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Links for May 13, 2008
HTC Unveils Beautiful Touch Diamond PhoneHTC announced the latest phone in its growing high quality Touch series, the Touch Diamond, which comes with a pretty piano black finish, some cool new interface elements on top of Windows Mobile, like “lets users sort and view e-mail like stacks of letters, receive animated weather forecast graphics, and look at pictures as though they’re in a roll of film”, as well as a 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS and HSDPA.Live Messenger Facebook ApplicationMicrosoft has released an official Facebook application that lets you access Windows Live Messenger and chat with your Live IM contacts on Facebook. Visitors to your Facebook profile can send you IMs right from the page.MS’s Greg Linden on News PersonalizationI always find what Greg Linden has to say interesting, but now that he works on god-knows-what at Live Labs at Microsoft, it takes on even more importance. Read his paper on personalizing and customizing the news.New Zune Probably Won’t Block Downloaded TV ShowsThere was a rumor going around that Microsoft was planning on an agreement with NBC that would put NBC’s shows on the Zune in return for a form of active DRM that actually blocked non-copyprotected downloaded copies of NBC shows from being loaded and watched on a Zune. It was a pretty horrible idea, and Microsoft is making it very clear that they had no such plans.Microsoft Donates $1.3 Million From i’M InitiativeLive Messenger program does a lot of good, donating some serious cash. Hotmail users can now join the party with small ads in their email signatures that pay out to charity.Microsoft Discontinues SPOT WatchesMicrosoft’s technology push to get smart watches with MSN Direct updates delivered by radio frequencies has ended, with MS discontinuing the product due to it never catching on with consumers. I always wanted one, though the large size and limited selection whenever I shopped for them kept me putting it off.Grand Theft Auto IV Breaks Sales RecordsGTA IV broke Halo 3’s sales record, selling 3.6 million units on day one, totaling $310 million in revenue in a single day (compared to Halo’s $300 million). That of course, is double what the highest opening weekendrecord for the film industry is. First week sales were $500 million.Zune Video Store Starts Rolling OutMicrosoft started delivering a video store for Zune owners, releasing a version 2.5 Zune store update that allows users to download TV shows for now, and later movies.Shareholders Making Yahoo Pay For Fighting MicrosoftYahoo’s shareholders are not happy with Jerry Yang for spurning Microsoft, and they’re voicing that dissapointment. Seven analysts downgraded the stock to “sell” or “strong sell”. The stock fell 20% the day after Microsoft dropped the bid, but it isn’t below the point it was at before Microsoft made offer.Messenger TV On The WayWindows Live Messenger TV is coming, and you can see screenshots and read about it at LiveSide.
May 13th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Zune, Windows Mobile, Live, Halo, Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto, Yahoo Acquisition, Windows Media, Corporate, Yahoo, Windows, Xbox, Messenger, Xbox 360, Hotmail, MSN |
no comments
Links For May 8, 2008
Get IE8 Activities In FirefoxOne of the new features in Internet Explorer 8 is Activities, which lets you contextually use the information on a page with other services, and because it uses some generally open formats, someone’s already adapted it for other browsers. This Firefox extension lets you practically seamlessly use Activities in Firefox, so check it out.Microsoft’s Extreme Server MakeoverCheck out this video, spoofing Extreme Home Makeover for the IT world. It’s weird in places, but just watch it, k?How To Tell If Your PC Supports HibernationMilo explains how to use POWERCFG.exe to tell if your Windows Vista PC supports hibernation mode, as well as what other power modes your PC supports. It’s an extremely useful tip if you’re running into some power troubleshooting issues.Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack Now FreeIf you’re getting bored of playing Halo online, you’ll be pleased to know that one of its map packs is now free. The price has been dropped 100% on the “Heroic” map pack, giving you three new multiplayer maps for the sweet price of nothing. Enjoy.Microsoft Buys Farecast For $115 MillionMS gets the fast growing and smartly designed airline ticket bargain website.Microsoft Releases Popfly Game CreatorMicrosoft released a game creator that lets you use Popfly, their free mashup creation tool, to create Silverlight-based games that can run on webpages, Facebook, the Vista Sidebar, pretty much anywhere.GTA IV Breaks UK Sales RecordGrand Theft Auto 4 sold 631,000 copies on launch day in the UK alone, beating San Andreas’ record from four years ago by over 100 thousand units. The Xbox 360 version beat the PS3 version by 101,000 copies sold, and 360 console sales were up 125%.Geometry Wars 2 Is ComingSequel to the smash hit Xbox Live Arcade game is on the way.
