WindowsObserver.com

Is Windows Live Planet A Social Media Experiment for Microsoft?

admin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:27:19 +0000

Where the heck R U? That is the question asked at the main page of a new Microsoft Social Media Site called Windows Live Planet.

Wouldn’t you love an online destination just like your favourite Friday evening watering hole? Hanging, checking out interesting faces and making lots of new friends!

That is how the About Us page at Windows Live Planet starts off. There are two domain names that I have found that relate to this site – www.wlplanet.com (registered to a consulting company located in India) and www.windowsliveplanet.com (registered to One Microsoft Way in Redmond, Washington).

The graphics on the site are very modern and hip – at least in the perception of this older fella Target audience is probably the younger crowd – maybe the day will come when us older, middle-age online folks will get a proper social media site for us. Anyway, that is fodder for another blog post.

This site is a Microsoft India initiative that is intended to hook you up with other people that have similar interests. Of course that means you need to complete the profile on the site otherwise it will likely have a hard time finding your matches.

As expected the site is integrated with Windows Live ID and you can tie your Windows Live ID to your account at Windows Live Planet to make signing in easy and quick. They have also embedded Windows Live Messenger in the web page so you can chat right within your web browser and not even have to leave the site.

I wonder when this site becomes a major investment for Microsoft and it really hits main stream instead of being an experiment?

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Is Family Pack Licensing for Windows 7 Becoming a Reality?

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:45:00 +0000

My good friend Kristan Kenny has made quite the discovery as he dug around in some files from a recently leaked copy of Windows 7. Over at his Digital Life site he shares what he found in the Windows 7 Home Premium license terms.

Here are two key excerpts:

b. Family Pack. If you are a “Qualified Family Pack User”, you may install one copy of the software marked as “Family Pack” on three computers in your household for use by people who reside there. Those computers are the “licensed computers” and are subject to these license terms. If you do not know whether you are a Qualified Family Pack User, visit go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?Linkid=141399 or contact the Microsoft affiliate serving your country.

This is quite interesting and will please many people if it turns out to be true, however it looks like this may only be for Windows 7 Home Premium; when I compared the license agreements, I noticed that Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate editions do not include a “family pack” clause.

Ed Bott posted a follow up story to Kristan’s tip about this and predicts that Microsoft will sell this family pack for $189. In fact, Ed wrote about this possibility a month ago when he discussed Windows 7 pricing before it was officially announced.

I say good on you Microsoft for acknowledging the cost a household can encounter to upgrade more than one computer in a home. Since there are typically multiple PC’s in homes this type of license makes total sense.

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Windows 7 Upgrades Already Top Sellers

admin — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:41:00 +0000

It has only been since this past Friday (26 June) that Microsoft started its Pre-Order Campaign for Windows 7 and the two discounted upgrade versions are the #1 and #2 sellers in Software at Amazon. All of this in just three days. Of course, this doesn’t even take into account orders that are made directly through the U.S. Microsoft Store.

As I mentioned a few days ago in my post about Windows 7 pricing and upgrades, this pre-order offer is only supposed to last until 11 July or when supplies run out, whichever comes first. I am not sure what it means by supplies run out but if your even remotely thinking about grabbing your upgrade copies then I would do it sooner rather than later. They are also limited to only 3 per user for each version.

Personally, I have grabbed three Windows 7 Home Premiums and one Windows 7 Professional for our home PC’s.

The Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade is going for $49.99 – 58% off retail and the Windows 7 Professional Upgrade is selling for $99.99 – 50% off retail.

If your worried that the price might go down and you might want to delay your purchase hoping that it does – not to worry – both Microsoft and Amazon have pre-order price guarantee programs:

Microsoft Pre-Order Price Guarantee

The advertised price for pre-order items may increase or decrease prior to their release date, but you will only be charged the lowest price offered between the time you place your pre-order, and the time we either make the pre-order item available to you for download, or ship the pre-order item to you. (Your credit card will not be charged until we either make the item available to you for download, or until we ship the item to you.)

You can order with confidence that you will not be overcharged.

