Earlier, when she found out daughters Kim and Xenia were getting a Windows Phone 7 for Christmas, she told me, “You better have not gotten me one of those. I’ll be afraid to use it because I might lose it.”
Here is the video when she opens it and then finds out I got her a little something extra to go with it:
Via Greg Hamilton’s Facebook Wall Photos:
And a quick reminder than my attempts at humor do not in any way represent those of my employer (Microsoft).
I got light headed watching the camera scan the banks of capacitors.
I wouldn’t want to be within a mile in any direction of this gun when it was fired. That many volts ready to dump that many amps in so few microseconds is scary stuff even without a Mach 7 projectile with a range of 100 miles.
Microsoft’s Kinect is doing quite well and may soon be a sex toy as well. People that don’t quite “get it” when it is described to them end up spending hours playing with it when they try it. People at work are complaining of sore muscles and some are even seeing the doctor for before coming back to work after a long weekend of dancing and jumping around in front of their televisions .
Windows Phone 7, particularly when running on a Samsung Focus, is getting a lot of praise and sales are going well for it too.
We have a little bit of money left over from some recent financial shuffling and I put in an order to buy a little more Microsoft stock.
*I’m a Microsoft employee but any “insider” information I have isn’t worth what ten minutes of searching the web would gain you.
Via email from Chet:
In the past I have said I don’t mind private business getting overbearing as much as I do the government doing so. But when an industry leader uses the invasion of your privacy to it’s advantage without repercussions the rest of the industry is almost forced to follow along or get left in the financial dust. And once the technology is deployed and a profit can be made selling it to the government someone will do that too. It won’t matter how evil it is (read IBM and the Holocaust), if the price is right, and with a government involved the price could be you (or your company) continuing to survive, the information will be abused.
There needs to be repercussion for companies who do this. The “noise” and the boycotts need to start before the information is abused.
I know a lot more than I am at liberty to say and it hurts to bite my tongue this hard…
Note: Full disclosure—I work for Microsoft who is a competitor of Google.
Microsoft is being closed mouthed about the sales numbers for Windows Phone 7 but the indications are that it is doing well:
Early reports hint that Windows Phone 7 has been selling strongly in international markets, with DigiTimes reporting in a Nov. 3 article that sales of HTC-build Windows Phone 7 smartphones are better than expected in Europe and Australia. In the U.K., news outlets reported a lack of available phones through carrier Orange.
“Early supporters of the new operating system such as South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are also experiencing rising demand from carriers,” suggested the DigiTimes article, which sourced its information as unnamed “Taiwan-based handset makers.”
TheStreet.com, citing an unnamed “market research source,” reported some 40,000 Windows Phone 7 devices sold in the United States on the first day of release. Neither Microsoft nor AT&T offered exact figures when contacted by eWEEK, although an AT&T spokesperson said the carrier was “encouraged by early demand from customers in stores and online.”
Microsoft employees (such as myself) were asked to not purchase new WP7 phones for a few days so the local stores would have phones in stock for the general public.
I haven’t decided which one I will get yet and I don’t really have a strong recommendation at this time. I have three “engineering units” in hand which I have been using for quite some time and will get my personal phone within the next few weeks.
Hover your mouse over the image to get the best part of the joke.
And according to my sources it isn’t all that difficult to build a program which can read a few conversation threads on a topic then make short comments that are indistinguishable from a live person on a similar thread. I would write something to do that and haunt the comment sections of the anti-gun websites but they disable comments or we outnumber them about 100 to 1 already. Hence human labor ends up being “cheaper” than automating the task.
It would be even easier to automate the task of responding as an anti-gun person to all the pro-gun websites—so I did:
namespace AntiGunComment
{
using System;class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string[] commentCollection =
{
“ban armor piercing ammo”,
“ban assault weapons”,
“ban cop killer bullets”,
“ban plastic guns”,
“ban Saturday Night Specials”,
“ban sniper rifles”,
“ban the shoulder thing that goes up”,
“close the gun show loophole”,
“get illegal guns off the streets”,
“keep guns out of the hands of children”,
“license gun owners”,
“reduce gun availability”,
“register all guns”,
“require an arsenal license”,
};
const string commentFormat = “We need to {0}. It’s just COMMON SENSE!”;
Random randomNumberGenerator = new Random();
int index = randomNumberGenerator.Next(commentCollection.Length);Console.Write(string.Format(commentFormat, commentCollection[index]));
}
}
}
In case the source code is a little too obscure here is an executable for up to date Windows machines.
It’s a little scary to think someone could be replaced with such a small number of lines of code. With a little more work the capabilities could be enhanced such that it could respond to Bing News alerts by making a blog post. This could replace most of the anti-gun bloggers out there (hmm… maybe I could do that next weekend). I wonder what Joan Peterson and MikeB302000 would think of that… but then, maybe they already have been replaced. That would explain some things.
It’s a happy day for the Windows Phone 7 team.
I should go celebrate or something but my chemistry set is frowned upon in Redmond.
I’ll probably get some iPhones and Androids to dispose of in Idaho after the carriers start selling in the U.S.
Microsoft has released two of the ads for Windows Phone 7. I saw preliminary versions of them (and others) about a month ago. Most are pretty good. One has a little bit of what is known in our family as “Scott family humor” (my wife’s side of the family). I don’t like it but I included it anyway.
You will be seeing a lot of these ads soon. Microsoft is making a really big deal out of this phone and I think it is justified. I’m more proud of this work than anything I have done professionally for 15 years.
When I have shown the phone the speech function (particularly in conjunction with search on maps) has most impressed people (it’s working much better than when I was demoing it at the NRA convention):
See more Windows Phone 7 videos here.
Full disclosure: I work for Microsoft on Windows Phone 7.
Most of the jet formed moves at hypersonic speed. The tip moves at 7 to 14 km/s, the jet tail at a lower velocity (1 to 3 km/s), and the slug at a still lower velocity (less than 1 km/s). The exact velocities are dependent on the charge’s configuration and confinement, explosive type, materials used, and the explosive-initiation mode. At typical velocities, the penetration process generates such enormous pressures that it may be considered hydrodynamic; to a good approximation, the jet and armor may be treated as incompressible fluids, with their material strengths ignored.
Wikipedia, Shaped charge
Emphasis added.
Found while Wikiwandering from a link at Roberta’s.
[“… may be treated as incompressible fluids, with their material strengths ignored”! That statement makes me light-headed and weak at the knees. The “7 to 14 km/s” doesn’t hurt either.
7 km/s is about 23,000 feet per second. Your .220 Swift is considered a very zippy cartridge but it only gives you about 4,100 feet per second at the muzzle. Hence a shaped charge gives you velocities 5 to 10 times that of a .220 Swift at the muzzle. This is considered high-hypersonic to re-entry speeds.
I have books on computer simulation of shaped charges. I really need to write the software then do some field testing. Supposedly it is pretty easy to punch through three feet of reinforced concrete. I have some large rocks out in the middle of some fields I’d like to experiment with.—Joe]
According to USA Today Windows Phone 7 is launching on October 11:
It’s about to be put up or shut up time for Microsoft in mobile. On October 11, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets CEO Ralph de la Vega will be conducting a New York City press conference to spill the beans on the widely anticipated Windows Phone 7 smartphones.
I’m looking forward to being able to buy my own Windows Phone 7. The engineering development hardware I’ve been carrying around for the last year always seems to have something wrong with it that “will be fixed before it’s released”. Some had great sound and camera but poor Wi-Fi reception. Others had great Wi-Fi but poor GPS reception. It was good enough for development but now I’m ready for the real thing.
I know some people that need a new phone for Christmas too. It’ll be awesome.
Full disclosure: I work for Microsoft on the Windows Phone 7 project.
Yesterday Microsoft announced they have filed a lawsuit against Motorola alleging infringement on nine patents regarding Android smart phones:
REDMOND, Wash. – Oct. 1, 2010 – Microsoft Corp. today filed a patent infringement action against Motorola, Inc. and issued the following statement from Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing:
“Microsoft filed an action today in the International Trade Commission and in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington against Motorola, Inc. for infringement of nine Microsoft patents by Motorola’s Android-based smartphones. The patents at issue relate to a range of functionality embodied in Motorola’s Android smartphone devices that are essential to the smartphone user experience, including synchronizing email, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings, and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power.
We have a responsibility to our customers, partners, and shareholders to safeguard the billions of dollars we invest each year in bringing innovative software products and services to market. Motorola needs to stop its infringement of our patented inventions in its Android smartphones.”
More information can be found here. Even though I work for Microsoft on Windows Phone 7 I don’t have any further information on the topic and even if I did I wouldn’t be at liberty to discuss it.
I used to work in biometrics. In the first few minutes of a biometrics class in about 2004 the instructor quoted numerous people, going back about 30 years, each saying biometrics would be reliable “in ten years”. When I actually looked at the data for various biometric systems I was rather shocked by the failure rates. And those were in cases where there was no deliberate attempt to defeat the system. I attended a conference on biometrics and I invented a new biometric system (no, I can’t talk about it—a certain government agency says that information is restricted). It became quite clear to me that every biometric system in existence could be defeated if you knew it was being used. And furthermore it was unlikely that any system could ever be undefeatable.
Hence, I am not surprised experts are coming to the same conclusion I did several years ago:
Biometric systems — designed to automatically recognize individuals based on biological and behavioral traits such as fingerprints, palm prints, or voice or face recognition — are “inherently fallible,” says a new report by the National Research Council, and no single trait has been identified that is stable and distinctive across all groups.
Let’s just say, “There are ways to defeat this” but I’m not happy about having to do it. It would be MUCH better to defeat it at the legislative level rather than at the technological level:
Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is “going dark” as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone.
Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.
…
James X. Dempsey, vice president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, an Internet policy group, said the proposal had “huge implications” and challenged “fundamental elements of the Internet revolution” — including its decentralized design.
“They are really asking for the authority to redesign services that take advantage of the unique, and now pervasive, architecture of the Internet,” he said. “They basically want to turn back the clock and make Internet services function the way that the telephone system used to function.”
But law enforcement officials contend that imposing such a mandate is reasonable and necessary to prevent the erosion of their investigative powers.
It is “Necessary to prevent the erosion of their investigative powers”?
What about the erosion of private communication? It used to be one could have a conversation in their home, while walking across the field or down the road and the conversation was technologically guaranteed to be just between those present. They are now demanding a technological guarantee to eavesdrop on any private conversation, anytime, anywhere.
You can have my crypto keys when you reanimate your cold dead hands.
I see this usage pretty often;
“Maintains less than 1 1/2 minute of angle accuracy at 100 yards/meters – Guaranteed !”
What I want to know is; how does the rifle know the distances to your targets when there are no electronics involved?
If the inherent angular dispersion is 1.5 MOA at 100 yards, the underlying assumption would be that the inherent angular dispersion will somehow be different at some other distance, else they wouldn’t specify a distance. Sure; the wind comes more into play farther out, but that’s a separate issue, no? Or am I missing something? Maybe for the sake of clarity they should say “…as tested at 100 yards.” I at least would have more respect for them then, but maybe I don’t know squat.
From xkcd, of course. The title is “Conditional Risk” which is a morphing of “Conditional Probability” into the current situation.
I love watching lightening storms. But the most adventuresome I get while doing that is setting on my front step.
I can’t say why I needed to know but lets just say I have been a little distracted recently as I have been working on a problem. It turns out I could map my problem into the German tank problem.
I had actually kind of pulled an equation out of the air and proclaimed (to myself), “this looks and feels right”. But I needed something more than my gut telling me that. It turns out for a uniform distribution (which, for the most part, my problem is) the best estimate of the true population size based on a limited sample of the population numbers is:
N = m + m/k – 1
Where ‘N’ is the population estimate, ‘m’ is the largest serial number of the samples you have and ‘k’ is the number of samples you have.
This could be used, presuming the serial numbers are sequential, to estimate the number of iPhones or Androids sold. This is far, far, from my application but still a fun application of statistics.
In my application I could substitute in an expression for ‘m’ which made my problem identical to the German tank problem. After rearranging the resulting equation I came up with the exact equation I had, essentially, pulled out of the air!
I’m still marveling at the implications of that result. In a few days I have a meeting with people who may or may not be thrilled to know that much of the work they have done for the past couple of years is bogus and that I have the solution to make it all better.
I kiss the ground you walk on.
Steve Ballmer
September 10, 2010
Windows Phone 7 Ship Party 
[Click the pictures to see a higher resolution version.
He also said his trademark, “I love this company.” at the top of his lungs:
He also talked about how important Window Phone 7 is to the company and how much he appreciated all the hard work and how much he really loves his Windows Phone 7 phone.
It is a really nice phone. I took three of them to the Boomershoot site this weekend and did some tests. With one of them I was able to pick up a Wi-Fi signal from an ordinary Linksys router from 1090 meters away. The other two were picking up signal from over 600 meters away. Try that with your iPhone.—Joe]
Over the last few months on my twice monthly visits to Idaho there has been a bunch of wind turbines being erected near the Rye Grass rest area on I-90. When Barb came west on Tuesday of this week to visit me in my bunker she told me she stopped and took pictures of the turbines. “They look like something out of a science fiction movie”, she said.
Wow! It just so happens that on my return trip last Sunday I also took some pictures:
Of course all this reminded me of something else:
Today is the day that the Windows Phone team has been driving towards, and we’re very excited to say that we’ve reached the biggest milestone for our internal team – the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows Phone 7! While the final integration of Windows Phone 7 with our partners’ hardware, software, and networks is underway, the work of our internal engineering team is largely complete.
Windows Phone 7 is the most thoroughly tested mobile platform Microsoft has ever released. We had nearly ten thousand devices running automated tests daily, over a half million hours of active self-hosting use, over three and a half million hours of stress test passes, and eight and a half million hours of fully automated test passes. We’ve had thousands of independent software vendors and early adopters testing our software and giving us great feedback. We are ready.
Terry Myerson
September 1, 2010
Windows Phone 7 – Released To Manufacturing
[If you climb high enough on my work food chain you will find Myerson.
I can’t vouch for the exact numbers but they sound about right. We have some amazing automation. And if you think the half-million hours of active self-hosting is implausible think again. I first used a Windows Phone 7 about a year ago and started carrying one as my primary phone early this year. When I went on vacation to Missouri last May I took three (the rest were loaned out to co-workers for testing) of them with me and used them for navigation (I’m on the “Location Team”), traffic, lots of email, web browsing, pictures, video, and of course phone calls. Everyone I know on the team has a minimum of two phones and some have five. That adds up to a lot of hours. I actually suspect the half million hours is an understatement.
I am more proud of this product than anything I have worked on since Direct X 1.0. In terms of my primary reason for wanting to work for Microsoft (to change the world) this is, by far, my largest contribution.
Technically it is great. It’s not perfect but it is much more than “good enough” to compete. Market acceptance is a question in our minds though.
Most of the people I associate with are engineers. We understand the technology but not people who are different from us. Will this phone be compelling for non-engineers? I’m sure I can configure one such that my wife (who always insists she just wants “a simple phone, nothing more”) can and would use it as a phone, camera, and for occasional navigation but I’m not so sure she would be interested in spending the money on one if I didn’t “twist her arm”. In many ways it is simpler to use than her current phone. Son James (also a software developer working at Microsoft) will get one. I’m not so sure about his girlfriend. I think my daughters and their spouses will give very serious consideration to one. But how does this translate into the market at large? I think it will be at least “good”. With a little bit of luck and a lot of awesome Microsoft marketing (I’ve seen some “concept ads” that look really good) it will do great.
We have some “ship parties” (not really my thing but it is nice to see others have a good time) in the next few days then we have to deliver on the next version. Yesterday I took care of four bugs on our next deliverable so don’t think we are sitting around to see how well this version does before deciding what to do next.—Joe]
