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New Tablets, Slates, and Pads: oh, my. 2010 will be an interesting, touch-fueled year.

imageToday’s been a busy day, what with work and getting pinged with the press on the new tablet products coming from Silicon Valley, as noted here with an inside look at the HP Slate (the model that made its debut at CES). None other than HP’s CTO Phil McKinney shows off the the Slate in a "History of Innovation" in his latest blog post on HP’s The Next Bench blog.

Oh, yes, and there is the new Apple iPad, too. More info on the new Apple iPad via Bing here. There are some choice updates from people and press in attendance at the event today in San Francisco in my twitter feed.

imageA comment on design, timely especially since I was referencing the incomparable Bill Buxton today in a presentation.

There’s an interesting similarity to the bezel design on these two devices, both somewhat different from the approach seen on other touch tablets (‘though reminiscent of of the iPhone). As I noted on Twitter, the ASUS Eee PC T91MT makes more sense (or costs fewer cents?) given that you have the choice of using the keyboard or not. Having the option is nice, as I found when I made the case for a Revitalized Notebook (aka getting more from computers currently gathering dust). This was when I updated my Toshiba M200 with Windows 7.

imageAlthough I like the tablet functions, it’s certainly nice to have the keyboard input option. With the new touch enabled PCs like the ASUS above (and even my home desktop, the HP Touchsmart 2), the ability to move between typing and touch become second nature after a while.  And if you have a portable form factor like the ASUS or even the HP (with optional dock, I’m guessing, as we saw originally on the 2004 release of the HP Compaq TC1100) the slate design works well overall for consuming media.

Interesting to note: Amazon’s taken no time to respond on its web site with this promo for the Kindle on the home page, touting the free wireless and no need for a wireless contract…

But should you get a tablet, or slat, or pad? That depends. More on that later…

Tags: gadgets, Amazon, CES 2010, CES, Kindle, Microsoft, tablet, Tablet PC, Windows 7.

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How to organize like Bill Gates, the HP-Microsoft deal, Helping in Haiti and more

How Bill WorksYes, I’ve been neglecting my blog. Although I have a couple of blog posts in the works (on setting up our Windows 7 home network connected to our Media Center), I have been just too busy with (gasp!) real work. So I obviously need to be better at my organization: helpful that I found this brief article on Bill Gates’ organizational effort with a few of his "top tactics" with a nod of what Bill calls the digital workstyle. Missing from the article: you need a great staff! For me, here’s a quick post that answers one of the popular questions I often get: "How I Work at Microsoft". 

First off, I supported @Americares http://www.americares.org/ WRT Haiti earthquake victims as 99% of the goes to the relief effort. You can read more here about Microsoft’s help to relief organizations in Haiti and see a list of charities helping in the country here on MSN. (BTW, I’m an AT&T customer. With all of the press on teh incredible response via text message donations, there’s a bit of a brou-ha-ha WRT AT&T’s note that "Standard text messaging rates may apply" for said donations made on its network. I asked @ATTNews to waive fees like @Verizon & @TMobile for Haiti donations. And it seems that customer response and public pressure has caused AT&T to give in on that surcharge.)

Lots of news on the Microsoft & HP CEOs announcement yesterday on investment in IT infrastructure software, as initially noted here by CIO.com. You can read all about the HP – Microsoft three-year, $250 million deal to advance cloud computing for businesses on Microsoft Presspass and this post from Brad Anderson of the mgmt & services division.

Now, on to a couple of noteworthy bits from my posts on Twitter and on Twitter and from friendfeed:

 

As noted Microsoft is supporting relief efforts in Haiti + how you can help, MSFT makes initial $1.25 million commitment [Blog] http://bit.ly/8KRBTb

WSJTech reports that PC Shipments Surge in Holiday Quarter http://on.wsj.com/7RfTy3

Sad that Bill Veghte over in Windows Marketing is leaving the company after nearly two decades per @inafried http://news.cnet.com/8301-13…

Sad to read about Apple IMac quality issues (Yellow Discoloration, Fail to Boot) http://www.dailytech.com/An+Appl…

@maryjofoley reports that Visual Studio 2010 gets a new launch date: April 12, 2010: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microso…

@LanceUlanoff reports on Google in China: Pulling Out May Not Be a Good Idea http://www.pcmag.com/article… China’s wrong, but will Google’s exit help anyone? #google #china

