Do you archive your email to PST files (maybe due to a corporate policy limiting your mailbox size)? If so, you know that even though it's archived, you will still need to access those old emails from time to time. If you don't want to keep all your archives open in your Outlook, there is another way...if you use Windows Vista. With Vista's built-in search option, you can specify that you want PSTs to be indexed (this is not turned on by default). It's pretty easy to set this up, just follow these steps:

1. Go to the Control Panel
2. Choose "Indexing Options"
3. Click on the "Advanced" button
4. Click on the "File Types" tab
5. Check the checkbox next to "PST" to include it in the search
6. Select the bullet next to the option "Index Properties and File Contents"
7. Click OK and OK again on the message that appears.

You're done! Now you can use Vista's built-in search to find that email you need!

At TechFest, Microsoft Research unveiled three new search projects aimed to enhance your search experience. Here are the details:
SearchTogether: SearchTogether is an IE plugin for social search. It lets you and your friends search together via an IE sidebar. The plugin, which will be available in Spring 2008 features page rating, split searching, shared summaries, chat, and more.
CoSearch: CoSearch lets users who are using the same computer at the same time search together by using multiple mice or cell phones. Yes, cell phones! A person using a phone could move the cursor on the screen and transfer data to the phone.
Searchbar: Searchbar is an IE sidebar that lets you save your searches, organize them, and add notes about them.

I can't wait to check these out! Watch for TechFest interviews by Tina Wood coming this week.

As a physician, I know how important it is to have access to my patient's health information.   As a patient, I know how frustrating it is to have my health information scattered across multiple doctors, ambulatory clinics and hospitals.  As a care manager for my elderly parents, I've experienced firsthand how difficult it is to keep track of their doctor appointments, medications, and medical problems.

Today, in Washington, D.C., Microsoft is announcing a new tool that will begin to bring order to this chaos.  It's called HealthVault; an environment of new online services to help people SEARCH, STORE and CONNECT their health information, putting them in control of  their, and their family’s health and wellness.

HealthVault, designed with security and privacy in mind, is built on the principle that people should have a copy of their own health information, have control over it, and be able to share their information with whomever they choose.  I think many people are going to proclaim, "It's about time!".

Using HealthVault, people will be able to store and control an array of health information, including prescription medication lists, health histories, hospital discharge summaries, lab results, fitness data and search results.

In addition to being a place to securely store and share personal health information, people can also use HealthVault to access and put to practical use a variety of new health services and home health medical devices.

Microsoft HealthVault Connection Center will make it possible for people to upload health-related data, such as that taken from blood-pressure cuffs, heart rate monitors, blood glucose monitors and peak flow meters. The technology is straightforward and makes it easy to confidently share health information with family, caregivers or physicians. With the support of partners that will develop these services and devices, Microsoft has committed to a platform that is free to consumers, inclusive of industry standards and trusted through robust privacy and security safeguards.

Speaking of privacy and security, I know that nothing is more important when it comes to your personal health information.  The HealthVault platform is underpinned by the following clear, strong health privacy commitments:

• The Microsoft HealthVault record you create is controlled by you.
• You decide what goes into your HealthVault record.
• You decide who can see and use your information on a case by  case basis.
• Microsoft does not use your health information for commercial purposes unless you are asked and you clearly tell Microsoft they may.

Rest assured, we know that transforming healthcare is an incredibly complex challenge – one which no single organization can solve alone. It will require the participation of leaders in every sector of the healthcare ecosystem if success is to be achieved.  However, with Microsoft's broad customer reach, extensive software platform and broad partner community, we believe that we have the depth and breadth required to help transform the way people and providers connect with health information and  services. 

You can learn more about today's launch of HealthVault by clicking on this video clip with Microsoft Health Solutions Group Corporate VP, Peter Neupert and Dr. Deborah Peel, founder of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation.

I'm pleased to announce that more than 40 other innovative organizations – from leading medical providers, health management device manufacturers, and national health agencies are embarking with us on this challenge to bring the health industry into the Internet age.  We invite the rest of the health industry to join us. 

