Windows Experience Blog : Featured News

Windows Media Center Gadgets for Windows SideShow Released

Brandon LeBlanc — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 23:32:10 GMT

The Windows SideShow Team has announced that the final version of the Windows Media Center Gadgets for Windows SideShow is now available for download on Windows Live Gallery in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors!

Download: Windows Media Center Gadgets for Windows SideShow (32-bit)
Download: Windows Media Center Gadgets for Windows SideShow (64-bit)

The Windows Media Center Gadgets for Windows SideShow package is made up of the following 4 Gadgets for your Windows SideShow device:

Now Playing: View what is currently playing in Windows Media Center (includes playback controls)
Pictures + Video: Browse your Photos and Videos folders
Music: Browse your Music folder and play any song
TV: Look at what is on TV via the Windows Media Center Guide, Schedule Recordings, and View Recordings (in a Thumbnail view)

If you are a heavy Windows Media Center user and have a Windows SideShow device – these gadgets are a must-have. My main desktop PC is a Dell XPS 420 which comes with a built-in Windows SideShow display on the top of the system. It is great being able to walk up to the system to check and schedule TV recordings especially if I’m in a hurry and don’t want to sit down at my desk and fire up Windows Media Center. Quick access is awesome.

UPDATED: Silverlight 2.0 Released, Deep Zoom Composer Updated

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:57:00 GMT

Scott Guthrie, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Developer Division, has announced the final release of Silverlight 2.0. Scott runs the teams responsible for Silverlight, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), ASP.NET, and IIS 7.0. Silverlight 2.0 is a major release for Microsoft’s Developer Division and allows developers to utilize the benefits of .NET within any browser. Scott also lets us know of several high-profile websites that are jumping onboard in utilizing Silverlight 2.0 such as CBS College Sports Network to broadcast 20,000 hours of live games, AOL with their new AOL Mail, and Blockbuster with their new MovieLink subscription service.

My favorite example of the capability of Silverlight 2.0 is the Hard Rock Memorabilia website using Deep Zoom. This impressive site, ~~designed~~ built by the awesome folks at Vertigo, showcases tons of music memorabilia of historic value such as The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour Bus which is my personal favorite since I got to see it in person several years ago at the Hard Rock in Universal Studios Orlando.

CORRECTION: The Hard Rock Memorabilia website (including the embeddable "widget" that you can share on your website as mentioned below) was actually conceived and designed by the creative geniuses at the San Francisco-based advertising and design firm Duncan/Channon. You can read about the new widget capabilities in the Hard Rock Memorabilia website in this Duncan/Channon blog post. They also have a post up about the Hard Rock Memorabilia website for you to read as well.

They have enabled a super cool widget feature on the Hard Rock Memorabilia website where you can zoom in to a specific object in the collection and choose to share it by embedding it on your blog! As you can see above, I embedded the Magical Mystery Tour Bus Widget for you to see here. Special thanks to OffBeatMammal for the heads up on the sharing functionality in the Hard Rock Memorabilia.

Speaking of Deep Zoom, to go along with the final release of Silverlight 2.0 a new version of Deep Zoom Composer has been released.

Download: Deep Zoom Composer Preview 2 (October 2008)

The Deep Zoom Composer Team tells us that this release is mostly an “under-the-hood” release focusing on reliability. In the near future, expect the Deep Zoom Composer Team to talk more about the changes as they polish the V1 release of Deep Zoom Composer. For those not sure what Deep Zoom Composer is: Deep Zoom Composer is an application that lets users very easily compose their very own Deep Zoom collections, similar (but not as complex) to the Hard Rock Memorabilia website I mentioned above. After composing a Deep Zoom collection in Deep Zoom Composer – you are then given the ability to upload your collection to the Microsoft Live Labs PhotoZoom website. Developers can use this tool to develop their own Deep Zoom collections as well for their own websites. You can check out my Deep Zoom collections on PhotoZoom here. I plan on adding many more collections

Congrats to the Silverlight Team on their Silverlight 2.0 release!

