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There are A LOT of blogs over there at Microsoft.com. If you want to read about a specific product, like Frontpage, then there is probably a whole blog (or two or three) about it. Yeah, it’s cool.
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/blogs/PortalHome.mspx

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It just keeps coming! An AOL customer thought her credit card number had been hijacked when she noticed a $100 charge on her bill, but then she finds out that AOL provided her credit card number to the company in question, Simple Escapes. Although she had never signed up at SimpleEscapes.com, or provided them with her credit card number, she had “clicked ‘yes’ to accept an offer on a page that included terms, conditions, and an explanation that, after a 30-day trial period, a ‘fee would be charged to her credit card on file with AOL.’” She did this in order to receive a $25 Kmart gift card. May I just remind you: you don’t get something for nothing, folks! (And for Kmart? Yeesh!) The parent company, MemberWorks, has since refunded her card.

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I’m going to go see "I, Robot" today. I think it might be good, but I don’t know. I just found this article about how the movie betrays Asimov’s vision. In his  novel, he argued against man’s superstitious fear of machines. Anytime the robots were appearing to do wrong in his novel, it turns out that they were really acting in man’s best interest and it was the humans who were misguided. His novel ended with the machines running the economy & the government. It was pro-robot. Full disclosure: I have not read the novel, I’m repeating what the article said, but now I am curious to see how different the movie really is…maybe I will read the novel for myself. The article says that movie elevates feelings & emotions over reason, which is not the vision Asimov had. Hmmm.  I guess I will see when I go watch the movie. It’s always disappointing when Hollywood changes classics like this. I hope that this is not the case.

AOL users are facing more problems - first the former AOL employee sold all their email addresses to a spammer, and now this…From Andrew Brandt of PCWorld.com: AOL users love telling the world about themselves, judging by the personal profiles many publish in that service’s online directory. But some AOL users have discovered recently that their profiles are saying things they would never repeat in polite company. I was alerted to the unsettling phenomenon by reader Steve Wilson, who wrote: “The past few weeks, I’ve noticed links to porn sites and spyware installers in the ‘personal quote’ field [of some friends'] AOL profiles. They appear there without the member’s permission.” A spokesperson for the ISP says that online criminals may be stealing AOL users’ account passwords and using the profiles to advertise their sleazy wares. These people need to be stopped! You can’t expect every soccer mom and kid to know enough about a computer to stay safe these days. It’s time for a computer that is safe right out of the box. Linux, perhaps? But one thing you have to realize about Linux is that it, too, would become a target of the virus-writers if it was the dominant OS in use. Right now, it’s just not worth it to them - no glory. And with 50% of the country now on broadband it’s going to be worse than ever. However, I heard from a friend who bought Verizon DSL with MSN that it now includes a router and a software firewall with her installation. That’s a step in the right direction, at least.

So, what do you think? Is Scott Richter really the king of spam? Or is he just a successful email marketer who is getting a bad rap because people don’t realize that when they sign up at some websites, they are agreeing to opt-in to his emails? He says he is CAN-SPAM compliant and users can opt-out at any time. He maintains that he “is not doing anything wrong” and that he is not the one sending you offers for “viagra” spelled 10 different ways. So, is it spam if you willingly sign up, but didn’t know that you did? Does the average user read the fine print or the EULA? No, they don’t. This guy sends you junk mail, bottom line. Is it annoying? Darn right. Is it illegal spamming? I’m gonna have to say no.

From www.mamselle.ca.index.html…an error message that reminds you to get a life! This is too funny! (You have to click on the image and have it open up in a new window).

Does anyone like Windows Media Player? Show of hands? OK, my hand is halfway up here. Sorry. I don’t listen to much music on the PC, but when I do it’s usually in WinAmp or Windows Media Player. You can’t imagine how amused I am with the Scooby-Doo skin and dancing Scooby. It’s embarassing. Anyway, I like trying new things, so I think I’ll download Media Player 10 Beta and check it out. Hey, you can too.

McDonald’s is being sued, again. This time it’s for not reducing the fat in their french fries as they had said they would.  I don’t even understand why lawsuits like this are legal. If you eat fries, you get fat. It’s nobody’s fault but your own. If you spill hot coffee on your lap, it’s your fault.  This country is way too litigious!

Wow, I’m finding all the geeky blogs lately! Did you see this one?: Terminal Island. The blog is all command-line. Geeky! Amazing!

I’m sure you all have heard already about how great Firefox is, right? Firefox is a great alternative to Internet Explorer. In my opinion, the best thing about it, (besides the security!) is the tabbed browsing. How I’ve lived without tabbed browsing for so long amazes me. I like being able to skin it, too, but haven’t really found a favorite skin yet.

As great as all that is, I have one main problem with it: NO GOOGLE TOOLBAR. I mean, there is a google search box, which is great and all, but I need the actual toolbar! It is indispensible to me! I love how you can just click on the keyword you searched for and it hops right to it on the page. That saves a lot of time, as you don’t have to actually read the whole page to find where your word occurs. I also love the highlighter button. How am I supposed to live without these invaluable tools, I ask you? As far as I know, there’s no google toolbar for Firefox, so I’m just screwed. It’s the only thing holding me back from making a complete switch to Firefox. Google, hear my plea!