Microsoft has just unveiled its new redesigned website frontpage! This new design features a more stylish layout along with a clearer organization for quick access to information. Visit it now!

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Global TeleSystems Inc. (GTS) (NYSE "GTS"; Easdaq "GTSG"; Frankfurt "GTS"), the leading provider of e*Business and borderless broadband services across Europe, today launched its new GTS Streaming Media Service with the support of Compaq Computer Corp. and Microsoft Corp. GTS brings together the industry-leading scalability and reliability of the Microsoft^® Windows Media™ Services on Windows^® 2000 Server, with the expansive network of GTS's eBone, a 10Gbps pan-European IP fiber-optic backbone, and Compaq's industry-leading server technology to create Europe's largest streaming media service. By leveraging the strengths of these two leading technology companies, GTS will create a turnkey digital media service for European media and entertainment businesses, and corporations that will span 20 countries and reach more than 56 European cities.

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I've just posted my review on the recently released Microsoft TrackBall Optical. Here is a snippet of the review:

Every computer user knows that using a classic mouse is painful and can even causes wrist pain (after intensive hours of use) that imply some breaks needed to be taken: the exact opposite of productivity those today businesses need. Worst working with a classic mouse isn’t very accurate in terms of screen pointing when you have to edit, create or touch up pictures. Microsoft, probably one of the most innovative hardware suppliers of the world has just released a new pointing device named Microsoft TrackBall Optical. If the concept isn’t really new as TrackBall exists since a lot of years, the architecture of this new one is revolutionary and it obviously uses the new enhanced Microsoft IntelliEye patented technology. Best of all it comes with all the features that made the success of the Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer, such as the scrolling wheel and the two new customizable buttons. The TrackBall concept basis is to provide users with a fixed poiting device that they don’t need to move so they can save space on their desk. It’s really a relief for me to have at last a TrackBall that combines the best of today’s technology: optical sensor, and five buttons!

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Users with disabilities who have had difficulty accessing the Web or using the Internet now have a better option: MSN^® Explorer is an ideal combination of integrated services and software with a new accessible interface that offers all users an easy and personal doorway to the Web. A portal and browser in one, the new Microsoft^® Internet software provides consumers with a simple, integrated home on the Web that helps them get the most out of their time online and be more productive in life.

Built from the ground up with accessibility in mind, MSN Explorer has several features designed specifically to help people with disabilities easily use and grow with the product. Unlike the software of several current Internet services, MSN Explorer is compatible with technology aids such as screen readers and screen enlargers.

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MSN and eMachines™ Inc., the third-largest vendor of desktop PCs sold through U.S. retailers, today announced product specifications and retail information on the soon-to-be-available MSN^® Companion by eMachines. To provide consumers with simple and affordable devices that facilitate getting online, MSN has joined forces with eMachines to deliver a low-cost MSN-based Internet appliance that enables consumers to connect more easily and communicate more clearly using leading services from the MSN network of Internet services such as the MSN Hotmail^® Web-based e-mail service, MSN Search and the MoneyCentral™ online personal finance guide. With the addition of this product, MSN now offers one of the widest range of choices for consumers in the Internet appliance market.

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Microsoft can be a pain in the neck sometimes, but the Redmond, Wash., software giant has a new mouse that eases pains in the wrist - and looks way cool besides. The Trackball Explorer is big - about 7 inches long, 4 inches wide and 2 inches high. Its size and curvilinear shape make it much more conformable than the average mouse and allow you to make larger movements. That eases the wrist pain mouse-jockeying often inflicts upon those of us old enough to remember something called a manual typewriter.

The trackball itself is a ruby red 2-inch ball surrounded by a glowing red ring. Although the ball feels smooth, below the surface is a pattern resembling little gears. That's a key to the optical technology used to monitor the trackball.

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Microsoft is launching another battlefront in its "war against piracy" which it hopes will bolster customer satisfaction and help it track down the counterfeiters at the same time.

The idea is that people who think they've bought dodgy kit can send it in to Microsoft along with a signed statement of witness, available here, and proof of purchase. Microsoft promises to acknowledge receipt within two days, and will let the customer know whether the software is genuine or a fake.

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The ActiveWin community based at http://communities.msn.com/ActiveWindows
is going from strength to strength with even more things for you to see and do. The message board is well on the way to becoming one of the most popular ones on the MSN Communities website and has new posts daily so check it out.

From the middle of this month we should be online with proper ActiveWin forums running directly off of our website instead of the MSN one. This will be inline with our slight redesign that incorporates our news engine.

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Microsoft trial judge Thomas Penfield Jackson is accused by Microsoft of judicial misconduct for talking to the press, and it's becoming increasing obvious that this is one hell of an albatross around the good judge's neck. It seems to have become impossible for the press to come within a couple of streets of Jackson without them inducing him to, er, talk to them.

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Released This Week: Jurassic Park/The Lost World Collection (2-Disc Set)

Jurassic Park (1993, 127 minutes) Multimillionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) has a plan for a spectacular new theme park: a secluded island where visitors can observe actual dinosaurs. With the latest development in DNA technology, scientists can clone brachiosaurs, tricerotops, velociraptors and a Tyrannosaurus Rex, using the blood preserved in amber from insects that bit the dinosaurs long ago.

Paleontologists Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are duly impressed with the living results during an advance visit. But when a devious employee tampers with the sophisticated security system, the dinosaurs escape, forcing the visitors to fight for their very survival.

The Lost World (1997, 129 minutes, Deleted Scenes) The disaster that occurred at Jurassic Park is over. It's been four years since the genetically bred dinosaurs terrorized the scientists and visitors who had come to marvel at their existence. But Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) has just learned some very disturbing news: John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), the billionaire entrepreneur who funded the original Park, has been breeding more dinosaurs at a second, secret location. What's even more shocking to Dr. Malcolm is learning that his girlfriend, paleontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), is already at the site, studying the dinosaurs.

Arriving at the island, Dr. Malcolm must not only avoid the dangerous velociraptors and Tyrannosaurus Rex, he must deal with a big game hunter who plans to bag the biggest trophy of his life, and John Hammond’s nephew, who plans to transport dinosaurs to the mainland. Is San Diego ready for dinosaurs roaming its streets?

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