Microsoft Bing

Microsoft Corp. is rolling out a redesigned search site in the coming days and hopes it will lure more Web surfers than the two most recent incarnations, Live Search and MSN Search. The new site, Bing, adds touches intended to make everyday Web searching a little less haphazard. Bing also tries to make it easier for people to buy things, book travel and find credible health information...
Microsoft has been stuck in third place behind Google and Yahoo Inc. for years. Its share of U.S. search queries was 8.2 percent in April, according to the research group comScore Inc. Google was used for 64.2 percent of queries, and Yahoo's share totaled 20.4 percent...
When asked why Microsoft chose "Bing," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said, "The name is short, it's easy to say, it works globally."...
By Jessica Mintz, MSNBC

Laptops Vs. Netbooks

<-Dell Mini 12
"What makes a netbook? The answer, most manufacturers say, is in the processor, most commonly the low-voltage, low-cost Intel Atom processor, with Intel's development of it having partly created netbooks. AMD has its Athlon Neo processor, and just announced its dual-core Athlon Neo to serve larger but lighter laptops...
As far as what defines a netbook versus any other type of laptop, "the lines are blurring," ... "The lines were sort of artificial to begin with. The way we've put these products out into the market right now, it's still hard for the consumer to know what we're trying to offer them."
The netbook market has come a long way, he said, in offering consumers improved devices with bigger screens, keyboards and battery life. "You're hard-pressed now to find any of the original products that set up the netbook market," he said."
By Suzanne Choney

What do you think is best for college?
Since the keyboards are smaller is typing impaired?
Will netbooks replace cell phones and smartphones?

Motion Control for XBOX

"Microsoft introduced a prototype camera Monday that can be used as a controller for the Xbox 360. Codenamed "Project Natal," the camera eliminates the need for a hand-held input device — instead, the gizmo can track a player's full body movement, recognize their face and voice, scan images of real items and respond to both physical and vocal commands...
During the press conference, "Project Natal" was demonstrated with three prototype programs: "Ricochet," a soccer-like game which required the player to use their entire body to bounce balls at targets; "Paint Party," an art-making program that used the player's body as the brush; and "Milo," a virtual boy who communicated and interacted with the player."
By Derrik J. Lang MSNBC

Wii or Xbox?
Are motion controls better then gamepads?
How accurate do you think this might be?

Wikipidea Fraud

"DUBLIN - When Dublin university student Shane Fitzgerald posted a poetic but phony quote on Wikipedia, he said he was testing how our globalized, increasingly Internet-dependent media was upholding accuracy and accountability in an age of instant news.
His report card: Wikipedia passed. Journalism flunked.
The sociology major's made-up quote — which he added to the Wikipedia page of Maurice Jarre hours after the French composer's death March 28 — flew straight on to dozens of U.S. blogs and newspaper Web sites in Britain, Australia and India.
They used the fabricated material, Fitzgerald said, even though administrators at the free online encyclopedia quickly caught the quote's lack of attribution and removed it, but not quickly enough to keep some journalists from cutting and pasting it first. A full month went by and nobody noticed the editorial fraud. So Fitzgerald told several media outlets in an e-mail and the corrections began"...
Fitzgerald stressed that Wikipedia's system requiring about 1,500volunteer "administrators" and the wider public to spot bogus additions did its job, removing the quote three times within minutes or hours. It was journalists eager for a quick, pithy quote that was the problem."
By Shawn Pogatchnik

Do you find Wikipidea to be a reliable source?
Do you think this might reveal more errors in past news reports?
Will this change journalism?

Cool car technologies

Automated steering, other in-car features face legal, regulatory concerns

"Want your car to automatically brake to avoid a crash, fly high over traffic-clogged roads or get 100 miles per gallon? Too bad, because while all of those things are technically possible, they are impractical for legal or financial reasons, which means you can't have one anytime soon..."
Click Here to see more
By Dan Carney
msnbc.com contributor
There is a poll in the column to the right for quick comments.

Keeping a (cyber)eye on the kids

"Symantec plans to launch a promising Web-based service called OnlineFamily.Norton to help parents get a grip on what their kids are doing online...Parents can view reports on what their kids are doing on the Internet,... tap into easy-to-digest activity reports from any computer connected to the Internet — and peek at thumbnail images of Web destinations that are blocked... Another excellent feature: Parents can be notified if kids misrepresent their age or try to create an account within a social network."

By Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY 4/23/09

Although this is aimed towards parents of younger children, do you think is being over-protective?
Do you think your parents might be watching your computer use?
Will this be successful?

Cell Phones

As technology has grown, we have gained the ability to make very complex things very small. Cell phones have become more and more minute and are already very easy too lose.

Are cell phones too small?
Do you think they can become smaller?
Have you ever lost a cell phone due to its size?
Are Bluetooth technologies / Wireless headsets making life easier, or more difficult?

Windows 7

In a recent study, most businesses and schools agreed that they would skip over Windows Vista, and move on to the next Microsoft Operating System, Windows 7 (which is to be released October 2009).
Already XP is somewhat outdated, and Microsoft's major focus has been to build up and change the public view of Vista.

Is Vista really that terrible? If so, Why?
Do you think Microsoft has enough feedback about Vista to create an extremely successful Operating System like XP?
Is Microsoft losing popularity to Apple?

Internet Explorer 8

Microsoft has recently introduced IE8. They have stuffed it full with extra features to make our lives easier.

Do you think this is too much?
Not enought to get you away from FireFox?
Will these features actually be helpful?