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You must have heard of Chrome by now – the brand spanking new browser from Google. If you think it was the best thing since sliced bread you need to wake up and smell the fish. For me the main deal breaker is the EULA they have for Chrome. As per the EULA anything you use to upload, browse, etc using Chrome you are giving Google the right a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services. ...

Shared View from Microsoft - a fast, easy way to share documents and screen views with small groups anytime, anywhere and works across physical boundaries, through firewalls, and down to the smallest details. Switcher - gets Expose (from Mac) on Windows very cool! (you need Vista + Aero) VS.NET 2008 SP1 likely to come later this year adds a lot of new stuff. SMS things (only if you are in the US) SMS411 - helps you send SMS to phone’s on specific carriers in the US. Teleflip - goes a step further and automatically figures out the carrier (also only for the US). TFS Admin - seems to do a few interesting things if you admin TFS (I have not used it first hand so can’t say). Many Books - offers thoughts of free eBooks in many formats for your PDA, iPod, or eBook reader. Hadoop - is a framework for running applications on large clusters built of commodity hardware; it is effectively a grid application which under the covers uses a DFS and can supposedly scale up to reliably store and process petabytes. Invisible Computing - research prototype for making small devices part of the seamless computing world. It consists of compact middleware for constructing embedded web services applications and a small component based Real-Time Operating System with TCP/IP networking to make middleware run straight on the metal on several embedded processors. Chumby - seems interesting concept - but I get all that on my phone and will it work in the uk? Delta Copy - robocopy on steroids; this on copies the sectors that have changed. So if you have a 2 gb PST file – only the new sectors are copied instead of the whole file. Note – there as issues with Vista! pptPlex – allows you to present PowerPoint using a zoomable canvas instead of slides – quite interesting. ...

job security image Click to open original image.

You might have heard of Photosynth - it was announced last year; but if you ever wondered what the big deal was about Photosynth (or have not heard of it), then check out this video . Also this is open to all now for free. ...

Someone sure loves XP and their progress bar! {via Karan }

As some of you noticed my blog either looked different for at some point recently or for a while it was not even available and it was all a terrible mess. As you might know I am running this on Community Server 2007 (CS 2007); CS 2008 was released some time back I thought maybe it is about time that I upgrade to that. Now you would think that it should be a painless process – boy how wrong one can be! ...

Testing, testing, can anyone see this?

Guardian has an interesting story on how Bluetooth is being used to track people’s movement in Bath. The concern is that the 10 or so scanners not only pick up your mobile’s ID (which you have set) but can also pick up your Identity via your name. email and phone numbers. So think carefully before switching on your Bluetooth on the mobile! ...

It took a while for me to get around to this but the P2P Code to go along with my MSDN Article “P2P Programming with WCF and .NET v3.5”. I don’t know why this code was not available on MSDN in the first place. Any ways, the can be downloaded from here (456.2 KB). ...

This more than a “Power Pack” and fixes a whole host of issues including the (in)famous data corruption bug . If you have been living in a cave then you can catch up here on what the fuss is all about ? Here are the highlights of the fixes: ...

Search of Forever ZuneThings.co.uk - for those in the UK wanting a Zune + Accessories, etc. Cozi - new way busy families stay organized, manage schedules and coordinate with each other. Browsershots - test your site among a host of browsers and see how it prevails; so how well does my blog do ? Ask the Admin How to hide an airplane factory ? Bill G’s history from MS; and his emails . 😄 Windows 7, not that far off . CooTek - alternative keyboard for Windows Mobile phones. Pandora - free Internet radio but only for the yanks. :sad:👎 Pex (Program Exploration) - a MSR project that from a parameterized unit test automatically produces a traditional unit test suite with high code coverage. Gmap Pedometer - excellent if you are a runner or just want to find out how long your walk is. Thanks to the lovely Meenakshi for this. 😄

I recently got to know that Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw passed away and the ripe age of 94; I am especially sad to hear that - I cannot explain it - might by my army roots. I think fellow Army brats might get it. May he rest in peace! ...

