inhiway

Microsoft gives away almost 300 ebooks -- master Windows 8.1, Office 365, and much more By Wayne Williams Published 1 hour ago ebooks Eric Ligman, Microsoft Senior Sales Excellence Manager, has released a whole new batch of free ebooks, covering topics such as Windows 8 and 8.1, Windows 7, Office 2013 and Office 365, Azure, Lync 2013, and SQL Server. There are ebooks and resource guides for all things Microsoft. For the past few years, Ligman has been writing posts in which he has given away almost 150 free Microsoft ebooks, and now he has another 130 more titles available to download for free, in addition to all the ones previously offered. Yes, that's right -- there are now close to 300 titles available. According to Ligman, 3.5 Million of these free ebooks have been downloaded as of last June, including over a million in a single week last year. He’s hoping the latest batch will lead to a similar downloading frenzy. The books are available in various formats including PDF, EPUB, and MOBI. You can browse the full section and download any that take your fancy, from (see link box). http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mssmallbiz/archive/2014/07/07/largest-collection-of-free-microsoft-ebooks-ever-including-windows-8-1-windows-8-windows-7-office-2013-office-365-office-2010-sharepoint-2013-dynamics-crm-powershell-exchange-server-lync-2013-system-center-azure-cloud-sql.aspx The ebooks are all of different lengths -- Ed Bott’s Introducing Windows 8.1 for IT Professionals, for example, is 139 pages, while Getting To Know Office 365 is 64 pages. OneNote 2013 Keyboard Shortcuts is (unsurprisingly given the topic) a svelte 8 pages. (This is a real deal. I'm not an IT tech guy, but more advanced hobbiest or IT pros might want to take advantage of this offer before Microsoft yanks it.)

Walk Off The Earth, a slightly quirky Canadian cover band, performs amazing recreations of popular music of varous genres, using an unlimited combination of homegrown music instruments with a core set of performers and guests. Based primarily on youtube, they group has cut a couple records and also performs live. Note: I have no affiliation with these entertainers. I just like watching their clips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en-GB&v=U0SGBN8LAVU

Microsoft slates critical IE, Windows patches for Tuesday One month left for businesses to migrate from Windows 8.1 to Windows 8.1 Update By Gregg Keizer July 3, 2014 03:36 PM ET Computerworld - Microsoft today said it will ship six security updates to customers next week, patching all versions of Internet Explorer (IE) and nearly all supported editions of Windows. The IE update, one of two classified as "critical" -- Microsoft's most serious threat ranking -- will patch IE6 on Windows Server 2003, IE7, IE8, IE9, IE10 and the newest, IE11. It's unlikely that July's IE update will match June's in size: Microsoft fixed a record 60 flaws in the browser on June 10. (Originally, Microsoft said it had patched 59 IE bugs last month, but a week later acknowledged it had forgotten to add one to the list, and so upped the count to an even 60.) Windows 7 users who have not freshened IE11 with a mandatory April update will not receive next week's browser fixes. According to Thursday's advanced notice, which briefly described the July updates, the second critical bulletin will patch all client editions of Windows -- from Vista to Windows 8.1 -- and all server versions except for those running on systems powered by Intel's Itanium processors. Windows Server 2008 and Server 2012 systems provisioned by installing only the Server Core -- a minimal install with many features and services omitted to lock down the machine -- are also exempt from Bulletin 2, Microsoft said. Of the remaining four updates, three were labeled "important" by Microsoft -- the threat step below critical -- while the fourth was pegged "moderate." All will offer patches for some or all Windows editions, both on the desktop and in the data center. Security researchers pointed to the two critical bulletins as the obvious first-to-deploy for most Microsoft customers. They also remarked on Bulletin 6, the single moderate update, which will patch Microsoft Service Bus for Windows Server. The bus is a messaging and communications service that third-party developers can use to tie their code to Windows Server and Microsoft Azure, the Redmond, Wash. company's cloud service. "The odd one out this month is the Moderate Denial of Service in 'Microsoft Service Bus for Windows Server,'" said Ross Barrett, senior manager of security engineering at Rapid7, in an email. "It's part of the Microsoft Web Platform package and is not installed by default with any OS version." Although Microsoft did not mention it in today's advance notice, or in the blog post by the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), enterprises have one more month to deploy April's Windows 8.1 Update and Server 2012 R2 Update before losing patch privileges for devices running Windows 8.1 or servers running 2012 R2. Hardware powered by Windows 8.1 or Server 2012 R2 must be updated before Aug. 12, the next scheduled Patch Tuesday, to receive that month's updates, as well as any future security fixes. Or in some cases, even present patches, said Chris Goettl, a program product manager at Shavlik, in an email. "One thing to watch out for [next week] will be [something similar to] the many exceptions we saw last month," Goettl cautioned. "Many of the updates we saw in June required other updates to be in place, depending on the platform. For those running Windows 8.1 or Server 2012 R2, they need to be prepared for more of these updates to require Update 1 before they can apply them. Microsoft has stated they would delay a hard enforcement until August, but more and more of the patches [have] had variations that required Update 1. So look out for that cut over -- it's coming quick." Microsoft will ship the six security updates on July 8 at approximately 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT). http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9249552/Microsoft_slates_critical_IE_Windows_patches_for_Tuesday?source=rss_latest_content&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+computerworld%2Fnews%2Ffeed+%28Latest+from+Computerworld%29

