It's been a busy past 48 hours for the Microsoft team responsible for the E3 press briefing.  If ever there were concern that E3 has lost its luster, this was the presentation to prove otherwise.  A few of the highlights before I get into the rest:

• Sir Paul, Ringo, Yoko, and  George Harrison's wife on-stage to promote Rock Band: The Beatles.  A nice touch that all proceeds from the game developer and Microsoft for download of the song, "All you need is love" is going to Doctors without Borders.
• Steven Spielberg in the house to lend his voice of support to, "Project Natal".  This is one that has to be seen to be fully understood.  Full motion capture, facial recognition, and voice control available for every Xbox 360.  To quote Spielberg, "This is a pivotal moment that will carry with it a wave of change, the ripples of which will reach far beyond video games."
• Zune is coming to Xbox. Video Marketplace is now powered by Zune and will offer the complete movie library instant on up to 1080p quality - no discs, no delay. And if you want to watch that movie with friends online, you can meet up for a Party online with up to 7 others in a virtual screening room with your friends (you can go full screen as well).  For any fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, you'll recognize the concept is primed for Harold and Kumar or  Snakes on a Plane get-togethers online.
• Last.fm is coming to Xbox 360 as well as Twitter and Facebook. With Facebook Connect, you'll be able to match your FB friends with their Xbox  LIVE Gamertags making it easier than ever to figure out who Hang1nAr0und8763 is and whether you want to join their party.
• Sky.TV. This will be one to watch - Sky is bringing their live and on-demand service "Over the Top" and delivering to the Xbox via your broadband connection with no additional hardware required.
• Lots of Halo goodness. First there's Halo ODST - Orbital Drop Shock Trooper.  We saw the first in-game cinematics from the opening of the game.  Then we learned Bungie is working on Halo: Reach, a new addition to the Halo canon no doubt in part based on the first Halo novel, "The Fall of Reach".  I noticed an easter egg during the intro trailer for ODST - you can see in a someone has tagged a wall with graffiti, "Remember Reach" in the New Mombasa area.
• 1 vs. 100 Beta. On behalf of my team I'm proud to say Xbox LIVE Primetime is off to a good start.  Last night's opening session filled up in record time as our live events have opened up to the public. Hats off to our beta launch partner, Sprint - in this live-event game-show modeled after Endemol's own hit TV show real Xbox LIVE members can compete for prizes including a big-screen HDTV, laptop, and much more.

There's even more, but that's a good start.  I'll post more thoughts on Project Natal later. Check out all the E3 briefing details here.

Quick notes before I'm off to work this AM:

• Zune HD has been announced with capacitive touchscreen, 16:9 OLED display, built-in HD Radio tuner, HD video out (w/ dock), WiFi streaming from Zune Marketplace, and a built-in Web browser.  More at the teaser site.  What's hard to communicate in pictures is that it just feels good in the hand.  More details next week. ;)
• Acer has launched a $399 1TB Windows Home server setting a new sweet spot. Suddenly my homegrown system is a lot less cool. (eHomeUpgrade)
• Vista SP2 was released yesterday.  Lots of updates but perhaps most notable is Windows Search 4.0 which will speed up searches on your computer.  Most consumers will get it via Windows Update but if you cannot wait and wish to download direct, get it here.
• D7 Updates. Walt Mossberg's The Wall Street Journal's confab is off to a roaring start with, "The Guys from Twitter" talking from what looks like chairs taken off the Star Trek movie set. Too bad the online schedule doesn't tell you who is speaking and when. :(

Ed. Note: We had a little hiccup on the Web server.  Should be all fixed now.

Announced via email, carrier pigeon, tweet, SXSW messenger,  and the interweb, Dell's new luxury brand for PCs has launched with their new Adamo laptop. Featuring an etched unibody aluminum case or black (onyx), the new laptop sports:

• A 1.4/1.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
• Up to 4GB  of 800Mhz DDR3 dual-channel memory
• 13.4in 16:9 display with edge to edge glass
• 128 GB SSD standard
• Wireless N & Bluetooth 2.1
• One RJ45 port (what, no mention of Gigabit Ethernet?)
• Optional  Mobile broadband
• More than 5 hours of battery life on a single charge
• Full Size backlit keyboard

The unit is only .65in thick and starts at $1999.  Fully tricked out, the "Jet-setter package" starts at $3,088 and includes an Ecru Tumi sleeve, mobile internet via a copy of Microsoft Office Home and Student and an external DVD-RW.

I'm not sure why they chose this economy or the unlucky-in-some-states number "Thirteen" as the moniker for the unit, but it definitely has drool factor. I'm looking forward to hearing how it performs.  The most valuable feature in my opinion is- at that price, does it come devoid of the bloatware that ships on most new PCs and a free update to Windows 7?

Learn more at the ultraswank www.adamobydell.com

Looks like Dell is serving up a little Apple compete with their new teaser for the "Adamo" which in latin means to fall in love with/lust after and in Dell's case looks to be a near-unibody laptop.  Everyone knows geeks like to see brand new tech taken apart and here Dell does it in reverse in all its whitewashed glory. Coincidentally, the style is reminiscent of the WMV HD "Robotica" trailer from the early 2000's and the PC Design Competition video I produced many years ago with the Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA). I hope the hardware is as good as the Dell concept video.

Source: Engadget and others

As those who have read my ramblings here know, I'm always looking for the perfect holiday mix.  This year, it's been easier thanks to two services I've been playing with: Zune Marketplace and Pandora. 

Tip#1: Find Great Holiday Music on Zune

Zune Marketplace serves up a broad range of musical suggestions, but if you click on the "more" option under Genres, you'll find the latest programming for the holidays.  Select, "Seasonal" and you'll find some great playlists - Christmas Classics and Holiday Cocktails are two of my favorite playlists.

Don't have Zune?  It's a great time to take advantage of the two weeks free offer or you can sample the catalog for ideas on Zune.net.

Tip #2: Serve up Pandora's Holiday Stations

A tip of the hat to the Pandora team for sharing some tips for creating Holiday stations on Pandora! Just start by entering the name of a holiday song you like. To create a station based on an artist who performs holiday music, enter their name, followed by the word 'holiday' (for example, 'Ray Charles Holiday').  

•         Classical Christmas    Listen Now
•         Rockin' Holidays         Listen Now
•         Swingin' Christmas    Listen Now
•         Jazz Holidays             Listen Now
•         Country Christmas     Listen Now

Having spent the majority of this weekend boxing up our house for our move, I can attest that these work great on Pandora on Sonos as well. (Note: Pandora also now powers MSN Radio here.) 

And don't forget last year's Holiday Trivia Picture pack - great to put as a slideshow on your TV or Digital Picture frame during holiday parties. Happy holidays all!

More Zune news trickles out. Customers spoke and Zune listened.  The people said

"We want all you can eat music, but let us keep the ones we like." 

"Oh and make sure the songs are MP3s"

"P.S. Make sure the music doesn't suck. Make the MP3 library a part of the offer"

So now as a Zune Pass subscriber you can download from millions of tracks, and you can keep 10 songs a month as MP3s in your permanent collection for $14.99/mo.  Even if you don't like the subscription model, this is still a pretty sweet deal.  I know my Zunes and other devices will be happy during the holidays.

Last night, Microsoft unveiled the official Microsoft Store online in the US, offering direct purchase of Microsoft products online, including the largest library of Microsoft digital downloads.  Additional countries will be coming soon including UK, Germany, Korea, Japan, France, Spain, and the Netherlands.

If you're looking for an Xbox 360 or accessories for the holidays, Microsoft published games like Gears of War 2, Lips, or Zune devices and accessories, this is a great place to start.   With Xbox 360 bundles starting at $199, there are some good deals to be found.

Tip of the hat to Brandon LeBlanc at the Windows Experience

There are a few essentials my wife has in her purse and/or diaper bag - wallet, snacks for kids, emergency juice box, and a Flip Mino video camcorder. It's so fast and easy to use for the first time she's taking home videos on a pretty regular basis (vs never before). We have a great Canon HV20 that shoots 720p video but I'm the only one that seems to use it.

I've been on an HD kick, shooting all our home video on the Canon when I can think of it, but it turns out a lot of our video is now shot on the Mino.  This grates on my nerves because the quality has been so poor compared to the Canon.  Enter the new Flip MinoHD announced just today.  For $180, only $50 more than the original Mino, you get 1280x720 (720p) video in a tiny package that fits in any bag.  The Mossberg Solution wasn't so keen on the companion software and there's few details so far other than it records in MPEG4.  There's also no optical zoom on the camera which is disappointing but for capturing those quick moments, this looks to be a winner with fewer compromises in video quality.  I'll post more with videos over the weekend after I've had a chance to put one through its paces.

Read more at The Mossberg Solution

My old buddy Charlie Owen has posted an outstanding overview of Windows Media Center in Windows 7.  This oft-overlooked feature is getting a number of refinements. While PDC is focused on developers, there is a lot of goodness happening here.  A few of my favorites:

• Turbo Scroll- an essential for those of us with large libraries
• Refined Album Art Presentation
• A great new Now Playing view with animated album art
• Shared Libraries - yep, that's right - navigate Photos, Music, Video and even Recorded TV stored on other computers in your Home Group
• Pictures with Ambient Slideshows and Ratings - more needed refinement
• The Slideshow Creator - Now just give me the ability to order the photos to tell a story.
• For Video, H.264 playback out of the box.  Yes, you heard that right.  Even on Media Center Extenders.
• Bookmarking for videos so you can return to where you left off.
• HD Pivot in the Movies Guide

Kudos to the Media Center team.  Apparently I need to start testing again.  Time to dust off my old(er) PC for some Windows 7 goodness.  Beta can't come fast enough.

My favorite home audio solution just got a little sweeter and just in time for the holidays.  On top of over 15,000 radio stations being added, Sonos now has Pandora and Last.FM support for FREE. When Pandora support was added last year, it carried a monthly fee after an evaluation period, leading many customers (including myself) to evaluate and discontinue in favor of our own music libraries. Now with the support of arguably the two largest "free" personal music services, Sonos ups their game.

