For a Computer Weekly Social Media Award…

Which is kind of cool and I’d really appreciate you taking 5 minutes (probably less) to vote here for Simon-May.com which is listed in the IT Professional section, although I’d also like you to vote for Rich.

There’s been much discussion on the “devpro” email list about a “Community lunch” following the MVP Open Day on Saturday December 11th.  The discussion is about location London or Reading and the answer isn’t yet clear.

The idea of the lunch is to get Community Leaders and MVPs together for a good old chin wag about all things community and to have a bit of pre-Christmas Holiday Season fun.  I’d personally like to meet everyone and so would Claire (the new MVP lead).
The advantage of Reading is two fold; Some MVPs will be there naturally as they will have stayed over Friday evening and secondly, Claire has some money if the day is in Reading - the reason that she doesn’t have it if we need to travel into London is that we’ve both got families who would like to see us (I actually also have to get to a fancy dressed party wearing pijamas, a dressing gown and carrying a towl – yes Arthur Dent from Hitchickers, I digress…)

The advantage of London is that lots of people have to travel via London in some way or live there or can get there more easily than Reading.

So I thought I’d post a poll, it’s limited to 100 responses (but I can add a 2nd poll if I see it fill up fast with no clear winner).

Last weekend I went to a fantastic event, SharePoint Saturday, which was the first time the UK SharePoint community had gotten together on a Saturday in the UK.  It was brilliant, well organised, the speakers rocked the content rocked.  There will be more on how great the event was soon.  This post isn’t about that, not directly.  One of the presenters* said something along the lines “if you put your data in the cloud it will be subject to the Patriot Act, [which is a US law]”.  That’s not verbatim but it’s close.  I announced that he was wrong…

So which one of us right or wrong?  Neither of us.

Just like the picture, it doesn’t work well in black and white.

I took away a public action to find out what the deal was, if you use cloud services can the US government get access to it?

The frame for the picture

Most countries have wide-ranging powers for law enforcement agencies to obtain intelligence for criminal investigatory and anti-terrorist purposes. The UK certainly does. There are wide powers to obtain data for national security reasons and the prevention and detection of crime. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 is one such UK law. The Patriot Act is the US equivalent.

What does this Patriot Act do?

Basically, it’s intended as an anti-terror law to allow the US Federal Government to respond rapidly to a threat using legal means. The effect of it would be that in some circumstances the US authorities may be able to obtain data belonging to a UK cloud customer residing in a data center of a US cloud provider. However, the Patriot Act is neither the saviour nor demon it has been portrayed to be. Rather, it is a collection of amendments to existing laws that seek to enhance public safety. In certain instances, law enforcement’s tasks are made easier and communications data is more readily accessible.

So, can the U.S. government demand access to my information hosted on a cloud provider’s servers?

Any company with a presence in the U.S. is obligated to respond to a valid demand for information from the U.S. government – regardless of the location of that information.  That is not to say that the U.S. government has unfettered access to customer information as it still must follow the tough legal standards set out in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and others laws relating to its access to electronic information before it can gain access. This obligation to comply with subpoenas or court orders from the U.S. government applies equally to Microsoft, its competitors in the U.S. and any foreign corporation with a sufficient presence in the U.S.

Microsoft is sensitive to the fact that companies want to control the parties to whom their information is disclosed and believes that its customers should control their own information. Accordingly, if law enforcement approaches Microsoft directly for information hosted on its systems for its enterprise customers, Microsoft will unless prohibited by law redirect law enforcement to the customer.

Microsoft will only provide customer records where it is legally required to do so and will limit the production to only that information which it is required to disclose.

In the event that Microsoft received what it believed to be an unlawful or otherwise invalid request for data from the U.S. government, U.S. law provides mechanisms for a provider to challenge a subpoena, court order, or search warrant. If necessary, Microsoft’s legal compliance lawyers will directly contact the requesting law enforcement agency to explain the issue and seek a resolution that adequately addresses Microsoft’s concerns.

Obviously if law enforcement want access to your data locally they can always get it by obtaining a warrant or subpoena to legally gain access.  A fairly crude analogy to this would be that when you host your data on your own property and on your own servers the doors could be bashed in for law enforcement to access your data, if Microsoft holds your data in our data center then law enforcement have to knock on Microsoft’s door first, we then ensure that they only get access to what they have a legal right to access.

This sounds overly complicated, what’s going on to fix this situation?

Our industry as a whole recognises these challenges and is lobbying governments to deliver clarity. A balance needs to be struck between protecting users’ data whilst enabling law enforcement to have the tools they need.   One of the things I love about technology is the speed of development and in this case it totally outpaces the law which is a problem but one that will eventually be resolved – eventually we’ll get to full colour and HD, right now we have grey scale.  That leads to the idea of risk.

