Ian Dixon MCE Podcast – Thomas Hawk
May 7, 2005
Ian Dixon has up his new Windows Media Center show podcast (#7), interviewing Thomas Hawk about Media Center, HDTV, and Hawk’s Bloggers dinner with Microsoft ‘s GVP for Platforms.
Microsoft in the Living Room
May 6, 2005
There’s an old desert proverb that says “Once the camel has his nose under the tent, the rest of him is certain to follow.” I can’t imagine that Microsoft plans to be any different.
In “Where do you want to go today? Microsoft: In your living room.“, Andre De Costa has a few thoughts on the history of Media Center Edition and Microsoft’s plans for household domination your living room.
(via Thomas Hawk’s Digital Connection)
Halt and Catch Fire – Trying Windows Media Center
April 26, 2005
So, after all of my talk about SageTV vs. MCE, I just ordered a copy of Windows Media Center Edition 2005…
Why?
Well, it’s one of those stories… My SageTV setup had been built in a small form factor case that had heat problems already, and I had it in a cabinet with glass doors. I knew this was problematic, but in typical geek fashion, I solved the problem by leaving the doors gapped slightly open, and everything went smoothly.
Unfortunately, someone (who had no reason to know not to) was by the other day and closed the doors. I didn’t happen to catch it, and yesterday evening watching a bit of TV on the box, the damn thing actually caught fire…
Read more
The more things change…
March 5, 2005
Steve Gilmor’s just managed to sum up pretty much the same thing I’ve been thinking about Google’s new Autolink hijack product, in “Deaf dumb and blind boys”. Once more into the breech, friends…
“So just when everybody thinks there is no new Borg, along comes Larry, Moe, and Sergey to take over the show. The thing that’s making me angry is not that history is repeating itself, but that stupidity is repeating itself. How hard is it to realize that delivering a service that makes users feel powerless is not a good thing. Particularly users with loaded weapons called blogs and ‘casts. Who cares if you can do it because. Forget the stuff about do no evil. Do no stupid.”
We didn’t put up with this when Microsoft wanted to do it, we aren’t going to put up with it now, and we won’t put up with it when the next great hope decides to resurrect the idea yet again.
Why is it that no matter how user oriented a company is, sooner or later they turn the corner and decide that they suddenly have a mandate to ram crap down people’s throats?
We ain’t gonna take it. Yet again.
Introduction to dynamic pages
February 14, 2005
One of the most powerful features of blogs and other content management systems (CMS) is that they can create pages “on-the-fly” that to all intents and appearances look like a hand-built static web page. This allows you to focus on developing your content itself, while the software generates the pages for you.
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Weblog Services
February 11, 2005
There are a lot of good reasons to include a weblog into your business site. Many of these advantages go out the window if you use a weblog service instead of making it an integral part of your site. Nevertheless, many people use them. If you’re considering doing so, here are the leading candidates.
Microsoft Search – Now Live and Direct
February 1, 2005
Microsoft officially launches their new search engine — how are your results? Thus far, I’m seeing about 30% more traffic from Microsoft Search than from Google.
Rip Internet Explorer out by the roots
July 29, 2004
Is making Firefox your default Windows browser not enough for you? Would you feel better with a scorched earth solution, wiping out the last vestiges of Internet Exploder Explorer from your system?
Well, it’s not for the faint of heart, but the folks over to Crackbaby have posted detailed instructions for editing the registry to COMPLETELY remove IE.
Apparently Microsoft was so amazed that they had a technician call to find out exactly how it was done… You’d think they’d know, wouldn’t you? Apparently they also mentioned that they would NOT be putting out a tech note on how to do this, for “obvious reasons”….
Yeah, there’s a shocker… lol…
Related: Running Windows Securely
Running Windows Securely
July 19, 2004
Over the past few weeks, I’ve written quite a bit on various Windows issues—Spyware, Viruses, and going to a more secure browser. Even though those articles have scrolled off the front page, a lot of people are still looking for them, so this article will be a “living document” with links to all articles I write on the topic, and there will be a link to this on the right sidebar if you should need to refer back to it in the future.
Windows Security Articles
No. More. Excuses. – The very basics of securing a Windows computer, and why it’s important (to all of us) that you do so.
Spyware and You. – The details of how and why you should scan for spyware on your computer.
Welcome to Day Zero – Explains what a Zero Day Exploit is, how your computer can be infected by one even if you’re “doing everything right”, and additional things you can do to protect yourself.
Making the Switch from IE to Firefox – The previous article explains why you’ll be a lot safer if you don’t run Internet Explorer (IE); this article gives you simple step by step instructions on how to replace IE with Firefox—a safer browser with lots of great new features.
Related Articles
More IE Vulnerabilities Found – If you think the recent Microsoft patches made IE safe, think again.
What’s on YOUR Firefox? – Some of the great extensions that can add new features to your FireFox.
A Real Solution to Spam? – A review of Mailblocks Challenge/Response system that really DOES stop spam.
It can’t be that bad… – How many clicks does it take to get to the center of an unprotected copy of Windows?
VGA PDA — Reloaded
March 25, 2004
Speaking of mobile goodness, Microsoft has announced Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition (no idea why it isn’t Windows Mobile 2004), for Pocket PCs, with genuine built-in support for VGA.
Brighthand has all the poop, including the even better news that Toshiba plans a free upgrade for the e800, probably in the next few weeks (they’re saying May for Europe, no official word yet on the US.)
you had my hope up 
