TechLifeBlogged

Some good info for those seeking more about Windows Vista:

* Hard core technologists might want to check out Toms Hardware's 500 Hour Test of Tomorrow's Windows "Vista"
* The more casual reader or consumer should check out Microsoft's See Windows Vista. It's an on web video narrated by Tom Skerritt
* If that's not enough there's this 60MB Word file that has details on every feature of Windows Vista: Windows Vista Product Guide
Tags: microsoft, windows, vista, review
[via:Road to Know Where]

Laptop on eBay: £375
Wait for laptop to be sent to buyer: 2 months
Buyer finds out laptop is broken and posts it's hard drive contents on the web posing as seller: priceless
Tags: ebay

I think this is both incredibly wacky and brilliant at the same time. Onethousandpaintings.com is selling the numbers 1 to 1000 painted on canvas. Each an individual unique painting (12 x 12 x 1.5). The pricing goes like this:
Value = 1000 - number.
Initial discount: 90%.
Current discount: 70%.
The discount will decrease by an absolute 10% for every 100 paintings sold.
Min. price: $40.
But is it art? Is your favorite number still available?
Tags: art, onethousandpaintings, numbers

I've had it with Blog*Spot. The service is generally ok from the standpoint of someone wanting to get their feet wet blogging. That isn't really the problem. The problem is splogs (spam blogs). Captcha isn't working, they still get created. I'm tired of being lumped in with all the splogs. Also, I've reached the point where it is time to move on from a free service.
My new address is www.techlifeweb.com. The new site and domain also let me bring all my other sites under one 'roof'. So there are now new locations for:
Firefox Help, Tips and Tricks
Google Desktop Search Tips
Windows Media Center Tips
Subscribers need not worry. The feeds remain the same so you shouldn't miss a beat.
Now I just need to think up a good logo.
Tags: blogging, blogspot, techlifeweb, splogs
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House keeping liks to update some old pages:
http://techlifeblogged.blogspot.com/2006/04/add-your-agenda-to-your-gmail.html now here
http://techlifeblogged.blogspot.com/2005/09/tools-for-web-based-office.html now here

MSNBC reports that Canon is considering stopping production of film based cameras.They are watching the markets closely and seeing a rapidly shrinking market for film-based cameras.
Nikon already has stopped their manufacturing of film cameras except for professional models. Konica Minolta has already run from the camera and photo film markets.
MSNBC: Canon considers halting film cameras
Tags: photography, canon, digital, film

Microsoft this week showed off a new compression format for digital pictures. MS detailed the new Windows Media Photo format during the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference. Using new methods for compression and color conversion, MS says they can get twice the compression levels of a similar JPEG while maintaining quality.
ZDNet: Microsoft shows off JPEG rival
Tags: photography, microsoft, wmp, windows, media, jpg

Picasa rocks for digital photo organization. I've been using it since Google bought the company a couple years ago. It lets you tag and organize you photos. It also lets you burn DVDs or CDs with instant slide shows to give to your friends. Touching up photos is a breeze. I also love it for emailing pictures because you don't have to hassle with saving the pics down to a size for emailing, Picasa does it for you.
Until now, Picasa  has only been available for the Windows platform. Now, in Google Labs, there is Picasa for Linux.
System Requirements:
* Should work on any Linux system with Intel 386-compatible processor, glibc 2.3 or greater, and a working X11 display system.
* Desktop Integration features require a current version of Gnome or KDE.
* Camera detection and integration requires kernel >= 2.6.13, hal >= 0.56, and gnome-volume-manager or equivalent.
* Available in English

Tags: picasa, google, photography, linux, digital
[via:Google Blog]

This is pretty interesting. As a far away observer it was kind of hard to understand at the time how the city of New Orleans was damaged so bad by Hurricane Katrina. Especially if you are unfamiliar with the way the city is built. This animated map/timeline gives you a kind of blow-by-blow overview of the course of events. It was done by the Times-Picayune.
Flash Flood - Hurricane Katrina's Inundation of New Orleans (requires Flash plugin)
Tags: nola, katrina, flash

