Microsoft Gets into the VoIP game...

Microsoft gets into the VoIP game

Marketwatch: Microsoft buys VoPI provider Teleo.

Ahh, this is the tool I saw at Demo and I said it's a potential Skype killer.

It hasn't turned out to be that yet, but this sure is interesting news. I didn't know about it, by the way. I have some inquiries into our mergers and acquisitions department to see if they can tell me more.

[Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]

Scoble Experience

I have posted excerpts from Robert "Scobleizer" Scoble who is a Microsoft Technology Evangelist many times. I wanted to share an experience I had with him in July. I was trying to find some answers to some nagging questions related to some Microsoft software and as a reader of his blog I knew that he posted his mobile number on his blog. So, I figured I will take advantage of his accessibility and call.

I got his voicemail, no big surprise, and left a message with my questions. The day wore on without a call back, until 6pm or so when my phone rang. He was driving home and returning calls. We chatted for a few minutes, on Microsoft, on Blogging, RSS, and tablet pcs and finished the conversation.

What a testament to Microsoft that they have allowed and now even required Robert to blog and truly evangelize Mirosoft.

I encourage you, if you're an IT Professional that uses Microsoft products, to check in on his blog now and again. Its helpful and sometimes even fun.

WinFS Beta 1 released - runs on XP and Vista!!!

Update: WinFS video to Channel 9.

From Scoble:

WinFS beta 1 released

Oh, looks like we can talk about WinFS today (they were holding me back until 6 a.m. tomorrow, but news got out early). Tom Rizzo of the WinFS team just posted that the beta 1 bits are up.

I did a Channel 9 interview which will be posted soon. They built an app that they showed me built on top of WinFS that blew my mind. WinFS is gonna enable a new style of app. More when the video is up.

Oh, and they demonstrated the whole thing on Windows XP. So, WinFS will be downlevel and doesn't require Windows Vista.

[Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]

Unbelievable Veritas Security Hole

Unbelievable VERITAS security hole

Wow, this is hard to stomach. CERT is reporting TA05-224A: "VERITAS BackupExec Uses Hard-Coded Authentication Credentials". It's astonishing that any company could be so stupid as to ship a product that still uses hard-coded credentials; it's a wonder that it's taken this long for an exploit to start circulating. (Note that this is different than the vuln-o-rama announced last month.)

According to Symantec's page on the vuln, only BE versions 8.0, 8.5, and 8.6 have the flaw. I'd bet that's a significant portion of the installed base, so a) I hope they're protected and b) I sure would feel more comfortable if the page also said "hey, don't worry, we fixed the problem in BE 9". My concern is that BE 9.x and 10.x have the same, or similar, problem but that attackers haven't found the creds yet.

Update: Symantec updated the vuln page last night with this additional page. Turns out that BE 9.0, 9.1, and 10.0 are vulnerable too. Sheesh. Making things worse, to fix the remote agent you have to uninstall the remote agent, reboot, install the new version of the agent, and reboot again. There's no hotfix.

[Exchange Security]

Blogger for Word

Blogger for Word

Posted by Blogger for Microsoft Word

Microsoft helps set Guiness World Record for Counter Strike.

Microsoft helps set Guiness World Record for Counter Strike.

5,500 play Counterstrike and set world record

Michael Anderberg: The coolest Guinness World Record Ever - set by Microsoft.

Ahh, so that's what you do with a Unisys ES7000 32 CPU/32 GB RAM server and 5,500 people in Sweden!

Now THAT sounds more fun than Foocamp!

[Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]

egro-over-engineering

Ergonomics gone overboard.....here.

Google Fill in the Blanks

Google Fill in the Blanks....Here is a new way to search that I hadn't ever seen. I learned about it from the Google Blog
.

To answer a question like "Who invented the light bulb?" Using a wildcard you would get better results from Google by entering: "the light bulb was invented by *"

* is the wildcard fill-in-the-blank value.

Click here to read the full post from Google. My favorite part is the recommended search at the end of the post.

Treo 670 running Windows Mobile Confirmed!!!??

There were rumors in Feb and March on the Treo 670.....but apparently Engadget has confirmed it with videos of a Treo 670 running Windows Moblie!


Oh boy....I wonder what I could get for an unlocked 650 on eBay?

The Intelligent Design of Business Evolution
On an ordinary day in 1974, it was boredom that changed the world as we know it. Anthropologist Donald C. Johanson had been laboring for weeks with his team in a region of Ethiopia, on the hunt for evidence of... [Fast Company Now]