Entries tagged with sync - Channel 10

Outlook Connector Version 12.1 Beta Released

sarahintampa — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:52:00 GMT

The Microsoft Office Outlook Team have just announced a new beta version of the Outlook Connector - the add-in that lets you sync your Windows Live Hotmail data in Outlook. In the past, email and contacts syncing was available for free, but syncing your calendar was only available with a subscription service. No more! Calendar sync is free! Not only that, but the calendar syncing service now also syncs with the Windows Live Calendar Beta service, too! That means you can sync your work calendar in Outlook to your personal calendar in Hotmail to your family calendar in Windows Live Calendar and vice versa. And since Windows Live Calendar supports calendar sharing, other shared calendars that you have access to will also sync back to Outlook. The new Outlook connector is faster, more reliable, and, as always, free. You can download it from here.

Allway Sync Gets An Update

sarahintampa — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:21:00 GMT

OK, there are tons of syncing programs out there – one size does not fit all. FolderShare, SyncToy, and Live Mesh are all Microsoft programs that sync and all offer different feature sets. But beyond just Microsoft tools and apps, there are a slew of desktop sync programs to choose from. One such program is Allway Sync. Ed Bott had it on his list of 10 favorite Windows programs of all time so when he noticed that the program had just received a big update, he made sure to blog about it. Well, I had not yet heard of Allway Sync myself, so I thought I would check it out, too.

So what’s new with the latest version of Allway Sync? FTP and Amazon S3 support. Now, Allway doesn’t just help you sync across machines – you can sync to the cloud too. 100GB for about $20 a month. But you don’t have to use that particular option – the program is available as a portable app that can travel with you on a USB flash drive or a U3-enabled flash drive.

Playing with Live Mesh: First Experiences

sarahintampa — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:17:00 GMT

Since I got invited to Live Mesh earlier this week, I've been playing around with the settings, adding devices, and sharing folders. It's pretty impressive how easy Mesh was to install and set up. I just downloaded and installed a small software app that runs in my system tray and then, on www.mesh.com, I added the computer I was using to Mesh.

On each PC, I picked a few folders (Documents, Downloads, and Pictures) and right-clicked on them, choosing "Add Folder to Your Live Mesh." It was that easy, I swear.

What's really cool about Mesh is that I could finally sync up my documents, photos, etc. from all my PCs to essentially merge together and become one, big, "meshed" folder. It didn't get all confused that I was syncing up a folder called Documents to another folder called Documents. It just knew what I wanted to do. After syncing, I was surprised at how much duplicate content I had, probably from having to move files to and from PCs the old fashioned way - email, USB drives, via the network, etc.

When conflicts arose, I had the option of viewing both files and choosing which one to keep. But what was really great is that the conflicts weren't displayed as annoying pop-up messages while in the middle of syncing, thank goodness - they were just items in a list that I could review at my leisure.

I'd like the option to keep both copies of some files, but, at the moment, you have to pick one to keep or just leave the conflict be. The only problem with this is that Windows Live Messenger chat logs for the same contact had the same name on different machines and I wanted to keep both logs. Other than that, I could rename documents and photos to resolve the duplicately named, but different, files, but I'm still hoping for a "keep both files" button in a future release.

When viewing a Mesh-enabled folder, a pop-up window appears next to the Windows Explorer window, showing the history of your interactions with the folder (Sarah added this, Sarah deleted that), conflicts, members, and synchronized devices.

Although Mesh is going to do much more than just this syncing in the future, for now, it's providing a great way to keep my files in sync as I move from computer to computer.

I also discovered that I could invite some friends to Mesh by sharing a folder with them, something that could be done from either a PC or my Live Mesh online desktop. If you have Live Mesh and haven't shared your invites, please do so! I know some people who are *dying* for them.

If you want to learn more about Mesh and its future, I found the article and interview by Steve Gillmor, speaking with Microsoft Mesh lead David Treadwell (who should really start blogging again) absolutely fascinating. Be warned though, this isn't the kind of article you should skim quickly. Save it for when you have some time to grab a cup of coffee, sit down, read, re-read, and really take it all in. It's worth it, I promise. If that sounds like something you would like to do in that alternative universe where you can actually sit down and read things, well then, just go get the podcast and listen to it on your commute instead.

Test the Sync Framework

sarahintampa — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:30:00 GMT

The Microsoft Sync Framework is the platform that allows for taking web services and databases offline. It also provides optimized P2P sync for any sort of file, like music, videos, photos, contacts, or settings. With the Sync Framework, developers can add sync support to their applications, services, and devices in order to enable collaboration and offline capabilities. If that's something you're into, you can download the test build of the Sync Framework now and check it out. The Community Technology Preview (CTP) 2 test build of the Microsoft Sync Framework was made available on the Downloads site on the first day of MIX08. You can also watch a video to see a demo and walkthrough of the key components involved in building an app using Sync.

The Sync Framework works on Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Service Pack 3.

For an example of what Sync can do, check out SyncToy 2.0 Beta. SyncToy is a free tool which helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers quickly.

Robbie Bach @ CES 2008

Nic — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:18:00 GMT

Each year Microsoft's connected entertainment vision gets better and better. By now, you've seen the broader picture - Media Centers in the living room, Extenders in the bedroom, Xbox's in the playroom, Windows Mobile on the hip, and Sync in the car. Making all this work, and work more seamlessly in the future, is no small task of course, and the person charged with making it all work is Robbie Bach.

Robbie invited us over this morning to talk about what we can expect from the Connected Entertainment experience in 2008 as well as what's coming in the future (yes, Surface computers in your house.) The first digital decade is just the start.