Third Eye Blind- Semi-Charmed Life

Third Eye Blind- Semi-Charmed Life @ Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines, Iowa on 06/02/2009.

Third Eye Blind- Campfire

Third Eye Blind- Campfire @ Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines, Iowa on 06/02/2009.

Conficker Worm: Take Action!

So I’m sure you’ve heard people talking about this latest computer bug scheduled to go into effect on 4/1/2009:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conficker

If you are concerned that this worm may affect one of your computers, I'd recommend taking the following actions: (note: no warranty is expressed or implied)

Make a full backup of your computer and/or important files to removable media
(ie, CD's, DVD's, USB Thumb or Hard Drives)

Make sure all of your Windows updates are current:
http://update.microsoft.com

Specifically: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx)

Make sure your Windows firewall is turned on:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283673

Make sure your Anti-Virus software is functioning and fully updated. If you need some (or are unsure), AVG is free:
http://free.avg.com/download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition
Once installed and updated, perform a full scan of your computer.

Good Luck! And contact me if you need further assistance.

UPDATE: Here's a link to the Microsoft resource page for Conficker.

Twitter the Misinformation Service?

Don't get me wrong I generally sing Twitter's praises, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of discussion on the ramifications of latent message delivery.

Recently while stuck in traffic I posted a message to twitter via text message with details about the location and exits affected so as to help others in my network avoid the same headache. Only later that night when I started getting replies thanking me for the info did I realize that the message had gone out 7 hours after the fact!

Whether this delay was caused by the cellular service carrier or Twitter it's self, who's to say? Most of the time if I get my friend's coffee break update belatedly I'm no worse for the lag- but this event underscored how delayed information can have real world ramifications; thankfully in this case that was limited to people taking alternate routes. But this does leave the mind to wonder what other events could occur... missed flights?, meetings?, worse?

Perhaps Twitter's TOS needs updated to make clear that it should not be depended on for real time delivery... before it's too late.

Windows 7 / Outlook 2007 Problem

Windows 7 & Outlook 2007 Error
Originally uploaded by BinaryBoyXP

So I'd PayPal $20 to the first person to solve this problem for me... Running Windows 7 Beta (Build 7000), with Outlook 2007 (fully patched) installed, trying to use Outlook over HTTP against a Mail2Web hosted Exchange 2007 server. Using either the auto-configure or manual server settings option (and believe me, settings have been checked MORE than a few times) it gets as far as prompting for the account user name (e-mail address) and password- you enter both and submit, it pauses for a moment, then prompts you again and again until you cancel out. I would probably switch my main production machine to Windows 7 if I could move past this issue. Help me, Internets!

JEL Iowa

469
Originally uploaded by BinaryBoyXP

Sorry Baxter... looks like you're going to take this one for the team.

New Microsoft Ads Exemplify The Problem

When I first read that Microsoft was going to be running a series of ads starring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld to counter the "Mac & PC" commercials from Apple I was kind of excited- Jerry is hilarious, and Bill has been a great sport in several internal MS videos. Unfortunately the ads do more to underscore exactly the problem with Microsoft products. Let's compare the two:

Apple

• Simple- Two guys, white background, and occasional prop.
  
• Short- 30 seconds, no yarn ball of plot strings here.
  
• Gently Hitting- Vista's complex, flaky, and uncool.  Macs are easy, reliable, and hip.
• Funny- There's always a gag... you WANT to watch when they come on- a rarity for commercials.

Microsoft

• Complex- A dozen characters, 3-4 different environments, many props.
• Sh-long?- The first edition of this ad clocked in at a 1:30, and the second at 4:30.  While the full length versions you can see online are funny, the "audience" for these commercials are probably not going out to You Tube and digging for them.  Instead what they see is a horribly edited 30 second blast of 2-3 second scenes... it's enough to give you a seizure, not sell a product.
• Gently... Doing Nothing- Which in fairness, is the genius of Seinfeld.  Great for a sitcom, but not for promoting a product.  At best the ad sends the message that Bill Gates is a nice guy (who by the way doesn't work for MS anymore), and that MS is in fact, still a "computer company".
• Funny- They are... I love Jerry, but again that's only if you view the clips in their entirety- the seizure inducing throw-up of characters and settings doesn't really lend it's self to a good, quick laugh.  Also- your 18 year old heading off to college this fall wasn't even born when Seinfeld went on the air, and were only 8 when we last saw Jerry in the slammer... I know that the show has lived on in re-runs, and maybe I'm out of touch with "the kids", but I question if Jerry resonates with this key demographic during a "back to school" month.

Bottom line- these ads reflect the perceived styles of the companies themselves- easy, clean, and simple vs. complicated, cluttered, and bloated.  That's not a bash of Windows, which I believe is a better system- just that Microsoft thinks in platforms, and Apple thinks in people.  Guess which angle resonates with Joe Average?  And yes, I know that Microsoft has a lot of business users, but then that's not who this ad is directed towards is it?

At any rate, they seem to be getting the message.  Engadget is reporting that new ads will dump Gates and Seinfeld and embrace what appears to be a more simplistic, direct attack against Apple.  The idea is right... especially if they'd gone that route first.  Now it risks feeling like a "me-to" flip-flopping politician trying to embrace the latest winds.

Maybe I'm just cynical... I wish them the best with the campaign.  Microsoft deserves some good press for the great product that is Windows Vista.  Hopefully, buried in Redmond (or the bowels of some ad agency), they have a room full of smart people working on making this campaign work- but MS's history of television marketing leaves a lot to be desired, and this new series is already off to an unnecessarily rocky start.