Ballmer to talk Windows 7, not ZunePhone, at CES

Microsoft will have a bunch of stuff to show at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, but a rumored ZunePhone won't be one of them, according to sources familiar with the company's plans.

Instead, much of CEO Steve Ballmer's focus will be on talking about Windows 7 from a consumer perspective. Microsoft is pushing to have Windows 7 done in time for the holiday 2009 shopping season, so that means this CES is Ballmer's best stage to tout its benefits.

While the desktop operating system will be front and center, sources say to expect Ballmer to talk about how Windows is moving beyond the PC and into a world of PC, Web, and phone, a refrain we also heard a lot from Ray Ozzie at November's Professional Developers Conference, where the world also got its first good look at Windows 7.
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What are the top 5 Gmail themes and Labs add-ons?

Out of curiosity we pinged Google to see if the company would release usage numbers on the recently released themes and Labs add-ons in Gmail. The tools let users customize the Gmail experience in a number of ways, and all without the use of special browser add-ons or scripting hacks. More importantly, they let people custom tailor their email experience no matter what computer they're on.

In other words, your theme and Labs add-ons can tell Google, or anyone else, a lot about why you're using the service.

While the company will not disclose the hard numbers on how many users are using each theme or Labs add-on, it did provide us with the top five most used in each category. You might find them interesting:

Themes (non-default):
1. Ocean
2. Planets
3. Mountains
4. Classic
5. Shiny

Labs:
1. Superstars
2. Pictures in chat
3. Calendar gadget
4. Attachment detector
5. Mark as read button


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Logitech G13 game board brings screen to the screenless

Logitech took the wraps off a new PC game accessory Wednesday morning, the US$80 G13 Advanced Gameboard. Similar to products from Saitek and Belkin, the idea of the secondary keypads is to provide gamers with more fully featured controls with a better layout than you'd find on a traditional keyboard.

Logitech's G13 distinguishes itself primarily with its small LCD screen similar to its G15 Keyboard. Like the G15, the G13's screen gives you a secondary source for useful information from a variety of games and programs, such as the stats of your World of Warcraft character, or the name of the person speaking over voice chat.
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Google gives Gmail users a to-do list

Google has added a to-do list to Gmail to help users be more productive.

When the new Tasks feature is enabled, a box shows up on top of the Gmail window. In it, users can add, reorder, and delete tasks. It's also possible to assign a due date to each action and even convert emails into tasks.

The feature--announced Monday on a company blog--will also run outside of the email program. Adding items is as simple as clicking on a vacant part of the box and typing.

This may sound like a rehash of the many Post-It Note-like programs popular in the mid-'90s, but because most of us have morphed into email junkies, this list is constantly in our face, reminding of things we wanted to get done.

Since email is where and how many of us get things done, both in our personal and professional life, why not add a list of things that we may not be able to get done via email, such as a reminder to make dinner reservations?

To enable Tasks, go to Settings in the upper right of the Gmail window and click the Labs tab. Click Enable next to the Tasks selection, click Save Changes. After refreshing Gmail, a Tasks link will appear under the Contacts link. Just click that Tasks link and you are ready to be productive.

Via Digital Media

Microsoft fixes 28 flaws; 6 are critical

Microsoft on Tuesday released its December 2008 security bulletin. The "critical" bulletins affect Windows GDI, Word, Excel, Internet Explorer and Windows Search. The "important" updates affect SharePoint and Windows Media Components.

Microsoft is including within each bulletin an "exploitability index" to help system administrators prioritize the patches. All Microsoft security patches for both Windows and Office software are available via Microsoft Update or via the individual bulletins detailed below.

MS08-070: Critical
Exploitability index: 1-2. Microsoft recommends that customers apply the update immediately. Titled "Vulnerabilities in Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime Extended Files (ActiveX Controls) Could Allow Remote Code Execution (932349)", this bulletin affects the Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime Extended Files; all supported editions of Microsoft Visual Studio .Net 2002, Microsoft Visual Studio .Net 2003, Microsoft Visual FoxPro 8.0, Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0, Microsoft Office Project 2003, and Microsoft Office Project 2007. This bulletin addresses the vulnerabilities detailed in CVE-2008-4252, CVE-2008-4253, CVE-2008-4254, CVE-2008-4255, CVE-2008-4256, and CVE-2008-3704, which could allow remote code execution "if a user browsed a Web site that contains specially crafted content," Microsoft says.


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