Friday, October 9, 2009

Microsoft Hits Finish Line On Exchange 2010

Microsoft on Thursday said it has released Exchange 2010 to manufacturing and plans to launch it next month at the Tech-Ed conference in Berlin, Germany.

Exchange 2010 is part of the next wave of Microsoft Office products and is also the first Microsoft server technology to work on-premises and as an online service. Exchange 2010 improvements include integrated e-mail archiving, enhanced unified messaging support, expanded search capability, and the ability to transcribe voice mails into text messages.

Exchange 2010 combines on-site and off-site data replication into a single framework called a database availability group. With Exchange 2003 and 2007, each mailbox was tied to a specific server, but Exchange 2010 allows mailboxes to reside on any server, which cushions the impact of network outages, according to solution providers.

Microsoft is also working on a hosted version of Exchange 2010, but that won't launch until the second half of next year. That release will add full support for multi-tenant Exchange infrastructure and replace the current purpose-built version of Exchange that Microsoft offers hosters.

Microsoft's hosting partners are also anxious about getting their hands on Exchange 2010 because of its many performance improvements. For example, Exchange 2010 runs with 70 percent less I/O operations per second (IOPS) than Exchange 2007 and 90 percent less than Exchange 2003.

In August, Microsoft launched the Exchange 2010 Release Candidate and said testers would be able to migrate to the RTM version through an in-place upgrade.

New digital technology shakes up book industry

Rick Rieser was halfway through his daily jog this summer when the idea for "Percy, The Perfectly Imperfect Chicken" first popped into his brain.

Today, Rieser is a first-time author preparing for a busy schedule of readings in the Midwest, toting boxes of the children's book that was published with stunning speed via a small Silicon Valley startup called FastPencil. A creative process that often takes years — and typically fails to come to fruition — was accomplished in a few months, without a single rejection.

FastPencil, based in Campbell, is at the crest of a wave of innovation that analysts say could disrupt and "democratize" the book industry much as the music industry was transformed by Napster and the iPod. The changes are challenging the gatekeeper status and distribution models of big publishing houses by creating alternative routes for authors.

The Web has been a boon for self-expression, but while just about anyone can blog, a physical book remains the dream of many writers. Rare are the blog-to-book breakthroughs of such authors as Julie Powell, whose blogging homage to chef Julia Child led to a book and a film.

Advances in digital technologies have created new ways to publish and consume the written word. Innovations ranging from the print-on-demand technologies by Hewlett-Packard and Xerox to the advent of Web-connected e-readers such as Amazon's Kindle and the Sony Reader are changing the way books produced, distributed and read. Speculation abounds that Apple is working on its own e-reader.

Writers, meanwhile, are exploring avenues such as Scribd, which is showcasing digital works known as "e-books," and FastPencil, which bills itself as a one-stop shop to help authors create, publish, distribute and sell their physical books.

At the very least, these startups represent a low-cost alternative to conventional vanity publishers. And they could help writers execute end-runs around publishing houses to achieve mainstream success.

Writers are excited by the trend. Jennifer Jacobson, a San Jose public relations professional, is an unpublished fantasy novelist who has posted works of fiction online. When her novel was rejected by publishing houses in the 1990s, she explored self-publishing options.

"Most companies wanted thousands of dollars," Jacobson recalled. "Some of them want me to join expensive memberships and pay for authors workshops." She passed.

While her literary dreams remain unfulfilled, Jacobson recently was able to add "author" to her résumé with the publication of the business book, "42 Rules of Social Media for Small Business," part of a series of "42 Rules" guidebooks conceived by tech marketing guru Laura Lowell, available as e-books and paperbacks published with print-on-demand technology.

Whatever an author's preference — how-to guides, poetry, cookbooks, family heirlooms — FastPencil promises to help people "connect, write, publish and sell" their books. Its Web site includes a variety of book templates as well as social-networking functions to enhance collaboration and provide writers with feedback for works in progress.

FastPencil's customers can publish a single copy of up to 100 pages for $10 as a personal keepsake or pay more for large commercial print runs that can be distributed through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and FastPencil's own fledgling operation.

Rieser, who lives in Ohio, engaged illustrator Daniel Seward, a Chico resident, via FastPencil. He also is using it to help market his book.

FastPencil founders Michael Ashley and Steve Wilson hope "Percy," an uplifting tale about a chick's self-confidence, can catalyze their business. The Scribd Store, the San Francisco startup's new e-book marketplace, was jump-started this spring by "The Sower," a satirical biotech thriller by Kemble Scott about a man who has curative powers that can be delivered only through sexual contact.