I wish I had some Twilight Zone music to play right here and now for background to this article. Tech More: Physics Singularity Human Behavior Cyborg By 2045 'The Top Species Will No Longer Be Humans,' And That Could Be A Problem Dylan Love Jul. 5, 2014, 8:33 AM "Today there's no legislation regarding how much intelligence a machine can have, how interconnected it can be. If that continues, look at the exponential trend. We will reach the singularity in the timeframe most experts predict. From that point on you're going to see that the top species will no longer be humans, but machines." These are the words of Louis Del Monte, physicist, entrepreneur, and author of "The Artificial Intelligence Revolution." Del Monte spoke to us over the phone about his thoughts surrounding artificial intelligence and the singularity, an indeterminate point in the future when machine intelligence will outmatch not only your own intelligence, but the world's combined human intelligence too. The average estimate for when this will happen is 2040, though Del Monte says it might be as late as 2045. Either way, it's a timeframe of within three decades. "It won't be the 'Terminator' scenario, not a war," said Del Monte. "In the early part of the post-singularity world, one scenario is that the machines will seek to turn humans into cyborgs. This is nearly happening now, replacing faulty limbs with artificial parts. We'll see the machines as a useful tool. Productivity in business based on automation will be increased dramatically in various countries. In China it doubled, just based on GDP per employee due to use of machines." "By the end of this century," he continued, "most of the human race will have become cyborgs [part human, part tech or machine]. The allure will be immortality. Machines will make breakthroughs in medical technology, most of the human race will have more leisure time, and we'll think we've never had it better. The concern I'm raising is that the machines will view us as an unpredictable and dangerous species." Del Monte believes machines will become self-conscious and have the capabilities to protect themselves. They "might view us the same way we view harmful insects." Humans are a species that "is unstable, creates wars, has weapons to wipe out the world twice over, and makes computer viruses." Hardly an appealing roommate. He wrote the book as "a warning." Artificial intelligence is becoming more and more capable, and we're adopting it as quickly as it appears. A pacemaker operation is "quite routine," he said, but "it uses sensors and AI to regulate your heart." A 2009 experiment showed that robots can develop the ability to lie to each other. Run at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems in the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne, Switzerland, the experiment had robots designed to cooperate in finding beneficial resources like energy and avoiding the hazardous ones. Shockingly, the robots learned to lie to each other in an attempt to hoard the beneficial resources for themselves. "The implication is that they're also learning self-preservation," Del Monte told us. "Whether or not they're conscious is a moot point." http://www.businessinsider.com/louis-del-monte-interview-on-the-singularity-2014-7 Barring medical miracles in the near future, I won't be around to witness this phenonomen, but for you young folks, you have an exciting future ahead, whichever way it goes.

