Bing has entered the arena of URL shortening, turning long bits of URL into an easily manageable URL. Some Microsoft employees have already begun using the new service for posts on their blogs and tweets.
However, the new binged.it URL is actually longer than most shortening services out there, not to mention it’s longer than its own URL, bing.com. It may only be longer by one character, but with the domain like “bing.com”, Microsoft could have easily used bing.it, which is also owned by Microsoft.
Google recently came out with goo.gl (five characters), Facebook’s fb.me (four characters), bit.ly (five characters) and now Bing’s very own Binged.it (eight characters).
It appears this service is only open to Microsoft employees for blogs and tweets, as @ fareologist (Bing Travel) has been using the service for about a week now, while @bing still uses bit.ly for their shortening service.
Right now, both binged.it and bing.it redirect to bing.com, so we may possibly see a bing.it service in the future.
Based on Microsoft's investigations the software giant has admitted Internet Explorer was one of the vectors used in targeted attacks against Google recently.
In a company blog posting Mike Reavey, Director of the Microsoft Security Response Center admits "based upon our investigations, we have determined that Internet Explorer was one of the vectors used in targeted and sophisticated attacks against Google and possibly other corporate networks."
Microsoft has issued further guidance to companies in order to mitigate a Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in Internet Explorer.
Google said, that in mid-December, they, along with a number of other large companies in the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors, were targeted in a sophisticated cyber-attack. This attack on their infrastructure originated in China, and resulted in the theft of intellectual property. Due to this attack, and the background behind it, Google is now taking a second look at their operations in China, particularly Google.cn, where they currently offer censored search results as part of an agreement with China's government. Google took the big step of informing the government of China that it is no longer willing to provide censored results, and will be entering into discussions regarding how it can do this without breaking Chinese law. Should Google find themselves unable to reach an agreement, they may shut down Google.cn, and close their offices in China.
Yahoo supported Google's announcements and said it would stand by the company. "We stand aligned that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as Internet pioneers must all oppose" said a Yahoo representative earlier this week.
China responded to Google's claims in a brief statement yesterday, stating "The Chinese government administers the Internet according to law and we have explicit stipulations over what content can be spread on the Internet." iDefense researchers at Verisign were able to trace the source of the control servers that distributed the malware which gained access to private customer and corporate Google data. Verisign's initial findings suggest the source of the servers consisted either of agents of the Chinese state or proxies thereof.
It's no secret that Microsoft has been hard at work to further improve Windows 7. According to many sources, the first service pack for Redmond's new OS is just around the corner. Today, all across the blogosphere, sites are reporting new details about the upcoming update to Microsoft's most user friendly OS to date. ITChuiko says that "according to sources at Microsoft, a preliminary version of SP1 will be in June 2010 and will be accessible only to testers, whereas the final version is expected by September 2010."
ZDNet is reporting that, as standard with all service packs, SP1 will include all the patches and bug fixes that have been released since Windows 7's October debut. In addition, users can expect tweaks and fixes made under the hood, based on user feedback. The only "big" changes that will come with SP1 are USB 3.0 support, and according to InfoWorld, "enhancements to the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi stacks." This is said to continue making Windows 7 "the most easily configured version [of an OS] ever." ITChuiko also suggests that there may be "some entirely new features that should raise the popularity of this operating system in the business sector."
ZDNet questions Microsoft's reasons for pushing SP1 so quickly. According to many analysts, it seems like the trend of businesses is to wait and see what happens after a new OS is introduced, before deploying it. Because of this, it's possible that Microsoft is aiming to get SP1 out the door as soon as possible. They want to send a message to businesses that, "hey, we're continuously supporting Windows 7, it's stable, and it's ready for the corporate world."
Microsoft Research project Kodu (formerly Boku), an Xbox game designed to help children learn the basics of programming, has been released as a PC beta.
