Microsoft Subnet: An independent Microsoft community

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  Privacy and Security Fanatic

  25 More Ridiculous FBI Lists: You Might Be A Terrorist If . . . by Ms Smith

  What's worse than one more ridiculous "you might be a terrorist if" list? 25 of them such as the Communities Against Terrorism flyers designed by the FBI and the DOJ to promote suspicious activity reporting. Several of the flyers advise store owners to consider people who want privacy to be potentially engaged in terrorist activity and report them. In fact many of dangerously suspicious activities are simply wisdom and best practices for anyone concerned about security or privacy. "The flyers...

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  Microsoft Explorer

  Kinect for Windows Ships by Andy Patrizio

   Microsoft on Wednesday released the 1.0 code for its Kinect for Windows software development kit and has made the PC version of the Kinect sensor hardware available for sale. The Kinect for Windows sensor looks like the Kinect for Xbox sensor but you don't need to sit five feet away from it. Now you can put it just 20 inches away, which isn't a bad sitting distance from the monitor. Not surprisingly, Kinect for Windows only works on Windows 7 and 8. Its retail price is $249, and...

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  SQL Marklar

  Microsoft MCM prep guide by Sean McCown

  I've recently been awarded the Microsoft Certified Master for SQL Server 2008.  And as a result I thought I'd give you my MCM prep guide.  Now, I'm going to be purposefully vague because we're not allowed to reveal any details about the exams.Written:When I was getting ready for my written I took a couple months to study my ass off.  I studied all types of things that I thought would be covered in detail.  However, when I got to the exam I found that everything I studied was...

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  Privacy and Security Fanatic

  Can Homeland Security prevent a cybersecurity critical infrastructure disaster? by Ms Smith

  The U.S. is headed toward a "cybersecurity disaster," according to a Bloomberg Government study. The Ponemon Institute said that to stop 95% of the cybersecurity attacks, companies would need to spend nine times as much, which would "boost spending to a group total of $46.6 billion from the current $5.3 billion." Bloomberg reported, "Hardening those systems would require a significant investment given the increasing stealth and sophistication of hackers." According to Lawrence Ponemon, chairman...

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  Privacy and Security Fanatic

  Social Media Monitoring on Gov't Steroids: Anything might come back to bite you by Ms Smith

  Although OSINT (open-source intelligence) has been around for a very long time, people continue to over-share photos, info, everything on social media which I believe lowers a reasonable expectation of privacy for society as a whole. Social media is not private; it's fair game. And all the feds have jumped on the social media data-mining bandwagon. The FBI wants a data-mining social media app, but InformationWeek pointed out that the CIA, DHS, and "the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects...

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  Microsoft Insights

  Microsoft and TechStars Team Up; Giving Away Free Cloud Services to Fledgling Startups. by Marco Chiappetta

  Microsoft and TechStars, a prominent startup accelerator which operates programs in Boulder (Colorado), Boston, New York, Seattle and Texas, just announced a new program in which high-potential startups could earn $60,000 worth of compute and storage Cloud Services on Windows Azure over a two-year period. The goal of the alliance is to not only help fledgling startups fast-track their businesses, but to get them using Microsoft’s cloud services.“Our passion is helping startups succeed around...

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  Microsoft Explorer

  SQL Server 2012 Coming on March 7 by Andy Patrizio

  Microsoft has set March 7 as the launch day for SQL Server 2012, a.k.a. "Denali," the latest version of its relational database. There will be an online event to be held to kick off the product through the Web site SQLserverlaunch.com.The keynote at the event will be delivered by Microsoft corporate vice presidents Quentin Clark and Ted Kummert. Ted Kummert will be presenting Microsoft's "data evolution vision" on where it sees the database and management of data headed, while Clark's...

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  Managing Microsoft

  Is SOPA really that bad? by Kerrie Meyler

  Friday, January 27, Mark Gibbs published an article discussing "the real reasons why SOPA and PIPA are real bad" (http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2012/012712-backspin.html).Mark points out what he sees as two major issues:The legislation enables censorship, which will interfere with free speechThere is a lack of due process; copyright people can shut down anyone they want toLet's start out with remembering that there actually is no definitive "SOPA Act" - since nothing was ever passed...

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  Privacy and Security Fanatic

  Time Warner behavior lab tracks consumers' emotions with biometric monitoring by Ms Smith

  When you are browsing a webpage or using a new app, the companies behind those products put a lot of thought into the design and lay out of the content in order to get their consumers to respond in specific ways. They also go to great lengths to track consumers. What if these companies could get inside your head for real, take that tracking to a whole new level, and gauge your emotions with biometric monitoring to measure physiological responses to content? That's become a reality with the new...

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  Microsoft Insights

  Microsoft Imagine Cup Grants Awarded To Four Teams from Around the Globe by Marco Chiappetta

  When discussing Microsoft, we tend to focus on new product developments, financials, or forward-looking company strategies, but an entity with the size and influence of Microsoft tends to have a much farther reach than just consumable goods. Microsoft’s Imagine Cup is a perfect example. At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting that just took place, Microsoft Corp. announced the winners of the Imagine Cup Grants program, which is a three-year, $3 million competitive grant program for student...

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