!).  The blog post details the changes that the Argentinean government has announced.  The new start and end dates for the daylight saving time in 2008 through 2009 is as followings: 

  • Daylight saving time begins:  October 19, 2008
  • Daylight saving time ends:  March 15, 2009

We provide a couple of different options – please review the blog entry, particularly if you have offices in the region or do business with companies or individuals in Argentina.  This from the blog entry:

Since the new dates published by the government are different from what was defined in the previous years, Windows-based computers will not correctly interpret the time that is related to the transition to daylight saving time.

In addition to Microsoft products, other software, OS releases and hardware (phones, routers, switches and managed devices) may require updates and/or changes. 

Our teams at Microsoft have taken several steps to alert customers and partners to the change in Argentina. 

Although there will not be any hot fixes provided prior to the change on Sunday, advice and recommendations have been provided and will also be available soon on the central Microsoft DST & time zone site at http://www.microsoft.com/time and at http://www.microsoft.com/argentina/dst.

Of course, a few days is a tough timeframe to get everyone alerted to a change of this magnitude. In order to achieve more seamless transitions to new DST rules and time zones, ample advance notice and concentrated efforts on promoting any change should be provided to the people and businesses impacted.  Microsoft recommends a minimum timeframe of 6 months to an ideal 1 to 1½ year advance notification.

General recommendations

  • There is no hotfix available at this time to update Windows Operating Systems with the 2008-2009 DST dates for Argentina.
  • Please note that if you adjust the machine’s clock manually, you may have adverse effects on your environment. This procedure is not supported by Microsoft.
  • Before applying the changes on Windows Operating Systems to reflect the change in Daylight Saving Time in Argentina, be aware of potential issues that will affect Microsoft Office Outlook and Exchange Server. Read “Impacts for Outlook clients and Exchange” section for more details.
  • Contact Microsoft Support prior to any modification if you are unsure about the steps to follow in order to be prepared for the Daylight Saving Time change in Argentina.

And of course, not all provinces in Argentina will follow the new DST rules: this notice was published from the Salta Province.  In all, apparently twelve provinces are exceptions in the latest (Decree 1693) as noted in a new Decree 1705 that appeared today in the official government bulletin (meaning provinces that won’t use the new DST rules):

  • CATAMARCA
  • LA RIOJA
  • MENDOZA
  • SALTA
  • SAN JUAN
  • SAN LUIS
  • LA PAMPA
  • NEUQUEN
  • RIO NEGRO
  • CHUBUT
  • SANTA CRUZ
  • TIERRA DEL FUEGO, ANTARTIDA E ISLAS DEL ATLANTICO SUR

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST, Argentina.

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What $700 billion buys, Ina on something called Windows Strata, and the Giving Campaign (plus my reading list)

OK, deep breath for those of you watching the market today.  The weekend is here.  Markets are closed.  Keep in mind that as Cable Digital News reported last week, the financial bailout plan is enough capital to install fiber to every single home (FTTH) in the States with a few dollars left over for alternative energy…

“You know you’ve been covering the cable industry too long when you start employing a “cost per home passed” metric to economic issues far outside the broadband domain. In this case, it’s the $700 billion financial bailout plan that just crashed and burned in Congress. If passed, that plan would cost $6,250 per home passed. It’s a number that makes any cable or telecom industry watcher’s head spin. The figure is enough to cover the cost of installing fiber to every single home in the U.S. with enough left over to outfit half of all homes for solar electricity. (The assumptions for these zany scenarios are a cost-reduced $600 per home passed for fiber-to-the-home and $11,000 per home for solar as part of a massive national deployment.)”

But on to more fun, corporate items.  I’ve just returned from a fun Windows COSD information sharing event with lots of food, folks and more.  The company’s Giving Campaign (as I’ve mentioned previously) has kicked off this week, and I have a wonderful item available for Kathy Griffin fans: tickets to one of her sold out Seattle shows.  Local FTEs, check it out and bid high.  I’m not sure if Max will be offering another one of his Another Thousand Paintings, a series of companion paintings to Sala’s one thousand paintings of numbers.  His site was created using Office Live.  Last year, he once again provided a great painting (‘though it did take quite a while…).

So, here’s a few items from the reading pile, including this one from Ina Fried.  She posted on how Windows Cloud might in fact equal Windows Strata… (October 8, 2008 10:26 AM PDT)  “A screenshot of Microsoft’s PDC Web site, which appears to confirm the Windows Strata name.” “Last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked about “Windows Cloud”–the company’s long-rumored cloud operating system. At the time, though, he noted that the Windows Cloud name was not necessarily the final name.”