Download the “I’m A PC” Messenger Theme Pack

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 02:52:30 GMT

To go with your Life Without Walls Wallpapers for your PC, you can now download the “I’m A PC” Windows Live Messenger Theme Pack that gives you a variety of Display Pictures and Backgrounds for your IM conversation window.

Click above to download the “I’m A PC” Messenger Theme Pack. I’ve got it installed on my PCs and it works just fine with the latest Windows Live Messenger Beta available for download at download.live.com.

Thanks to Paul Thurrott for the heads up!

HP Announces New HP TouchSmart PCs

Brandon LeBlanc — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:01:33 GMT

Several weeks ago I had blogged about HP’s all-in-one PC with amazing touch capabilities – the HP TouchSmart PC. Specifically, I discussed the IQ500 series HP TouchSmart PC models (the IQ504 and IQ506). The IQ500 series HP TouchSmart PCs were considered the 2nd generation HP TouchSmart PCs. The original HP TouchSmart PC made its debut in January of 2007. Just recently, HP has announced the IQ800 series HP TouchSmart PCs – the IQ804 and IQ816.

So what’s new with the IQ800 series HP TouchSmart PCs? The IQ800 series HP TouchSmart PC is 25 ½” versus the IQ500 series models which were 22”. Just like the IQ500 series HP TouchSmart PCs, the IQ800 series sports ambient lighting that shines on your keyboard. This can be very useful in low lighting. However the IQ800 series allows you to change the color of the ambient lighting. The IQ800 series also comes with a pocket media drive bay for user’s portable media (the HP MediaSmart Connect has a pocket media drive bay so you can take media between the two devices). The IQ800 series (both the IQ804 and IQ816) come with built-in TV Tuners for Windows Media Center awesomeness.

The IQ800 series HP TouchSmart PC is also wall-mountable as well!

There are some differences between the IQ804 and IQ816 HP TouchSmart PC models. The IQ816 comes with a Blu-ray drive for HD movies. The IQ804 comes with a 500GB harddrive while the IQ816 comes with a 750GB harddrive. The chipset and graphics for the IQ816 is a bit higher than the IQ804. If you’re looking to maximize your investment in the HP TouchSmart PC – the IQ816 is top-of-the-line.

The IQ800 series makes a worthy addition to the HP TouchSmart PC Family. I hope to blog more about the HP TouchSmart PC this fall!

Stay on top of the Election with MSNBC News Beta in Windows Media Center

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:13:00 GMT

Under the TV + Movies menu in Windows Media Center, you may have noticed a new tile: MSNBC News Beta. The MSNBC News Beta tile will begin appearing in Windows Media Center for users in the United States and Canada running Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate. Users don’t need to download anything to enable MSNBC News Beta in Windows Media Center. MSNBC News Beta gives users quick access to the latest election news, top stories and weather all from one screen.

Directly within Windows Media Center, users can browse Editor Picks and Most Popular videos (which are selected by viewers). I discovered that when I click on a specific video, a “+” icon appears. When this “+” icon is clicked, it gets added to a custom news video playlist. There are quite a few videos to choose from which is nice.

I was able to quickly browser through a bunch of MSNBC’s Decision ’08 videos and add them to a custom news video playlist to watch all at once.

I was also able to browse other categories such as Business, Sports, and Entertainment which all have videos I can either watch as I go or add to a custom news video playlist. MSNBC News Beta also sports some pretty neat search functionality that lets me search for stories with specific keywords.

And the 5-day weather forecast (available for any ZIP code in the United States) is impressive too!

As a heavy Windows Media Center user myself, I for one will be using MSNBC News Beta to stay on top of not only the upcoming U.S. Election but all the latest news.

For more on MSNBC News Beta and Windows Media Center – click here!

Esther Choi is back and she’s feeling “Snippy”

Brandon LeBlanc — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:46:00 GMT

Esther is back with a brand new demo focusing on another cool feature in Windows Vista - Snipping Tool. Snipping Tool is really handy for anyone who needs to capture and/or send an image of their screen, a web page or document - really any time where the visual explains more than a description.

We've heard great things about the other videos we did (on Previous Versions, Live Icons and Instant Search), so our plan is to continue providing content like this. Leave a comment and let us know what you think of the video, and if you have suggestions for tips and tricks we should cover in future videos!