Scott, who had a regional bestseller with his 2007 debut novel "SoMa," turned to Scribd after a major publishing house — he declined to say which — offered him a contract for "The Sower" that was, he said, "absolutely criminal."

Typically, only big-name authors can command big royalties from publishers, who justify their relative stinginess with little-known authors by citing their financial risk. The high amount of waste in traditional publishing is exhibited in discounted "remainders" at bookstores.

Scott opted to sell "The Sower" as an e-book in the Scribd Store for $2, roughly twice the price of a typical song download on iTunes. The deal gave Scott 80 percent of the revenue and enabled him to publish the finished novel instantly, ensuring that pop-culture references would be fresh.

"If I were publishing it the usual way, I'd have to wait until 2011 for the book to come out," Scott said in an article in Publishers Weekly. "An e-book also allows me to add topical references, making a novel set in the present feel absolutely current. The novel includes references to swine flu, Susan Boyle and TheDailyBeast.com."

The novel's digital debut attracted considerable media coverage and three conventional publishers contacted him. He signed with Numina Press, a boutique publisher in Marin County, to rush out the physical first edition of "The Sower." Recently, a Kindle edition of "The Sower" was released at $4.99.

Physical books, Scott predicted, won't be fully replaced by e-books because only a fool would take an e-reader to the beach, risking damage from sand and water.

Scribd has no interest in publishing books on paper, said Trip Adler, its co-founder and CEO, but rather aims to be "a hub" of digital distribution to whatever electronic device the reader chooses. Scribd has struck a distribution deal with Simon & Schuster.

FastPencil is tilted toward the paper medium. Its story begins with the rejections Ashley's mother encountered when she sought a publisher for a young adult novel she had written for his daughter.

Ashley, a serial entrepreneur and avid surfer who was then busy running his Santa Cruz startup SurfMaps.com., took control of her manuscript. The project, he said, helped him appreciate the radical changes in publishing since the 1990s, when he and his wife spent $8,000 to self-publish "Crayon Soup," a guide to family-friendly dining in Santa Cruz County that lost money but provided a tax write-off for dining expenses.

Ashley succeeded in producing 100 copies of his mother's novel at a modest expense. She was moved to tears. It was at Christmas, as other relatives besieged him with their own literary dreams, that Ashley sensed a big wave on the horizon, and the idea for his next startup took shape.

The Tech Chronicles

A survey released this week by Robert Half Technology of Menlo Park showed 54 percent of chief information officers said their companies prohibited their employees from using Facebook, MySpace and Twitter while at work.

An additional 19 percent allowed employees to visit social networking sites for "business purposes only." Still, 26 percent of the CIOs said their firms allowed unrestricted or limited personal social networking use during work hours.

The results of the study sound consistent with other surveys that basically conclude that businesses are worried their employees are spending too much time tweeting and updating their status and not enough time on actual work.

In fact, this theme sounded too familiar.

A Chronicle story from 13 years ago this month, headlined "Companies Tighten the Web on Workers," told of how top firms were cracking down on employee use of the Internet during work hours.

History, of course, tells us how well that worked out.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/08/BUVT1A38L2.DTL&type=tech#ixzz0TPzFk5Po

Tech report: Mobile phones and other media toys

Mobile phone market

Microsoft may have Windows in most of the world's computers, but it continues to limp along in the Smartphone world, watching competitors like Apple's iPhone, Research in Motion's Blackberry and Palm's Pre snap up all the headlines and market share.

This week Microsoft took the wraps off of Windows Mobile 6.5. It's a slightly newer look to the operating system that has always been targeted toward business use, thanks to solid support for Outlook e-mail.

Windows Mobile 6.5 is all about the touch-screen support. It features staggered icons on the desktop for supposedly easier access.

There are also nods to what more and more consumers are using Smartphones for - access to social networks. It's quicker now to share photos on Facebook, Flickr and other social media from a Windows mobile phone. Microsoft also tweaked the Internet Explorer mobile interface, because Smartphones are becoming more like PCs - that is, portable computers. And that means getting on the web from wherever you are.

Microsoft is launching its version of an app store, called Windows Marketplace for mobile, with about 250 applications ready to go. Apple had, at last count, some 80,000 apps in its app store.

One cool new feature: The phone service, which lets you back up data on your phone and store it in the cloud. It's free through Nov. 30, then it's $5 every time you use it.