Exclusions: Pre-Order Price Guarantee only applies to pre-order items and prices offered on the Microsoft Store, and does not apply to items and prices advertised by other sellers, prices inclusive of taxes, shipping charges, or typographical errors.

and

Amazon Pre-order Price Guarantee

Amazon.com’s price for not-yet-released items sometimes changes between the time the item is listed for sale and the time it is released and shipped. Whenever you pre-order a book, CD, video, DVD, software, or video game, the price we charge when we ship it to you will be the lowest price offered by Amazon.com between the time you placed your order and the end of the day of the release date. A pre-order price guarantee message will appear on your Order Summary during the checkout process. If you use 1-Click ordering, pre-order price protection will be automatically applied. The order summary in Your Account will reflect the lowest price within 24 hours of the price change.

Terms and Conditions:

Pre-order Price Guarantee applies only to items sold by Amazon.com, and not to items (or prices) offered by other sellers on our site. Does not apply to any products purchased at Amazon.com’s other sites, including Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.jp, Amazon.ca, or any other web site operated by Amazon.com or its affiliates.

Pre-order Price Guarantee applies only to not-yet-released books, CDs, videos, DVDs, software, and video games sold by Amazon.com. It does not apply to other product lines or to items that have already been released.

Pre-order Price Guarantee applies only to qualifying items displaying the offer message on their product detail pages. Items that do not display the offer message do not qualify, regardless of the nature of the items.

If your order enters the shipping process before the release date and the price is lowered before the end of the day of the release date, we will automatically refund your credit card for the difference between the price you were charged and the release-date price. If you did not use a credit card to pay for your order, please contact Customer Service.

I have also been following Windows 7 info on Twitter and there are a lot of people buying the upgrades – it really is the best thing Microsoft has ever done when it comes to releasing a new version of the flagship OS. The only thing I would like to see is a Family Pack License to help with multiple computers in the household.

By the way – have you caught Amazon’s little slip up? Windows Vista 7? Hmmm.

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Introducing Microsoft Security Essentials

admin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:47:41 +0000

Microsoft recently released a beta version of their entry into the Anti-Virus/Spyware arena – it is called Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). The initial release of the software was limited to just a few countries and 75,000 downloads total, which have now been surpassed so the downloads are closed now. Even those of us who got in on the initial download are unable to re-download the software so hopefully you saved a copy on your hard drive just in case.

Before I show you the installation screens here is the minimum system requirements for MSE Beta. Of course these may not be the final versions specs so buyer beware:

Minimum system requirements for Microsoft Security Essentials Beta

Operating System: Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3); Windows Vista; Windows 7 (Beta or Release Candidate)

For Windows XP, a Personal Computer with a:

CPU with clock speed of 500 MHz or higher

Memory: 256 MB RAM or higher

For Windows Vista and Windows 7, a Personal Computer with a:

CPU with clock speed of 1.0 GHz or higher

Memory: 1 GB RAM or higher

VGA (Display): 800 x 600 or higher

Storage: 140 MB of available hard-disk space

An Internet connection is required for installation and to download the latest virus and spyware definitions for Microsoft Security Essentials.

Internet Browser:

Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 or later

Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or later

It is a very small download – for the 32 bit version which I grabbed it was only 4.7MB. Right now MSE is only consuming 850KB of my RAM as well – quite a small footprint compared to other options in this area.

The installation screens are listed below in order of appearance:

The one area that will frustrate people and fault will be found with is the requirement to be running genuine Windows software. If your OS will not validate because of an issue and your genuine then contact Microsoft – they will help out. If you will not validate because your not using genuine Windows then I recommend you get genuine.

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Downloads

Windows Live Mesh Updated

admin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:28:34 +0000

The folks over at the Live Mesh blog posted this week about an update to Windows Live Mesh:

Live Mesh for Windows 9.4014.7 has been released. It will automatically update. No action is required on your part. See the following sections for details, and thanks for using Live Mesh.

Version number

· Live Mesh Desktop: 0.9.4014.7

· Live Mesh PC (x86 and AMD64): 0.9.4014.7

Included in this update

· PC – Fixes for display problems in the Resolve Conflicts dialog box on computers running Windows 7

· PC – Improved performance in memory handling

· Layout and link changes on www.mesh.com

· Server-side fixes for improved performance and stability

All of my computers have updated and it does seem to be a little snappier than before. Keep up the great work over there at the Live Mesh team!

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Windows 7 Pricing and Upgrade Options Revealed

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:43:33 +0000

Huge news today from the Microsoft campus in Redmond and probably the most anticipated piece of info everyone has been looking for relating to the upcoming Windows 7 Operating System – the cost of Windows 7.

