As a result, brand new SkyDrive users get 7 GB of storage for free. Existing users however, (those with accounts as of April 22) can get up to 25 GB of storage for free if they opt to do so. After that, an additional 20 GB costs $10 per year; an additional 50 GB costs $25 per year; and an additional 100 GB, $50 per year.

Microsoft has also made available for download a preview version of SkyDrive for Windows, a local version of its SkyDrive client. This is the first step Microsoft is taking toward integrating SkyDrive with Live Mesh, their synchronization service that’s similar to DropBox. The preview is available for Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 Consumer Preview (sorry XP!)

With the SkyDrive app for Windows, everything put in a SkyDrive folder on a Windows PC is automatically kept in sync between PCs, Macs and SkyDrive.com, according to the download site.  It also features:

• Ability to access SkyDrive directly from Windows Explorer — photos, documents, and other files
• Option to add new files to SkyDrive by dragging them to the SkyDrive folder
• Ability to organize files and folders in SkyDrive, just like any other folder
• Option to connect back to the PC if the user forgets to put something in SkyDrive

Microsoft has also made available an updated version of its SkyDrive app for Windows Phone,  a new preview of SkyDrive for Mac OS X Lion and updated the iPhone and iPad versions of SkyDrive today.

Lastly, Microsoft also is surfacing apps that are designed to work with SkyDrive on different platforms and devices.

I definitely plan on checking out Juice UI the next time I have a need!

Take for example all of the keyboard shortcuts that you could be using today in Gmail while reading your mail.

I’ve known about a few of these and have tinkered with them in the past.  Seeing just how much you can do with it and having spent a little more time on it recently, I am definitely going to make an effort to use the keyboard as much as possible from now on in Gmail.

Since I didn’t order my SSD from Apple it didn’t come with the ability for OS X to enable TRIM for the drive.  And as you’ll see in the previous link, if you’re using an SSD you really need to be using TRIM.  Luckily I recently came across this article that told me everything I needed to do to use TRIM in OS X.  Thanks to the free utility Trim Enabler 2.0, it was easy and my SSD now should last a lot longer.

If you’re in the same situation as me, definitely check it out!

As you’ll see when you visit the forwarding options you can also use filters to forward mail.  Based on my needs I went that route and had things setup to forward to me and my wife, and THOUGHT we were receiving all of the messages properly.  But later after chatting with other moms in the class realized the filter wasn’t picking up on messages from one of our teachers because they were putting us as BCC (blind carbon copy) recipients.  Our other teacher (I have twins, so both started kindergarten at the same time) however was sending messages to everybody simply in the To field, which we were receiving without any problems.  After some research I learned that Gmail doesn’t make it very obvious how to filter on a message when you’re only a BCC recipient.  So after some research and trial and error I figured it out and here’s how you can do it.

Step 1 – Open up your settings in Gmail in the account you want to forward mail from.  From there, choose the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.  Under forwarding, you will see a box to Add a forwarding address.

Step 2 – Enter in the address you want to forward mail to and click next.  Gmail will send a verification code to that email address to ensure that you are an owner of that account. Once you receive the email containing the code, enter it into the confirmation code box and click Verify.

Step 3 – Once you have verified the destination address, click on the Filters tab and click Create a new filter.  We are now going to enter the specific details to ensure all mail, including messages you are BCC recipients on get sent to the address we just added.  When the Create a Filter wizard comes up we want to enter deliveredto:youraddress@gmail.com in the textbox labeled Has the words.  This is the important part, and something I didn’t realize when I first setup a filter with only my account in the To field.  That won’t get BCC messages.  Again, you are putting the address of the account you want to forward from (i.e. familyaccount@gmail.com).

Step 4 – Select the Mark as read checkbox and the Forward it to checkbox.  To the right of the Forward it to checkbox you will see the email account you verified in Step 2 as an option.  Make sure it’s selected and click Create Filter.

Step 5 – Now you’re done.  You can repeat this for any additional addresses you want to forward mail to.  I do believe I read somewhere that Gmail has a limit of like 10 or 20 addresses that you can forward to, so keep that in mind if you are trying to do more than just a few.

Now you have a stand along family or shared email account that forwards ALL messages to one or more recipients.  The nice thing about this is that Gmail offers you so much storage that you also have an archive of all these messages that you can go back and search on over time.  Heck, maybe someday it will be fun for us to look back at the first emails we were getting when our kids started kindergarten.

Hope this helps!  Contact me if you have any problems and I’ll try to help you out.

Here’s how:

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root = Right(Request.Url.Host, (Request.Url.Host.Length) - InStrRev(Request.Url.Host, "."))

Ajax-based data loading using jQuery.load() function in ASP.NET – Hajan Selmani takes a back to basics look at using jQuery to load partial chunks of HTML from a page using Ajax and insert them into the current page, providing a nice way of lighting up a web application with an ‘Ajax’ feel whilst easily maintaining non-ajax support.

The official Microsoft Kinect SDK beta is now out and available for download! Covered by Channel Nine Live Media, Microsoft Scientist Anoop Gupta made the announcement himself that after the long wait, users may now go to the official SDK website to download the latest software development kit for the Kinect camera.

Here are the features that will come with the Kinect SDK (taken from Microsoft SDK website):

“The Kinect for Windows SDK beta is a programming toolkit for application developers. It enables the academic and enthusiast communities easy access to the capabilities offered by the Microsoft Kinect device connected to computers running the Windows 7 operating system.

The Kinect for Windows SDK beta includes drivers, rich APIs for raw sensor streams and human motion tracking, installation documents, and resource materials. It provides Kinect capabilities to developers who build applications with C++, C#, or Visual Basic by using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.

Raw sensor streams

Access to raw data streams from the depth sensor, color camera sensor, and four-element microphone array enables developers to build upon the low-level streams that are generated by the Kinect sensor.

Skeletal tracking

The capability to track the skeleton image of one or two people moving within the Kinect field of view make it easy to create gesture-driven applications.

Advanced audio capabilities

Audio processing capabilities include sophisticated acoustic noise suppression and echo cancellation, beam formation to identify the current sound source, and integration with the Windows speech recognition API.

Sample code and documentation

The SDK includes more than 100 pages of technical documentation. In addition to built-in help files, the documentation includes detailed walkthroughs for most samples provided with the SDK.

Easy installation

The SDK installs quickly, requires no complex configuration, and the complete installer size is less than 100 MB. Developers can get up and running in just a few minutes with a standard standalone Kinect sensor unit (widely available at retail outlets).

This SDK is designed for non-commercial purposes only; a commercial version is expected to be available at a later date.”

Additional details about the SDK is that it is currently in beta, meaning it is not yet the actual finished product. Rather, Microsoft wants the opinion of the Kinect hackers/developers in finalizing the product. By keeping it in beta, Microsoft will then ask users to give their feedback concerning the SDK with the eventual hope of releaseing a Kinect SDK built for and with Kinect hackers.

There is also a commercial version coming out. Details are not yet final as to what the difference would be between the two versions of the Kinect.

Source: kinecthacks.com