I saw this article tonight:

TechEd 2006: Hybrid hard drives to become Vista Premium requirement | TG Daily

- At a discussion of flash memory technologies to be included in Windows Vista and “Longhorn” here at TechEd 2006 this morning, Microsoft’s program manager for Windows Client Performance Matt Ayres confirmed to TG Daily that inclusion of hybrid hard drives will be a requirement for mobile systems that carry the Vista Premium logo, beginning in June 2007.

In the Windows Logo Device Program Requirements document, version 3.01, quietly released by Microsoft last Friday, storage requirement #0005, whose description has typically read, “Hybrid disk drives or systems that implement a hybrid disk drive must meet the requirements outlined here,” is now followed by this phrase: “This requirement will go into effect for premium mobile systems in June 1 2007.”

Not familiar with hybrid hard drives?

Hybrid drive – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A hybrid drive is a new type of large-buffer computer hard drive, currently in joint development by Samsung and Microsoft. It is different from standard hard drives in that it employs a large buffer (up to 1 GB) of nonvolatile flash memory to cache data during normal use. By using this large buffer for primary data storage, the platters of the hard drive are at rest almost all of the time, instead of constantly spinning as they are in modern-day hard drives. This offers numerous benefits, chief among them decreased power consumption, improved reliability, and a faster boot process.

I really can’t wait until these come out and become commonplace. When I boot up my work PC or my laptop, it honestly takes up to 5 minutes sometimes before I can start doing some serious email management, or web browsing. (Which, btw, is a phenomenon I don’t recall seeing on my Mac.) Hard disk speed could definitely use a boost on laptops – this should be super sweet.

Ship it!

If you’re ever on an Alaska Airlines 737-400, take a look at the Aircraft Safety Information card in the seat back pocket.

In Revision 11/04, check out the section documenting the proper brace-positions for a hard landing. (You know, underneath the section that subtely tells you that you only have 7 seconds to put on the additional oxygen mask… without telling you that you only have 7 seconds.) In particular check out the shoes the person in the middle is wearing.

Artist’s joke? Product placement?

You decide.

Oh… and check out how you’re supposed to use the rafts. I would’ve though you’d get in to them. Apparently not.

Update: Greg the President of SafeAIr writes “Artist inside joke. Not product placement. Also check out the image of the radio.” Also, it turns out that those are slides and not rafts. Yipes. Check the comments.

Uh oh – it looks like Scoble is leaving Microsoft.

Scobleizer – Microsoft Geek Blogger ? Correcting the Record about Microsoft

First, I love Microsoft and Microsoft did not lose me — at least as a supporter and friend. I am not throwing away my Tablet PC or my Xbox or my other Microsoft stuff.

Whoa!

I’ve met Scoble a few times – he’s a truly motivating guy. I was always amazed by his enthusiasm and openness. One thing I’ll miss is the ability to show him cool pre-release technology (like the stuff I’m currently working on) and having him get all excited over it. On the other hand, he’ll be in the Bay Area so perhaps I’ll get to see him more often!

Best of luck at PodTech.net! Hopefully with the “good sized equity participation” you’ll be able to afford a house like the one in Puget Sound!

Tonight Omar, Dan, Nicole, and I went to the Pomegranate Bistro. Definitely an interesting place – neat decor in the front, giant viewable catering kitchen in the back. The food was pretty good too – in particular the trout and the pork chops were tasty.

You should give it a try – it’s not exactly the most eye-catching place from the outside along a sprawly road. And they serve more than just pomegranates.

Wow, this is the first I’ve ever heard of this:

WSJ.com – Microsoft and Adobe Square Off

Previously undisclosed talks between the companies about the use of an Adobe technology format broke down this week, Microsoft’s top attorney said in an interview. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, said the two companies have been trying to settle a four-month dispute over Microsoft’s plan to use the Adobe-developed technology, called Portable Document Format, or PDF, in its Office suite of applications.

With the talks over, Microsoft expects Adobe to follow through with a threat to file an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in Europe, Mr. Smith said.

Adobe wants Microsoft to remove the feature and offer it separately for a fee. Microsoft has agreed to remove the feature but is unwilling to charge for it, Mr. Smith said.

“Adobe has threatened antitrust action unless Microsoft agrees to raise its prices, in particular for the software that would allow Microsoft Office users to save a document in the Adobe PDF format,” he said.

[snip]

Adobe declined to clarify its exact objections to Microsoft’s use of the specifications.

Adobe offers technical specifications for PDF free, allowing other software makers to build applications that can read or write PDF files. Software from Apple Computer Inc. and open-source software called OpenOffice use the PDF technology.

How confusing. This is a feature I’ve always enjoyed on MacOS X – the ablity to print to PDF is baked into the OS. I hope this dispute can be resolved as it’d be great to have this capability in Office.

Every once in a while, I see an article that makes me wonder what’s going on.

Here’s an example:

Anti-Terror Funding Cut In D.C. and New York

The Department of Homeland Security yesterday slashed anti-terrorism money for Washington and New York, part of an immediately controversial decision to reduce grant funds for major urban areas in the Northeast while providing more to mid-size cities from Jacksonville to Sacramento.

The announcement that the two cities targeted on Sept. 11, 2001, would suffer 40 percent reductions in urban security funds prompted outrage from lawmakers and local officials in both areas, who questioned the wisdom of cutting funds so deeply for cities widely recognized as prime terrorist targets.

[snip]

New York’s grant plummeted from about $207 million to $124 million. A DHS risk scorecard for the city asserted that the home of the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge has “zero” national monuments or icons.

[snip]

Undersecretary for Preparedness George Foresman told reporters that although the program was formed with anti-terrorism objectives in mind, the money is meant to improve readiness for “an act of terrorism or an act of Mother Nature.”

Yet one of the big losers was hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, whose grant award dropped from $9.3 million to $4.6 million.

Maybe I just don’t have enough information or something. I should probably stick to thinking about software.