Welcome again to the Alan and Mitchell Podcast. We’re still working on a new podcast name so hang in there until we have something better. During the podcast, Alan and I talk about: 1. New security features in  Windows Azure 2. The first zero day for Windows 7 3. 2nd iPhone worm 4. HP/3Com 5. Why is security so hard 6. Fortinet’s IPO 7. Cloud Computing becoming part of the pop culture Thanks for joining us and enjoy the podcast!... 

I was driving back from a meeting downtown today and needed to stop by my house to pick up the zip pouch with my bank stuff in it. I needed to make a deposit at the 1st Bank I use down the street. Driving west on 120th on the border dividing Westminster and Broomfield (Colorado), I came up on two police …  Read More →

Write a one sentence blog post per week.  Read More →

Well, we’re back at it again. Alan and I are doing the podcast again and we are enjoying it even more.  During this episode, Alan and I talk about: Is the CISO role really just a consulting gig? Microsoft Security Essentials free malware software Microsoft Forefront 2010 for Exchange and Alan’s leaving StillSecure The podcast is full of the usually banter and tomfoolery so join us for thirty-five minutes of fun and good security information. ... 

Alan Shimel and I are back doing our podcast again. We recorded an episode last night and should be up in the next day or so. We’ve started a podcast naming contest and we’d love your suggestions. The winner submitting the name we select will get a t-shirt with our new logo on it (including the name) and an appearance on our podcast. Email me (mitchell  Read More →

Nine years at one company is almost longer than my entire career in information security.  Read More →

Part 1: One of the reasons I enjoy creating software is that I’m fascinated by researching and understanding users of the technology we create. I sometimes refer to myself as a software anthropologist. That’s part of why I also enjoy user interface design. So, enough about me… lets get on to the topic. Over time, I’ve noticed how the form of communications we use is generational. By that I mean as time marches on, we create... 

I had the pleasure on Friday of speaking at a business breakfast about the topic of blogging. During the process I discovered that the group organizer, Steve Baker is a blogger as well. Steve’s an entrepreneurial business guy with lots of wisdom and experience to share. He’s sharing that by authoring a book, Pushing Water Up Hill With A Rake, and a companion blog. I have had a chance to read some of the posts and like what he’s... 

Earlier this year, a client I advise about social media and web technology approached me asking for help with a fund raising effort on Twitter. The idea was to raise enough money, $10,000, to set up a young Kenyan boy and his brother with a store they could operate and make a living.  This situation was special because the boy had lost his arms after both his parents died from AIDS. He was so distraught, the village elders were worried he might... 

Michael Arrington at TechCruch (a great site, btw) posted an interview on YouTube that he did with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Yuri Milner of Digital Sky Technologies, the investor who just plunked down a $200m investment in Facebook at a $10B valuation. The interview focuses on the question of why Zuckerberg took the investment, how this investment was a bargain comparted to the Microsoft (and other) investment made at a $15B valuation... 

In a blog post It’s All About The Faces , Brad Feld talked about the impact on his readers after changing from his normal portrait style avatar to a more artistic version. Followers commented how he seem so much less accessible, resulting in Brad changing back to his orginal picture. That blog post immediately reminded me of a somewhat releted experience I had that same day. While creating a new group on Facebook, I ran into some challenges when... 

   My editor at Network World Microsoft Subnet , Julie Bort, posted this video parody of the movie The Matrix that pokes fun at Microsoft Windows. No matter if you’re a Linux fan, Mac user or you use Windows regularly, I think everyone will enjoy this video.  Read More →

“Crisis brings opportunity to change.” Keep that quote in mind for a moment as you read this blog post. You can’t watch a cable news channel, particularly CNN, without hearing some reference to Twitter. Facebook has pretty much supplanted myspace as the dominant social networking platform, thanks in large part all of the applications, groups, social causes and the beginnings of businesses using Facebook to reach customers. It’s... 

Continued from a  previous blog post … The Digital Age Will Save Us… Uh Huh If you haven’t noticed our world of software is changing right from under us. We rarely receive CDs or DVDs when you buy software. All the Microsoft products I use in my business all come direct via the web, downloading an installer or the ISO image of the DVD to my computer. We buy and download our music through Amazon and iTunes. Now customers have much greater... 

If you create products (or run a business that does), it’s your professional and personal goal to create something everyone wants so badly that products fly off the shelves like Nintendo Wii’s at Christmas (and most of the year, actually). There are countless examples of this kind of demand, including the Wii, XBox’s, iPhone, Tickle Me Elmo, and Cabbage Patch Kids to name just a few. Now we’re seeing the online equivalent of customers banging...