Also, just a reminder that you can still get the Windows Vista Product Guide - a great resource on all things Windows Vista - for FREE in paperback. All you have to do is pay for shipping. Order your copy here! The paperback guide doesn't include the new stuff in Windows Vista SP1, but you can download all of that information here

Microsoft Live Labs Releases Color Picker Gadget

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:58:00 GMT

I caught this bit of news tonight from Redmond Pie’s awesome Web Slice for IE8 Beta 2 which shows their latest headlines: Microsoft Live Labs has released a really neat Color Picker Gadget for Windows Sidebar.

Download: Color Picker Gadget from Microsoft Live Labs

Essentially the Color Picker Gadget gives users quick access to RGB color hex codes. This could be extremely handy when working with several apps or doing website development and you’re needing to utilize a palette across the board. This Gadget allows you to create and save your own color palettes and search palettes from the website COLOURlovers. This was a side project of Live Labs Designer Jeff Weir. For more information, check out this post on the Microsoft Live Labs Blog.

Are you a Geek? Want a Chance to Win a LifeCam VX-5500?

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:57:00 GMT

A few weeks ago, Chris Pirillo (of Lockergnome fame) launched a brand new community website – called Geeks! - designed to give geeks of all ages a place to socialize on the web. On Geeks! – folks can sign-up to become members on the site and create photo albums, add videos, and even create a blog – all for free! The best part essentially is interacting and socializing with fellow geeks with the same geeky interests as you. Being a geek myself – I’ve signed up on Geeks! and if you’re a geek – you should too!

To help attract more geeks to Geeks! – the awesome Microsoft LifeCam folks at Microsoft Hardware have donated 10 Microsoft LifeCam VX-5500 webcams to Chris for a giveaway. These are the brand spankin’ new webcams just announced earlier this month.

This is how you can be entered to win one of these new Microsoft LifeCam VX-5500 webcams:

1. Sign-up to become a member of Geeks!

2. Join the Microsoft Hardware group on Geeks!

Once Geeks! hits 7,500 members – Chris will randomly draw 10 names for the 10 Microsoft LifeCam VX-5500 webcams from the list of members in the Microsoft Hardware group. You are required to be a member of the Microsoft Hardware group to be entered for the giveaway. As of the writing of this post – Geeks! currently has 5,040 members. So sign-up and tell your friends!

I own both a Microsoft LifeCam VX-5000 and VX-7000 and both offer excellent quality video as well as impressive video conferencing capabilities via Windows Live Messenger. You can also use the brand new LifeCam 2.0 software to add video effects to your webcam video and images. Microsoft’s LifeCams (including the VX-5500 being given away) are also compatible with AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Microsoft Office Communicator, and Skype.

Click here to view Chris’s announcement of the giveaway.

After you sign-up on Geeks! – feel free to add me as one of your geek friends!

This post was written using the new Beta of Windows Live Writer now available on download.live.com. I used Chris’s YouTube video to test Windows Live Writer’s ability to insert videos from YouTube. In the past I’ve only inserted videos from Soapbox on MSN Video. For a more complete list of what’s new with the Windows Live Writer Beta – click here.

Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2 Released

Brandon LeBlanc — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:10:00 GMT

I caught this via Nic over at Channel 10 today – a new version of Microsoft Pro Photo Tools has been released: Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2.

Download: Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2

The first thing I want to mention in regards to what’s new with Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2 is something I think many readers here will find as very good news: Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2 now has support for 64-bit Windows Vista.

Here’s what else is new with Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2:

Support for reading & writing XMP side car metadata enabling interoperability with Adobe products.
Viewing actual RAW images, in addition to thumbnails
Conversion of RAW files to JPEG, TIFF, and HD Photo using “As Shot” camera settings.
The ability to resize RAW images.
Support for geotagging international locales
Improved functionality for geotagging images.

And the features from the previous version of Microsoft Pro Photo Tools is there there too including the use of Virtual Earth 3D for 3D renderings of a image’s location.

For more details, check out the team’s post on the Microsoft Professional Photography Blog.

