A lot of people these days are becoming more aware of the energy savings to be had by shutting down unused equipment when it’s not in use. And while it’s no problem to shut off the TV and the end of the evening a lot of people have trouble doing the same for the PC. This is mainly because it’s nice to have all your work on your computer right there where you left it when you return in the morning. Of course, this is what “sleep” mode is for – you can save energy without losing your place.

But wouldn’t it be nice if your computer knew when to wake up for you? Well, it can! Using the Task Scheduler (In Vista: Control Panel\System and Maintenance\Administrative Tools\Task Scheduler), you can make your PC wake up at the designated time you want just by having it run a simple task – like say, launching then closing the command prompt window.

For example:

Schedule a task that executes the command cmd.exe with command line arguments [/c “exit”] (without the []) and make sure to set the ‘Wake computer up to execute this task’ in the power options. Schedule the task for when you want your computer to wake up and you will never have to wait on it again.

Source: Channel 10

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Yesterday I received an email from 360desktop announcing their long awaited beta release. I fired up my download manager and downloaded the small file.

In case you are wondering what 360desktop is?

More room for everything you like to do
360desktop transforms your desktop into a panoramic workspace - with more space for everything. Slide around your new workspace quickly and easily between all your open applications, windows and widgets - it’ll spin you out.

Easily make desktop widgets from your favorite parts of the web
See something that you like online? You can now clip it and put it right on the desktop: any part of any webpage or grab your favorite web widgets, RSS feeds, games, videos - whatever you like - it’s totally up to you!

An endless selection of stunning 360-degree wallpaper
Bring your desktop to life, with an endless selection of stunning 360-degree wallpaper. Incredible web enabled 360s, that can be inspiring, entertaining , branded, useful or just plain fun - whatever your interest, work or play.

And what’s coming next …

Create your own interactive 360s
Think of the desktop as an “interactive canvas”. Create simple 360s from your favorite images, photos, or online albums such as Flickr, or transform the desktop into a multimedia mash-up, with web content integrated into the photo background.

Share your creations and favorite 360s everywhere
Share your favorite 360s and your own creations with your friends. Publish any 360 as a web widget that you can embed within MySpace, Facebook and your other blogs and social networks.

At first, I was very excited as I have been waiting for it for so long but once I tried it, I immediately wanted to uninstall it. Why? I had this impression from initial screenshots on the site that 360desktop would be about getting full 3d control over your desktop in which you could move the desktop in all directions smoothly with some cool effects. but it wasnt the case, all 360desktop does is that it pointlessly scrolls your desktop horizontally, moreover you cant even set your own wallpaper. In beta, we have only 2 wallpapers to choose from which kind of sucks in my opinion.

Verdict:
360desktop has disappointed me. It might be useful for those with small monitors who want more horizontal space but does an average Joe really need horizontal space in this age when widescreen monitors are so common? Plus the inability to customize the desktop with a wallpaper of our choice doesnt make it worth it.

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)

Are you looking to share with your friends what you are running on your computer? or do you want to know what software does your friends run or which one do they use the most? Look no further than Wakoopa!

Wakoopa is a social networking site that monitors the software’s which run on the members computer.

The Wakoopa service has a small application that runs in the background on a user’s computer. The application gathers the information about open software and games, and then publishes the information to their profile on Wakoopa’s web site.

Wakoopa also allows you to share your software usage and your opinions about software. Recently they have also started a widgets section through which you can share your usage with your friends on popular social networking sites such as Facebook, My Space, Live Spaces, Orkut, and more in the form of Badges, Signatures and Cards.

Wakoopa is the perfect place for people to discover software online. When you sign up, you also install a small tracker that keeps tabs on what software you use. This creates an online profile for you to share with the world, and also gives you updates and recommendations on what your friends and others are using.

