The advent of municipal Wi-Fi systems, blanketing some cities with wireless Internet access, brings one thought to the mind of the modern computer geek.
"Hey, why not use it while I'm driving around?" Of course, for the person behind the wheel, there's a big reason why not. But computer systems and passengers in moving cars, shuttles and other vehicles might benefit from connecting to community Wi-Fi networks on the move.
That's the basic idea behind recent work by researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Microsoft and the University of Washington. Although many people already use cellular broadband networks for mobile Internet connections, community Wi-Fi systems offer technical advantages and a lower cost of access.
It's a typical business scenario. Several people on a project have to create a set of documents: a report in Microsoft Word, a budget spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel, the final presentation to the board using Microsoft PowerPoint. One person writes the draft, and wants input or changes from other project participants. So far, so good. But that's when
productivity-not to mention disk space-heads down a rat hole.
All too often, people share documents by sending the files around in e-mail. Everyone involved adds his own changes (using
revision marking, if the leader is lucky), and then e-mails back that unique file.
Microsoft released on Aug. 27 a second test version of Internet Explorer 8, delivering a feature-complete upgrade to the world's most widely used Web browser. The world's largest software maker said the latest version -- beta 2 -- of Internet Explorer, which has a market share of about 75 percent, comes with new features to enhance privacy, ease-of-use, and security. Microsoft first released a test -- or beta 1 -- version of IE 8 in March, but that was aimed at letting Web developers take a first look at the new browser. This latest version is aimed at a broader consumer audience.
Microsoft has begun promoting the "Wave 3" Windows Live Hotmail update that promises a UI and functionality upgrade that will make the web-based mail client more like Outlook. The UI upgrade, according to Microsoft, will be a combination of Hotmail's Classic and Full versions, listing the mailboxes' content to the left of a central "reading pane." In addition, Microsoft is promising more "cool stuff," which includes an increased amount of storage, and integration with other Live services like Calendar and Messenger.
Immersion, the corporation which owns patents for haptic technologies used in the automotive, industrial, medical, and entertainment fields, will have to pay Microsoft $20.75 million to finally end litigation that began over six years ago. In 2002, Immersion sued both Microsoft and Sony for allegedly using its patented technology in game controllers that vibrate in response to on-screen action. Microsoft and Sony took divergent routes in dealing with the suit. Microsoft chose to settle out of court, while Sony defended its controllers.
Microsoft has updated software that verifies whether a copy of Windows is genuine in its Windows XP Professional edition,
making it similar to the notification in Windows Vista and thus more persistently visible to users.
In a blog posting attributed to Alex Kochis, a Microsoft director of product marketing and management, the company said it made the changes
to the Windows Genuine Notification alerts for XP Pro because it is "the product edition that is most often stolen."
Now when a version of Windows XP Pro is found to be pirated or counterfeit, the next time a user logs on to the system, the
desktop screen background will be black, replacing whatever custom desktop may have been set by the user.
Although Google might not have much to fear from Microsoft, on the whole, could a new promotion in Google Checkout represent a response to Microsoft's Live Search Cashback feature? In a new back-to-school promotion, Google is now offering a $5 to $10 discount on purchases made at partner sites that use its Checkout Service.
Unlike previous promotions from Google of this kind, the current one lets you use the discount as many times -- and on as many partner sites -- as you'd like. Meanwhile, on the merchant side, Google allows participating sites to process orders and charge customers' credit and debit cards without fees.
Microsoft on Friday said it has completed development on Small Business Server 2008 and that the software will hit its targeted ship date of Nov. 12.
The company also said it is introducing the option to purchase single CALs. Previously, users had to purchase them in blocks
of five. In addition, the CALs will apply to copies of Windows Server, SQL Server, and Exchange Server running outside the
Essential Server environment.
In SBS 2008, Microsoft has added tools to manage domain names and data folders, monitoring that stretches across servers and
clients, customized and remotely available reports, and block-based server protection to speed backups.
Microsoft is not going to the social networking craze pass it by.
So get ready for the latest from the software giant in the form of a social bookmarking service aimed at developers and other members of its tech-focused communities, the Microsoft Development Network, TechNet and Expression.
In early September, Microsoft plans to open access to those sites, making the social bookmarking application that it previewed in May generally available.
"Since then, thousands of technical professionals from around the world have begun using it to save their web favorites online, share them with others, see what other technical pros are favoriting, and connect with others," John Martin, Microsoft's lead evangelist for servers and tools online, wrote in a blog post.
As the world's best athletes compete in Beijing, the summer Olympic games are setting the stage for a battle between Microsoft and Adobe Systems over the Internet's next big competition.
Microsoft's Silverlight technology and rival Adobe's Flash format are currently locked in a race over who delivers the world's online video, but the ultimate prize may be who powers the next generation of Web software.
Using Silverlight, the NBC site offers a glimpse of what is possible with future Web applications because viewers are able to watch up to four videos at once or follow the action with an online commentary that runs alongside the video.