Author: Dr. Bill

Do you remember when “The New Coke” came out? I know. It was a long time ago. But, I remember running to the store to buy the real, original Coke, before it was all gone! New Coke was terrible… fortunately, Coke had the good sense to take New Coke away and go back the the real thing! Is that what Microsoft will do with THEIR “New Coke?”

Microsoft exec hits back at Windows 8 bashing, says OS is not like ‘a can of soda’

“Microsoft executive Frank Shaw is not happy with everyone who compared Windows 8 to New Coke this week. Shaw, who serves as Microsoft’s vice president of corporate communications, has written a blog post swiping back at media outlets who bashed the company’s latest operating system and said that comparing it to Coca Cola’s ill-fated attempt to rework its soft drink formula was completely ridiculous.

‘Unlike a can of soda, a computer operating system offers different experiences to different customers to meet different needs, while still moving the entire industry toward an exciting future of touch, mobility, and seamless, cross-device experiences,’ he wrote.

Shaw said that Microsoft’s acknowledgement that it needed to make some changes to Windows 8 should have been interpreted as a good sign because it was ‘listening to feedback and acting on it’ rather than simply sitting on its hands. He also defended Windows 8 as ‘a good product’ and said the company was going to ‘keep improving Windows 8, as we do with all our products, making what’s good even better.’

Shaw’s points about Microsoft deserving credit for listening to its user base is certainly fair. As we observed this week, bringing back some classic features from earlier Windows operating systems could go a long way toward bringing back some users who have been put off by the changes that Microsoft made with the new OS.”

This will be the successor to the amazing Logitech C920! Awesome!

The New Logitech C930e is Coming

“Logitech announced the Logitech Webcam C930e, it takes desktop video for business to the next level with industry-first features that include an extra-wide 90-degree field of view, support for the H.264 SVC and UVC 1.5 video encoding standards and high-definition digital pan-tilt-zoom.

The full 1080p high-definition Logitech C930e delivers enterprise-grade video collaboration with the widest field of view available in a desktop webcam for business, making it possible – for example – to show a full whiteboard on an office wall during a brainstorming session. The Carl Zeiss certified glass lens is engineered to avoid the “fish eye” distortion.

Optimized for Microsoft Lync, compatible with Cisco, Skype and most unified communications and videoconferencing applications, the Logitech C930e provides a digital pan-tilt-zoom feature that uniquely maintains a high-definition image at up to 4X magnification. This allows for smooth shifts in point of view during a video call, such as moving from a whiteboard to focus on a single individual.

Support for H.264 SVC and UVC 1.5 video encoding frees up PC bandwidth by processing video within the camera and automatically adjusting performance for maximum video-quality when bandwidth fluctuates. The Logitech C930e offers additional premium features including autofocus, an external privacy shutter and Logitech RightLight 2 technology, which intelligently adjusts the image to improve visual quality in low-light at multiple distances.

The Logitech Webcam C930e – compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8 and Mac OS X 10.7 or higher – is expected to be available worldwide in May 2013 for a suggested price of $109.99.”

Yes, it is vulnerable, and insecure, AND it doesn’t support web standards… PLEASE consider switching to Chrome, and tell your friends!

May’s Patch Tuesday to fix two critical flaws in Internet Explorer

“Next week, Microsoft will patch 33 vulnerabilities in 10 bulletins relating to Internet Explorer, with two bulletins rated ‘critical.’

While few details are given about the security issues, today’s advanced security bulletin outlined flaws in a range of other products, including Microsoft Office, .NET Framework, Microsoft Lync, and Windows Essentials.

Bulletin 1 relates to all versions of Internet Explorer 6 to 10, including Windows 8 and Windows RT devices. A patch will be released to fix issues discovered at two security conferences earlier this year.

Bulletin 2 relates to the recent Internet Explorer 8 zero-day flaw designed to target U.S. government workers. The software giant said it was ‘working’ to have a full patch ready for a critical zero-day flaw for Internet Explorer 8, in which the company issued an emergency out-of-band ‘Fix It’ patch on Thursday.

The other eight bulletins are considered ‘important.’

The remaining eight patches will address flaws that range from denial-of-service errors that can cause Windows to crash, to remote code exectution issues in Microsoft Office and Lync, an elevation of privileges that would allow an attacker to gain additional rights to the affected system, and information disclosure issues relating to Windows Essentials 2011 and 2012.

Included with the security patches, we can expect Microsoft to issue a number of non-security related fixes to its Surface Pro and Surface RT tablets, in line with previous months.

