Tag: articles
Yes, Virgina, there is Snow in Redmond, and surrounding cities as I Tweeted tonite.
Light Snow: 30°F, Feels Like 25°F (actually, it feels colder).
On a warmer note, thanks to the tireless and well-read Paul Schottland for establishing my blog on Facebook (via blognetworks for your FB users).
I was happy to note that Xbox Live Silver Members Offered Free Online Play through the "Friendship is Free" program. Earnest Cavalli wrote (December 04, 2008) that "The program, scheduled to run until the end of December, allows those gamers with free Xbox Live Silver accounts to enjoy online play in a handful of Xbox 360 games including the phenomenal Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix."
- "Thinking of buying that certain someone special an Atari 2600 for Christmas? Or a TurboGrafx-16? How about you support a great cause while you do so? "The last time I was back home in Connecticut, my parents and I pulled out a whole mess of doubles out of the ol’ Game|Life Archives, and we’re selling them on eBay and donating 100% of the proceeds to Child’s Play. Every dime you spend on these classic pieces of history will go straight to children’s hospitals around the world. What better reason to get into a bidding war with someone over this old Atari 2600."
Currently at $157.50, you have until just after 2:30PM (Pacific Standard Time) Sunday (Dec-14) to bid on this perfect gift for the gamer who has everything except an Atari 2600, and see all the funds to go a good cause.
Rob Pegoraro wrote about Tiny PCs, Full-Size Problems in the Washington Post on December 4, 2008 (Page D01) and asked “How little laptop is enough? And how few dollars will it cost you? The ultralight laptop has traditionally been a luxury item. But over the past couple of years, sanity has returned to this end of the computing universe: You can pay less for less of a laptop.”
I offered my own view on netbooks in my post Netbooks, Live Cashback and rebates: helping the economy one gadget at a time. The 2133 just arrived, and ‘though I’ve been busy testing with different PCs at home, I’m eager to get this unit configured.
Weighing Devices for Your Netflix Delivered via Web | Nick Wingfield | Personal Technology | AllThingsD from December 3, 2008 by Nick Wingfield.
“Netflix was a pioneer in the business of movie rentals — getting consumers to rent DVDs online and mailing them out in cheery red envelopes. Recently, it has put a lot of effort into a service that delivers movies digitally over the Internet to subscribers, preparing for a day when getting movies on a physical disc will become outmoded. People today use the Netflix service on their computers, but Netflix (NFLX) has cut a series of deals with hardware partners to make the service available on TV sets through an array of devices.”
- "Citing the standard litany of economic tribulations, Adobe (ADBE) Wednesday reduced its fourth-quarter outlook and said it will cut 600 jobs around the world–about eight percent of its workforce. The company now expects revenue of $912 million to $915 million. In better times, that revenue target range had been $925 million to $955 million. "The global economic crisis significantly impacted our revenue during the fourth quarter,” said CEO Shantanu Narayen. “We have taken action to reduce our operating costs and fine-tune the focus of our resources on key strategic priorities."
Former Yahoo Tech Star Qi Lu Likely to Be Named Microsoft’s Digital Head by Next Week | Kara Swisher of AllThingsD speculated accurately that "Former Yahoo tech star Qi Lu (pictured here) is poised to take on the big job of being Microsoft’s top digital executive, according to several sources inside and outside the company. "The appointment could be announced by Microsoft as early as next Monday. "A variety of details is still being ironed out, though, including whether the well-regarded techie Lu will be “paired” with another executive at Microsoft (MSFT) with more general business experience."
Also of interest (for a future HTPC rig at home, much to my wife’s chagrin): the new EVGA 113-YW-E115-TR LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300 HDMI ATX Intel Motherboard
PDAdb.net offers a Comprehensive Database of PDA, PDA Phone, PNA & Smartphone Specifications.
- "As you probably know, the BBC and a bunch of publications pounced over a "new" Tech Support Note recommending the use of anti-virus software, accusing Apple of "quietly" changing their tune about the Mac being virus-proof. We discovered this was false. Then Apple removed the notes, saying they were obsolete because Mac OS X is designed with built-in protection. Certainly, Mac OS X’s architecture and their out-of-the-box security policies make their OS safer than Windows. Or does it? Despite the technical arguments, do you think Mac OS X needs anti-virus software?"