The game was created by Microsoft Research and debuted over a year ago at PDC 2008. It was released to Xbox LIVE community games in Spring 2009 and since then has been downloaded more than 200,000 times. According to Microsoft, Kodu is used in more than 60 educational institutions across the globe to introduce children to programming.
Matthew MacLaurin, director of the Redmond FUSE (Future Social Experiences) Lab and the game's creator, based the game off watching his daughter's experiences with computers. "Today, it seems like the simple magic of programming has been completely lost in the shuffle," MacLaurin said. "We need to show kids how exciting and creative it can be."
Microsoft claims anyone from seven to 70 can create a game in minutes. The Kodu team claims it will provide Kodu update releases on a roughly two-week cycle. According to Matthew MacLaurin, Principal Program Manager in the creative Systems Group at Microsoft Research: "It's our goal to be very transparent about what we're working on in the hopes that this next phase will be an active collaboration with energetic Kodu users around the world. These next few months will be filled with activity."
Download: Kodu PC Beta
Microsoft and HP both announced a joint deal today that will see the software and hardware giants collaborate on future engineering road maps to eliminate the complexities of IT management.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, HP chairman and CEO Mark Hurd, held a joint teleconference call this morning to announce the agreement. According to Ballmer the agreement, that spans both hardware, software and services, "will transform the way large enterprises deliver services to their customers, and help smaller organizations adopt IT to grow their businesses." Microsoft and HP believe a combined effort will offer a lower total cost of ownership for business customers.
Microsoft is using the tag line "simplify technology environments for businesses of all sizes" to describe the new deal. In short it appears Microsoft and HP will share ideas and technologies based on Microsoft's Cloud infrastructure and virtualization efforts. The deal isn't cheap and 250 million incremental dollars will be invested into the initiative. The two companies will also partner on some support solutions and marketing campaigns. During the joint teleconference call Ballmer stated "we're able to build on our incredible 25 year partnership of the two companies put together to drive things forward."
On Sunday a seemingly unknown site, named Bright Side Of News, came out stating that Windows Mobile 7 was "definitely delayed to 2011".
If the original headline made you jump then join the club. It's sad that we're even covering this but when big named sites like PC World begin reporting this belief as "news" and Twitter spreads it as news then it's time to put some facts straight. BSN doesn't name any sources or why it believes Windows Mobile 7 is "definitely delayed to 2011". Instead it claims "We spoke with representatives from Microsoft, Lenovo, Qualcomm, TI, Nokia, nVidia, HTC and many more". The main two out of that bunch that would know if Windows Mobile 7 was delayed would be Microsoft and HTC and both aren't speaking about Windows Mobile 7.
At the consumer electronics show last week Neowin spoke to representatives from LG who confirmed they would be shipping devices with Windows Mobile 7 "this year". Does that sound like 2011 to you? In December 2009 Microsoft UK head of mobility Phil Moore confirmed that we won't be seeing Windows Mobile 7 phones on the market until late 2010.
Microsoft officials refuse to comment on Windows Mobile 7 in most cases but Robbie Bach, Entertainment and Devices Division, held an analysts call at CES last week and confirmed that the company will share details of Windows Mobile 7 next month at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. "I've seen it and played with it," Bach said. He also believes that Windows Mobile 7 will "set the bar forward not in (just) an evolutionary way." From what we are hearing from insiders the company is ready to show off Windows Mobile 7 and will do so at Mobile World Congress. Microsoft's annual conference, Mix 2010 in March, will be the time for company officials to unveil developer features. We questioned Toshiba, Samsung and LG about their Windows Mobile 6.5.3 and 7 plans but all refused to answer the future of Windows Mobile in depth, presumably due to non-disclosure agreements with Microsoft. All of this evidence does not point to devices showing up until after February 2011.
Microsoft has been the center of a legal battle from a small patent owning company, i4i for many months for infringing on it's "Custom XML" patent which is included in Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007 and is part of Office 2007 suites. Recently, Microsoft lost the court battle against I4i, after stalling for a few months with an emergency motion and was ordered to take Word 2007 off the market by January 11th, 2010. In addition, Microsoft must also pay i4i damages of $290m.
