Reduce Firefox's Toolbars

If there is no page to go back to, no page loading, or no page to go forward to, you can save some screen real estate in Firefox by disabling those buttons on your toolbar when they cannot be used. The following changes can be added to your userChrome.css, which will remove those buttons when they are not usable. The buttons will automatically appear when they can be used.

#back-button[disabled="true"] { display: none; }
#forward-button[disabled="true"] { display: none; }
#stop-button[disabled="true"] { display: none; }

NaNoWriMo Begins in Two Days

If you've never heard of NaNoWriMo before it is National Novel Writing Month. It is held every November with the goal of completing a novel (50,000 words, around 175 pages) from start to finish in one month. Editing is not important, that is for December.

For more information, please visit NaNoWriMo.org.

Citations, Equations, and References in Word 2007

Reed @ the Microsoft Office Word Team's blog has a great post detailing some of the new reference, citation, and equation features in Microsoft Word 2007.

Create A Password Management Plan

via The Productivity Portfolio blog:

When was the last time you changed your passwords? If you have a hard time coming up with an approximate date, don’t worry. The bigger question is whether you have a personal password plan. Although this sounds daunting, it’s easy to create one that strikes a balance between security and convenience.

1. Use a Password Manager

One problem is we seldom realize how many passwords we have until we start recording them. This is where it becomes essential to have a good password manager that securely stores this information.

A good software package will accommodate many information types whether it’s your credit card number or bank login. These programs should also encrypt your data with a non-proprietary encryption method. Two password manager programs that we’ve used include RoboForm and SplashID.

2. Prioritize Your Passwords

When a crisis occurs one of the first steps is to triage the situation. The same applies to your passwords based on what you’re trying to protect. As example, the password to access your bank takes a higher priority than one to read the online version of a magazine. The key question is what would you lose (or someone else gain) if someone else got access.

When evaluating the risk, also think about what an online service knows about you. For example, you may not think twice about merchant XYZ. You only bought from them once in the year. But what if the service maintains your address and credit card data for easy ordering? Do you also use that password on other popular ecommerce sites?

3. Create a Password Formula

Relax, this is not as complicated as it sounds. The idea is to make it easier to remember your passwords. You don’t have to go through a brain drain trying to think of something clever.

If you are stuck, most password managers have a feature where they can create a random password for you. While this method works, I prefer to remember mine in case I need to log in from a remote computer.

The trick I use is to think of an expression, book, slogan or quote that relates to what I’m protecting. From there, I use a formula to apply against that expression. It might be the first letter of each word, last or both. This is like the old tricks people used to remember the lines of the treble clef. “Every good boy deserves fudge.” Below are some sample password formulas to give you an idea.

Starting Phrase	Sample Formula	Resulting password
Every good boy deserves fudge	First letter of each word	Egbdf
Every good boy deserves fudge	Last letter of each word	ydyse
Every good boy deserves fudge	Number of letters per word	54385
Every good boy deserves fudge	First word letter + word count	Egbdf5

4. Routinely Change Passwords

Even though you may have a strong password, you still need to change it. I change my important passwords and batteries when I adjust the clock for daylight savings.

There is one password I don’t change that I call my default sequence. I use it for sites that require registration to read the content. I use the same account and password as there is little risk. I don’t even record these entries in my password manager.

5. Know what to Expect

One nice thing about changing passwords on your schedule is you know what to expect. Most systems will send you a notification when you change your passwords. This gives you an opportunity to see what these real emails look like.

• Does the email contain your name?
• Does the email have a line about who to contact if you didn’t request this change?
• What is the sender’s email address?
• Does the email use no-reply address?
• Is the email plain text or HTML?

Once you create your password management plan, I’m sure you’ll see that it takes less time to manage than you thought. Plus, you’ll also be thankful you have all the information in one safe place.

Seven Topics To Avoid During Conversation If You Don't Want To Be A Bore

via Gretchen Rubin @ The Happiness Project

1. A dream.
2. The recent changes in your child’s nap schedule.
3. The route you took to get here.
4. An excellent meal you once had at a restaurant.
5. The latest additions to your wine cellar.
6. An account your last golf game.
7. The plot of a movie, play, or movie—in particular, the funny parts.

Inside Google's Ann Arbor Office

via Mary Hayes Weier @ InformationWeek

Google has its sprawling headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., and flashy offices in Manhattan. But it's got another growing office close to the country's heartland: Ann Arbor, Mich.