Two new phones out later this month using Windows Mobile 6.5: The Samsung Instinct, and the HTC Tilt 2.

The influential tech blog Gizmodo didn't like 6.5. It ran the headline, "there's no excuse for this" in its review. Venture Beat's review was better, saying 6.5. was a big step up from the usual "crappy" Windows Mobile experience.

Amazon

The other big dog in the Seattle technology kennel, Amazon, also made a deeper move this week into its recent hardware investment, the Kindle book reader.

Having already captured plenty of headlines with the Kindle 2, Jeff Bezos' company announced an international version of the Kindle, which allows wireless overseas downloading of books in more than 100 countries, thanks to support from AT&T's networks and its worldwide partners.

The Kindle 2, now available, could only allow downloads in the United States because of support by sprint's Whispernet wireless network. This opens up a potentially huge market for Amazon.

How interesting that Amazon launches this a few months before Apple is allegedly revealing its version of a tablet PC, which may also have e-reader capabilities.

The international Kindle will sell for $279 when it launches in two week. Possibly lost in all this news, the domestic Kindle 2 is now cheaper. It now sells for $259, down from $299.

Media toys

While on the subject of $250 media toys, would you pay that much for a handheld device that would let you watch live news and sports from all the major networks, broadcast and cable, as well as other time-shifted programming?

FLO TV, which is introducing its new personal television, with a 3.5-inch touch-screen, is banking that you will. The company, a division of Qualcomm, already provides live mobile TV services to AT&T and Verizon for a few of their Smartphones, but this is FLO TV's dedicated device.

A FLO TV executive told me the company wants to provide mobile broadcast television for whichever way you want it - on a mobile phone or on a device you can give to the kids in the backseat.

Retail sales partners will be announced soon, but the executive told me it will be available in time for the holidays.

Exchange 2010 is Code Complete and on its way to General Availability

We are happy to announce that Exchange 2010 is Code Complete! Our senior leadership team has signed off on the final code, and it has been sent to our early adopters for one final look before its public release. This Release to Manufacturing (RTM) milestone means we are on our way to general availability and the launch at Tech·Ed Europe 2009 (http://www.microsoft.com/europe/teched/) in early November.

For those of you attending Tech·Ed in Berlin this year, be sure to check out the Unified Communications track, which is packed with technical content on Exchange 2010. And be sure to visit us at the Exchange product booth in the Exhibition Hall and let us know what you think of the product. Crystal Flores, who interviewed some of you on video at Tech·Ed North America earlier this year, will be on-hand in Berlin in a few weeks, armed with a camera and interview questions. A group of us are also marching to Las Vegas for Exchange Connections the same week where our fearless leader Rajesh is giving the keynote.

We hope to see you in Berlin or Vegas, but if you can't join us in person, tune in via the Web (www.thenewefficiency.com) to be part of the launch.

- The Exchange Team

Micro Men preview

There's a singular set of first memories that many of us share of our first experience with a home computer. The satisfying give of the keys on the black, cumbersome keyboard; a constantly whirring cassette tape, or pleasingly tactile floppy disk; the jarringly vivid palette of sprites and characters burning their way out of the shiny abyss, and an array of otherworldly, synthesised sounds not yet familiar to our untrained ears.

Whether sheathed in an ungainly dustcover at the back of a classroom or secreted away in your friend's brother's basement, it's more than likely that these formative experiences were taking place on a BBC Micro or ZX Spectrum. In an age of iPhones and Windows, the ubiquity of these machines during the early 1980s and the indelible mark they etched on a generation is all but too easy to forget.

Micro Men, screening on BBC4 tonight, follows the stories of the two men briefly catapulted to the forefront of the computer industry by these new-fangled "personal computers". It attempts to explain how Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry, played in the film by Alexander Armstrong and Martin Freeman, managed, for a couple of years at least, to divert the world's gaze away from the Silicon Valley and towards a couple of small, unglamorous East Anglian tech companies.

Clive Sinclair (now Sir Clive to you and me) was, by 1978, established as an inventor and businessman with his company Sinclair Radionics. Clashes with his government backers led him to set up shop with one of his most talented employees, Chris Curry. While Sinclair's interests had until this point revolved around smaller gadgets like pocket televisions and calculators – along with his longstanding dream of pioneering the electric car – the two men were quick to see the potential in the growing home computers industry.