Today, the 11th of January, marks the day that Word was to be off the market, but to the consumer nothing has changed. According to Microsoft, they have complied with the court's ruling and have released a 'revised version' of Microsoft Word and Office 2007 suites that does not have the 'Custom XML' technology.
The new version, which hits US stores today, has no visual differences and will not be discernable from the previous variant of Microsoft Office 2007. Microsoft has also removed Office 2003 from MSDN and Technet earlier last week.
According to the BBC, Microsoft filed another appeal against the injunction on January 8, even though they have already challenged the ruling once before. The latest appeal has been filed because Microsoft believed the decision conflicted with "established precedents governing trial procedure and the determination of damages" according to Kevin Kutz, director of public affairs at Microsoft.
An internal build of the upcoming Microsoft Office 2010 has leaked to the web according to Wzor. The build comes in at a staggering 3.51GB which is significantly larger than the public beta build which was at 749mb; the leaked build is tagged with the build number 14.0.4730.1007
There is no information as to why the build is so much larger but one speculation is that it may include debugging software. Another possibility is that the code may not be packed for media release which would make the build much larger than the compressed format released to the general public.
With the recent release of the Nexus One, some have been rather critical of Google. It's a company that licenses its mobile OS software to other companies, but has now introduced a competitor to those exact phones. Microsoft is one such criticizer, stating Google's scheme is very difficult.
In an interview posted on Business Week, Microsoft's head of mobile development, Robbie Bach, stated, "Google's announcement sends a signal where they're going to place their commitment. That will create some opportunities for us and we'll pursue them." He noted the fears that Google will prioritize its own phone over other vendors offering Android based devices, continuing with, "Doing both (selling the Nexus One whilst offering its software to others) in the way they are trying to do both is actually very, very difficult."
Bach isn't the only one with this frame of mind. An analyst at the research firm Interpret LLC, Michael Gartenberg, said, "No one has ever succeeded in selling their own device while trying to license to partners simultaneously. As much as Google can say it's not a Google phone, the phone says Google on it. They're going to have to convince their licensees they're not in competition with them." Whether or not you're a fan of Google, the pair make a rather good point; it's hard on partners when a company offers a product that directly competes with other products packing software developed by the very same company. Bach predicted that some companies may even give up using Android and switch to another operating system. Regardless, the coming months (and even years) will be very interesting and exciting ones for the mobile industry.
Search Engine Roundtable brings to attention a very sad and disturbing fact about Microsoft Bing. It's slow at indexing sites. In the Bing Forums, prathaban1 posted the following:
"I have submitted my website, www.kidandparent.in, to the Webmaster Console, using a sitemap.xml almost 6 weeks ago. It is a new website with unique content and Bing calculates about 14 Backlinks to it. However, just the homepage has been indexed so far (with help from Brett). G and Y have indexed almost 400 and 200 pages respectively. Any pointers on what I can do to get indexed by Bing?"
Brett Yount, who is the Program Manager at Bing Webmaster Center, responded:
"It is well known in the industry that MSNbot is fairly slow. I suggest reading our FAQs stickied at the top of the indexing forum to get some ideas of what to do."
But wait, it gets better. Here's the sticky from the "sites not in the index" section of the Bing Forum:
"if your site is not in the index, please do the following:
1. verify in our tools that your site is not blocked
2. run a site: query to verify there are no pages in the index
3. Copy the URL of the site query and post on this thread.
I will work with you to at least get your home page indexed. Deeper indexing will require good content and backlinks as described in the FAQ."