But it gets even better with support for Sonos Controller for iPhone and iPod Touch.   Let's admit it, the Sonos Controller first introduced in 2005 is getting a little long in the tooth.  While it continues to be best of breed, the lower-resolution display and large form factor just don't add up as well in today's marketplace.  While no less than four 3rd party solutions hit the market a short while ago, this natively supported application is a great addition for consumers who have an iPhone or iPod with WiFi support.  It also effectively drops the entry price for Sonos to about $350 for customers who already own a Sonos unit.  The application is also free, adding new value to their customers.  Check out the video for even more.  In a tough economic time when many companies are looking for any way to improve their bottom line by charging for updates and service packs, it's nice to see companies such as Sonos continue to innovate and add value for free.  Their higher price tag certainly looks better when you factor in the free updates.  Now how about support for Zune playlists? ;)

More here

This weekend I spent some time assembling new playlists with Zune 3.0 for an upcoming trip.  I was visiting a # of websites to look at playlists (e.g. XMFans.com) and an annoyance was the number of steps required to copy/paste between the browser and Zune.  So I wrote an Internet Explorer 8 Accelerator to help simplify and reduce the amount of copy/paste actions.  According to the IE8 website, "Accelerators let you efficiently complete your everyday browsing activities like mapping directions, translating words, emailing your friends, and more in just a few mouse clicks."  In building the accelerator, I discovered a wealth of detail available in Zune Marketplace on the web - you can sample music, read artists bios, browse charts, comments, similar artists and more.  

Install Zune Accelerator for IE8 (Beta 2)

To activate the accelerator, highlight the text on a page (Left Click+Drag).  You'll see the new accelerator icon (in blue in image to right).  When you click on this, it will launch the accelerator window.

I'm sure there are better ways to do this, but it was fun and useful enough for my needs.  Other Zune accelerators tend to break out accelerators by Artist, Song, etc. instead of aggregating into one.  Maybe I'll try and build an IE8 Web Slice for Zune Social next.   More details on writing IE8 Accelerators is available here.

For more accelerators, check out the IE8 Accelerator Gallery

A few weeks ago I got a call from the good folks at Sonos asking if I would be interested in reviewing their latest under embargo.  No problemo I explained.  Subsequently I had the good fortune to receive a ZP90 and ZP120 for testing.  I had recently written about the frustration I had during a block party that my ZP100 was too far for reliable control from our front yard, resulting in some strange body movements to get it to pick up.  The new ZP120 and ZP90 units use MIMO wireless technology and "SonosNet 2.0" to up to double the reception range and I can affirm that this is a definite help- block partygoers will be pleased.  The changes also benefit the controller which sadly, hasn't been updated.  Another benefit though is the update to the Sonos software, which now supports music collections with up to 65,000 tracks, and $200 in free music offers.

The ZP120 is a much smaller (and cooler temp) package than the ZP100, and I'll be posting a video review over the weekend comparing the two.  Between changes to the power amp and losing the 10/100 Ethernet hub (you get two ports, one in, one passthru).  I would have liked to have seen at least one extra Ethernet port since my ZP100 doubles as an ethernet hub in my home entertainment system. The overall size is only 7.3in wide by 8.15in deep, a definite improvement and the sound is so good, I would recommend a Sonos to any music enthusiast who A) Loves to entertain and B)Has $499 to burn on the ZP120, or $999 for the bundle including the diminutive ZP90 and ZP120.  More over the weekend.

Dell just released the new Studio Hybrid- a "first step" in a series of eco-friendly PCs.  Noting that most tower PCs use about 300 watts of power (which I can attest to with my quad-core behemoth), the Studio Hybrid sips less than 65w and is 80% smaller than a Mac Mini desktop.  Add Blu-Ray, HDMI out, an 8-in-1 card reader and tuner option (including Digital Cable) and this looks like a winner.  Even in the processor department, a 1.73 Dual-core, 1GB of RAM, and 160GB HDD w/ Vista will set you back only $499, beating back Apple on performance, size, price and a run at style. 

I hope Dell succeeds with this design and I'm now drooling over it as a possible HTPC or Windows Home Server.  This may also make a great replacement for my father's ailing WinXP system.  I worry about fan/drive noise though- any in the wild reports/feedback are appreciated.

More at Electronista

Power Pack 1 fixes the data corruption bug as well as delivers significant new functionality including:

• 1x64 support for home computers running Windows Vista
• Home Server Shared Folder backup
• Improved remote access experience
• Improvements to power consumption and performance
• Localization support for Japan and China

HP has also started pushing an update to their Windows Home Server powered HP Media Smart products timed to coincide with Power Pack 1.

• Update Package
• Release Notes
• Team Blog

Congrats to the Windows Home Server team.  I really like WHS and would run it instead of Vista Premium + Drobo as my primary home media hub if they'd support Windows Media Center & OCUR recording as a service.  Then I'd truly have a headless home media server that does it all (as I sit here dealing with my wife's system requiring a backup...)  How would you improve Windows Home Server after this release?

According to a study done by Vodaphone, less than 1 out of 4 people carry information on who to contact in case of emergency or serious accident. A movement over the past four years encouraging users to create an emergency contact entry in your phone under "ICE" has also been working its way around the world. But what happens when that information is locked in a password-protected phone or mobile device?

Is it time for mobile OS makers to offer an ICE contact feature that's accessible, even if you don't have the device's password? 

ICE Background
The ICE concept started in 2005 by British paramedic Bob Brotchie:

"I was reflecting on some difficult calls I've attended, where people were unable to speak to me through injury or illness and we were unable to find out who they were. I discovered that many people, obviously, carry mobile phones and we were using them to discover who they were. It occurred to me that if we had a uniform approach to searching inside a mobile phone for an emergency contact then that would make it easier for everyone." (BBC Radio 4 Today)

Sadly, it was only after the London Bombings that the concept really took off worldwide. ICE is a great idea and the ITU Standards Body has also gotten behind the concept, outlining a language-independent format for storing next of kin information and applications are available for both iPhone and Windows Mobile for ICE details. The problem is that it doesn't go far enough with today's phones.

"Sir, please wake up.  What is the password on your phone?!"
Not likely to be the first thing you want to hear after an accident.  Concerns surrounding privacy, theft, and overall security of personal information have created a social and organizational culture that places a premium on secure access to the device.  As cell phones increasingly become mobile information worker devices, corporate policies are "pushed" down to the phones, requiring a passcode to gain access to corporate email servers in order to protect the organization in case of device theft.  This is a great feature, as is "remote wipe" with Exchange servers where the remote device can be erased in case of theft, but the phones features as an emergency device haven't kept up with the times.  E911 requires that mobile phones be able to make emergency calls in the US.  But as far as I know, no requirements exist for making emergency contact, doctor, or allergy information accessible.

Is it time for ICE to become a Standard on Mobile phones?
The concept is simple - have a feature in the mobile OS that allows you to select an ICE contact and a standard way for emergency personnel to 

So the questions I'm putting out there are:

• Does this feature actually exist on any smartphone platform?  and
• Should it be standardized and mandated by the Government, similar to 911 calling on locked phones?

Pushing the Envelope - Phone of the Future
It's a slow Saturday so I'm going to riff here a bit. In the future, one could imagine that phones will start to implement features that work together to protect their owner in case of injury. In recent months, there have been stories that social messaging tools such as Twitter and Facebook broke news of the devastating earthquake in China, beating out traditional outlets.  Imagine if your phone could similarly report an incapacitating injury? For example, accelerometers like those in car airbag systems that can detect the massive G-forces associated with catastrophic car crashes could combine with location based services to notify emergency personnel.  Laptop hard drives have for years had accelerometers to lock the HDD heads in case of an accidental drop.  Of course, there would have to be sufficient safeguards against the occasional dropped phone (e.g. Phone telling the owner "I'm okay, are you?").   If the user doesn't respond in a given time, emergency personnel are notified with last known coordinates taken from the GPS. 

In major disaster events such as earthquakes or building collapses, emergency reports from multiple phones could combine to notify emergency personnel of major life-threatening events in near-realtime, pinpointing the location and potential severity. In additional to dialing 911, a "Panic Button" on the phone could notify 911 of your location and secondary information if you can provide about the type of emergency.  And 911 would have the ability to enable an audible "chirp" beacon on your phone, similar to what Firemen and emergency personnel wear today in case of building collapse or low visibility.

These are just a few ideas.  Just imagine what we can (and will do) as location based services move from being trivial people movers and notifiers to people savers.  Isn't it time we start in that direction with benefits?  Today you can get a discount on auto premiums if you have a car alarm.  How about a discount for an E911++ enabled phone on my life insurance? :)

Courtesy of Dave Zatz, TiVo is indeed pushing out support for H.264 for TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD owners (requires hardware support, sorry Series 2 owners).  New service features include accessing YouTube, and CinemaNow will reportedly be available soon as well as the 2.4 update enables.

No official reports if this update will allow you to stream H.264 content from your home network though it would be a wise thing for TiVo to enable for enthusiasts.

• TiVo Press Release
• Zatznotfunny
• TechCrunch
• CNet

In other news, Amazon.com is (re)launching their online store for movies and television called "Amazon Video on Demand" according to this NY Times article.  This is a smart branding move on their part - most consumers (and industry types) understand the concept of VOD, and "Unbox" requires more explanation.  Amazon's service will offer streaming and while it wasn't in the announcement, I'd expect this new update to work its way into the TiVo shortly where Amazon Unbox already exists.  It's been confirmed to be available via Sony Bravia Internet Video Link but at $300, I'm skeptical this will have mass-market appeal.

Ian Dixon locks on to Charlie Owen (of the Media Center team)'s new post discussing DVD Streaming from a Media Center PC to Media Center Extenders such as Xbox360.  Many have lamented the fact that the same theatrical releases are available in streamed from via PPV, Amazon, NetFlix, iTunes, Xbox Live, PS3 and others, but if you own a physical copy, you cannot stream it around your home.  The same holds true of personal DVDs you burn but in that case, most enthusiasts can rip the DVD (legally) and keep it on our HDDs in a matter of minutes.