Bill Crounse, MD   Worldwide Health Director   Microsoft Corporation

Back in April I posted information on HealthBlog about Medstory, the medical search company that had recently been acquired by Microsoft. I interviewed Medstory founder and CEO, Dr. Alain Rappaport, who I have known for nearly a decade. Alain and I first met while I was co-founding a venture-backed technology company aimed at facilitating physician-patient communication and collaboration. Little did we know at the time that many years later our paths would cross once again under Microsoft's umbrella.

Dr. Rappaport called me last week to say that Medstory is now fully integrated with MSN’s Health and Fitness site. He wanted me to be among the first to know and invited me to take it for a test drive.

After navigating to MSN Health and Fitness, I initiated a search on Prostate Cancer. Right away, I noticed that my search yielded Medstory's unique and rather colorful “dashboard".

The dashboard is made up of categories. Under each category is a list of related health topics that are most pertinent to the search being performed. The color bar next to each topic illustrates its degree of relevance to the subject of the search. For instance, one of the categories for a search on Prostate Cancer is Tests and Procedures. The most relevant topic in that category is the PSA Test. When I click on PSA Test, I have the option of refining my search to include both Prostate Cancer and PSA Test, or PSA Test alone.

Should I decide to search for both terms, the most pertinent articles containing both terms will be revealed. I'm given similar choices each time I conduct a search adding a third, fourth, or fifth term to my list. I also have the option of jumping to articles that are associated only with the new term I'm selecting from the dashboard. I also have the choice of using a "Site Search Results" tab that only reveals articles on MSN, or "Health-Related Web Results" that will return health information from all across the worldwide web. Note that the categories include Complementary Therapies and Nutrition; two that will be especially popular with consumers.

Prior to founding Medstory, Dr. Rappaport had had an illustrious career in artificial intelligence research and data mining. He says he turned his attention to improving how consumers and clinicians find and use medical information because healthcare is an industry that is driven by information. It is not enough, he says, to provide links to information. Search engines must become intelligent enough to understand a user’s intent. “We need a web that knows versus one that just links”, said Dr. Rappaport. “We are moving the center of gravity of search to return an understanding of what the user wants. Our core objective is to provide meaningful information that is also actionable.”

Dr. Rappaport said he teamed up with Microsoft because of the opportunity to engage with customers and partners all around the world who are now coming forward to help us innovate and use this technology. “Even in parts of the world where populations are medically underserved", he said, "providing relevant and timely information, will make a difference”.

Of course, this is just the beginning of many health related applications and services for both consumers and medical professionals that you'll be seeing from Microsoft and our partners in the months and years ahead. But for now, the next time you are seeking information about health or wellness, navigate over to MSN Health and Fitness and take Medstory for a spin. I think you will like what you see.

Bill Crounse, MD   Worldwide Health Director   Microsoft Corporation

If you ever wanted to see a perfect storm of hyperlinked news, today’s revelation that Microsoft wants to talk to Yahoo about a merger is it. For those who haven’t already been deafened by twitter exclamations and email flurries, let’s walk through the news thus far. That bastion of responsible news reporting The New York Post, broke the story this morning. Apparently when Google picked up DoubleClick last month, the big heads here in Redmond decided it may be time to ante up in the acquisition game, and reopened a longstanding dialog with Yahoo. The ever-anonymous ‘sources’ were sure to include a $50b price tag, as well as reminding us that combining the search advertising shares of MSFT and YHOO would represent 27 percent against GOOG’s 65 percent.

David Kaplan of paidContent.org chimed in early, echoing the NY Post article, as well as reminding everyone of Jerry Yang’s avoidance of Microsoft products, and how much an acquisition could close the gap between Microsoft and Google. Reuters also covered the story with this choice quote from Peter Lobravico of Wall Street Access: “You can’t find a stronger buyer than Microsoft and while it would spur a lot of political and regulatory noise, everyone knows in the end that the deal would go through.”

Scott Beale picked the right graphic for Laughing Squid’s coverage, and also highlighted the 18 point jump in Yahoo’s stock on news of the negotiations. He also pointed out Eric Schonfeld’s post at The Next Net, which notes that the deal would have an air of desperation, and that, “The culture-clash of two companies could undermine any financial gains a Microsoft-Yahoo merger could produce.” Some astute opinion came from Henry Blodget at Internet Outisder, who recommends the two companies join, and then for Microsoft to spin off a Yahoo-MSN organization.