So what should I do and what’s the risk?

The issues should always be understood in relation to the overall business opportunity The UK data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office, has specifically referred to a customer taking the Patriot Act into account in its necessary due diligence as part of any outsourcing. Needless to say, this does not mean that a US cloud provider should not be used. In many and perhaps most circumstances, there will be no real problem. Greater care will be needed perhaps when the data is particularly sensitive.

What if I want my data back, does Microsoft own it.

You own it, it’s yours not ours, we aren’t even allowed to access it.  Your data always remains your data Microsoft absolutely don’t have any claim to it and as we say in the contract you will always have access to your data through the normal feature-set of the service.  That means you can migrate your data away from our offerings again if you wish.  (I’m pretty confident you won’t and if you do I’d love to know why).

I’m still freaked that the US Government could get to my data

Many people wonder what the U.S. government can do with data it receives through these laws and legal procedures. U.S. privacy protections ensure that evidence obtained through investigative means can only be used for official purposes and generally cannot be used for purposes beyond the scope of the investigation. So if industrial espionage is where your mind is taking you need to remember that the risks are very low for you and the price is very high for the other person.

It’s worth noting that the U.S. does not share with U.S. businesses any data it collects through investigations. In fact, there are criminal and civil penalties for such unlawful disclosures.

In truth, the U.S has a very mature and detailed legal regime for restricting government access to data. Privacy protections begin with the U.S. Constitution and extend to federal and state laws protecting health care and financial records, electronic communications, and other kinds of information. Unfortunately, such things as the debate over the Patriot Act have had a negative effect on perceptions of data privacy and data security in the U.S.

Summary

To get to the full colour HD version of the truth about the issues of data security around cloud you need to understand the issues specific to your situation. Microsoft’s cloud offerings may very well provide you with far more cost effective options than you use for on premise solutions, but equally on premise solutions have their place. Change is a constant in this industry and being well armed to understand the complexity like this is now part of an IT Professionals role, you don’t always need to know the answers but you need to be able to ask the right questions, such as “what’s my data being used for and by whom” and to help make informed choices based on the answers.

As I was investigating this I came across another term that’s specific to people within the EU, “Safe Harbour”, which is actually not related to the Patriot Act but I think it’s worthy of a post in the future.

Try BPOS or Azure with a trial account to determine if it fits your business’s needs.

I’m currently getting into my eReaders trying to find a way to learn all the stuff I need to learn without humping big books about.  I was interested to note that one of my favourite series of books, the Administrator’s Pocket Consultants (available for most of our stuff) area available in the iPhone App Store.  I think that’s quite cool, you could have a device in your pocket with all the answers you need.

I was a Microsoft Partner Network event yesterday and a guy called Matt (sorry I didn’t get your second name) gave me a new porridge flavour sensation suggestion.  He’d seen the light and tried peanut butter and honey but he added his own unique twist.

Cinnamon

Awesome just got awesomer.  Here it is in all it’s glory this morning.

Back at the Media Center user group event earlier this year I had the chance to talk to Eddy Caroll from Amulet about their very cool new Windows Media Center remote.  It’s the remote I’ve been most looking forward to ever since.  Simply put it’s awesome.  Basically it does everything any learning remote does, except that you can control Media Center in a very granular and fine controlled way by speaking to it.  It’s now been submitted to the FCC for approval, which means it’s not far off…

Amulet voice control Windows Media Center remote hits the FCC – Ian Dixon’s Blog – TDL – The Digital Lifestyle.com – digital lifestyle community

Weezer have released a new album, Hurley that I’ve added to my download list.

1. Because it has a picture of Hurley from Lost on the front cover (I’m not a LOST fan but I like the thought)
2. Because my Windows 95 CD had Buddy Holly by Weezer on the CD and I love it.  By the way I love Ninja Tuna by MrScruff which is in Windows 7.

Hurley by Weezer via Uncrate

Veyron 16.4 Super Sport on Cool Hunting

I love this, as found by James via Reddit

Shawn Stussy’s d’man when it comes finding cool retro stuff.  I’m loving the idea.

Shawn Stussy’s Blog: August 2010

This really appealed to me, not because of the IE but because it reminded me of my classical Latin class where I learnt this.  It wasn’t as fun as Oatmeal.

I love good coffee, what geek doesn’t.  I’m also short on time and when running out the door one of these would rock.  Also the big thing with these is that it’s dishwasher safe…most of those travel mugs aren’t.

Note to people looking to buy me presents – this colour is good.

Travel Coffee Maker | The Office Stylist

This is all kinds of awesome.  The Goonies 25th Anniversary Collector’s Edition via Uncrate.

MyFord Touch Preview July 2010 from Cool Hunting shows just how much like KIT you can make your car these days.  I wish we had this in the UK.