@karaswisher: The One-Year Report Card of Yahoo’s Carol Bartz–Management: A- http://kara.allthingsd.com/2010011…

@meridith: The CIO Job Market in 2010: More Opportunities and More Competition http://www.cio.com/article… #CIO #jobs

Run into error code 0x80070005, Windows 7 "is not Genuine"? Disable policy settings or edit permissions: http://support.microsoft.com/kb2008385

A look inside BMW’s Windows 7 rollout to date: "Smooth Driving So Far" on CIO.com http://www.cio.com/article…

Nice too see Michigan and Microsoft teaming up to offer free technology training around the state http://www.bing.com/news… #fb

Microsoft reiterates console generation stance: "Xbox 360 is designed to last longer than normal" http://www.totalvideogames.com/Xbox-36…

Other vendors to follow Apple offering multi-touch tablet PCs in Q1 or Q2, say Taiwan touch panel makers http://www.digitimes.com/print…

From JohnPaczkowski: Google VP of Engineering Andy Rubin: We’re Building a Nexus One for Enterprise http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/2010010…

From LanceUlanoff: Why Tablets Need Apple http://www.pcmag.com/article… Everybody’s making tablets, but nobody knows what they’re for. @SaschaSegan is right.

@toddbishop: Miguel de Icaza, Microsoft MVP? Yep, it’s true. http://www.techflash.com/seattle…

From Stephen Rose: RT @MaxTrinidad: RT @MSSpringboard: Four Free Tools that every Administrator should Know About http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us…

@MSFT_IT: The definitive explainer of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), by Microsoft IT Evangelist Yung Chou http://blogs.technet.com/windows…

@MSFT_IT: MSFT CIO Tony Scott talks about new directions for IT in 2010. Video and paper available at microsoft.com/everybodysbusiness

@Cisco_Mobile Gotcha – sometimes that download get’s missed. Thx for the info

Troubleshooting Windows 7 with Microsoft’s Built-In Tools: It all began w/ Firefox 3.5, via @tomshardware http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews…

Microsoft Security Advisory 979267: Adobe Flash Player 6 Vulnerability in Windows XP could allow remote code execution http://www.microsoft.com/technet…

Skip Microsoft’s Critical Patch, Focus on Adobe’s, Experts Urge reports @gkeizer via @PCWorld http://www.pcworld.com/article…

Microsoft will report earnings after the market close on Thurs, January 28. Investor Relations page: http://www.microsoft.com/msft…

@edbott: New at ZDNet: Move over, God mode! 94 more secret shortcuts for Windows 7: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott…

@msPartner: PartnerNews: What are Microsoft and HP announcing tomorrow? http://www.microsoftpartnernetwork.com/News… What will Ballmer and Hurd unveil? #MPN

@johnhcook: Comcast’s new Data Meter: Like a calorie counter for Internet usage http://www.techflash.com/seattle…

 

Tags: Microsoft, articles, blogs, what I read, Twitter.

Clubhouse Tags: Clubhouse, Windows Vista, Windows 7, computers, how-to

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Tablets & Slate PCs in Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote? The debut of Apple’s new iTablet? Dunno, but the Kindle DX does wireless worldwide on Jan 19th

amazon_kindleCES is off to a great start with plenty of new product news… and we haven’t even had the keynote kickoff!

As I noted last month (all of a week or so ago) I decided to get on the ebook reader bandwagon and finally ordered a new Amazon Kindle. I was torn on the size: the 6" appeared best for my needs at home, but the overwhelming majority of feedback I received was in favour of the 9.7" Amazon Kindle DX, and I agreed.

But I found that the wait was 3-5 weeks! http://bit.ly/6qUwlx from bit.ly

Now I know why, thanks to chatter at CES on Twitter from engadget last night (http://bit.ly/5I04ex), the WSJ Blog and now this latest mail from Amazon: the new Amazon Kindle DX includes global wireless support, shipping January 19th for $489. I love it when a company takes the initiative and beats my email query to the punch, asking about my back order…

From: Amazon.com Customer Service 
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 12:11 AM
Subject: Update on your Kindle DX order

Dear Kindle Customer,

Today we introduced Kindle DX with Global Wireless – the next generation of our 9.7” wireless reading device.

