blogging chat

More Microsoft Karma - Kin Discontinued After 48 Days

2010-07-01T09:01:00.001-04:00

Microsoft Kin Discontinued After 48 Days

By MIGUEL HELFT
Published: June 30, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO — That didn’t take long.

Just 48 days after Microsoft began selling the Kin, a smartphone for the younger set, the company discontinued it because of disappointing sales.

The swift turnabout for the Kin, which Microsoft took two years to develop and whose release was backed with a hefty ad budget, is the latest sign of disarray for Microsoft’s recently reorganized consumer product unit.

“It’s an absolute failure,” said Charles S. Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. Mr. Golvin said he was surprised to see Microsoft kill a product so quickly, given the company’s history of sticking with new products and improving them over time.

Microsoft’s consumer products unit has struggled to offer a credible competitors to Apple’s iPod and more recently the iPhone and an array of smartphones powered by Google’s Android software.

Microsoft also recently canceled a project to develop a tablet computer that would compete with Apple’s popular iPad.

Microsoft said that it would shift employees who worked on the Kin to the team in charge of Windows Phone 7, a coming revision of Microsoft’s operating system for smartphones, which is due in the fall. The Kin, which came in two models, was aimed at young users and emphasized access to social networks like Facebook and Twitter. While neither Microsoft nor Verizon Wireless, which sold the phone exclusively, disclosed sales figures, people close to the companies said that sales were disappointing. Verizon slashed the prices of the phones to $50 from $200 for the higher-end model and to $30 from $150 for a stripped-down version.

Microsoft said it would cancel the pending release of the Kin in Europe and would work with Verizon Wireless to sell existing inventories. Brenda Raney, a Verizon spokeswoman, said the Kin “is still an important part of our portfolio.”

A version of this article appeared in print on July 1, 2010, on page B6 of the New York edition.

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The Secret Government Surveillance Document Microsoft Doesn't Want You To See

2010-02-25T12:04:00.003-05:00

Microsoft's Global Criminal
Compliance Handbook Leaked
By Addy Dugdale
2-24-10

Microsoft has acted swiftly after the Web site Cryptome leaked its "Global Criminal Compliance Handbook." The guide does exactly what it says: outlines the surveillance services the software company will perform for law enforcement agencies on its online platforms.

These include its email services, such as Hotmail, MSN, Messenger, Office Live, Windows Live, and even Xbox Live. Gulp.

The 22-page guide has "Confidential For Law Enforcement Use Only" stamped all over it, but that didn't stop the website from putting the PDF up over the weekend.

Cryptome Editor John Young received an notice from the site's host, Network Solutions yesterday, citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Unless he removes the guide, they fingerwagged, Cryptome will be disabled tomorrow, February 25.

(Update: the Cryptome.org website is already showing a "currently unavailable" message from Network Solutions.)

Young is most incensed by "its improper use of copyright to conceal from its customer violations of trust towards its customers," he told the Geekosystem Web site. He added that Microsoft was "repugnant" in the way it was allowing the law enforcement agencies to grab its clients' data. "This information would also be equally useful to customers to protect themselves when Microsoft cannot, due to its legal obligations under CALEA." [CALEA is the wiretap bill that was passed in 1994.] Will he take down the guide? Like hell he will!

This is not the first time that Cryptome has been pursued using the DMCA. Last year it put up Yahoo's surveillance guide, which included a price list. Yahoo shouted until it was even more purple in the face than it normally is, but to no avail: the guide is still online--although, one assumes, the prices have gone up.

Via Geekosystem

and Gizmodo

click here to download 22 page .pdf [1.26 mb]

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UPDATED note on comments

2010-01-04T12:00:00.006-05:00

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UPDATE: we've installed intense debate commenting system. you might not be able to see the comment link or the number of comments from viewing a post. however, for now, if you click the time stamp (i.e. Posted by chat bloggers at 12:00 ) of a post which is its permanent link when the individual post page opens you should be able to see at the bottom of the post the intense debate comments section. we'll continue to try and tweek it as time permits.

we will also attempt to import all the previous comments to intense debate.

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we've received notice that haloscan is discontinuing its free comment system in order to "upgrade" to a paid commenting system called echo.

so while we were able to save all 1,700 + comments to import them into another commenting system we've decided that for now we will go with the comments that blogspot.com supplies.

so thats what happened to your comments. (we dont see a way to import the haloscan comments into the blogspot.com comments yet).

UPDATE: for now we cant seem to get the blogspot.com comments to work either.

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Open Thread

2009-11-20T08:02:00.002-05:00

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Yes we're still around. There just hasn't been anything to post about chat in awhile since its mainly dead everywhere.
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Microsoft blocks instant messenger service in: Iran, Sudan, Cuba, Syria and North Korea

2009-05-23T14:47:00.002-04:00

Microsoft blocks Live Messenger access

Users in five countries will be without access due to US sanctions

Phil Muncaster

vnunet.com, 23 May 2009

Microsoft has said it is shutting off access to its Windows Live Messenger instant messaging service for users living in countries embargoed by the United States, according to reports.

The countries affected by the ban are Cuba, Syria, Iran, Sudan and North Korea, said a ZDnet.com report.

When trying to log in they will be met with an error message: “810003c1: We are unable to sign you into the .NET Messenger Service. Reason: Microsoft has discontinued providing Instant Messenger services in certain countries subject to United States sanctions. Details of these sanctions are available from the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control.”

According to ZDNet, a Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed the move, although as many of the sanctions imposed by the US date back nearly ten years, it is currently uncertain why Microsoft has decided to follow them now by banning the service. ~ read more
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Microsoft's days as an unstoppable force are over

2009-01-23T19:35:00.000-05:00

www.telegraph.co.uk

The software giant's below-expectations second-quarter earnings shocked investors.

By Jeff Segal, breakingviews.com
Last Updated: 6:14PM GMT 22 Jan 2009

And it's cutting 5,000 jobs, the first big layoffs in its 33-year history. The economic mess has highlighted Microsoft's vulnerabilities. It is time for boss Steve Ballmer to stop dabbling in unprofitable business ventures and focus on his exposed core product lines.

Even in the downturn, Microsoft remains the 800-pound gorilla of the software industry. It earned $4.2bn last quarter. But that's an 11pc drop from a year ago and well below what the market expected.

Shareholders responded by wiping some $14bn of value off Microsoft's market capitalisation following the announcement.Its layoffs are even more worrying than its earnings disappointment.

When Microsoft's cash flow was surging, keeping 90,000 employees on hand seemed worthwhile. Its desire to cut costs now is a sign that it sees tougher times ahead.

Indeed, sales of its Windows operating system - the company's bread and butter - were down 8pc last quarter as consumers bought fewer PCs.

Software, including Windows and a host of other offerings, generates nearly all of the company's operating income.

Yet Microsoft has been diverting much of its resources from its core businesses toward side projects like video games, music players and online search. None of those contribute significantly to its bottom line.

Microsoft's Xbox gaming console only entered the black in 2008 after seven years in the red. Its Zune music player has been bedevilled by bugs. And its MSN search engine commands less than one-tenth of the US search market.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's mainstays are under pressure from companies like Google that are pursuing so-called cloud computing initiatives - essentially, free online software products - to target its cash cows.

To keep a dip from turning into a rout, Ballmer needs to abandon Microsoft's host of also-ran distractions and train his focus back on the core business.

For more agenda-setting financial analysis, visit www.breakingviews.com

msn closing groups

2008-10-19T21:13:00.001-04:00

You may have heard rumors that MSN Groups will in closing, I’d like to respond to those here so that our most active users have the information you need to manage your groups effectively. It is true that we are planning to close the MSN Groups service on February 21, 2009 and will offer you the opportunity to move your group to our new partner service, Multiply. We understand the importance of keeping your group together, so we partnered with Multiply to create a migration process that moves your group to their service to preserve your online community and its history.

The migration method that Multiply has built for you is still in the beta stage, we plan to open it next week. Once the service is ready we’ll be sending all of our users an email and will post notices within the MSN Groups site with more information, including instructions for beginning the migration process. In the meantime I encourage you to visit http://Multiply.com to get to know the service and see some of the thousands of groups they host already.

The natural question to ask in this situation is why we are closing MSN Groups. It is our goal to provide our customers with the most current and user friendly technology available today. We made the difficult decision to close the MSN Groups service as part of an overall investment in updating and re-aligning our online services with Windows Live. In the long term we believe that closing the service is the best way to continue to offer innovative, best of breed services that help you stay in touch with the people you care about. It’s very important to us that you keep the data you created using MSN Groups and that is why we have partnered with Multiply, so you can keep your group going into the future despite the closure of MSN Groups.

Between today and February 21, 2009 the MSN Groups service will remain the same as it is now. We will remove the option to add more storage to your group but other features will remain until the service is shut down and you can use it the same way you do today until the date of closure. Watch the site and your email inbox over the next week as we will post updated information there, including a more detailed outline of your options and next steps.

Regards,

Charlotte Jones, Group Product Manager, Microsoft

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Cybersex Banned in Gaza

2008-05-19T19:25:00.002-04:00

Gazans will have only till the end of this month to engage in cybersex on the Internet…. Hamas has banned all pornographic websites…

Gaza’s Ministry of Communications said in a statement that telecommunications firm PALTEL has agreed to block Internet users in the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave from viewing adult websites starting this month.

“The aim of the move is to protect the Palestinian community from cultural pollution and to protect the young generations from the misuse of the Internet through viewing pornographic sites,” Hamas government spokesman Taher al-Nono said.
read more

Insecure Koach.com Censors Chat!

2008-04-13T19:43:00.008-04:00

so, today we finally broke down and visited the koach.com chat line. koach.com is the chat service formed by the clowns who were so terrible in managing msn's chatline that it was eventually closed down due to lack of use. (their shoddy management style ran off all msn's chatter/subscribers).

to say that koach.com is dead would be generous. we went in many rooms which had just a few chatters that werent chatting at all. finally we wound up in the koach's workshop chat room, which, despite saying that it contained seventy something chatters there was actually only two or three chatting and chatting intermittently at that. no host greeted us, in fact, a gaveled host was on "away."

as the following screen grabs show, we mentioned buzzen and phriek and immediately we were muzzled. koach.com seems to be so insecure that they muzzle then disconnect their users who make the mistake to merely mention another chat line.

former msn chatters might remember how then sysop_vsi and admin_koach deployed this technique against them shortly before msn chat closed. recall how koach.com was the only alternative chat line allowed to be promoted out in the general chat. mention of, for instance, buzzen immediately brought a ban.

however, buzzen to their credit does not seem to possess this childish insecurity, as we've documented in the past they have allowed koach.com personnel such as "global moderator/sysop" kiwigirl to come onto their chat service to promote koach.com with no adverse action taken against them.

as you can see, we actually made a typo and our text which should have been interpreted to mean, merely a comment by someone who was lamenting the loss of chatters across all chat lines and was actually complimenting koach.com.

Oasiz Communications Newsletter March 27, 2008

2008-03-28T21:38:00.001-04:00

Oasiz Communications Newsletter | Volume One Issue Two
excerpt:

Welcome to the second edition of our official Oasiz Newsletter. Each month we'll aim to deliver you your very own copy, this way you're never going to miss out on the latest news, updates, and that all important gossip!

All hands on deck!

A regular or not, I think most of us have noticed the influx TheLounge has taken recently. We've seen room numbers sky rocket over the past few weeks, hitting an all time record of over 50 participants! Well, "What's caused that then?" I hear you ask, simple; 14 days of hard work, several pints of lager, and a superb collection of staff within the chat room.

We recently saw a huge welcome to Grapevine Edge, bringing with them tonnes of chatters, and so things were very much on the up. Still, TheLounge was in need of a face lift, a lick of paint, and some new staff with enormous mental energy. We took the decision to apply a new Guide to the chat room, to work alongside the current staff. Having then accepted several host applications for the chat room, and granted those who met the criteria, we're now well on our way to having a fully staffed, Oasiz official chat room.

