I’m sure Microsoft has some neat videos about their browser, too.
Google Chrome speed tests
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Tag Archives: Microsoft
Satellite view of inauguration
The arrow indicates where Barb and I were. #1 is where O was sworn in and #2 the nearest Jumbotron. We had about 2 square feet on which to stand. Latest crowd estimate 1.8 million.
CNN using CSI tech for The Moment
CNN is partnering with Microsoft and using their Photosynth technology to create a 3-D version of what they are calling “The Moment.” Users are asked to take a photo at Noon when Obama takes the Oath of office. CNN will then stitch the photos together using the “synth” technology to create the 3-D recreation. [Lost Remote]
“The whole world is watching”
“…the thing we should all be worrying about is that this election the whole world can see what assholes we are and how much we lie, and do you think they’re ever going to believe anything we say after the election?”
“Being an American in 2008 is a lot like working at Microsoft in 1994 or so. Netscape is coming soon and after that Google, and while we’ll still be here, the cursor will be somewhere else, and our stock options will be worthless and we’ll be fighting with each other while the rest of the world builds around us.” — Dave Winer
Not that there’s anything wrong Vista
I think Jerry Seinfeld is damned funny. And smart. He’s probably a good choice for Microsoft’s $300 million ad campaign ("Windows, Not Walls") for Vista. Jerry is reportedly getting $10 million for the gig. If they let him write the ads, they might pull it off. I don’t have to use Vista (Praise be to Allah!) but I don’t hear good things about it.
I bring this up because I just checked out the latest series of Get A Mac ads. Throne, Off the Air and Pizza Box. Snap!
Here’s something I’ve wondered… you’ve got Mac fan boys like me posting their love for all things Apple. Are there bloggers out there singing the praises of Vista? Drop a link in the comments.
Microsoft’s Ballmer on future of media?
“In the next 10 years, the whole world of media, communications and advertising are going to be turned upside down — my opinion. Here are the premises I have. Number one, there will be no media consumption left in 10 years that is not delivered over an IP network. There will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form. Everything gets delivered in an electronic form.”
“Big Brother” software knows if you’re happy
Microsoft is developing what a British newspaper (TimesOnline) describes as “Big Brother” software that will allow employers remotely to monitor their workers’ productivity, competence and physical well-being to a degree never before seen.
Among other data, wireless sensors will provide employers with workers’ heart rates and stress level, and determine whether they are smiling or frowning.
“The systems work not only through desktop or laptop computers but even through mobile phones or handheld PCs, meaning that even out of the office the employee can still be monitored. In its most advanced format, the system will monitor users’ private interests.
The system works by recording and analyzing what words and numbers are used or websites visited, and by watching the user’s heart rate, breathing, body temperature, facial expressions and blood pressure. The patent application explains: “The system can also automatically detect frustrations or stress in the user via physiological and environmental sensors and then offer or provide some assistance accordingly.”
This just seems to far-out and scary to be true. For the record… I am happier than I appear.
Will your radio station be in every Ford?
Ford Motor Company and Microsoft are expected to announce new “Windows Automotive” software called “Sync,” that will make it possible (easier?) to make hands-free cell phone calls and download music or receive email.
“If you can use your car to download music, you can also use it to stream music. And if you can stream music then you can do so from any number of music providers, not just your radio station.”
“What is YOUR group doing to be in front of this trend? What is YOUR group doing to be in every car in every way in 2007 and beyond? What content do you have that every Ford will want to stream?” — Mark Ramsey at Hear 2.0
If I were still a radio station program director, I might grab a program schedule and go through the day asking that question about each programming element. I think there will be lots of stuff folks in my local market will want to hear (news, weather, sports, etc) but they won’t want to make an appointment to listen to it. They’ll want to have it automatically downloaded to their cars so they can hear it when they want it. Podcasts.
Bill Gates hanging it up
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced today that he will transition from day-to-day responsibilities at the company he co-founded to concentrate on charitable work…but will continue as the company’s chairman after transferring his duties over a two-year period. That has a familiar ring to it.
Impossible not to wonder if Bill doesn’t see some writing on the wall for MS and wants to step down before the company looses it’s place in The Great Digital Scheme of Things. Or, maybe it’s just time to do something different. Why not?
While it’s difficult to imagine a world in which Microsoft isn’t a major player, I can remember watching nuke-laden B-52’s skimming over Kennett on their way to the SAC base at Blytheville, Arkansas. Couldn’t imagine a world without the USSR. Then, one day, it was just gone. Poof. What? You think comparing Microsoft and the fall of the Soviet Union is a stretch? Maybe it’s just the effect of resting my wrists on this Mac Book.
Personally, I’m grateful that Mr. Gates came along and gave us Windows. He made computing easier and more fun for smays. I wish him well.
Who you are
“Job titles, boxes in org charts, are so last-millennium. They are relics of an Industrial Age that was born of the doomed notion that people are best understood as cogs in corporate machines. … What matters most in the long run is who you are. Not who you work for.”
— Doc Searls on Robert Scoble’s value to Microsoft: