COOL UPDATE: Just found this out, you can actually play your Live Mesh Music Collection for your Live Desktop within the browser! Its using Silverlight to stream the music. As I popped out for my Lunch Break this I decided to buy the latest Weezer Album from my local JB Hi-Fi store. I have a work and home PC and normally I would have to Rip the album two different times into two different libraries which I find annoying. I have a Music Folder on my Live Mesh on my work and home PC's which I have added to my music library in Windows Media Player. I changed my Ripping location to my Mesh Music Folder on my Work PC. After I Rip the album I can see the little Live Mesh Icon in the tray flashing indicating its uploading the album to my Live Mesh.
When I get home and load up Media Center, Weezer is ready for me to go. Very nice. You're not going to load up your whole music collection because the Community Technology Preview has a 5GB limit but its great to have a couple of gigs of music on your Live Mesh so you can access it from anywhere.
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 is now available for download. I started using it this morning and have been impressed with the speed. It has a whole lot of new features including Compatibility View (handy for those sites designed for older browsers), Web Slices, Search Suggestions, Accelerators to name a few. It has some Security changes which include the SmartScreen Filter, Cross Site Scripting (XSS) Filter, Domain Highlighting and Data Execution Prevention. One feature I like is the Live Maps Accelerator. You select a address on a page and right click to select the ‘Search with Live Maps’ to see the Map on the same page. I used this to check the location of a restaurant I was checking out.
Some important Technical Resources are: How to get your site ready for Internet Explorer 8 The IE8 Beta 2 Technology Overview for the Enterprise - provides a great overview of all the new features in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 and is written for IT Professionals and other technical users. The IE8 Beta 2 FAQ for Businesses - answers common questions from IT Decision Makers and IT Professionals about Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2. Slipstreaming IE8 into Vista and Server 2008 images - If you manage the desktop images for your organization, slipstream saves you time by simplifying the task of adding Internet Explorer 8 and any IE updates.
Dont forget to subscribe to the Internet Explorer 8 blog for more updates. Do you still remember using Internet Explorer 1? I love the headline “Microsoft Welcomes You To The Internet!”
Something cool and new for those Cricket fans out there is a new Cricinfo Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget. It has 3 tabs Live Scores, News and Photos. Handy little gadget to keep up to date with your favourite team and the upcoming Australian Summer of Cricket.
We have launched a preview of our Social Bookmarking application on TechNet and MSDN for you to start using. Social Bookmarking is a way to store your bookmarks on the web, share your bookmarks with others and explore bookmarks stored by other users. Some of the new features to look forward to in the official launch (early September) is:
Start previewing today and send in your comments to the Social Bookmarks Discussion Forum. Come speak to us at the TechNet Lounge at TechEd next week to learn more.
Thanks to Johann for the heads up for this new Engineering Windows 7 blog. This new blog is hosted by two senior engineers Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky leading the efforts around Windows 7. So if you are interested in Windows 7 I strongly suggest you subscribe to the blog and take part in the 2 way conversation! A bit about the blog: "The audience of enthusiasts, bloggers, and those that are the most passionate about Windows represent the folks we are dedicating this blog to. With this blog we’re opening up a two-way discussion about how we are making Windows 7. Windows has all the challenges of every large scale software project—picking features, designing them, developing them, and delivering them with high quality. Windows has an added challenge of doing so for an extraordinarily diverse set of customers. As a team and as individuals on the team we continue to be humbled by this responsibility." I dont think the engineers at Microsoft wear Hard hats.
We decided to ask some optional lifestyle questions for TechEd 2008 this year. Have a look below at some of the results.
Have a look at the different types of people will be at TechEd 2008 this year.
Something new on our TechEd 2008 site is a map of our TechEd 2008 delegates across Australia. We encourage you to go to a local TechNet or MSDN User Group before hand so you can meet and greet your TechEd Peers before the event. Make sure you get along to the Demo Comp Finals which are happening across the country.