Google Ann Arbor is downtown near the University of Michigan campus.
(click for image gallery)

Google Ann Arbor also is hiring -- for 850 positions, in fact. Opened last year, Google promised the state as part of a tax-break deal that it will hire 1,000 people in Ann Arbor over the next few years. Google has hired just over 150 employees so far, and is expanding from one to four floors in a downtown Ann Arbor office building.

Google Ann Arbor is the new headquarters for AdWords, the company's advertising system and its largest revenue source. Most of the facilities' employees are AdWords sales and customer service representatives. Google is familiar with the area: Co-founder Larry Page grew up in the state and got his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The company views the region as a hot talent pool of college graduates that don't require the high salaries needed to live comfortably in Manhattan and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Grady Burnett, director of online sales and operations at Google Ann Arbor, said the office draws graduates from both Midwestern and East Coast universities, and occasionally graduates from West Coast universities.

Google Ann Arbor is a smaller, toned-down version of the company's pampering headquarters in Mountain View. Employees are treated to free hot lunches and an abundance of snacks and drinks; Starbucks latte machines; masseuse services; an onsite workout facility; and staff trips to places like Squaw Valley ski resort in California.

The company also hopes to lure talent with the city's quality of life. The culture is youthful -- about one in three people in Ann Arbor's population of 115,000 is an undergraduate or graduate student at the University of Michigan. The city's politics lean to the left, and the university and its medical center draw students and staff from China, India, the Middle East, Europe, and other regions.

[where: 48104]

Microsoft Slashes Prices For Microsoft Dynamics CRM

via Mary Hayes Weier @ InformationWeek:

Microsoft took another step in its strategy Tuesday to gain share in the on-demand CRM market, announcing that it's slashing the license fees for Microsoft Dynamics CRM to resellers by 40%.

It's yet another sign of Microsoft's determination to go after market leader Salesforce.com.

Microsoft can't make real inroads, however, without the participation of its resellers. With the price reduction, resellers will now pay the company about $15 per subscription, providing them with potentially higher profit margins. Resellers offering Dynamics typically charge around $50 per seat for the basic package, although customization can drive up that cost to around $200 or so.

The move could prompt Saleforce.com to drop prices on the lower end of its product offerings. Gartner ranked Salesforce.com as the leader in the on-demand CRM market in a report issued earlier this year based on the quality of its software; Dynamics lacks some of the desired features in Salesforce.com that's allowed it to win more deals. But Salesforce.com's premium pricing of between $125 and $195 per user could create problems for the company as it faces increasing pricing pressure from Microsoft.

Microsoft also is working to get its first multitenant version of Dynamics -- version 4.0, also called Titan -- in the hands of resellers by year's end. With Dynamics 4.0, resellers can host multiple customers on one server, further driving down their operational costs for Dynamics.

At a Microsoft customer and reseller conference in Copenhagen Tuesday, Microsoft announced new European and Australian resellers for Dynamics that include EveryWare, Increase, JayThom, and Mondo.

Beating "White Screen Syndrome"

via Robert Janelle @ Freelance Switch

I’ve done all my research, triple-checked my facts, now I just need to write the article.

I fire up the word processor and am I prepared to hammer out the best thousand words I’ve ever written. Then I lean forward to type…and…nothing inspires me. Not even the fact that my deadline is in one hour.

This is what I like to call “white screen syndrome.” You know you need to write something but can’t seem to do anything other than stare at the blank white window in front of you.

Freelancers are business, and being in business means writing to some degree. Whether it’s correspondence, a blog entry or magazine articles, something usually needs to be written and the white screen syndrome beaten. The following are a few methods I’ve come to use to get past it.

Begin Anywhere But the Beginning

That first paragraph, the one that’s supposed to engage the reader and make them want to read on is often the hardest one to write. It’s been one of my biggest sources of writer’s block, since I’m uncomfortable writing if I don’t have a beginning.

However, when I was an intern at a daily newspaper and tasked with writing three articles per day, I didn’t have the luxury of suffering from writer’s block. So to get around it, my default opening sentence was “Lead goes here.”

I’d then continue with the rest of the article as if there was already something brilliant to start it with.

Once the article was done, it was pretty clear what it was about and summarizing it at the beginning was much easier.

