Have you still got any computers running Windows 2000? Did you know that after July 13, 2010 there will be no more support or updates? Ok folks, time to upgrade.
“Microsoft’s Mouse 2.0 project is an interesting look at the next step for pointing devices in five completely different versions of multitouch mice. One of the things I liked about the Mouse 2.0 news is that we put our cards on the table at a very early stage and asked what the public thought. Speak up, we’re listening.
“Dan Rosenfeld is a researcher who is at the center of the Mouse 2.0 project. I stopped by Dan’s office to see what he’s working on and if I could squeeze any more details out about how they work, how we’ll develop for them, and what we can expect. I’ll be stopping by again to look at some of the other Mouse 2.0 contenders soon so leave your questions in the comments.”
Microsoft is now offering a public beta of Microsoft 2010. As far as I can tell, anyone can download it from Microsoft. You’ll have to register but they seem to be accepting anyone willing to play with it. I’ve been using the Technical Preview on one of my laptops for a few months now and installed the beta last week. First, I’m impressed. Second, it’s stable. Third, it’s completely compatible with Office 2007. (As far as I can tell.) Here’s some screenshots:
Windows Live SkyDrive is yet another one of those online storage solutions. (And not even the only one from Microsoft.) I haven’t used it as much as I might like mainly because it was yet another cloud storage system that you had to access through a Web browser. In other words, it wasn’t transparent to use.
If you download and install SkyDrive Explorer your SkyDrive is now presented as just another drive on your computer, even though it’s online storage. Once installed, just open “computer” and you’ll see SkyDrive Explorer listed there.
Just open that up as you would any other drive and you’ll have access to all of your SkyDrive-based files and folder. (You will be asked to log in first of course.) Additionally, if you’ve made a file public, you can right-click on that file and get the public URL for that file automatically copied to your clipboard for easy pasting into an e-mail or blog post.
I’ve still got Drop.io, and Dropbox accounts but this one does make Live SkyDrive seem just a little bit easier to use than those others.
I’ve recommended other free anti-virus programs in the past but here’s the new one from Microsoft, and it’s about time in my opinion. Like Microsoft products or not, you must admit that something that they’re the right ones to write an essential tool that needs to integrate directly into the OS. I’ve been using the beta for a while now and it’s now out in a final version for everyone. So, tired of paying for AV? Looking for something that does both AV and anti-malware? Give Microsoft Security Essentials a try.
Microsoft has opened up a new service named Hohm (a combination of “H” for home and “ohm” the electrical unit of measurement, all pronounced “home”) designed to help you track what you spend on energy in your home.
Once you’ve signed up and have been accepted into the system, you’ll be asked to fill out a very detailed profile of you home including questions ranging from square footage, type of heating and cooling, whether you have a programmable thermostat to how many of what kind of light blubs you have installed. (In fact, it took me several sittings over a few days to get it mostly filled out and I’m still missing some information.)
In return, Hohm will give you recommendations on how you can reduce your energy expenses including estimated costs and benefits for each recommendation. (So far I’ve worked on changing out many of our old light bulbs and started insulating the water pipes in our basement.) The more questions in the profile you’re able to answer, the better your recommendations will be. As you add to or update your profile, the recommendations will automatically adjust.
Additionally, if your gas and electric supplier participate, you can authorize Home to automatically download your billing details into your Hohm account. In my case, neither of my suppliers participate in this new program, but I was able to do two things. First, I filled in the name of my providers with which Microsoft will send them requests for participation. Second, I was able to enter my payment data manually for the year so far. (I’ll also be entering the information as my new bills arrive.)
With all of this information Hohm will then provide you with a detailed report (mine is shown right) about your home and how much you’re spending on energy. If nothing else, this information has made me hyper-aware of how we’re using energy in our home. I’m hoping that this will show me a reduction in our energy costs in the long run.
Re-printed e-mail announcement from Microsoft.
Yesterday Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista. So far I’ve installed it on four 17 different computers (two 15 x32 & two x64) without a single problem so I’m comfortable recommending that you install it ASAP. There are four links you need to be aware of:
Make sure SP1 is already installed or SP2 will fail. Installation takes about 20 minutes and will require a reboot near the end of the process.
Most of us with Windows Mobile phones end up synching our content with an Exchange server. As great as this is, it doesn’t back up everything. Last week Microsoft released My Phone which, once installed on your phone and an account created online, will sync all of your phone’s content (everything Exchange server syncs plus your photos, documents, text messages and more) into an online account. Once synched you can log into your online account, add and edit your content, and changes will be automatically synched back with your phone. Additionally, should you find yourself with a new phone, just reinstall My Phone and get all your content put onto your new phone.
Here’s a few screenshots of my online account:
Bonus information: The URL that the site tells you to go to on your phone doesn’t always work. To install on your phone, head on over to http://mobile.microsoft.com/myphone/en-us/default.mspx in your phone’s browser.
These instructions were originally posted on Clay’s Blog. I’ve modified them a little and added screenshots.
Your YouTube video will now play directly in your presentation provided you are connected to the Internet.