May 8th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Developers, Xbox Live, Halo, Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto, Vista, Firefox, Humor, Windows, Internet Explorer, Xbox, Xbox 360, Applications |
no comments
Microsoft Drops Plans To Buy Yahoo
Microsoft announced tonight it will not be going forward with its plan to buy Yahoo, after it was clear the two sides could not agree on a price, and Steve Ballmer elected not to risk his entire career on the deal.Here are some links about the news:Here’s Microsoft’s press release announcing the decision. It’s clear that Microsoft raised its offer to $33 (effectively adding $4 to the deal, based on stock value, or $5 billion, and Yahoo wanted another $4, a total of $10 billion over the original offer, which Microsoft believed was unworkable.Here’s Yahoo’s press release in response. They don’t seem at all dissapointed.Here’s Steve Ballmer’s letter to Microsoft employees.Now with the deal off, it looks like Yahoo could announce a deal to give its ad business to Google as early as this week. Perhaps Microsoft plans to let Google get Yahoo, and thus almost the entire market, then try to bury their big competitor under an avalanche of antitrust complaints.I’ve never seen Techmeme so dominated by one story.Valleywag is saying this could be the end for Steve Ballmer. God, I hope not.Expect Yahoo’s stock price to drop like a stone, considering how it was propped up by Microsoft’s offer.
May 4th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Yahoo Acquisition, Corporate, Yahoo |
2 comments
Links for April 28, 2008
Download Free Update to Windows Desktop SearchThere’s a major update to the search infrastructure used in Windows Vista, and it’s being released as the Windows Search 4.0 Preview. It doesn’t just install on Vista, it works on Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. Download the Vista SP1 32-bit version here.A great addition to the new Windows Search is the Sidebar Gadget by Brandon Paddock that lets you see your indexing status and pause or speed up indexing.Xbox 360 Coming To A Hospital Near YouMicrosoft is talking about some Xbox 360 kiosks it will be sending to children’s hospitals, as part of a partnership with the Companions in Courage Foundation. The kiosks will be pre-loaded with Y-rated TV shows, G-rated movies, E and E10+ games, and be networked and have a connected headset and Live Vision camera.Live Search News LaunchesMicrosoft has launched Live Search News, a Techmeme style news site that covers all the usual topics, showing the stories getting the most traction. It’s a style that has worked very well for technology news, and seems to make for a very good overall news site at search.live.com/newsSpiral Vista Sidebar Gadget Check out this Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget; it displays a continuously moving spiral on your desktop. Click on it to cycle through six different types of spirals, letting your computer hypnotize you.Xbox 360 Posts Another ProfitMicrosoft has successfully turned the Xbox division into a profitable, healthy division, resulting in its first-ever profit in a quarter that did not feature the release of a Halo game or holiday shopping season. Its a proud achievement for the company, one that was more than half a decade coming, thanks to an 85% jump in revenue, resulting in an operating profit of $89 million.Top Japan XNA GamesCheck out these Japanese XNA games that won some sort of Spring 2008 best of XNA contest. They look pretty good.