While Charlie's post (and mine) should not be interpreted as insight into future features in Windows Media Center and do not represent any formal position of the Media Center team, Charlie outlines a number of speed bumps to delivering a comprehensive DVD streaming solution.  The legal issues alone would make this highly prohibitive at a time when the industry is moving to direct digital (vs. physical-digital) distribution.  Is it a niche feature?  Depends on your perspective.  Personally I'd like to see the MCE team first address codec support issues (my Vista MCE still can't stream home movies captured on a Canon Powershot to my Media Center Extender but can playback fine on the PC).

Lots of discussion happening on this on Charlie's blog.  Feel free to post your thoughts over there.

Tip o' the hat to Dave Zatz for details on the new TiVo update being rolled out. Reportedly all boxes are being updated by the end of the month. Here are the details:

• Play or Delete a Folder
  Play or delete an entire folder of programs with a single button press (including kids shows, music videos ext). Highlight a folder and press PLAY to play all the shows in sequence. Pres CLEAR to delete the entire folder.
• Browse the Guide Any Time
  Press the GUIDE button to display the program guide over what you’re watching: live TV, a previously recorded program, or even a video download.
• Jump Forward in the Guide
  When the Guide is on-screen, press the ADVANCE to jump 24 hours ahead. Press INSTANT REPLAY to go back 24 hours.
• Find a Station in the Guide
  Now you can search for a station “call sign” within the Guide, e.g. KQED, WPIX, MSNBC. When viewing the program guide, press ENTER to bring up Guide Options, then SELECT Find by call sign.
• Toggle Closed Captioning On and Off
  The Closed Captioning icon in the Channel Banner now toggles closed captioning on and off.
• Review Thumb Ratings
  To display a list of all programs that you have rated, select Find Programs, then TiVo Suggestions. Press ENTER to bring up the Review Thumbs screen

Dave notes this is probably a prep update for the SDV Tuning Adapter a # of us are sure to need soon. I completely agree with Dave's assessment - it would be good to get an updated roadmap on HD support and additional service offerings in the future.  Music, Photos etc. is looking pretty stale these days.  If the iPhone can deliver such a anexperience in a small package, certainly TiVo could do some pretty amazing things.

Lots of reports of issues with battery life on the 3G in the Meme the past few days.  Adding insult to injury comes confirmation that most 3rd party adapters can't charge the power-hungry thing. I got bit by this yesterday for the first time when I plugged my iPhone 3G into my VAISTech SoundLinQ adapter in my Toyota Prius.  As soon as I did, I got a wacky message on the device that it would not charge.

Firmware problem?  Not likely. Reports are trickling in that the original iPhone charged via Firewire pin-out while the new 3G only supports USB 2.0, breaking compatibility with many devices including Apple's on pricey and discontinued HiFi sound system. This is most disappointing given I depend on my daily commute to charge my phone up on days when I'm using the iPhone instead of my BlackJack II.  A visit to the VAISTech forums and subsequent iLounge extensive review notes:

Another difference Apple snuck into the iPhone 3G is the latest change to its ever-shifting definition of Dock Connector accessory compatibility. 
This time, Apple has quietly discontinued support for certain types of charging accessories, namely ones that used the FireWire standard rather than USB. Unlike the video accessory change, developers should have known that this one was coming for a long while, so you’re less likely to be affected if you’ve made a recent purchase.
Because of this change, in addition to old accessories such as Belkin’s Auto Kit and Bose’s original SoundDock—identified by one of Apple’s hand-selected reviewers as no longer capable of charging the iPhone 3G—you’ll find that more recent accessories such as XtremeMac’s RoadShow have also stopped working in any way. They’ll bring up a passive screen that says “Charging is not supported by this accessory,” then a new nag screen that says “This accessory is not made to work with iPhone - Charging is not supported.” For RoadShow, which only did two things—AV-out and charging—this change kills any last vestige of utility the old accessory might have had, requiring the purchase of at least a new charger.

So I can't listen to my iPhone via the integrated system and charge it at the same time and doing so at the office isn't really an option since I'm in meetings most of the day. WOW.  Adding insult, the in-car adapter cost more than the iPhone 3G!  Talk about forcing an upgrade cycle. 

Apparently others are having issues with this as well:

• Apple Gazette
• InformationWeek
• StuffTV
• AT&T Forums 
• MacRumors Forums
• USA Today
• Tim Heuer

At that cost, I might as well sell my SoundLinq on eBay and use my Zune all the time in the car.  At least then I can sync and charge from my garage and get the benefit of a ZunePass Subscription for years of music at a cost still cheaper than buying a new in-car adapter.

Update: VAIS Technology rapidly responded to my email inquiry noting they will be offering compatible cables for SL2i in about two weeks.  VAIS will also have an adapter available in about a month for SLi and SL2Vi owners. No word yet on pricing.  Thanks Eugene!

A few weeks ago, I was asked if wanted an opportunity to review a new software app under embargo that is designed to solve one of the great remaining problems with any music library - fixing album art and metadata.  Over the years between WMP/Zune/iTunes conversions of my library, converting all of my tracks into 160kbps MP3, migrating between HDDs and just plain idiosyncracies with ID3 tags and where album art gets stored, my library has become a severe mess.  TuneUp promised to fix it and I have to say aside from a few minor nits, it does a commendable job and is now available for download in two versions: TuneUp and TuneUp Gold but more on that later.

Around the UI
TuneUp is a companion app to iTunes for Windows (Mac coming this Fall) - it rides shotgun, snapping to the right-hand side of iTunes and listens into your library via iTunes' scripting engine. The UI offers four options - Clean, Cover Art, Now Playing, and Concerts.  The first two options - Clean and Cover Art are the meat of the app.  The second two options- Now Playing and Concerts are similar to other solutions offer links to YouTube, Stubhub, Amazon, Google, and eBay searches for artist information and concert listings in your area (via Ticketmaster/Stubhub).  But what sets TuneUp apart is the cleaning feature. My library started off with about 40% accurate information (horrible!) and by running through TuneUp's algorithm, was able to successfully match the majority of my songs. 

Taking it for a Spin
After backing up my music library, I did a series of ad-hoc tests to determine the accuracy of the service. TuneUp representatives tell me it works by applying a heuristic evaluating ID3 tags, filename, and even samples the audio of the song to create a fingerprint of the content. From there, it's matched against Gracenote's massive library of songs.   Gracenote is now a subsidiary of Sony and they've been making great strides in accuracy since their grass-roots efforts as user-supported CDDB so many years ago.

TuneUp correctly found a large # of U2 songs in my library that had missing album art or inaccurate media information, mostly a mix-match of Genre information.  Results are listed in one of three categories - Matches, Likely Matches, and Processing.  All display by album and can drill down to You can then choose to save each track. 

Not Perfect, But Closing in on the Target
Most of my issues with TuneUp are easily solvable.  First the UI has layout issues with the progress bar often colliding with text.  Here is a good example:

Another issue is accuracy on Live Sets or rare tracks.  The library does a good enough job of identifying the songs, but normally matches them to studio recordings.  As of right now, I wouldn't recommend TuneUp for eclectic music libraries. 

Also, I've noticed the Genre naming is quite a bit different across the industry - U2 suddenly went from a mix of Pop and Rock to Adult Alternative.  I don't know if that's a bad thing though I'm not sure Bono would agree.  Sheryl Crow's "Good is Good" genre became, "Singer-Songwriter".  Huh?! I actually started using it as an indicator for when content had been cleaned in my library.

Then there's the pricing.  The app appears to be ad-supported, with an American Apparel banner ad at the bottom of the screen.

Pricing and Advertisements
TuneUp is free to evaluate with over 500 song clean-ups and 50 album covers.  This is  a commendable # for testing and the price of $11.95 for an unlimited version is reasonable.  What I don't see noted here however is whether the Gold version removes the advertisements at the bottom.  I'd like to see more details about how TuneUp intends to use this space and exactly what information is shared with advertisers. Right now this appears to be limited to American Apparel - I don't see much of a fit between the ad and the content though, it would be less annoying if they did some frequency capping and targeted the ads to my interests.  I suspect this is to come in a later release.

Features I'd like to see
TuneUp isn't perfect- but it's pretty darn close.  Here are a few features I'd like to see included:

• View ID3 Tags and Fix.  iTunes will offer, but I can only see all of TuneUps changes after they're applied.
• Duplicate finder.  Yes, iTunes has a similar feature but is largely dependent on you as the user to go through and find
• Lyrics finder. Gracenote offers the service, would be good to see here.
• Offer to Remove Missing Songs from iTunes. WMP and Zune talk directly to the file system and know when files are removed.  iTunes tries to play and then gives you the dreaded "bang".  Nuke em all as an option.
• Zune/WMP Media Bridge.  Ensure media info is correctly set in the places Zune & WMP look, and offer a sync option for playlists, playcount, and ratings.  (Check out MusicBridge as a good proxy)
• Genre Mapper. Ability to rename a Gracenote genre (e.g. Adult Alternative) to Pop or whatever you wish.  It's a highly contentious and subjective topic.
• Faster indexing and better notification. TuneUp normally works well with ~50 tracks loaded but I decided to try and break it load in over 1000 tracks at a time.  It actually held up remarkably well but the UI updates started getting slow and I wasn't sure if it died or not.  A countdown time or est. time remaining option would be a big help.

Summary
TuneUp solves a major problem of most music enthusiasts, though if you're fastidious about your ID3 tagging, have invested hours in genre matching and the like, you may find continuing to manually update to be right for you.  Also, if you wear a tin foil hat and are concerned about personally identifiable information such as track names, playcounts and personal ratings being uploaded to TuneUp, you may want to scrub through the privacy statement. TuneUp assures us this is used for improvements to the service and personalization features such as concert listings (e.g. they won't give you a suggested concert for a one-star rated artist you hate).  For the mainstream music lover, TuneUp is a worthy addition to your toolkit, even in this first release with one caveat- back up your library before you try.  It's not perfect, but it's major improvement over in-app solutions.  Be sure to tell us how your experiences are going in the comments below.