We all love the 80’s but is there anything better than a Back to the Future hover board.  No.  So here one is.  Working.  With laser guidance.

Dornob has the skinny: The Future is Back: Real-Life, High-Tech Hoverboard Design

I love my Sony camera and I’m intrigued that Sony made the only kit up to this job.  Just like Microsoft Made the only software up to the job.  Above is a still taken from the unbelievably deeeeep and immersive panoramic photo from Budapest that broke all records.  It’s amazing, go look.  Also it’s hosted on Azure and delivered in Silverlight.

70 Billion Pixels Budapest – The largest photo on Earth – created by 360world.eu

Or plaster for us British folk.  Simple solution, fun.  Not compatible with Windows Phone 7 (or any other phone on the market)

[via: Apple Bumper | The Office Stylist and available to buy from Antenn-aid on Etsy]

How would you like a phone made of wood?  How about a PC?  How about anything, like this helmet?  Technaro a German company that makes plastics from a wood has a product called ARBOFORM that is made from  100% renewable materials and works just like a plastic.  So even wooden components like printed circuit boards are possible.

[via: Dornob]

I’m pretty sure this is the coolest watch ever created….more so than the TAG Monaco…

Horological Machine No4 Thunderbolt on Cool Hunting

Dieter Rams’ 10 principles of good design.  Five is important.

1. Good design is innovative.
2. Good design makes a product useful.
3. Good design is aesthetic.
4. Good design makes a product understandable.
5. Good design is unobtrusive.
6. Good design is honest.
7. Good design is long-lasting.
8. Good design is thorough down to the last detail.
9. Good design is environmentally friendly.
10. Good design is as little design as possible.

Ten principles for good design via David Airey, graphic designer

[image from Arch Tonic]

I like maple syrup.  I like bacon.  I like coffee.  Not so sure about the 3 together…

Maple Bacon Coffee on Uncrate

Very nice retro digital watches…Cool hunting has the deets

Raised by Wolves x Furni Digital Watch on Cool Hunting

The man’s done it again, how does James find this awesome stuff….

Bat(man) On Fire | Tenniswood Blog

This is a superb video of just why it’s critically important to have a great team behind you.  Be brilliant at what you do, rely on and be appreciative of the value those around you add.  Reminds me of most IT Pros.

Via James: Tenniswood Blog

Sometimes all I seem to do is reblog James’ finds… oh well, very nice.

Walk the tube | Tenniswood Blog

One for @Deepfat, he’d love this…Water Walking Ball, via Uncrate

The end of manned space missions feels like another step back but photo’s like this are a nice side effect.  Unemployed Astronauts from Gizmodo, via James Tenniswood (king of design cool)

The guys over at Download Squad just blogged this and the name says it all.  It’s the ultimate task scheduler and get stuff done app for geeks.

This is some super cool packaging, superb typography and very fine humour.  Wish it were real…

No Weight Gain Chocolate | David Airey, graphic designer

I just can’t believe the size of this HD display 6800+ ft.  Massive.  More here:

http://3rings.designerpages.com/2010/06/30/daktronics-hd-video-board-lights-up-the-n-f-l/#axzz0sQyLVQLX

OK, I don’t actually believe I’m going to change the world, I’m not six.  I am however going to join a company who’s products I like a lot and who’s people have inspired me.  Things here might change, I have a plan or two up my sleeve.

The above image is courtesy of the magnificent @gapingvoid aka Hugh MacLeod, genius business card cartoonist.  I hope he won’t mind me using it, his work can be found here my favourite product is his wine.

I love this video that SwissMiss found

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYjFoCIfyAU&feature=player_embedded

swissmiss | Andy Murray Tennis Street Magic.

The Oatmeal is genius and I love and painfully remember this…

What I remember most about LEGOs – The Oatmeal.

I really want this stamp!

We “Like” You! | The Office Stylist.

Yeah this is just cool.

Cool Wall Mirrors: Aviator Style | The Office Stylist.

Kinect is the new name for project Natal.  I just can’t wait.

I’ve always liked mind mapping, helped me get through lots of exams and provides a nice way to think clearly.  An interesting take on task lists by Chris Brogan Stay on Target.

This is amazing…Snoop Dog with a light sabre, Daft Punk with R2 and C3PO, Noel Gallagher and Beckham and storm troopers…very cool.

Adidas Cantina 2010 « Whitezine | inspire Create and Share.

Love Lego, Love this: Patchwork Orange: Art of Fixing Buildings with LEGO Blocks | Designs & Ideas on Dornob.

The Windows Live Essentials set of tools from Microsoft is being updated very soon, as are the online components like Hotmail.  LiveSide.net have a super breakdown and highlight of the features that are coming.