April 28th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Xbox Live, Developers, Sidebar, XNA, Live, Vista, Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, Search |
no comments
Links for April 23, 2008
Vista Feature Pack ReleasedMicrosoft has released the first “Feature Pack” for Windows Vista, adding some wireless features that, while nothing huge, could represent a growing series of feature packs that improve the operating system over the coming months and years. Feature Pack 1 adds support for Bluetooth 2.1 to Vista, as well as a Unified Pairing user interface and updates to Windows Connect Now. Get it here.Download Windows Live for Windows MobileMicrosoft has released a free download of the Windows Live for Windows Mobile 6 software that comes pre-loaded on some (but not all) Windows Mobile 6 phones. Pick up the download and get Push Hotmail, synchronized Live Contacts, a Live Search bar for the Home screen and one-click photo uploading to Live Spaces.Microsoft Fastest To Deploy PatchesA Symantec report on malware discovered in the second half of last year shows that Microsoft was the fastest to respond to discovered software vulnerabilities. On average, Microsoft deployed patches within six days, compared to Apple, which took an average of 79 days, as well as faster than HP, Red Hat or Sun. There’s a lot detail in the article about the type of security vulnerabilities (most are caused by ActiveX), and let’s see how fast you can spot the Rent reference.Turn Webslices into Vista Sidebar GadgetsWebslices is a new feature in Internet Explorer 8, which allows you to add specifically selected portions of webpages to the menubar of IE, and have them automatically push updates to you. Sean Lyndersay has taken the Webslice out of the browser, and has designed a Vista Sidebar Gadget that lets you add any Webslice to your desktop. It works well, and Webslices as Gadgets are actually more useful than they are in the browser.By the by, I learned that the reason the Facebook Webslice doesn’t work is that it needs to be installed while you are running IE as an administrator. That’s really a broken feature, and needs to be fixed for final IE8 release, or developers need to design their Webslices to not work that way.Free Ford Sync and April Fools Xbox Live DownloadsTwo Ford Sync picture packs and a Ford Sync-related dashboard theme have been released free on Xbox Live in the U.S. These are kid-themed, so get ‘em for your kid (or yourself, if you’re cute enough). There are also some April Fools-related pics, available for a limited time.Secret Confessions Vista Sidebar GadgetThis Gadget lets you leave confessions anonymously for random others to read and to read confessions from other users. It has the annoying “feature” of reading the confession out loud with Vista’s text-to-speech system, and no way to turn it off, and the confessions thus far are mostly homophobic or racist, but it’s a great idea that could become something.
April 23rd, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Vista, Apple, Live, Xbox Live, Sidebar, Hotmail, Xbox, Security, Windows, Spaces, Internet Explorer, Applications |
2 comments
News For April 6, 2008
Microsoft Sends “Put Up or Shut Up” Message To YahooMicrosoft is sick of Yahoo dragging its feet on MS’s proposed acquisition of the internet company, and has published a stern letter from CEO Steve Ballmer to Yahoo’s board. The letter basically says that Yahoo has had plenty of time to make a decision, and Microsoft wants them to either make a deal or face a hostile takeover. Considering the dragging its feet caused Yahoo to be in this weak position, it should surprise no one that they can’t even lose gracefully.Data Corruption Bug Fixed in Next Home Server UpdateThe Home Server blog has announced that they have come up with a fix for the data corruption bug that has plagued Home Server users in certain circumstances. Since they are working on Power Pack 1 for Home Server, due for public beta testing next month, they are including the fix with the Power Pack in order to ensure everyone gets it.Open XML Becomes International StandardThe members of the ISO voted 75% to 14% to approve Microsoft Office 2007’s Open XML file formats as an international standard, removing the barrier erected when the IBM-backed ODF format did the same thing two years ago. The two file formats are now on a level playing field, ensuring that government agencies will choose the better (and more cost-effective) office suite, not the one with ISO certification. ISO controls Open XML now, not Microsoft, and can change any part of the spec, with Microsoft forced to change Office to comply.Another 11-Cent Dividend Coming To Microsoft ShareholdersMicrosoft has announced yet another dividend for shareholders, another 11 cents for those invested in the company. Shareholders as of May 15, 2008 will get their dividend on June 12. This will make $4.72 returned to shareholders over the last five years, just over 16% of the stock price.Silverlight-powered MLB Site Has Disastrous First WeekBaseball season started last week, and the launch of Major League Baseball’s new Silverlight-powered MLB.tv site, where you can pay to watch live games on your computer, had a terrible opening day. With fans paying $20 a month or $120 a year to watch games only on their computer (almost as much as you’d pay to watch a higher quality version on cable or satellite), they were understandably peeved at not getting what they paid for. Now word on whether the problems were on Microsoft’s side or MLB’s, but having such a high-profile launch go bad isn’t a good thing for Microsoft’s important Silverlight technology.