Because you already ordered the original Kindle DX and are awaiting its arrival, we are pleased to inform you that we are upgrading your order to receive a Kindle DX with Global Wireless at no additional cost. You will receive the new Kindle DX as soon as it becomes available later this month.

We kept everything readers love about the original Kindle DX, then added global 3G wireless coverage and improved battery life.

Kindle DX with Global Wireless now enables you to wirelessly download content in over 100 countries and territories. With an extended battery life, you can now read for up to 1 week on a single charge with wireless on, a significant improvement from the previous battery life of 4 days.

Read more about Kindle DX with Global Wireless at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015TG12Q/

With your Kindle DX order already placed, you will be among the first to receive Kindle DX with Global Wireless, and you do not need to do anything.

You can cancel your order or check on order status by visiting your order summary here: <link>

If you purchased a 2-Year Extended Warranty for Kindle DX, your warranty will automatically apply to your new Kindle DX with Global Wireless device. If you have not purchased and are interested in a 2-Year Extended Warranty for Kindle DX, visit the product page at www.amazon.com/dp/B002GYVVY2

We hope you enjoy Kindle DX with Global Wireless.

Amazon.com Kindle Customer Service

So, why get one now rather than wait for a new Apple tablet or a Windows based slate PC? (Or as Brandon coined, a "slablet". "Tablate" sounds horrible 😉 Perhaps "Slate PC." Whatever it is, imagine netbook performance w/ touch: that would be sweet.) As I said last month to stephbu, No, I have a tablet PC (actually, two) and wanted a Kindle for the Amazon book offerings and simple business model for buying content, and I expect there’ll be subscription fees tied to an Apple tablet offering.

As noted by njeaton and others on Twitter, the venerable New York Times reported here that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will reveal "slate-like" PC tomorrow during Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote (http://bit.ly/6JBX07), and there’s already a (Kindle) app for that. (Regardless of tomorrow’s CES keynote, I’ll keep my Amazon Kindle (love it) & adopt the “Kindle for PC” app.)

You can follow Microsoft’s going’s on at CES via http://www.microsoft.com/ces/ beginning Jan 6 @ 6:30PM PST with the live keynote – it will be streamed live from the convention.

And, no, to answer several mails from friends and associates this week: I’m not at CES this year (that’s two year’s running I’ve missed it in person, and my wife just asked, "when were you last there?"  Hey, Al Roker’s there covering the gadgets along with the weather, so you’re good.) So I offer my post "Surviving CES in Las Vegas: A few helpful hints", with a few tips for those heading off to Vegas this week for the event, recycling the bits in the blog post. I figure that with the number of great folks following the play-by-play on the ground in Las Vegas on Twitter (what’s the best hashtag to use? I’m following #CES generally) and in the news, I think that I’ll get my fill of new gadgets and devices. Plus, the various email alias subscriptions and RSS feeds will likely blow out my Outlook mailbox quota.

 

Tags: Microsoft, Xbox 360, CES 2010, CES, travel tips.

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Information on Daylight Saving Time, Time Zone and related DST changes for Microsoft Windows and other products in 2009

An update on some of the recent daylight saving time changes around the world coming this year to Morocco, Pakistan, Syria and Tunisia in 2009…

image It’s been a busy time, reflected in fewer than normal postings on this blog, but happily it’s due in part (when it comes to time) that there has been little to report in the area of changes to DST and times zones.

In past years, the move from Winter to Spring in the Northern Hemisphere would signal a change to clocks in much of Canada and the States. But as you may know (unless you’re an hour late to all your meetings) that the US and Canada "Sprang Forward" a few weeks ago:  March 8 marked the arrival of Daylight Saving Time.

So here’s a look at some of the changes we’re evaluating and how they would be included in future updates in various DST & time zone product updates (with provisions for semi-annual as needed as outlined here).

Morocco: As noted last year, once again the kingdom of Morocco plans to observe daylight saving time in the country, beginning on Sunday, May 31 at midnight, and ending on Thursday, August 20 at midnight. Not surprisingly, this coincides with the start of Ramadan. (I believe that Egypt will likely make similar changes, but we have no confirmed change in that country.) You can find more information on these changes on marweb.com and this post on medi1sat.ma.