Good thing PDC is just around the corner – we’ll find out soon enough.

A few more items that made the reading and resource list in my not-too-many spare moments this week.  Enjoy your weekend.  (I hope to as well: happy anniversary, Lisa 😉
When you try to install updates from the Windows Update Web site or from the Microsoft Update Web site, you may receive a “0x80246007” error code

FORTUNE: Trapped in cubicles – Mar. 22, 2006  — “Even the designer of the cubicle thinks they were maybe a bad idea, as millions of ‘Dilberts’ would agree. By Julie Schlosser, FORTUNE Magazine March 22, 2006: 2:03 PM EST NEW YORK (FORTUNE Magazine) – Robert Oppenheimer agonized over building the A-bomb. Alfred Nobel got queasy about creating dynamite. Robert Propst invented nothing so destructive. Yet before he died in 2000, he lamented his unwitting contribution to what he called “monolithic insanity.” Propst is the father of the cubicle. More than 30 years after he unleashed it on the world, we are still trying to get out of the box. The cubicle has been called many things in its long and terrible reign.”

Instant Eyedropper: Identify HTML-color code from any pixel of the screen with single-click and auto paste it to the clipboard – Instant Eyedropper is a free software tool for webmasters that will identify and automatically paste to the clipboard the HTML color code of any pixel on the screen with just a single mouse click. Thanks to Lifehacker for noting this Windows utility for the system tray utility.

How can I be less cynical? (Ask Metafilter) – “With each year that I get older, I get a little more cynical. I can’t even watch TV without spitting nails with all the product placement, I hate most movies, I lost faith in the God I was raised to believe in as a child and I find very little joy in most things now a days. My wife is pissed because I’m so negative and doubtful of everything. She’d like to see me a happier. I’ve been the counselor route before but most don’t understand me so I want to explore other ways to be less cynical (I’m open to books – I love to read) “So does anyone have a way I can start to change my attitude…?”

Inside G’s Infinity Penthouse | SFluxe – Thanks to Paula for this link on SiValley living.

Workspace: Clean Your Workspace—and Keep it That Way — “ether your workspace is miles from your home or right there amongst your books and Battlestar Galactica figurines, it probably has something in common with at least a few other Lifehackers’ (and mine)—the ability to attract clutter, make important documents and objects hard to find, and, over time, become an actual impediment to getting things done. Some of us are able to work in a way that doesn’t leave things a mess and clean as you go, but for those of us who can’t trust our instincts, a system that corrects itself is needed. Today I’ve rounded up a few of our best tips for getting your workspace in order and keeping it that way without a cerebral transplant.”

DIY: Make Your Own R-Strap for Camera-Slinging Convenience – “The R-Strap, a $44 sling for DSLR cameras that hooks into the tripod socket, makes it easy to keep a camera slung low during idle moments, then quickly bring it up for shooting without scraping your neck or twisting the strap. The Photojojo site points out two DIY R-Strap how-tos that require just a few dollars of gear and not too much hardware work to get the same effect. Best of all, you can use nearly any strap you like, so if you’ve always felt comfortable with your laptop tote or guitar strap, you can get the same effect while shooting.”

The New Xbox Experience is coming November 19th – Xbox Lives Major Nelson – “John Schappert, Corporate Vice President of Xbox LIVE, Services and Software, announced today during his Tokyo Game Show keynote that the New Xbox Experience will ship to Xbox 360’s around the world (in 26 countries, localized in 11 languages) on November 19th 2008.”

HearVox News » A CDO Sub-Primer — From May, 2008: LM 2008.05.11 HV/Webwork/Writs/Econ 101 tags: business, media, npr [Mr. Massett explains why the media explanations of the mortgage crisis explain nothing.] When the US credit markets began to blow up last year, every newspaper in the country served up two explanations for the mess: “sub-prime mortgage” and “collaterized debt obligation,” or “CDO.”

HP Mediasmart Connect HD Video Streamer Lightning Review — Gizmodo offers a review of the new HP Mediasmart Connect, “a networked receiver that plays back H.264, DivX, XviD, MPEG-2, WMV video, photos, and even connects to your Media Center to act like an extender. It’s also expandable space-wise with HP’s Pocket Media Drives, and supports 10/100 Ethernet and 802.11a/b/g/n. It comes in a glossy piano black finish which attracts dust and fingerprints as easily as an actual piano. The Price: $299 The Verdict: The Mediasmart Connect is a decent video player, Media Extender and photo viewer, but it doesn’t shine in any area other than video quality. “At $299, it’s hard to recommend the Mediasmart Connect over something like an Xbox 360 because of everything else the 360 can do.”

