Posts Tagged ‘Microsoft’
Internet Explorer 9
Credit Microsoft
There has been a lot of hype recently about the new version of Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer 9 is set to come out in beta form in September. Microsoft is actually planning an event to launch the browser. Why? Has a browser ever gotten an event for a beta announcement? Not that I can recall, however I may be wrong. I usually am wrong. Anyway, yeah, what’s the big deal with IE9? Is it going to be a big hit? I think probably not. Wanna know why? Here’s why: everyone still uses Internet Explorer 6! We are currently at a (slightly) solid build of IE8 and yet most of the browsing market comes from Internet Explorer 6. The browser that will NOT die. So, how will Microsoft encourage all users and corporate users to upgrade to yet another version of the browser? I wonder if this San Francisco event will do the trick? Are their upcoming flashy changes going to be better than rivals Firefox and Chrome (which I currently am using to write this blog post)?
If you look at the screenshot above, Microsoft is claiming this to be the Beauty of the Web. In a story run on CNET, Ina Fried talked to Ryan Gavin of Microsoft and he said the following about the new tagline:
Microsoft hasn’t said much about the design of IE9, but the company’s Ryan Gavin told CNET that the goal of the browser is not to block the view.
“The browser is the theater,” Gavin said. “We’re not the play.”
Gavin said that Microsoft is hoping to see wide adoption of the beta. “The beta is not for everyone, clearly,” he said, “but if you are comfortable downloading and installing software, I know I am going to want you to try IE9.”
Credit CNET : http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20013511-56.html?tag=mncol;txt
Do you think the new browser will beat the rivals? My current opinion…no. Thoughts?
Stir the Nation – Episode 12
In this episode of Stir the Nation, Tyler and Roy talk about Larry King’s retirement, Woot acquired by Amazon, Microsoft Killing the Kin, the new Digg V4 and MORE!
Direct Download: Stir the Nation – Episode 12
Stories we talked about: Larry King, Woot, Kin, Vote for Operation Jack!
Advertise with us: http://stirthenation.com/sponsor/
Call us: 443-494-9797
Official Website: http://stirthenation.com
Email us: info@stirthenation.com
Microsoft Courier Confirmed Dead
Let’s begin the post with a direct quote from Microsoft. This comes from Microsoft’s Vice President of Corporate Communications, Frank Shaw:
“At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity. The “Courier” project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.”
Darn! The iPad and other products rival, the Courier, is not going into further development.
Credit: Engadget
In an Engadget post today, writer Joshua Topolsky, said the following:
Well here’s the deal, according to a source familiar with the situation: the Courier did indeed start life as a potential new product category for the company, one which was being incubated internally with very real plans for a marketable device. It seems, however, that things just didn’t manage to take shape, and word was handed down very recently that the incubation period had reached its conclusion — sans product — and resources would be directed elsewhere.
So, the product as a whole has been dumped, but the technology already developed for the Courier will start to show up in different aspects of Microsoft’s products down the line. It was a cool concept, but there is a lot of competition right now in the tablet PC market, and Microsoft couldn’t handle the heat or pressure. Maybe in the future, MS?
Microsoft Mouse Mischief
Hey guys. I posted a while ago on Microsoft Mouse Mischief…check it out here: http://www.tylersmiller.com/microsoft-mouse-mischief/
I recieved an email from an Microsoft Online Community Manager for Mouse Mischief, and I am going to include his press release, along with my thoughts in this post.
Press release: Microsoft has listened to and engaged with educators to find out what they need. For some time now, Microsoft has been involved in an ongoing dialogue with educators, students, and others in the education space to explore how we can best provide experiences with technology that will engage classrooms and enhance learning experiences.
My thoughts: Awesome! Thank you Microsoft for going to schools and listening to educators. I think it is essential that they included students, which they did. Mouse Mischief will give students the opportunity to interact together as a class, and in a way, learn more and become more social with classmates and learning. Great move!
Press release: But, response has been that not enough students can engage directly with technology. Many classrooms—especially those without the resources or budget—can’t give all students the opportunity to engage directly with technology. Additionally, we discovered that many teachers already use and love PowerPoint, but it made students passive observers—they needed to be active participants.