How does it work? 5 simple steps:

1. Sign up
   … and install our small tracker application on your PC or Mac. This tracks what software you use, without being too much of a burden.
2. Get tracked
   Every 15 minutes a list of what software you’re running is sent to your online profile.
3. Share it
   Tell your friends about your profile or put a Wakoopa widget on your website or blog.
4. Get updated
   When we notice there’s news about software you like, we’ll let you know. Recommendations, reviews, versions, etcetera: it’s there for you.
5. Find cool stuff
   If you ever want to find certain cool applications for the right job in the right category, just browse our database! We’ve got it all. 

Want to know what I run the most? or what I have used recently? Check out my profile on Wakoopa here http://wakoopa.com/taimurasad

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)

The IE team at Redmond HQ of Microsoft has send a fancy little cake to Mozilla’s Montain View HQ as a good gesture to join in the celebration of the release of Firefox 3.

Well what can I say about this? Didnt expect this coming from Microsoft. I was very surprised when I got to know that IE team also sent in a cake when Firefox 2.0 was launched.

If this wasnt enough, Mozilla revealed today that the Firefox team kept the IE logo piece frozen since then!

Kudos to Microsoft & IE team for showing such a good gesture!

Image Credit: Mozilla Links

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)

At this week's Tech Ed IT Pro 2008 in Orlando, IE Team announced some of the enhancements that they're making in Internet Explorer 8 to help IT Professionals deploy and manage IE8 within their organization.

Here is a quick run down to all the support that IE 8 is going to offer for IT Professionals:

Slipstream Support in Internet Explorer 8

Deploying Internet Explorer 7 as part of Windows XP installation was v.hard and troublesome. Many IT Pros wanted to update their Windows XP images to contain IE7 by default, so IE7 gets installed as part of the OS install. To do that the IT Pros needed to boot their existing images of Windows XP, install IE7 and then recapture the image. This process roughly used to took about 2 hours per image.

With Internet Explorer 8 and Windows Vista this isn't the case anymore! as they will allow us to “Slipstream” Internet Explorer 8 into a Vista image so that when you deploy Vista it already contains Internet Explorer 8.  Slipstream IE8  will only take about 10-15 minute per image.

Application Compatibility and Internet Explorer 8

Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) will help IT Pros detect and resolve potential issues between IE8 and internal applications and web sites. Further more Group Policy settings will help control those settings that most impact compatibility.

Updates to Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK)

The Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) will enable IT Pros to customize IE for their company’s needs. IEAK was previously available with IE 6 & IE 7. But in IE8, IEAK is getting a facelift and some enhancements has been added to improve the performance of IEAK. IEAK8 will support custom IE8 builds for new platforms: Vista and Windows Server 2008 and new IE8 features like Activities and Web Slices.

All of the above mentioned features will be included when IE 8 Beta 2 is released sometime in August.

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)

Microsoft Videos lets us explore and watch Microsoft’s collection of online video. The whole experience is built using Microsoft Silverlight platform. The site is a collection of all types of Microsoft videos which includes demos, advertisements, tutorials, press releases, Microsoft Research videos etc. We can scan through Quick Picks for the latest videos, or enter a search for a particular video and we can also choose from one of the given Video Categories.

I personally liked the site. It has got some useful demo videos especially for Expression Studio and I being a developer loved it as it isnt quite easy to find free demo videos for Microsoft Expression suite on the Internet.

Though I also think that the site wont really appeal the average Joe and it seems like the only purpose of Microsoft behind this website is to push their Silverlight technology more into main stream.

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)

Windows Vista on the 421-meter tall Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, China. It is one of the tallest building in Asia!

Credit for the image goes to a Chinese blogger Jakob Montrasio

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Eat your heart out, Firefox ! Well, maybe not. Internet Explorer 7 , the current version of Microsoft's browser and the one that comes with Windows Vista, can do a lot of the stuff Firefox can do. One of those things is the ability to handle add-ons (formerly "extensions" in Firefox).

The problem with IE add-ons is that most of them cost money. Finding decent, free ones is hard enough; even searching for free IE add-ons turns up scores of IE toolbars and little else. Toolbars! It seems like virtually every company with a product of some sort has an IE toolbar, evidently trying to capture the success of the ubiquitous Google Toolbar. Do we really need toolbars for casual game publishers, or for jazz radio?

