Posts Tagged ‘ Microsoft ’

Jerry Seinfeld, Microsoft, & the Orpheum 18 September 2008 at 3:38 pm by 2,782 views

What is the deal with Stand Up Comics?  Do they really have to stand up?  Does this somehow help the jokes they are telling?  What if they get tired and have to sit down?  And why don’t they just sit down anyway?  It seems it’d make them more comfortable, I mean, you don’t have to stand up to watch.  What if they break an ankle… do they have to take time off, or do they have to bill themselves as a temporarily-sitting comic?  I’d bet that’s their worst nightmare… I mean, who wants to see a comic in a cast?  “Well, I was planning on going out to see my favorite stand up comedian, and I heard he has to be in a wheelchair.  I’m sorry, but unless he’s standing the jokes just don’t work for me.”  Stand up comics… huh.

So, I’m off to see Jerry Seinfeld tonight at the Orpheum theatre in Omaha… I’m totally excited!  I can now add Jerry Seinfeld to my list of “Comics I’ve Always Wanted to See Live.”  So far that list contains Lewis Black and George Carlin.  After Seinfeld I dunno who else is on the list… I’d have to think about it.

Speaking of Jerry, did you get a chance to view his Microsoft commercials?  If not, you’d best get to watching because as of today, they’ve halted the campaign:

Microsoft is expected to announce Thursday that it will be suspending its ad campaign featuring Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and veteran comedy superstar Jerry Seinfeld.

Valleywag broke the news Wednesday, and Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw told the LA Times that the move was planned, despite the appearance that the company is reacting to negative reaction to the ads.

According to Mr. Shaw, the Seinfeld portion of the campaign, for which he was reportedly paid some US$10 million, was always intended to be just an introduction for the overall campaign — a two commercial introduction for $10 million.

“All along we said we were having a teaser campaign,” he told the LA Times. “We’re getting ready to start the second phase. This was the plan all along.”

Here is the first commercial:

And the second:

Sad that there won’t be more, but at least we got to enjoy it while it lasted.

Well, I have to go… I need to ponder peanuts on airplanes and why they have that little slot for razors (who is shaving on a plane?!).

+ Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 released By 27 August 2008 at 4:28 pm 749 views No Comments

IE8 B2 is out!! Go get it now!!  From the IE Blog:

We’re excited to release IE8 Beta 2 today for public download. You can find it at http://www.microsoft.com/ie8. Please try it out!

You’ll find versions for 32- and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008. In addition to English, IE8 Beta 2 is available in Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), and German. Additional languages will be available soon.

While Beta 1 was for developers, we think that anyone who browses or works on the web will enjoy IE8 Beta 2. Before the team blogs about our Beta 2 in detail, here’s an overview of what you’ll find in IE8.

We focused our work around three themes: everyday browsing (the things that real people do all the time), safety (the term most people use for what we’ve called ‘trustworthy’ in previous posts), and the platform (the focus of Beta 1, how developers around the world will build the next billion web pages and the next waves of great services).

Go ahead and download it here!

+ Vista’s security rendered completely useless… By 07 August 2008 at 9:47 pm 933 views No Comments

This week at the Black Hat Security Conference two security researchers will discuss their findings which could completely bring Windows Vista to its knees.

Mark Dowd of IBM Internet Security Systems (ISS) and Alexander Sotirov, of VMware Inc. have discovered a technique that can be used to bypass all memory protection safeguards that Microsoft built into Windows Vista. These new methods have been used to get around Vista’s Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and other protections by loading malicious content through an active web browser. The researchers were able to load whatever content they wanted into any location they wished on a user’s machine using a variety of scripting languages, such as Java, ActiveX and even .NET objects. This feat was achieved by taking advantage of the way that Internet Explorer (and other browsers) handle active scripting in the Operating System.

While this may seem like any standard security hole, other researchers say that the work is a major breakthrough and there is very little that Microsoft can do to fix the problems. These attacks work differently than other security exploits, as they aren’t based on any new Windows vulnerabilities, but instead take advantage of the way Microsoft chose to guard Vista’s fundamental architecture. According to Dino Dai Zovi, a popular security researcher, “the genius of this is that it’s completely reusable. They have attacks that let them load chosen content to a chosen location with chosen permissions. That’s completely game over.”

read more | digg story

+ Microsoft’s MAPP and other tools to fight security threats By 06 August 2008 at 9:05 am 882 views No Comments

Speaking yesterday at the Black Hat Security Conference in Las Vegas, Microsoft has now introduced a new group of security related programs that share advanced information with partners about upcoming security threats.

As many in the tech industry know, within hours, and sometimes minutes of monthly security patches being released, exploits are already booming for the security holes fixed by these updates. The Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) will allow security software providers to provide protection to their customers quickly and effectively.

“The introduction of these new programs helps address evolving online threats and provides more practical guidance to assess and manage risk,” said Andrew Cushman, director of security response and outreach at Microsoft. “In the race between exploit and protection, Microsoft is committed to shifting the advantage to the security industry. The Microsoft Active Protections Program gives security software providers the information and resources they need to help better protect customers.”

read more | digg story

+ Podcast: Listen to Jess and I gab about random stuff!! By 01 August 2008 at 9:33 pm 1,178 views 1 Comment

Jess and I got semi-interviewed today on a Podcast, and you can check it out/listen below:

Jason & Jessica on the “Featuring Who?” Podcast

Some of the things that we discussed:

  1. How Jess and I found Neowin (a forum we belong to) and how we became staff.
  2. Our computer setups.
  3. Discussion about Virtual Machines (Sun xVM VirtualBox 1.6.4, specifically).
  4. Microsoft’s Mohave Experiment backfiring
  5. Travelers’ Laptops May be Detained At the Border

It’s a fun little listen… I feel like a huge nerd, but what else is new?  Enjoy!

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