Pakistan: Last May (2008), we learned of a change to the observance of Daylight Saving Time in Pakistan that could impact customers using local time zones, including entities engaged in business in or with the region.  Unfortunately, due to the short notice at which the change had been announced, Microsoft was unable to provide updates (hot-fixes) to support the implementation of DST and referred people to this post on the changes for more details.

For this year – unfortunately once again we don’t have any clear communication on changes in 2009. Through news reports, we estimate that we will learn more at the beginning of April. Once we receive an official notification, we will look at how to bet address the changes.

Syria: We have reports that daylight saving time will begin in Syria on March 27, 2009 at 00:00:00 this year according to many sources, this article in the Syrian Arab News Agency (English), and this article from alwehda.gov.sy, the government site. Guidance will be posted shortly on mitigating the changes in the country.

Tunisia discontinues DST in 2009: Recently we learned that Tunisia will no longer observe daylight saving time beginning in 2009, as noted by the Tunisian press agency here. Daylight saving time had been observed since 2006, beginning on the last Sunday of March, and ending on the last Sunday of October.

As noted in a prior post, our product teams are moving to a regular rhythm to update their products and services to reflect these time changes. (For each update release, Microsoft accepts change requests up to a few months prior to the release date.)

We’ve also updated our page on Microsoft’s Policy in Response to DST/TZ Requests, providing recommendations in order to achieve more seamless transitions to new DST and time zones policies. We suggest that governments should provide the following when considering changing DST or making adjustments to time zones:

  1. Ample advance notice (1 year or more) of the planned change.
  2. Official published confirmation of planned changes to DST or time zones.
  3. Concentrated efforts on promoting the change to the affected citizens.

Important note for governments: Let me note that in support of these types of changes, we provide guidance and Microsoft’s Policy in Response to DST/TZ Requests. It’s important for countries and territories to work towards seamless transitions to new DST and time zones policies, providing ample advance notice (of a year or more) with published confirmation of planned changes. In addition, we suggest that entities considering the changes consider implementing changes at the next clock tick after 01:59:59 rather than at 00:00:00. Making the change at midnight can impact daily systems, such as back ups, data pulls or other automated tasks.

 

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST, Morocco

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An interview with Guy Kawasaki, Answers from the Microsoft Answers site, the QWERTY effect, and more of what I’ve read

It’s been a long week by any measure, and I was happy to offer some assistance today to a few associates impacted by the job eliminations.  Having experienced this in SiValley myself, I hope that I’m able to make an impact and help where possible.

One person who is making a difference (in his own product group) is Richard Sprague, who offers this post on Disproving the Qwerty effect

"I still run into people who cite the “Qwerty effect” as evidence that sometimes a big head start will give an inferior technology unfair market dominance at the expense of “better” ones. This theory has been disproven historically (it’s not true that the inventor of the typewriter deliberately mangled the layout in order to prevent keys from jamming) but it still shows up in people who cite the superiority of the Beta format over VHS (in fact, the double-length recording time of VHS made it superior, and videophiles at the time weren’t even in agreement about whether or not Beta had a quality advantage), or the superiority of <insert your favorite non-MS product> over <insert some less popular product>. It turns out that in real life, the superior technology almost always wins.

"Well, finally somebody decided to test the effect in the lab, under controlled conditions. A new paper by Tanjim Hossain and John Morgan shows the results of experiments they did in a lab…"

Marketing: Social media’s hidden bubble | The Social – CNET News, January 15, 2009, by Caroline McCarthy — "As the recession rapidly sucks the momentum out of Web 2.0’s heyday, with it may go one of the era’s most defining terms: the job title "social media expert." 

Microsoft Rumored To Add Mobile Devices to Live Mesh With SkyBox, by Erick Schonfeld, January 19, 2009 — "It looks like Microsoft is finally ready to roll out the mobile version of Windows Live Mesh, it data syncing service that competes with Apple’s MobileMe (which ran into problems at launch). Live Mesh was first announced last April, and currently only supports Windows PCs and a Webtop in the cloud. Mac and mobile versions are shown to be “coming soon.” 

I’m not sure that I agree with her assessment, but Maggie Fox writes (January 10th, 2009) that Netbooks: mobile social computing laptop killers — " It’s January 10th and high time I made some prognostications about some of the things to come in 2009. I’m going to sum up something that has been on my mind this week in one sentence that has very broad implications: netbooks are going to destroy the traditional laptop market."