We have our Global TechNet Plus Subscriptions team attending TechEd 2008 this year. We are looking for current TechNet Plus Subscribers for video testimonials. We would like to know what your experience has been like with your subscription. These video interviews will be used in the global marketing for TechNet Plus Subscriptions so it'll be a great chance for you to be famous. Filming will be at TechEd at the Sydney Entertainment and Convention Centre on Thursday 4th September. Email itproanz@microsoft.com if you would like to get involved.
Verdiem has released a new energy monitoring application called Edison. Microsoft and Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) support Edison as a easy way for consumers to become active to reach the CSCI’s goal of reducing global CO2 emissions from the operation of computers by 54 million by 2010. Verdiem and Microsoft are both members of the CSCI. Verdiem is challenging PC Owners to download 10 million copies of Edison in the next year. EDISON Features
Edison offers a simple solution for the individual PC user. The software features include:
Help reduce your household’s greenhouse gas emissions and download Edison free today!
Are you using Hyper-V? (preferably in production or business critical environments). We want to know because we have some great media opportunities for you at TechEd this year. We have some limited edition Veek shirts to giveaway for those of you using Hyper-V in a production environment. Send Rosemary (She’s the Product Manager for Windows Server) an email at rostark@microsoft.com with your Hyper-V information.
Thanks to Nick Hodge for the heads up about the release of Photosynth. This is one piece of amazing technology. Have a look at what Nick has conjured up with Photosynth with his photos of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. You can now do the same and make your own. Then Peter Ulm sends us a email letting us know about the integration of Photosynth and Virtual Earth, The fun never stops does it! All the information is over at Chris Pendleton’s blog. You can see what Ill be doing in the weekend!
This guide from the Springboard Series focuses on performance improvements on a single computer, but also takes a look at some of the tools used in enterprise environments to help make performance tuning manageable on a much larger scale. The guide looks at the following areas of performance improvement:
Virtualisation is one of the Pre-Days we are offering at TechEd 2008 this year. Designing Next Gen Infrastructure with Microsoft Virtualisation This one-day event is a rare, one-off opportunity to map out and see built several different Core Infrastructure architecture scenarios that leverage virtualisation tools for greater efficiency and flexibility. By the end of the day, you'll have gained a strong understanding of:
Cost: $550 - Pre-Day only price $220 - Special price for Tech.Ed attendees
Who should attend? Systems Architects responsible for designing and creating IT environments. It's your job to design, or recommend the design, of IT architecture. You intend to leverage virtualisation technologies.
What will you get out of it? THE CHANCE TO SEE AN ENVIRONMENT BEING BUILT - gain immediately useful knowledge of how to employ virtualisation technologies for the greatest business impact. BUILD THE BUSINESS CASE – by the end of the day you should be able to effectively sell the business case for virtualisation, and know how to master tools that help you build it. WORK DIRECTLY WITH TECHNICAL EXPERTS - take the opportunity to talk through your own issues with them. CUSTOMER PANEL - share with colleagues who've employed virtualisation, and learn from peers who are facing the same or similar challenges.
SQL Server 2008 is now RTM and available to TechNet Plus Subscribers! SQL Server 2008 Workgroup, Web, Developer, Standard and Enterprise is available via the TechNet Plus Subscriber download area.
I was surprised to learned we have had more than 450,000 customer and partner downloads of the SQL Server 2008 Community Technology Previews (CTPs) across the globe. There has also been more than 75 large-scale applications already in production with more than 1350 applications being developed by nearly 1000 independent software vendors! You can evaluate SQL Server 2008 today. To learn more about SQL Server 2008 we have some really good TechNet resources: SQL Server 2008 TechCentre SQL Server 2008 Webcasts SQL Server 2008 Virtual Labs SQL Server 2008 Podcasts SQL Server 2008 Web Forums Oh yeah SQL Server 2008 also has a cool new logo. We will also be covering a lot of SQL Server 2008 content at TechEd 2008 this year, its a great chance for you to be on the cutting edge of the latest technology. More details in the Event Tracks TechEd Page.
We will have a Microsoft Surface unit on demo at TechEd next week, so if your coming along make sure you have your greasy fingers ready to try it out!