Channel 10

Deep Zoom into MJ's Life in Pictures

sarahintampa — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:31:00 GMT

MSN has posted a cool Silverlight application that lets you deep zoom into an image of Michael Jackson only to find that the original image actually consists of thousands of photos of the King of Pop taken throughout his life. Using your mouse’s scroll wheel, you can zoom in and out of the images and you can drag your mouse from left to right and top to bottom to move the images around and see new ones. Man, there are a lot of pictures! They have everything from Michael Jackson as a kid when he was a member of the Jackson 5 all the way up to recent photos featuring his…uhhh…more interesting look. In any event, it’s a nice way to remember the man who left a lasting impression on fans worldwide and who changed the face of music as we know it. You can check out the MJ application here.

Bing Gets All Twittery

sarahintampa — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:31:00 GMT

I have to admit, I’m personally thrilled to hear this latest bit of Bing news: the new search engine is now incorporating actual tweets into their search results. No longer do I have to find some Greasemonkey-powered workaround or rely on an IE add-on to see what’s being said on Twitter – it’s just baked into the search results themselves.

However, Bing isn’t indexing all of Twitter at this time. Instead, they’ve identified some of the “more prominent and prolific Twitterers” - only a few thousand people to begin with, actually.

When you search for one of these folks in relation to Twitter, you’ll see their latest tweets appear in the Bing results. For example, search for “Kara Swisher Twitter,” “Kara Swisher Tweets,” or even “@karaswisher” and you’ll see something like this:

Only adding a small group of users to the index may be disappointing to some, but the Bing team says it’s just the first step toward using Twitter’s public API to bring tweets into search. They’re now looking for feedback as to how they should proceed in the future.

Here’s my suggestion: index it all! If someone actually takes the time to search for @sarahintampa using Bing, why not reveal my tweets? I also wouldn’t mind seeing a new vertical added to the top navigation specifically for Twitter…that would be really helpful when tracking a breaking story, for instance. But those are just my ideas. What are yours? Tell the Bing team here.

Follow @Microsoft on Twitter (...and All the Rest!)

sarahintampa — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:13:00 GMT

Microsoft already has a strong Twitter presence with numerous teams maintaining accounts on the microblogging social network, but until now there wasn’t an overall account for the company as a whole. On Wednesday, though, that changed as @microsoft went live on Twitter. The account is maintained by four members of the corporate communications team and it currently looks like more of a feed of Microsoft-related news than an attempt to read and respond to incoming @ replies. (Although that hasn’t stopped a slew of folks from tweeting to @Microsoft).

Instead, if you’re looking for a little more personal interaction – or at the very least, more targeted news – you may be better off following one of these specific Microsoft-owned Twitter accounts:

Products & Services

@MSWindows – For Microsoft Windows
@ie – Internet Explorer
@Bing – Bing search engine
@bingcashback – Bing Cashback
@WindowsLive – Microsoft Windows Live
@liveframework – Windows Live Framework
@livemesh – Windows Live Mesh
@wlmessenger – Windows Live Messenger
@SharePoint – SharePoint
@bizspark – Microsoft BizSpark
@zunemarketplace – Zune Marketplace
@wmdev – Windows Mobile
@microsofttag – Microsoft Tag
Office_Live – tweets from the Office Live Team
@officelabs – Microsoft Office Labs
@MSOfficeResKit – Microsoft Office Resource Kit Team
@Microsoft_Xbox - Xbox
@MSMyPhone - Microsoft My Phone Team
@msaccess – Microsoft Access
@SilverlightNews – Silverlight News (by Dave Campbell)
@fixit4me - Microsoft Fix It
@Live_at_edu - Microsoft Live@edu
@MSSurface - Microsoft Surface

Blogs, Communities, and Websites

@ZuneInsider – ZuneInsider blog
@ch9 – Channel 9
@ch10 – Channel 10
@ch8 – Channel 8
@mixonline – Mix Online
@MIX09 – The MIX09 Conference (also see @MIX07, @MIX08 and @PDC08)
@AskTechNetUK – TechNet UK
@SiteNamedDesire – A Website Named Desire
@MSDN – Updates from the MSDN site team
@codeplex – Microsoft's open source project hosting site
@MSExpression – Microsoft Expression Community Site
@XNACommunity – XNA Creators Club

Corporate

@adCenterBlog – Microsoft adCenter
@MicrsftTech4All – News from Microsoft Accessibility team
@MicrosoftStore – The Microsoft Store
@MicrosoftPress – Microsoft Press, publisher of books/ebooks/online content
@Microsoft_Green - Environmental Sustainability at Microsoft
@MSAdvertising - Microsoft Advertising
@msPartner – Microsoft Partner Program
@MVPAwardProgram – MVP Award Program
@MSLearning – Microsoft Learning
@MicrosoftUP – Microsoft Unlimited Potential (the company's commitment to bring the social and economic benefits of technology to people around the world)
@Micrsoft_EDU - Microsoft EDU
@MSFTResearch - Microsoft Research
@MSRobotics - Microsoft Robotics
@bizspark - Microsoft BizSpark