So right off the bat – what will it cost you off the shelf:

Upgrade Version Pricing
- Windows 7 Home Premium – $119.99
- Windows 7 Professional – $199.99
- Windows 7 Ultimate – $219.99
Full Version Pricing
- Windows 7 Home Premium – $199.99
- Windows 7 Professional – $299.99
- Windows 7 Ultimate – $319.99

As Brandon Leblanc states in his post at the Windows Team Blog:

This means that Windows 7 Home Premium full retail product is $40.00 less than Windows Vista Home Premium today. For Windows 7, we are reducing the price on our most popular retail product for customers, the Home Premium Upgrade, by approximately 10% (depending on the market). In the U.S., this means a customer buying Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade will pay only $119.99 instead of the $129.99 being charged today for its predecessor.

Now if that is not enough for you there are a couple of great upgrade deals. They both start tomorrow, 26 June 2009, and have limited timeframes that they will be available.

The first one is the Windows 7 Upgrade Offer:

Essential details: When you buy Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate either as a packaged product or on a qualifying PC you can get a comparable upgrade version of Windows 7 after it’s generally available on October 22, 2009. Qualifying PCs, offer details, and product delivery methods will vary by manufacturer, so check their sites for specifics. If you buy a packaged copy of Windows Vista you can order your upgrade from Microsoft. The Windows 7 Upgrade Option program runs from June 26, 2009 through January 31, 2010. However, individual PC manufacturers may choose to offer the option for a shorter period.

You can read the Windows 7 Upgrade Option FAQ for more in depth details.

The second upgrade option is very different and is a time limited Pre-Order program that runs from 26 June while supplies last or until 11 July 2009 – whichever comes first. This is also restricted to people in the U.S., Canada and Japan – nothing out there for other markets.

Pre-order a Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $49** or a Windows 7 Professional Upgrade for $99.** That’s about half off the estimated retail prices. This offer is available through participating retailers. Pick one below and pre-order today. They’ll tell you how to get your copy when Windows 7 is available.

Now those are some terrific deals. Personally I would not wait long if your wanting to take advantage of the pre-order program. I imagine those supplies will run out very quickly!

Update – it looks like Amazon.com is participating in this pre-order offer!

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Windows Live Movie Maker Beta Expiration Coming Up

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:07:00 +0000

If you use Windows Live Movie Maker Beta then you want to be sure to download this update before the 30th of June so you can continue to use it. Without this update your copy of WLMM Beta will cease to work on the 30th.

Windows Live Movie Maker is part of Microsoft’s Live Essentials and is their entry into the home movie editing and creation software market. Windows Live Movie Maker was never meant to be a top of the line editing program. It is intended to be simple to use and allow home users to be able to create movies with simple transitions, music tracks, etc.

If your expecting a $500 editing suite then you need to go elsewhere – you will certainly be disappointed in WLMM. However, if you want to be be able to create something to share with family and friends via the web without having to spend money on the software to do it – well then this program just might fit the bill.

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Windows Home Server in your Small Office and Home Office

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:07:00 +0000

It looks like the unofficial is now becoming official. Windows Home Server (WHS), which I have discussed a few times on this blog, was developed to provide home users with more than one computer a means to safely backup every computer on a regular basis as well as be a central storage location for all of your digital media that you have. Now in reality people everywhere were using this software in Small Office/Home Offices all over the place because it made sense.

It was never originally intended for use in offices/small businesses but it appears based on a new site that has gone up at Microsoft.com that they are now embracing these SOHO as a great place for WHS to be used.

It is also a great price entry point because the WHS OEM software costs approximately $130 and can be had for less depending on where you get it from online.

Windows Home Server does have a limit of 10 users (for backing up files and having accounts on the WHS) but this is the perfect number for those SOHO’s that fit that size limitation. This is an area that Microsoft Exchange will not typically penetrate because Exchange is just to big and cumbersome to manage for such a small number of people. Way too much overhead.

So for Microsoft to be accepting that this is a solid role for WHS is a huge plus for this market and I am glad to see them doing it. WHS can effectively be run on an older computer that is no longer in use in your SOHO or it can be installed on the latest and greatest machine money can buy. I have it on a home built machine with two internal HDD and two external drives that gives me 750GB of storage/backup space for our home.