April 6th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Server, Home Server, Silverlight, Yahoo Acquisition, Developers, Corporate, Windows, Open Source, Yahoo, Office, Applications |
one comment
News For April 2, 2008
Ribbon Joining Windows 7 User InterfaceThe Office Ribbon, one of Microsoft biggest software design innovations of recent years, is getting promoted to Windows. The Office UI element will be built into the Windows 7 platform, available for all software developers to access and use in their applications. Quite the vote of confidence, but when you’ve got something good, you should spread it around. Read more about it at Long’s blog.Xbox Does April Fools JokeMicrosoft’s Xbox division sent out an email to all users, informing them of new products from Xbox. They included a wireless helmet, Xbox: The Board Game, a wood-paneled Xbox, and a weather-proof portable Xbox. Also for April Fools Day, Long Zheng “revealed” the lost Windows Vista sounds, uploaded as a collection of Windows 98 sound packs.Windows Mobile 6.1 Official LaunchedAt CTIA, Microsoft officially showed off the long talked about Windows Mobile 6.1 update. It includes a new version of the mobile Internet Explorer browser, complete with support for Adobe Flash, Silverlight, H.264. There’s also a new Getting Started Center, the ability to handle more things from the home screen, better touch screen and small screen UI features and other updates.Microsoft Videos LaunchingMicrosoft has launched a beta preview of Microsoft Videos, a new Silverlight-powered video site that collects the many videos Microsoft creates. Whether you’re an IT pro or developers looking for technical videos, or a gamer looking for video game videos, or a consumer looking for videos about the latest software and Media Center stuff, it’s all there are running in glorious Silverlight.40% Of Vista Crashes By Major Graphics ChipsProof is out that it is the graphics processor industry that is ruining computing. Data from Microsoft shows that 40% of crashes in Windows Vista were caused by graphics drivers from ATI and NVidia, with 75% of those NVidia’s fault. Since Vista was released, those two companies have been the most negligient in serving their customers with decent drivers, and everyone is suffering as a result. I wish Intel got serious about graphics, because ATI and NVidia have lost any goodwill they had with me an many other users.
April 2nd, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Windows Mobile, Developers, Silverlight, Mobile, Seven, Vista, Corporate, Windows, Humor, Xbox, Office, Applications |
no comments
News For March 31, 2008
Free Portal Song “Still Alive” for Rock BandTomorrow, Harmonix will begin giving away “Still Alive”, the end credits song from Valve’s hit game Portal. While tomorrow is April Fools’ day, the song isn’t worth buying for most gamers, and we already know it’s been formatted for the game, so the announcement should likely be legit. Xboxers, download your free song tomorrow (PS3 gamers have to wait a few weeks due to system upgrades) and thank the Rock Gaming Gods.Here’s a video of the guy who wrote “Still Alive” playing the song in the game last month:Clippy On The SimpsonsClippy, the Microsoft Office paperclip, isn’t dead! He was on this recent episode of the Simpsons:I didn’t know he had a family! Great find, Chip Chick.Microsoft May Counter Justin Long With Johnny KnoxvilleRumors are that Microsoft is preparing an advertising campaign designed to combat Apple’s smarmy Get A Mac ads starring Justin Long and John Hodgman. In the ads, Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame would dos something incredibly stupid with his computer, like dropping and destroying his PC while performing a stunt, but is saved by Windows and automatic backups. If done smartly, the ads could work, especially by not being as condescending as Apple’s ads.(via)Live Contacts Sharing With Facebook, Bebo, OthersOne scary part about signing up for a new social networking site is when it asks for your Hotmail/Gmail/AIM password in order to import your contacts. You can never be sure if you can trust that site with such valuable info, which is why it’s great that Microsoft is working to take the scary out.They’ve signed partnerships with Facebook, Bebo, Hi5, Tagged and LinkedIn, letting you securely invite Live contacts to be your friends, and invite your friends on those services to chat with you on Live Messenger. The only place you enter your Live ID password is a Live.com website, keeping your valuable info out of everyone else’s grubby hands.Make Your Own PhotoZoom Collections with SilverlightMicrosoft has launched a website that lets you take advantage of their hosting and technology, creating big photo collections that users can zoom in and out of as easily as a Google Map. Called PhotoZoom, it utilizes technology based on SeaDragon/Deep Zoom and PhotoSynth, runs in Silverlight and is hosted on Microsoft’s servers. You can try out a sample album here, or enjoy it embedded below:Â
March 31st, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Live, Developers, Silverlight, Marketing, Xbox 360, Office, Windows, Humor, Xbox, Applications |
no comments
News For March 26, 2008