Life without Walls Wallpapers for your PC

Brandon LeBlanc — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:14:00 GMT

In light of tonight's new ad "Life without Walls" seen in newspapers today along with the new "Real PC" TV ads (see Chris's post); I've decided to make wallpapers for folks so they can add "Life without Walls" as wallpaper on their PC.

1920x1200

1650x1050

1600x1200

1280x1024

1280x800

Just click on the above thumbnails for which ever screen resolution you need and in Flickr - choose "All sizes" and then "Original". Right-click and download away!

These wallpapers were uploaded to Flickr using Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta - available at download.live.com.

Windows Live Beta Round-Up & Plug-ins for Windows Live Photo Gallery

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:19:00 GMT

Right now as I write this everyone should be enjoying the shiny new Windows Live Betas - available for download at download.live.com. I'd like to take a moment to highlight several blog posts from the Windows Live Product Teams I think folks will be interested in reading.

Tanja, Program Manager for Windows Live Mail, is back on the Windows Live Mail Blog talking about today's Windows Live Mail Beta release. We all know that Windows Live Mail is sporting calendar sync with Windows Live Calendar (currently in Beta at calendar.live.com) but Tanja sheds some light on some specific calendaring features such as the "Add to Calendar" button. When you're reading an email with important information about an event or related to an event all you need to do is click "Add to Calendar" and you can take that information within the email and turn it into an Event in one of your Calendars. She also discusses the Event window where you can set the event to reoccurring, set a start and stop time and more.

Speaking of Windows Live Calendar - tomorrow Thursday Sept. 18 starting around 3PM Pacific Time the Windows Live Calendar Beta will be down for a few hours while the service gets upgraded.

Aaron from the Windows Live Messenger Team posted on the Windows Live Messenger Blog and discusses their Beta release and the features within the new Beta release such as Favorites, Group IM, Personalization, and the What's New feed. Aaron also mentions that the Windows Live Messenger Beta also has the ability to sign in at multiple locations called MPOP (short for Multiple Points of Presence).

The Windows Live Writer Team published a very extensive list of changes and updates in their Beta release. You should definitely check it out if you're a heavy Windows Live Writer.

And the Windows Live Digital Memories Team has posted lists of new features and changes in both the Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta and Windows Live Movie Maker Beta.

And Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta? Yup! Michael Palermiti, Program Manager for Windows Live Photo Gallery, has a blog post up on the Windows Live Dev Blog discussing new extensibility in the Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta. Developers now have a framework to develop publishing plug-ins for Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Matter a fact, Omar Shahine has published a plug-in he created for publishing photos to SmugMug.

When folks create new plug-ins for Windows Live Photo Gallery, the Digital Memories Team will add the plug-ins to this page off their blog. Bookmark it now ;-)

Be sure to check out previous blog post on the Windows Live Betas and outlining what's new in each of the client applications.

Next Wave of Windows Live Introduced with New Betas

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Want to check out what's next for Windows Live? Chris Jones, Corporate Vice President for Windows Live Experience Program Management, has announced today the availability of new Betas for the Windows Live client applications on the Windows Live Wire blog. These Betas showcase significant updates to the client applications in the Windows Live suite introducing the next wave of Windows Live products and services. Chris does a fantastic job explaining the term "wave" and how it's used to describe Windows Live releases. Definitely give his post a read as it discusses some background for Windows Live as it's progressed from 2006 to 2007 to today. Expect regular posts on the Windows Live Wire blog from members of the Windows Live Engineering Team discussing in greater detail specifics on the new stuff coming up for Windows Live.

To download the new Windows Live Betas - just head on over to download.live.com later today and install the betas.

When we talk about the Windows Live suite - we are talking about the following desktop client applications that sit on the user's PC that tap in to the Windows Live services in the "cloud" (the web). These applications are only part of the Windows Live story as they all connect in more than one way to the Windows Live web services. Windows Live represents what is called software + services where software is connected to services on the web. The follow applications are part of the Windows Live suite:

Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Mail
Windows Live Writer
Windows Live Photo Gallery
Windows Live Movie Maker (NEW)
Windows Live Family Safety

Windows Live Movie Maker is brand new to the Windows Live suite in the next major wave of releases for Windows Live. But I'll talk more about Windows Live Movie Maker in a bit.