Ladies and Gentlemen, TheLounge, the home of friendly chat! Check it out some day, and follow the motto...

"The future's bright, the future's Oasiz!

Meet the people behind the scenes!

We are again featuring an Oasiz Guide

Rex is originally from West Sussex and now calls London his home.

An Electronics Engineer with many years of experience here at Oasiz. Rex has had a number of Chat Rooms on various sites over the years and moved to Oasiz around 4 years ago, because he found the members and staff to be THE best he had ever found, he decided to stay, and we are thankful that he did because not only can he be found chatting up the girls in The Lounge he is extremely knowledgeable and helpful in HelpDesk.

Starting out as Moderator on the forums he has worked up to being a supreme Guide. I asked him if he had any saucy tales to tell from his experience in help desk, he elected to keep his antics to himself. So ladies your secrets are safe! You will have to stop by The Lounge one evening between 7pm and 10pm GMT and see if you can persuade him to tell you some tales.

What's developing!

WaveLengths a brand new chat room that is geared to the more mature 30's 40's and beyond. Admin Sarah has seen this idea through to fruition, from the choosing of its name via a competition on the forum to the opening of this relaxing place to catch up with old friends and maybe make some new ones. Keep a look out on the forum for a special event that will launch this exciting new room, which is being managed by Guide Wendi and Guide Martin, along with the charming hosts Voddie and LittleMissTerrie.

www.oasiz.net

buzzen v2 knocked

2008-01-14T18:42:00.000-05:00

Buzzen V2 has FINALLY been released to the public. So I went to check it out this morning.. before I went onto Buzzen V2, I was expecting to see the rooms full and all of the members chatting on V2 and enjoying the new features.

Got into Buzzen V2 homepage, and overall, I thought.. "Hmm This looks familiar".... then I noticed that Buzzen V2 is EXACTLY the same (in design) as V1, only a few things changed and some new icons added. Hmm.. 3 years in the making and they couldn't even make a new website from scratch?

So I went to the Chat section to check that out (Remembering I was expecting the rooms to be full with joyful users), the rooms are dead. There is no one on V2, no one is using it. I found out that everyone prefers the Buzzen.net thing, so I was wondering why these hundreds of users weren't using Buzzen brand new shiny V2. It seems most of Buzzens users cannot login nor register.

LOL They release the next version of their website.... broken.

As I said above, Buzzen V2 is just V1 with some changes, so you can expect the same problems you had in V1, to follow.

You would think that the Managers would be well prepared for the move, making it smooth as possible for the Guides. Apparently not. The staff clients are not working on V2 so V2 is completely staffless. As for Karen, she is too busy playing "I'm Karen, the street worker, get off my patch bitch" to worry about her Guides and find a quick solution about their clients. So all of these poor Guides are having to fix their OWN clients in order to get on V2.

My advice to you is to switch chat homes and find somewhere reliable.
BCNMeeting | Monday 14 January 2008 - 05:05:52 | #

Microsoft pulls plug on potty-mouth Santa

2007-12-07T09:38:00.000-05:00

Microsoft cuts off Big Man after he starts talking about sex acts, using foul language

By John Fontana, Network World, 04 December 2007

Turns out Santa himself is naughty and nice.

An artificial-intelligence Santa bot operated by Microsoft to talk to children wavered off topic saying: “It’s fun to talk about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else....”

Microsoft Tuesday confirmed the bot’s potty mouth and snipped Santa’s Web connection.

“Yesterday we received reports that the automated Santa Claus agent in Windows Live Messenger used inappropriate language. As soon as we were alerted, we took steps to mitigate the issue, including the removal of language from the agent’s automated script. We were not completely satisfied with the result of these actions, and have decided to discontinue the automated Santa Claus agent,” Microsoft said in a statement sent to Network World.

Once the report of the randy Santa broke, questions prodding Santa to give up even more questionable answers took off like eight tiny reindeer.