This is not one of the “jokes”, but is one of the “real” ones I got. Maybe about time I got around to installing Firefox 3 then. :)

(c) Science Cartoons

I used to rule the world Seas would rise when I gave the word Now in the morning I sleep alone Sweep the streets I used to own I used to roll the dice Feel the fear in my enemies eyes Listen as the crowd would sing: “Now the old king is dead, long live the king!” One minute I held the key Next the walls were closed on me And I discovered that my castles stand Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand ...

As I said in the last post I have been using Live Mesh for a few weeks now. Since then, Microsoft has released an update to Mesh; those of you who are using it and not updated it yet, I would suggest you do. It will restart the Windows shell once the update is finished, but I would recommend to save your work before you start the update and bounce Windows after that (even though it does not require it). ...

You might have heard of the new “Cloud” service from Microsoft called Live Mesh . You can get more details on the team’s blog and a few videos . While I have the Mesh bits installed for a few weeks I only recently started using it and was very handy when I wanted to get to some information on one of the Wiki’s running at home. ...

Pure coincidence that #13 is posted on Friday the 13th! Goosh - the Unofficial google shell (very cool)! Zamzar - free online file conversion. FlashEarth - switch seamlessly between Google maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth, Yahoo!, etc. SiteAdvisor.com - McAfee’s free offering that automatically alerts to Web sites that use or have links to spyware, adware, spam and other nasties. Live SysInternals - all of SysInternals on your figertips. e.g. in a DOS prompt enter: dir \\live.sysinternals.com\tools Windows Search 4.0 - new and improved? Only time will tell. TFS does not have any features for gathering requirements, but if this is something you prefer then check out Caliber RM and TeamSpec . Rosario though might have these out of the box - but only time will tell. BizTalk dev tools - it is almost an year old, but still a very cool list of tools if you are using BizTalk. Xobni (mirror of Inbox in case you did not notice), is Outlook add-on which helps you deal with emails better. Office Search Commands - helps you find commands, options, wizards, and galleries in Office 2007 Word, Excel and PowerPoint; check this out if you are wondering the rational behind it. ...

Over the last few weeks I have heard a lot of people complain about the HTC TyTn (and more so these days with the new iPhone out now). But the phone itself is not bad - but if you are still running Windows Mobile 5 on it then sorry you don’t get the rights to complain - that OS itself has loads of issues. So, if you are like me with a TyTn I would suggest you get on a Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM and get some peace of mind. I am running the ‘Diamond Look-alike" Mobile 6.1 ROM and it is rock solid - I highly recommend it. I have been running it for a few days and am very impressed. ...

I currently have a HTC TyTn and was thinking of getting either the new HTC Diamond or the HTC Diamond Pro and was not sure how they stack up size wise; but that is there sizeasy.com come in the picture and help me see what the three of them look like together . ...

If you got a fingerprint reader on your machine and are running Vista then think twice before installing SP1! About 7-8 months ago I got a new tablet ( Lenovo X61 ) which is a pretty sweet machine with Vista pre-installed and all was well until I installed SP1 and then the thing won’t even boot. I tried to get into safe mode but no luck; I tried repairing - but no luck. I got in the repair console and tried to manually “fix” the MBR, but not luck. 😲 In the end I was screwed - royally - especially as I did not have a backup. I did have my machine being backed up by WHS which is what I was hoping would save me (more on that later). ...

I am thinking of getting the HTC Diamond. If you are interested in its features then check out these guys who have had it and been using it for a week and have been posting a daily video on what works and what does not.

I think Snap Previews were a good idea earlier but now for me it has just started getting irritating and for my blog I have switched it off.

Wow! What a week - so much talk of the next version of Windows code-named “7”. Of course the multi-touch (see video below) is what everyone is talking about. Now, this is cool because it is the evolution of the Surface which is scaled down to a screen. If you have not seen a Surface - it is quite big and works with five infrared cameras which picks up the gestures and then knows what to do with it (more on Surface at another time). ...

Please be advised that there are NEW RULES and regulations implemented to raise the efficiency of the firm. Transportation: It is advised that you come to work driving a car according to your salary. If we see you driving a Honda, we assume you are doing well financially and therefore you do not need a raise. If you drive a 10 year old car or use public transportation, we assume you must have lots of savings therefore you do not need a raise. If you drive a pickup, you are right where you need to be and therefore you do not need a raise. Annual Leave: Each employee will receive 52 annual leave days a year they are called Sunday. ...