An example of how these client applications tap into the Windows Live services in the "cloud" is how the Windows Live client applications handle contacts. A single contacts storage service - called Windows Live Contacts - powers your Messenger contact list and Address Book in Windows Live Hotmail. Your Messenger contact list *is* your Windows Live Contacts. As Chris Jones said in his Windows Live Wire blog entry - these updated Windows Live client applications are "designed to work best when connected to our suite of web-based services". I've got one word for that - w00t!

Ok enough of the technicalities - let's take a look at what's new with the Windows Live client application betas. Keep in mind I'm only going to briefly cover some of these features as this post could get really long if I went in-depth. I'll dive deeper into specific features in later posts.

NOTE: Instead of putting "Beta" at the end of every product name everything here on out is related to the Windows Live Betas being released today and not the RTM Windows Live suite (aka the non-Beta Windows Live apps).

Let's start with Windows Live Messenger. Windows Live Messenger essentially was almost completely redesigned.

By default, the UI sports an all new lighter color scheme. You'll notice that the tabs in Messenger are no longer on the left-hand side. Instead, they now sit in a "Tab Bar" just above the video carousal or banner ad. The Tab Bar can be turned off. You can also have your What's New feed from Windows Live Spaces appear in Windows Live Messenger for you to keep track of what's happening with your friends in Windows Live. You can see the What's New feed on your Windows Live Spaces homepage today.

When you mouse over a contact, Windows Live Messenger now has a neat mouse-over menu that lets you choose a variety of options such as sending a text message to a contact's cell, calling that contact, or viewing their contact card.

TIP: For your most favorite contacts you can drag them to the Favorites category. I use the Favorites category in Messenger for contacts that I instant message with the most.

However one of the biggest changes to Windows Live Messenger is how you can personalize your Messenger experience. I was able to change the way my contact list looks which is great. I am also now able to choose a "scene" for the main window of Messenger. There are several scenes that come with Messenger I was able to choose from. I discovered you can also choose your own scene from photos you have on your PC as well. When I chose a scene - Messenger automatically changed the color of my Messenger windows to match the coloring in the scene I chose.

In the screenshot, you can see I chose one of the desktop wallpapers that came with Windows Vista (the one that is also the background here on the Windows Vista Team Blog). Now what is really neat about choosing a scene for Messenger is that it also changes how the Messenger window looks when you're chatting with a friend. Essentially you can truly change how your contacts "see" you. Because I changed my scene in Messenger to be the Windows Vista energy wallpaper - when I chat with someone on Messenger (who is also running the Beta) their Messenger window will reflect my scene. This is the conversation window I see when I initiate a conversation with the Windows Experience Blog. Take a look:

Windows Live Messenger also lets you choose a Signature Sound that plays for your contacts when you sign-in to Messenger.

There is more than just customization changes to Windows Live Messengers folks will notice with the Beta. Users can now create Groups where they can add up to 20 people for private group instant messaging. Users can now share photos directly within the conversation window which I found to be an excellent new feature.

I can choose multiple photos to share with a Messenger contact and go through the photos with them in the conversation window. Instead of sending photos one by one in Messenger - this is a much easier way share photos with friends. You can either press the "Photos" button in the top left-hand corner of the conversation window or drag and drop photos onto the chat box.

In Windows Live Mail - users will enjoy full calendar sync with Windows Live Calendar. I've been waiting for this feature for a long time and it's very exciting to finally see!

I was able to create new calendars and have them sync up in Windows Live Calendar and vice versa. Windows Live Mail will also import calendars from Windows Calendar in Windows Vista as well which will then also sync up to Windows Live Calendar if you've signed up for the Windows Live Calendar Beta at calendar.live.com.

TIP: In both Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail - you'll notice that contacts display tile (or status "dot") will glow green if they are online, yellow is they are "Away", and red if they are "Busy". If a contact is offline - their status "dot" will be white or their display tile will be faded. The status icons and colors are going to be consistent across Windows Live.