How To Reclaim Space Lost To Vista SP1If you installed Windows Vista Service Pack 1, there are files sitting on your hard drive from the install that you can just go ahead and junk. Unless you’ve got a mission critical program that doesn’t work under SP1, you have absolutely no reason to want to uninstall that, so all that space should just be freed up right away. To run the SP1 cleaner, open a command prompt (you may need administrator right) and type “vsp1cln.exe”. I got back 790 megabytes, your mileage may vary.Zune Engraving No Longer FreeMicrosoft has ended the roughly five month free period for buying a Zune with free engraving from ZuneOriginals.net. If you want a Zune “tattooed”, laser engraved with some pretty cool designs, it’ll cost you $10 for a simpler design or $15 for a full on “Artist Series” design (plus the cost of the actual Zune).Gatineau Renamed adCenter AnalyticsMicrosoft’s Project (codename) Gatineau finally has grown up to a real product name: adCenter Analytics. The new name reflects the strong link between Analytics and adCenter, as well as the fact that Analytics was created to help adCenter advertisers do a better job getting conversions out of their ads. The beta was also refreshed, removing the $5 signup fee, adding importing of adCenter/AdWords/Yahoo data, a tree map view of site traffic, period comparisons and more.Microsoft Fifth Biggest User Of H-1B VisasBusinessWeek has a list of the companies that have received the most petitions for H-1B visa approval, used to allow foreign professionals to stay in the United States and hold jobs. The fifth company on the list is Microsoft, with 959 petitions in 2007 alone, a number that explains exactly why Microsoft is continually petitioning the federal government to allow more visas than the current 100% full system allows for. Google is #16 with 248, IBM is #40/184, Oracle #92/113, and Yahoo is #105/108.(via Digg)
March 26th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Advertising, AdCenter, Zune, Windows Media, Corporate, Vista, Windows |
one comment
News For March 23, 2008
Microsoft Produces Limited Edition GTA IV Xbox 360Microsoft has released a very limited stock of Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox 360 Elite consoles, 500 to be exact, complete with a GTA IV design on the side panel and a briefcase full of peripherals. The consoles are individually numbered, so you know how limited of an edition it is, and the briefcase has wireless controller, ChatPad, headset, camera, remote, and charge kit.Vista Service Pack 1 ReleasedMicrosoft has finalized the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, putting the major update to Vista in the hands of users. Some users are getting it pushed to them via Windows Update, and if you don’t have it yet, just go here to download the standalone 434 megabyte installer for 32-bit versions of Vista. This link will get you the 64-bit version.If you aren’t getting Vista SP1 through Automatic Updates, and are not even getting it offered as an option, it is likely because your computer is failing a number of prerequisites. One of them is driver compatibility, and since Sigmatel audio drivers aren’t worth crap on Vista, practically anyone with one of those chips in their systems won’t get SP1 without installing it manually. Read more here.Microsoft Launches AdCenter CommunityMicrosoft has launched AdCenterCommunity.com, a website for its growing AdCenter advertiser base to to learn about ways to run better ad campaigns, with niche-specific blogs, user forums, and other community features. The community offers advice on the AdCenter API, Analytics, and represents an effort by Microsoft to distinguish itself from Google AdWords, which has notoriously poor communication with with its advertisers.Mac Office 2008 Gets UpdatedMicrosoft released a patch for Office 2008, fixing problems that could cause Office programs to crash or otherwise stop responding. It also improves security, keeps restricted users from having unauthorized access to Office program files, fixes a blank page printing problem, fixes font substitution issues, adds support for secondary displays, and many other fixes and improvements.Microsoft’s List of Potential Yahoo Board MembersIf Microsoft winds up completing its effort to buy Yahoo through a hostile takeover, they’ll need to nominate a full new board of directors. A part of that list has leaked out, naming four of the ten executives Microsoft may place on the board. They are:Edward H. Meyer - former CEO, Grey AdvertisingJohn Chapple - CEO, Nextel PartnersTom Freston - former President, ViacomJaynie Studenmund - Former CEO of eHarmonyYahoo is reportedly finally holding talks with Microsoft, having a meeting to let Microsoft explain its offer and put some of its vision forward. Even if Yahoo doesn’t want to give in and except Microsoft’s offer, the offer may be impossible to ignore, especially if Microsoft raises the amount it is willing to pay. With other potential buyers dropping out, it’s certainly something they should consider.Virtual Earth Implemented in FlashLike Windows Live Maps? Like the compatibility and ease of Flash applications? Then you’ll like that AFC Components has added the Virtual Earth API to its UMAP control. You can see Virtual Earth embedded right here:Read more about it here. Via DiggSony PS3 for $100 OffIf you are looking to go with a Sony PlayStation 3, you might be glad to know that the SonyStyle store is offering $100 off the purchase of a 40gb PS3 with a new Sony card, making it just $300. That’s a good enough deal even if you find Sony as evil as many do, just to get a good Blu-Ray player and a small number of decent exclusive games.