I hope that wasn't back in the days of the brick mobile phones. If it is, I don't want to be around you when when you're mad. LOL

to CyberPhoenix heidani

Windows 'Threshold': More on Microsoft's plan to win over Windows 7 users Summary: One of Microsoft's main goals with 'Threshold,' the next major version of Windows, is to win over Windows 7 hold-outs. Here's the latest on Microsoft's plan, according to my sources. Mary Jo Foley By Mary Jo Foley for All About Microsoft | June 30, 2014 -- 14:20 GMT (07:20 PDT) Windows "Threshold," the next major version of Microsoft's Windows operating system due to hit around the spring of 2015, is coming into focus. windows8startmenu And not too surprisingly, one of the Microsoft Operating Systems Group's main goals in designing and developing the coming operating system (OS) release — which may or may not ultimately be branded as "Windows 9" — is to try to make it more palatable to hold-out Windows 7 users. In order to do this, Microsoft is working on including in Threshold lots of new features specifically aimed at "desktop" users, meaning those who interact primarily with their Windows computing device from a desktop or laptop PC with mouse/keyboard and optional touch. With Windows 8.1 Update, Microsoft officials designed Windows around a set of profiles based on the hardware specifications of the devices in use. Certain devices running Windows 8.1 Update include Power and Search buttons on the Metro-style Start screen; others don't. Some of those running Windows 8.1 Update have their machines start up by default in the Desktop/Win32 legacy environment, while others on touch/mobile-first devices start up in the Metro-Style Start Menu by default. According to my sources, Microsoft will continue in this vein with Windows Threshold. The Threshold OS will look and work differently based on hardware type. Users running Threshold on a desktop/laptop will get a SKU, or version, that puts the Windows Desktop (for running Win32/legacy apps) front and center. Two-in-one devices, like the Lenovo Yoga or Surface Pro, will support switching between the Metro-Style mode and the Windowed mode, based on whether or not keyboards are connected or disconnected. The combined Phone/Tablet SKU of Threshold won't have a Desktop environment at all, but still will support apps running side by side, my sources are reconfirming. This "Threshold Mobile" SKU will work on ARM-based Windows Phones (not just Lumias), ARM-based Windows tablets and, I believe, Intel-Atom-based tablets. One of Microsoft's primary missions with Threshold is to try to undo the usability mistakes made with Windows 8 for those who prefer and/or are stuck with devices that are not touch-first and for which keyboard/mouse use is of central importance. The Desktop/laptop SKU of Threshold will include, as previously rumored, the Mini-Start menu — a new version of the traditional Microsoft Start menu, an early concept of which Microsoft showed off at the company's Build developers conference in April. It also will include the ability to run Metro-Style/Windows Store apps in windows on the Desktop. Will it turn off completely the Metro-Style Start screen with its live-tile interface, as Neowin is reporting, and make the tiled Start screen a toggleable option from the Mini Start menu? I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised. (Update: It's worth pointing out the Mini Start menu is expected to be customizable. Users will be able to include Metro-Style apps or remove all Metro Style apps/tiles from the menu so that only Desktop apps are included in the Mini Start menu — either as tiles or in list form.) Between now and Threshold: What's next? Before Threshold is released next spring, Microsoft is expected to deliver a public preview of the Threshold release, most likely in the fall of 2014, my sources say. And before that, Microsoft will deliver a second and final update for Windows 8.1. Since Microsoft officials decided earlier this year to make the Mini Start Menu part of Threshold instead of Update 2, there's not a whole lot of new features of note coming in Update 2. There may be some UI adjustments and tweaks, but nothing hugely noticeable, my sources claim. Windows 8.1 Update 2 should be code complete any time now and will be locked down about two weeks before August Patch Tuesday, my sources say. (August Patch Tuesday is on August 12.) Microsoft may opt to not make a big deal out of Update 2 and just push it out quietly as part of the set of August patches, I hear. The Microsoft OS team is hoping to get as many Windows 7 users moved to Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows 8 users to Windows 8.1 Update in preparation for (hopefully) getting them to move to Threshold once it is out. It's still early in the Windows development cycle for Microsoft to have decided on packaging, pricing and distribution, but my sources say, at this point, that Windows Threshold is looking like it could be free to all Windows 8.1 Update, and maybe even Windows 7 Service Pack 1, users. Microsoft is basically "done" with Windows 8.x. Regardless of how usable or functional it is or isn't, it has become Microsoft's Vista 2.0 — something from which Microsoft needs to distance itself, perception-wise. At this point, Microsoft is going full-steam-ahead toward Threshold and will do its best to differentiate that OS release from Windows 8. http://www.zdnet.com/windows-threshold-more-on-microsofts-plan-to-win-over-windows-7-users-7000031070/

