Beyond Binary

Ballmer: Phones are like remote control for life

Updated 4:40 p.m. to note Microsoft not interested in bidding for wireless spectrum.

SAN FRANCISCO--Cell phones are so great these days that some people have started carrying two.

Well, that's not exactly true. A growing number of people do have multiple cell phones, but it's actually a failure, not a success of the industry, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday.

People are finding they need one phone for work and another for home, or one phone for e-mail and another for making phone calls.

"That strikes me as incredibly odd," Ballmer said in a keynote more

Targeted attacks on the rise, Microsoft report says

Scams designed to steal identities, data and ultimately money from Internet users continued to rise steeply in the first half of this year, according to a report released on Tuesday by Microsoft.

The company's Security Intelligence Report, a broad look at the computer threat landscape, shows a continued focus on attacks aimed at making a profit, rather than simply generating fear or gaining notoriety.

According to the study, there were 31.6 million detected phishing scams, more than double those found in the prior six months. There was a more than five-fold increase in the types of malicious code more

Microsoft's phone talk is all business

Well, It doesn't appear that Microsoft will be taking direct aim at the iPhone on Tuesday.

Rather, the software maker is playing to its strengths, announcing a new piece of server software to help businesses manage a company's worth of smartphones.

That doesn't mean Microsoft isn't interested in say, adding a full Web browser into Windows Mobile, according to Scott Horn, a general manager in Microsoft's mobile device unit.

"Do I see a path where we are going to have a phenomenal browsing experience," Horn said. "Yes, I do."

But the bulk of Microsoft's more

Does Microsoft have an iPhone answer?

The iPhone is a tough act to follow.

That will be the challenge for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who is keynoting at the CTIA Fall 2007 trade show on Tuesday.

A preshow flyer promised a major news announcement from Microsoft. But what would be considered major for Microsoft in the wake of the iPhone?

To be sure, Microsoft targets a different audience than Apple. Those considering Microsoft's phones are typically e-mail addicts who are more likely to weigh a BlackBerry than anything from Cupertino.

But even business users would benefit from many of the features Apple has packed into more

Windows gets a 'Mini-Me'

It's rare that anyone at Microsoft talks publicly about Windows 7, the next version of Windows. It's even rarer that anyone provides actual information about what might be inside the operating system, which is still in the planning stages.

However, Microsoft has posted a video of a recent university lecture given by in which he talks about, among other things, a new, slimmed down kernel known as MinWin that was created as part of the Windows 7 development process.

The kernel, which lacks Vista's bells and whistles or even a graphics system at all, takes up just more

Gates wants to make his presence felt

Anyone who has ever used an instant-messaging program has seen the basic idea of presence. That little status bar that says "available," "away," "out to lunch" or "cursing the Mets" is your presence--the computer's understanding of how and under what means you are available.

Today, that information is stored on the computer, but is mostly acted on by other people. Perhaps you see that someone's status is busy, so you send them an e-mail asking them to call rather than pestering them with an IM. Or, you see that someone is available on their mobile, so you know more

Binaries are great, if you are a computer

Welcome.

So what the heck is this Beyond Binary blog anyway?

The idea is to give more space to some of the best parts of my job as a reporter for CNET News.com--helping to connect the dots, talking about where things are headed in the industry, and telling some of the stories behind the stories I write.

As for the title, I wanted something to suggest that there's more to technology than just the code that underlies the products. What's really interesting is the way technology makes our lives simpler, or more difficult. Technology can help connect more