Their first product, developed by Curry, was the MK14, a basic computer kit released to satisfy the growing interest in personal computing. It sold out immediately. However, disagreements over future projects and Sinclair's legendary temper (which makes frequent appearances in Micro Men) meant this was their last joint venture.

The two men parted ways acrimoniously – Curry branching out on his own to form the company that would become Acorn Computers. Backed by entrepreneur and then Cambridge student Hermann Hauser (a charming fop in the film) Curry set about raiding Cambridge University of its most talented minds. The two former colleagues' rivalry would propel them to taking command of a market in its infancy.

Sinclair's masterstroke was to focus on reducing costs for its new machine, the ZX Spectrum, to allow it to be available to buy for around £100. Released in 1982, suddenly the new item everybody was talking about was also universally affordable. A generation of "Speccy" programmers was born.

That same year, Acorn competed by securing a coveted BBC license for their new system. With Auntie and the newly elected Margaret Thatcher's approval, one of Curry's machines was pledged to every school in the country. Sales went through the roof. Their BBC Micro, made initially for an expected sales run of 12,000, went on to sell 1.5m units. Many could still be found in schools around the country in the late 1990s.

These new must-have items for a brief time held a unique position in the national consciousness. News reports and magazines were full of stories on these new and exciting technologies. With computers affordable, accessible, and getting more and more sophisticated, it seemed like anything was possible.

Acorn and Sinclair's period at the top was short-lived, however, as the home computer market crashed in 1984, taking the two companies with it. Sinclair was eventually sold to Amstrad, Acorn to Olivetti, and neither ever managed to again make such an impact on the home computer marketplace.

Sinclair's and Curry's lasting legacy is unquestionable. The acceptance of the idea of playing "computer games" as a relaxing solo pastime in the UK was thanks largely to those initial systems. The belief of a personal computer as being an item every home should have another.

The ARM chip created by Acorn has also left a lasting imprint, having gone on to be the most used microchip in modern electronics. The phone you have in your pocket almost certainly has one in it – a design based around that made by the same Cambridge boffins that created the BBC Micro back in 1983. An incredible 10bn have been produced.

We also have Acorn and Spectrum to thank for many of the current generation of British programmers. The Spectrum and Micro were the first widely available systems to capture the imagination of inquisitive would-be-programmers – and opened up for the first time the possibility of a earning a living by making games. Chuckie Egg and Jet Set Willy were both created using these platforms.

With such a firm grip on the market, the question has to be asked – could they have hung on? You could argue of course that the strength of the Apples and IBMs of the time were inexorable forces that were always destined to take control of the industry – nevertheless, Acorn's and Sinclair's collapses from two of Britain's leading computer companies to near dissolution in five years has to be attributed somewhere.

For Sir Clive, of course, you could perhaps blame the doomed Sinclair C5 – an electric buggy which was supposed to reinvent modern transport but ended up selling a mere 12,000 units. His belief that every person in the country would want one was hopelessly misguided. Curry perhaps took his eye off the ball, assuming that demand would continue to grow. Neither managed to successfully enter foreign markets. But ultimately, both were victims of there own success. By 1983, every person who wanted a "microcomputer" had one. And with no marketable leap in processing power or new selling point, the bottom was always going to fall out of the market.

Micro Men ends on a poignant note as Sinclair, riding his C5, is overtaken by two hulking articulated lorries, labelled Microsoft and Apple. Perhaps it's foolish to think that two small Cambridge-based companies could ever keep up. But it's important not to forget that, for a few months at least, they managed to poke their noses in front.

Google, Energy Detective team up to monitor power use without a smart meter

Can’t wait for a smart meter to start closely monitoring your electricity consumption? Google and The Energy Detective may have the answer for you.

Google earlier this week said its PowerMeter software will run on Energy, Inc.’sThe Energy Detective 5000, which captures and transmits home energy data like a smart meter from your utility. PowerMeter then massages the data, making it more visual and graphical.

The partnership is the first in what are sure to be more PowerMeter deals that Google will forge with device makers.

The key TED 5000 component is a transmitter attached to wires in the home circuit breaker panel. The transmitter sends the data to a WIFI router so it can be viewed in a personal computer browser (see diagram) for massaging by PowerMeter.

Energy Inc. also offers wireless TED 5000 dedicated displays that plug into electrical sockets and use ZigBeenetworking technology (300 feet line of sight is the range) although they would appear to provide a smaller subset of the data than PowerMeter. Consumption data can also be sent to cell phones.