My thoughts: Totally agreed. As I stated above, students need to be active and more interactive. Mischief works with PowerPoint…a program that almost every school has installed on their machines and servers, and it easily integrates with technology already in place.
Press release: Now, Microsoft is announcing the release of Mouse Mischief—a solution that lets teachers create interactive presentations making classroom learning engaging. Mouse Mischief integrates with PowerPoint, allowing teachers to create multiple-choice, matching and drawing question slides that students, each with their own computer mouse, can answer on a shared screen.
My thoughts: FINALLY! Each student can become interactive and learn without having a $2000 computer on their desk. All they need is a mouse and some knowledge to answer and participate with classmates.
Press release: Benefits to Mouse Mischief are: The availability and low cost of mice makes Mouse Mischief a cost-effective solution, especially for tight classroom budgets. With Mouse Mischief, there’s no need to for teachers to learn a new application – the seamless PowerPoint integration lets teachers use technology they’re already comfortable with.
My thoughts: Like I said, this solution is very cost effective and still effective to students. Think of how happy school administrator’s will feel when they know the money in their school’s wallets can go to other causes within the district, and the students are still learning at the same time.
Press release: Mouse Mischief allows educators to share their own lessons and learn from others. Through the Mouse Mischief community page we have created on Office.com, teachers can easily distribute and explore Mouse Mischief presentations. This can create a global social network of sharing and learning for educators around the world, giving educators access to best practices and new curriculum ideas.
My final thoughts: Excellent…an all around excellent product. The download is free, and is available here: http://www.microsoft.com/multipoint/mouse-mischief/default.aspx. It is definitely worth checking it out, since most people already have PowerPoint installed. Test it out on your classroom, and let me and Microsoft know how it works. I think this is going to be BIG in future classrooms.
They are also doing a Twitter giveaway. We are running a Re-Tweet contest starting tomorrow. Each week, for 4 weeks, we will be giving away a bundle of 5 wireless mice & a 4-port HiSpeed USB 2.0 hub for use with MM in the classroom. (this is valued at $175). Tweet the following: Follow @MouseMischief for a chance at winning a Mischief Classroom Kit. Re-Tweet to be entered! http://bit.ly/9rqS1m #mischiefcontest.”
Mouse Mischief can be found on numerous places on the Internet as well, including:
Website – http://microsoft.com/mousemischief Blog – http://blogs.msdn.com/mousemischiefTwitter – http://twitter.com/mousemischief
Facebook – http://facebook.com/mousemischief Youtube – http://youtube.com/mousemischief Slideshare – http://slideshare.net/mousemischief
Want to give a big shout out to Eric Burgess, the Online Community Manager for Microsoft’s Mouse Mischief program. Thanks for keeping me in the loop, and best of luck with the program and service!
Microsoft Fix It Center
There is a new piece of software out from Microsoft called Microsoft Fix It Center. It is a free download-able application that fixes problems with your operating system for you. Windows XP, Vista and 7 can all run this application.
“Fix it Center finds and fixes many common PC and device problems automatically. It also helps prevent new problems by proactively checking for known issues and installing updates. Fix it Center helps to consolidate the many steps of diagnosing and repairing a problem into an automated tool that does the work for you.” Says Microsoft.
Microsoft also says this new application is easy: “Microsoft Fix it Center makes getting support easier than ever because automatic troubleshooters solve the issues you have now and prevent new ones.” They also say it is relevant: “Microsoft Fix it Center personalizes solutions for your device, showing you only what matters to your hardware and software.” And finally, they say YOU are in final control of the application: “Microsoft Fix it Center gives you an easy way to stay in control and support all your devices.”
Credit: Microsoft
The application offers automated troubleshooters, a personalized experience and allows you to save time with customer support. So, have a Windows PC that isn’t working the way you want it to? Try Microsoft Fix it and see if it solves your issues. I have not used the program yet, but I will give it a spin in the coming days and report on it’s interface and usability.
Microsoft to Assist with the Federal Budget?