Filed under the "you’re not frickin’ kidding" file: The Older You Are, the Better You Multi-Task (If You’re a Woman) written by Sarah Perez / January 19, 2009 — "New data released by Integrated Media Measurement Inc. (IMMI) gives us insight into how men and women engage in "simultaneous media use" – that is, surfing the net while also doing some other activity like watching TV. According to the study, it’s more common for women to watch TV and use the computer than it is for men. What’s more, women supposedly get better at this multi-tasking as they age."

How To Dual Boot Vista and Windows 7 (NetworkWorld.com) by Mitchell Ashley on Sun, 01/18/09 – 10:17pm. "I moved Windows 7 onto my primary laptop this weekend after testing it on another machine in my lab. Rather than wipe out the Vista installation on my laptop, I decided to set it up as a dual boot machine. The process generally is pretty easy, though you can run into some snags along the way. Here’s the process for (and my experiences) converting a Vista machine into a dual boot Vista and Windows 7 machine."

I Am Paddy » How Do You Twitter: Guy Kawasaki? Another Twitter interview with an Internet guru, this time with Guy Kawasaki, writer and co-founder of digital magazine rack AllTop.com.

Yes, the legendary actor has his own web site. THE REAL BRENT SPINER WEBSITE

Switched Digital Video – Will it impact you? – TiVo — Switched Digital Video (SDV) is a new technology that allows cable providers to expand the programming you receive by sending certain channels to customer homes only when the channels are requested. If you have a TiVo HD, TiVo HD XL or Series 3 HD DVR with CableCARDs, you could see a blank screen on a number of channels if your cable provider makes the transition to SDV. The good news is that TiVo has worked with your cable provider to develop a solution at no cost to you.

Windows Vista Community Forums from the Microsoft Answers site, including…

Q&A: Opera CEO on antitrust battle against Internet Explorer – TechFlash: Seattle’s Technology News Source — toddbishop Talked with Opera’s CEO, Jon von Tetzchner, about Internet Explorer antitrust battle: (http://tinyurl.com/79qftz) on January 17, 2009 — "Internet browser maker Opera Software of Norway won an early round in its antitrust battle against Microsoft on Friday when the European Commission issued its preliminary finding that Microsoft’s inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows violates European competition laws by giving its browser an unfair advantage.  In an interview, Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner discussed the EU case and Opera’s motivations for pursuing it."

How To Send Email Text Messages To Any Cell Phone (for Free) from your computer – The Medical Quack …. by Barbara Duck — Thanks to @guykawasaki for this link on How to send a text message to a phone via computer – see http://adjix.com/aijm

Are You Going to Finish Strong? – Video — Nick Vujicic has no arms or legs but has come to terms with his lot in life and he delivers an inspirational speech to these school kids that they will probably never forget.

3 Key Web Working Skills to Develop in 2009, by Darrell Etherington, January 14th, 2009 — "If you’re a web worker, then you know the importance of constantly examining, reassessing and adding to your existing skill set. Targeting your professional development, however, in a preemptive rather than reactive way, is not always easy. A little forethought, though, can go a long way to making you the applicant of choice before any contracts are awarded."

Information on presentation skills @ reboot — Thanks to Guy Kawasaki for this link: "This six-hour seminar will reframe the way you think and dramatically improve your next presentation! Whether you’re in business, academics, research or a non-profit, you have a message to get across that needs to resonate with your audience. This seminar will transform you into a creative thinker and change the way you prepare, design, and deliver your next presentation." Also see

Alltop – Top Speaking News

As a programmer, what are some telltale signs that you’re about to get fired or laid off? – Stack Overflow – and from Dare, Top 10 signs you might be getting laid off from former Yahoo! Employee at http://bit.ly/y4cj 

Get Game Smart (getgamesmart.com) is a way to help families better manage screen time for their kids, with a focus on the Xbox 360. As Brier Dudley pointed out in his article covering the site here … "here’s a 2006 study of the effects of screen time on school performance published in Pediatrics, the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "Its conclusion: The more time kids spend on video games, TV and movies, the worse they do in school."

Ballmer and Bostock break bread, January 16, 2009 3:56 PM PST, Posted by Ina Fried — "Well, it’s official, Microsoft and Yahoo have come to an agreement. On lunch. As first noted by Valleywag, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock had lunch together this week in New York."