The Google announcement on the deal was a bit misleading, showing what appears to be a fake handheld device (pictured below) running PowerMeter and having nothing to do with the TED 5000. Energy Inc.’s site shows displays that resemble tabletop digital alarm clocks. More than likely, a user would employ a personal computer to use PowerMeter.

TED can be installed by a “technically-savvy homeowner (that’s me)” but it involves removing the door of your electrical circuit breaker panel and clipping the transmitter leads to your two primary panel supply leads. The bottom of the instructions say “Serious injury/death could occur if you are not familiar with electrical components and operation of the circuit breaker panel. It is a very simple installation for an electrician.”

Not the TED 5000, but the image used in Google's announcement

Not the TED 5000

So much for the home handyman, but I have been in my electrical panel many times, adding circuits and looking for tripped breakers. While I would probably riska DIY installation, I am highly allergic to serious injury and death. The TED 5000 also requires a bit of “simple” programming which is done from a computer.

Since the Google announcement, interest in the TED 5000 has been “overwhelming,” according to Energy Inc. marketing director Melissa Lacas.

Ranging in price from $200 to $320, the TED 5000 looks like a cool product and one ripe for the times. PowerMeter is free.

Just a Facelift? How HUD is Using New Tech under President Obama

“Open gov” advocates and civic hackers have had an exciting few months. The White House has launched a series of bold initiatives aimed at advancing the use of new tech and increasing data sharing - and hired some very smart folks to lead the way. But the federal bureaucracy is enormous, consisting of more than 1.8 million employees across 15 departments. How is this bold, digital agenda filtering down to the folks who will actually have to implement it?

For years the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been seen by many as more a tool to fulfill political favors than an agency charged with providing and ensuring safe, fair, and affordable housing. Secretary Alphonso Jackson, who led the agency from 2004-2008, was forced to resign amidst a flurry of patronage and conflict-of-interest scandals. He once famously warned a conference of black contractors, “Why should I reward someone who doesn’t like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? Logic says they don’t get the contract. That’s the way I believe.”

But things are changing at HUD. There’s new leadership that some are calling the “Dream Team,” and under new Secretary Shaun Donovan HUD is certainly trying to use new media. There’s now a HUD Facebook fan page, Twitter account (@HUDNews), and their Web site has gotten a makeover. But upon closer examination, they have yet to make any substantive changes.

New HUD site

As of October 1, 2009 HUD had not yet posted a single data set or link toData.gov (despite having a trove of data online already at www.HUDuser.org). Their Web site has recently been given the same treatment most other federal sites have received, but dig into its archives and you find that it’s just a facelift - the structure of the site is unchanged and many pages still have their old look and feel.

Older HUD.gov site

There are links to Twitter and Facebook, but neither social media site is being used in very ’social’ ways. Their Facebook page seems to be a one-way communications system; there is no clear HUD response to any of the fan questions or comments posted. Their Twitter account occasionally responds to an @ message, but just this week they sent out a multiple-tweet narrative account of a conference - and incurred the anger of some followers in the process.

@HUDNews Twitter Fail

It’s certainly still early and the federal bureaucracy has never been the most nimble of entities. But the new administration has set a high bar for participatory and open government - and it will be interesting to see how HUD progresses over the coming months.

Welcome To Post Tech, A One-Stop-Shop For Tech Policy

The Washington Post is committed to bringing readers the latest news, in-depth analysis and exclusive coverage of technology policy. So today, I'm launching a new blog, Post Tech, to underscore that mission. The blog will replace Post I.T., a Web feature that several Washington Post reporters have contributed to over the years. (Don't worry, you can still find the Post I.T. archives here and on the lower left side of this page.)

Post Tech will focus on issues at the intersection of Washington, technology, and business. My unique vantage point comes from more than 15 years (too much information!) experience reporting on each of those subjects. I covered Wall Street and South Korean politics and economics for Dow Jones Newswires. Then I wrote about the dot-com boom and bust for The San Jose Mercury News. For the past two years, I've been covering technology policy for The Post, exploring how decisions made in Washington impact the business plans and technological innovations of the high-tech economy.

Sound off on your ideas. I'll be featuring comments throughout.

Finally, thanks for reading.

Q&A: Nebraska-Missouri through the eyes of a Tiger

FILE - In this Oct.

Bill Connelly of Rock M Nation, and Nick Witthaus of Tigerboard.com, both Missouri football fan Web sites, took some time to answer a few questions about tonight's Nebraska-Missouri game, which could be drenched with heavy rain. Click here to see Mike and I's take on the game, which is shaping up to be a really good one.