March 23rd, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Maps, Live, Virtual Earth, Advertising, AdCenter, Grand Theft Auto, Yahoo Acquisition, Vista, Corporate, Yahoo, Windows, Xbox, Office, Apple, Xbox 360, Applications |
no comments
News For March 18, 2008
Here’s some stuff going on today or recently:Novell Free To Sue Over Long-Dead WordPerfectThe Supreme Court has ruled to allow Novell to go ahead and sue Microsoft for alleged antitrust infractions involving WordPerfect, which Novell sold 12 years ago. Novell is complaining that Microsoft used its Windows monopoly to depress sales of WordPerfect, resulting in the product dropiing in value from $1.2 billion in 1994 to $170 million in 1996. Novell only owned WordPerfect for two years, and much of the failures of WordPerfect that allowed Microsoft Word to trounce it in the marketplace occured before they bought the product, but the case is apparently strong enough to go trial. We’ll see if it’s strong enough to actually win.OneCare Gets Marketing CampaignMicrosoft has a new marketing slogan for Windows Live OneCare, its all-in-one security suite. The tagline is, “Don’t Worry, We Took OneCare Of It” and the ads typically featuring some nasty virus it “took OneCare” of. You have to read it a few times before the sentence makes sense, but the ads are cute. I’m pretty sure I saw one of these ads in the Post yesterday.Flash Coming To Windows MobileMicrosoft has licensed Adobe Flash for Windows Mobile. Specifically, Adobe Flash Lite will be built into Internet Explorer Mobile in future versions of WinMobile as a plugin, so webpages with Flash should, for the most part, work as intended. That means full YouTube for Windows Mobile users, even as Apple complains that Flash doesn’t work on its devices. Boo hoo. I’d look forward to seeing Flash in Windows Mobile 7, but that’s pure speculation.Become a Windows Mobile Fan on FacebookFacebook has a feature that lets you become a fan of entertainers, celebrities or politicians, but apparently you can be a fan of a product as well. You can now become a fan of Windows Mobile and show your love for the platform. I’m in. Just head here while signed in to Facebook and click “Become a Fan”.Live Spaces Loses 15% Of VisitorsWindows Live Spaces, Microsoft’s once high-flying social network/blogging platform, slipped badly in the last year. It’s still technically the biggest blogging platform around, but it failed to keep up with MySpace and Facebook, its real competitors, losing 15% of its unique visitors in the U.S. in the last 12 months. Live Spaces lost 1.4 million unique visitors, coming half a million of LinkedIn, which rose 271% last year. Guess the buzz on Live Spaces is over, and Microsoft has some work to do to keep the rest from leaving.Bill Gates on Running A Good StartupA student at the University of Waterloo stood up and asked a question of Bill Gates during a roundtable breakfast at the University (no, it was not a Q&A session, she just really wanted to ask), wondering how he had the courage to start Microsoft at 17. Gates answer says a lot about how he values his employees, and could be a good lesson for startups.At 17 I didn’t have much to lose. I promised my parents that I would go back to university if things didn’t pan out. But I did worry about all those people who had spouses and children. They depended on the business succeeding. That’s what worried me at night. So I made sure that I had enough money in the bank to pay everyone’s salary for a year if none of my customers came through. That’s how I got through it. Eventually there came a time, though, when we needed to hire 30 people, and that was a real crisis. I really didn’t want to expand without a financial safety net in place. Ultimately, I compromised and said yes, go ahead and hire. But I want to know immediately when the increased revenues offset the costs of paying everyone a year’s salary … that way I could sleep again.