Other

@XAMLEvents – Silverlight and WPF events
@projectrosetta – Chronicling the trail from Flash to Silverlight
@ContinuumShow – Exploring the world of the Microsoft Client Continuum

TweetCraft: Tweet From World of Warcraft

Larry — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:10:00 GMT

Channel 9's own Dan Fernandez has come up with one of the coolest hacks I've seen recently. TweetCraft is a Twitter client that runs within World of Warcraft. It allows you to tweet, read tweets, automatically tweet your acheivements, and even post screenshots through TwitPic. The app can be downloaded by going to http://c9.ms/TweetCraft/. You can also read the FAQ here, the Getting Started Guide, or read how TweetCraft works. Dan even had a video made, which you can watch here (left).

Now You Can Get All Your Mail in Hotmail

sarahintampa — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:50:00 GMT

One of the most critical features needed to get people to switch over from one email account to another is the ability to still easily access email from their old accounts. Sometimes, this can be accomplished by forwarding the old account (if that’s an option of your webmail service), other times it can be done by import. Now (at last!), Windows Live Hotmail has added a feature that lets you import other email account into your Hotmail.

For users in the US, Canada, and Brazil, you can now import any POP-enabled email account – a list which happens to include Yahoo! Mail Plus, AOL Mail, and Gmail. (The feature was already available in the UK, France, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Japan, and Germany).

To access this option, click on “Add an e-mail account” on the left side of you inbox. Type in the email address and password for the account you want to forward then click “Next.” Choose where you want the messages to go (for example, a separate folder instead of your inbox) and click “Save.”

In order for this to work, POP has to be turned on in the POP-enabled email service you’re adding. This is usually found in your webmail settings.

More Details on Gazelle, Microsoft Research's "Browser OS"

sarahintampa — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:50:00 GMT

In February of this year, Microsoft Research released a paper (PDF) about a new web browser they’re calling “Gazelle,” which is really less of a browser and more like an operating system. According to the paper, what makes Gazelle different than any other browsers out there today is how it’s able to exclusively control and mange the system’s resources.

Now, in a new article on Microsoft Research’s site, we get a little more insight about what exactly Gazelle can do.

One of the features of Gazelle is its ability to manage devices. Unlike with other browsers, where device management takes place (like accessing a webcam for instance), it’s done via plugin. In the Gazelle model, the browser kernel itself “protects principals from one another and from the host machine by exclusively managing access to computer resources, enforcing policies, handling interprincipal communications, and providing consistent, systematic access to computing devices.”

The kernel also exclusively manages the principles by placing them in a separate protection domain using an OS process. That way, if misbehaving code arises it only affects its own protection domain, leaving everything else including the kernel and host system intact.

Sadly for us, though, Gazelle is not a project that will develop into a workable prototype - it’s just research. “I would like to see Web applications achieve function and quality parity with desktop apps,” says Helen J. Wang, senior researcher in he Systems and Networking group at Microsoft Research Redmond. “That’s the ultimate goal of this research.”

Want to Compare Search Engines?

sarahintampa — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:21:00 GMT

Ever since Bing’s launch, there’s been a lot of talk about which search engine is doing a better job. Can Bing compare to Google? Does it do a better job? Or does it do well with some queries and not others? If you’ve had trouble making up your mind about this, there’s a new site that can help you figure it all out. The site is called “Bing vs. Google,” and, like it sounds, it’s a comparison site that pits two sets of search results against each other. Like any other search engine, Bing vs. Google has a simple homepage with just a search box in the middle of the screen and a bit of text explaining what it’s all about. To use the site, all you have to do is enter in a query as usual and hit “search.”

The fun part, of course, is the search results page. Bing vs. Google shows the results in a split screen, bing on the left, Google on the right. Squashing the screens like this can lead to a bit overlapping text in some cases (see, for example, how the results overlap Google’s sponsored links in the image), but it’s still a good way to easily get side-by-side results.

Using the links at the top, you can change the layout of the page to a horizontal split, if you so desire, or you can switch off one engine entirely and show just the one set of results. Either way, if you were having trouble making up your mind (or just making the switch to a new default search provider!), Bing vs. Google can help you put things in perspective.

Kodu Nears Xbox Launch

sarahintampa — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:20:00 GMT

Kodu, the new game that teaches kids (or anyone) the basics of programming in a visual environment, is getting closer to its public launch. On Sunday June 28th, the game was released into “Peer Review,” which means that the independent developers over at the XNA Creator’s Club will now be evaluating the game for stability, appropriate content, and copyright issues - just as they do with any other community-created game.

Assuming all goes well, after a certain number of developer sign off of the game, it will be made available for sale in the Xbox’s Community Games Channel. The absolute soonest this could happen is Tuesday the 30th, since it takes 48 hours after approval for a game to go live on the service.

If, on the other hand, the game has any problems or bugs that need to be corrected, it will obviously take longer to arrive. We hope that’s not the case! Fingers crossed! In any event, someone will update the Microsoft Research blog if any issues arise, so stay tuned.