Buzz up!on Yahoo!

We spent hours digging through the toolbars and other freebies to find ten totally free IE add-ons that don't suck. We split them into two categories: Useful Stuff and Fun Stuff. Each entry links to the Windows Marketplace page where you can find more information and a download link for each add-on.

Find as You Type
Hit CTRL-F in Firefox and type a word, and the browser parses each letter and finds the combination of characters instantly, if it exists on the site that you're searching. IE, however, has a lame search dialog box. Not anymore! Find as You Type replaces the IE search dialog with an interface much like that in Firefox, with largely the same functionality.

If you find the sequence punch, but it's not the instance you were looking for, navigate through all instances of your search string with the Next and Previous buttons. Click "Highlight All" to surround each instance with a bright, yellow glow. You can even match the case of the search string you type in if you wish to.

IE7 Open Last Closed Tab
Did you ever accidentally close a tab, and, having no idea what the URL was, doubt if you'd ever find it again? With this add-on installed, just hit ALT-X and the tab you closed most recently will reappear, as if by magic. It's simple and elegant.

IE Snapshot
With this add-on, you can capture parts of pages or entire pages as one of several file types: JPG, GIF, and even PDF. There's nothing to install; just run the executable, punch in the URL you wish to capture, and use the GUI to capture it as you please.

IE Snapshot runs on its own, separate of Internet Explorer—although it does use the browser within its own GUI. A Configuration tab lets you choose the file type and selection specs, and then you're ready to capture single or multiple pages in just a few clicks. IE Snapshot is perfect for creating presentations out of Web pages, or for printing your favorite pages with parameters that you control.

ieSpell
This is a must-have if you rely on spell checkers. Stop looking like a semiliterate dork in the forums with ieSpell, a universal spell checker that allows you to check your spelling in any text entry window.

ieSpell integrates itself with the right-click context menu. Just type in your text on any Web text entry field, right-click it, and click Check Spelling. ieSpell takes it from there, pointing out misspelled words and even making suggestions; it works much like the spell checker in any word processor.

WOT for Internet Explorer
A security program, WOT busts sites that try to assault you with spyware, adware, viruses, phishing, browser exploits, and other unsavory Web tactics. WOT rates sites, and allows you to help rate them, in terms of trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy, and child safety. WOT warns you when you try to interact with a site that could be harmful.

WOT uses its users ratings and also other trusted sources to keep your browser from becoming a liability when you hit the wrong site. It even integrates with Google, so that you'll see a WOT symbol next to each link (green for a good site, yellow for caution, and red for don't go there, sister!) Wondering what it stand for? Why, Web of Trust, of course.

FoxyTunes for Internet Explorer
Firefox users love this one, and you will, too. FoxyTunes lets you control just about any media player it finds on your PC. It presents a single, universal media control interface on your Web browser, and you can pump through tracks, choose songs, and perform other playback tasks.

Besides playing your own tracks, you can engage in some real-time music discovery, last.fm style. Just listen to music with FoxyTunes, and it'll learn your musical tastes. Then, click the FoxyTunes Planet button for recommendations. Learn about artists you might never have even heard of through FoxyTunes.

Loki for Internet Explorer
Loki is a little bit different. It's a Wi-Fi powered, GPS navigated toolbar that lets you find the nearest, say, Italian restaurant from your Wi-Fi-enabled notebook—as if the notebook were a Magellan GPS car navigation system. Yeah, it's a strange idea, but bear with me.

Skyhook has what it calls WPS, for Wi-Fi Positioning System, which gives Loki your physical location. Loki incorporates that data into your searches and other Internet activities, up to and including sharing your location via email or SMS.

Give Loki a try the next time you're traveling; you definitely won't need that Magellan.

PicLens for Internet Explorer
PicLens turns Web browsing into a visceral, 3D experience. Just install it, head to a PicLens-supporting site, and click the little Play button on any picture or movie. Suddenly you can browse the site via a virtual wall of photographs, such as this site with pics of my girlfriend, Charlize Theron.