Over on Road to Know Where there is a nice article called Parent's Guide to MySpace. It outlines what MySpace is all about along with how to set up an account for your child and how to verify the settings.
My favorite advice: "If you really want your kids to stop using MySpace and think it’s uncool – use MySpace yourself!"
Tags: myspace, internet, guide, safety, kids, children

USAToday: "After months of delay, NASA on Wednesday launched a weather satellite that will allow forecasters to better pinpoint severe storms and investigate world climate change. It is the first in a series of three new satellites."
Tags: weather, nasa, goes

Today Douglas Adams fans around the world mourn his passing with Towel Day. If you don't get the whole towel thing then, well, you haven't read the books.
Tags: adams, towel+day, hichhiker, hgtg
[via: BoingBoing]

Chris Pirillo has an extensive review of Windows Vista Beta 2. He also did an interview with Jim Allchin yesterday.
If you want someone to tell you the good and bad bits of a user interface, Chris is your man. He's doesn't pull any punches event though MS sponsors his podcasts.
Chris Pirillo: Windows Vista Feedback
Tags: microsoft, windows, vista, ui, pirillo, lockergnome

Microsoft has made available Windows Vista Beta 2 for MSDN and TechNet subscribers. More broadly available in a few week reports the Vista fact sheet. The sheet also maintains the release dates we've all heard recently: "Microsoft is aiming for business availability of Windows Vista in November 2006, and general consumer and new PC availability in January 2007." (emphasis mine)
CNet has a review and video you can watch: Editor's Take: Windows Vista Beta 2
Tags: windows, vista, xp, microsoft

Would you accept free, ad supported, 384 kilobit per second  broadband? What if it was regulated by 'decency' laws that filtered content? This is what a company called M2Z is proposing. They are petitioning the FCC to release a 20 Mhz spectrum to them so they can build out a nationwide network.
NYT: Company Asks U.S. to Provide Radio Space for Free Internet
Tags: broadband, m2z, fcc, internet

According to Digital Home Canada, Canada leads the world in Firefox usage.

CNet reports that Toshiba's new HD-A1 HD-DVD player has HDMI issues. Nice.
From CNet: "you could get the error and possibly cause the player to crash by simply powering on the TV after the HD-DVD player, by switching inputs on the TV or on an HDMI switching A/V receiver connected to the TV, or even by powering on another piece of gear connected to the same switcher as the player."
All that for $400 - $500 bucks.
Tags: hda1, hdmi, toshiba, tv

As I noted Wednesday, the beta for Windows Media Player 11 was released this week. I've found out that if you are running Windows Media Center 2002 you have to have update rollup 2 installed or you will get an 'Unsupported Operating System' message when you try and install WMP 11.
Aaron Stebner posted today that some 3rd party apps will change a registry setting so that even if you do have rollup 2 installed you'll get the unsupported message. Fortunately Aaron also posted a fix for this:

• Go to Add/Remove Programs, check the box labeled Show updates, scroll to the bottom, and verify that Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 is listed


• Launch Media Center, go to Settings | General | About Media Center | Software Version and verify that the version number is greater than or equal to 5.1.2715.2732 and that Update Rollup 2 is listed there


• Go to %windir%\ehome and verify that the version number of ehshell.exe is greater than or equal to 5.1.2715.2732

Once you have verified that Update Rollup 2 truly is installed on your system, you can modify the registry key that WMP 11 setup uses to the detect Windows Media Center version by using the following steps:

• Click on the Start menu, choose Run and type cmd


• Type reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center" /v Ident /t REG_SZ /d 4.0 /f


• Re-run WMP 11 setup

Tags: mce, windows, wmp

Europe's giant of the sky lands at Heathrow

Thats one big-ass plane. Wikipedia: Airbus A380
Tags: airbus, a380, travel

Tags: photography, iso, camera

The beta version of Windows Media Player 11 is available for download (about 24MB). Haven't had a chance to try it yet.
CNet gives it an 8 out of 10. They note there is no Podcasting directory yet.
Tags: media, windows, wmp

Lifehacker has a how-to today on setting up a quick connection between your laptop and desktop via Firewire. I've known this is possible but never had cause to do so. Nice reference should you want to try it.
Lifehacker: Fast, one wire network (IP over FireWire)
Tags: networking, ip, firewire, 1394