So the Giz explained in their post "Why OS X Shrugs Off Viruses Better Than Windows" that the
"Mac OS X, mythically immune to common computer plagues, has actually always welcomed antivirus software. Or, uh, maybe not. Confused? No worries—here’s how OS X and Windows differ on resisting viruses and other nasties. It’s not a matter of opinion: OS X is less susceptible to catching a cold than Windows. So is Linux, for that matter. There are two major reasons (and Steve Jobs’ pee actually isn’t one of them). First, Windows is on 89.6 percent of the world’s personal computers, while OS X is on just 8.9 percent of them. Second, the Unix architecture that OS X and Linux are based on is inherently more secure than Windows, particularly pre-Vista versions."
"OK, this is making a whole lot more sense now. Possibly solving the mystery that has perplexed the technology world, Microsoft blogger Steve Clayton points out that the company made special-edition Zunes for the Democratic National Convention. "Of course! That explains it. Now we know how Barack Obama ended up with a Microsoft music player as his digital companion on that treadmill next to Philadelphia City Paper writer Neal Santos this week. I mean, what else could it possibly be? Surely Obama didn’t buy the thing!"
Of interest: the WVC54GCA Linksys Wireless Camera which can (according to the description) send "live audio and video to a web browser anywhere in the world! Sends high-quality live audio and video to your network wirelessly – viewable from most web browsers, anywhere in the world Built-in video stream encoder and stand-alone web server – no PC necessary Security Mode automatically sends email alerts with video clips upon motion detection Supports MPEG-4 and MJPEG video at up to 640×480, and up to four simultaneous remote users."
- "Hi, Mike Nash here. In late October I announced the Beta of Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 – beginning with a small group of Technology Adoption Program customers. This week we’re opening up the beta to a broader audience. Starting today, MSDN and TechNet subscribers will have access to the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Beta to begin testing. "Beginning Thursday Dec. 4th, we will be making the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Beta available to everyone through a Customer Preview Program (CPP). The CPP will launch on TechNet and be available to anyone interested in trying out this service pack. The CPP is intended for technology enthusiasts, developers, and IT Pros who would like to test Service Pack 2 in their environments and with their applications prior to final release."
- "As Brian announced a few weeks ago, Windows Live is in the midst of releasing a new wave of updates for the web, for your PC, and for mobile devices. "Today we’ve started releasing the first set of updates to our web services, and these will continue to roll out globally over the next 24 hours – including a new version of Windows Live Home, Spaces, Events, and SkyDrive, as well as completely new web services such as Windows Live Groups, Photos, and Profile. "The easiest way to really get to know these services is simply to sign in and start using the new Windows Live web services. Get started on the new home page at http://home.live.com/. There’s a ton there – and as we mentioned a few weeks ago, there’s even more to come. Let us know what you’re enjoying with the new updates, and as always, keep sending us your feedback so we can continue to improve Windows Live." –
Business Technology : Reviving F—ed Company — December 1, 2008, 4:10 pm, by Andrew LaVallee "Now that we can officially say we’re in a recession, it makes sense that there’s a resurgence of sites devoted to floundering companies. "We have to bleep out some names, but they include LayoffBlog.com, Screwdd F—-edStartups, It Died, Timely Demise and web2.0f—edcompany.com (which BizTech wrote about in October), in addition to TechCrunch’s longer-running deadpool." Also see It Died, a "compendium of what services and companies are no longer available for our Internet pleasure and use."
eBay Store – Buy’s Internet Superstore: Computers, Electronics, Digital Cameras – From Dealcatcher, "I thought I’d tell everyone about the good deal I got using Live.com and Paypal. Buy.com’s site on eBay is offering 30% cashback on just about everything in their inventory when purchased via PayPal." The cashback is now down to 8% on eBay purchases, which is still quite respectable.