Write What You REALLY Mean (But edit it later…)

“I have to write about writer’s block and yet I have writer’s block, LAME!! So, how am I going to get this done in time – frankly, I wish I could just type what I’m thinking and sending in a piece about how lame writer’s block is…”

My favourite method of getting something on the white screen is to just write what’s going through my head on the subject – then revise afterwards. I see it as a combination of stream-of-consciousness writing and Ann Lamont’s “shitty first draft.”

You know the subject matter, so just write. Usually it can be modified into something useful at the end and who knows, maybe you’ll find a few great sentences you wouldn’t have written if you were trying to stay professional.

I’ve written a few articles entirely like this and only had to edit out all the obscenities.

Just remember to edit before submitting!

Look Away From the Screen and Think Visually

I’ve suggested mind-mapping in other columns and I’m going to mention it again.

In fact, I was introduced to the method by a senior writer at a newspaper when he noticed I’d get back from whatever protest, car accident or fire I’d been sent to and stare at the whiteness about an hour before doing anything.

Sit back with a piece of paper, write words related to what you’re trying to write, draws lines to see the relationships. This is especially helpful for visual learners.

This helps juice up the right brain and hopefully ideas will pop out and least get you started.

Of course, with everything said and done, you could beat “white screen syndrome” by just changing the default background colour in the word processor.

Office 2007 Administrative Templates (.adm .admx .adml)

Judith Herman on the Microsoft Group Policy Team Blog has exciting news from the Microsoft Office 2007 team - The 2007 Office System Administrative Template is available.

This download includes:

• The updated Group Policy Administrative Template files (ADM files)
• The updated Office Customization Tool (OCT)
• The updated Office customization tool OPA files
• ADMX and ADML versions of the 2007 Microsoft Office system Administrative Template files for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
• An Excel workbook that provides information about the 2007 Office system Group Policy settings and OPA settings.
• Multiple language versions of the template files, including English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.

You can download them from this link at Microsoft.com.

How to beat writer's block

Via Ransom @ the Mental Floss Magazine blog:

I’ve got a lot of stuff on my writing plate these days, and as such I deal with my fair share of that dreaded — but not usually fatal — affliction: writer’s block. I’m certainly not alone. Some of our greatest writers have battled the block, but every one of them had their own quirky way of dealing with it. Here are some of my favorites.

When Victor Hugo wasn’t writing Les Miserables, he was miserables — from writer’s block. His cure? He instructed his servant to take away all his clothes for several hours, during which time he would only have access to a pen and paper. That way, he reasoned, there was nothing else he could do but write.

Graham Greene wrote exactly 500 words per day, even stopping mid-sentence if necessary.

Novelist and journalist Alan Furst had an unusual set of conditions he imposed upon himself early in his career, writing “with one eye closed, my feet tied together, left-handed, with a dull pencil.”

Playwright Maxwell Anderson claimed he could only write while it was raining, and to make sure he was productive even when the weather was clear, he had a sprinkler system installed on the roof of his studio.

Film legends The Coen Brothers found themselves struggling with writer’s block halfway through the script for Miller’s Crossing, and rather than press on, they decided to work on a different script: Barton Fink. Three weeks later, it was nearly finished, and Fink — I think it’s their best work — became a movie about a screenwriter struggling with writer’s block.

Sherwood Anderson quit his job as the manager of a paint factory and left his family in 1906 to devote himself full-time to writing. Assuming he was a good investment, his publishers sent him checks each week until he asked them to stop, explaining “It’s no use; I find it impossible to work with security staring me in the face.”

Perhaps the most tragic of all writer’s block stories is Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s. By most accounts, he produced his best work in his mid-twenties. By age 32, he had begun to despair of his own diminishing abilities, writing in his journal “So completely has a whole year passed, with scarcely the fruits of a month! O sorrow and shame … I have done nothing!” Coleridge wasn’t the only one who felt he was wasting his life: his friends implored him to write again, but he insisted that the very idea filled him with “an indefinite indescribable terror.” “You bid me rouse myself,” he said to an incredulous friend. “Go, bid a man paralytic in both arms rub them briskly together, and that will cure him!” If Coleridge looked into any cures for writer’s block besides smoking opium, none of them worked.