Yeah, she digs me.

The best part about PicLens is those pics are constantly moving as you drag them about with your mouse. Click on one to be taken to its Web page, if there's a site associated with it. After you've experienced PicLens, the rest of the Web will be dull, dry, and old.

YouTube Downloader
This little cheater lets you download video from YouTube , and a number of other, similar sites around the Web. Just punch in a URL and it's off to dig up the video. Convert YouTube video into stuff like iPhone, PSP, WMV, XVid, and others.

You can even convert files after the download process is complete.

Finally, grab those undownloadable videos from YouTube or some other unsuspecting, viral site and make them your own. Just watch out for the MPAA and its power lawyers...

Crawler Fun Ball
Did you really think we'd let you leave without foisting upon you something you can actively play with? This is the one toolbar I let slide, allowing it to run in my browser (unless you count FoxyTunes).

Choose your settings upon installation (basically a bunch of borderline-adware stuff) and launch IE. Suddenly, a ball will bounce all over your desktop. You can grab it with the mouse and whip it about whenever you feel like it.

The rest is pretty vanilla. There's a search bar, customizable of course. There's email settings and other stuff. Entertain your recipients by making them believe you've gone mad—by including email smilies!

But do enjoy the fun ball!

Source: ExtremeTech

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Save time and money as Virtual PC allows you to maintain the compatibility of legacy and custom applications during migration to new operating systems and increases the efficiency of support, development, and training staffs.
With Microsoft® Virtual PC 2007, you can create and run one or more virtual machines, each with its own operating system, on a single computer. This provides you with the flexibility to use different operating systems on one physical computer.
For more information about the ways you can use virtual machines, see Virtual PC at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=78095.
This update for Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 includes support for the following additional Host and Guest Operating Systems:

Additonal Guest Operating System support:
Windows Vista® Ultimate Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows Vista® Business Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows Vista® Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows Server® 2008 Standard
Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3

Additional Host Operating System support:
Windows Vista® Ultimate Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows Vista® Business Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows Vista® Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3

Download At Microsoft

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Yes you read it right! a BSOD (BlueScreen of Death) screen saver from Microsoft!

One of the most feared colors in the NT world is blue. The infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) will pop up on an NT system whenever something has gone terribly wrong. Bluescreen is a screen saver that not only authentically mimics a BSOD, but will simulate startup screens seen during a system boot.

• On NT 4.0 installations it simulates chkdsk of disk drives with errors!
• On Win2K and Windows 9x it presents the Win2K startup splash screen, complete with rotating progress band and progress control updates!
• On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 it present the XP/Server 2003 startup splash screen with progress bar!

Bluescreen cycles between different Blue Screens and simulated boots every 15 seconds or so. Virtually all the information shown on Bluescreen's BSOD and system start screen is obtained from your system configuration - its accuracy will fool even advanced NT developers. For example, the NT build number, processor revision, loaded drivers and addresses, disk drive characteristics, and memory size are all taken from the system Bluescreen is running on.

Use Bluescreen to amaze your friends and scare your enemies!

Bluescreen runs on Windows 9x (requires DirectX), Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

Installation and Use

Note: before you can run Bluescreen on Windows 9x, you must copy \winnt\system32\ntoskrnl.exe from a Windows 2000 system to your \Windows directory. Simply copy Sysinternals BLUESCRN.SCR to your \system32 directory if on Windows NT/2K/XP/Vista/2003/2008 or \Windows\System directory if on Windows 9x. Right click on the desktop to bring up the Display settings dialog and then select the "Screen Saver" tab. Use the pull down list to find "Sysinternals Bluescreen" and apply it as your new screen saver. Select the "Settings" button to enable fake disk activity, which adds an extra touch of realism!

More Information

You can find out how real Blue Screens are generated, and what the information on the Blue Screen means in my December 1997 Windows NT Magazine NT Internals column, "Inside the Blue Screen."

