A Day At The Movies

I have a couple of videos to share with you on this Christmas Eve, don't worry they are totally geek related. Firstly, I am probably the last guy on the planet to see Tron Legacy but I intend to rectify that over the holidays... I might even see it twice just to make up some geek cred! Along that theme however comes this great Vimeo video of the Tron Legacy themed skateboard half-pipe created by ENESS a group of Interactive designers from Australia.

Tron Legacy Premiere - A Light Session from ENESS on Vimeo.

Additionally for those of you who are expecting Microsoft's Kinect to adorn your household, take a look at the following YouTube video. It seems a group at MIT decided to hack Kinect and create a Minority Report style GUI which is very impressive... I believe Steven Spielberg himself would be impressed!

Enjoy, and have a safe and happy holiday season with lots of gadgets under the tree.

Microsoft Stock Down Graded By Goldman Sachs

It sounds as if Wall Street is taking a cautious approach when it come to Microsoft stocks these days and according to the Globe and Mail that's due to the software giants failure to play an important role in the mobile market place. While analysts are still recommending the share as a buy the company's share value is down a reported 22% in 2010. It appears as though it's losing it's luster and it will be interesting to see if it can wrestle it's way back to the top of the tech world. Check out this report from The Globe and Mail's Market View:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/markets/markets-blog/market-view-video/giving-up-on-microsoft/article1741460/

New Halo Leaked, Kinda...

One of the most anticipated game titles of the pre-Christmas season is Microsoft's Halo: Reach. In an attempt to get the title to game reviewers the company had experimented with different methods of distribution including putting the title on XBox live for select download. The move however seems to have backfired as GameTuts, a site dedicated to modifying and cracking game consoles claims to have obtained and cracked the code. "Me and my team finally did it; we got Halo: Reach! This is not released for public, and we are not really planning on releasing either," Unfortunately for Microsoft the title has begun showing up on torrent sites, however it will only run on modified (moded) consoles and the owners of such devices are not the type to purchase titles in any case.

Read more: CBC


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Microsoft To Make Heavy Cloud Computing Investment, Expecting No Real Returns For 2 To 3 Years

"From the perspective of investment internally, interest from customers and engagement clearly the cloud will be an area of focus," Bob Muglia, the president of the server and tools business said on Tuesday. "But in the next two to three years that is not what will drive financial growth in server and tools. It is essentially zero percent of our current operating revenue."

The company which only this month began billing users of its Azure cloud platform environment expects that it's revenue drivers will continue to be Windows Server and SQL Server, in the short run. "The big dogs are driving it, but the rest of the portfolio is doing well." said Muglia.

More at Infoworld.com

Use Anything But Ineternet Explorer German Government Says

From an article posted on BBC News site "The German government has warned web users to find an alternative browser to Internet Explorer to protect security.

The warning from the Federal Office for Information Security comes after Microsoft admitted IE was the weak link in recent attacks on Google's systems."

Microsoft has downplayed the risk saying that the attacks were not directed at the general public and that the holes could be filled by using the browsers' increased security setting.

Graham Cluley of anti-virus firm Sophos, told the BBC that the warning applies to IE 6, 7 and 8.

"This is a vulnerability that was announced in the last couple of days. Microsoft have no patch yet and the implication is that this is the same one that exploited on the attacks on Google earlier this week," he said.

Computer expert Alan Stevens says "It's like having a window left open in your house"

"The way to exploit this flaw has now appeared on the internet, so it is quite possible that everyone is now going to have a go."

Microsoft Responds To Google's Threat To Pull Out of China

Keeping with the never ending theme of Google vs. China, Microsoft Chief executive Steve Ballmer says he doesn't understand Google's reaction.

“There are attacks every day. I don't think there was anything unusual, so I don't understand,” Ballmer told Reuters after a meeting at the White House.

“We're attacked every day from all parts of the world and I think everybody else is too. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary.”

Ballmer told CNBC that Microsoft had no plans to exit China: “We've been quite clear, we're going to operate in China, we're going to abide by the law.”