I've been trying to use MobileMe for the better part of two days and had intermittent success with half-loaded apps, pinwheels to infinity, and missing apps.  Apparently there's now an explanation on www.mac.com (right).

Tough day for some friends in Cupertino today but I'm sure everything will be worked out by next week. I'm just hoping my tongue in cheek joke wasn't too close to the mark.

Gizmodo has detailed the official AT&T response to what is happening right now with what's being called, "The iPocalypse".  Basically it appears the hordes are trying to update iTunes and iPhone 1.x devices to the 2.0 firmware which requires re-authentication at the same time all AT&T stores are trying to do the same.   Friends in NYC reported 1.5-2hrs to activate in AT&T stores per person before they scrapped plans for in-store activation and are sending users home with promises you'll be able to activate at home.  But unfortunately, the dialog box at right is what all of we purchasers worldwide are being greeted with instead.

To add insult to injury, if you're upgrading an existing line to the new iPhone, your old SIM card is deactivated before you leave the store.  Normally this whole thing would just be a minor nuisance but now I'm without a functioning mobile phone with no idea when it will be back.  So I paid ~$300 plus giving AT&T a free day's worth of my monthly fees due to service outage.  If this keeps up, AT&T better credit my account for lack of available service. 

I'm really surprised there's been no official response from Apple after hours since this issue arose.  Perhaps they're hoping the Apple PR halo effect will enact a cone of silence and this too will be forgotten/ignored.  A couple of sarcastic comments about enterprise scalability are sure to be made, Apple will tout unprecedented demand and the populist press will note only a few minor issues

Chris, you were right to stay home.  Meh.

Update: Authorization servers appear to be working now.  Updating now.

Update2: Andru Edwards and the crew at GearLive detail their snafus with activation.  Looks like my issues were small in comparison.

In what's sure to be the "Killer app" for iPhone's release, Apple's App store showcases a free download from Apple titled, "Remote".  The marketing speak says:

Be a mobile DJ. With Remote, you can control music on you Computer or Apple TV from your iPod touch or iPhone.

Play, pause, skip, shuffle. See your songs, playlists, and album art, on your iPod touch or iPhone as if you were in front of your computer.

Remote works with your Wi-Fi network, so you control playback from anywhere in and around your home.

 

Features

- Control the music on iTunes or Apple TV

- See the album artwork on your Remote

- Search the whole iTunes library

- Control your AirTunes speakers

Looks like there may be a function for multi-zone music playback with this feature- something I'll have to investigate.  More screens below:

Update: I've successfully tested the app with both an Apple TV and a massive iTunes library and report that the performance is snappy overall. When the Apple TV was powered off, a notification appeared on the iPhone which was also a nice touch.  Apps like this have existed for years for Windows Mobile-based devices, and most recently percolating to a solution for Windows Sideshow so that's now what's new- what's new is that this is the first time Apple has intimated the iPhone as a control device vs. consumption of media.

As for the Sonos comparison, it's readily apparent that Remote (and iTunes in general) is missing a critical feature IMO - synchronized audio playback.  Sonos' wireless mesh network delivers sync'd playback so flawlessly that I'm hard pressed to think of another CE-device in my stable that has worked so well.  This is a key feature for multi-room audio as we regularly fill the house and yard with music when cleaning, entertaining, celebrating the holidays.  I will say the iPhone fits in my pocket a sight better than the Sonos controller - a complete comparison to come in the future.

Courtesy of Lifehacker, iTunes 7.7 may not show up via "Check for Updates" yet, but it is available on the interwebs for those of us who aren't sleeping. 

Download here and read up on Lifehacker here.  One thing to note- the "Applications" option for the left-hand sidebar appears to be disabled by default.  To enable, go into Edit, Preferences. 

It also looks like the rumors of the iPhone remote control feature are true - stay tuned for more details.  I suspect Sonos could have a run for their money here if Apple decides to do multi-zone playback.

Update: iTunes non-ceremoniously crashed on me after five minutes of non-use in the background.  No explanation on why but it was syncing my Apple TV and iPhone in the background.

Update2: It looks like the Apple App store is up and running.  Once you've enabled Applications, select it and choose, "Get more Applications" at the bottom of the screen. I've included a screenshot here.  No iPhone software update yet though...

As Media Center enthusiasts know, www.thegreenbutton.com is a fantastic resource for all things Media Center.  The good news is that the ads are gone.
I'm going to ping the team and get some details but this is fantastic news as we've always been super-supportive of the site and the contributions of the founders, moderators, developers, and community members over the years.  Perhaps it's time for me to re-up my account during vacation and pop into the site.

Those who know this site also know I'm a fan of the Data Robotics Drobo.  I've caught some heat from product managers for other comparable products because I just don't think they match the capabilities of this little device.  One area I've been disappointed about however is performance.  The Drobo docks massive amounts of storage in a small, rock-solid little unit but it's S L O W when doing large transfers.  That's why I'm keen on today's announcement of the new Drobo 2.0 with a faster processor, faster USB 2.0 and new Firewire 800 performance options.  I recently moved my home Media Center into a single desktop system with a Quad-core and it's been working without a hiccup using my Drobo as the primary storage for all media except for two things:  1) Hard Drive spinup lag when the drives haven't been used in a while, and 2) that pesky data transfer performance.  I have two  HDTV (OCUR) tuners connected via USB as well as sundry peripherals and haven't seen any perf issues fortunately, though I would

I'm eager to try out the new Drobo 2.0 and may pick one up - but if I have to transfer over all of my existing nearly 2GB of Drobo 1.0 content to the Drobo 2.0 via the original's sluggish USB, that may be a deal-breaker.  I'm hoping I can swap the drives out and the new 2.0 device will pick up where the 1.0 left off.  I have email into the folks at Data Robotics to learn more on that topic and a few other - will report back here.  Thomas Hawk also has an excellent review here.

Starting at $450 up to $700, the Acer x1200 is about the size of a large book complete with 4GB of RAM, an AMD Dual-Core processor, up to 500GB in storage, and even an eSATA port to go along with the nine USB ports. While Nvidia has taken some lumps as of late for their mobile GPU issues, this unit has a GeForce 8200 integrated along with two PCIe slots (looks like half-height only).  The Mac Mini has little in terms of performance on this gem if you can spare an extra inch and some cost savings.  I am curious about power consumption and heat though and an HDMI out would seal the deal.

AT&T and Starbucks have finally rolled out free WiFi to Starbucks Card users registered with AT&T.  The catch is that this is actually an ad-funded service- in exchange for letting AT&T send you four emails a year, you get a single WiFi session of up to two-hours per day at ~7000 US-based stores.  Nice.

Free AT&T WiFi now at Starbucks - Engadget

Nvidia is touting their new system on a chip (SOC) called, "Tegra".  The new unit, Tegra 650 is primarily targeted at consumer electronics devices such as phones where it will be capable of 3D graphics, 30 hours of HD video playback, includes up to 1080p video and WSXGA+ resolutions along with an 800Mhz ARM processor.  It's being optimized for Windows Mobile phones.

While I can't see myself watching 1080p HD video on my phone, I can see it storing and playing back a single file from local screen or docking it to watch on the big screen when I get home.  Oh and the entire unit is about the size of a dime.

Handheld computers are right around the corner it seems...

Release

Apparently the deal is for all US and Canadian consumer PCs.  (I hear HP ships a few of those.)  Silverlight powers the Live toolbar.  Nice work Silverlight team!

After receiving a letter from my local Toyota dealership offering a Starbucks card for giving them the opportunity to appraise my Prius for over-market buyback, I decided to do some digging.  Apparently they're holding their value extremely well (e.g. nearly 2x residual) and the local dealership is going to take months to get inventory.  NBC News and a family member report similar waiting lists in CA and ATL where they can't even get a test drive. due to demand. 

So... I'm planning to buy out the Prius at the end of my lease and will be adding some new mods.  My first was an aftermarket adapter for my Sirius Radio, Zune and iPod from www.vaistech.com.  It plugs directly into the MiniDisc adapter on the back and includes hands-free control among other features.

Next up: An EV - Electric Vehicle button.  Available in pretty much every country except the US, the Prius is capable of running in battery-only mode, switching to gas only when the battery needs charging or if you go over ~34mph.  More MPG for in-town running to the store.  Sure, it's no Honda S2000, but it gets me to work and back. Perhaps someday I'll hack the touchscreen to run MCE. ;)

If you own a Prius, you can find great hack ideas at www.priuschat.com.

Hack: Prius Convertible

Earlier this week at Microsoft’s Advance08 conference, Robbie Bach and Mark Kroese presented some examples of how the company is putting the fun in ad-funded experiences on three screens – TV, PC, and Mobile devices, with content examples including Gaming , Video, Music, and Mobile scenarios.  I wanted to provide a few additional thoughts about what was shown to the audience of advertisers but with a consumer perspective.  It’s our job to make sure there is a clear value for the consumer, often in the form of “free stuff” in exchange for a sponsorship message that’s lightweight (read, doesn’t piss off the consumer) while meeting the goals of the brand advertiser who is footing the bill.  Here are a few examples:

Gaming – Among the 12M+ Xbox 360 owners, nearly 10M have Xbox Live accounts, connecting to the community to participate in multiplayer games and community activities such as tournaments.  One of the most popular features on Xbox Live are the free downloads – for example, a recent Nissan/Forza 2 Motorsport promotion involved a free downloadable car pack for in-game play, and an online tournament where the winner won an actual Nissan car. 

The Result: Over 350,000 downloads of the free car pack, and over 6.7 million game sessions played during the tournament.

Video -  Movies are universally appealing, and Xbox Live Video Marketplace is no different.  McDonald’s recently completed their “Burgercon” promotion on Xbox Live by offering a free movie download to all Xbox Live users, in this case “Austin Powers”.

The Result: The movie became the most popular movie ever downloaded on Xbox Live.