As for me, I have a number of strategies I employ to beat writer’s block, though none are sure-fire cures: a brisk walk can be helpful; endless soloing on the guitar I keep near my desk; cat-petting; compulsive email-checking and/or web surfing (this definitely doesn’t help); listening to music with no lyrics. How do you beat writer’s block?

Organize Your Downloads

Via Ed Bott:

If you’re like most people, you store downloaded programs in a variety of locations-on the desktop, in the My Documents folder, or wherever the Save As dialog box happens to be pointing when you download a file. I recommend that you look for these downloaded program files on your hard disk and pull all of them together into one well-organized Downloads folder. You can then transfer the whole collection to your new PC by copying that folder, and when you’re ready to reinstall that software, you can do so quickly and efficiently by working through all the items stored there. Spending a few extra minutes getting organized now can save you hours later.

Start by looking at the list of programs you use most often. For each of those programs that you acquired by downloading, your goal is to find the original Setup files (compressed Zip files, executable programs, or Windows Installer files) and organize them in a common location. If you can’t find the files for a favorite program, or if your downloaded copy is more than a year old, find the software maker’s Web site and download a fresh copy. (A program’s Help menu often includes the software maker’s Web address; if not, use your favorite search engine to track it down.)

Finally, go through your old e-mail, printed receipts, and other sources to find serial numbers, product keys, and other important information you might need to reinstall the software. This information is especially important when you’ve downloaded a trial version of a program and then paid to upgrade it to the registered version. You’ll need to supply your proof of purchase to unlock the program’s full set of features when you install it on a new PC (or reinstall it after a disk crash or other disaster).

Here’s how you can mirror the system I use to keep downloads organized:

1. In the My Documents folder, create a subfolder called Downloads.
2. Within the Downloads folder, create a subfolder for each downloaded program you’ll want on your new PC. I’ve got subfolders for WinZip, Nero, Adobe Reader, and dozens of other downloaded programs.
3. Download fresh copies of any programs on your list that you can’t find or that need updates. Now place the file or files for each downloaded program on your list into its related subfolder. Create a shortcut to the Web site from which you downloaded the program and place it in this subfolder as well, along with any notes about installing or registering the program. If a serial number or product key is required for installation, save that information in a text file along with the program files in the subfolder.

Every few months, I go through the Downloads folder and click the Web shortcut for each program I use regularly to see if a newer version is available. If I find an upgrade, I replace the existing file with the new one and upgrade the currently installed version. Then, I burn the contents of my Downloads folder to a CD or DVD, label it with the current date, and store it with the rest of my disks and documents.
Getting organized this way takes some extra time initially, but once your Downloads directory is created, it takes only a few extra seconds to create a new folder to store a new downloaded program. And you’ll save plenty of time if you ever need to reinstall a program.

Basic Wireless Security (Myth vs. Reality)

Steve Riley has a great post on his Security blog @ Technet about Wireless Security and the myth of "hidden" SSIDs. Here is an excerpt:

Folks, there are fundamental differences between names, which are public claims of identities, and authenticators, which are secrets used to prove identities, and I've written extensively about this before. An SSID is a network name, not -- I repeat, not -- a password. A wireless network has an SSID to distinguish it from other wireless networks in the vicinity. The SSID was never designed to be hidden, and therefore won't provide your network with any kind of protection if you try to hide it. It's a violation of the 802.11 specification to keep your SSID hidden; the 802.11i specification amendment (which defines WPA2, discussed later) even states that a computer can refuse to communicate with an access point that doesn't broadcast its SSID. And, even if you think your SSID is hidden, it really isn't. Let me explain.

All 802.11 wireless networks, regardless of the kind of operating system or encryption you might use, also emit unencrypted frames at times. One kind of unencrypted frame is an association frame. This is what a client computer, or "supplicant" in the 802.11 protocol vernacular, emits when it wants to join a wireless network. Contained within the frame, in clear text of course (since the frame is unencrypted), is the SSID of the network the supplicant wants to join.

Windows Home Server Review

Ars Technica has posted a good overall review of Windows Home Server, so I would rather point you that way than re-invent the wheel. Check out their review posted online today.

The Ball Bearing and the Beach Ball

Via Michael Brooke:

1. I am not publishing a magazine – I am helping to document and foster change within skateboarding. The magazine is part of a greater movement within skateboarding. Concrete Wave exists to spread specific ideas. The more people we can spread these ideas too, the more success we achieve.