Of course China represents a small portion of revenues generated by Google and I'm betting the Microsoft has much more to lose, but that's only speculation.

Source: Globe and Mail

Microsoft Bans Modded Consoles From Xbox Live

Microsoft has banned as many as 1 million users consoles from the Xbox Live service for having modified consoles which allow them to play games they have copied. The users themselves have not been banned, only the modified consoles, users can play on the service if they purchase a new unmoded console. "We can assure you that if an Xbox Live member follows the Xbox Live terms of use, purchased a retail copy of Modern Warfare 2 and played the game on an unmodified Xbox 360, no action will be taken," the firm said. I wonder why it's taken them this long to take such actions?

Source: BBC

Bing Adds New Features

Trying to make further gains on the two search leaders Google and Yahoo!, Microsoft's Bing team have announced the inclusion of results from Wolfram Alpha and a few other changes. According to the NYTimes Bits Blog "Over the next few weeks, Bing will also add a handful of other features and revamp existing ones in what Microsoft calls a “rolling update.” They include localized results for weather and events, a revamped shopping section and an updated preview feature, which lets users see a snapshot of a Web page directly on the search results page. A video describing each of the features is available here."

Even so, it will be a hard slog for Microsoft.

Microsoft Given Stay On Word Injunction - Can Sell Product During Busy Back To School Season

On August 12th a court in Texas ruled that Microsoft had infringed upon the patent of I4i, a small Toronto company, and ordered the software giant to pay $290m in damages and to stop sales of the relevant versions of Word. Microsoft then quickly filed a request to stay the injunction and asked that the courts put the appeal on a fast track so it could be heard quickly. The US court has agreed that Microsoft had met the conditions needed to grant the stay.

"We are happy with the result and look forward to presenting our arguments on the main issues on September 23," said Kevin Kutz, a Microsoft spokesman, in a statement.

Source: BBC

Review Says Windows 7 Microsoft's Best OS

Wired's Gadget Lab blog gives kudos to Microsoft Windows 7. "Microsoft delivers a slickly designed, vastly improved OS that will warp you to the world of today. This upgrade is big, and it’s hugely recommended for Microsoft users." Gadget Lab has great things to say about the user interface upgrades and performance and is promising more reviews leading up to the launch, but it looks like they have nothing but praise for Microsoft and the Window 7 team.

Canadian Company Wins Patent Infringement Suit Against Microsoft

A U.S. judge has given Microsoft 60 days to comply with an injunction verdict, brought down by an earlier court, that said that the company had willfully infringed on a patent belonging to i4i LP of Toronto, the judge has awarded i4i about $290-million (U.S.) in damages. The injunction also bans Microsoft from selling, in the U.S., copies of Word 2003, Word 2007 and future versions of the office software that use i4i's technology without a licence.

“We feel vindicated with this result,” said Michel Vulpe, founder of privately held i4i and an inventor of the disputed patent. “We did not go into business to litigate, we build products that serve our customers' needs.”

Microsoft says it will appeal the decision.

Source: Globe and Mail

Microsoft And Nokia Hooking Up - Office On Smartphones

Microsoft and Nokia are rumored to be announcing a deal today that will bring Microsoft Office to Nokia handsets. The move is a preemptive strike at the emerging competitive threat from free Web-based word processing, spreadsheet and other office related software, from Google primarily. Both companies are feeling the heat in their perspective market places, Nokia is losing smartphone market share to Apple's iPhone line, Research in Motion's BlackBerry devices and Google Android powered devices. Microsoft on the other hand is fighting to keep it's cash cow Office line relevant.

Source: New York Times

Black Hatters Reveil SMS Security Concern

Speaking to the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner told the audience that smartphones operating Apple's, Microsoft's, or Google's operating systems were vulnerable to an SMS based attack that would be executed by code arriving in a text message. The malicious code could knock a phone off of a network, access data on the phone, or access the programs installed on the phone. The pair have published their findings to encourage the OS makers to fix the holes and have said the they contacted Apple, Microsoft, and Google directly but Google is the only one who has addressed the issue todate.

BBC story.