Previously I had all my Windows Media Center Edition tips and tweaks in a wiki. Wikis are great for collaboration and PBWiki is a great site for setting one up for free. However, for my purpose a simple web page like my Firefox Tips and Google Desktop Tips will work just fine. There is an RSS feed if you'd like to subscribe.
My Site: Windows Media Center Tips and Tweaks
Tags: windows, tips, tweaks, mce

I love this stuff.
Recently I was browsing around UC Santa Barbara's web site looking for podcasts or other audio. I found out that the university library has a special collection of wax cylinders that were recorded at the beginning of the 20th century (around 1908). They have produced mp3s of many of them that you can down load and listen to. They do have an RSS feed that lets you know when new things arrive. Sadly, the feed doesn't contain the enclosures.
They have a section of historical speeches that I found cool.
Have a listen to this recording. It is actually an advertisement telling you all about the wonderful features of Edison's phonograph. Advertising Record
Cracks me up how it is first person. Imagine your mp3 player talking to you like that?
Tags: mp3, ucsb, edison, wax, audio

Google Video used to make you wait until they approved you video before it became available. They have now changed it so your video is instantly available it just won't be part of the search index until they approve it. There is also a new web based uploader.
Tags: video, google

Google now has a new Java application called Google Web Development Toolkit (GWT). With it you can design a web app in Java and then translate it to the appropriate Javascript and HTML.
From GoogleBlog:
"With GWT, you can develop and debug your own AJAX applications in Java code using the Java development tools of your choice. When you deploy your application to production, the GWT compiler simply translates your Java application to browser-compliant JavaScript and HTML."
Tags: web, development, ajax, java, html, javascript, xml

TravelPost is a site that gathers hotel reviews from other travelers. You put in your destination city and it returns a list of hotel reviews. Also returned in the results are links to travel blogs that have mentioned the city you are searching on. There is really a lot of detail on the site. If you click on a hotel you'll see a small Google Map with a pin pointing to the hotel. Also, a friendly orange XML link will let you subscribe to future reviews on that hotel as they are added. Interesting way to plan for a future trip if you have enough time before you book.

After you figure out where to stay, don't forget to check out WeatherMole for what to pack.
Tags: travel, travelpost, rss
[via:Lifehacker]

WeatherMole is a mashup of Google Maps + NOAA weather into + Google Suggest (to make finding the city you want quicker). When you click on a spot on the map or search for a city you'll get the current weather info and forecast. Sweeet.
Tags: weather, maps, google

I wrote about Share Your OPML the other day. Today they have launched an online RSS aggregator of the top 100 blogs. Cool and all but...for who? One good feature is that by each article is a link to the feed for that praticular site so if you like what you see you can add it to your own aggregator. It is very river-of-newsish but I like the distilling mechanisms of TechMeme and Tailrank better.
Tags: rss, feeds, opml, syo, techmeme, tailrank

Just when you thought it was safe to watch your TV, along comes a new HD format: AVCHD. This one, announced this week by Sony and Panasonic, is for camcorders. It uses MP4 technology to record HD onto a standard 3.5" DVD in a camcorder. HD camcorder prices are still pretty high so hopefully this will start to bring them down since it uses currently available media.
PCWorld: Sony, Panasonic Announce New HD Format
Tags: avchd, dvd, hd, tv, mp4, avc, h264

Thank goodness. I don't do much IMing but one general annoyance with GTalk within the Gmail interface is that it doesn't give you a sound to let you know people are chatting. I hate that when I go between windows and then go back and realize the person I'm chatting with said something 10 minutes ago. You have to have Flash enabled on your computer.
The sound is on by default but you can disable it:
1. Log in to your Gmail account.
2. Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page.
3. Open the Chat tab.
4. In the Sounds section, select Disable.
5. Click Save Changes.
Very cool. Er...wait a minute... I keep forgetting... Goggle sucks.
Tags: gmail, gtalk, google
[via: GoogeBlog]

To help raise money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Major League Baseball has authorized the use of specially made pink bats.
Additionally, players on will wear pink wristbands and a pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness on their uniforms. Bases and commemorative home plates will sport the pink ribbon. Lineups will be on pink cards.
Tags: mlb, baseball, komen, cancer