I ask you to please read number 3 again. Yes, that's correct. If your site doesn't show up in Bing's index after submitting it through the site, you can post your website's address in the forum, and someone will manually add it into the index for you. How can Microsoft expect Bing to compete with Google if it can't even handle the simple task of indexing a page within an acceptable time frame? Microsoft says they are serious about conquering the world of search, but problems like this one tend to take search domination out of the equation. It would be a good idea for Microsoft to straighten this out instead of just openly admitting to its users that everyone knows they're slow.
Fast Company is reporting that the Director of Marketing for Microsoft's Entertainment and Device Devision, Craig Belinson, has said that "Windows 7 is by far the fastest selling Operating System in history." While this news may not come as much of a surprise, it's always nice to hear how well Microsoft's latest pride and joy is doing.
Sadly, Belinson didn't provide any software sales numbers to back up his claim. Instead, he brought PC sales numbers, which directly correspond to Windows 7 sales (since PCs come with the OS installed). He states that during the week of Windows 7's launch, there was a 50% jump in PC sales when compared to the previous week. In addition, Black Friday saw a 63% bump from a year ago, and the holiday season, as a whole, saw a 50% increase in PC sales. Just as a side note, a poll on Lifehacker, which was done just weeks after Windows 7 was released, showed that 41% of readers had already begun using Windows 7 as their primary OS.
While it's great to see Windows 7 be the success that Vista, unfortunately, was not, it's also important to remember that being the fastest selling OS doesn't mean as much as it once did. Back in the days of Windows XP there were far fewer computers in the world and before XP, there were even less. Of course Windows 7 is the fastest selling OS, there are many more PCs in the world than there were when Vista, or any other Windows OS was released. This fact will continue to dictate the future trend of OS sales. As evident from Belinson's comments, the more PCs sold in the world, the more copies of Windows sold. Microsoft's next major OS release will most likely see even better numbers than Windows 7 did (assuming it's not another Vista, of course).
Microsoft Office General Manager, Rachel Bondi, has officially announced the official Office 2010 pricing. The interesting thing to see is the ability to purchase a card with a product key on it, foregoing the physical CD, and saving a nice chunk of change. But beware; if you buy the product key card only, you are limited to installing it on a single computer. If, however, you buy the boxed edition, you are entitled to install the program on two of your PCs.
Here are the prices:
- Professional - $499 boxed, $349 for product key
- Professional Academic - $99 boxed only
- Home and Student - $149 boxed, $119 for product key
- Home and Business - $279 boxed, $199 for product key
Office Home and Student will also be available in a 3 license Family Pack, though the price is not listed. The Professional version will include Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, Publisher 2010, Access 2010, and premium technical support. The Home and Student version will contain Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, and OneNote 2010. The Home and Business edition will just add Outlook on top of the Home and Student offering, and will be licensed for business use. The Professional Academic version will only be available from campus bookstores and authorized academic resellers. All editions will also come with the Office Web Apps that users have been eagerly awaiting.
Below are the editions in more detail...
Using a special string of characters, a user is able to create a shortcut that gives access to a single list containing all of the computer's control panels. As it was pointed out, it's a pretty useful tool if you're a power user.
Now, CNet is reporting that there are many "GodModes" that can be accessed in Windows 7. From an e-mail interview with Windows Division President, Steve Sinofsky, CNet learned that "several similar undocumented features provide direct access to all kinds of settings, from choosing a location to managing power settings to identifying biometric sensors."
Sinofsky revealed a list of other similar strings, noting that none of them actually give access to anything that you couldn't do already do in Control Panel. Below are some of the strings, along with what they give you access to. For a complete list of strings like these and what they give you access to, you can visit Canonical Names of Control Panel Items on MSDN's Windows Developer Center.