Music  & Mobile – Like Movies, Music is also universally appealing and a largely social type of experience.  Zune Social is an online community where Zune owners can opt-in to share their music interests and listens with friends.  In the past four months, nearly 2 million Zune owners have chosen to participate the new Zune Social.  One concept we’re piloting this summer is the ability to connect with artists and music events as “friends” on the Social.  The goal is to take what’s been so successful on Xbox with gaming and video, and extend that value exchange to music enthusiasts on Zune Social.  The experience is a microsite on Zune Social, offering free music and video downloads, sponsored by brands such as Doritos in the example shown and connected to music downloads from the CMJ Music Festival. 

Rule #1 is, “Put music in their ears and a smile on their face,” so we’re going to be very careful in how sponsorship messages are presented.  In the example shown this week, it’s just a background wallpaper with attribution to Doritos – no in-song ads as some have speculated.  As a Zune Social member, I'd have to opt-in to download this Zune Card, and even then, it would be presented separate from my music library.  Brand sponsorship might be displayed in album art or wallpaper on the downloaded playlist that includes a small brand logo such as the image of the Zune 80 from the demo at the right.  We've had no discussions about putting ads into song tracks or the like- that would go against rule #1!  But like game and movies downloads, someone has to pay to offer the free and legitimate download. We’re finding just like at music concerts, there are plenty of brands interested in sponsorship opportunities, in this case offering free downloads in exchange for creating a positive connection with music lovers. 

As mentioned, this is a pilot launching this summer, will always be opt-in and the team will be actively soliciting your feedback.  Just like on Xbox, the goal is to put the “fun” in ad-funded downloads with Zune.  Trust is earned and there are plenty who will assume the worst- that's part of the fun (and the challenge) of my new job.

I've always been a fan of Roku's Soundbridge devices, back to demonstrating them on-stage with BillG for the "Digital Entertainment Anywhere" event in 2005.  Bill and I had a long conversation about UI and interaction model during rehearsals back then, so I'm eager to see what Roku is up to with their newly announced NetFlix Player.  Engadget has their impressions here, reporting video quality maxes out at 480p today, until NetFlix gives the go-ahead for HD.  Some HDMI problems to be sorted out as well.  (Note: My Apple TV still freezes up on the Apple logo and my TiVo Series 3 won't display intermittently when switching HDMI sources - this is an industry-wide problem).

Will it rival the Apple TV?  Time will tell but something tells me this is a feature that needs to be built into multi-function devices such as mainstream consumer DVD players, not a dedicated box.  For some folks like my Father (a converted NetFlix user), this might be the right solution provided NetFlix is able to beef up their library.

I'm hoping to review the unit at some point in the future.  Review roundup so far:

Read - Roku Netflix Player officially introduced
Read - PCMag review (4 out of 5)
Read - CNET review (7.7 out of 10)
Read - Wired review ("...just shy of totally amazing.")

ZatzNotFunny is reporting Seven Media Group is prepping to launch TiVo in Australia, minus the subscription fees. How about the US?  I ditched all but one of my TiVo boxes (the one that was grandfathered in years ago for a hefty fee).  I would probably own another TiVo were it not for the subscription fee on top of the hardware purchase.  I wonder what the margins are on the hardware... even the performance of the hardware is starting to look long in the tooth compared to solutions I've seen recently...

A Microsoft VP once told me, "In the world of business, there are Pioneers and there are Settlers.  Microsoft needs both."  I've always gravitated toward the startup opportunities within Microsoft.  A few years ago, I was given the opportunity to help take a fledgling technology called, "WPF/E", name it, brand it, and launch it as "Silverlight", with my team.  The response has been phenomenal, with over 1M downloads/day and a developed balance of features for RIA-focused and Media-focused features. 

A number of months ago, I learned of a new opportunity that what right in my wheelhouse of consumer-focused digital media as a steward of user experiences in the Entertainment and Devices Division as Director of Product Planning for Ad-funded Experiences.  Looking back on the most personally rewarding times of my career so far, I've most enjoyed building teams that focus on the user experience, and deliver "free stuff" for consumers. One could argue my first attempt there was developing the original XP Digital Media Fun Pack and Powertoys, many of which included a small sponsorship message.  Following the acquisitions of aQuantive, ScreenTonic, and Massive Inc., it became clear to me where opportunity intersects with my personal interests.  Put another way, working on the Silverlight platform and seeing so many cool apps developed helped me to realize I missed having a hand in building consumer products myself.  It/s hard to leave the amazing leadership of Scott Guthrie, Soma and so many friends, but I'm not going far.

So what does the job involve?   It starts with working with many of the teams in Entertainment & Devices - Zune, Mobile, Xbox, and more to identify market opportunities where the consumer wins and brand advertisers get impressions.  This is a new area and we're going to step lightly and take feedback as we did with over 10M enthusiasts on Xbox Live who regularly download free add-ons for their games - Map packs, cars, tracks, and even feature-length movies sponsored by brand-name companies like McDonald's, Frito-Lay, Nissan, Ford, Nike, and many others.  The question is can we do the same thing for more media types and devices.  In a nutshell, that's my job - to put the fun in ad-funded entertainment experiences.

And I'm hiring. More on that later :)

At last I can talk about Live Mesh - Dave Zatz you got it right.  Many articles have now been written on the topic, such as Mary Jo's, On10's Video Demos, TechCrunch, the NYT's John Markoff, Scoble, and the Beeb so I won't rehash that here.  What I will say is that it's changing how I work fundamentally, even in it's nascent form.  I'm storing most of my documents and recent photos in the "Cloud" for easy and secure access from work and home.  I'm using Remote Access to "RAS" into my office computer from my Mac.  And when I've been away from home, I've been able to retrieve documents using the web-based UI.  And soon, sync with Mac and other devices. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Live Mesh is a computing platform, a merging of software + services that seems simple in concept. What winsock was to enabling the Internet on Windows, Mesh can and should be the same to personal sync, network app enablement and so much more.  It's hard to see what's on the Horizon (wink), but this is the platform that I really hope developers stand up and take notice of, give feedback on.  The Tech Preview goes out shortly.  If I have invites, I will offer them up here.

Congrats to the Live Mesh team and thanks for solving a major pain point.  If you're a consumer and asking, "Huh?" to all of this, check out the On10 Video.

(Back from Blog Hiatus)  I have an Apple TV - I'm a gadget guy, I work on Digital Media, and of course, want to understand the space.  So I recently purchased a refurbished unit off the Apple online store, and fired it up.  The UI is minimalist, and overall I've been happy except for what I'll call, "The Curse".  Apparently, my Apple TV decides to lose its marbles regularly and just display the Apple logo- no error code, no nothing.  Clicking the remote with cause an auditory "bonk" noting it's working, but the bootup Apple logo is all I have on the screen. I figured it was just a refurb issue.  Then i started searching and found this thread with over two dozen posts from users reporting the same issue.  Apparently factory restore wasn't working and some folks have hunted it down to a possible HDMI handshake issue.  Either way, rebooting my TiVo Series3 and my Apple TV make me cringe...

Update: Version 2.0.2 of Apple TV Firmware is out.  I'm downloading now and will report back if it fixes the issues.

This sounded too strange to be true. I really like Charlie's interviews and the fact that he went on-air without a healthy dose of makeup to cover the black eye makes the story all the better.  Would I do the same for my Dell m1330? Maybe...

Yesterday was my 34th birthday and I had a wonderful time with family at home while our roof was being replaced (cedar shingles) with a next-gen composite roof (another topic for another time).  Despite the hammering, we had a great dinner and this year, my mom gave me a Thermapen, connecting my love of grilling and BBQing and gadgetry.  This device was originally designed for laboratory use and now is used by culinary professionals around the world. It displays actual internal or liquid temperatures in 3-4 seconds vs. the 20 most take today.  I had the opportunity to try one out at least year's Eggfest and have been pining for it ever since.

The packaging is well done- each unit is individually calibrated and noted in pen by an inspector, it includes an NSF certification and certificate noting its rated to over 500 degrees.  Flip out the temperature probe and it automatically powers up.  If you have a chef or grillmaster in your family, this is a must-have gadget for saving them from singed knuckles.

Remember how I said there would be some exciting announcements coming at MIX this year? ;)  Last night (Pacific time), Nokia officially announced that Silverlight is coming to their S60 and S40 mobile phones on the Symbian platform.  This has been in development for a long time now, and will dramatically increase the number of devices that support Silverlight- S60 alone ships on over 150 million devices worldwide - you can learn more about the phones here.  Congratulations to the team - more announcements coming shortly and for those of you on-location at MIX this week, you'll see this in person ;).  See you there.

Congrats to the Xbox 360 and Zune teams (notably known for their membership in the Entertainment & Devices Division.)

Xbox goes profitable, almost like a grown-up business - Engadget

Having reported here my frustration with AT&T and Samsung's silence, it would appear Sammy just released the Windows Mobile 6 update for owners of the Samsung Blackjack mobile phone, months after the BlackJack II went on sale with WM6 pre-installed and nearly a year since its announce.  Note that you will need WinXP or lower OS to do the update.  What's interesting is that Samsung is not only making this available, but noting it is "highly recommended to be installed":

Where Do I Obtain Windows Mobile 6 For My SGH-i607 (BlackJack) And What Does The Update Do?
Samsung has released a software upgrade for the BlackJack, which is highly recommended to be installed. This update includes an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.0 and numerous enhancements/corrections. The update may take up to 10 minutes to complete if the system is already set up.

Download and additional details: Windows Mobile 6 upgrade for Samsung BlackJack.

Comcast DVR's regularly come under fire for bugs, sluggish performance etc with little information available about software updates, known issues etc.  I recently discovered the Motorola DVR/Firmware and Software wiki which reports latest available firmware, changelists, fixed and known issues with each release of hardware, firmware, and software.  A useful resource when communicating your issues with your cable operator.

How to use a Motorola DVR/Firmware and Software - Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks

I just got back from Costco where I got Blue Harvest for $12.99 after the $10 instant discount. 

This image sums it all up:

No iTunes exclusive - these kinds of digital copies have been made available for WMP users for years (WMV-HD anyone?) The difference is in how it gets perceived reported by the press who are covering Apple.

Don't get me wrong- I'm glad to have both.  But this is a parity play by Fox.