Otherwise, log on to your Xbox later this week to (hopefully) try Kodu for yourself.

Social Media Desktop App Sobees Launches New Version

sarahintampa — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:20:00 GMT

Sobees, creator of a .NET/WPF desktop app for social media junkies, has just launched a new version. This latest release adds Digg to the list of supported services which already includes Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr, as well as RSS feeds, too. The Facebook integration has also been revamped to allow for the addition of the full Facebook stream – that means you can see the comments now, not just the updates themselves.

One of the things the aggregator is good for is tracking a various topic across the social web. Sobees even offers a few built-in modules for following popular subjects. New modules in this release (which are, by the way, strangely called “bDules” – I know, I don’t get, either) include MLB, NFL, Soccer, and Tennis.

Incidentally, “bDule” is also the name of another product by Sobees which is a single window application for tracking just Twitter and Facebook.

One final improvement has to do with the aesthetics of the app. Before, there was a rather large and cumbersome ribbon floating at the top of the application. That’s now been thinned down considerably and even offers an auto-hide feature to get it out of the way. (Whew!)

You can download the new version of Sobees from here.

Playtest Labs : Get your gaming voice heard

Laura — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:41:00 GMT

Have you ever been playing a game and thought to yourself, "I just wish I could speak with the developers and let them know that this part of the game could be so much better!"? Well, now you can. Microsoft has launched PlayTest- where you can play games, give opinions and get free software. I stepped behind the scenes and behind the fake mirrored walls to show you the ins and out of life in the Playtest Labs.

Get Your Photo on Bing.com

Larry — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:04:00 GMT

People seem to really like the daily images that Bing shows as backgrounds. And if you'd like to have Bing.com use one of your photos as a background, you're in luck. Until July 16, you can submit your photos through a Facebook contest where the photo will be judge along with others and one winner will have their image used on Monday August 3rd. Contest rules can be found here, and even if you're not submitting a photo the contest rules are interesting to see what types of selection criteria Bing.com has for photos. There is no cash or prizes for the winner, only the recognition that goes with having your name and work in front of millions of eyes.

Stop Procrastinating, It's Time to Upgrade to Windows 7 RC

sarahintampa — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:04:00 GMT

If you’re still running the free Windows 7 Beta Operating System, your time is running out. In only a matter of days – up until July 1st, to be precise – the Windows Beta OS will begin shutting itself down every other hour. That’s right, time-bomb ahead! But don’t worry, you don’t have to be without an OS - you just need to upgrade. You have until August 15th to go grab the code for the latest and greatest version of Windows 7, the RC aka “release candidate” (or Build 7100 as it’s also known). To get a key for this new version of 7, head over to this page on TechNet and choose the appropriate download.

Once you’ve got the bits, remember that you’re advised to do a fresh install of the OS. That means backing up your data and settings and starting from scratch. If you absolutely can’t do that for some reason, there is a workaround, but it’s not recommended, so proceed at your own risk.

Want to be a Microsoft Office 2010 Beta Tester?

sarahintampa — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:03:00 GMT

There’s a new recruiting campaign going on now for Microsoft Office 2010 beta testers. According to this page on Microsoft Connect, the company is looking for participants for “Microsoft’s Office 2010 Real Life Stories program.” These participants can be anyone – a home user, a student, a small business owner with 5 PCs or less, but (sorry world!) you have to be living in the U.S. to apply.

If selected, you’ll receive Microsoft Office 2010 pre-installed on a “loaner” laptop PC before it becomes available to the public. You’ll also have access to the long-awaited web versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, too. (Ooh, now I’m jealous!)

This is no small commitment, though – in fact, it sounds like this is the first step to being featured in an upcoming PR campaign. According to the site, you must participate for a minimum of six months and participate in surveys, training, and phone calls. At the end, you agree to share your experience using the software. The site states, “there may be an opportunity to share your story on a larger level through Microsoft’s public relations and marketing efforts. This can mean everything from being featured in case studies and videos to acting as a press reference or even just letting us share your testimonials about the software.”

Sounds like laptop hunters, part deux, except this time it will be about using Office!

If that sounds like something you’d be interested in doing, click here to apply. More information is here.

Revolution 9 and the Future of Channel 10

Nic — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:15:00 GMT

Over on our parent site Channel 9, Dan Fernandez is joined by Jeff Sandquist, Duncan Mackenzie and Nishant Kothary to talk about Revolution 9 and the future of Channel 10.

Watch the video and join the discussion over on Channel 9

Windows 7 Pricing and Availability Announced

Larry — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:29:00 GMT

Windows 7 pricing and availability has just been announced, along with a couple nice benefits to help put you into Windows 7 at half the price. First, Windows 7 will be rolling out on new PCs starting October 22nd. But starting tomorrow if you buy a new PC from a participating retailer you'll be able to get Windows 7 for little or no cost at all. (See www.windows.com/upgradeoffer for more details)

As for pricing, the retail prices for full and upgrade versions of Windows 7 follow:

Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99
Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99
Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99
Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $199.99
Windows 7 Professional (Full): $299.99
Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $319.99

And if you want to skirt around paying full price - pre-order! From tomorrow until July 11th in the US and Canada (July 5th for Japan) you can pre-order Windows 7 Home and Professional from the Microsoft Store, Best Buy, or Amazon and get more than 50% off! That means Home Premium version for under $50 and Windows 7 Professional for under $100. Click here for more pre-order information.