In Saluting a shout-out for justice (Seattle Times Newspaper), Danny Westneat, Seattle Times staff columnist writes (November 30, 2008) "Richard Sanders is being called an impetuous crank who ought to be punished for his boorish behavior. Maybe so. It won’t change this: He is definitely onto something."
Microsoft Pri0 | Sunday Times report has Microsoft discussing deal to buy Yahoo search for way too much (Seattle Times Newspaper Blog) November 29, 2008 9:04 PM, Posted by Benjamin J. Romano. "Sunday Times report has Microsoft discussing deal to buy Yahoo search for way too much A report in The Sunday Times (of London) late today outlines a complex potential deal between Microsoft, a pair of digital media heavyweights and Yahoo, but several elements in the story don’t add up and already one of the principals has denied knowledge of such a deal. "SOFTWARE giant Microsoft is in talks to acquire Yahoo’s online search business for $20 billion (13 billion pounds)," reads the opening paragraph of the story, dated Sunday."
Tags: articles, what I read, Microsoft, blogs.
Of interest post-Thanksgiving, here’s more for you to digest on Microsoft… courtesy of Joe Wilcox in his post Microsoft, Give Thanks!
"It’s another Thanksgiving and 10 new reasons why Microsoft should be grateful. Like the past two years (here and here), I have complied Microsoft’s what-to-be-thankful-for list."
I’m thankful for the 64-bit version of the Zune software. My personal favourite from Joe’s list:
4. Windows 7 team. Microsoft’s troupe responsible for Windows 7 has done remarkable work. Sure, much more is needed, but the progress is astounding considering the starting place: Windows Vista. PDC demos rocked, and the Engineering Windows 7 Weblog is setting new standards for Microsoft transparency. Somebody hit the reboot button on Vista and it came back Seven. Blogger, customer, enthusiast, journalist and partner responses are, so far (knock on wood), much better for Seven the pre-beta than Windows Vista with Service Pack 1.
Tags: articles, what I read, Microsoft, blogs.
Going though customer and partner feedback today, I was interested to see this appear in my mailbox (thanks to the several people who forwarded this today), an excerpt from an article by Larry Seltzer on PC Magazine’s blog, Why Vista Looks Good After The MS08-067 RPC Bug – Security Watch…
One of the lessons of the recent Windows RPC bug, the one that was fixed “out of band” a few weeks ago, didn’t get enough attention. It’s that Vista is so much more resilient than XP to the attack, and why. I believe that, on Vista, this vulnerability is almost impossible to exploit and nobody will try.
“When MS08-067 was released it was a shocker, the kind of vulnerability that, in the past, has led to widespread attacks. This hasn’t happened so far for a number of reasons. But I’ll wager that very few Vista systems anywhere in the world will be successfully attacked through this vulnerability, except maybe in hacker testing. It’s all another reason why you’re better off with Vista.”
Tags: articles, what I read, Microsoft, blogs, security, antivirus.
On NPR’s Planet Money site, a “multimedia team of reporters tracks down the economists, investors and regular folks who are trying to make sense of the rapidly changing global economy,” there is an interesting series from Alex Blumberg. He explained on All Things Considered (October 31, 2008) How Credit Default Swaps Spread Financial Rot (as well as Unregulated Credit Default Swaps Led to Weakness) and how these instruments contributed to our tanking economy.
“It’s a fair guess that a couple of months ago, few people outside the financial world had even heard the words “credit default swaps.” But now the obscure and unregulated financial instruments are shouldering much of the blame for destabilizing the global financial system.
“Here’s how it works. Let’s say there’s a guy named Frank and he has a life insurance policy. When he dies, the beneficiary gets a million dollars. Now imagine a whole bunch of other people saying, “I want a million dollars if he dies, too.” And so they take out life insurance policies on Frank.
Now imagine Frank dies, and all those people bought their policies from the same company. That company, more or less, was AIG.”