I really love the Multitouch Support that they say is going to be added to Photo Gallery – I think it’s the best application in a tool set ALL of which are essential!  I also really like the facial recognition feature that should make tagging up photo’s a whole lot easier.

Wave 4: What’s New in Windows Live Essentials – LiveSide.net.

Doornob have found a great house that’s really hiding an aircraft hanger in side, and that’s not even the best bit.  The front porch opens up transformers style to reveal the plan.  Great design.  Have a look at doornob for the full details and video.

Home Opener: Huge Garage Door Hides Whole Plane Hangar | Designs & Ideas on Dornob.

Things have been slow for a while, but using the power of in flight Wi-Fi, I’ve just found the time to update my press comments page with some rescent stories.  So here they are.

More coming soon.  By the way, I’ve done some playing with the iPad and it’s a great device and I think it’s a great forerunner for the tablet / slate space.

A few weeks ago I posted a (scathing)* comment on Logitech’s approach to getting customer feedback.  I was annoyed as a long time customer about a UI frustration that I felt was misleading.  Brilliantly, Logitech have fixed it.  Great work. 

It’s nice to be listened to, it’s mega customer service and a great example of how to engage in this space.  Well done guys.

Mr Rogers, thank you.

I going to place my Logitech Harmony 1100 order now.

*ok I admit it I was kind of over the top.

Synergy allows you to use one keyboard and mouse across multiple systems and they don’t even have to be the same OS.  Well it’s just been updated with a new project on Google Code called Synergy+.  This is an essential application for me.  The list of bugs that have been fixed is quite long too and it’s fantastic to see updates to this brilliant concept

.

James has a superb step by step on how to make one of the best looking keyboards work with Windows 7.  I’m jealous he owns one.

How to pair an Apple Wireless Keyboard with Windows 7

Sarah’s written a great and very, very, comprehensive article for On10.net about all the different options for watching TV in Windows Media Center without a TV tuner, she covers:

• Hulu
• PlayOn
• Boxee
• SecondRunTV
• TunerFree
• TubeCore
• ZeeVee
• SkyPlayer

Wow, it’s impressive there are so many options…

Simon May

SkyDrive from Microsoft offers everyone 25gb of cloud storage for free, it’s the same space that’s used by Live Photo Gallery to create online photos and it’s exceptionally useful.

If you’re using the Office 2010 beta you’ll find that it’s super simple to publish directly to your SkyDrive and from there you can share with other people or just use it for your own storage.

Those without Office 2010 can also make use of the storage by “mapping a drive” to it, basically assigning a drive letter, just like a USB drive in cloud to it.  First off you’ll need to register if you’ve not then you can download software like Gladinet or SkyDrive explorer.

There’s a new kid on the block today though, Mike Plate has discovered how to connect to SkyDrive directly from Windows 7, no extra software required.  I’ve just tried it and it works a treat!

How to connect to SkyDrive with WebDAV – and my Office 2010 awakening – Mike Plate.

According to the New York Times a group called DECE (Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem) is planning an announcement at CES about their plans to make content (Movies specifically) available in any format you choose once you’ve bought a single license to own it.  So you buy it once on DVD, and get the right to make copies, download it for mobile or even in a hotel suite if you choose and you only pay once…sounds too good to be true doesn’t it?

This might actually work though, there are big, big names signed up including Microsoft and all the biggest film studios (there is a notable exception) are signed on and at CES the group will announce that membership has grown and includes vendors like Tesco and Best Buy along with Netflix and some other big names.

This could work.

The way it will work might cause problems though, but that’s just detail surely?  The mechanics basically requires an online vault that stores your license for content and it checked against every time you want to use some kind of content….Ok this is all gong to go down to the mechanics isn’t it?  Hopefully with the whole life cycle (except the consumer?) represented in the chain we’ll see something workable.  Or we might see another DRM.

But this could work.  I’m sceptical but I’d love to be proved wrong, I’d really like the distributor to take over the burden of remuxing, transcoding, covnerting and the admin I have to do around content.

The big names not at the table, Apple and Disney.

[via TiPB]

Last week suffered a close family bereavement hence very little activity here (and elsewhere) of late, but things should get back on track quite soon.  I’m working on an interesting little software project and have some creative things bubbling in the back of my mind.  Normal service will resume soon.

Until then I thought I’d take a moment to update my press quotations page with most of my comments from 2009 and also to highlight this excellent tool for managing Windows 7 libraries, http://zornsoftware.talsit.info/?p=3.  TIP: It even lets you change the icons with a couple of clicks and to add network locations.  Great stuff.