Personally, I see value in this box over an Xbox 360 in the wireless streaming and web-based video playback from the likes of Live Video, YouTube and other services. I also like the on-board storage option as I have other HP PCs with USB drive bays.

gOS – a Google good OS for your Mum • The Register — “Mac-like Linux serves the Windows crowd By Scott Gilbertson • Get more from this author Posted in Operating Systems, 25th August 2008 19:06 GMT Review What’s free, looks like Mac OS X, just works and is actually Linux? The answer is gOS, which recently launched a new beta that builds on the distro’s initial success and adds new tools like integrated Google Gadgets for Linux. When it launched onto the scene late last year, gOS (which stands for good OS) made quite a splash for getting Linux into the U.S. retail giant WalMart. Through a partnership with PC manufacturer Everex, gOS brought Linux to your parents’ generation via WalMart. But chances are, if they picked up a gOS equipped machine, Mom and Dad would have no idea the

‘Windows Cloud’ to descend this month, says Ballmer • The Register

By Kelly Fiveash Posted in Operating Systems, 1st October 2008 13:53 GMT “Microsoft will let loose a new operating system, Windows Cloud, at the company’s annual developer conference later this month. “Boss Steve Ballmer announced Redmond’s plans at a Software plus Services partner event in London this lunchtime. He playfully gave the OS the temporary name of Windows Cloud. Apparently, we’ll learn more from Microsoft about the platform at the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, which takes place at the end of October. “We need a new operating system designed for the cloud and we will introduce one in about four weeks, we’ll even have a name to give you by then. But let’s just call it for the purposes of today ‘Windows Cloud’,” said Ballmer.”

Toshiba Media Server Concept Looks Awesome — Of interest from CEATEC 2008, Sep 30, 08 03:03 AM PDT “First of all, this media server is a concept – not a commercial product (how unfortunate!). It was part of a Toshiba demo about how the telephone, the media server and a TV (with wireless HD) could interact. The media server automatically downloads media files form the cellphone as soon as the user drops it nearby (using near field communication or NFC). The media files can then be displayed from the media server to a wireless HD 1080p TV (I’m sure that in their concept, it works better if everything comes from Toshiba…).”

Netflix API – Welcome to the Netflix Developer Network — Engadget reported today that “the Netflix API will be open to all starting tomorrow. As of October 1st, absolutely anyone can self-signup by visiting the read link, and while details are a tad sketchy at the moment, it sounds like this could hold some serious promise. The API itself allows access to data for 100,000 movie and TV episode titles, is completely free and (most importantly) allows commercial use. In other words, it’s kosher if a bright developer out there somewhere feels like “creating an iPhone app to sell for $0.99 (Netflix’s words, not ours).” On the technical side, the API includes a REST API, Javascript API and ATOM feeds, and it also uses OAuth standard security “to allow the subscriber to control which applications can access the service on his or her behalf.” It’s time to get creative, folks.”

Net neutrality: An American problem? — This story was written by Brett Winterford and Julian Hill. The leaders of three of Australia’s largest ISP’s have declared the Net neutrality debate as solely a U.S. problem–and further, that the nation that pioneered the Internet might want to study the Australian market for clues as to how to solve the dilemma. Net neutrality is a term coined by Internet users who oppose the increasing tendency among network owners (telecommunications companies) to tier or prioritize certain content on the network.

Can I Recover from Recovering My PC? – washingtonpost.com — “Lincoln Spector, PC World PC World Tuesday, September 30, 2008; 12:19 AM “When his PC wouldn’t boot, Stargazer ran its recovery tool and thus lost all of his files. Then he asked the Answer Line forum how he could get back his pictures, video, and music.”

Adobe Talks Open Source, Innovation and the Future of Flash — By Darryl K. Taft 2008-09-25 “Kevin Lynch, CTO of Adobe talks with eWEEK about open-sourcing Flash, the new Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4), mobile technology and more. Lynch also talks of competing with Microsoft Silverlight and Expression and possibly with Google Chrome.”

Security Hole in Adobe Flash Allows Free Amazon Movie Downloads — A security hole in Adobe Flash video server software, used to distribute movies and TV shows over the Internet, is giving users free access to record and copy from Amazon.com’s video streaming service. The Adobe Flash video server software doesn’t encrypt online content, but only orders sent to a video player such as start and stop play. To boost download speeds, Adobe dropped a stringent security feature that protects the connection between the Adobe software and its players. The Adobe Flash video servers are connected to Adobe’s Flash video players installed in nearly all of the world’s Web-connected PC computers.

Tags: articles, what I read, Microsoft, blogs (101008)

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