According to ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, the company has delivered 739 updates for Windows 8 and Windows RT in the nearly seven month period since the two versions were launched in October. These fixes included battery life improvements to additional driver support.

The security fixes will be released on May 14 through the usual update channels, such as Windows and Microsoft Update.”

An Open Sourced HTML5 Gaming design engine… cool!

Turbulenz HTML5 game engine is now open source

“Some of the best things in the world are open source — that is to say that the basic code or instructions for it are available for everyone to use for free. Google’s Android operating system, for example, is open to anyone who wants to use it. That provides companies like Amazon and Ouya with the base infrastructure they needed to create unique software for their consumer-electronic devices.

In gaming, open-source code can lead to a lot of experimentation from smaller developers. That is what technology firm Turbulenz is hoping for. The company revealed today that it is making its HTML5 gaming engine, also called Turbulenz, open and available to everyone.

‘HTML5 isn’t about tech demos anymore,’ Turbulenz chief executive James Austin told GamesBeat. ‘With the Turbulenz Engine, it’s powering a new generation of high quality and engaging content accessible instantly online.’

The rendering code is available now to download from Github. Several developers already use Turbulenz to power their 2D and 3D HTML5 games on tablets, on smartphones, and in browsers.

‘The Turbulenz Engine contains an extensive range of features and services for creating games,’ Turbulenz chief executive James Austin said in a statement. ‘The engine was designed to be a complete Internet generation game engine. By this, we mean a game engine that was conceived, designed, and implemented specifically for building games that are played via the Internet using web technologies, rather than as a native application on a console or PC.’

Austin and his team designed Turbulenz with performance and modularity in mind. Basically, that means the engine is malleable and can meet many different developers’ needs while maintaining a decent framerate.”

I’ve seen TV shows on this, it has been discussed… “What if you could print a non-metal gun?” Well, now you can! Scary? Yes. Geeky? Yes.

Photos are available in the article at the link below.

This Is The World’s First Entirely 3D-Printed Gun (Photos)

“Eight months ago, Cody Wilson set out to create the world’s first entirely 3D-printable handgun.

Now he has.

Early next week, Wilson, a 25-year University of Texas law student and founder of the non-profit group Defense Distributed, plans to release the 3D-printable CAD files for a gun he calls ‘the Liberator,’ pictured in its initial form above. He’s agreed to let me document the process of the gun’s creation, so long as I don’t publish details of its mechanics or its testing until it’s been proven to work reliably and the file has been uploaded to Defense Distributed’s online collection of printable gun blueprints at Defcad.org.

All sixteen pieces of the Liberator prototype were printed in ABS plastic with a Dimension SST printer from 3D printing company Stratasys, with the exception of a single nail that’s used as a firing pin. The gun is designed to fire standard handgun rounds, using interchangeable barrels for different calibers of ammunition.

Technically, Defense Distributed’s gun has one other non-printed component: the group added a six ounce chunk of steel into the body to make it detectable by metal detectors in order to comply with the Undetectable Firearms Act. In March, the group also obtained a federal firearms license, making it a legal gun manufacturer.

Of course, Defcad’s users may not adhere to so many rules. Once the file is online, anyone will be able to download and print the gun in the privacy of their garage, legally or not, with no serial number, background check, or other regulatory hurdles. ‘You can print a lethal device,’ Wilson told me last summer. ‘It’s kind of scary, but that’s what we’re aiming to show.’

Since it was founded last August, Wilson’s group has sought to make as many components of a gun as possible into printable blueprints and to host those controversial files online, thwarting gun laws and blurring the lines between the regulation of firearms and information censorship. So far those pieces have included high capacity ammunition magazines for AR-15s and AK-47s, as well as an AR lower receiver, the body of that semi-automatic rifle to which off-the-shelf components like a stock and barrel can be attached.

Those early experiments have made Cody Wilson into one of the most controversial figures in the 3D printing community. In October of last year, Stratasys seized a printer it had rented to Defense Distributed after the company learned how its machine was being used. New York congressman Steve Israel has responded to Defense Distributed’s work by introducing a bill that would renew the Undetectable Firearms Act with new provisions aimed specifically at 3D printed components. In January, personal 3D printing firm Makerbot removed all gun components from Thingiverse, its popular site for hosting users’ printable designs.

All of that opposition has only made Wilson more eager to prove the possibility of a 3D printed firearm. ‘Everyone talks about the 3D printing revolution. Well, what did you think would happen when everyone has the means of production?’ Wilson asked when we spoke earlier in the week. ‘I’m interested to see what the potential for this tool really is. Can it print a gun?’

It seems that it can.”