Users were able to steer Santa into admitting he was gay or that he was a pedophile.

One person said “…..come on you like big hairy men -- don't hide it!” To which Santa responded, “I know, I know. I just hope you won't get mad at me.”

The references to sex acts, first reported by British news outlet The Register, came when the bot was answering questions about eating pizza. At the time, the bot was chatting with two girls age 11 and 13.

Microsoft recently added the corpulent and foul-mouthed artificial Santa as a bot that Windows Live Messenger users could insert into their IM buddy list as northpole@live.com.

The bot would coax users to participate in a friendly game called Factory Frenzy where the user helps out Santa’s elves. But it is the chat where Santa references sex acts and uses phrases such as “dirty bastard.”

Microsoft officials first responded by cleaning up Santa’s lap-side manner. After the upgrade, when asked about pizza, according to The Register, Santa says, “If you need a break to go eat, I will be right there when you come back.”

major new virus threat to msn windows

2007-10-25T12:17:00.000-04:00

In millions of Windows, the perfect Storm is gathering

John Naughton
Sunday October 21, 2007
The Observer

excerpt:

A spectre is haunting the net but, outside of techie circles, nobody seems to be talking about it. The threat it represents to our security and wellbeing may be less dramatic than anything posed by global terrorism, but it has the potential to wreak much more havoc. And so far, nobody has come up with a good idea on how to counter it.

It's called the Storm worm. It first appeared at the beginning of the year, hidden in email attachments with the subject line: '230 dead as storm batters Europe'. The PC of anyone who opened the attachment became infected and was secretly enrolled in an ever-growing network of compromised machines called a 'botnet'. The term 'bot' is a derivation of 'software robot', which is another way of saying that an infected machine effectively becomes the obedient slave of its - illicit - owner. If your PC is compromised in this way then, while you may own the machine, someone else controls it. And they can use it to send spam, to participate in distributed denial-of-service attacks on banks, e-commerce or government websites, or for other even more sinister purposes.

Storm has been spreading steadily since last January, gradually constructing a huge botnet. It affects only computers running Microsoft Windows, but that means that more than 90 per cent of the world's PCs are vulnerable. Nobody knows how big the Storm botnet has become, but reputable security professionals cite estimates of between one million and 50 million computers worldwide. To date, the botnet has been used only intermittently, which is disquieting: what it means is that someone, somewhere, is quietly building a doomsday machine that can be rented out to the highest bidder, or used for purposes that we cannot yet predict.

click link to read more

microsoft pays 240 million usd to screw up facebook!

2007-10-24T16:51:00.000-04:00

FACEBOOK R.I.P.

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT) said on Wednesday it would pay $240 million for a minority equity stake in Facebook in a deal that values the social networking Web site at $15 billion.

The world's largest software maker was bidding against Google Inc. (GOOG) for a stake in Facebook and the right to sell advertising for Facebook outside of the United States.

Microsoft said it would be the exclusive third-party advertising platform for Facebook, one of the hottest properties on the Internet with more than 47 million users.

Reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi)