Watch Wimbledon 2009 Online in HD

Larry — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:04:00 GMT

If you're a tennis fan, you'll be happy to know NBC Sports will be streaming a simulcast of the broadcast coverage of the championships this year -- in full 720p HD! You can go to the site now and watch daily previews and highlights. But come Saturday, June 27th, the streaming will kick up to HD. So drop by this weekend and check out an example of Microsoft's Live Smooth Streaming, we'll let you know as more Smooth Streaming events are launched later this year.

Check Your Outlook Stats Online

sarahintampa — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:46:00 GMT

ClearContext, the Outlook plugin that helps you better organize and control your inbox, has released a new online service called ClearContext Online. With this new offering, now currently in beta, users of both the free Personal and paid Professional ClearContext for Outlook products can access online stats about their email inboxes in the form of charts, graphs, other other detailed analytics.

Once signed up, you can see an overall snapshot of your email activity, you can compare and contrast your stats with friends and colleagues, and you can evaluate how efficient you are at working that inbox of yours. The online service will even provide you with personalized tips on how you can improve your email effectiveness.

If you’re a already a ClearContext for Outlook user, you can get started by clicking the “Compare your stats online” link in Outlook. If you want to try ClearContext for free, you can download it here.

All You Do is Tweet: SendTweet for Windows

sarahintampa — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:36:00 GMT

Over on Lifehacker, there’s a post about using a software application called Rainmeter to allow you to Twitter right from your Windows desktop. The crazy thing about Rainmeter is that it’s not a Twitter app at all – it’s a skinnable, customizable tool for PC performance monitoring. The Rainmeter app is designed to show you the CPU load, memory, network traffic, uptime, free disk space, and other performance-related data about your computer which can be displayed in various configurations including things like histograms, bar charts, or plain text.

So how did Rainmeter become a Twitter app? Deviantart user jsmorley developed a special SendTweet config script and skin for the application. To use the reconfigured app, you unzip these files into your Rainmeter skins folder (get Rainmeter here) then launch the SendTweet program from the Rainmeter system tray icon.

Once running, a text box in the shape of a conversation bubble appears on your desktop accompanied by a little blue bird. And a recent update to SendTweet lets you hold down the CTRL button to drag the input box around the screen so it can be positioned exactly where you want it. To update your Twitter status, you just type in the box. It couldn’t be simpler.

Introducing Microsoft Hohm - Save Energy & Money

Nic — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:03:00 GMT

Today, Microsoft announced Microsoft Hohm. That's Hohm as in H + OHM, the unit of measurement for electrical impedance.

Microsoft Hohm is a free web based application (running on the Windows Azure platform) that enables consumers to better understand their energy usage by utilizing advanced analytics licensed from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy to provide home owners with personalized energy-saving recommendations.

The beta is now available to all residents in the United States with plans to roll out internationally over the next year and beyond.

Troy Batterberry joined me in the studio to walkthrough Microsoft Hohm and explain how the service can help you reduce your energy consumption, lower your carbon footprint and save some real money.

Sign up & more info: www.microsofthohm.com

Join the conversation over on Channel 9

Windows 7, A New Low

Larry — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:12:00 GMT

One of my favorite features of Windows 7 is the fact that I can install it on all my old hardware and it works incredibly. I've got Win7 on netbooks, old tablets, a Sony UX, even an old machine that I have no reasonable expectation of every really using. So it put a smile on my face this weekend when I saw this PC World article,Windows 7 Hits A New Low.

The idea here is that people are pushing the envelope trying to find exactly how far down the hardware ladder they can go and still successfully install a working version of Windows 7. The current recordholder, that we know of, is "Hackerman1" who has Win7 running on a Pentium II with a 266 MHz CPU, 96MB of memory, and a 4MB graphics card. If you happen to break a record, please let me know, I may have a t-shirt to go with that old hardware.

Morro, aka Microsoft Security Essentials, Now in Public Beta

sarahintampa — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:01:00 GMT

You may have heard rumors lately about “Morro,” the new no-cost anti-malware solution being launched by Microsoft. Now called “Microsoft Security Essentials,” the program will launch into a limited beta today at www.microsoft.com/security_essentials. The first 75,000 visitors to that site will have the opportunity to download and install the new software for free. (This will be available in English to the U.S. and Israel and in Brazilian Portuguese in Brazil.)

For those wanting to run Microsoft Security Essentials, you’ll need to have either a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows XP SP2 or higher, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. The software will not come pre-installed on the Windows 7 OS so you will still have a choice as to which anti-malware program they want to run. However, it will be made available as a download (but not through Windows Update) for those looking for a free and trustworthy solution which you can run without worrying about registration or renewals. Security Essentials users will also have access to free community and email support.