The Xbox beta program is looking for more participation according to Major Nelson.  Requirements etc. are located here, and as always there’s no guarantee that you’ll be accepted to the Beta (Gold Members have a better chance) but there’s some interesting stuff in this Beta, especially the Zune video store.  Although you might want to get the chat pad before you try twittering from your Xbox controller…

This is a superb power tip from Windows 7 hacker (don’t worry no hacking involved!) that helps you to get Windows 7 doing stuff to automatically fix itself.  Now that’s cool!

The tool in question comes with Windows and it’s every troubleshooters best friend, it has been for years.  Windows 7 allows you to automate what happens when something goes wrong, have a read of the excellent tutorial for help.

I love the way that Sharpies write.  If you’ve never used one, or if you don’t know what they are then you’re missing out.  They are basically permenant pens that write on anything, but they do so by laying down a very satisfying flow of ink that looks superb…it’s kind of like writing on a Bananana skin with a Biro, lovelly.  Sharpie have just announced availability of a stainless steel version and it’s right on my “wanted” list.

It was bound to happen and Nokia have jumped feet first into the netbook market today with this prime specimen, which appears to be the first to market netbook with Windows 7 starter on it.  They’ve released a nice video on YouTube, embedded in this post and it clearly shows Windows 7, although Nokia haven’t officially announced it.  The image to the left subtly points it out, and given the nasty grey color it’s probably fair to say it’s running Windows 7 Starter.

From the release:

The mini-laptop also comes with an HDMI port for HD video out, a front facing camera for video calling, integrated Bluetooth and an easily accessible SD card reader. Other premium features include the 10-inch glass HD ready display and integrated A-GPS which, working with the Ovi Maps gadget, can pinpoint your position in seconds and open up access for a truly personal maps experience. The Nokia Booklet 3G also brings a number of other rich Ovi experiences to life, whether its access and playback of millions of tracks through the Nokia Music Store, or using Ovi Suite to sync seamlessly from your Nokia smartphone, to your mini-laptop, to the cloud.

That’s a pretty sweet set of specs for a netbook and that HDMI out makes it good as a portable Media Center (although not with Windows 7 Starter).

Well this is some excellent news for anyone in the UK.  Thanks to the ballot screen approach to browser choice in Europe, Microsoft is now able to offer both the Upgrade version of Windows 7 and the Family Pack (which is 3 Windows 7 licenses for a great price).

For those who don’t know there was a good chance we wouldn’t see this in Europe as Microsoft was due to pull IE8 out lock stock and barrel from Windows 7, which would have killed the upgrade routes.  This whole thing boils down to Opera (and a bunch of other browser makers) complaints about Microsoft’s unfair advantages to the EU.

If you’ve preordered the Windows 7 E version (E for Europe) then you’ll be getting the full Windows 7 package along with IE8.  In fact it’s not just the UK that gets the full version Ireland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden do too.

[via: The Windows Blog]

One of the gems of Windows Live Essentials (which are explored quite thoroughly in my book) is Movie Maker which provides dead simple movie editing.  The best analogy is one I heard today “Movie Maker is the notepad of video editing tools” (not sure where I heard that though).  It’s true enough too, they are about as feature rich as each other, stripped down, bare bones (OK notepad is the most useful tool in Windows).  Move Maker’s just received an update and lost it’s “Beta” moniker.

Brilliant 1080p (full HD) output quality, live previews of effects and Windows 7 jump lists are some of the new features since it’s exited Beta.

This has been everywhere today but Redmond Pie has a great roundup.  Get the software here and some videos to play with if you don’t have any of your own.

[via the inimitable Steve Clayton]

This is hot news for anyone UK based that wants a ZuneHD, you can have one.  ZuneThings have opened their online ordering for the UK and ok it’s not an official channel, but you probably don’t care about that.  You might though if you’re worried about it breaking down – never fear ZuneThings are proving a 12 month warranty of their own.  They’re nice aren’t they?

The 32GB version is £249 and you’ll get it in the first week of October, if all goes to plan.

[I found out about this from  Zuneboards]

It looks like Ian’s wishes for the Zune HD being an offline extender might be only slightly short of the mark.  Here’s a lovely video of the device in action on a big screen, and boy does it look nice!

[I think this might have been posted by engaged originally, but I got it via this website: http://zunemediaplayer.blogspot.com/2009/08/zunehd-on-hdtv.html]

It looks like Ian’s wishes for the Zune HD being an offline extender might be only slightly short of the mark.  Here’s a lovely video of the device in action on a big screen, and boy does it look nice!

[I think this might have been posted by engaged originally, but I got it via this website: http://zunemediaplayer.blogspot.com/2009/08/zunehd-on-hdtv.html]

Microsoft’s new music player looks awesome, no seriously it does.  It’s got some great technical specs, like an NVidia chip that gives it fantastic graphics, an OLED screen that looks super crisp and HD radio.  Some of the leaks around the device are mouth-wateringly good, Ian has a good roundup of some.  What I really want to know though is who’s the princess? 

Internal shots of the ZuneHD have been published and you’ll see the “princess” reference below…wonder what that’s all about?

Amazon almost have their preorder site ready to go, so who’s preordering?

[via Zunited]

I think it’s fair to say that all Windows Media Center enthusiasts are pinning their hopes on DLNA standards giving us a superb media experience all around the home given the current lack of support between vendors for Microsoft’s own Media Center Extenders.  With Windows 7 we all expect things to be gaining even more ground, and it’s quite possible that out of all this we’ll get a better experience, at least that’s my hope.

DLNA have just announced that in the last 3 months 400 TVs have been certified compliant bringing the number to 699 in total.  400 in 3 months!!  That means that soon every new TV will be able to stream from your Windows 7 PC.  Fantastic.

I love this quote, which helps to show the scope of DLNA and what it means:

No longer are consumers relegated to experiencing their digital media on just one device or in only one room. DLNA Certified products allow consumers to easily enjoy, manage and share photos, video and music across devices, regardless of manufacturer. With more than 5,000 DLNA Certified devices worldwide, and a tremendous growth in the number of DLNA Certified television models, consumers can continue to evolve their digital home with the utmost confidence, knowing that their DLNA Certified televisions can access digital content from other DLNA Certified devices throughout their home.

The full press release is here

 The Windows Blog has some interesting information about the Windows 7 logo scheme.  For those who don’t know about it, which is probably most people, the logo scheme helps to clearly identify devices that give the best experience with Windows 7.  The networking changes in Windows 7 are superb and it’s even easier to set stuff up quickly and most importantly securely with Windows 7.  The logo scheme gives you the guarantee that everything will work perfectly, including things that have traditionally gone a bit awry such as UPnP or discovering other devices on your network.

Also worth noting is that any network device that support media playback, like TVs and network speakers with the logo will be fully DLNA compliant too so there’s a good chance they’ll work with other components of your DLNA setup.  Logoed devices will also appear in Device Stage so you’ll only have to go to one place to configure your devices.

Microsoft have made loads of freebies available on their Windows 7 download site that can really help you make you Windows 7 PC your own.  Here you’ll find:

• themes that let you customize your desktop wallpaper and your color scheme
• wallpapers so you can choose just to change the picture on your desktop
• gadgets that sit on your desktop and give you fast access to tons of information from your PC and the internet
• and finally sideshow gadgets which you can use if you have a side show device, like a special screen on the outside of your laptop or on your Windows phone.
clubhouse Tags: Windows 7

Microsoft have announced that they are going to be producing a “Family Pack” of Windows 7 Home Premium (which is the version most people are going to want, and has all the media features you’ll need) and the pricing has been confirmed at $149 US.  Unfortunately it’s only going to be available in “select markets” but it’s a great start.  For your $149 you’ll get 3 licenses for Windows 7 so it can be installed on 3 PCs, (wow that’s just $50 per PC!!!)

Windows Anytime Upgrade (WAU) pricing has also been confirmed, WAU is a built in way to move up the tree in terms of Windows versions.  For example a user of Windows 7 Starter Edition (the version that will ship with netbooks) can upgrade to Home Premium and all it’s features for $79.99 or if the same person needed to be able to join that netbook to a business network (a “Domain) they could get Windows 7 Professional for $114.99. 

Here’s the full pricing (would have been nice to see equal pricing but I guess it’s due to tax rates):

• Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Home Premium:£69.99 / $79.99
• Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Professional: £119.99 / $114.99
• Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Ultimate: £139.99 / $164.99
• Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional: £119.99 / $89.99
• Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate: £124.99  / $139.99
• Windows 7 Professional to Windows 7 Ultimate: £84.99 / $129.99

The sweet spot for almost everyone is going to be Windows 7 Home Premium so that Family Pack looks like a bargin!

[via The Windows Blog and MyDigitalLife]

Microsoft have announced that they are going to be producing a “Family Pack” of Windows 7 Home Premium (which is the version most people are going to want, and has all the media features you’ll need) and the pricing has been confirmed at $149 US.  Unfortunately it’s only going to be available in “select markets” but it’s a great start.  For your $149 you’ll get 3 licenses for Windows 7 so it can be installed on 3 PCs, (wow that’s just $50 per PC!!!)

Windows Anytime Upgrade (WAU) pricing has also been confirmed, WAU is a built in way to move up the tree in terms of Windows versions.  For example a user of Windows 7 Starter Edition (the version that will ship with netbooks) can upgrade to Home Premium and all it’s features for $79.99 or if the same person needed to be able to join that netbook to a business network (a “Domain) they could get Windows 7 Professional for $114.99. 

Here’s the full pricing (would have been nice to see equal pricing but I guess it’s due to tax rates):

• Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Home Premium:£69.99 / $79.99
• Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Professional: £119.99 / $114.99
• Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Ultimate: £139.99 / $164.99
• Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional: £119.99 / $89.99
• Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate: £124.99  / $139.99
• Windows 7 Professional to Windows 7 Ultimate: £84.99 / $129.99

The sweet spot for almost everyone is going to be Windows 7 Home Premium so that Family Pack looks like a bargin!

[via The Windows Blog and MyDigitalLife]

If all goes well, and I don’t see why it won’t, this post should come out whilst I’m off on vacation having just been to an old friends wedding.  Obviously I’ve taken some holiday reading, an iPhone on the beach just doesn’t cut it for me.  Reviews when I get back.

First up is the 4 hour work week, by @timferris (a.k.a) Tim Ferris.  If you’ve not heard of it then you’ve missed something, it’s about how to better manage your life, have more fun, automate your income and other interesting stuff.  I’m hoping it’s going to give me some ideas.

Brilliant NLP is next up, it’ll be my second attempt at reading this having not managed it last time I went away.  NLP is a system for “programming” yourself to get more out of your interactions with others, it’s a system that’s always interested me and lots of what’s involved I do naturally.

The Gum Thief, by Douglas Coupland is the first of the fiction I’ll be digging into.  I really enjoyed JPod , and I’m currently watching the TV series.  Coupland has razor sharp wit and I hope this lives up to his previous works.

The last two novels are, The Bombmaker by Stephen Leather, and The Hijack by Duncan Falconer, which should be satisfying my need for reading about explosions and manly stuff.  I actually seriously doubt I’m going to get this far, I don’t read fast enough.

One of my favourite artists is cartoonist Hugh MacLeod (@gapingvoid), he’s got a great sense of humour and I reckon he’d be good value at a dinner party.  I discovered him through @stevecla and he’s the genius behind Microsoft’s Blue Monster.  I thought I’d post my current iPhone wallpaper, taken from his blog where he’s been churning out some classics, such as the one on the left rescently, for some reason this resonated with me.

This is a little off topic for Media Center but you’ll see the link in a little while.  One of my contacts on Twitter got in touch about the latest first Panasonic Blu-Ray recorder available in the UK and it looks like a very cool unit, in fact it’s not far off got most MCE features built in, which is an interesting move.  What this really shows is that there’s a very genuine consumer desire for the features we take for granted with Media Center and competition is good for spurring innovation – the compression that this box can do around HD content’s really interesting.

What got me interested though is that they’ve worked out just how much our digital memories are worth to us, using a very clever mathematical formula…in the UK 4 in 10 would sell their Christmas for less than £500 but a wedding would go for £3,000,000…I’ve already asked “D” if she’s willing to sell ours next year and she said  “yes, as long as we spend the money on another one!” any offers?

You can work out the value of your memories just here using the spreadsheet, and check out Panasonic’s Blu-Ray Media Centre worrier just here.  Take this into the context of how you can backup and archive those memories and suddenly you’ve got a business case built to use to sell it to the holder of your purse strings.

So folks, I’m guessing I know the answer, but would a box like this make you move away?  I know it wouldn’t make me move but it’s an interesting question for Sunday evening.

What a week! Zune HD, Sky on XBox (and Bing!) and now it seems that BBC America content (which is much of the BBCs flagship content) is now available through the Zune Market place.  It includes Torchwood, Dr Who, Top Gear and other favorites…

What’s next?

[via Zune Insider]

Following my post yesterday about the fantastic Glasses Direct I’ve been contacted by them with a note of thanks, and they’ve given me a discount code that you can use for the rest of this month to get 5% off of any order.

The code is: geekout and is valid for the rest of the month.

Just enter this when you go through the checkout and get 5% off.  So that means you could get my glasses, the Mambo Carnival for just  £33.25 this week.  Now that is value, and you’ll get an edible eyeball too!

Well I’m back from a holiday in the Seattle, Vancouver and Whistler.  It was amazing and some tech shopping was done.  Over the next few days and weeks you’ll see some posts on Squeezebox Duet, and integrating it with Media Center.  The new Jawbone (2) and just how super cool it is!  Also a handy little thing we bought for our camera.

So one quick useful thing in this post…

http://asciiconvert.com/

The site above is a great tool that converts any picture into ascii art.  It’s fantastic, give it a go.

I’m a real WinMo”phile”, and a massive fan of TV, I’ve been watching what’s being written about the Gigabyte t600 for a while and this article over at msmobiles about the device caught my eye.  The t600 is a WinMo pro, so that’s one with a touch screen, device that incorporates a whole host of TV recievers for different places around the globe…the UK included with DVB-T support.  msmobiles have managed to test the device in the infamous T5 at Heathrow.  The results look good too.

The spec of the device is the new 520 Marvell processor from Intel, the same as the HTC Touch Diamond, RAM is a little light at 64mb and it’s only got a 2mp camera.  That said, it’s a white device and it looks sweet.

[via: msmobiles, graphic from softpedia]

Scott Kingery  just blogged this link, I love it!

If Homer Simpson was real. 

Well, it’s official. I’ve heard about it from Download Squad , LifeHacker, and Jason’s blog. And it’s really well written about in the Vista Blog.

You can get it here, I am right now.

This is off topic for this blog, but Leadership is one of my favorite subjects – I read about it a lot, I do my best to practice it.

I’ve just seen Eileen blog this excellent summary of Servant Leadership.  When I was at Uni this was a concept that Mike O’Connor, by far my most memorable lecturer, was talking about.  I loved it.  I try to do it.  It’s the single biggest thing I remember from the management part of my course, and I’m really happy for the refresher.  Eileen, thank you for the reminder.

Eileen Brown’s WebLog : Servant Leadership

One of the best communities, and by that I mean most active, most knowlageable and friendly is the Australian Windows Vista & XP Media Center Support Community. I’ve been watching them for a while. It’s how I found out about one of my favourite plugins, myTV and it’s where I’ve just found the list of Vista Tips linked above. A great sticky on their forums.

Also it’s where I found this little app for customising your Media Center start menu.

Very encouraging to see that this is now possible. If you know me you’ll know that I’m redoing the house at the moment, and that as a Geek I’m building some removable automation into the place. Currently we have two things in place, firstly I’ve used a HomeEasy PIR and lamp plug in to control the light in our downstairs hallway. It’s great, I never forget (or get told of my the missus for forgetting) to turn off the downstairs light.

Second, I have a Varilight IR remote controlled light switch from TLC Direct in use that allows me to Dim the light in the temporary lounge using the Media Center remote control. Again, really great.

Whats cool though is that this post on Automated Home has just informed me that it’s going to be possible to use xPL Monkey which has all the deets and transmitter from these guys to control stuff remotely. I love this, and it’s going to integrate well. I’m adding it to my TechPurchases list!

Offtopic: HATE the B&Q website, it’s so hard to use!!!

I don’t think I’ve ever actually talked about how and what I use to run my Media Center. This is a little list of what I think is some truly excellent software that’s been produced by some very talented individuals. I run Vista Ultimate on my Media Center and I try to run it pretty clean.

LifeExtender – This app extends your life! It sits and goes through your recorded TV and removes the adds. I have it configured to do this at 10am every day, as that’s when we are less likely to be watching. It’s just been updated. I learnt about this from The Green Button.

myTV – This is a really cool tool for managing your archived TV shows. I love the “helix” display, so cool! myTV took me a while to get setup properly and I’ve blogged about that before, in my opinion this is the single best independently created plugin I’ve seen. I learned about this from the Australian Media Center community.

TVTonic – What this app does well is allows me to watch on10.net content on a big screen. That’s all I really use it for but it can do much more. I learned about this from on10 actually.

K-lite Codec Pack – For ages my box was crashing whilst we were watching TV. I recently found this codec pack and that has mostly gone away. My box is much more stable now.

VNC – This is simple remote control, I use it to do most of the work on the Media Center. This is a staple tool that ITPro’s have been using for years.

FBMCE – This is a neat little too that’s just come out for updating your facebook status with what you’re currently watching. Jason Langridge’s blog turned me on to this.

WebGuide – The guy that created this now works for Microsoft, this is one of the best bits of software out there for Media Center. I use it to access my Guide from my phones to remotely record stuff!

Yawcam – I’ve just set this up, so just have a look at this post for more.

DivX Converter – Great, simple software. I use this to convert stuff to view on my mobile.

I think that’s about it, I’m looking something cool for managing movies that aren’t in DVD format and that isn’t myMovies.

Last night I popped along to an MMMUG, mainly to be honest to hear Jason Langridge talk about Windows Mobile and managing it using System Center Mobile Device Manager. I have to say this product looks like a cool way to manage your fleet.

It sits in your enterprise along side Exchange (it’s not a replacement and works independently) and allows you to totally manage your WinMo estate. You’ll need the next version of WinMo to use this product. But it’s pretty advanced, and lets you run a mobile VPN which is totally cool for allowing access to your internal servers from your mobile devices. You could allow access to your SharePoints (use “/m” at the end of the URL for a mobile friendly site in MOSS2007) and equally cool stuff.

Got me thinking, might have a Geek Out and setup a Mobile VPN using the gear Paul at MoDaCO suggested before, it was called Hamachi!

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For now I’m giving up on Live Spaces, it’s just too restrictive and not nice enough. I’ll move everything over.