flashback vickie & mark 5

2007-10-18T00:12:00.000-04:00

Host_Mark-5 : any lobby hosts herE?
Host_Mark-5 : thereisnobodyhere69_ : LEE IS CLONEING IN LOBBY 1 AND MOOFING PPL IF THE HOST EVEN CARES
Host_Mark-5 : Vickie... Just so ya know :D
Sysop_vsi : Host_Mark-5 : nobody, I will send a
Sysop right away! one moment please. <------ what is that???
Host_Mark-5 : to let him know you were helping
Sysop_vsi : just a heads up....YOU don't SEND me anywhere!
Host_Mark-5 : Yes'm
Sysop_vsi : and while i have your attention....let's just straighten something out............
Host_Mark-5 : k?
Sysop_vsi : you on another chat service?
Host_Mark-5 : huh?
Host_Mark-5 : Like MSN groups?
Sysop_vsi : no
Host_Mark-5 : I'm on Pets to Pets ?
Host_Mark-5 : http://groups.msn.com/petstopets
Sysop_vsi : no
Sysop_vsi : like nsm, zeus, etc.
Host_Mark-5 : :S no
Host_Mark-5 : like msn yes.
Sysop_vsi : then where exactly are you a sysop? and where do you go to get into the room koach test?
Host_Mark-5 : I'm on it now... right?
Host_Mark-5 : I'm a sysop with my group
Chad423_37620 is away.
Sysop_vsi : groups don't have sysops
Host_Mark-5 : and I heard that the room koach test was the staff room, I tried it once, but I was banned.
Host_Mark-5 : my group does we have guides, sysops, etc
Angelkiwigirl7 has joined the conversation.
Host_Mark-5 : Like hockey_mum, prn, tinytoga, and higgy are sysops, loc is a guide, etc
BattleBot has made Angelkiwigirl7 a Participant.
BattleBot has made Angelkiwigirl7 a Host.
Sysop_vsi : you may have the name, but not the authority....and that's not my point
Host_Mark-5 : ok :S
Sysop_vsi : who's sysop_phantom?
Host_Mark-5 : sysop phantom? dunno...
Fiddle_Stixx is away.
-Kassarah- : hi miss kiwi (F)
Host_Mark-5 : should I know :S:S :$
Angelkiwigirl7 : hi kass:)
Angelkiwigirl7 : (F)
Sysop_vsi : i have received several complaints about you claiming to be a sysop....giving an "override" code that just so happens to be 4 of the six characters in your password for battle_bot
Host_Mark-5 : over ride code?
Sysop_vsi : aw come on, mark....you're nailed and you know it
Host_Mark-5 : eh?
Host_Mark-5 : If I was a sysop, I would have a butterfly.. not a brown hammer.
Host_Sarge_MCSE has joined the conversation.
Host_Mark-5 : and I post my histories.. wouldn't it be in there if I said tha?
Host_Mark-5 : *that
BattleBot has made Host_Sarge_MCSE a Participant.
BattleBot has made Host_Sarge_MCSE a Host.
Host_Sarge_MCSE : Hola A Todos
Host_Mark-5 : hello sarge
-Kassarah- : hi sarge (F)
Host_Sarge_MCSE : How is everyone today?
Angelkiwigirl7 is away.
Fiddle_Stixx : about to eat LOL
Host_Sarge_MCSE : Me too actualli I just ordered a (pi)
Sysop_vsi : 1. you're NOT a sysop on MSN...and i know that LOL
Fiddle_Stixx : sounds good..
Sysop_vsi : 2. your claims aren't being made while you're hosting
Host_Mark-5 : then may I ask when they are being made :$
Sysop_vsi : 3. i have numerous logs of your activity
Sysop_vsi : sure you can ask....but you already know....on messenger
squirral56 has left the conversation.
Host_Mark-5 : on messenger?
Host_Sarge_MCSE is away.
Host_Mark-5 : Vickie I have honestly no idea about this, but if you would like me to leave for good I will :'(
Host_Sarge_MCSE has left the conversation.
Flying_jock1 has joined the conversation.
-Kassarah- : hi jock (F)
Host_Sarge_MCSE has joined the conversation.
BattleBot has made Flying_jock1 a Participant.
BattleBot has made Flying_jock1 a Host.
Sysop_vsi : actually, you don't have a choice....and just for future reference...it's the over-ride code that nailed your case shut
Flying_jock1 : HI KASS
BattleBot has made Host_Sarge_MCSE a Participant.
BattleBot has made Host_Sarge_MCSE a Host.
--green--eyes-- : i was in 60s sarge
--green--eyes-- : you need something
Host_Mark-5 : eh?
--green--eyes-- : i jsut left there
Host_Mark-5 : ok vickie :S
Host_Sarge_MCSE : oh ok ...I need to talk to you in whisper
--green--eyes-- has returned.
Host_Mark-5 : if anyone wants to add me :shadangerous510@msn.com
Host_Mark-5 : It's been nice hosting with you guys.
Host_Mark-5 : And I will miss you all.
__skip_tracer : bye mark
Host_Sarge_MCSE : Bye Mark
Flying_jock1 : BYE MARK
Host_Mark-5 : :'(
Host_Mark-5 : Bye vickie.
--green--eyes-- : i banned one chatter for 15 minutes and another for stating she was underage
Host_Sarge_MCSE : did you look at the profile?
AgelessBot : Flying_jock1 is now hosting in 50s
Host_Mark-5 : take care all. I will miss you :'(
--green--eyes-- : no our rules say if they post they are underage OR if the profile says they are underage they get banned 24 hours for underage
Host_Mark-5 : It's been fun, but I can see I'm not wanted
Host_Mark-5 : shadangerous510@msn.com
-Kassarah- : bye mark
Host_Sarge_MCSE : oh..ok...I didn't hear that part from them
Host_Mark-5 has made Host_Mark-5 a Spectator.
-Kassarah- : (Y) dottie
Host_Mark-5 has left the conversation.