The security features in the new software include real-time protection, a dynamic signature service, and rootkit protection. If an infection is found, users will be prompted to fix it by pressing an action button which will appear on the screen. The process is designed to be a “one-click fix” so it’s extremely easy for anyone to use.

The program has also been made lightweight so as not to slow down your system as many anti-virus software applications have done in the past. To accomplish this, it implements features like CPU throttling, idle-time scanning, smart caching, and active memory swapping. Those last two make it so that signatures not in use don’t take up space in the available memory, a feature which makes Microsoft Security Essentials ideal for older PCs as well as today’s less powerful netbooks.

You can learn more about Microsoft Security essentials here.

Want to Win 10K? Build a Bing App!

sarahintampa — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:06:00 GMT

If you’re a developer here in the U.S., there’s a new contest going on now called “Will Code for Green” that’s designed to promote the launch of the new Bing API. Developers are being encouraged to build useful web applications that take advantage of the API’s capabilities in one of two green-themed categories Economy or Ecology. (Code for “green” – get it?): And two lucky developers will win the grand prize of $10,000 each. They’ll also receive a 3-year BizSpark membership if their startup is eligible. Runners up will receive $3000 in cash in addition to BizSpark memberships.

Applications in the Economy category should help people deal with the worsening global economy in some way and the applications in the Ecology category should help improve the ecology of planet Earth. The applications can be either web applications in the traditional sense or they can be “mashups.”

To sign up, just enter your email address on the Will Code for Green site to get started. Winners will be announced at this year’s 2009 Gnomedex technology conference. If you’re in the Seattle area, you can attend a “Will Code for Green” hackathon on June 27th hosted by Microsoft. More details here.

NewEgg Comes to Bing Cashback

sarahintampa — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:06:00 GMT

Bing Cashback, formerly known as Windows Live Cashback, is the program that rewards Bing users for doing their shopping at Bing.com/shopping. From this site, you can search for deals from major retailers to find the best price. When you make a purchase, you’ll be rewarded with cold, hard cash… “cashback,” that is. Some purchases are even eligible for “quick cashback” which is a way to receive an instant deposit into your PayPal account after paying for an online purchase using the PayPal service.

Although the service was already great before, there’s now a new reason to check it out…especially if you’re a techie. According to a tweet from the Bing Team, the online computer and electronics retailer Newegg.com has become the latest member to join the Cashback program. Using Bing Cashback, you can now receive 2.5% on your purchases from Newegg. Oooh, I’m in trouble now…

You can stayed tuned to more Cashback deals by following Bing Cashback on Twitter.

"Cover to Cover" to Host Back Issues of Popular Magazines Using Silverlight

sarahintampa — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:48:00 GMT

Cover to Cover is a new destination website that will put the entire digital archives of popular magazines on the web for anyone to access for free. Developed by Bondi Digital Publishing with help from Microsoft Gold Partner Vertigo, the site uses Silverlight technology which allows for deep zooming in and out of the magazines’ pages in high-resolution – something that you can’t get from hosting traditional image files online. You can also flip through the pages just as quickly as if you were holding the physical magazine, if not faster thanks to the slider bar at the bottom of the screen.

At the moment, Cover to Cover hosts a 60-year archive of Playboy magazine and has plans to launch a 40-year archive of Rolling Stone magazine this fall.

(via Silverlight team news)

How to Launch any App from Media Center

sarahintampa — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:48:00 GMT

I recently came across a an application called Media Center Launcher that provides you with a way to launch any application from within Media Center. That’s right – any application. And unlike some similar plugins, this app also lets you close the program and return to Media Center by clicking the “back” button your remote.

Unfortunately, the one problem with the program is that it doesn’t offer a GUI front-end where you can add new entries. Instead, you have to manually configure XML and INI files if you want to add any extra program besides PowerDVD, which is included by default.

That’s why you’ll also want to grab the Media Center Launcher Configurator app from here (more info can be found on Chad Dyess’ blog). This additional application provides a simple interface to the Launcher program, allowing you to track, register, and unregister the applications.

I guess for some of you enthusiasts this will be old news based on the date of Chad’s blog entry, but I only recently came across it when searching for something similar and thought it was worth sharing with you.

BingTones: Bing Ringtones for your Mobile

sarahintampa — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:47:00 GMT

BingTones are the official ringtones designed to promote the new search engine Bing. They’re kind of silly to be honest, as they feature people singing the word “bing” over and over to different melodies. Still, oftentimes silly is just what people are looking for when it comes to a ringtone, as evidenced by the numerous Family Guy soundclip-based ringtones out there.

Although the download site states that these ringtones are designed for Windows Mobile phones, they come in an MP3 format, so they should work on any mobile device. You can preview what the “Bingtones” sound like here.