By popular demand, Bill Gates' last day at the office video, courtesy of Channel 10.

Bonus points if you can name all the cameos and the song he's playing on Guitar Hero. ;)

Bill's Last Day: The CES Keynote video
/p>

I'm watching the CES 2008 keynote right now, streaming live on the web with Microsoft Silverlight at www.microsoft.com/ces.  I'm so happy they allowed the funny video with a long cast of celebs in the simulcast.  I have four streams going right now for test purposes. Kudos to the istreamplanet team for keeping up with the crushing stream load, I understand it kept rising and rising during the keynote.

Speaking of which, I'm happy that Bill just unveiled that NBC Universal has selected Silverlight exclusively for online delivery of the 29th Olympics in Beijing, PRC in partnership with MSN.  Lots of exciting stuff to come there.   I'll write more on that later.

More pictures below:

Update: If you're unfamiliar with this whole Silverlight thing, check out Andy Plessner's Beet.TV interview where we discussed Silverlight last year. For some reason that day, I opted for the Quicksilver T-shirt instead of my "Evil Monkey" shirt.  Perhaps it was partner love.

Todd Bishop of the Seattle P-I provides a glimpse into the Take-Home testing that many of us do on digital home technologies at Microsoft.  Scott and Hakkan are two of the guys I've had the pleasure of working with in the past - nice to see inside their homes. 

Which brings me to realize my setup has changed so much in the past few years since I was GPM for Media Center- it might be time for a video this weekend walking around our Digital Home 2.0 ;)

Microsoft employees try out new technology at home

Earlier this AM, HP shot me a mail with the latest details on announcements they're making for CES.  Here's the latest:

• MediaSmart Receiver - works with XP and Vista PCs, offering wireless delivery of media via 802.11 ABGN and is also DivX certified.  Includes a Pocket Media Drive slot on the front for the big files and will offer Media Center Extender support this spring via an Internet-delivered update.  No note on whether that's an additional cost.
• MediaSmart TVs - Updated 1080p TV's with three (3) HDMI ports, wired and wireless connectivity and (drumroll please) Media Center Extender support built in!
• Media Vault and Media Vault Pro - Home "NAS Plus" offerings in 500GB and 1GB offerings for the Media Vault mv2100, and up to 1.5TB for the mv5100. Both include Photo Webshare and iTunes server features previously seen in HP MediaSmart servers. These units are Linux-based, unlike the HP MediaSmart Server which is powered by Windows Home Server.

All products will be available in Spring 2008

Apparently Wired Magazine's readers also took note that the Blackjack has yet to get the promised WM6 update nearly a year later... this is one of the worst PR/Customer sat blunders I've seen from Samsung in a long, long time. This from the same company that offered DLP TV owners a $100 upgrade to their mainboards with no additional markup just a few years ago.

Vaporware 2007: Long Live the King

Reason #1574 why I'm going to skip CES in-person this year:

As of Jan. 1, one of the most common types of rechargeable batteries used in gadgets ranging from laptops to cell phones will be subject to new restrictions on American flights. New rules from the US Department of Transportation will limit the size and number of lithium batteries allowed, as well as laying out other stipulations for safely traveling with them.

Lithium Batteries Face Travel Restrictions - Lifestyle News - Digital Trends

Setting aside some of the complaints that users have had with Vista, Thomas calls out one of my favorite features of Vista as well- file moving and conflict resolution.  To quote Thomas:

One of the things that I hated about XP and Mac OSX as well for that matter is that frequently I'd try to move my photos from my MacBook to my drobo after I uploaded them and I'd get a message reminding me that I already had a file with that name in the folder and would I like to replace the file or not replace it. The problem though was always that I didn't know if it was an actual physical dupe file or a different photograph using the same name.
Well now with Vista when it notifies me of this conflict, it actually shows me thumbnails of the photos in question and then gives me three choices. To replace the photo, not to move it, or to move it and give it a new title.

This is one of my favorite useful features along with Media Center which is now powering two HDTV's in our household via Xbox 360 Extenders.

Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection: Moving Files With Vista is Awesome

Happy Holidays everyone.  Catching up on the news, the venerable Steve Garfield is one of the first to get the new service update on his set-top box- be sure to check out his video here.  The filter HD channels guide took a whopping 53 seconds to show up which is disappointing.  No word on when we will see the update here in Seattle, but at least we have a few new HD channels to work with. 

A tip for those interested in following the latest Seattle Comcast news- this thread on the AV Science Forum is among the best I've seen for news, details about outages and glitches, etc.

Steve Garfield's Off On A Tangent: Daily weblog on pop culture and technology.

Dear Santa...

Detroit Auto Show Preview: 2009 Chevy Corvette ZR-1 Officially Unveiled! (The Torque Report)

From Amazon.com Package Tracking:

At least they found it. :)  Here comes my Eye-Fi card in time for Christmas!

Every year, I pore over my Christmas music looking to create the ultimate mix for that cocktail get-together with the neighborhood friends, the perfect in-car mix for shopping, the Christmas Eve Classical mellow-out of young children, and the anthem to which tiny feet run down the stairs Christmas morning.  Yes, I'm a sucker for the holidays.

I also use my free time over the holidays to try and put digital media to some unnatural uses around the home.  This year, sharing photos of holidays past with family and friends takes center stage.

Step 1: Assemble your "Best of the Holidays" Picture Collection into a Single Folder
To simplify transfer to my phone/PDA/Xbox/Media Center and call-up, I use the recently released Windows Live Photo Gallery to organize all of my holiday best pictures into a folder at the top. These are pictures I want to share during the party.

This is easy to do and can be done with any one of your favorite photo apps, though I strongly recommend WL Photo Gallery - not because I work at MSFT but because it has some really great features like ability to upload directly to Flickr.

Step 2: Sprinkle in some Holiday Trivia

I've created a set of 15 questions in the below pack and included the master images from the- all you have to do is unzip it, put the pictures in the same folder as your "Best of" collection.  You'll probably want to rename the files so as to mix them in sets with your own photos.  The pictures are from the old Winter Fun Pack I did as a side project so many years ago for XP.

Step 3: Assemble the Ultimate Christmas Mix

This year we went a little upscale with a swank set of songs for the adults and a few favorites.  Pretty much anyone can build a playlist these days.

Here are some of my favorites:

Cocktail Party Swanky Christmas (Most off "Christmas Classics" on Zune)

• Christmas Time is Here - Vince Guaraldi Trio
• White Christmas - Bing Crosby
• Baby, It's Cold Outside - Dean Martin
• Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Lou Rawls
• Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let it Snow! - Lena Horne
• (Everybody's Waiting' For) The Man with the Bag - Kay Starr
• Happy Holiday - Peggy Lee
• Sleigh Ride - Ferrane & Teicher
• I'd Like You for Christmas - Julie London
• It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - Ella Fitzgerald
• Grown-Up Christmas List - Michael Buble
  

Step 4: Share it on the Big Screen with Xbox 360, PC, Media Center, Digital Picture Frame etc.
There are a number of ways to get your photo playlist onto your PC or picture frame.  I use my Xbox 360 as an extender, and a CompactFlash card inserted into a digital picture frame to share them in two rooms.  Here are a few examples (click images for larger sizes):

Play it on Xbox 360 from your Zune - from the Zune device or home network

Play it from Windows Vista Media Center

Play it on a digital picture frame

Hope you enjoy- Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from our family to yours.

I don't normally post this kind of thing, but these shots were just too good not to.  Show with a Nikon D50 w/ Nikkor 70-300mm lens.  Additional details included.  I have to get to Fleet Week in San Francisco sometime.

http://home.comcast.net/~bzee1a/

Unfortunately the photographer is unknown, but kudos to him/her. 

I am humbled just looking at these shots.  Be sure to look through to the end.

Update: Photographer is Bernard Zee - thanks to Aaron for finding the credits.

TiVo has been on a bit of a tear as of late.  Today. they released MusicChoice for TiVo. I'm watching Bon Jovi's, "Lost Highway" while writing this (you can take the boy out of Jersey...) but here's the deal - the service may appeal to some but without pre-programmed playlists ala radio stations on Comcast, I don't see a lot of value here other than another slightly confusing way to get to video.

One interesting thing to note is that they're offering 15sec pre-roll ads as a part of the experience.  The quality is pretty good overall and starts up quickly.  So in that vein, here are three services I'd like to see on TiVo:

• Karaoke downloads
• Traffic - a real traffic map w/ video
• NetFlix - live streaming & browse/add to queue

TiVo | TiVo Boosts Its Robust Broadband Offering With the Addition of the Music Choice Network’s Vast Library of Music Videos and Original Music Programming

This is great news.  If you have no idea what HD Photo is, you will soon.  Also known as JPEG XR, the new codec developed by Microsoft and turned over to JPEG for standardization keeps up ever-increasing megapixel cameras with wider dynamic range, can store images without data loss from compression and is free of royalty or licensing constraints and can even be embedded into cameras.  More details here on News.com or Bill Crow's HD Photo Blog

Sad to see MovieBeam into outer space right before the holidays but glad to see some customers are getting refunds :(

MovieBeam shutting down operations on December 15th - Engadget

I'm getting reports of AT&T Blackjack users passing out from holding their breath waiting for the Windows Mobile 6 update to be released by Samsung.  If you believe what you read in the forums, AT&T reps are quietly noting that the software is done, and Samsung needs to release it.  Last April, a ROM image "Leaked" out of AT&T that appeared to be nearly done.  So where is it? 

Plenty of conspiracy stories running around in the over 2000 posts on the topic on HowardForums, some report Samsung is waiting for the Blackjack II (now shipping with WM6) to have a period of exclusivity before issuing the update for existing Blackjack users.  This seems a little far-fetched but you never know.  In the meantime, AT&T ended up shutting down the WM6/Blackjack forums in October and merging all WM6 discussion due the natives getting unecessarily restless.  It's been nearly eight months since the announcement was made, ten months since WM6 was released and the Blackjackers are feeling jacked.

Latest thread on AT&T is going strong here.  The watch continues on one of the worst customer communication experiences I've seen in years.