Government spooks helped Microsoft build Vista

2007-10-14T14:49:00.000-04:00

dunno how we missed this one for so long...

By Nick Farrell: Tuesday, 09 January 2007, 2:26 PM

THE USA GOVERNMENT'S cryptologic organisation, the National Security Agency, has admitted that it is behind some of the security changes to Microsoft's operating system Vista.

According to the Washington Post, the agency which was once so secret that it was jokingly referred to as 'No such Agency' has admitted making 'unspecified contributions' to Vista.

Tony Sager, the NSA's chief of vulnerability analysis and operations group, told the Post that it was the agency's intention to help everyone these days.

The NSA used a red and a blue team to pull apart the software. The red team posed as "the determined, technically competent adversary" to disrupt, corrupt or steal information. The Blue team helped Defense Department system administrators with Vista's configuration.

Vole said that it has sought help from the NSA over the last four years. Apparently its skills can be seen in the Windows XP consumer version and the Windows Server 2003 for corporate customers.

The assistance is at the US taxpayers' expense, although the NSA says it all makes perfect sense. Not only is the NSA protecting United States business, its own Defense Department uses VoleWare so it is in the government's interest to make sure it is as secure as possible.

Microsoft is not the only one to tap the spooks. Apple, with its Mac OSX operating system, and Novell with its SUSE Linux also asked the NSA what it thought of their products. The NSA is quite good at finding weapons of mass destruction that are not there.

googling for BeguilingMyst

2007-09-26T22:16:00.000-04:00

we noticed that lately we have been receiving a lot of googlers for the former msn chat cha and host beguilingmyst. we always assumed that she was hosting over at koach.

anyway heres all the information we have on her:

beguilingmyst phreik chat profile

beguilingmyst cool webchat profile

beguilingmyst buzzen profile

beguilingmyst msn profile(s) 1 and 2

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search this blog beguilingmyst

uk'er searching for how to take over buzzen chat

2007-07-29T00:15:00.000-04:00

this cant be good.

note on comments

2007-07-23T05:00:00.000-04:00

until claire or whoever goes into rehab we are placing comments on moderation so we dont have to put up with a lot of spam, etc moving legitimate comments off the list.

chat bloggers to angelsfall20 part 2

2007-07-23T04:35:00.000-04:00

claire, darling, this is why you sucked as a host because you thought you knew it all and didnt know anything. lol heres a tip for you -- when you sign someone up on an email list they record the ip number of the requester and print it right there on the confirmation email they send the recipient as we've shown on the below email which we copied and pasted. oh we have a screen grab of it as well which we will soon be sending your isp abuse department - along with the others..

====

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Request generated by:
IP: 4.227.114.172
Date: July 23, 2007 03:02 EDT
URL: http://www.surveyadvise.com[REMAINDER OF URL REMOVED]

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the ip number of the requester is a level 3 isp from texas - imagine that!

