Microsoft is moving all of their mail properties to Outlook.com, so say goodbye to Hotmail.
With the release of new Office and the upcoming release of Windows 8, Microsoft is completely overhauling their mail properties. It will be interesting to see if this is a great leap forward or whether it will become another fiasco like Vista.
In many ways, it sounds like it has too many features, which we’ve come to expect from Microsoft, and many of the features seem to be huge time wasters.
The switch from laptops to tablets is accelerating, and this fall we’ll see an avalanche of new products like the Surface from Microsoft.
In some ways, the death of the laptop is being exaggerated. Most people who are getting tablet computers are also buying tablets. Sure, some people will replace their laptop with a tablet, and new consumers may choose a tablet over a laptop, but laptops will still be essential for most business people and students.
Still, you have to wonder what some companies like HP are doing. They risk being left behind as Microsoft bypasses them and they don’t have their own tablet solution.
Would you invite your parents to a party you’re having with your friends? Probably not, unless you’re maybe 35.
This reality helps explain why teens and college kids are spending less time on Facebook – their parents are there as well. This is obviously very bad for Facebook, which is having all sorts of problems since it went public.
I remember hearing teens I know tell me how they use Facebook less and have moved to new options like Twitter. They didn’t mention their parents, but the reason was obvious.
It’s not the only issue of course. Social media has made some teens much more careful about who they have around when they do stuff like smoke and drink, as everyone now has a camera on their phone. The times they are a changin’!!
An interesting year for the online poker community is getting even more interesting. Ever since the December announcement from the US Department of Justice changing their stance on the usage of the Wire Act of 1961, the poker world has been turned upside down. Many are excited over the potential of having a new regulatory environment for playing poker online, either in major states or at the federal level.
Of course many are hoping for federal legislation, and that’s making for some very interesting political bedfellows. The most interesting involves Harry Reid and Dean Heller, the two Senators from Nevada. Naturally, both of them have a huge interest here, as the casinos corporations in that state have a serious stake in the matter. But Reid is a Democrat and majority leader in the Senate, and Heller is a Republican who is up for election this year, with Reid naturally backing his Democratic challenger. The article lays out how they’re both working to get poker legislation passed, but it’s a delicate matter and both sides want it to happen without benefiting the other side too much politically. Like I said, the issue is creating strange bedfellows.
Something will happen here eventually. The states are anxious to move on this, as many people agree that poker is a game of skill, and states would like to get a cut by regulating the game.
Here’s a cool idea.
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