Note: Some virus scanners flag the Bluescreen screen saver as a virus. If this is the case with your virus scanner, you may not be able to use this screen saver.

Download it Directly from Microsoft
Download BlueScreen (65 KB)

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Are you running the beta of IE8? With all the new features, like WebSlices, Activities, and the new Favorites Bar, there is a lot to see and try. So, if you want to get your IE8 Beta up to speed with only the best of the new features, look no further - here are the best add-ons for IE8:

1. Me.dium's Activity for IE8: With the Me.dium Activity for IE8, you can right-click on a web page or highlight text and right-click, then choose "Discover with Me.dium." You'll then be recommended new pages around your selection based on what other Me.dium users are surfing right now, in real-time. (Stay tuned for a Me.dium WebSlice, coming soon)
2. Internet Buzz on StumbleUpon: This add-on is a WebSlice that shows you the hottest sites on StumbleUpon right now. To subscribe to a WebSlice, click on the purple icon and then click "Add." You can then click on the WebSlice on your Favorites bar and see a list of thumbnails and links to the currently "most Stumbled" web sites.
3. eBay Search Activity & WebSlice: OK, technically this is 2 add-ons, but each of these are great. The eBay Search Activity lets you highlight text on any web page and then hover over "eBay Search" to see active listings for that item. The eBay WebSlice lets you monitor your favorite eBay items and auctions from IE8's Favorites Bar.
4. Facebook WebSlice: To access this WebSlice, just log into Facebook and then click on the purple WebSlice icon on your Favorites Bar to see your Facebook friends status updates. (Vista users - if you have an issue with this, launch IE as an Administrator before adding the WebSlice). Pick up the "Share on Facebook" Activity on this page, too.
5. Mapping Activities: Why have just one mapping activity? From this page, you can get both the Live Search Maps and Yahoo! Local Maps Activities.
6. News: Get the MSNBC "Related News" Activity here and the "MSN Headline" WebSlice here.
7. Helpful Activities: There are Activities that help you Define, Translate, Blog, and Email.
8. ShareThis: the ShareThis browser button works with IE8, too. With this button, you can easily share web content on various services like Digg, Facebook, del.icio.us, facebook, MySpace, StumbleUpon, etc.

Source: Channel 10

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

I just got my brand new notebook, its none other than HP Pavilion dv2799 Special Edition with famous "Verve" imprint finish. Before this, I owned an HP Pavilion dv5191 notebook. This one just kills that notebook in every department. From its sleek & sexy design to the power of Intel Core 2 Duo processor. This one has it all!

The system came with following configuration:

Operating system Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium 32-bit

Processor Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T9300
2.50 GHz, Level 2 cache 6 MB (45nm)

Memory 2048 MB
Supports up to 4 GB DDR2 memory

Storage
250 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive 5400 rpm
up to 9 GB partition for system recovery
Lightscribe Super Multi DVD Writer (+/-R +/-RW) with Double Layer
support
Create silkscreen-quality disc labels direct from your PC with LightScribe:
Just burn, flip, burn.
5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards,
MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards

Ease of use Integrated finger print reader

Mobile entertainment
HP QuickPlay media player software and its dedicated menu controls,
music and DVD buttons
HP Pavilion WebCam with Integrated Microphone
HP Mobile Remote Control

Display 14.1” WXGA High Definition BrightView Widescreen Display
Resolution: 1280 x 800

Video
NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS
Up to 1407 MB Total Available Graphics Memory with 128 MB
dedicated PCI Express®

Sound
3D Sound Blaster Pro compatible sound 16 bit integrated
Altec Lansing® speakers

Included accessories
HP Wireless lasermouse and Slip Case

Communication
High speed 56K modem
Ethernet 10/100BT integrated network interface
Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection
Bluetooth® wireless networking
One ExpressCard/54 slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)

Keyboard
101 key compatible keyboard
Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical Scroll Up/Down
pad, volume control, mute buttons, 2 Quick Launch Buttons