Windows Live Photo Gallery expands on helping users manage their digital photo collections by offering several new features that make managing their photos a lot easier.

Windows Live Photo Gallery now has face-detection technology that helps find people within your photos. When I opened a photo of Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld from one of the new TV ads, Windows Live Photo Gallery detected two people in the photo. I was then able to add people tags to each of the people Windows Live Photo Gallery detected.

When a person is detected, all I needed to do was put my mouse over that person and a list of my Windows Live Contacts appeared. I can choose a person from my Windows Live Contacts or manually add a name. I certainly don't have Bill Gates or Jerry Seinfeld as Windows Live Contacts ;-)

TIP: If Windows Live Photo Gallery is unable to detect some faces, you can add them manually by clicking on "Add people tag". You can then draw a square over a face and choose a people tag for that person.

There are also new options for fixing your photos in Windows Live Photo Gallery in the Beta such as "Straighten photo" and "Black and White Effects".

If a photo is tilted in some awkward way, the "Straighten photo" tool lets you align the photo to fix that tilt. And sometimes you might want to create some old fashioned black and white photos but didn't shoot the photos in black and white - now you can quickly make them black and white in Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Just like with the last release - Windows Live Photo Gallery continues to let you upload your photos to either Windows Live Spaces or Flickr. But under the "Extras" menu you'll notice there is an option to "Create a Photosynth". Consider this like a quick shortcut to creating new Synths for Photosynth. If you have the Photosynth plugin installed on your system, you can jump into creating a Synth right from Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Windows Live Writer continues to be the best (and coolest) blog editing tool on the web.

New UI lets you switch via tabs at the bottom between blog post "edit", "preview", and HTML much more quickly - which is something I find extremely useful as I am always putting embed code in my blog posts and switching between edit and HTML is something I do quite often. Windows Live Writer now also supports being able to upload videos directly to online video services such as Soapbox on MSN Video and YouTube.

Windows Live Movie Maker is the newest addition to the Windows Live suite. This isn't simply Windows Movie Maker from Windows Vista re-branded. Windows Live Movie Maker was, like Windows Live Messenger, pretty much re-designed. Using the familiar Fluent user interface (as seen in Microsoft Office 2007) - or commonly referred to as the "ribbon" UI - Windows Live Movie Maker offers a brand new movie making and editing experience with the average consumer in mind.

Windows Live Movie Maker lets you add audio tracks and video effects to your videos.

Once you edit your videos using Windows Live Movie Maker you can upload those videos directly to Soapbox on MSN Video.

I use Windows Live Movie Maker today to bring in videos I take with my LifeCam VX-7000. I edit them and splice them together and then upload to Soapbox. The VX-7000 shoots some pretty good quality video for uploading to the web. Most webcams today consumers own can shoot some pretty decent video and what better than to use Windows Live Movie Maker to edit those videos and upload them to Soapbox for all to see?

It is important to understand that Windows Live Movie Maker Beta is in the early stage of testing and will of course continue to evolve. Part of getting the Beta in your hands today is getting feedback to shape the product.

And finally we have Windows Live Family Safety. Windows Live Family Safety offers an improved and simplified sign up process makes it easier to configure the service and manage your kids' activities online. Because I don't have kids myself and don't need this application, I don't have much experience with it to-date. But if you have a family, this application is something you should certainly check out especially when you're looking to keep your kids safe while being on the Internet.

Whew. This turned in to a very long post - one of my longest yet. There is some very exciting things happening with Windows Live so it deserves such a long post. I think I've outlined most of the biggest changes you can check out in the Windows Live Betas today. To leave feedback: head on over to the Windows Live Wire blog or go to feedback.live.com.

If there are any specifics within the Windows Live Betas you want to hear more about - let me know!

UPDATE: I've updated the screenshots so they are a bit of a higher quality.

Zune 3.0 Has Arrived, Blue Zune 8 Unboxed!