2. I am not merely building readers or subscribers – I am building a cult of supporters, each of whom will further support the cause and bring in more readers and subscribers.

3. I build marketing INTO the product and distribution. By limiting the kinds of advertisers I allow, by keeping the editorial strictly focused and by carefully distributing the magazine, my readers and advertisers trust the magazine to deliver on its promise of 100% skateboarding. I will never betray that trust.

4. Concrete Wave wishes to remain a ball bearing – small, hard to find and continually in the state of being polished. Our goal is to provide readers with a deep impression when they get hit with it. Conversely, we do not aim to be a beach ball – big, seen all over the place, colorful and yet leaving very little impression when it hits. A beach ball is very fragile indeed and must avoid challenging environments, because it requires so much air to keep it afloat. A weighty ball bearing can withstand both challenging environments along with the pin pricks of adversity.

Organize the Start Menu in XP

If you're always right clicking on your Start Menu and clicking "open" and "open all users", then manually creating, moving, or deleting icons and folders to organize your start menu you might want to check out SMOz. SMOz (Start Menu OrganiZer) is a free, open source application which allows you to organize your start menu by category. It also comes with many predefined templates which will automatically move icons like "iTunes" into folders like "Multimedia" if you so choose.

Google Buys Jaikido

Jaikido Press Release:

Exciting news: Google has bought Jaiku today.

What does that mean? First and foremost, we’re of course continuing to support our existing users. So fear not: your Jaiku phone, the Web site, IM, SMS, and API will continue to work normally.

That said, new user sign-ups have been limited for the time being. The idea here is to enable our team to get right to work with Google’s engineers on delivering a new, better service to you as quickly as we can instead of spending our efforts on optimizing the current back-end. Existing users will still be able to invite their friends, and those who are not yet on Jaiku can send us a request for an invitation to join.

We’ve put together a short FAQ about the acquisition, and we’ll continue to provide support on the #jaiku channel. But we’re eager to go beyond what’s there today, and build something completely new for you to enjoy. Take this as an invitation to join us on a journey to reinvent how you communicate and stay in touch with the people you care about.

Dell Readies MacBook Pro Rival

via Information Week

Dell is expected to introduce a successor to its high-end ultraportable PC that will sell head to head against Apple's MacBook Pro, according to sources familiar with Dell's plans.

The Dell XPS M1530, a successor to the M1330 that shipped in the summer, would have a 15.4-inch display, Intel Core 2 Duo options from 1.5 GHz to 2.6 GHz, and an Nvidia GeForce 8400M or 8600M graphics processor, the technology enthusiast site Engadget reported. The M1330 has a 13.3-inch display, an optional GeForce 8400M processor, and Core 2 Duo options from 1.5 GHz to 2.2 GHz.

A Dell spokesperson declined comment, but a source familiar with the PC maker's plans confirmed that the M1530 was in the works, and specs reported on the Web were from "90% to 95% good." The reported Nov. 7 release date, however, was "off," the source said.

Dell's XPS notebooks are marketed primarily to gaming enthusiasts. The M1330 and upcoming M1530, however, are meant for a broader audience, particularly people who do a lot of nonprofessional photo and video editing, and watch high-definition video. Pricing for the M1330 starts at $1,399. Pricing for the M1530 have not yet been disclosed.

Apple's MacBook Pro is aimed at a similar audience. The notebooks are available with 2.2-GHz or 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors, and 15-inch or 17-inch displays. They also come with an Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor, and up to 4 Gbytes of memory. The notebooks are an inch thick and weigh 5.4 and 6.8 pounds, respectively. Pricing starts at $1,999.

The Dell XPS M1330, which is smaller than the MacBook Pro and comes with an Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, is available with up to 4 Gbytes of memory and weighs slightly less than 4 pounds. The notebook is slightly more than an inch thick.

Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks have been selling well in the U.S. consumer market against PCs. Apple's portables accounted for 9.9% of U.S.-based retail notebooks sales in March, according to the NPD Group, a retail analysis firm. Dell, which sells mostly direct but is broadening its retail presence, isn't included in NPD's figures.

Notebook shipments are rising a lot faster than desktops and are expected to eventually surpass the latter. Mobile PCs this year are expected to account for nearly 40% of the 264 million PCs expected to ship this year, an 11.2% increase from 2006, according to industry analyst firm iSuppli.

