TechLifeWeb

The video below introduces a few of the basic elements of the new user interface. Microsoft announced they will have more to reveal at their developer event, BUILD (Sept. 13 – 16 in Anaheim, Calif.). Interesting progress so far.

Sites that I found interesting for November 3rd 2009 through November 10th 2009:

• Computer Security Company Takes Out Enormous Botnet – Security firm FireEye has reportedly struck a massive blow against spam. The so called “Mega-D” or “Ozdok” spam botnet was effectively dismantled by these intrepid security researchers. After studying the beast, FireEye launched an attack by notifying ISPs, having command and control (CnC) domains removed, and then registering unused CnC domains.
• Kindle Gets Windows App – Mac Version Coming Soon – Amazon released it’s Kindle for PC app this morning. It’s available for download at Amazon.com now and allows you to read Kindle eBooks on your computer
• Ninite Easy PC Setup and Multiple App Installer – Great For Win7 Upgrades – 1. Pick the apps you want. 2. Start your customized installer. 3. You're done! Heard about this on Windows Weekly last week.
• Study Says Pirates Buy Plenty of Legitimate Digital Music – A United Kingdom research group, Demos, discovered that those people who confessed to pirating music were also those who spent the most on music. Pirates spend, on average, $126 per year on CDs, MP3s, and vinyl. Non-pirates (landlubbers?), on the other hand, only spend, on average, $72 per year.

Sites that I found interesting for October 29th 2009 through November 2nd 2009:

• Recovering from Twitter Phishing – Nice little how-to. via @chelpixie on Twitter.
• Enough, Microsoft. No One Is Endorsing Piracy. Obviously. – Hey, Microsoft. Duh.
• DIY Windows Home Server Build – JukeBox MkII – Nice article from Automated Home. via @isdixon on Twitter

Sites that I found interesting for October 23rd 2009 through October 25th 2009:

• Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 – Help & How-to – Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7? Use this guide from Microsoft.
• How to automatically skip commercials in Windows 7 Media Center – Ben Drawbaugh has a great guide on commercials skipping in Windows Media Center and as we all hate commercials its well worth looking at. via @isdixon on Twitter.
• Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media – While you can't simply use Upgrade media to do a clean install of Windows 7 on an unused PC with a blank hard drive, the workaround this time is easier than ever. Assuming you know the trick.

Sites that I found interesting for October 20th 2009 through October 22nd 2009:

• How to Use Digital Cable Tuners with CableCARD in Windows 7 Media Center – Last month at the CEDIA EXPO trade show in Atlanta, Microsoft made a major announcement regarding CableCARDs: the company announced that consumers would now be able to install digital cable tuners with CableCARD into their Windows 7 PCs…all by themselves.
• Thymer – Super easy Planning, Task and Project Management – Project management and task planning for people who hate project management and task planning.
• For the Sysadmins: Software Compliance Tool – Software Compliance Tool is a small application designed to reduce the overhead in managing unwanted applications in a business environment. via @sintaxasn on Twitter.

Sites that I found interesting for October 15th 2009 through October 18th 2009:

• DIY Tennis Ball Photography Stabilization Unit – DIY web site Instructables details how to make an image stabilizing unit to supplement your steady hand using a tennis ball and a few nuts and bolts.
• PowerPlaylist 2 for Windows Media Center in Windows 7 Now Available – Highly customizable by the consumer resulting in a highly personalized Windows Media Center experience.
• Google Voice Extends Invitations – Those testing Google Voice will be allowed to invite friends to use the service.

Sites that I found interesting for October 10th 2009 through October 14th 2009:

• Running WHS on Server 2008 Hyper-V Part 1 – Microsoft MVP Philip Churchill discusses running MS Windows Home Server on Hyper-V.
• Windows 7 demo: Search tools – ZDNet's Ed Bott takes a closer look at the search tools in Windows 7 and shows you how you can use them to make your digital life a little more organized.
• RAW Image Support – W7/Media Center 32/64 bit – Barb Bowman explains how to get support for RAW in 7MC
• Use iPodifier to add Windows Media Center TV Recordings to Your iPod – The free app automates transcoding DVR-MS files (and other formats) to MPEG-4 or H264 and then adds them to iTunes and syncs to the device

Sites that I found interesting for October 9th 2009

• Microsoft adds free root certificate authority to Windows – Out-of-the-box in Windows 7 free digital certificates issued by StartCom will be inherently trusted by the operating system and its applications.
• Windows Home Server Add-ins: Lights-Out, WebGuide, and Whiist – Handy add-ins for Windows Home Server.
• How To Backup Your WordPress Blog In Three Easy Steps – Helpful article for all WordPressers out there. Via @davedelaney on Twitter.

Sites that I found interesting for September 21st 2009 through September 23rd 2009:

• Indian space mission finds water on moon – An Indian space mission claims to have found water on the moon, raising hopes that a manned base could be established there within the next two decades.
• WWW FAQs: How do I design web pages for the iPhone? – Handy CSS tips to get your page to display nicely on an iphone.
• TV on your Media Center PC: a 30-second primer – Ed Bott has a quick run down on the current state of getting TV on you PC.

Sites that I found interesting for September 16th 2009

• Repair Damaged Drives With Linux – Has your OS installation gone bad? Grab a Live CD and follow our guide to rescuing rogue partitions. Via @paulpuri on Twitter
• Seagate FreeAgent dockStar network adapter unveiled – The DockStar network adapter gives access to the data on the FreeAgent Go external hard drive from anywhere outside or inside the home and allows the user to selectively choose the files that are shared online. Seagate also offers an iPhone app to allow access to the drive.
• Don’t buy the Beatles remasters, unless… – They're good, but do the remastered Beatles CDs offer a big enough sonic improvement over the 1987 CDs to make them essential?