Ports
2 USB 2.0, 1 HDMI connector, 1 VGA port, 1 RJ11 modem connector, 1
RJ45 ethernet connector, S-video TV out, 2 headphones-out, 1 mic-in, 1
IEEE 1394, remote control infrared port (remote optional), cable docking
connector

Power
90 W AC Power Adapter
6-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery

Software
Microsoft® Works and Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007
60-Day Trial Version
Microsoft® Internet Explorer 7.0
Windows Mail
Adobe® Reader 8.0
Windows Media Player
Windows Photo Gallery
DVD Play
Windows Movie Maker, Windows DVD Maker
Cyberlink DVD Suite
Windows Media center, QuickPlay for Windows
Digital Persona Fingerprint reader software
HP Total Care Advisor

Weight
Out of package: 2.50 kg (5.59 lbs)
Packed: 4.40 kg

Dimensions
Out of package: 23.70 cm (L) x 33.40 cm (W) x 2.60 cm (min) H /
3.90 cm (max) H
Packed: 485 x 112 x 360 mm

The design team at HP has done a great job, the "Verve" imprint is nothing short of "Wow".

HDMI Port: One of the main reason i bought this notebook.

Touchpad: Feels great. The on/off switch is a great plus!

Integrated fingerprint reader lets me log in & out of Windows and websites just with a slide of my finger.

Keyboard: The keyboard on this notebook is a great improvement. The keyboard on my previous notebook felt too cheap. This one is way better. Also the quick launch buttons on the top of the keyboard are touch sensitive, which is another great plus of the notebook.

and yes, HP ships free wireless laser mouse and a slip case with this special edition notebook.

The score of this notebook on Windows Experience Index is 4.1

For the complete photo gallery, visit here (Windows Live Spaces) or here (Flickr)

Pros:
1. Design ("Verve" finish is awesome!)
2. Size: I was worried at first when I ordered this notebook that 14.1'' would be too small for me as my previous notebook was 15.4''. But to my surprise, I found 14.1'' to be the perfect size!
3. The power of Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 Penryn Processor (Penryn is the new 45nm processor)
4. Build quality
5. HDMI port
6. Wireless Laser mouse & Slip Case

Cons:
1. Weight: I thought it would be light, but that isnt really the case.
2. Only 2 USB ports. Should have been atleast 3.
3. 6 Cell battery means only 2 hours of power backup. (see an update on battery below.)

My Rating: 9.0/10

Here is a video of notebook starting up for the very first time. (Requires Microsoft Silverlight)

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Internet Explorer 8 can be installed on Microsoft Windows Vista^® Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Vista, Windows XP^® Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Server^® 2008 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2). Downloads are available from the following locations:

Download Links:

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Vista x64 Edition and Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Window XP SP2

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Server 2003 SP2

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Server 2003 SP2 x64 Edition and Windows XP SP2 Pro x64 Edition

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Check this cool Valentine's Day card brought to you by Microsoft Silverlight and Windows Live teams , Share the love.
Just go to http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/sharethelove/default.html and start building your own Valentines Card.

You can add any photos from your flickr account or Windows Live Spaces, then you can type your message to be sent and select a nice tune to make it musical and send this valentine card!

Source: meraTechPort

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Matthew Perry Jennifer Aniston Windows 95 guide Part 2

Matthew Perry Jennifer Aniston Windows 95 guide Part 3

Matthew Perry Jennifer Aniston Windows 95 guide Part 4

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Microsoft seems to be preparing to release an unusual "Vista Plus Pack" on February 15th. Based on the provided box art, the Plus Pack appears to be a collection of four casual games that are "Enhanced for Windows Vista". The listing for the software was found on Future Shop's online catalog by MadDoggyca in our forums. Details below:
Releases 15 Feb/08. User-friendly software combines the features of Vista Home Basic with even more impressive and user-friendly capabilities. Features Windows Aero, an efficient and visually stunning interface that makes it easier to accomplish multiple tasks at once by providing a three-dimensional, real-time, animated view of all of your open applications and documents.
FEATURES:

• By integrating search throughout the operating system, helps you quickly find and organize large collections of documents, pictures, movies, videos, and music.
• Includes Windows Tablet and Touch Technology that enables you to interact with your Tablet PC-compatible computer with a digital pen or your fingertip instead of having to use a keyboard.
• Includes all of the Windows Media Center capabilities for turning your PC into an all-in-one home entertainment centre enjoy music, photos, and DVD movies.