McAfee To Acquire Data-Encryption Vendor SafeBoot

via Information Week

Security software vendor McAfee on Monday said it has agreed to buy SafeBoot, a maker of enterprise data-encryption technology, for $350 million in cash.

If the deal closes as expected in the fourth quarter, McAfee said it will combine its technology with SafeBoot's to form the foundation of a new data protection business unit headed by SafeBoot chief executive Gerhard Watzinger, who would report to McAfee CEO Dave DeWalt. The transaction is expected to be dilutive to McAfee's 2008 GAAP earnings per share and neutral to non-GAAP EPS.

"The new product business unit will build on both companies' data protection offerings, helping us integrate and deliver market leading new solutions for data protection," DeWalt said in a joint statement with Watziner.

Privately owned SafeBoot has more than 4,200 customers, including more than 150 listed in the Fortune 500, the companies said. SafeBoot has 47% of its customers in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia; 29% in North America; and 23% in Asia Pacific.

SafeBoot's Data Protection Suite lets users encrypt individual files and folders, as well as entire local hard drives, to protect data during distribution to mobile devices, such as laptops, smartphones, USB drives, and handheld computers. SafeBoot software also can encrypt files severs to secure confidential files as they move throughout an organization.

McAfee said it plans to integrate SafeBoot's products in its ePolicy Orchestrator, which is McAfee's centralized management console for enterprise security.

SafeBoot CEO Watzinger said combining his company's technology with McAfee's resources would "help our customers address the complex challenges of managing their data security, and position both companies to capture new opportunities in our rapidly growing markets."

McAfee said it would pursue SafeBoot's "significant and untapped" opportunities in the small- and midsize-business and consumer markets, while offering SafeBoot customers the option of integrating McAfee products into their security software.

Perhaps it was a hint of his company's future plans when DeWalt in May told an audience at the Interop show in Las Vegas that the company mainly known for antivirus software was poised to tackle the costly problem of data loss. Acknowledging that data loss has reached epidemic proportions, DeWalt, then the new president and CEO of McAfee, said taking on the growing problem is going to be a "killer opportunity" for the security company.

“Notepad for PowerShell” - PowerGUI 1.0.11 is out

via Microsoft PowerShell Blog

PowerGUI 1.0.11 is out and can be freely downloaded from PowerGUI downloads page.

This is probably one of the most community-driven releases we had. Most of the features are implementations of enhancements and fixes suggested by the PowerGUI community and the key features - stand-alone PowerShell script editor is no exception.

That’s right, now you can use the script editor we introduced in 1.0.9 not just for PowerGUI node, actions, and links but also for any ps1 files on your disk:

The editor has all you would expect:

• Syntax highlight,
• Intellisense for PowerShell cmdlets and cmdlet parameters,
• Tooltips with syntax information,
• Matching brackets, search/replace, regions,
• Ability to export, run, print, etc.

And more importantly we tried to do our best to add these goodies without sacrificing the advantages of the main PowerShell editor on the market today - Windows Notepad. The script editor:

• Is absolutely free (installs as one of the features of PowerGUI), and
• Is very lightweight and fast.

AppSnap Updates Your Existing Software

via LifeHacker
Software updater AppSnap can now detect what applications already exist on your system and check for new versions online in one click. AppSnap comes with a fabulous list of free software built in. You check off the ones you want and AppSnap downloads and installs them for you. That's great for building new systems, but now AppSnap can find apps already installed on your machine, let you know which ones have a new version available for download online, and upgrade them in one shot. Two thumbs up. AppSnap is a free download for Windows only.

Internet Explorer 7 Update

via Steve Reynolds @ IE Blog

Almost a year ago, we released Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP. Since then, IE7 is well on its way to becoming the most used browser in the world, and we’ve seen lots of evidence that IE7 makes it safer and easier to accomplish everyday tasks online. For example, the built-in Phishing Filter has protected consumers from known phishing web sites an average of 900,000 times per week. IE7 is the first – and still the only – browser with native support for Extended Validation SSL Certificates that help prevent online fraud. (Of course, tabbed browsing, QuickTabs, shrink-to-fit printing, an easily customizable search box, CSS improvements, and some add-ons are all good things too.)