AT&T Windows Mobile 6 for Treo 750 goes live! | The Boy Genius Report

This is a step in the right direction.  The Yahoo! Photos application removed earlier this Fall from the TiVo application lineup was a pale reminder of just how far we have to go to enable simple sharing of personal media with family and friends.  I was  hoping to be able to share my Flickr library and am unlikely to sign up for yet another service.

What I would like to see is a standard set of APIs for sharing of photos and video across all the major services.  It won't happen as so much of the value prop is tied up in well frankly, tying your photos into a particular online service and their own monetized deals for printing, sharing etc. But my photos want to be free to enjoy wherever I want, on any screen I want.

eHomeUpgrade | TiVo Delivers the Best Way to View & Share Photos on the Television - Now in HD

Note to self.  Forget waiting for the Windows Mobile 6.0 update for my Motorola Blackjack, that's so 2006.  Wait for Windows Mobile 6.1 instead.

Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard in 100 pictures | The Boy Genius Report

Engadget's reporting onthe new Ricavision RICA 100 remote with built-in MCE and SideShow functionality.  With Bluetooth and A2DP support, this is quite the looker though I wonder how well it works ergonomically when stacked up next to a Harmony 890 which is my personal fave today for ensuring household bliss.  This holiday break, I'm hoping to get some Z-Wave adapters so I can control the lights with simple macros like, "Watch a Movie".  Geek on.

Ricavision kicks out VAVE100 universal MCE / SideShow remote - Engadget

Another good gem here - walkthrough of the Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard update.

Gamerscore Blog : Fall Dashboard Update Details

If you're a hardcore video geek dealing with the mix-mash of video formats and wondering what will really be supported in the December 2007 Xbox Dashboard Update, then you'll want to read this FAQ.  Otherwise, we return you to your morning coffee.

Xbox Team : December 2007 Video Playback FAQ

Was too busy to note the following interesting stories the last few days:

• TiVo to get solution for Switched Digital Cable Nets, coming Q208
• TiVo interface coming to PC via Nero deal
• TiVo announces 3Qtr results, still losing millions :(
• Verizon to offer, "Any Apps, Any Device" option for customers (but at what cost)?
• Wired is spinning up its Video Division. IPTV for everybody!
• Xbox 360 Backwards compatbility update adds support for 80 add'l classic games
• Quad CableCard Tuner systems from Inteset for Media Center announced

Learn to Fly--Foo Fighters

Things Have Changed--Dylan

This Is How a Heart Breaks--Rob Thomas

Runnin' Down a Dream--Petty

Someday Baby--Dylan

LA Woman--Doors

Locomotive Breath--Jethro Tull

Won't Get Fooled Again--The Who

You Can't Catch Me--Stones

Freebird--Skynard

China Grove--Doobie Bros.

Don't Fear the Reaper--Blue Oyster Cult

We're an American Band--Grand Funk Railroad

If you're using an Airport Extreme with WPA/WPA2 Personal security enabled, you might notice that your shiny new Zune 2.0 software can't find your network automatically. The fix is  to manually add your Airport and set the network type as "WPA using TKIP" and away you go.

Technical reason: Airport Extremes for some reason squawk as WPA2  and not WPA, even when in mixed security mode which means they don't show up in the list. The Zune team is aware of the issue and it has been reported to Apple.

I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the wireless sync feature. Four years ago we were talking about being able to wirelessly sync your device from your car in the garage. Now it's a reality, and a killer feature IMO.

I love my Logitech Harmony 890 remote and have been thinking about enabling more home automation with it- lights over the TV, in the corners etc where the kids toys tend to corral into making reaching the switches a game of twister. ZWaveWorld provides a good how-to here.

Blogger Evan DiBiase uncovered a series of new strings in the latest iTunes update that point to video rentals and video on demand (VOD) service enhancements to the iTunes Store coming soon. Hmmm.  Perhaps Apple TV will become a little less of a hobby with this one but there's no guarantee they'll use the features.

One of my favorite people in eHome, Charlie Owen notes, "I'm going to head up an effort here at Microsoft between the Media Center, XBox and Zune teams to give you a set of resources which help you put our products together and begin to realize the 'Connected Home' dream." 

An admirable start. As I've noted here, I would like to see the merging of Windows Home Server and Media Center, and perhaps a wireless home automation component, though I have yet to use it beyond my Logitech Harmony remote. 

I'd also like to see a, "Buy anywhere, Watch anywhere" merging of the Marketplaces in Xbox 360, Zune, and Media Center.

Give Charlie your feedback in comments on his blog here.

via eHomeUpgrade

Michael Gartenberg, wizard of digital media at Jupiter Research recently blogged  about  the new round in the HD format battle. With Best Buy following Wal-Mart in offering Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD players at a swank $99, Michael notes, "At that [price] point, it's not a competition between HD-DVD and Blue-Ray, it's a competition (correctly so) between HD-DVD and DVD."

Frankly, the whole topic jumped the shark for me nearly six months ago.  But the whole price war has really piqued my curiosity.  I wonder if Toshiba and its partners can keep the prices that low and for how  long?  Either way, Michael has an interesting point - "With prices that low, backwards compatibility and some very good content starting to appear (the Heroes Season 1 Box Set, Transformers and soon the first season the original Star Trek series) we may be getting to a point this holiday season that could tip the balance."

Back in February, I did a quick analysis of the price points for the formats, based on Amazon.com price points for the top players in both formats.  While unscientific, this yielded an average cost of nearly $850 for BD and $400 for HD-DVD (not including game consoles).  While it's clear that BD players have made the most movement, it's unclear when or if prices will drop to this price on an average basis.

And Sony's response to the HD price event?  "Blu-ray will be down to $399 and slightly below that, but not much lower," according to Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow.

Whether Toshiba was looking to move old inventory (as in a unit that first shipped Q1CY07), or this represents a tipping point in the HD format battles is unclear. Either way, the PR and marketing value of HD-DVD becoming synonymous with "Affordable HD on a disc" is palpable.

Whichever way this one goes, my advice still remains- sign up for NetFlix or Blockbuster's online service and receive whichever format you prefer without purchasing the discs until the whole format war is sorted out.

Note: I do not work for nor with the HD-DVD effort at Microsoft - all comments are my own and not representative of my employer.

If you're an owner of a first-generation Zune,  now known as the Zune 30, it's nice to note that  you'll also shortly be able to use the new Zune software on your device and the new  Zune software starting on 11/13 - that's next Tuesday folks.  I'll post some thoughts here shortly after it's in the wild.

My iPhone and iTunes also took an update yesterday, pushing out a bunch of games and whatnot for the iPod.  I still don't understand why I have to reboot my PC it seems every time iTunes wants to do an update.  Oh well, off to rebootland.

Chris and Ponzi came over for a fun-filled evening on Saturday night.  Chris, never one to be without a gadget had a little orange gem in tow.  He was raving about the Eye-Fi, a combo 2GB SD and WiFi card that automatically uploads your pictures to the web.  I was floored when I saw it in action.  It works with all the major services- Kodak, Wal-Mart, Flickr, Snapfish, Photobucket, Facebook, Webshots, Sicasa, Phanfare and so many more.  Just pop it into any camera and away you go.  Reportedly with an SD to CFII converter, it will work in DSLR's as well.  Chris snapped a picture and immediately it showed up on his account after being paired on my WiFi network and the small client software installed.

I was going to put this on my christmas list but I'm realizing this is just what I need for Thanksgiving and Christmas morning.  I can't wait as family members are increasingly wanting near-realtime pictures and the like.  So I'm going to try and pick one up and evaluate it in full for you here. 

My wife is addicted to Guitar Hero 3.  GH2 was the first game she's ever player in the actual store and at seven months pregnant she kind of stuck out, creating a crowd of gawkers at the lady resting the axe against her belly.  She's classically trained in cello and sight-reads like a whiz which helps, and there's no chance I'll ever, ever beat her in this game. 

But that doesn't stop us from having fun with it.  Having been drugged, bound and tied and placed into the back of an Audi, a friend told me he was going to the midnight madness launch for GH3 for the Wii and offered to pick up the game.  I figured this would be cool, particularly because of the Wii's new online gameplay.  The same way roses win favor with some wives, this would garner favor in my household.

My wife was ecstatic.  Nothing breaks up baby monotony quite like GH3. I missed the sharp HD graphics of the Xbox 360 but the gameplay was largely there, except for a noticable delay in audio effects when you missed a note and the Wiimote twanged, nestled into it's compartment in the Guitar controller.  Then, things went horribly, horribly wrong when our neighbor's daughter challenged us to an online match.

It all started with a phone call.  Apparently we needed to find the 16-digit "Friend Code" and give it to her.  Then, another call- we needed her to enter our friend code.  Then the gameplay. Setting up a game is obnoxious, with little presence information available- did your friend set up the game?  Are you supposed to?  Another phone call.  Then their wireless went out. Sigh.  Finally we get a game, and I realize I spent this money on a Wii version of what I should have bought for Xbox 360 in the first place.  Playing GH3 online with the Wii was like stepping back into the dark ages.

So, Craiglist to the rescue.  I rationalized this away to my wife, who could now unlock more songs via coop mode with Xbox 360 since we'd have two guitar controllers (one from GH2 works just fine).  Sure, she'd have to start over, but she'd also be able to play online.  Okay, she didn't buy that one but we have two guitar controllers that work now.

It's easy to say gameplay is what matters most, until you see the graphics side by side.  Chris and  Ponzi were over for dinner Saturday night and noticed the difference,  Particularly online, the frame rate during some of the hardest sequences drops suddenly and erratically on the Wii.  Xbox 360 keeps up with audio, video, voice, and easy online game matching all in one.

As a master air guitar player, I'm a sucker for this game and you never know, my sons might learn to play the real thing after watching Dad jam. Ryan told me, "Dad, you really rock" and that's all the fan base I need.

In what is sure to be a smart business move for TiVo, they've announced that they're bringing Rhapsody's music service and the ability to download any of four million digital track into the living room.