Top 50 Women to Watch 2008” Wall Street Journal on WSJ.com – “According to a survey by Catalyst, a New York research group, women hold 15.4% of Fortune 500 corporate-officer jobs — positions of vice president or higher that require board approval. That number has inched down from 16.4% in 2005. One bright spot: More women are in charge of powerful board committees, such as nominating and governance committee chairs. That in turn could mean more women being appointed to key positions down the road.” (Merissa Marr)
Seven things you may not know about Windows 7 | Beyond Binary – A blog by Ina Fried – CNET News (November 10, 2008). “While Windows 7 has gotten plenty of attention over the past two weeks, there are some features in there that haven’t gotten as much attention. I wrote on Friday about a new programming interface for location-based services. Here are seven more features that caught my eye.
- Standard approach to mobile broadband
- Help with public Wi-Fi spots.
- Windows Troubleshooting
- New sensor support
- Improved battery life and playback of DVDs
- Windows Biometric Framework
- Enhancements to Windows Media Center
Brain Power Video – CBSNews.com — Thanks to Charlie for a link to this clip from CBS News, “one of the most powerful technology stories ever” http://is.gd/5Iok
AmEx Gets Access to Bailout Fund – WSJ.com By ROBIN SIDEL and JON HILSENRATH “American Express Co. won fast approval to become a bank-holding company, helping the credit-card giant gain access to a chunk of the $700 billion in federal funds being pumped into financial firms. The move shows how quickly financial-services firms that have long relied on the capital markets are racing to shore up their funding sources as the credit crisis drags on and economic turmoil spreads around the world.”
Did You Get the “Don’t Be A Bandwidth Pig” Letter From Comcast Yet? – Security Watch — Larry Seltzer wites (Nov 6, 2008) that “In their attempts to manage network congestion Comcast has gotten into trouble with the FCC in the past. They tried to pick only on the programs that were the main source of abuse, but that didn’t fly, so they have a new approach and it’s “net neutral:” All users will be limited to a particular (very high) amount of traffic (250 GB) per month. They don’t actively monitor that number, but they look for users who are using very high levels over a period of time. If you hit a particular level, your traffic may be “deprioritized,” meaning it will slow down until your traffic and traffic on the network in general slow down. See a column I wrote a while ago for more details. Comcast has begun sending out letters to users announcing this policy. It comes with a subject line of “Improving Your Online Experience Through Congestion Management”…
News Flash: Google Was Never Yahoo’s Friend – GigaOM — Om Malik reports (November 5, 2008 at 8:59 AM PT) that “Perhaps the managerial bankruptcy at Yahoo was what led the beleaguered Internet company to believe that its biggest competitor, Google, would be its savior. Apparently it bought into Google’s spin about “doing no evil.” Well, today Yahoo is learning a lesson that everyone in the technology world needs to learn fast: Google is nobody’s friend. Just like Microsoft wasn’t a charity, Google, too, is capitalistic venture whose first and only goal is to stuff its coffers with cash — never mind what its leaders say publicly. In a blog post, David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, announced today that the company is withdrawing from the so-called Yahoo-Google advertising partnership, mostly because it was getting too much scrutiny from the federal government.”
Sue Decker’s Memo to the Yahoo Troops – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com (November 5, 2008, 12:53 pm) by Miguel Helft — “Google decided to end its advertising partnership with Yahoo on Wednesday rather than fight a suit from the Justice Department. Google explained its decision in a blog post penned by David Drummond, its chief legal officer. Meanwhile, Yahoo said it was disappointed with Google’s decision not fight and said it was well positioned to succeed in search and advertising. In a memo to the troops that seeks to put the best face on the unraveling of the deal, President Sue Decker expanded on that idea.The deal with Google, she said, was just one of many efforts to speed up its turnaround strategy.”
Microsoft shows Windows 7 on Eee PC – TechFlash: Seattle’s Technology News Source — “But today at Microsoft’s Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, the company made a point of demonstrating Windows 7 running on an Eee PC, as a result of the improvements made under the hood of the next operating system. The demonstration model had 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of SSD flash storage, and a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom dual-core microprocessor. During the demo, Windows chief Steven Sinofsky and Microsoft’s Mike Angiulo took a picture with a digital camera and plugged it into the machine, bringing up Windows 7’s centralized “Device Stage” device management area.