If your concerned about the limitation of 10 users on WHS you can create a Guest account with a password that will allow more than 10 people to access the files on WHS – it will continue to give you a central file repository and only costs you one backup account for your PC’s. Depends on what you find important.

Another great feature of WHS is the development community that has grown around it. Like my favorite blogging software, WordPress, WHS can be expanded through Add-Ins that extend the functionality of WHS. If you want to see a passionate community just go pay a visit to We Got Served run by my good friends in the UK – they have extensive add-in listings and reviews as well as a very active member community. Stop in those forums and ask your questions about WHS and you will not be disappointed.

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Turning the Twables On Us Twitter Users

admin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:12:31 +0000

Here we go again – another product/service launch that makes heavy use of Direct Messages (DM’s) on Twitter and no Opt Out available (yet). @twables has a great application directory with five applications listed and the most recent one is Two Tweets and a Lie.

The premise behind the game is that you give two truths and one lie and then opt to send the challenge to your followers (defaults to 100 DM’s). They just launched on 17 June and already are getting a lot of traffic which you may be seeing in your DM’s now!

Again – I have to state that my issue is not with the game or the development of these types of services – it is with the blatant use of DM’s which, when unsolicited, are paramount to SPAM.

Developers of these types of services on Twitter need to plan an Opt Out immediately as part of the roll out or not use the DM’s as the method of spreading their game interaction. Either works for me and I am sure for many others on Twitter.

Now I have to give @twables credit – they are already planning their Opt Out for the service – good on them for the proactive response.

For all the other developers – please plan for that as part of the launch and stay out of our DM’s!

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140Mafia Make Us An Offer We Can Opt Out Of

admin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:21:32 +0000

Here we go again – just the other day I wrote about an Opt Out option for the game Spymaster in my post Do You Want to be a Spymaster on Twitter? Me neither!

Well just a few days later there is another game using Twitter as the medium but the difference between this one and Spymaster is that there is no Opt Out anywhere to be found on the website for the game.

You would think that folks developing these games would have figured it out by now. Unsolicited DM’s and a constant flow of Tweets in our timeline that only have to do with their game does not create a positive outlook from those of us who choose not to participate in the game.

Just like with Spymaster, I have absolutely no heartburn with those who choose to play the games that use Twitter as a medium. However, it is in your best interest from a PR perspective to have an Opt Out on your website for those of us who would like to filter those things from our DM box and timeline.

Unsolicited DM’s are the SPAM of Twitter – please do not be a spammer – give us an Opt Out from the start.

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Do You Want to be a Spymaster on Twitter? Me neither!

admin — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:34:30 +0000

I am not here to bash the SpyMaster game that has picked up on Twitter in the last several weeks. What people do with their time is their business – no issues there for me.

My issue is when I start to receive unsolicited Direct Messages (DM’s) from Spymaster players. I don’t care whether I follow them or not – I did not opt in to play SpyMaster nor did I opt in for their direct message recruiting system.

So I started my search for a way to opt out of the DM’s from SpyMaster players and Twitter came to my rescue:

The full link @BetaChris gave me was http://playspymaster.com/optout and it has worked like a charm – no DM’s from SpyMaster players since I opted out.

It will require access to your Twitter account to make this happen but if your not interested in playing nor getting the DM’s then it is well worth it.

Even if you want to play later this does not prevent you from re-joining the game process.

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Digital TV Transition Day is Here Finally

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:55:53 +0000

After a much publicized delay authorized four months ago the Digital TV Transition has finally arrived.

Effective at 12:01 AM last night the transition has started and according to the governments Digital TV site about 43% of TV stations have made the move to a digital broadcast as of the time of this posting (7AM Central European Time/1AM Eastern Standard Time).

One area that is highlighted at the DTV site is about Low Power Television Stations making the transition later:

Please note that the June 12, 2009 DTV transition deadline does not apply to low-power television (LPTV) stations. The FCC will determine a deadline for these stations to transition to digital at a future date. Learn more about LPTV.

One other recommendation they make is to scan channels throughout the day as different stations will move their channels over to digital at various times throughout the day on 12 June:

NOTE: Many stations will be changing channels at various times during the day on June 12, 2009. Be sure to scan for channel changes as convenient on that day and particularly on June 13 after all stations have changed to their final DTV channels.