Note that the price of $39.99 is in Canadian dollars since Future Shop is a Canadian home electronics store.
As some of our readers noted, whatever happened to the Ultimate Extras?

Source: winbeta.org

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Microsoft have released the new connect beta site for it’s elite users to test the latest software’s provided by Microsoft. The release number on the connect beta site reads as Build Microsoft.Connect 3.00.00.0125. Many improvements have been made in this new site and also the user interface has been improved to a greater extent.

Check it out at http://connectbeta.microsoft.com/

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

This gorgeous collection of screensavers will help you celebrate the beginning of the fall in style. From falling leaves and auburn forests to cute woodland creatures, it's easy to get images of autumn on your desktop.

3D Falling Autumn Leaves
There will be no doubting it's fall on your PC with this nifty screensaver featuring pretty autumn-colored leaves gently falling.

3D Autumn Wood 2
Leaves fall, while birds, butterflies and other animals frolic in the background in this tranquil screensaver.

Desktop Autumn Screensaver
Make autumn come alive by watching auburn leaves fall on your desktop.

Fall Vail Volume 1
The quintessential Colorado town of Vail provides a beautiful setting for the fall season. Grace your desktop with several scenes from the surrounding area.

3D Woodland Thanksgiving 2
The only thing better than little animals frolicking in an autumn forest is a screensaver that captures their overwhelming cuteness.

Colors of Fall Photo Screensaver
Put high-quality images of fall trees, pumpkins and leaves on your desktop with this photo-based screensaver.

AutumnLeaves
This autumn screensaver puts picturesque seasonal colors on your desktop.

Content by:

Source: MSN.com

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

A new attempt to provide a higher-end sequel to the ubiquitous JPEG image standard is officially under way.

The multiple countries participating in the Joint Photographic Experts Group, which created the JPEG standard, have approved an effort to make Microsoft's HD Photo format a standard called JPEG XR, said Bill Crow, who has led Microsoft's HD Photo effort and who just took over the company's Microsoft Live Labs Seadragon imaging project. XR stands for "extended range," a reference to the format's ability to show a wider and finer range of tonal gradations and a richer color palette.

"The country vote is done, and it passed," Crow said. "That means the International JPEG committee has decided to go ahead and create the standard. Now it's just a process of doing that work," a process that will begin later this month in a meeting in Kobe, Japan.

The move is an important step in the transformation of the photo format from an in-house technology called Windows Media Photo to a neutral format more likely to be palatable to companies that don't want to be beholden to Microsoft.

However, the move also means that Microsoft will have to be more patient with its hopes to get HD Photo to catch on more broadly. Standardization "typically takes around a year," Crow said.

The wait is worth it, said Josh Weisberg, director of digital imaging evangelism for Microsoft's Rich Media Group.

"As much as I would love to have more support for it, I think it's logical for people to wait for there to be a standardized version of it," he said. "If we weren't going through the standardization process, we'd be pushing much harder for people to support it."

Source:
News.com

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

One of the members of thehotfix.net forums confirmed that he received a mail from Microsoft saying that the Beta version of Windows Internet Explorer 8 would be released later this year along with Windows Vista SP1. There is no information on when the exact date would be. However, since mainstream support for XP doesn’t end until April 2009 Microsoft will support IE 8 to Windows XP users.
But in the same way that IE 7 was released, there will be 2 versions: one that is built on the security settings of Vista, and the other one on the settings of XP SP2 or SP3. So it will be a good news for all the Windows XP users who can also use Internet Explorer 8. More information will be provided when available!!!
Source: Tech Today

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)