This questions raised by this morning’s news are far more interesting than the coverage of it, given that very little has actually transpired. So what are the questions then? What are your wildest fantasies about how a Microhoo/Yahsoft would exist, and what sort of combinations could make the new company insanely great?

One of the big announcements during HIMSS last February was Microsoft’s acquisition of a company specializing in medical search. That company is called MedStory. Recently, I caught up with MedStory founder and CEO, Dr. Alain Rappaport, M.D., Ph.D., for a conversation about his company and why he decided to join forces with Microsoft.

Prior to founding MedStory, Dr. Rappaport was the co-founder, president and chief scientist for Neuron Data, a world leader in artificial intelligence and other business-critical software components. That Dr. Rappaport’s roots are embedded in the science of artificial intelligence made all the more sense as we discussed his vision for MedStory.

Dr. Rappaport likened the healthcare industry today to that of American manufacturing in the 80’s. All of us old enough to remember will recall that the American automobile companies and other manufacturers were getting clobbered by much more nimble competitors overseas (particularly the Japanese) who started using computers and technology to optimize the supply chain and their manufacturing processes. American manufacturers have now narrowed the gap. Productivity has improved and they are turning out higher quality products, but we continue to pay a price for falling behind in the 80’s. According to Dr. Rappaport, American healthcare is now where manufacturing was in the 80’s, and the time for change is upon us.

Realizing that healthcare is an industry that is driven by information, Dr. Rappaport turned his attention to improving how both consumers and clinicians alike will find the information they need. It is not enough, he says, to provide links to information. Search engines must become intelligent enough to understand a user’s “intent”. “We need a web that knows versus one that just links”, said Dr. Rappaport. “We are moving the center of gravity of search to return an understanding of what the user wants. Our core objective is to provide meaningful information that is also actionable.”

Asked why he decided to team up with Microsoft, Dr. Rappaport said it was the opportunity to engage with customers and partners all around the world who are now coming forward to help us innovate and use this technology. “Even in parts of the world where populations are medically underserved, providing relevant and timely information, will make a difference”, he said.

I, for one, very much agree. I’m thrilled to have Dr. Rappaport and his distinguished colleagues join us on our mission to improve the quality and safety of patient care, and the satisfaction of those giving and receiving that care.

Bill Crounse, MD    Worldwide HealthDirector   Microsoft Corporation

TellMe became a part of the Microsoft fold this morning for the sum of $800m (and change). The acquisition is designed to grow voice technology in areas of unified communications, mobile services, as well as the overall Speech platform.

Om Malik has the relevant details for those who are interested in the plumbing of the deal. According to him, Mr. Ballmer was personally driving the deal and TellMe will continue as an independent subsidiary of Microsoft.

Perception of the purchase is that TellMe’s technology will help differentiate Microsoft in the search business, particularly mobile search (actually speaking to your mobile phone—surely you’re joking). Don Dodge points out in his post about the deal that both mobile and local search are very valuable (and relatively open) markets.

While the public perception seems to revolve around Microsoft’s attempts to become more relevant in the search market, Richard Sprague believes the deal is about acquiring TellMe’s data: “It's extremely important in speech to get actual users using your system, because every call and every interaction is new data that will improve quality and accuracy. A significant fraction of the U.S. population has called TellMe, which is an asset that will mean huge improvements to all of our systems.”

Check out the team's space at http://adastra-experience.spaces.live.com

Jon Pincus professional page at http://research.microsoft.com/users/jpincus/

The results from this and future mashup days will be coming to Live Gallery, Live Ideas, dev.live.com, CodePlex – and hopefully Slashdot!

Do you read blogs? Do you write a blog? Are you having trouble pronouncing the word blog? Well Dave Sifry spends every day as the head of Technorati making it easier for the blogosphere to soak up every minute of free time you’ve got, as well as keeping up with what the world says about your personal ramblings. We got his thoughts on microformats, tags, and corporate bloggers, all from the comfort of Plaid Silicon Valley.