I’m always one for a secure environment, and my wireless is no different. However, I have to admit that I’ve never thought about having a secure wireless keyboard. Microsoft has done just that, offering a keyboard for the paranoid and ultra secure. It does make sense in the land of keyloggers and such. Although, if someone was close enough to capture my wireless keyboard strokes, they’d definitely be close enough for “home protection”. Even without the encryption, this is a damn nice looking keyboard. Give me illuminated keys, and I’d order it yesterday.

There has been a lot of rumors about what’s coming in the newest update for Windows Phone 7, codenamed Mango. It has over 500 changes, and the Windows Phone Team has written a nice post showcasing some of the best ones and why they decided to implement the changes.

The next release of Windows Phone introduces on-phone podcasts, new features like Smart DJ (my personal favorite), and loads of refinements and tweaks that make it easier to find and enjoy great music and video. As one of the program managers that helped conceive and design many of these new features (yes, I do get paid to listen to music all day), I thought it’d be fun to tell you not only what changes we’re making in Mango but also to give you a little insight into why we’ve made them.

After seeing the awesome preview of Windows 8, Apple users have started complaining that it is going to fail. They want it to copy Apple’s iOS and run a separate OS for tablets and desktops. This article pretty much sums up my thoughts on the subject. I would love to own an iPad, but it doesn’t have what I want to do: desktop functionality.

If Windows 8 includes the ability to actually do WORK on it, then it will be successful, and I will buy a tablet powered by Windows 8. If it were to be a tablet only, with a limited set of functions and applications, then I will skip it, just like I have with the iPad. I own an iPod Touch for the music player. That’s it.

If I could take a tablet with me anywhere, and have a keyboard/mouse, then I’d be able to do what I want, when I want. If I want to read a book or watch a movie, I can. If I want to do work, I can. Easily. That’s what Windows 8 is for. It’s not for limiting what you can do, it’s for removing the limits and giving you the freedom to do what you want!

Microsoft has released a great new video showcasing the user interface and a few features of the new operating system from Microsoft: Windows 8. It looks pretty nice from a touch screen viewpoint, but I’m not so sure as a desktop replacement. Hopefully, they allow some kind of customization I there. I saw the old taskbar in there, so it appears to be that way. I like quick and easy, not navigating a dozen touch icons to reach the control panel.

Microsoft has started a promotion where you can buy a new PC with Windows 7 and get a free Xbox 360. Plus, they are kicking it off with a new commercial.

I missed Visual Basic’s 20th birthday this weekend. I remember I started using it around VB 3.0 than took some time off until a few years ago. Nice to see it is still relevant today! From BASIC on the old C64 to DOS and GWBASIC then to Visual Basic, I had a good experience with it. I’ve moved to C++ and Visual C++ a bit more lately, though.

You might ask after two-decades how VB can keep re-inventing itself to face modern and future challenges. The answer is quite literally that – re-inventing itself. OK, more accurately re-writing itself. The VB compiler is being re-written from the ground up in Visual Basic and its syntactic and semantic analysis services exposed through a managed API that exposes parse trees, expression binding, assembly production (and more) to enable a world of new scenarios including REPL, VB as a scripting language, and more. It’s all very exciting! As a VB user for … half my lifetime, now, it’s great to look back and be proud of where VB has been, happy with where it is, and especially excited about where it’s going!

Two employees of Microsoft have been fired due to their involvement in the recent leaks of the upcoming operating system Windows 8. Although this is currently still a rumor with no word from Microsoft, it is from a well known leak tracker. I am awaiting the first legit beta from Microsoft on Windows 8, and am getting excited! I’m hoping I could be an official beta tester this round.

Microsoft is currently compiling different versions of Windows 8 that require a “red pill” licensing check to enable certain features. WinRumors understands that most of the publicly leaked builds are from branches of Microsoft’s build process that do not contain a specific DLL required for loading a number of new Windows 8 features. It is understood that certain branches of Windows 8 contain extra components that activate with a specific Windows key. The components likely unlock the full Tablet immersive UI of Windows 8, one that the company is working hard to keep under wraps.

The Windows Home Server team has announced that you can now go through an online evaluation of Windows Home Server. There is a temporary site that it is available on, and will soon be switching over the the Microsoft.com domain. I tried Windows Home Server 2011, but found it lacking in what I was trying to accomplish, so I went for the Small Business Server 2011: Essentials, which has turned out to be a great decision and has exceeded my expectations.

Today I am pleased to say the online evaluation experience for WHS 2011 is now ready. This provides customers the ability to walk through both client and server interaction freely, or follow a suggested demonstration path with the evaluation manual which will also launch with the online experience. Available 24 hours per day, it provides a super simple way to experience WHS without the need for SBS hardware,

Microsoft is close to accepting that Live Messenger’s voice and video capabilities are sub-par in a bid to buy Skype for 7 billion dollars. Skype is a great buy, and I really like the service.

A deal represents Microsoft’s most aggressive move yet to play in the increasingly-converged worlds of communication, information and entertainment. Skype connects more than 663 million users around the world via Internet-based telephony and video, making it a key technology platform for a new generation of Web-savvy consumers. During 2010, those users made 207 billion minutes of voice and voice video calls over Skype.

The Microsoft ads “I’m a PC” have taken a new twist: they bring the Microsoft Store to your home showing you how your old PC isn’t really up to date. Check this out: