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.

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

swissmiss | Andy Murray Tennis Street Magic.

What I remember most about LEGOs – The Oatmeal.

I really want this stamp!

We “Like” You! | The Office Stylist.

Cool Wall Mirrors: Aviator Style | The Office Stylist.

Backyard Theatre via Lifehacker

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

Adidas Cantina 2010 « Whitezine | inspire Create and Share.

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.

This has got me thinking, I’d be really interested to see what people have got installed in their bathrooms in the way of tech.  I’ve seen at least one very cool Media Center install in the past, but I’d really like to know what people are doing.  I’ve got a bathroom to remodel in 3 months!  So throw some links to your installs in the comments.

Via Dornob.

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

I’ve been a sucker for wanting some super cool looking touch screen job for a while now, but the price has made me hold off.  I now have a new excuse and it’s one that I’d never really considered.  Simplicity.

We had a load of guests staying during the wedding and a major problem was that I kept getting asked to turn on the TV, change the channel or something else.  What the ! it’s easy right? … Wrong, no one could work the remote, it was scaring them.  It’s just a Logitech Harmony 520 which I’ve been really happy with and I though was pretty simple.  Apparently people weren’t used to holding the screen and they didn’t want to break it.  I know I was shocked too.

This lead me to thinking, what do I really want in a remote?  I’ve narrowed it down to:

• Easy to use
• Controls everything

That’s it, I’ve taken “looks cool” off the list.  I went in search of something that fits the bill and the Harmony 300i, a super simple remote looks to be the best fit and I’m a bit shocked about that, no touch screen nothing cool looking.  I’m getting a review unit in soon, so look out for a review.  It also got me thinking, what' else is new…does anyone have anything cool?

I really like the Amulet device and I can’t wait to get one of those in my hand too…I’m thinking given the above experience it might be too complex though but I’ll have to wait and see.

So what’s your remote, why do you like it and would you recommend it?

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.

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.

.

How to pair an Apple Wireless Keyboard with Windows 7

[updated so that you can read the darn thing!]

It’s TV hell either, the lineup includes:

• The current series of 24 (and previous series)
• 30 Rock
• CSI (xyz)
• Chuck
• V

In fact there are lots and lots and lots of available shows, and the quality is pretty good.  The site requires flash, no shock there, an seems quite snappy.  I can’t find anything on the site that indicates that it’s not got agreements in place with content providers, but I do wonder if this will get geotarded soon.

[via Download Squad (who rock)]

It’s a very detailed solution and as you can see from the left it’s quite simple…no really it is quite simple.

I’d be interested if anyone’s doing this or has repurposed any other home wiring for the same kind of solution.

Yep, a world first, and in the UK the first ever 3D sports on TV and it’ll be between Arsenal and Manchester United in the Premier League this Sunday.  It’ll be available to anyone with a 3D TV (so no one then) and a bunch of pubs have been given some TVs to use for the show.  There’s one in Manchester for Ian to go to.

To support this landmark broadcast, the nine pubs – located in London, Manchester,  Cardiff, Edinburgh and Dublin - have been kitted out specially with some of the first ‘3D Ready’ TV sets to reach the UK and Ireland.   As 3D TVs become more widely available, Sky will roll out its 3D channel to hundreds of pubs from April, allowing football fans across the country the opportunity to experience a live Premier League match in 3D each week. 

And also interesting to read how they do it:

To make the 3D preview a reality, Sky Sports will produce two edits of its live coverage of Sunday’s game at the Emirates Stadium, one for its HD channel feed and another dedicated to 3D.  Eight specially engineered 3D camera rigs will house sixteen of Sky’s high definition cameras, to provide comprehensive stereoscopic coverage from all angles.  The 3D broadcast will be supported by Sky’s dedicated 3D production team and purpose built 3D outside broadcast truck, which will enable live mixing between camera positions, slow motion replays and the use of innovative 3D graphics. There will also be a dedicated commentary team to support the 3D edit.

This is gonna be very cool stuff folks this 3D lark.  Sky’s full consumer service launches in April, best get them 3DTVs on the market folks…

Full details in the press release

Just like Media Center it’s works brilliantly with the Media Center remote and it’s fully touch enabled.  Super cool.  Developer folks, this is what you can do.

Seesmic Look is designed to be far more consumer friendly than any other Twitter client.  I looks stunning and it focuses on getting Twitter content in front of your eyes.  You can get it here

--Simon May

I wonder if we could see a Microsoft, cloud based Media Player or store?

As Brandon just reminded me, there is the Zune store which already is cloud based, yet another thing that Zune has over the iPod / iPhone…unless of course you don’t live in the US or Canada.  I’d love to see a Zune store API too though, I like APIs.

Anyway, a little off topic but lots of us need to use iTunes for those iPods and iPhones…Do you buy from iTunes, would you if it was easier? (I don’t unless I’m mobile and stuck for something to listen to)

--Simon May

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

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

Simon May

There are downsides, the OS isn’t something Media Center capable, it’s running Windows CE 6.0.  It’s hit me again though.  Custom installers.  This is a very viable home controller with the right app and the price for this could be right.

Head over to Liliputing.com for the video and more specs.

By 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.

Also interesting is the positioning of interactive TV shows:

In November, Nielsen started to track “1 vs. 100” play and ad views. The pilot program “is the tip of the iceberg,” said Gerardo Guzman, a director for Nielsen Games; eventually, he hopes to generate TV-style ratings.

All in all, interesting stuff.

So could this be the best PMP (personal media player) ever.  I think it could.

I can imagine being able to sync a whole bunch of media content to it (Mesh anyone?) and then be able to access everything on the go, or even using Internet Streaming from within Windows Media Player.  What’s more the screen size looks good enough to watch a movie on if you were in the back of the car (ala cheapo DVD player attached to the back of the drivers headrest) or on a plane.

I’m going to be keeping an eye on slate PCs for exactly that reason, rather than being great eBook readers, which the undoubtedly will be, they’ll be great portable media devices.  The key thing is going to be battery life here so we’ll have to see what other vendors put out in this space.

What do you think, do you see a slate becoming a great PMP?  Did anyone love the original Media Center PMPs? 

Here’s the teaser video:

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]

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]

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.  It even lets you change the icons with a couple of clicks and to add network locations.  Great stuff.

It’s nice, I think you’ll like it too.

With this update it’s really clear to see what’s happening and Paul’s lost none of the simplicity.  The tools easier to work with now too.  There’s a wrench icon that lets you set the location of your recorded TV, that WTV Watcher will watch, and that’s about all there is to it.

The extra new feature is also handy, there’s now an installer with auto update.

So here are the new steps to getting it working, all 5 steps

1. Install the tool from here
2. Set your Recorded TV folder by clicking the wrench
3. Move the desktop shortcut to your Start > All Programs > Startup folder
4. Install Lifextender
5. Configure Lifextender as per the next image.

TIP: It’s possible to do the conversion your network and if you’ve got a fast network it can be quicker if your main Media Center isn’t a massive multi core system

I’ve created this list WindowsMediaCenterExperts and I’m intending to gather up all the experts so you can find out what they’re talking about in one place (other than thedigitallifestyle.com obviously!)

I need your help it’s very incomplete, and it right now only includes a few people from my list who I could spot in the 10 minutes I have before I get to the office.  So what I want you to do is to nominate people to be on the list to me on Twitter by Twitter name in a DM or a @reply.

This list should be really useful to us all, thanks for the help.

[EDIT: Folks it looks like I jumped the gun, and the feature isn’t there for all.  That said I can still build this list for us so send me your experts!]

It’s a great article, worth a look and available totally online here.

Cnet is reporting that Channel 4 aim to have a huge amount of their back catalogue on line by 2010, which in turn is a huge amount of TV.

It doesn’t look like the content will work outside the UK, without the usual VPN malarkey.  There’s no mention of 4oD, Channel 4’s on demand service going away, but it’s safe to assume that it will - so time for another TunerFree update then Martin!

[via cnet]

The device doesn’t integrate with Media Center so it’s not our normal bag, in fact there is a significant feature overlap, but it’s another tool that you might want in your home, however what’s interesting is what Sky is doing…

Sky are allowing non Sky TV subscribers to access Sky TV content over the web, through this device, and through Xbox.  I hadn’t actually realised until now that the service is already available (over the web), for less than £1 per programme, it’s hidden away on Sky’s site for some reason.  However I suspect this means that more Sky content will be made available in the UK like this (and since they don’t make their own content it means more US TV really). 

So essentially what I’m interested in is what this means for the Xbox model, here’s what they say:

As with access to Sky Player via PC, Mac and, from later this year, Xbox, existing Sky TV customers will be able to access a range of content for no extra cost based on their core subscription, whilst non-Sky customers will be able to sign up to a choice of TV packages via a monthly subscription paid directly to Sky. 

So there it is, there’s going to be a subscription model for accessing Sky TV, over the Internet.  Looks like we’ll be seeing the same for Xbox and getting the added flexibility of pay-per-view (already offered on the web) for about £1.  I might be wrong, but things are looking interesting for IPTV in the UK.

As yet, now word on pricing.

We’ll today there’s a new player in the market, and it’s a trusted brand for millions of people (unless they’ve ever sent you a massive mobile data bill).  Vodafone have announced an interesting partnership in the UK with Decho (which is actually the company behind Mozy and is also owned by EMC).  In the UK this will be a big value add thing for Vodafone as they struggle to differentiate their offerings like all mobile operators.  For Decho it means breaking a new market as the Mozy brand isn’t well known, no iJustine on TV advertising it over here.  The interesting thing is, what does it mean for us?

Well I’m hoping we’ll see better priced (or free for Vodafone customers?) cloud backup.  There is no word on pricing at this stage, but I reckon it might mean that at least people will get an idea that they might be able to make backups.

What are people out there doing for backup, how does your strategy work?  Mine, I backup to Mozy right now (and also sync lots of stuff with Live Mesh), what about you?

Sky have huge muscles and are certainly the biggest media distribution company to enter the field so far here.  Most of the major labels and quite a few independents have signed up and I don’t doubt that this will become a big player in the music market in the UK.

But I don’t like this one little bit, and here’s why

1. The subscription model is a too complicated though for my liking, but the gist is that you pay either £6.49 and get 1 album (that costs up to £6.49) or 10 tracks to download and keep per month and unlimited free streaming or £7.99 per month for 1 album (that costs up to £7.99) or 15 tracks to download and keep per month and unlimited free streaming.  Additional tracks will cost 65p.  
2. This seems to be a “buy an album and get a month of free streaming” deal to me, I mean, that’s the offering here isn’t it?  Individual tracks from Amazon are priced about the same, so there’s no benefit there in terms of a reduced cost for downloading tracks, and I have to buy an album to get access to the unlimited subs.  I already have free, unlimited streaming from Spotify (for example), so why buy an album?
3. In terms of a subscription based model Spotify has the best offering (in the UK) at under £10 per month for unlimited music, which I can listen to offline. 

I’m sticking with what I’ve got but I wonder how many people will be drawn to Sky’s offering?  It’s free for the first month for Sky Broadband customers, so with my bargain hunting hat on, if you have Sky Broadband go get your free album.  Then go elsewhere, save more money and get a more innovative service because this doesn’t look like one.  I wish Spotify worked in Media Center.

The service is available here: http://songs.sky.com/

And the full press release is here

The situation we’re left with is lots of people very scared to be pulled in the 21st century and being forced to “watch on my tiny laptop screen”.   The beeb have a superb write up on the situation.  I’d like to know what the folks over the pond (and everywhere else) think about this, if it were an NFL, NHL or NBA game, what would the reaction be?  Is it too early for this?  Is the technology mature enough?  It is, by the way, being streamed in Flash.

Pummel the comments button!

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.

The software is called Connect 360 and it’s from Nullriver.  Put simply it let you:

• Get to your iTunes music from Xbox
• Shoutcast streaming
• Viewing an iPhoto library
• and HD streaming

I don’t think this is new, but has anyone found it useful, I’m guessing this is a uPNP server for Mac?

• Go to http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/ and click the big Download Now icon
• Select your location and which version of Windows you have
• Download and run or just Run the setup file, you’ll be prompted to allow the install by User Account Control in most cases
• Read and accept the Ts&Cs by clicking Next and I accept

• MSE can ONLY be installed on a legal version of Windows (yet another reason to stay legal kids) so you next have to accept validation by clicking Validate you will be told if your version passes.  Click the Install button to begin, it’s very quick under 2 minutes for me.

• Finally you’ll have option of scanning your machine, I recommend you do!

• Now that MSE is installed it will download updates, this for me took around 3 minutes on a 10mbit connection and once complete a scan will start, the time the scan takes will vary according to what you have on your PC, the more stuff the longer it’ll take.

The end.  That’s all their is to installing it, and whilst that scan is running you’ll notice that you can use your PC and you can play with settings in MSE if you’d like.

The eHomeUpgrade article covers everything I’d like to say but what great find, the software is available here: http://www.twonkymedia.com/beam/ and obviously you’ll need a DLNA compliant device (a DMR) to send the content to, so your Xbox 360, digital photo frame or Sonos are perfect!

Via eHomeUpgrade

The answer from AnandTech is that yes, it does, and quite dramatically as the image below shows.  Also look what’s right at the top of the performance list for a change, IE8!  This I’m thinking is yet another reason that Windows 7 performs so well in battery tests, and I wonder if they did any benchmarking against mobile performance whilst IE8 was in dev, like the engineering team did with Windows 7.

For the full analysis read AnandTech’s post, but what’s interesting is Flash usage plays a major part in battery usage.

As this Gizmodo post points out that brings pricing back into line with the PS3, which is a good thing.  Go on then, someone comment on the noise... :)

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).

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]

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]

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]

[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]

[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]

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]

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

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.

• 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

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]

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]

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.

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’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!

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.

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]

If Homer Simpson was real. 

You can get it here, I am right now.

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

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