I heard on the radio this morning that “Obama is the coolest President ever.” And this story made me believe it even more. You may not appreciate his political views, but he definitely is the most tech savvy President, and again, this story shows it to be true.
President Obama approached Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, to create a PC game to allow players to try and fix the United States federal budget and spending deficit.
Mashable reports:
“Anyone with a computer” will be able to play, which likely means it will be a web-based game. Each player will be tasked with balancing the federal budget. The game obviously won’t be a completely realistic simulation of that task — if it was, no one would want to play — but it might give some citizens a sense of how difficult the task is.
So, we will see how this game helps the United States. Maybe someone out there can prove that they think they know what they are doing and assist in decreasing spending. If a person succeeds, I believe they will be flown to Washington D.C. and would then present ideas to President Obama directly. No details on when this game will be available, but it will probably only be coded for the Windows computer’s in the world.
IE 8 Hacked
Internet Explorer has been hacked…and whats even better…in 2 minutes. The Pwn2Own Hacking contest was held last week, and two hackers took home $10,000 prizes after exploiting Internet Explorer 8 on a Windows 7 64 -bit machine.
Both Peter Vreugdenhil of the Netherlands and a German researcher who would only identify himself by the first name Nils found ways to disable DEP (data execution prevention) and ASLR (address space layout randomization), which are two of Windows 7′s most vaunted anti-exploit features. Each contestant faced down the fully-patched 64-bit version of Windows 7 and came out a winner.
Vreugdenhil used a two-exploit combination to circumvent first ASLR and then DEP to successfully hack IE8. A half-hour later, Nils bypassed the same defensive mechanisms to exploit Mozilla’s Firefox 3.6. For their efforts, each was awarded the notebook they attacked, $10,000 in cash and a paid trip to the DefCon hackers conference in Las Vegas this July.
Vreugdenhil, a freelance vulnerability researcher, explained how he bypassed DEP and ASLR. To outwit ASLR — which randomly shuffles the positions of key memory areas to make it much more difficult for hackers to predict whether their attack code will actually run — Vreugdenhil used a heap overflow vulnerability that allowed him to obtain the base address of a .dll module that IE8 loads into memory. He then used that to run his DEP-skirting exploit.
DEP, which Microsoft introduced in 2004 with Windows XP Service Pack 2, prevents malicious code from executing in sections of memory not intended for code execution and is a defense against, among other things, buffer-overflow attacks.
If you want to know more about the attack, Vreugdenhil posted a paper a few days ago and can be found here in PDF form.
If you think you can do this type of hacking, you could win $10,000 and even attend DefCon, which is a hackers paradise.
For more information on this story, see the awesome post by Computer World.
Original Post / Quotes: Computer World
Microsoft Mouse Mischief
Before I begin this post, please check out this Microsoft link and take a quick look, then I shall give my opinion.
Alright, if you did not look at the link, I will explain just a little bit about Mouse Mischief from Microsoft. Microsoft states that Mouse Mischief is, “a free, new way to make your Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations interactive.”
Each student has an individual wireless or wired mouse that the school already owns and the teacher can open up presentations to interaction. Students can click their way through questions and be evaluated as a class. I see this as another option to gather student responses in real time. The school can now use this as a way to get feedback and it can save on money. The school would not need to buy a laptop for every student, but can now use this to gather results.
This is similar to the service that allows students to text answers to a question in real time, but some younger people might not have cell phones and therefore cannot participate. This allows them to use equipment the school already owns and every students is on the same page. I see this working for the younger grades instead of the older grades. Younger kids are more prone to feeling different if their answers to a question do not match that of a peer, but the older kids understand that they might not be correct all the time.
I will write more on this if I get more information in the future. But, the program is available for beta download. Please provide Microsoft feedback if you do download and use it.
To download, see Microsoft Mouse Mischief.
What do you think?
UPDATE: New Microsoft Mouse Mischief news here: http://www.tylersmiller.com/microsoft-mouse-mischief-engage/
Microsoft Tablet?
It’s called the Microsoft Courier and is supposed to be a tablet PC / ebook reader.
We’re told Courier will function as a “digital journal,” and it’s designed to be seriously portable: it’s under an inch thick, weighs a little over a pound, and isn’t much bigger than a 5×7 photo when closed.