Microsoft Releases Free Antivirus In 4 Countries

Microsoft Security Essentials beta, a free antivirus software, was available for download on Tuesday to those running Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 but only if you reside in the U.S., Israel, China and Brazil.

According to the CBC "Microsoft bills the software as providing "high-quality protection" against both viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware and other malicious software. It updates and upgrades automatically."

The software will apparently be made available to Canadians when the final version of the software is released to 19 countries during the second half of this year.

New Strategy For Xbox Revealed By Microsoft

On the eve of E3, North America's largest gaming conference, Microsoft has announced it's plans for the Xbox 360 platform, Xbox Live. Deals have been struck with social network sites Facebook which will allow access to users profiles and the ability to share photos on their television through the Xbox Live network and Twitter to allow users to post and read messages via Xbox Live subscriptions. In Britian, Xbox live users will be able to watch live television, including professional soccer, over an Internet version of the Sky service. Microsoft also gave it's first look at the upcoming project Natal which "Using a sophisticated camera, infrared sensors and voice recognition software, Natal allows users to control a game or other programs, like a virtual painting studio, merely by waving their arms, speaking to the system and moving around."

Source: New York Times

Microsoft To Spend Big In Fight Against Google

Microsoft is preparing to launch "Bring", a new search engine, and is prepared to spend big to make the name stick. Reports are that Microsoft is prepared to launch a $100 million ad campaign to get the name out there, that's twice the amount considered to be large for a new consumer product. "I don't think they can win this game with a better mousetrap," said Allen Adamson, managing director of Landor & Associates, brand consultants. "They have to compete with Google on a brand front — there's no other way to skin this but go head-on against the Google brand."

Source: CBC

Microsoft Down Compared To Last Year - 1st Time In 23 Years

The world's largest software maker, Microsoft, announced Thursday that its quarterly revenue fell in comparison to the previous year, a first in the company's 23-year history. The news proves that the software giant is not immune to the economic troubles seen globally and the outlook appears to be uncertain “I didn't see any improvement at the end of the quarter that gives me encouragement that we're at the bottom and coming out of it,” said Chris Liddell, Microsoft's chief financial officer. Both the Windows and Office divisions of Microsoft saw profits and revenues drop.

Source: Globe and Mail.

Talk About Second Generation Surface At South By South West

The BBC is reporting that developers are talking about a second generation Microsoft Surface which has been dubbed Second Light and builds upon the original by having a second projector inside the device that can project images onto a layer above the surface of the screen. This modification will allow Second Light to overlay secondary images above those on the screen. It is rumored that the second generation will interpret gestures and movements without having to touch the screen through the use of infrared sensors and that it will employ high definition cameras for better detail.

"Everything is moving to touch and multi-touch so you had better jump on that bandwagon," Erik Klimczak, creative director of Clarity Consulting who develops for the surface told the conference of web developers.

Microsoft Going Ahead With Retail Store Plans

Microsoft said on Thursday that it had hired former Wal-Mart exec, David Porter, as corporate vice president for retail stores, a sign that the company is going ahead with plans to open company retail outlets despite the current economic turmoil that has many retailers in trouble. According to the New York Times, Porter "... is charged with improving the PC-buying experience. The company said his first task would be to set the timing, locations and design of Microsoft-branded retail stores, which will sell computers installed with Microsoft software as well as other company products."

The strategy worked for Apple, in better times, but only time will tell whether the move makes any sense for Microsoft.

Microsoft Offers Reward For Worm Creator's Identity

George Stathakopulos from Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group has told the BBC that a $250,000 reward is being offered by the company to find who is behind the Downadup/Conficker virus. "Our message is very clear - whoever wrote this caused significant pain to our customers and we are sending a message that we will do everything we can to help with your arrest," said Mr Stathakopulos. One estimate has as many as 12 million computers being affected globally by Conficker/Downadup since it appeared in October.

On three other occasions Microsoft has offered such rewards. Rewards of $250,000 were offered for information leading to the creators of Blaster, MyDoom and Sobig worms. The perpetrators of those threats have never been caught.