Latest Blogs
Vulnerability in Virtual PC?
Earlier today, Core Security Technologies issued a security advisory for our Virtual PC (VPC) software. The advisory calls out a proof of concept where the virtual machine monitor allows memory pages above the 2GB level to be read from or written to by user-space programs running within a guest operating system. The advisory explicitly calls into question the effectiveness of many of the security hardening features of Windows, including DEP, SafeSEH, and ASLR. Folks are already starting to ask questions about this advisory, so I thought it would be best to answer them here.
Windows PCs used during Internet Explorer 9 Demos at MIX10
Dean Hachamovitch finished his demo of Internet Explorer 9 at MIX10 a short while ago. He did a variety of demos for folks to see. Many of these you can try for yourself with the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview on the Test Drive site. To do these demos, a variety of Windows PCs were used. I thought I would call out those PCs and their specs.
Internet Explorer 9 at MIX10
Yesterday was Day 1 of MIX10 in Las Vegas and a lot of really cool things were announced – specifically around developing for Windows Phone 7 Series. You’ll find the gist of the Day 1 news from MIX10 here on the MIX10 website. Today is proving to be an equally exciting day as yesterday with Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager for Internet Explorer, taking the stage for Day 2 Keynote to show off what we’re doing with Internet Explorer 9. Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) is the next version of our Internet Explorer web browser.
Microsoft Hardware Announces True Color Technology, New Webcams
Microsoft Hardware has announced today True Color Technology - designed to enhance the color and brightness of webcam video in the worst of lighting conditions. True Color Technology is a new image processing technology that automatically adjusts the picture quality to provide more colorful video.
Go Get It – The Windows Phone Developer Training Kit
Today, during the Mix opening keynote, we saw some amazingly cool Windows Phone (WP) demos. Although Windows Phone was announced about a month ago, today we heard the complete end-to-end story for both the user and the developer. On top of that, Scott Guthrie announced the availability of the Windows Phone Developer Tools Community Technology Preview.
The Windows Phone Marketplace: A different shopping experience for a different kind of phone
Today we’re disclosing the details of the Windows Phone 7 application development platform and tools and how to create more compelling and creative applications and games based on Silverlight and XNA. Everything starts there, but it doesn’t end there, not until you’ve been able to distribute and sell your application to a customer. The way users discover and download an application or game on their Windows Phone 7 Series device is through the Windows Phone Marketplace.
The Right MIX
Today at MIX ‘10 we’re looking under the hood of Windows Phone 7 Series, showing people what this phone can do and giving designers and developers the tools and information they need to expand their horizons. We’ve shown the phone’s smart new design, and the way integrated experiences dynamically bring the information people care about to the forefront.
MIX10 begins tomorrow!
MIX10 officially begins tomorrow in Las Vegas. MIX is an annual event we put on for designers and developers to learn about Microsoft’s broad web platform and tools. Essentially we’re bringing a bunch of designers and developers together to talk about bringing together the clients, servers and cloud services to create great rich web applications.
What an exciting week this week will be! I won’t be attending MIX10 myself this year, so I will be joining the many who could not attend by watching MIX10 unfold online – and live.
BioShock 2 Available at 25% off via Games on Demand
The Games on Demand “Spring Sale” continues this week with BioShock 2. BioShock 2 is available at 25% off ($37.49 USD) now through tomorrow March 15th 5pm Redmond time (Pacific). If you purchase both BioShock 2 AND the Sinclair Solutions Tester Pack add-on pack through Games on Demand, you will receive a free gift of 800 Microsoft Points!
Getting a reputation: How SmartScreen looks at URLs
I'd like to talk a bit about how we determine the reputation of different URLs and IPs and use this to protect against spam, phishing, and other abuse in Internet Explorer and Windows Live Hotmail.
Develop for Windows
As developers evolve, so do their applications. And, we are evolving with them. To-date, Windows 7 has sold a record-breaking 90 million licenses making it the fastest selling operating system in history. This creates an awesome opportunity for developers to create some stunning software applications for a vast audience.
Piloting Windows 7: Part 4: Installation Options and Collecting Feedback
This is the fourth and final installment of this series from Jeremy Chapman
Denon Announces A/V Receivers Compatible with Windows 7
Yesterday, Denon announced that much of their current line of audio and video (A/V) receivers have earned Compatible with Windows 7 logo.
New, Modern PCs Can Save Small Businesses Time and Money
Helping small businesses not just survive but thrive is key to our global economic recovery. Together, small and midsize businesses employ the majority of the world’s workforce and as we all know, will be the key to future job creation.
Dell Introduces Vostro 3000 Series Windows PCs
Dell today, is introducing the Vostro 3000 series of Windows PCs targeting specifically at the Small Business customer.
The new thin, lightweight and durable laptop computers feature powerful processors, high-end graphics and built-in security, and are designed for small businesses; helping them stretch their budget and protect their data, and come with dedicated small business services and support to keep a small businesses moving.
Windows Phone Sessions at MIX10
MIX is right around the corner, and the Windows Phone 7 Series developer team (@wp7dev) is very excited to be talking about the development platform. This is a guest post by Joey deVilla, Microsoft Developer Evangelist, about our upcoming sessions at MIX.
Street Fighter IV 50% off via Games on Demand
Last Friday I posted about the first of a series of hot deals that will happen at the end of every week this month. Last week it was a hot deal for Batman: Arkham Asylum. This week it’s Street Fighter IV. Starting today and running through to Monday March 8th 5:00pm Redmond time, Street Fighter IV will be available through Games on Demand at 50% off.
Internet Explorer 8 Still the Best at Staying Safe While Browsing the Web
Back in August, I wrote a blog post about how Internet Explorer 8 offers the best protection against socially engineered malware threats. This week, NSS Labs released a new study that continues to show Internet Explorer 8 to be the #1 browser in blocking malware!
Announcing the Windows Home Server YouTube channel
Whenever I’m confused on how to do something and am looking for some help, YouTube is one of the first places I go. Without fail, I can always find some form of video that gives me the answer I need. The Windows Home Server team has also seen the benefits of YouTube, and we thought it would be helpful and fun for our customers if we started making our own videos!