The internal components and software components are not running Windows 7 look-a-likes, rather they are running the same systems that operate the Zune and Windows Mobile Devices.
The interface appears to be pen-based and centered around drawing and writing, with built-in handwriting recognition and a corresponding web site that allows access to everything entered into the device in a blog-like format complete with comments. We’re also hearing that there will be a built-in camera, and there’s a headphone jack for media playback. Most interestingly, it looks like the Courier will also serve as Microsoft’s e-book device, with a dedicated ecosystem centered around reading.
There is no word yet on how much it’s going to cost and it is not due out until the end of 2010. So, all that we can go off of is this image:
Credit: Engadget
Your thoughts on the Microsoft Courier?
Another Reason IE Sucks
Here is yet again another reason Internet Explorer sucks and should not be used as your main Internet browser. There was a bug found that if you were on a website infected with malware, and you pressed F1…the key for displaying help, your computer could be infected.
The vulnerability exists in the way that VBScript interacts with Windows Help files when using Internet Explorer. If a malicious Web site displayed a specially crafted dialog box and a user pressed the F1 key, arbitrary code could be executed in the security context of the currently logged-on user.
Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are impacted by the bug, said Microsoft, and any supported versions of Internet Explorer (IE) on those operating systems — including IE6 on Windows XP — could be leveraged by attackers. Previously, Prodeus had said that users running IE7 and IE8 were at risk, but had not called out IE6.
Until a patch is ready, users can protect themselves by not pressing the F1 key if a Web site tells them to, said Microsoft.
Basically, if you need help in IE in the next week, you are SOL. Great…an already bad Internet Browser that now cannot offer help assisitance without getting your computer infected with bugs. Thanks so, so much Microsoft.
Our analysis shows that if users do not press the F1 key on their keyboard, the vulnerability cannot be exploited.
Customers running Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 are safe from such attacks, Microsoft said.
Don’t press F1! :p
Original Post: ComputerWorld
Video: MultiPoint 2010
Here is a video on Microsoft MultiPoint Server 2010.
Enjoy.
Also forgot to mention in the video that you can now connect tylersmiller.com to Facebook! Click here to start the process. It allows you to post in the forums, on blog posts and share content on Facebook! Click here to get started!
Microsoft Defeats Botnets
Microsoft has taken a stand and won a court approval to bring down 277 domains that operate botnets. These 277 domains are said to be able to control over 90,000 computers over the Internet. What is botnet? This diagram was written in the BBC News article, and explains it very well.
Credit: BBC News
Basically your computer has been compromised by some type of malware you installed or downloaded without knowing it. The hacker on the other end can group together many computers and start spamming other people through your computer and Internet connection. There are over 90,000 computers infected…which means one of them could be yours. I recommend reinstalling your operating system, or running an anti-virus program and making sure your system is clean. If your machine has been compromised…change all passwords to everything including Facebook, online banking, email, etc.
It’s good Microsoft is taking a stand on this and trying to combat the spammers and hackers in the world. And its good that the courts are backing them on this operation and hopefully something even better will come of this.
Multi-Computing Brought to New Level
In a recent CNET article on Microsoft, CNET reported on a new server product from Microsoft.
This product is a single server, that can have up to ten keyboards and mice connected at any one time, and also plugged into ten monitors. The server acts as ten computers at one time to the “desktops”. The official name is Microsoft Windows MultiPoint 2010 and I think this is a really cool project. Just think of all the money this could save schools. Instead of a classroom full of thirty computers…all they really need are three of these MultiPoint servers. That is freakin crazy and awesome!
“We heard clearly from our customers in education that to help fulfill the amazing promise of technology in the classroom, they needed access to affordable computing that was easy to manage and use,” Microsoft vice president Anthony Salcito said in a statement.
Windows Multipoint Server allows a multiple students to work off a single PC, each running their own applications and using their own keyboard, mouse and display.
This is an amazing product, and I think it would be something every school should implement in the near future. Just think of the energy costs it cuts down on as well.
Amazing breakthroughs are made daily!
Your thoughts on MultiPoint?