TechFlash sat in on Microsoft's Mac unit conference call this morning, thinking the surprise announcement might be about Office on the iPhone (honestly, like our phone doesn't crash enough already), but it turns out they're just getting around to burying Entourage, and will offer an Office for Mac suite that contains Outlook. Finally Mac users in an Exchange environment won't feel like a red-headed stepchild. In the meantime, current Office 2008 users can download a more Exchange-friendly Entourage 2008 Web Services Edition here. more ›

Another local will join Sims and Kerlikowske back East, now that Philip Reitinger--a senior infrastructure security guy at Microsoft--has been appointed to a leadership role with the Department of Homeland Security. He will take over next week as the deputy undersecretary of the National Protections Program Directorate. Wired points out that as Microsoft isn't exactly an industry leader in computer security, Reitinger's appointment "might be considered what some would call ironic." Hmm. Hackers, start your engines. more ›

You no longer have to buy a Kindle or give Amazon.com any money in order to access the bulk of Kindle content and features, thanks to a new application (download here) released by the Seattle-based book giant today which allows you to read, highlight, and bookmark e-books Kindle-style on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Just last month, Seattlest got to handle our first Kindle; its owner had to gently inform us that the first-generation version did not in fact have a touch screen after a full minute of watching our grimy fingers scooting along the surface in vain. If you have one of the old Kindles and don't want to invest in a new one just for the touch screen feature, now you have options. iPhone-owning readers: will you be downloading this app? [MvB: Just did.] more ›

We can't remember now if it was on Lie to Me or The Mentalist, but on one of them, they mentioned that an indication that someone's lying (or doesn't have confidence in what they're saying) is when they repeat a question verbatim. That's why we smiled a little reading this quote from Microsoft's Gavriella Schuster on TechFlash: "One of the things customers have been asking me is, 'If I make an investment in Windows Vista today, is it a throwaway investment?' And the answer is no. It's not a throwaway investment." more ›

This morning we were down at the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce breakfast and regional economic forecast discussion, which opened with chair Tayloe Washburn being emotionally overcome while talking about how strapped food banks are for donations. (At which point we sorely regretted suggesting the chamber was "populated largely by jaw-dangling idiots," and wished we'd stuck to the rule of vilifying awful ideas rather than the people whose heads they're stinking up.) more ›

Adobe pink slips started arriving this afternoon, says the Unofficial Apple Weblog. Back in mid-November Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said, "People call this a financial crisis a lot more on the East Coast, but Silicon Valley will emerge stronger and cash flow is not a challenge for us. We have a very strong balance sheet and very deep franchises." So far the Twitter "Black Wednesday" reports are out of California; anyone have news on how this has hit Fremont? more ›

Zondervan, "a world leader in Christian communications," says it's just bought Mars Hill's social-networking, community-building software The City (we prefer "Christbook"), which was the brainchild of ex-Amazonian Zack Hubert. Now Zondervan will roll the software out to online churched-up types all over, hoping to recreate the Mars Hill experience: "Mars Hill launched The City earlier this year to create a dynamic, engaging interactive online community for its more than 7,000 members. Within two months of launch more than 85% of the church's members had signed up and more than 75% visit the site every single day." That daily Bible reading plan must be a doozy. more ›