Another very informative area is the most popular FAQ’s at the DTV site which I have listed below for quick access and reference:

Top FAQs

Can I Still Use My Old Analog TV Set? How?

Can I Use My UHF/VHF Antenna to Receive DTV?

Does the DTV Transition Affect TV Sets That Are Connected to Cable Services?

How Do I Improve DTV Signal Strength?

What Converter Boxes Are Eligible in the Coupon Program?

Can DTV Reception be Affected by Moving Vehicles and Weather?

How do I connect my portable, battery-powered analog TV to a battery-powered digital-to-analog converter box?

So are you experiencing any problems with the DTV shift today?

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WordPress 2.8 Released – Baker Hits The Streets!

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:13:21 +0000

WordPress 2.8 is live and available for either a manual download or an automatic upgrade through the WordPress Admin panel. You should see a banner indicating an upgrade is available at the top of the screen. A simple click and then FTP credentials gets your upgrade underway.

I have managed to upgrade all four sites I run and not one of them had an issue. It was as simple as clicking the upgrade banner in my WordPress Admin Panel and then provide my FTP credentials. At this point everything happens behind the scenes of your web browser.

The upgrade package is downloaded and applied to your site. I am sure there are a few more steps in there but all I saw was the download start and then the upgrade being completed. Just the way I like it – nice and simple. I know some hosts do not support the automatic upgrade but I highly recommend finding one that can support that feature because it is the best thing going.

There is one area in the new admin panel interface I am not happy with is the plugins page. All of them are listed alphabetically now instead of grouped together as Activated and Deactivated. It is something I can live with of course.

More exploration of the site is in order to see all the updates and changes.

For some terrific resources relating to WordPress and this specific release make sure you check out WebLogToolsCollection.com

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Site Users

What a Week in the Tech World

admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:54:42 +0000

Well it has been almost a week since we left for Europe and our vacation. Of course the timing is such that there has been a ton of tech news in the past week with me not being connected to the Internet the way I am usually am. Now I have had connectivity everywhere we have been with wireless access everywhere but it is hard to keep up with some news without having regular dedicated access. No complaints though for the most part because it is vacation

So going back to last week at E3 and Microsoft’s big announcement about Project Natal. If you have not heard of this it is an interface device that plugs into your Xbox360 and reads your motions, emotions, facial expressions and allows you to interact with your Xbox360 interface and games. It has also been reported that Steven Spielberg is involved in the development which adds a lot of credibility to the device and project. The folks from Engadget were given an opportunity to interact with it at the announcement and filed this story about it and their reaction to it. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here. I can only imagine that it will take some additional computing power to help with the interface to the Xbox360 though – to do that many calculations and then pass them along to the Xbox360 console and the game the console will need some help. Why do I think this? Well check out this story about the Xbox360 being maxed out according to an EA VP.

In another area of great interest for so many websites is the upcoming release of WordPress 2.8. The next version of WordPress has already seen Beta 1 and 2 releases and now the first Release Candidate of WordPress 2.8 is available to download and try out. Word on the streets is that the final version of it will be released on the 10th of June to everyone.

Some additional resources to get ready for this new release are:

I have not decided 100% yet but I will likely try the automatic upgrade to WordPress 2.8 with my family website to see how that goes. I am a little leery of doing it away from home and especially as we are on vacation. The site is where we post for family and friends during our travels and I would not want to lose that ability out here on the road.

Just a reminder about this Tuesday and the release of 10 updates to everyone running Windows, Microsoft Office, and Internet Explorer. You can see more details at my earlier blog post about those updates here at June 2009 Security Updates Advance Notification.

Stay safe out there on the Internet and make sure your antivirus software is up to date!

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June 2009 Security Updates Advance Notification

admin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:11:49 +0000

One of the largest updates in the past year is being prepared for release on Update Tuesday, 09 June 2009. This batch of update is made up of 6 Windows updates and 4 updates for other Microsoft programs (IE, Word, Excel and Microsoft Office).

Six of them are considered critical; three important and one is moderate. All of the critical issues are due to the possibility of remote code execution; the important ones relate to the elevation of privileges and the one moderate issue is related to the information disclosure.

You can read more info about these bulletins and sign up for your own copy of the advance notices at the Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification page.

These bulletins are a terrific way to stay up to date on security updates to your Microsoft software.