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:58:00 GMT

As was announced last week - the Zune Team rolled out their Zune 3.0 release today consisting of updated Software and Firmware which is now available for all to enjoy at the updated Zune.net website. Click here to go directly to the Zune 3.0 software download page. Once you download and install the Zune 3.0 software, your Zune device once it's connected will be offered new firmware. You can now enjoy new features such as Channels, Personal Picks, Mix View, Buy from FM and more. Oh and the new Now Playing screen is pretty slick too! Also hitting store shelves as we speak are 2 new Zune devices: the Zune 16 and Zune 120. And the Zune 8 is now available in shiny blue-on-silver. As readers of the blog are aware, I've expressed keen interest in picking up a Blue Zune 8. And I did! To celebrate today's Zune 3.0 release I figured I'd post some unboxing shots of the new blue Zune 8.

The Box

Opening the Zune 8 Box

Unboxed

The BLUE Zune 8

I also did some shots comparing the Blue Zune 8 with a Black Zune 8 and a Zune 80. Take a look:

Zumerama does an unboxing of a Zune 16 and Paul Thurrott unboxes the Zune 120. Jason Dunn from Zune Thoughts also discusses his recent trip to Zune Headquarters in Redmond which is also worth a read.

The Zune 16 is available in stores in all black however today it was announced that people can order different colored Zune 16's exclusively via Zune Originals. Zune Originals will offer the Zune 16 in blue, red, pink and green as an online exclusive only. New artwork will also be hitting Zune Originals as well!

To help users utilize the new wireless functionality in their Zune devices - the Zune Team is also announcing today that it is working with high-speed Internet access provider Wayport Inc. to offer Zune users free wireless access to the Zune Marketplace from more than 9,800 participating McDonald's restaurants across the United States.

I'm always looking to discover new music. Add me as a friend on the Zune Social and let me know of some new music I should try out.

Partners Take Advantage of IE8 Beta 2, New Languages Available

Brandon LeBlanc — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:34:00 GMT

With the release of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 a few weeks ago, users were introduced to new features, such as Web Slices and Accelerators, as well as enhanced Search capabilities that make browsing the Web much easier. Users can now be exposed to specific bits of information they want quick access to - from the latest news to the latest weather to search for a new blue 8GB Zune. I'd like to take a moment to highlight just a few examples of partners who have taken advantage of IE8's capabilities in Beta 2.

Search:

New York Times Instant Search - By adding The New York Times as a Search Provider in IE8, users can search the latest headlines from The New York Times directly from IE8's inline search.

Web Slices:

Digg's Main Page Top 10 - Find the latest popular stories that have been "dug" on Digg with this Web Slice.

freenetMail - Let's subscribers check their freenetMail, or view meetings, tasks and birthdays.

And Me.dium offers several Search Providers, Web Slices, Accelerators and Add-ons for IE8 that users can enjoy - mixing browsing the Web with social networking! Click here to see Me.dium's offerings.

More and more new Web Slices, Accelerators, Search Providers, and Add-ons are getting added to the Internet Explorer Gallery all the time.

Today we are also releasing IE8 Beta 2 in 21 more languages in addition to what we released last month (English, Germany, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese). The additional languages are: Arabic, Chinese (Hong Kong), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

You can click here to download Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 today.

For more about Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, be sure to check out my comprehensive overview or this series of very cool IE8 videos that showcase many of the features available in IE8 Beta 2 today.

Bad iTunes 8 Driver May Cause Issues

Brandon LeBlanc — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:04:00 GMT

Earlier this week, Apple released iTunes 8 which included some headaches for Windows Vista users (including myself) in the way of blue screens of death. My good friend Ed Bott dug into the situation and discovered what might be causing the issue - it appears to be a problem with a driver that is installed when users also install iTunes 8. Unfortunately iTunes is known for pushing out components that Windows users don't necessarily want.

Fortunately, not all is lost. Due to the uproar from unsatisfied customers, Apple issued an updated version of iTunes 8 that fixes the problem (sort of). You'll need to uninstall the broken version of ITunes 8 and Apple Mobile Devices support, and then use your Apple Software Updater to reinstall iTunes 8 and get it working the right way.

Anyways you might be asking why I even installed iTunes in the first place and it's because I am a software fiend and love playing with new software regardless of who it's by. But just so you know - I'm a diehard Zune user myself ;-)