Microsoft: Windows 7 kicks Vista’s butt – TechFlash: Seattle’s Technology News Source — Todd Bishop covered WinHEC week and wrote of how “Most companies talk about how much better they are than their competitors. Microsoft this morning kicked off its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference by detailing how much better it believes Windows 7 will be than Windows Vista in areas including boot time, battery life, graphics rendering, reliability and performance. “It was an implicit acknowledgement of Windows Vista’s problems. But the company is walking a fine line as it makes the case. On the one hand, it wants to convince PC and device makers that it has its act together this time around. However, with Windows 7 not expected until early 2010, the company also risks hurting Windows Vista’s sales in the meantime if it talks about how much better the successor will be.”
Incremental Blogger » Blog Archive » Ray Ozzie and the myth of the Tablet PC — Loren Heiny covered in his blog the TechFlash interview with Ray Ozzie last week during PDC, where “Ozzie talks about some of the great things he sees in Windows 7 including the forthcoming multi-touch features” “Despite the fact that I agree with much of what he’s saying here–in particular, that the iPhone has convinced people of the value of multi-touch and that its value spreads far beyond one platform, I think Ray Ozzie has been drinking the “Tablet PCs are niche koolaid.” I wish Microsoft executives wouldn’t speak this way by using terms like “niche” to describe the Tablet PC market. Talk about trying to put a ceiling on their own products.”
Apple fanboys vs. Microsofties: A scientist’s verdict | Technically Incorrect – CNET News from October 30, 2008 10:25 PM PDT posted by Chris Matyszczyk — “Since embracing Incorrectness, I have noticed that the passion of those who love either Microsoft or Apple seems even to exceed a Goth’s passion for black eyeshadow. The more I have come to know the two sides, the more their mutual stand-off resembles the kind of love-hate continuum embraced nightly by those two remarkably large-headed souls, Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. Now, research led by Professor Semir Zeki of University College London may help to illustrate and explain the inflamed emotions that surround two mere technology brands. It appears that, although love and hate seem to be rather opposing feelings, some of the same nervous circuits in the brain are responsible for both emotions.”
Windows 7 details galore: interface tweaks, netbook builds, Media Center enhancements – Engadget — Microsoft’s Windows 7 announcement earlier today was followed up by an extensive demo of the new features during the PDC keynote, and since then even more info about the new OS has flooded out, so we thought we’d try to wrap up some of the more important bits here for you. Microsoft seems to have done an impressive job at this early pre-beta stage, folding in next-gen interface ideas like multitouch into the same OS that apparently runs fine on a 1GHz netbook with 1GB of RAM, but we’ll see how development goes — there’s still a ways to go.
HP’s new Mini 1000 and MIE Linux make netbooks fun again – Engadget — “We’ve been struggling to keep awake for the large majority of this year, as netbook after netbook lands in our laps with identical specs, form factors and general shoddiness. No longer. HP is giving the market a shot in the arm with its new “clutch-style” skinny form factors, polished Linux OS and aggressive price points — even if the specs are about as boring as the Mini-Note 2133. As rumored, HP’s new Mini 1000 netbook is ditching VIA and going the Atom route (1.6GHz N270, in case you hadn’t guessed). Also new is an option for a 10.2-inch display, though it’s a mere 1024 x 600 instead of the 1280 x 768 display on the 2133…”
Samsung NC10 reviewed, trumps competition with 7 hour battery life – Engadget — “Thus far word on the street about Samsung’s NC10 has been good, but not exactly enough to distance it from the crowd. Laptop Magazine’s full review of a Korean unit, however, found it to be exemplary, calling it “the most well-rounded 10-inch netbook on the market.” The netbook earned high marks thanks to a bright screen, comfortable keyboard, and amazing battery life of 7:34 with WiFi turned on. (That’s a bit suspect, though, as on a repeated test with screen brightness raised to 100 percent only 4:48 passed before it all went dark — another re-test at 50 percent is promised.) The only real complaints were a somewhat dainty touchpad and mediocre disk performance…”
Tags: articles, what I read, Microsoft, blogs