Actually, he’s not officially with Microsoft anymore after stepping down as CEO in 2008, even making the surprisingly entertaining video below (I purposely chose this version with the less-than-stellar audio so you could hear the audience reaction).

Even so, he is still the chairman and on the board of directors, but some of the top shareholders are asking, now that Microsoft co-founder and current CEO Steve Ballmer has announced his own retirement, that Bill Gates step down fully as well. They feel that Microsoft is too far behind its competitors in the expanding mobile space, and with Bill Gates and Ballmer in the position to essentially voir dire any potential successor that my want to head Microsoft down a different path, they need to be out completely.

I suspect this won’t happen, and I’m torn on the issue either way. Apple just isn’t the same company without Steve Jobs, and I’m a big fan of Microsoft, they gave us standards that allowed computing and technology to expand into the global driving powerhouse it is today, but I also see the need for flexibility in thought and the ability to take risks and expand into new markets. Of course, when they’ve done that in the past, they didn’t have the marketing to back it up. Remember Zune?

This article from the BBC notes that a notorious site used for the buying and selling of all sorts of contraband including illegal drugs, weapons, and even humans has been shut down. Long known about but very difficult to find, the Silk Road website was only accessible through a private network using what is known as The Onion Router, or the TOR network. The site now has a single page stating the feds have seized it.

It also used the virtual Bitcoin currency in order to keep the transactions anonymous, and apparently the owner was involved in some untoward activities himself.

This is a positive in my opinion, never mind the illegal drugs and guns, but the human trafficking, child pornography and murder-for-hire contracts it was known for has been shut down as well. This is a triumph for those who fight against such things.

UPDATE: There is a much more detailed account of what happened at this link.

Normally when I make one of these posts I’ll add some commentary about the story or video I’m linking, but I’m scared to do that in this case. I think it would be better to just let all of you read the article and make your own comments about what it says.

I will provide some foreshadowing regarding what you are about to read. It deals with the different things men and women post on Facebook, as well as common words used by various age groups. It turns out women talk about cliche’d women things, and men talk about cliche’d men things (also, cursing)! We’re all what everyone except ourselves thinks we are!

Read the article here, and be shocked and awed. Or not.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Steam platform, it is simply a method of digital distribution for computer games. In other words, instead of going to a store and buying a physical copy, you buy the game using Steam, Steam delivers it to your PC, and you even play it through Steam. It incorporates many console ideas such as friends lists, trophies, and multiplayer through the service.

It’s not a small time operation. Developed by Valve who also created the seminal Half-Life series, along with other critically acclaimed titles such as Team Fortress 2, Portal, and Left 4 Dead, it has made Valve’s founder, Gabe Newell, A billionaire, and Steam is the de facto model for any type of digital distribution.

That’s right, a *billionaire*

Now, Valve has announced a Steambox stand-alone console (as opposed to software you install on any machine), but most intriguingly, they have introduced a whole new type of gaming controller that looks like the ones you’d find for a console now, but without sticks or the standard buttons. It is also said to offer new levels of haptic feedback, pinpoint precision, and complete configuration.

The reason I’m writing all this? I’m not convinced from the images alone. I’ve heard great things but I just can’t get past the renders. Time will tell about the success of this new model that’s being introduced, but…look at that thing! Not like I have the time to use one anyhow.

Below is an embedded video from last night’s CBS evening news which shows an incredible achievement in prosthetic limbs. Keep in mind that this isn’t the first mind-controlled prosthetic add-on, however I will hold off on providing any links as we will be talking later in the semester about prosthetic, mind-controlled hands and even a computer that can be controlled by the mind of someone who is completely paralyzed.

Either way, incredible strides have been made in robotic limbs and I believe it will only be a few years before  we begin to see truly usable replacement limbs.

Now that many of you had the chance to try out the Dvorak keyboard, or at least a soft, on-screen version of it, I would like to point you to this article on The Straight Dope – a website that debunks common myths and legends – that provides further information about the origins of its development, as well as discussion of research that implies the Dvorak keyboard may not be all its cracked up to be.

An actual Remington mechanical typewriter!

You’ll remember we discussed that it was originally developed in the 1800s to lessen the chance of the mechanical arms of a typewriter getting jammed up. We don’t need that anymore, but familiarity breeds loyalty and we still use it today. The image above, a Remington which was the first company to massproduce typewriters, comes from this very interesting article over at AnandTech that is actually reviewing an ergonomic keyboard, but starts with a history of QWERTY.

While most people would now associate the Microsoft Surface with a tablet, that wasn’t their first intent. You may remember in class we mentioned that multitouch was championed at the consumer level by Apple but at the commercial level by Microsoft. The way they did that was through the development of a relatively large, interactive table called the Surface. Some are even here in Las Vegas.

It’s capabilities are remarkable, however its development languished in light of portable offerings from Apple that could do many of the same things, and Microsoft turned it into a tablet design instead. Take a look at the video below; it starts slow, but seeing what their tablet could do is even now remarkable. Still, the Courier tablet would have been a nice development as well.

If anyone is using a Microsoft Surface tablet (or has at least heard of them), the next generation of those tablets has been officially announced!

The linked article has some good information, and it looks like there have been some major upgrades to the line including processor power which was significantly improved, as well as internal storage. Surface tablets haven’t sold so well thus far, for several reasons: They have a desktop component, meaning you have the tiled, metro-style layout, but oftentimes selecting a tile sends you into another, desktop-like environment, taking you away from the reason you have a tablet in the first place. There has also been confusion between the two models of Surface, the RT and Pro models. The RT model was an underpowered economy version of the more powerful Pro line, although from reading the article while they drastically improved the RT model, they are manufacturing less of them. The Pro line allowed true, laptop-like productivity options, the RT less so. People also didn’t like having to pay extra, sometimes a lot extra, for the keyboard covers, even though the iPad required the same.

The Metro Interface

But, it looks like the improvements are a major step in the right direction. They ave both received major upgrades in power and usability, plus, they come in purple! As far as a tablet actually being able to replace a laptop, these new versions of the Surface might be the first time it can actually be done.

In the last class we discussed the reasoning behind the current keyboard layout as we know it today, and how it was developed to prevent jamming up the arms on mechanical keyboards. But this post will share a video that could make you think it might not have been so necessary in the first place.

In the last year of the 1970s and through the first few years of the 1980s, there was a television show called ‘Real People‘ that attempted to showcase ordinary people with extraordinary stories or talents. Even my uncle Herb made an appearance on the show!

But the person we want to address today is none other than Ron ‘Typewriter’ Mingo, who at the time held the record for the fastest typist in the world at 160 words per minute, and this was on  purely mechanical typewriter! Below is the segment from Real People showing him typing in front of a class, supposedly to inspire them to do well in school. He even manages to work in the manual carriage return (that is an actual, literal carriage return). I’m just amazed he didn’t jam up the typing arms of that machine.

Also, Tom Hanks is well known to have a massive mechanical typewriter collection, and even wrote them an ode in the New York Times. That’s dedication!

iOS 7? Anyone? Anyone taken the plunge into the no-longer-skeuomorphic design? What do you think? Have you had the chance to use it? Has it made your experience easier? Harder? Used to it already? If you’ve used it, let us know in the comments!