March 18th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Windows Mobile, OneCare, Adobe, Mobile, Bill Gates, Live, Corporate, Security, Law, Windows, Spaces, Word, Applications |
one comment
Silverlight For Mobile On The Way
Here are two videos from Mix 08 about Silverlight For Mobile, coming soon to Windows Mobile (probably the second quarter of this year) and demo’d at Mix. You’ll need Silverlight to watch them:Mobile Social Networking with Silverlight 2Weather Beyond the Browser with WeatherBug
March 16th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Mobile, Silverlight, Windows Mobile, Developers |
one comment
Asus Windows Mobile 6 PDA, Just $260
 Buy.com has the Asus MyPal A626 Windows Mobile 6 PDA for just $254 with free shipping. Amazon.com has it for $260, also with free shipping, useful if you’ve got some Amazon gift certificates to get a nice PDA at a good price.The processor isn’t spectacular, just a 312 MHz Marvell XScale processor, but the PDA has b/g wifi, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR, a large 3.5-inch QVGA touchscreen (again, a dissapointing 240×320 resolution), a 1200 mAh battery, 128 MB ROM, 64 MB SDRAM, and an SD/MMC card slot. It doesn’t have a keyboard, and it isn’t a phone, but if you want a straight WinMobile PDA and a regular small phone, the price is decent.(via Ben’s Bargains)Some other Windows Mobile PDAs: The HP iPAQ hx2495 is $380, the GPS-equipped Pharos 535e Traveler is $312, HP’s other iPAQ, the 2795, is $475, the glofiish M800 from E-TEN is $754, another HP iPAQ, the HX2700, is $510, the Asus P527 is $575.
March 13th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Mobile, Windows Mobile |
2 comments
Evolution of Microsoft Word
This blog has a screenshot and commentary collection, looking at Microsoft Word over the last twenty years. It’s more amazing how many things were in place already in 1989, including the familiar toolbar layout, and how long it took some things to change. You can see Microsoft made the right move with Office 2007, given how the only major changes in the previous several versions all focused on that stupid Clippy character.
March 10th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Word, Office, Applications |
one comment
Can Microsoft Kill The 360 Core/Arcade?
Xbox 360 Fanboy has an article about how developers are unhappy with the Xbox 360 Arcade (formerly the Core system) and its lack of hard drive. With the PS3 finally catching on, the fact that one console has a hard drive and one only sometimes does is annoying the hell out of them. Some developers like to use the hard drive as a cache, in order that their games run faster, though with the trade-off that games now install to your disk, just like freakin’ PC games.There is definitely a disadvantage to having the Arcade around, especially if it’s discouraging developers (and you know how Microsoft bends over backwards for devs). I wonder if there’s a way for Microsoft to eliminate the Arcade, somehow allow developers to design all games to require a hard drive. The only way that could happen would require them to not just pull the Arcade from the market, but to also not cut off and screw Arcade owners, who have been buying the edition for over two years.One way to make it right, would be to give all Core/Arcade owners a free hard drive. Considering the cost of a 20-gig laptop hard drive can run as little as $25-$35, even with 18 millions 360s sold, we’re talking a small hit. If 30% of all 360s have no hard drive (which is probably too high an assumption), the cost is certainly less than $200 million, probably a lot less, and worth its weight in developer goodwill.Other options would include a huge price break for the existing drive, or a coupon for it for Arcade owners. Make it affordable enough, and abandoning it won’t seem as bad. The current hard drives are priced far too high anyway. With the rumor these days that the regular 360 is being upgraded to 60 gigabytes, the 20 gig drive should be cheap and in surplus enough for everyone to have one.