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Windows 7 General Availability is set for 22 Oct 2009

admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:41:04 +0000

So what exactly does General Availability mean? Well that means it will be on store shelves for you and me to go and buy pretty much.

I can remember standing outside of an electronics store in New Jersey waiting for midnight to roll around to buy Windows 95 in August of 1995. The line was huge and there was all kinds of people there. Windows 95 was not the only thing on special that night but it certainly drew a crowd.

I think this release may result in a very similar environment. From everything I read and see online this is going to be a very popular release of Windows. I have said it before and will say it again – Windows 7 is to Windows Vista like Windows XP was to Windows Millennium Edition – the be all to end all – the cure for all that was wrong with the previous version of Windows.

Brandon Leblanc over at the Windows Blog has posted some news about the General Availability of Windows 7.

This is one of those posts where I’m truly excited to be writing. I get to tell you when Windows 7 will be on store shelves! According to input from customers and partners we’ve made a lot of progress with Windows 7.

Our milestone-to-milestone approach for Windows 7 is built on a great deal of feedback from customers and testers. This has been pivotal to the development of Windows 7.

I blogged a few weeks ago that it’s looking like we’ll have Windows 7 ready in time for the holidays.

Since then we’ve made enough progress to feel really good about announcing today that Windows 7 will be in stores beginning October 22nd.

I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to see Windows 7 sitting on store shelves!

Brandon – speaking for myself – I will be at my local electronics retailer for their midnight event to get one of the first retail copies of Windows 7 – so I can not wait either.

Who else will be standing in line to get their own copy of Windows 7?

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Technology on the Road

admin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:12:16 +0000

Today we head to Europe for a couple of weddings, one in the UK for a niece and another in Italy for my wife’s youngest son. We are travelling with the net book and this will be the second time we have travelled with it (we took it to New York last moth). However, one big difference is that this time my wife will have her own account setup on the net book with her email and Windows Live Writer set up.

The major difference for her will be that it is Windows 7. She still has Windows Vista on her PC but has never ventured near Windows 7 despite it being on the other computers in the house. This will be a great test bed for determining if we will upgrade her PC when we return. It will also be a great way to see how someone who is not a tech person (be her own admittance) deals with the new Windows 7 interface.

My only complaint is that I will not be able to use Windows XP Mode which means I will not be able to access my Outlook Web Access for my work email during the trip. Windows XP Mode requires hardware based virtualization and the net book does not have that capability at the moment. As I described in my recent post about Windows XP Mode to the Rescue – this is the only means I have to access my older USB based CAC card reader which is required for me to access my work email. I guess I will just upgrade the hardware eventually to get compatible down the road.

So more from the road as we get the trip going. Stay safe!

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Upgrading a TiVo Series 2 DVR

admin — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:08:08 +0000

About two weeks ago as I am sitting at my computer I hear the TV starting to stutter while my wife is watching one of her TiVo’d programs. As is the case many times in our household I headed in to the living room to provide a tech assist. Well despite my best efforts I could not get things to work. The system was almost non-responsive and extremely slow. So I decided to perform the number one troubleshooting procedure I know of – reboot the system. Now with a TiVo there are two ways to restart – either through the Settings menu screen or pull the plug out. Since the first option was not possible with the unresponsive system – I executed the second option and pulled the plug. That is when the hard drive on the system showed what was wrong. CLICK-CLACK; CLICK-CLACK was the only sound coming from the system. After a few attempts to get the system back online and the same clicking sound coming from the machine I figured out that the hard drive had failed. Unfortunately, the system was full of recorded shows so we lost all of our CSI (all three versions); The Mentalist and Without a Trace along with a few odd shows and movies.

Now I have owned this system since Christmas of 2004 – it was a gift from my wife. The TiVo changed the way we watched TV because we now watched when we had the time – we were no longer tied to a schedule for any program. The TiVo I received was a 40 hour machine which means it had a 40GB hard drive inside. About a year after getting the machine I decided to upgrade the hard drive and increase the viewing capacity – which went without a hitch using the methods described at Hinsdale How-to TiVo Upgrade. Although it seemed very intimidating I had nothing to lose because I was not going to erase the original 40GB hard drive so I could always revert back to it if things went South. I am happy to report that the process took less than a couple of hours and was a huge success and so for the last 3 1/2 years we have run our TiVo with a 120GB hard drive with about a 186 hour recording capability at Basic Quality.