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oh and would you look at this -- it just so happens we had a site visitor from the same ip address:

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by the way claire -- why do you keep googling sysop vsi?
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related posts

chat bloggers to angelsfall20 a/k/a/ claire

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the invisible buzzen host

2007-07-21T22:59:00.000-04:00

we were chatting in buzzen espresso bar two today and noticed that the host does not appear on the room list. whats with that? and no we arent the host lol.

click picture to enlarge

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chat bloggers to angelsfall20 a/k/a claire

2007-07-21T10:51:00.000-04:00

nice try claire - pull that stunt again and we will report you to your isp - level 3.
oh and our inbox holds over 2.5 GB :-)

click pictures to enlarge

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angelsfall20 still abusing chatters

msn host doesnt pay for chat

angelsfall20 busted again: outwar spammer

angelsfall20

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koach.com msn chat reunion

2007-06-14T19:05:00.000-04:00

Hi former MSN Chatter!

It's been over eight months since MSN Chat shut down.

Sadly, MSN's action caused many people to lose touch with their chat friends.

To help put friends back in touch with each other, Koach.com is holding a Chat Reunion!

You are invited to join us on Saturday, June 23rd and and Sunday, June 24th for a special chat.
You may use our web chat or any standard irc client like mIRC (no special are scripts needed!).

Web chat users

can connect here:
http://koach.com/index.php?id=chatlogin&chan=%23Reunion

Then, enter your desired nick, and press Login.

For mIRC users type:
/server irc.koach.com -m irc.koach.com -j #Reunion
For IceChat users:
/joinserv irc.koach.com #Reunion

Of course, you are welcome to join us for a chat before the reunion, and stay to chat afterwards :)

For more information, visit our discussion forum:

http://koach.com/mb/YaBB.pl?catselect=reunion

or email Koach at one of these email addresses:

koach-at-koach.com
koachcom-at-gmail.com
sysopk-at-hotmail.com

If you have any problems connecting, please email me!
Hope to see you all then!

Koach (formerly known on MSN as Admin_Koach)

P.S. Please forward this email to anyone you think might be interested.

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panda software loves blogging.msn.chat's readers

2007-06-01T09:53:00.000-04:00

at first we thought this email was a phish but upon further investigation we have learned that it's legitimate:

Hi,

First of all, let me introduce myself: this is Carlos Arias, and I’m a part of the NanoScan’s team.

I would like to congratulate you because your blog, that I used to follow up. On the other hand, thank you very much for your contribution to the community publishing information about our free tool NanoScan: http://bloggingmsnchat.blogspot.com/2007/05/panda-beware-of-msndiablo-worm.html

I’m contacting you as there are some news about NanoScan: we have ready the version compatible with Firefox. We spent some months ago trying to finding out the best way to make the first on-line antivirus tool developed for these users, and finally we did a native plug-in. It is as simple to use as always. So, when you go to www.nanoscan.com, the application will detect automatically if you have Firefox or not, and in this case, it is offering you the instructions to install the plug-in. I invite you to test it, just in case you are using Firefox.

Please, could you update the information about the tool so Firefox’s users will be able to use it?

I’m available for any information you might need. Please, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks so much in advance!!!

Best,

Carlos Alfonso Arias Muñoz

International Communication Department
mailto: caarias-at-pandasoftware.es

Panda Software

Protection against viruses, spyware, hackers, spam and other Internet threats

Ronda de Poniente, 17

28760 TRES CANTOS - MADRID - SPAIN

http://www.pandasoftware.com

Panda Software is a leading developer and provider of integrated security solutions to combat viruses, hackers, Trojans, spyware, phishing, spam and other Internet threats. With its state-of-the-art TruPrevent™ Technologies, Panda Software's innovative solutions offer a higher return on investment by keeping customers protected, even against new threats which have not yet been identified. PandaLabs, the fastest laboratory in the industry in releasing complete updates to users, provides 24x7, year round response to malware worldwide. More information at: www.pandasoftware.com.

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buzzen beta chat screen grab

2007-05-18T17:03:00.000-04:00

someone sent us a screen grab of the new buzzen chat control...looks promising....

click picture to enlarge

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now if buzzen would just get rid of the msn way of chat management, which is a failure and get their own decent chat management so they will have some chatters...hmmmm...

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