Because Microsoft takes its commitment to help protect the entire Windows ecosystem seriously, we’re updating the IE7 installation experience to make it available as broadly as possible to all Windows users. With today’s “Installation and Availability Update,” Internet Explorer 7 installation will no longer require Windows Genuine Advantage validation and will be available to all Windows XP users. If you are not already running IE7, you can get it now from the Internet Explorer home page on Microsoft.com, get a customized version from a third-party site, or, if you haven’t already received it via Automatic Updates, this version will be delivered to you as we described previously. If you are already running IE7, you will not be offered IE7 again by Automatic Updates.

Additionally, we’ve made minor changes to IE7 for Windows XP based on customer feedback:

• The menu bar is now visible by default.
• The Internet Explorer 7 online tour has updated how-to’s. Also, the “first-run” experience includes a new overview.
• We’ve included a new MSI installer that simplifies deployment for IT administrators in enterprises. Learn more about it here.

Five Reasons Nokia Should Buy Skype From eBay

Via Stephen Wellman @ the Information Week blog:

According to Henry Blodget at Silicon Alley Insider (Henry Blodget and Silicon Alley, two great Web 1.0 tastes that go great together?),eBay's acquisition of Skype can now be officially tagged a bomb. How long will it be until Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft buys Skype?

Blodget analyzes the collapse of Skype:

The Skype acquisition never made sense strategically, and one reason Skype has struggled, we think, is that it is just a distraction to eBay (which needs desperately to focus on its core commerce business). eBay should immediately sell what's left of Skype to Yahoo, Microsoft, or Google, all companies that offer portfolios of communications services that Skype might actually benefit from being a part of.

Skype is rapidly surrendering its early dominance of soft-phone VOIP to other more focused competitors, and if it stays within the eBay fold, we think further write-downs will be in the offing. Skype was a $2-$4 billion eBay hail-Mary pass, and it just officially fell incomplete. eBay should just acknowledge that and move on.

Of course, Blodget argues that eBay should sell Skype to Google or Yahoo or MSN. While I think that's interesting, I think the company that should buy Skype is Nokia. And here are five reasons:

1. Skype's Real Potential Is On Mobile Devices
Skype's real promise has always been with mobility. I use Skype for all of my long distance when I travel abroad on business trips. While Skype on a laptop is great, I'd much rather have Skype on a dual-mode smartphone with Wi-Fi access. That way I could Skype over 3G or Skype over Wi-Fi in my hotel room or at the trade show conference floor.

Imagine the Skype client built in to Nokia's S60 platform and the Symbian OS. This could give Nokia's mobile devices a new differentiator and competitive advantage.

2. Nokia Is Getting Serious About VoIP
Nokia is making a major push into the VoIP market, especially for business users. Skype has amazing brand recognition with consumers and business travelers (many of whom use Skype the way I do to cut down on telecom costs while on the road). Nokia could easily upgrade Skype's business offering and make a more robust version of the platform for both the enterprise and the SMB markets.

3. Skype Would Make Nokia More Of A Web Services Company
Look, Nokia just kicked down $8.1 billion for Navteq in large part because the company wants to evolve from being just a handset maker. Why not combine location technology from Navteq with Skype's VoIP, IM, and other IP communications technologies? Imagine what this could do for mobile communications.

Surely, with its global share of the handset market, Nokia more than any other company could figure out a way to make money off Skype.

4. Embrace The Agent Of Your Own Disruption
By buying Skype, Nokia would move from being a handset maker that caters to carriers to being the company that helps revolutionize the mobile industry. Let's face it, peer-to-peer VoIP technologies like Skype will eventually cut into the carrier business model. Nokia knows this and the carriers know this. Why not buy the company that helped kick-start this trend and then use it to rebuild this industry?

5. Do It Before Google Uses Google Talk To Win The Handset Market
It looks like the gPhone is coming, and you can bet Google is going to push its own VoIP service, Google Talk, on it. Google has the cash and the brand name to push peer-to-peer VoIP into the mainstream. By buying Skype now, Nokia can use Skype's technology and brand name to fight Google and the gPhone.

What do you think? Should Nokia buy Skype? And could Nokia use Skype to help it fight Google and become more of a Web services company?

Quote of the Day (every so often)

Via Ben Casnocha:

"And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for that is the one thing which by inspection destroys such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it, and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If that glory can be killed, we are lost."

--Steinbeck, East of Eden, 131.