March 9th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Xbox 360, Xbox |
2 comments
A Microsoft Digital Lifestyle Video
Microsoft created this video, showing off the various digital media options available in its ecosystem. Pretty cool when you put it all together like that, and the song is pretty nice, too:Video: Your Digital Lifestyle
March 6th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Marketing |
2 comments
Bill Gates Falls, No Longer Richest Man On Earth
Bill Gates dropped from the #1 spot on the list of the richest people on the planet for the first time in 13 years, losing to both Warren Buffett and Carlos Slim. Gates earned $2 billion last year, but it was nothing like the $10 billion Buffett netted or the $11 billion gained by Mexican billionaire Slim. Gates is now worth $58 billion, falling behind Buffett’s $62 billion and Slim’s $60 billion.
March 6th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Bill Gates |
no comments
21 New 3D Cities, 100+ New Birds Eye Cities For Live Maps
Live Maps released a nice update last week, adding a good number of 3D cities and a ton of new or updated bird’s eye view cities. The new or enhanced 3D cities:FranceVannesGreat BritainSouthamptonColoradoPuebloConnecticutBridgeportStamfordMainePortlandMichiganBattle CreekGrand RapidsWarrenMissouriSpringfield MontanaBillingsNew JerseyTrentonNevadaHendersonSunrise ManorNew YorkRochesterSyracusePennsylvaniaAllentownWashingtonOlympiaYakimaWisconsinLa CrosseMadisonAnd the new/updated bird’s eye cities, first in the U.S., then Europe:New/Updated Birds Eye Cities in the USEtowah Co, ALMobile Co, ALMonterey Co, CABoulder CoBroomfield CoWashingtonDC.Cobb Co, GADe Kalb Co, GAMuscogee Co, GAMacon Co, ILWill Co, ILRowan Co, KYFayette Co, KYAnne Arundel Co, MDGrand Rapids Metro, MIDetroit Metro North, MICottonwood Co, MN Buncombe Co, NCGreenville Metro, NCWilson Co, NCLancaster Co, NEStrafford Co, NHSan Juan Co, NMBinghamton Metro, NYButler Co, PAWestmoreland Co, PAGreenwood Co, SCWilliamson Co, TXFisher Co, TXSalt Lake City Metro, UTHampton Metro, VAAlexandria, VAArlington Co, VASpokane, WANew/Updated Birds Eye Cities in EuropeLondon, UKMedway Towns Urban Area, UKIslwyn, UKLeighton-Buzzard, UKLondonderry, UKGalway, IrelandReims, FranceBesancon, FranceChalon, FranceStrasbourg, FranceBelfort, FranceColmar, FranceMetz, FranceMulhouse, FranceNancy, FranceTroyes, FranceParma (integration), FranceBustArsizio/Legnano, ItalyAlghero, ItalyComo, ItalyEmpoli, ItalyEnna, ItalyFrosinone, ItalyGorizia, ItalyIsernia, ItalyMantova (integration), ItalyNuoro, ItalyOristano, ItalyFoligno, ItalyMarsala, ItalyModica, ItalySiracusa, ItalyVarese, ItalyVittoria, ItalyRieti, ItalySan Marino, ItalyUrbino, ItalyVerbania, ItalyVibValentia, Italy Lisbon, PortugalFaro, PortugalAveiro, PortugalBraga, PortugalCoimbra, PortugalGuimaraes, PortugalLeiria, PortugalPorto, PortugalSetubal, PortugalAustriaInnsbruck, AustriaKlagenfurt, AustriaLinz, AustriaSalzburg, AustriaSt. Polten (Sankt Pelten), AustriaVillach, AustriaWels, AustriaGermanyLüdenschied, GermanyNorwayBergen, NorwayStavanger, NorwayDenmarkHerning, DenmarkHorsens, DenmarkSilkeborg, DenmarkVejle, DenmarkSpainArrecife, SpainSanta Lucia de Tiranjana, SpainFinlandHamnlinna, FinlandBelgiumMouscron (Mouskroen), Belgium
March 6th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Maps, Live, Windows, General |
one comment
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