Oh, freaking-A. Robert Levy, a SmartPhone MVP, just showed me a hot new Camera phone, being produced by Mitac. It's a SmartPhone, built with Microsoft's latest SmartPhone operating system. I know the rest of you all think this is a bore, but I've been waiting for this for a while. Unfortunately it's only available in Asia right now. Here's an article about it.

I was standing with my son Patrick at Borders in Bellevue tonight and he started talking a language I totally didn't understand. He was showing me a Yu-Gi-Oh magazine and telling me all about his favorite cards and such. It made me feel so clueless and so old.

Nine-year-olds really do have their own thing going.

I was over at Chris Pirillo's blog, and see that Google just shipped a beta of a Toolbar. Oh, this is awesome. The toolbar is one of my favorite things.

Steve Gillmor is on top of his game as he talks about RSS, Apple's new stuff, and Microsoft's failure to excite.

I agree with Gillmor, Steve Jobs is doing a great job. Pixar's latest movie is an absolute winner. Patrick, Maryam, and I are still talking about it a month later.

The new Macs? Fast. The new Panther? Good stuff.

Can Microsoft keep up with Apple? I didn't move to Seattle for no reason. :-)

For those who don't know, Eric Rudder is the guy now in charge of the division I'm a small part of. His recent new responsibilities explain a bit why he hasn't found the time to weblog.

Seattle Times: Microsoft wins a big contract from the Army.

Ahh, Doc Searls is covering the Corporate Weblogging thing.

Personally, I think corporate weblogging is a non-event. For instance? Am I a corporate weblogger? I don't think so. I don't have Microsoft's executive blessing for this.

Funny, I was talking with my boss's boss today. Vic Gundotra (General Manager of Platform Evangelism). I asked him "so, from a Microsoft's exec point of view, what would you like me to do on my weblog?"

He answered: "I don't want to tell you what to do, because anything I tell you will only screw it up and make it boring."

Oh, you mean like Eric Rudder's weblog?

Now I'm in trouble...

;-)

Ernie the Attorney gives an example of really cruddy marketing.

Sean and Scott hope Microsoft actually gets MORE boring. Why? They want a computer they can recommend to their parents.

Guys: this is actually what got me so excited about the Tablet. I've seen quite a few "complete adverse to computers" types get real excited when you put a Tablet in front of them. Many people see a computer with a bunch of keys and they freak out. But, most of these people have been using a pen and paper for their entire lives. So, they get right into using the Tablet.

Ahh, I wish I was overseas hanging out with the TechEd Webloggers.

The Gadget Guy wonders if I can get his friend a meeting with Steve Ballmer.

Heh. You know, someday soon I'm gonna send him email and offer to buy him lunch. I'll let you know how it goes.