Take a Look at DirectX 11

Larry — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:43:00 GMT

I don't know how I missed this but a couple weeks ago Tech Fragments wrote about some videos AMD put out showing DirectX 11. We're across the board gamers here at Channel 10, so we love seeing the PC platform fight it out against the Xbox. DirectX 11 looks like just the thing to give PC's the advantage, or at least strong parity with the best console games.

What makes DX11 sing is the use of tessellator, which is basically a system to map a higher-order geometric surface with triangles. Tessallator hardware is part of the Xbox 360 already, and it's in many late model ATI cards, but up until now there hasn't been an effecient framework to use it on the PC.

Also hot in DX11 is the use of Compute Shader, which will essentially allow developers to treat the GPU as a highly parallel CPU (aka GPGPU). DirectX 11 also has been redesigned to be much more effecient, which will be especially evident on multi-core machines.

Now on Bing: Find Out How Much that Job Pays

sarahintampa — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:18:00 GMT

Microsoft has partnered up with Seattle-based PayScale, a company that tracks the current market salaries for numerous professions worldwide. The new partnership brings immediate answers to anyone performing a Bing search query which asks a salary-related question. (For example, search Bing for lawyer salary). In a one-box type of result that appears at the top of the search results page, information about that profession’s compensation levels are provided including a base salary range, a bonus range and percentage reporting a bonus, as well as a chart that provides an at-a-glance summary of this information. There are also links to major metropolitan areas, a link to click for more cities, more details, and a link to click to compare your salary, all of which redirect you to PayScale’s website.

In testing this feature, I found that most of the common professions I could think of came up, but a few less common ones did not. One that was missing? “Blogger salary” of course. I guess none of us have those!

Photobucket Launching Silverlight-Powered Visual Search

sarahintampa — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:18:00 GMT

Photobucket, one of the world’s most popular photo-sharing websites, is preparing to release a new tool for finding photos on the site: a visual search engine. With this feature, Photobucket users can search the site’s 8 billion photos by keyword. The images will appear as search results, and you can then select any of the photos to jump into another search for related content based on that particular photo. You can also quickly access the library of the user who uploaded any given photo as well.

Not only is the new visual search feature powered by Silverlight, it taps into another Microsoft technology, too, with its Windows Live Messenger integration – a move that connects Photobucket’s 70 million users with the 320 million Live Messenger users around the world. With a single click, you’ll be able to share the URL of a photo in your search results with anyone you have in your Live Messenger contact list.

At the time of writing, the visual search feature had not yet gone live on Photobucket.com, but it should be arriving soon.

Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) in Windows 7

Nic — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:02:00 GMT

Setting up and connecting to wireless networks will be a much simpler task in Windows 7. And for those of you with shiny new wireless routers with WPS - Wi-Fi Protected Setup - the process will be even easier.

Gabe Frost and Yatharth Gupta from the Windows 7 team join me in the studio to talk about Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) in Windows 7 and what to look for when buying your next Wi-Fi device.

More info:
http://www.wi-fi.org/wifi-protected-setup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Protected_Setup
http://www.microsoft.com/rally

Put a Calendar on your Desktop with Big Huge Labs' Wallpaper

sarahintampa — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:08:00 GMT

Would you like to have a calendar on your desktop, embedded right into your wallpaper? If so, you’ll want to check out the online utility from Big Huge Labs simply called “Wallpaper.” After visiting their site, you can create your own specialized wallpaper by browsing for a image file on your computer or choosing one from Flickr, Photobucket, or via a URL. The uploader also offers a number of extra features, too, like the ability to blur the image, apply a color overlay, choose which parts shouldn’t be cropped, and of course, where to the put the calendar on the wallpaper.

If you register with the site, they’ll track your recently uploaded files for easy access – an especially handy feature since you have to re-create the wallpaper each month in order to update the calendar.

Of course, you could use a Vista/Windows 7 gadget to put a calendar on your desktop or – heck – just click on the date/time in your system tray, but there’s something to be said about the elegance of having the calendar appear seamlessly right within your desktop wallpaper. The Big Huge Labs utility is free to use at http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/wallpaper.php.

(via MakeUseOf)

Yet Another Windows 7 Tweaker Emerges

sarahintampa — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:08:00 GMT

Just when I thought we had all the Windows 7 tweaking utilities covered, yet another application appears on the scene. From the creators of the popular Vista tweaker, TweakVI, comes a new application called simply “Tweak-7.” Although still in beta, the application is available for everyone to try for 14 days and will work in any Windows 7 build from RC1 (build 7100) and up. Like its Vista counterpart, the program offers hundreds of tweaks including tweaks for everything from the Start Menu to the taskbar and from desktop to the system itself.

In addition to the tweaks, the software also includes other utilities like a registry cleaner and defragmenter, a disk drive clean up utility, a system performance analyzer, an automatic internet connection optimizer, and more.

The final version of Tweak 7 should become available in July 2009. You can grab the beta here.

