Blog

Windows 7 Secrets

There’s been a few people linking to this excellent list of Windows 7 Secrets by Tim Sneath. And rightly so, it’s a great help. As @digory noted, there’s details of how to get IM back to the status bar (where it belongs!). But there’s other gems as well, like how to open a second instance of an already running app (Tip 19 – Shift click it on your task bar) and how to walk through the...

Running Google Chrome on Windows 7 Beta 1

If you are having trouble running Chrome on Windows 7 then chances are you are running the 64bit version of Windows 7. The solution is pretty simple. I’ve put it below, and note that it is almost entirely copied from Sandip’s BlogsDNA blog here – I’ve simply incorporated some of the comments into the screenshot. Right click on your Google Chrome icon and bring up the properties. Add...

Live Mesh gains credibility

You’ve hopefully seen the news about Live Mesh winning the Best Technology Innovation of 2008 at the Crunchies. I think this is an important award for Microsoft, since it indicates that there is at least some mainstream acceptance that they’re doing something cool and innovative (note: by mainstream, I’m talking about people in tech as a whole – not just Microsoft fan boys like myself...

Bob’s server room

Yes, I think this is pretty cool. Bob Muglia, recently promoted to President of Server and Tools at Microsoft, shows the Channel 10 team around his house, and in the basement. And hiding away in the basement is his 9 server setup (soon to be virtualised down to 4), organized to cater for –in Bob’s own words – a company “with 2 to 500 staff”. The video is from last September, and...

Microsoft patent push – 57,000 and counting

57,000 – That’s a lot of patents Microsoft are aiming for. This is actually an interesting insight into the Microsoft mindset – they are actively pursuing research + development, and protecting their IP. The numbers from the Microsoft PressPass article put the totals at: 10,000 issued US patents 17,000 pending US patents 30,000 international and pending patents   I wonder how they...

New Generation workers and Email

I had to shake my head when I read this Accenture survey on the demands of the Millennial Generation. The usual ‘demands’ of wanting to choose their technology, insisting on state-of-the-art technology, not wanting to seek corporate approval, requiring new communication channels, etc all came up. It seemed odd that a survey like this would appear after all the economic changes of late. Turns...

Outliers

Malcolm Gladwell is a great story-teller, no doubt about it. I loved his latest book Outliers. And whilst I agree with Joel Spolksy that the book is little more than cleverly strung together anecdotes, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. For example, Gladwell’s chapter on the necessity of hard work (you must do your 10,000 hours) to achieve success is a good motivator. Yes, it might be...

Running multiple Messenger logins on the same machine

Thanks be to A-Patch! The awesomeness that is A-Patch is now out with a version for Windows Live Messenger 9 (the Wave 3 RC version released last week). It’s actually a cut down list of options this time, in order to get it out quickly. But I’m not complaining. I’m really happy. Here’s why: As well as the usual option for getting rid of the advertisements, it also enables Multi-MSN. ...

Adobe Infinite Images and Deep Earth

Adobe has been experimenting with it’s own image navigation & stitching together technology, and Infinite Images is the latest demonstration of it (see here for the ReadWriteWeb article). You, me and every other Microsoft watcher will immediately see shades of Deep Zoom and perhaps a little Photosynth in this. What’s cool about the the Adobe system is how it uses tagging (based on...

Sara Ford’s tips come to an end

In a word: Thanks. A shame that Sarah’s tips on Visual Studio finished up last Friday. But hey, great things can’t go on for ever (she says, deferring to the wisdom of Axl). I’m really interested to see how she applies all those spare cycles now :-) to CodePlex. There’s going to be some cool stuff to keep an eye on. Sarah has been a wonderful example of sharing (her book profits...

Archives