It was this hard drive that failed two weeks ago – in my opinion for a machine that is always on 24/7 – that is a pretty good run!

So as I approached this hard drive failure and started my research on how to replace that hard drive I quickly discovered that you needed to have a functioning TiVo hard drive in order to setup a replacement drive. So with a dead hard drive I needed another option.

Two options came up in my search:

I have no reason to believe that either of these companies provide anything but very decent options for putting a new hard drive in your TiVo or even adding a second drive and additional storage. I made my choice on the biggest drive capacity I could get for my money. I chose weaKnees and purchased their 320GB upgrade kit for my TiVo. This kit would upgrade us to 390 hours of video at Basic Quality and 110 hours at Best Quality. I placed the purchase and used 2 day shipping so I could get us back up and TiVoing as soon as possible.

As scheduled the package arrived two days later and I immediately started the replacement of the dead drive. The package appears a lot like the same boxes that hard drives come in and it also has both Torx wrenches you will need to remove your TiVo cover and the hard drive mounting shelf. There are also terrific illustrated instructions to walk you though the process – they even have them up online so you can read ahead before the hard drive even arrives so your ready when it gets to your house.

You can see the process for removing and replacing the drive on the instructions – it works just like that as well. There was one additional adapter in the package that went between the new hard drive and the TiVo motherboard so the system could recognize the larger, faster device. From start to plugging it in with the new hard drive took me less than 30 minutes. After it is all put together you just plug it back up to your cable, network (phone line if that is what you use) and then just run Guided Setup again. You will be back up and running with your newly upgraded and higher capacity TiVo in no time.

By the way – this is no way affects your lifetime service on your TiVo as that is tied to the motherboard and not the hard drive – FTW!

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Windows Vista Google Alerts for 27 May 2009

admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:11:55 +0000

Google News Alert for: windows vista

Inside Windows 7
MSDN Magazine – USA
To better understand the concept of Libraries in Windows 7, we need to look back in time. Earlier versions of Windows, like Windows Vista and Windows XP, …
See all stories on this topic

Tom’s Hardware : News army windows vista office upgrade
Tom’s Hardware Guide – Culver City,CA,USA
About half of the US Army’s 744000 desktop computers are already running Office 2007, but only 13 percent have so far moved to Windows Vista. …
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Browsers are the new OS, says Google
Christian Science Monitor – Boston,MA,USA
By Chris Gaylord | 05.27.09 Windows Vista or OS X? Who cares, says Google. The future of software will transcend operating systems. …
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HP Expands Low-Priced Mini-Laptop Family
InformationWeek – Manhasset,NY,USA
The business-focused Mini 1101 is only available in black swirl but gives buyers the choice of Windows XP Home, XP Pro, or Vista. Foundry Networks VP and GM …
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Windows 7 Is Microsoft’s Chance to Redeem Itself
eWeek – New York, NY
Windows Vista was a public relations nightmare for Microsoft. Microsoft announced the follow-up to Windows XP in July 2005, promising big things. …
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HP Keeps the Minis Coming with Mini 1101 and 110 XP/Mi Editions
Digitaltrends.com – Lake Oswego,OR,USA
Meanwhile, the Mini 1101 will be available with either XP Home, XP Pro, or Windows Vista and will be available with either 3- or 6-cell batteries, …
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Windows Windows/Vista/XP/NT/2000
ZDNet.de – Germany
Alloy Navigator Express läuft unter Windows Windows, Vista, XP, NT, 2000, die Dateigröße beträgt 136,34 MByte und das letzte Update wurde am 26. …
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Windows 2003/Windows/Vista/XP
ZDNet.de – Germany
MAPILab Reports läuft unter Windows 2003, Windows, Vista, XP, die Dateigröße beträgt 25,42 MByte und das letzte Update wurde am 26. …
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Google Blogs Alert for: windows vista

Windows Vista SP2 Available Now
Windows Vista SP2 includes updates for certain 64-bit processors, support for Bluetooth v2.1, improved wireless performance, improved sidebar performance, native support for Blu-Ray media, and several other updates an improvements. …
About.com Focus on PC Support – http://pcsupport.about.com/b/

Microsoft Releases Windows Vista SP2 | Infrastructure …
By ainsley.jones@narrowcastgroup.com
Microsoft released the second service pack for Windows Vista to the public. The release of Windows Vista SP2 brings bug and security fixes, reports DailyTech .
Infrastructure – http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/community/news/inf/blog