More Windows 7 Theme Packs and Wallpaper

sarahintampa — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:50:00 GMT

Now that the Windows 7 public release is just around the corner, people are getting into the spirit of celebrating the new OS by releasing their own unofficial but very cool Windows 7 logoed wallpapers and theme packs. Using the Windows 7 box art for inspiration, Zawir Rahim over on DeviantArt created a wallpaper pack featuring the Windows 7 branding in a number of HD images (1920 x 1200) in all colors of the rainbow. Redmond Pie then took those individual wallpapers and packaged them into 15 different theme packs for easy one-click installs. (Download here – zip file).

Next, over on Life Rocks 2.0, they've aggregated 35 of the best Windows 7-inspired wallpapers, also from DeviantArt. This collection includes creations from several different designers and many unique styles. To download those wallpapers, there isn't a single zip file - you'll have to click on the images and then grab them from the DeviantArt site itself.

While you’re at it, you can also head over to The Windows Club forum and grab some unofficial Bing wallpapers, too, created by the community members.

Randomize Your Windows 7 Logon Screen Background with this Free Utility

sarahintampa — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:48:00 GMT

As we’ve mentioned before, there’s a hidden feature in Windows 7 that lets you customize your logon screen background to an image of your choosing. Power users probably had no difficulties following those instructions, but a free utility from Tweaks.com made the process even easier.

Now there’s another application that also lets you change your background, but with a slight difference. This new Login Screen Rotator lets you pick up to 10 logon screen backgrounds which it will then display randomly each time you login. All you have to do is browse for the files you want to use then click “Enable Settings and Exit.” If you ever want to revert back to the default screen, you can use the utility called "Remove files and settings.exe" which is included with the download.

Oh, and if you’re wondering where to get some good images for your logon background, don’t forget this resource.

Tweak the Windows 7 Taskbar with Taskbar Overlord

sarahintampa — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:18:00 GMT

One of the coolest additions to the new Windows 7 OS is definitely the taskbar. Now a super-sized toolbar of program icons with corresponding menus and thumbnail previews, the new taskbar has dramatically changed the way I interact with my applications. I’ve been perfectly happy with the way the taskbar works out-of-the-box, but others have wanted to tweak the taskbar to fit their needs. To do so, one developer has created a program called Taskbar Overlord that has let him change some of the default behavior of the new Windows taskbar.

Once installed, you can use Taskbar Overlord in order to middle-click to close an open application – just like closing a tab in the IE8 or Firefox web browser. He also added a feature that lets you left-click a program icon to switch to the last active window you were using instead of showing you the thumbnail previews (available when you have multiple windows of that application open).

The Taskbar Overlord is actually a little AutoHotkey script that makes these two changes for you. If you’d rather have one of the changes and not the other – you’re in luck. There are actually several different versions of the program available for download:

Taskbar Overlord - Source Code. This includes both the left click and middle click functionality as an .ahk script file.
Taskbar Overlord Executable - Left and Middle Click.
Has both features. Switches to the last active window when left clicking. Closes all windows when middle clicking.
Taskbar Overlord Executable - Left Click Only.
One feature only. Switches to the last active window when left clicking.
Taskbar Overlord Executable - Middle Click Only.
One feature only. Closes all windows when middle clicking

[UPDATE: Direct links above may not work for you, click here and download directly.]
Future releases and bug fixes will be announced in the following feed: http://www.ocellated.com/tag/taskbar-overlord/feed/.

SMS for Windows Live

sarahintampa — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:04:00 GMT

The Windows Live team has just announced a new feature that will definitely appeal to heavy users of SMS as well as those of you whose phones don’t feature a good web browser for using online services: it’s SMS for Windows Live! Now, those of you in the U.S. and U.K. (sorry, others) have access to many Windows Live features all via text message.

For example, you can now check your Windows Live Calendar, invite people to join your network, and get contact info for people in your Windows Live contact list. You can also update your Windows Live status by starting your text with the word “update.” To invite people, the command is simply “invite” and to view calendar info, just text “today” or “tomorrow” to get a message with that lists the date, time, and subject of each event. To get details on any particular event, just reply with the event number. To find contact info, text “srch” followed by the name of the person you’re trying to find.

To start using this feature, you’ll need to first register your mobile phone’s number on the Windows Live mobile website. To start texting, you’ll need to use the appropriate shortcode for your region:

If you’re in the U.S. and your mobile operator is AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, or Nextel, your shortcode is MyLive or 695483.
If you’re in the U.K. and your mobile operator is Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, O2, or Virgin, your shortcode is 88804.

Instant Translation Comes to Bing

sarahintampa — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:04:00 GMT

Besides being a decision engine that helps you find health, travel, or shopping information, the new search engine at Bing.com can now also help you translate between different languages on the fly. Instead of having to load up a specific site that does translation, you can just type in what you want to translate right into Bing’s search box.

For example, if you wanted to translate “I love you” into Japanese, you could enter the query: translate I love you to Japanese. The results would look like this:

Or if you wanted to just know several different ways to say “I love you” in other languages, you could enter the query: translate I love you.