Default Location - {00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}
Biometrics - {0142e4d0-fb7a-11dc-ba4a-000ffe7ab428}
Power Settings - {025A5937-A6BE-4686-A844-36FE4BEC8B6D}
Notification Area - {05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}
Manage Credentials - {1206F5F1-0569-412C-8FEC-3204630DFB70}
Get New Programs - {15eae92e-f17a-4431-9f28-805e482dafd4}
Default Programs - {17cd9488-1228-4b2f-88ce-4298e93e0966}
NET Framework Assemblies - {1D2680C9-0E2A-469d-B787-065558BC7D43}
Wireless Networks - {1FA9085F-25A2-489B-85D4-86326EEDCD87}
Network Neighborhood - {208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
My Computer - {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
Printers - {2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
RemoteApp and Desktop - {241D7C96-F8BF-4F85-B01F-E2B043341A4B}
Windows Firewall - {4026492F-2F69-46B8-B9BF-5654FC07E423}
Performance - {78F3955E-3B90-4184-BD14-5397C15F1EFC}
GodMode - {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
Go ahead and try them out. Let us know, in the comments, if you find anything interesting. To use the string, just make a new folder and name it anything you want, followed by a period, and then one of the strings above. Here's an example:
AhmedMahdy.COM.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
According to ZDNet, Microsoft really wants to push medium and small businesses to move away from Windows XP and older versions of Office. The "Up-to-Date Discount," as they call it, is available for the first year of the OVS (Open Value Subscription) licensing program and applies to customers using the Professional versions of Microsoft's software. OVS is a way for small and medium businesses to pay for their software licenses over time, instead of having to foot it all up front.
The new promotion available for the Up-To-Date Discount is called N-2 and allows users that are still using Windows and Office XP (which are two releases ago) to participate as well (assuming they sign up for an OVS plan). Previously, the program was only for N-1, meaning only the previous release of Windows and Office were part of the promotion. Businesses will be able to upgrade to Windows 7, as well as Office 2007, or may choose to get Office 2010, assuming they're willing to wait for its release.
Here are the details, straight from the Microsoft SMB Community Blog. Note that the 50% off is calculated based on estimated retail prices. The deal is available from January 1st through June 30th.
So who qualifies for this offer?
For Microsoft Office Professional Plus:
- Before the Office 2010 launch: Companies with OEM, Retail, or Volume licenses for Microsoft Office 2007 Professional, Office 2003 Professional, or Office XP Professional
- After the Office 2010 launch: Companies with OEM, Retail, or Volume licenses for Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 or Office 2003 Professional
For Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade: - Companies with OEM, Retail, or Volume licenses for Windows 7 Professional, Windows Vista Business or Windows XP Professional
What you get: - 50% off your 1st year OVS payment for Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade or Microsoft Office Professional for every qualifying N-1 or N-2 license you have.
- As an example, in the U.S., this means you would be paying $35.00 for a Windows 7 Professional Upgrade and/or $91.00 for Office 2007 Professional Plus in year 1, plus receiving all of the Software Assurance benefits (such as an automatic upgrade to Office 2010 when it launches, Office Home Use Rights, and much more) for that price!
Calling students over the age of 16! Microsoft just announced the eighth annual Imagine Cup competition. Solve global problems and create innovative solutions with technology for the chance to win $36,000 in prize money. The winning team will also compete in the worldwide finals in Warsaw, Poland this July.
Students must register by February 1, 2010 to initially compete in the Spring Round 1 portion. Categories include Software Design, Game Design and Web Design.
"The Imagine Cup is a unique opportunity for students to help solve real-world problems while gaining experience outside the classroom," said Anthony Salcito, vice president for Worldwide Education at Microsoft. "Developing technology innovations, working in a team environment and understanding how to create a viable business plan are invaluable to students who want to successfully achieve careers in today's world."
From games that teach to applications re-creating the way healthcare is managed, technology and science go hand in hand to create global solutions. And today's youth can have a direct impact on the future. Competing in the Imagine Cup provides the opportunity for students to work as a team to combine creative thinking with technical knowledge.
To register or learn more about the Imagine Cup, visit 
Link: http://www.imaginecup.com . Students who sign up before the February 1, 2010 deadline may enter to win the "$10,000 Cash for Students" sweepstakes.