Brandon Paddock’s Blog » Blog Archive » Windows 7 Beta hotkey cheat sheet — Thanks to Brandon for posting about this today: "Are you someone who relies on hotkeys (keyboard shortcuts) quite a bit? Fellow Microsoftie Brandon Paddock has published a cheat sheet of hotkeys that people might find useful with the Windows 7 Beta."

Don’t Worry about Apple (cringely.com) "I knew things were bad when Steve Jobs didn’t make even a token video appearance at Macworld. He would have done it, I’m sure, had he been well enough. Maybe someone at Apple, weeks before, thought of suggesting such a video, but of course to do so then would have been committing career suicide even if in retrospect it would have been a good idea. So now Steve is off on his six month (or longer) medical leave, readjusting those hormones, and the press is abuzz with what the heck Apple will do without Steve. Apple will be fine."

Video Demonstration: The Best New Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts by Adam Pash (Thu Jan 15 2009) — "No matter what OS you use, keyboard shortcuts are a one-way ticket to enhanced productivity (plus you look awesome to friends and colleagues); Windows 7 has more cool new shortcuts than you can shake a stick at. Windows 7 boasts a lot of great new shortcuts, but I’m focusing on several of my favorites. Check out the video above for a closer look. For those of you who prefer text to video, here are all of the shortcuts I highlighted…"

Letter From The Editor: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish — Gina Trapani says goodbye today "as site lead at Lifehacker, so I’m taking off my distanced reporter hat to get all mushy, personal, and behind-the-scenes on you. Come in and grab a seat."

The next step in applying Gladwell/ Tipping Point theories to twitter users, January 16, 2009 — "Yesterday’s post proved a few important things to me. One, when someone like Chris Brogan re-tweets you it can drive a lot of thoughtful activity on your site. Two, because of #1, if you think that a conversation might get started don’t put up the post / tweet about it and then head off for a 4-hour dinner – I imagine the activity would have been that much greater if the comments were going “live” immediately, rather than waiting for my approval (most came in a very short time frame). And three, perhaps most importantly, I might be onto something interesting here. So the original question was whether Gladwell / Tipping Point theories, particularly in relation to mavens, connectors, and salesmen, apply to Twitter users. As a starting point, I looked at follower / following ratios as a distinguishing characteristic."

Capturing video from DV camcorder on Windows 7 (beta) — "I’ve been Windows 7 beta user for some time now and recently I wanted to capture some video from our DV camcorder. Here is how well it worked in Windows 7 beta. I was surprised how smoothly the whole process went, especially in this beta stage."

Hawaii takes closely watched digital TV plunge — What made me nervouse about the analogue TV shutdown in Hawaii? "the shutdown message flashed for about one minute in white text on a blue background…" Mark Niesse, AP, January 16, 2009

Microsoft moves Live Mesh under Windows chief Sinofsky — Mary Jo Foley writes (Jan 16, 2009) "Microsoft this week moved the Live Mesh team under the Windows and Windows Live engineering unit. Live Mesh is Microsoft’s cross-platform synchronization and collaboration service that is currently in beta. I asked Microsoft whether a tip I received that David Treadwell and his Live Services Platform team are no longer under Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie and received the following statement from a company spokesperson:

"The Windows Live, Live Services Platform, and Live Mesh teams will now be a part of the unified Windows Live organization under Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering. David Treadwell, Corporate Vice President, Live Services Platform, will now report to Sinofsky and will continue his work on the Live Services Platform."

Rick’s Notes from the Road (Comcast CSS) — Posted March 5, 2008 "I believe it’s important to be involved in an ongoing dialog with our customers – to answer your questions, hear what we’re doing right, discuss where we may need to still improve and take actions to make Comcast’s customer service better. To help make it easier for you to reach us and share that feedback, we’ve recently redesigned our “Help and Support” page on www.comcast.com."

Win 7 Tip: The Taskbar Is the Most Useful New UI Change — Jason Chen on Gizmodo reports this week (Jan 15 2009) that "once you get past the slightly differently-colored Aero theme in Windows 7, you’ll realize that it looks, UI-wise, almost the same as Vista. That is, until you look down at the Taskbar. Now that’s new."

Tags: articles, what I read, blogs.

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