Don’t worry about the semantics of your query either, it doesn’t have to begin with “translate.” You can also ask Bing “how do you say…” and Bing will know you’re looking for a translation. For example:

Search Summit: Chris Sherman- opinions from a Search Engine Expert

Laura — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:38:00 GMT

Chris Sherman is Executive Editor of SearchEngineLand.com and President of Searchwise LLC, a Boulder Colorado based Web consulting firm. With over 25 years experience in interactive technologies, he is frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Business Week, USA Today and other publications, and has appeared on CNN, NPR, CBS and other television and radio networks.
Check out this clip to hear what he think of the Microsoft Search Summit and, of course, Bing!

What is the Search Summit?
Search and Advertisers

Search Summit: Protecting the Advertisers rights

Laura — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:30:00 GMT

While online advertising offers important improvements for targeting and measurement, it also challenges norms about relationships between advertisers and ad platforms. Ad platforms differ in the information they share with advertisers – not always disclosing where ads are shown, how much each placement costs, or how fees are computed. Platforms also vary in their approaches to dispute resolution – sometimes imposing onerous terms that limit the options available to dissatisfied advertisers. Ben Edelman presented to Microsofts Search Summit and offered thoughts on proper division of rights and responsibilities in advertisers' dealings with ad platforms.

More about the Search Summit
Words from a Search Engine Expert

A Today Screen Widget for Tweeting

sarahintampa — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:11:00 GMT

Do you like to tweet from your Windows Mobile phone but don’t want the hassle of having to launch an app, be bothered with updates, or drain your battery as the app polls the service? If you said “yes” to those issues, you may be interested in this new Today screen widget for Twitter instead: TwitToday. (Note: Today screen widgets are for touchscreen devices only).

Once installed, a textbox is added to the Today Screen of your Windows Mobile 5 or 6 phone. To send a tweet, simply fill in your text and hit “OK.” When the textbox is not in use, it becomes transparent, fading into the background. As a bonus, if you tap the Twitter icon next to the textbox, you’ll be taken to Twitter’s mobile site at m.twitter.com where you can check your replies, DMs, and friends’ updates.

To add TwitToday to your mobile phone, download the latest version here (CAB file).

(via EverythingTwitter)

1 vs. 100 Now on Xbox LIVE

sarahintampa — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:10:00 GMT

The new game show 1 vs. 100 launched into its open beta on Xbox LIVE at the beginning of this month. Originally announced at CES back in January, the show represents an entirely new format for Xbox LIVE games: a real-time, interactive game with a live host that’s played at specific times of the day. It’s just like a real game show in the fact that you have to “tune in” to play along. Except in this case, instead of just watching the contests on your TV win and lose, you are the contest and you have the chance to win.

What can you win? Why, fabulous prizes, of course! You’ll have a chance to win prizes like a home theater system with and HDTV, laptop computers, Zunes, LIVE Arcade games, or even a digital camera just for participating. In the future, skill-based prizes will also be awarded, but not during the game’s beta period.

All Xbox Gold members are encouraged to try out the game, included with your membership. You can learn more about 1 vs. 100 on its official homepage or ask questions in the forums.

How to Get RSS feeds for any Bing Search

sarahintampa — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:10:00 GMT

Although you may not see an RSS icon appear when you do a search on the new search engine, Bing.com, the feeds are there if you want them. As with the old search engine at Live.com, getting a feed for any search result is as simple as adding an extra parameter to the end of your search results URL.

To do so, first just do a search as usual for whatever topic you want the feed for. Then, up in the address bar, append “&format=rss” (without the quotes, of course) to the end of the URL.

Doing so will deliver you to a page that looks like this (using the query “swine flu” as the example):

You’ll see that you’re provided with an RSS feed to copy and paste into your feed reader as well as a few other options for online readers including My MSN, My Yahoo, and Bloglines.

An Easier Way to Grab Bing's Background Wallpaper

sarahintampa — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:10:00 GMT

The other day, I shared a somewhat convoluted way to grab the Bing background images and set them as your desktop wallpaper. It involved going into the “view source” code and finding a particular URL. It was possible, just not super easy. Well, thanks to a comment from Anheledir, I learned of his nifty little program that snags the images for you, all of which he’s saving and sharing on his SkyDrive for our convenience.

By using his image grabber service, he’s saving the daily images for both Bing DE (Germany) and Bing US (United States) in two separate galleries. The images still aren’t the correct size to be ideal for desktop wallpaper (which is why we need an “official” version of this program that links to full-sized pics), but they are a lot easier to access this way.

The Microsoft Search Summit

Laura — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:45:00 GMT

Mel Carson was one of the visionaries who put together the Microsoft Search Summit. It is an invitation only event, but we were allowed to bring our cameras inside and get the scoop. Take a peek.

More:

Search and Advertisers
Words from a Search Engine expert

Business Cards in 90 seconds

Tina — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:02:00 GMT

Doug Thomas is back with another edition of Office Casual and this time he shows us how to make our own business cards in 90 seconds or less. Well, he at least attempts to show us how to make business cards in 90 seconds or less. Had he strategically placed the printer next to him instead of down the hall I think he would have made it. :)