Windows Vista: “Macground” – Windows Opration System
By Live-Vista
How to turn your Windows Vista desktop into a Mac-style desktop. I used the Dell Dock for this, which is exclusive to Dell computers….
Windows Opration System – http://live-vista.com/

Windows Vista Magazine | Free Desktop Wallpaper Showcase: Set 44
Windows Vista: The Official Magazine is produced with input from Microsoft but is an independent publication. Windows Vista and the Windows Vista Start logo are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license …
Windows Vista Magazine | Home – http://www.windowsvistamagazine.com/

Change the Recycle Bin Icons – Windows Vista – Recycle Bin
Change how the Recycle Bin appears, whether it is empty or full.
New Computer and Technology Help… – http://malektips.com/

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Downloads

Windows 7 Google Alerts for 27 May 2009

admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:10:13 +0000

Google News Alert for: "windows 7"

Windows 7 Will Ship with Very Cool Multi-Touch Software
PC World – USA
And a year ago it demoed touch features it’s adding to Windows 7, which will ship this fall. For a demo of Win 7’s multi-touch skills, check out this video. …
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Microsoft Introduces Touch Pack for Windows 7
eWeek – New York, NY
Microsoft demonstrated the touch capabilities of its Windows 7 operating system and introduced a new suite of multi-touch applications at the Wall Street …
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ZDNet Blogs

Microsoft adds some multi-touch glitz to Windows 7
ZDNet Blogs – USA
It was exactly one year ago tomorrow that Windows 7 made its public debut in a brief demo at the D6 (All Things Digital) conference. …
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NotebookReview.com

Microsoft, Intel to Limit Windows 7 Netbooks to 10.2"
NotebookReview.com – Batavia,OH,USA
According to a DigiTimes report, Microsoft and Intel are planning to limit the screen sizes of netbooks running Windows 7 to 10.2 inches, down from the …
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Windows 7 Release Candidate Now Available
Philadelphia Bulletin – Philadelphia,PA,USA
The Windows 7 Release Candidate has been made available and the first comparison was to the speed of Vista. Before any other investigation of this new …
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IE8 Windows 7 RC Compatibility View List Updates
Softpedia – Bucharest,Romania
There are no less than four updates available for IE8 in Windows 7 client and server releases, each tailored to specific flavors of the operating systems. …
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CIOL

Windows 7: Application Enhancements
CIOL – Bangalore,Karnataka,India
Windows 7 radically changes all of these. All the built-in applications get extreme makeovers. So much so that at first glance you might wonder if you are …
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RE[2]: "geek world might be all over Windows 7"
OS News – USA
Under Windows you are talking a closed source development model, so really you can only blame the hardware vendor or Microsoft for not having the drivers …
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Google Blogs Alert for: "windows 7"

Introducing the Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7 – Windows 7 …
By Brandon LeBlanc
At Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference about a year ago today, Julie Larson-Green first introduced Walt Mossberg to Windows 7 and its multi-touch capabilities, which we call Windows Touch . While we’ve been working on …
The Windows Blog – http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/

The biggest flaw with the Windows 7 taskbar | Windows 7 News
By Mike
I have been a big critic of the new ’super’(yuk!)bar. Looking at things from an end-users point of view there are many things about it’s use and functionality.
Windows 7 News – http://windows7news.com/

An exhaustive side-by-side view of UI changes between Windows 7 …
By Rick Hodgin
May. 27, 2009 – Ars Technica has produced an exhaustive screen-shot comparison of the differences between Windows 7 beta and Windows 7 release candidate (RC). Some.
Geek.com – http://www.geek.com/

Streaming Video to Xbox 360. – Windows 7 Forums
By VampireOnline
This is driving me crazy and I can’t figure it out. Some Files will stream just fine namely the ones I transferred over from Vista, but anything new.
Windows 7 Forums – http://windows7forums.com/

Top ten new features in Windows 7 – Crave at CNET UK
The release candidate of Microsoft’s next operating system is ready for you to test out, so what better time to show you the wealth of useful new features it’s packing?. Plus more technology news in Crave, the gadget blog at CNET UK.
Technology Reviews, News – http://www.cnet.co.uk/

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Windows 7 Release Candidate is Available – Sort of!