Mac 512K booted after 30 years in storage Jul 4, 2014 Mac 512K booted after 30 years in storage Brittany Hillen Old tech can be hard to let go of, eventually finding its way to the basement or attic for a long life forgotten inside a box. Such seemed to be the case with one original Mac 512K in particular, that spent 30 years in storage before being booted up to see if it worked. The computer belongs to the mother of Apple worker Chris Espinosa, who has worked with Apple for a number of years and was a member of the original Mac team. His mom kept her Mac 512K tucked neatly away in storage -- original packaging and all -- for 30 years, only to get curious about whether it would still start up. Espinosa took up the task, retrieving the computer from storage and chronicling it all in a gallery uploaded to Imgur earlier this week. Stored with the Mac 512K was an Imagewriter printer, as well as an Apple Hard Disk 20 (megabytes). Though classically yellowed and a bit grimy in places, the system fired up like normal, giving us a brief flash of the past. Hit up the Imgur link above to check out the full gallery. http://www.slashgear.com/mac-512k-booted-after-30-years-in-storage-04336430/ The keyboard looks a little skimpy, doesn't it?

These bricks are like Lego for full-sized buildings A company called Kite Bricks is making a bid to increase construction efficiency. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yf0KEcXIYA A company called Kite Bricks is out to disrupt the construction business starting with the humble brick. Kite Bricks has developed "Smart Bricks" (S-Bricks) made out of high-strength concrete that can be used to make buildings rapidly and cheaply, in an energy-efficient way. The bricks—which are patent pending—are much like Lego in that they come in a variety of forms for different purposes and can easily connect together, with rows of knobs along the top of bricks that slot into voids along the bottom of other bricks. A special adhesive—which works like a super-strong double-sided sticky tape, a bit like 3M VHB—dispenses with the need for cement. They can be delivered to building sites in a kit complete with traditional doors and windows, allowing for structures to be assembled with a minimum of debris and labor. Steel bars can be slotted through dedicated channels in the bricks to provide the same support as traditionally reinforced concrete. The bricks feature open internal spaces for insulation, which means that buildings made with the bricks require less energy for heating and cooling. The spaces also allow for infrastructure elements—whether it's plumbing or wiring—to run through them. Removable panels allow for easy access to these infrastructure elements so that portions of walls don't need to be torn down for maintenance. The bricks can be used to make floors, walls, and ceilings and the company says that if it constructs the average five story building using the bricks it can save around 30 percent energy compared with traditional construction methods. Kite Bricks also claims to be able to reduce the cost of construction by as much as 50 percent. Kite Bricks was set up by Ronnie Zohar, who has another company that applies layers of film over windows in order to improve insulation. "I realized that windows in the building are a small part of the heat problem—most of the problem is the concrete with the steel inside that get hot or cold," Zohar told Wired.co.uk. This led him to develop a brick with gaps for air inside for insulation purposes, before he started to consider other features. It's been in development for three years, with one of the most tricky elements being developing a formulation of concrete that's "light and strong like steel." What does he think of the Lego comparison? "It didn't come from there," he says, adding that the focus was always on insulation and strength. The fact that the blocks have been designed to connect together easily was secondary. One of Zohar's key focuses has been to make it as simple as possible to build using the bricks. "I'd like people in Africa and other places in the world to be able to build with our brick and get a thermally-insulated house using the same money they would have spent on tin." So far, there's only a prototype and IP protection. Zohar needs further funding—around $3 million—in order to bring the Smart Brick to market. Future plans could include the introduction of robotic builders (as shown in the video) that could assemble properties using the bricks. http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/07/these-bricks-are-like-lego-for-full-sized-buildings/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arstechnica%2Findex+%28Ars+Technica+-+All+content%29

These are some amazing colorizations. I've tried coloring b&w photos and it takes a very steady hand and a good eye for color, neither of which I have. Thanks for the post.

HI Hutchin. It seems you are in familiar territory here, but I want to join the welcome wagon, too. I think welcomes are important for new members (like me) and returning members. So, welcome back Hutchins.

Hey B, I made it here. Don't tell everybody about my bad habits.

I voted for Skype because I don't have experience with any of the other messengers in the poll. I don't make phone calls with Skype, only using the messenger capability.