Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a massive advertising budget.  In 2008, they hired Seinfeld as a spokesman, launched an “I’m a PC” campaign, set-up kiosks showing off Windows Vista, and even conducted an experiment that fooled people into thinking Vista was a new product.  Now Microsoft has launched a new campaign called “It’s Everybody’s Business” that focuses on the interviewing executives at other companies regarding how software keeps their business competitive.

“In the end, we want to make sure that customers are aware of the broad range of solutions we offer across CRM, virtualization, business intelligence, unified communications, security, collaboration and everything else that provides real functionality to help everybody make an impact, no matter what their role is in the business,” stated Gayle Troberman, General Manager of Advertising and Customer Engagement Team at Microsoft.

Microsoft is working with companies such as Quicksilver, Coca Cola, Nestle USA, and Method. This campaign has more of a focus on business and technology decision-makers rather than consumers. This is why the “It’s Everybody’s Business” campaign is different from the “I’m a PC campaign.”

Below is a video clip with the “It’s Everybody’s Business” theme:

[via Microsoft PressPass]

Gary McKinnon hacked into U.S. military computers in 2001 to find out whether UFOs exist.  The U.S. military computers that McKinnon penetrated included those that belong to NASA.  McKinnon believes that he did not cause any damage after hacking into the systems, but the U.S. government alleges that he stole 950 passwords and deleted files necessary for replenishing supplies for an Atlantic fleet according to PCWorld.com. If McKinnon is tried in the U.K., he said he would plead guilty.

The U.S. government believes that deleting files and stealing passwords wasn’t the only crime committed by McKinnon.  They believe that McKinnon also disrupted military networks necessary for operations conducted after 9/11.  The dollar value of the damage is estimated to be about $700,000.

McKinnon is currently on extradition to the U.S. for going to court based on a 2008 decision of the European Court of Human Rights.  If McKinnon is tried in the U.K., it is unlikely that he will be extradited to the U.S.

“McKinnon has had tremendous support from the hacker community and even ordinary people – many IT workers have a lot of sympathy for his ongoing plight and would rather see him tried in Britain as opposed to the U.S.,” stated Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant for a security company called Sophos.  “Any form of hacking is illegal and should be punished as such, and hacking into U.S. government networks is bound to come with harsh repercussions — anyone thinking about engaging in these types of activities in the future should think twice. This man’s sorry tale should warn other would-be hackers that they are playing with fire if they break into sensitive networks, and shouldn’t be surprised if the full force of the law goes after them.”

[via PC World]

[READ MORE AT GADGETS N' GEAR]

Natalie Maltais was kidnapped by her grandmother.  Natalie’s legal guardians called the police when her grandmother threatened that they may never see the girl again.  Natalie had a cellphone and when the police called the number, they were able to track her approximate location.  The cellphone company provided the GPS coordinates within 300 feet of each other.

The police knew that Natalie was in Rhode Island and that she was around the Virginia Route 11 near the Natural Bridge.  Deputy Chief Lozier then used Street View using Google Maps to scan the location where the cellphone was located.  Using Street View, Lozier was able to look up and down the intersection.  He noticed a short building near the highway that looked like a motel.  Lozier searched for motels in the area.

It turned out that it was a Budget Inn where Natalie and her grandmother was. “I told Todd if I was going to throw the dice, I’d throw them there,” stated Lozier.  Lozier was referring to Officer Todd Neale, who was also on the case.  “When I got that call from Todd that they found them, that was a good call,” stated Lozier.

[via Worcester Telegram & Gazette News]

MySpace’s parent company Fox Interactive Media (FIM) will be shutting down SpringWidgets and Flektor.  SpringWidgets was created by FIM in 2006 and Flektor.  FIM acquired Flektor around the same time as Photobucket.  Between the two companies, there are about 25 employees.

The ten employees of Flektor will have the chance to interview with MySpace.  It is unknown what will happen with SpringWidget’s 15 employees in Atlanta.  However both of the sites will be shut down for good.

SpringWidgets was a widget advertising platform company and Flektor created special effects for widgets.  And as you may know, MySpace users love their widgets which is why FIM probably thought there was synergy there.

It is rumored that FIM paid around $15 million to buy-out Flektor.

[via TechCrunch]

Alan Heuss of Ohio drives a BMW.  This past Wednesday, he was carjacked.  The thieves opened his passenger door, put a gun to his face, and drove away with his car.  Later that day, Heuss was sitting with his friends talking about how upset he was.  One of Heuss’ friends came up with a clever idea.

Alan’s friend’s idea was to text the carjackers.  After all his phone was left in his Beemer.  “He said, ‘I’m going to text these guys, I’m going to blow some smoke their way,’” Heuss told the local TV station. “He said, ‘I’m going to tell them I’ve got a bunch of hot chicks, as if I’m texting you, and that we’ve got some drugs, too.’”

The criminals actually showed up to the address sent in the text message only seven hours after the carjacking took place.  The hot chicks with drugs turned out to be police officers.  The suspects even showed up in the stolen car.

Toto Riina and Bernardo Provenzano are members of an Italian mafia.  In the last month, a couple of fan pages of these two Mafia leaders appeared on Facebook.  Anti-Mafia activists were not thrilled about this, so they joined these groups too.

“At first I was disturbed by the content of these ‘groups’,” stated Rita Borsellino, the sister of an anti-Mafia judge that was killed by the Cosa Nostra 17 years ago.  Rita’s sister was named Paolo Borsellino.  “I thought I would close down my Facebook page in protest, and then I realised it would be important to keep it as a tool for getting rid of these people,”

A couple of the group names on Facebook include “Free Toto Riina” and “Fans of Toto Riina, a misunderstood man.”  Each group has about 200 members.  The anti-Mafia group names that sprouted are called “Abolition of the Bernardo Provenzano fan club” and “No to Riina’s Facebook fans.”  Those groups now have over 3,000 members each.

Riina was arrested in 1993 and Provenzano in 2006.  Why have they become such a hot topic recently is anyone’s guess.

[via AFP]

Google has been the default search engine company for the Mozilla Firefox browser.  This is mainly due to Google’s financial support of Mozilla.  In 2006, Google paid Mozilla about $57 million which amounted to 85% of their revenue.  But now the Russian version of Firefox will be dropping Google as the default browser and switch it to Google’s Russian rival Yandex.

According to a blog post by Mozilla General Counsel Harvey Anderson, Russian Firefox users “wanted direct access to the Yandex search services in official Firefox RU builds” based on studying trends of Firefox Yandex builds.  For the Firefox 3.1 Russian locale builds, Yandex will become the default search engine.  This version will be released in the next few weeks.

In the last few months, Yandex was planning on going IPO, but postponed it until the economy recovers.  Yandex gets about 50 million searches per day.

[Via Webware & TechCrunch]