Campus Confidential: How will the rain factor into tonight's game, should the skies open up? Does it give any team a decided advantage?
Bill Connelly: How the weather will impact the game depends on wind. If it's just rain, then on field turf that could benefit the better passing team, which would be Missouri. The route-runners know where they are going and can take more confident steps, while a defender having to react is more likely to slip a bit. Missouri has had no trouble throwing in wet conditions in the past. However, if the wind gets involved (at the moment, it is not supposed to be too windy), then it benefits whoever is better at keeping the ball on the ground. That would be Nebraska. In the end, more than any strengths or weaknesses in the running or passing games, the weather will simply benefit the team that can hold onto the ball better and not make any disastrous mistakes on special teams.
Nick Witthaus: If there is significant rain tonight, traditional wisdom says it favors the team with the stronger running game. That would probably be Nebraska. However, I'm not sure Missouri's passing attack will be slowed down by anything except the heaviest of downpours. So, I don't think rain gives either team a decided advantage.

CC: Nebraska lost a tough one at No. 5 Virginia Tech and Missouri's toughest opponent has been Illinois (which has been down through five weeks). Is Nebraska more battle tested and will this help the Huskers tonight?
BC: If we are talking about just 2009, then Nebraska is obviously the more battle-tested team. Their tight loss to Virginia Tech is more impressive than any win either team has procured to this point. But Missouri still has players like Sean Weatherspoon, Danario Alexander, Jared Perry, Jaron Baston, and Derrick Washington, all of whom played significant roles on the last two Missouri teams. They have played in far more big-time battles than anybody on the current Nebraska team, but that experience is obviously balanced out by the inexperience of Blaine Gabbert and some members of both the offensive and defensive line.
NW: I don't think I'd call Nebraska more battle tested. Rankings at this time of year are highly subjective, so a close loss at Va. Tech doesn't mean that Nebraska has proven itself. If anything, it demonstrates that they aren't capable of closing out a win. Missouri had to overcome a bad first half to beat a decent Bowling Green team. That kind of thing really helps a young quarterback like Blaine Gabbert gain confidence quickly.

CC: How should Bo Pelini and his staff attack Blaine Gabbert and the Missouri pass attack?
BC: In the three games against FCS competition this year, Missouri has faced two different defensive strategies. For the most part, Illinois and Nevada ganged up on the run and tried to make Blaine Gabbert beat them. He did just that. Bowling Green, on the other hand, played a cover-4 defense most of the time, and Gabbert didn't handle it well. BGSU went up 20-6 in that game primarily because Gabbert got happy feet and started leaving the pocket if his first or second option wasn't available -- he barely played in either his senior year of high school (injury) or his freshman year at Mizzou (backup), and his pocket presence is still a work in progress. In the second half, Gabbert grew more comfortable and brought Mizzou on three straight touchdown drives to end the game, so he is probably more experienced and capable of handling a "drop seven into coverage" type of situation. That, however, has clearly been the most successful strategy against him this season, and Nebraska would probably be smart to give that a shot.
NW: Every offense is going to have to give [Ndamukong] Suh extra attention. The Missouri offensive line has looked shaky at times, so if Nebraska blitzes a lot, they might be able to get to Gabbert and force some bad decisions.

CC: Rate Nebraska and Missouri through four games.
BC: I had pretty high expectations (higher than most, anyway) for Missouri this year, and they have more-or-less met those expectations thus far. Nebraksa has actually looked a bit better than I expected, though their projected weaknesses -- passing game against decent defenses and giving up big plays in the secondary -- appear that they might still be problematic. I expected Missouri to win this game by a couple of touchdowns in the offseason, but I'm seeing a much closer game now.
NW: Using a letter grading system, I'd give Missouri a B and Nebraska a B+ at this point in the season.

CC: Overall prediction for tonight?
BC: I always go with what my stats tell me (http://www.rockmnation.com/2009/10/7/1072021/nebraska-beyond-the-box-score), and in this case, they're projecting an extremely tight Missouri win. Since the weather doesn't give an obvious advantage to one team or the other, we will go with that. Missouri by 1.
NW: I'm predicting a relatively close, low scoring (for these teams) game tonight. Missouri 24, Nebraska 21.

add this

Bookmark and Share

www.instantblogsubmitter.com

www.bloggergenerator.com

www.bookmarkingdemon.com