How many times have you seen a movie trailer and forgotten the name of it the next day? You go online to search for it but you can’t seem to find the movie with “what’s-his-name†in it anywhere but you can picture the actor in your head. A study conducted by Microsoft Research shows that consumers can process results with images 20% faster than text only results. So it’s clear that images play a big part in helping consumer’s with a variety of search activities.
Improvements in current Hotmail features rolling out soon
The Hotmail team has started rolling out updates to improve your Hotmail experience. Most of these are improvements to current features and are meant to make your current Hotmail experience more efficient.
Link – http://windowslivewire.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!2F7EB29B42641D59!41458.entry
Citrix XenApp Feature Pack 2 – with virtualization
As if keeping track of the many similarly named products coming from Citrix Systems in the wake of its acquisition of virtualization upstart XenSource was not difficult enough, now Citrix is mixing and matching formerly separate technologies to give customers new ways to get centrally controlled applications out to corporate desktops.
With XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2, which debuts today, the product formerly known as Presentation Server (and embodying the terminal services method of giving PC users access to server variants of PC applications hosted on servers) gets a third way to stream applications down to end users.
Link – http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/16/citrix_xenapp5_update/
Microsoft starts warning of support phase-out for older Windows Server releases
As it is doing on the client side of the house, with warnings about the scheduled support phase-out for Windows XP, Microsoft officials are beginning to do the same with Windows Server.
In a September 15 blog post to the Windows Server Division Weblog, Microsoft officials provided an early warnings about the approaching end-of-support dates for customers running Windows Server 2000 and 2003.
Themes and Live Preview in Visio 2010
In Visio 2007, we introduced the Themes feature to make it easy to apply a professionally designed look to a diagram. In Visio 2010, the Themes feature gets a whole new user interface that takes advantage of the Office Fluent UI. The theme choices are displayed in a gallery on the Design tab in the ribbon.
Link – http://blogs.msdn.com/visio/archive/2009/09/15/themes-and-live-preview-in-visio-2010.aspx
How to install Active Directory on Windows Server 2008 R2
Active Directory is the backbone of most networks. It stores all the setting, user accounts, and computer information. The following guide will show you how to install it onto Windows Server 2008 R2.
Prerequisites
There are a few prerequisites that you must first sort out, before starting the installation.
– Windows must be running on an NTFS volume.
– Have a NIC installed, and connected to the network.
– Be logged on as the local administrator.
– Have decided on a Domain Name to use.
– Performed the basic server configuration, such as Server Name, etc.
Once you have sorted out these requirements, you can move onto step 1.
Apple iTunes 9
In keeping with my love-hate relationship with Apple, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with the company’s dominant iTunes application as well. Over the years, iTunes has evolved from a simple, single-purpose media player into a bloated, slow, mess of an application that manages an amazing array of content types and devices. Apple being Apple, most of this functionality is designed to keep its users from dabbling in competing solutions of any kind, and Apple’s software, devices, and online services are very much designed to keep you locked in to the Apple family of products at all times. The key to this lock-in strategy, the nexus, is iTunes.
Latest sneak peek of Office Web Apps
At an overwhelmingly popular session during Microsoft TechEd Australia 2009 this week, Reed Shaffner from the Office team provided among other things a brief but satisfying peek at the latest Office Web Apps experience that has yet to be opened up for public beta testing. Here’s a couple photos and notes on what he showed off.
Link – http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090912/sneak-peek-office-web-apps-teched-australia/
Backup Windows Server 2008
Backing up a server a a common task, which many fail to do. You may have created a backup job that backs up the data on the server, but what about the system configuration. In the unlikely event of a server crash, you will want to get it up and running as quick as possible.
The following guide shows how to backup a Windows Server 2008 Machine, this includes; User Data, System Settings, Active Directory, and just about and settings you have made.
It’s official: no plans to sell Zune HD outside the US
Recent whispers across the blogosphere that Microsoft currently has no plans to launch the Zune HD in France prompted us to prod Redmond impatiently for more information. We got it, but we’re sad to say you probably won’t like it if you live north, south, east, or west of the US border. Not only are there no plans for France, but Microsoft is excluding every single country outside of the US, at least for now.
Update for Windows® Vista SP1 or above to enable RemoteApp
This package lets you to run many Windows Vista productivity applications from Windows 7-based PC using Windows Virtual PC. This package needs to be installed in your Windows Vista virtual machine.
For more information about Windows Virtual PC, please visit the Windows Virtual PC website.
Update for Windows® Vista SP1 or above to enable RemoteApp
This package lets you to run many Windows Vista productivity applications from Windows 7-based PC using Windows Virtual PC. This package needs to be installed in your Windows Vista virtual machine.
For more information about Windows Virtual PC, please visit the Windows Virtual PC website.
The future of Windows phones and Windows Mobile
As a Windows Mobile user who’s doubted the future of the platform at least once, it’s been very reassuring to hear that not only do the at least one person at Windows Mobile genuinely acknowledge and understand some of the shortcomings of the Windows Mobile experience and platform today but in response to this they are committed to updating the platform more frequently than it has been.
Link – http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090910/the-future-of-windows-phones-and-windows-mobile/
Microsoft Unveils Company’s Thinnest Keyboard, Designed Exclusively for Bluetooth Computers
Thin is in; Microsoft Corp. today announced its thinnest keyboard ever — the Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000 — made exclusively for Bluetooth notebook and desktop computers. Projections show that over 55 percent of notebook PCs will ship with Bluetooth by the end of 2010.1 With mobile PCs getting more compact, the Microsoft Hardware team created the Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000 to address consumers’ need for comfortable and portable computing accessories.
Link – http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/Sep09/09-09BMK6000PR.mspx
Microsoft Unveils Company’s Thinnest Keyboard, Designed Exclusively for Bluetooth Computers
Thin is in; Microsoft Corp. today announced its thinnest keyboard ever — the Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000 — made exclusively for Bluetooth notebook and desktop computers. Projections show that over 55 percent of notebook PCs will ship with Bluetooth by the end of 2010.1 With mobile PCs getting more compact, the Microsoft Hardware team created the Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000 to address consumers’ need for comfortable and portable computing accessories.
Link – http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/Sep09/09-09BMK6000PR.mspx