Bloglines announced this morning that they now support flash based enclosure in feeds (such as YouTube) right within the Bloglines interface.
Tags: bloglines, rss, feeds

Google has released Google Gadgets. It's a new set of little applications that are part of the new release of Google Desktop. Clearly competition for Yahoo! Widgets.
On the surface it look to me like more stuff I already in other forms (like Firefox extensions) but we'll see.
Other new features of Google Desktop
Google Gadgets
Richer Google integration
Personalize your desktop
Other New Features (including improved indexing and to ability to remove deleted files from search results)
Tags: google, desktop, gadgets, search
[via: Google Desktop Blog]

Scunia reports a new vulnerability has been found in MS Exchange Server 2000 and 2003. They report that arbitrary code can be executed by sending a specially crafted email message with certain vCal or iCal properties to a vulnerable server.
More info on their site: Microsoft Exchange Server Calendar Vulnerability
Tags: security, microsoft, exchange

If you participated in the tech blogosphere at all yesterday you no doubt noted the release of Share Your OPML. This is a new site where you can create an account and upload the OPML export of your RSS feeds.
Why would you want to? So that you can show what is important to you as well as find others who read the things you do. The other cool bit, as Randy points out, is that you can actually find our who your readers rather than them being a nameless, faceless number among your feed stats.
There hare been many lists of late distilling down the top list of A-List bloggers. Yawn. Who cares? What is more interesting to me is what are the A-listers reading. These folks are prolific writers. That is what puts them at the top of the lists. But they are reading to help form their thoughts and opinions is an interesting twist to the puzzle.
Something to watch over the coming months is to see how this list morphs and grows or shrinks. People have uploaded their static lists. We'll have to wait and see if they prune them as their reading habits change.
Now, go upload your reading list!
Tags: opml, xml, feeds, rss

If you are a Windows power user who often uses Alt+Tab to cycle through your running programs then you might what to have a look at a utility called TaskSwitchXP. When you install TaskSwitchXP it defaults to replacing your Alt+Tab key shortcut. Then, the next time you cycle through your programs, you'll see a screen shot of each running application as you move through the list. This can be really helpful if you have several instances of the same application open.
Give it a try.
Tags: windows, utility
[via: Chris]

If you have an FM tuner in your MCE machine you may have noticed that sometimes the FM presets get lost. This seems to happen to people since Roll Up 2 which was released last year. Aaron posts the following fix:
1. Close Media Center
2. Click on the Start menu, choose Run and type cmd
3. Type cd /d "%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\eHome"
4. Type ren ehshell.config ehshell.config.old
5. Open Media Center and configure FM radio presets once more

He also notes that in Windows Vista, the FM presets will be stored in the registry instead of ehshell.
Tags: windows, media+center, mce, FM, registry

Microsoft provides a great tool called TweakMCE that lets you do many things like move the default directory for recorded TV. If you ever want to go spelunking into the Windows Registry, Aaron Stebner has provided a list of all the registry settings related to MCE.
Registry settings that can be used to configure advanced Media Center options
Tags: windows, mce, media+center, registry

Ok, so this will only benefit you if you live in Southern California or are planning to visit next week. But, it's worth mentioning that next Wednesday, May 10th 2006, is Founders Day at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and admission is free for all (doesn't include parking). That's an $84 dollar savings for a family of 4!
If you've never been to the Park you should plan on going next time you are here. Nothing like it.

Tags: WAP, San+Diego, Zoo

New version contains a security fix for a denial of service vulnerability.
Tags: mozilla, firefox, security

Sphere launched tonight. Sphere is a new blog search engine that uses sophisticated weighting algorithms to bring you the results of your search. You can subscribe to your results via RSS. You can view your results in different ways such as by date and/or relevance.
A unique feature is the Profile link next to your results. Clicking that link will display a box showing the last 3 links into and out of  the blog. Additionally it shows the average post length and average number of posts per week. All this metadata is part of how Sphere determines the authority of the various blog posts.
More details at TechCrunch.
Podcast with the CEO and founders of Sphere can be found on TalkCrunch
Also, via BusinessWeek this podcast from October '05: BusinessWeek's Stephen Baker interviews Tony Conrad and Mary Hodder
Tags: sphere, search, blogs, weblogs