There are some limitations according to the New York Times- TiVo owners can't move music around their homes or transport songs from TiVo to a mobile device.  These are both well understood and limited issues given that most consumers will just save the music to a playlist, and then sync  from their PC. 

This is great progress to see for TiVo. Their support for application extensions has languished and ISV community fizzled in part due to the lack of rich graphical capabilities such as what Media Center + Xbox 360 extenders can offer.  First MTV, now this, Rhapsody seems to be building out a new playbook.  I have to wonder- does Rhapsody have a Media Center solution waiting in the wings?

My mother always taught me if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.  I decided to opt out of all the hype/buzz/drivel about the Zune 2 announcement here because quite frankly I've been underwhelmed.  But I seem to keep getting emails asking what I think.  Sure, I have friends working on it.  I've inquired, "Please tell me the player is much much improved" and was told, by a friend "Trust us, it will be".  After sending mail to some other friends in Zune-land stating, "I love the iPhone, will I like the Zune?"  The response, "Just wait".   Hey, I want to like it, but I'm not going to shill for it.  I just can't seem to get jazzed up about the product after v1 was such a let down for me personally.  Then the company meeting happened.  I waited for the big Zune demo and announcement all employees would get one (ala Steve Jobs + iPod).  Neither the demo or the rumored announcement happened.  How will this device get to escape velocity if we're not firmly behind it?

So I've been waiting, looking the space more as a general consumer than I've been for years.  The tepid comments regarding Zune 1 and somewhat quiet introduction of Zune 2 had me concerned earlier this week.  Now it appears things are changing.  First the team is smartly offering the free update for all customers who purchased Zune 1 - we'll get all the software features.  Second, the new devices are definitely a generation ahead of v1.  Now, I'm waiting and reading Steve O'Hear from Last 100's coverage on the 5 things Microsoft did right with the Zune 2:

1. WiFi music syncing.  Definitely a big plus in my book.  Fewer wires = goodness and my Zune can now sit in the kitchen/office
2. Support for audio and video podcasts. Finally!  Someday I'll write my memoirs on how hard we tried to get this into another player...
3. Windows Media Center TV recording transfer. Good to see, still skeptical until I see it in action. 
4. Social Networking. Zune Social and Zune Card will be interesting.  But I still want "Zune Finder" as a gadget/widget/mini-app that detects Zunes when I'm on my laptop and have my Zune WiFi turned off at the airport, at conferences etc.
5. Free update for existing customers. Yep.  This is great.
   
   To this, I want to add my own:
   
6. MP3 Store. It's about friggin' time.  I completely converted from WMA and iTunes DRM'd content to MP3-only earlier this year through a painful series of CD rips ;).  Now my iTunes, Media Center, and Sonos Libraries work in harmony.  I use MusicBridge (an awesome, must-have tool) to keep my playlists, ratings, and playcounts in sync and I'm good to go. 
7. Media Player Software that looks clean and usable again. The video clips I've seen of the Zune look outstanding.  iTunes has it's quirks, WMP hasn't kept up with my music library but does a better job at certain functions  like album art matching. 
8. FM radio. Often overlooked, I sometimes get bored with shuffle and my playlists and just want to connect with the outside world. FM radio still has it's place.
9. The new Zune 2. Touchpad is the way to go.  Single-handed use is still easy, something that is increasingly frustrating me about the iPhone.
10. Support for Apple's Podcast extensions are coming. First comes denial, then anger, then acceptance ;). Zunester seems to confirm this which is nice to see. Album art today, full features soon?

Will I be trading in my iPhone for a Zune 2?  Not likely, namely because I love the in-car integration I have with my VaisTech adapter in my Toyota.  But I will load up the new software on my Zune 1 and give it another whirl.

Intel just announced the USB 3.0 specification a.k.a. "SuperSpeed USB" aiming to deliver 300Mbytes/sec in real throughput (that's 2.4 Gbit/sec) though in simulations has gone as high as 25Mbit/sec.  In comparison, USB 2.0 today runs about 480Mbit/sec.  Reports by  EETimes state that the new solution coming from Intel, HP, Microsoft, NEC, NXP, and TI will be available starting in  early 2009 and offer quality of service (QoS) features for applicatons such as HD video streams.  New cables will be backwards compatible and include an optical link.  This is great news for boosting throughput on HD camcorders, HD tuners and of course, Hard Drives. Engadget is noting  this could be the end of Firewire (1394) as Sony puts USB on their camcorders and Apple and Intel are working closely together.

The folks over on HowardForums are reporting that AT&T will finally release the Windows Mobile 6 update for Samsung Blackjack users on September 17th.  I hope this is true...  While a beta was unofficially released on the web a few months ago, the lack of any Internet Connection Sharing was a big issue for me.

This is to my recollection my first link to Fake Steve Jobs.  I enjoy him every once in a while, like a Far Side cartoon.  Tonight, I read his post, "A Boring Rant" about iTunes vs. NBC and he almost sounded lucid.  I think he's off the mark on Apple creating original video. They'll start where the risks are lower - music.

My prediction:  Apple will start a music label as the first step. They will have at least three major artists -

1. An established, older but wildly successful artist that's experienced a slight downturn, to focus on the aging adult contemporaries with the budget to buy Mac products
2. A hot country artist because we're reportedly a NASCAR nation*
3. One more youthful artist, probably focused on the urban demographic.

Or they may go all-in with a big defection en-masse.  Apple will make a statement to the industry by making these tracks available at a slightly cheaper price than other tracks on the site.  The might start by offering non-DRM'd tracks for $.99 vs. the requisite $1.29 found now.  They'll generate modest profits and promote like hell to get on the radio airwaves.  They'll use television ad time traditionally used to drum up iPod awareness (like we needed any) to promote the songs and the new iPods on their way.

Or perhaps I'm off the mark and the numbers don't add up.  Either way, ubiquitous broadband is the real disruptive force happening here, and on that we agree.

*My son is an addict and preschool slave at the altar of Pixar's Cars.  John Lasseter and the Pixar team are phenomenal in my book, but if I have to hear, "It's all gas and goes for McQueen today!" one more time...

I've discovered certain new games for Xbox 360 require that you do NOT have a "strict" or "moderate" setting in order to player match games.  Overall, you may see a performance increase in online network play if you follow the instructions found here.  They helped my situation quite a bit with a new Wireless Router.

Taking 5 minutes from new baby time tonight to check in on Peter Moore's press event at E3 - apparently Disney is releasing movie starting tonight in HD on Xbox live. My wife approves a little more.  No word on title(s) yet.

Introducing a new addition to the ADM family - Tristan Alexander, born July 6th 2007, a whopping 10lb 3oz.  He arrived a day early as mom went into labor instead of waiting for the planned 7.7.07 c-section. He's already asserting his independence. Both mom and baby are doing fine as is little brother.

Ready for my Closeup

Big Feet

A big brother moment

All pictures were taken with a Nikon D200. The surgery was filmed on a Canon HV20 1080i HD camera (ok, there's the gadget part).   Thanks to all for their well wishes via facebook and email (sean_alexander on that hotmail site) - I'm sharing with Mom.  We're likely to leave the hospital today -

It seems everyone needs to post their thoughts on the iPhone.  I think I saw it in the license agreement actually.  So here are my thoughts, composed as haiku:

Activation pain;
Where is Exchange ActiveSync?
Best iPod ever.

Feel free to contribute your own.

My wife and I like to play Guitar Hero II as a family event.  Our son loves to rock out, dancing and jumping around while we do. It's the first Xbox 360 game where my wife is better than me.  Not by just a little bit- she's significantly better than me, chalking it up to her classical cello training.  Well I've marked down what I'm going to get her for Christmas already- Rock Band.  Adding wireless drums, a mic, and wireless guitar/bass to the mix and this could be the ultimate party game.  Check out this video. "Welcome to the Jungle" is a good start- now if they'd just license more music for both games, I'm ready to buy.

Last night about 10pm I picked up an iPhone at the Bellevue Apple Store. It was a great purchase experience until I got home.  I plugged it in, fired up the Mac and upgraded iTunes.  Then I registered and... nothing except a message:

"Your activation requires additional time to complete."

You will receive an email confirmation sent to [foo] once your activation is complete.

Nine hours later, still no activation.  Looks like I'm not the only one either. Whoops, I realized Apple let me use my expired .Mac email address for the account.  I have another email I wanted to switch to so I called AT&T and was on hold for 30 minutes with no end in sight.  When I gave up and called back, went into another queue and was told I'd have about 10 minutes to wait.  I was super-pleasant with the CSR but it was clear she wanted me out of her queue- talking over me to the point I had to ask her to stop and listen to what I was asking her to do (she wanted me to sign up again when all I wanted was my email address changed).  She seemed really annoyed when I asked how long they expected it would take.  Her response, "There are millions of people trying to activate this phone, we have no idea".

Wow... I wonder if I'll see anything today. Hopefully Jobs is working the AT&T exec lines this AM. 

(Fingers crossed)  The design is superb but I can't do anything other than make emergency calls until activated.  You can't even use the iPod functionality.  I just want to play with what I paid for. :)

Update: 9:00am - finally activated :)

It appears the guys at DivX have unveiled their rumored hardware, the new DivX GejBox -  a reference/test set-top entering an already questionable field.  No, I'm not adding that wink for giggles, it's really in the product name, which Engadget refuses to include on principle.  DivX has been trying for nearly a decade to build some street credibility as a video format, originally popularized by movie traders on the internets. You kind of have to hand it to them, they have staying power.  A few asian manufacturers support their offbeat MPEG-4 profiles (which have been beaten by XviD in every codec shootout since 2003). Let's forget the company was named the same as a failed (and despised) timebombed rental disc program Digital Video Express, but to build a box, and then name it after the hacker handle used by a co-founder doesn't smack of responsible marketing.  At least it has HDMI and wireless though I doubt many consumers will be picking this up over an Apple TV or Xbox 360 (for Extender). 

The meme is all gaga over an MIT project demonstrating the ability to power a 60W light bulb up to 6.5ft away from a wireless power coil using magnetic waves. Funny thing is this isn't news - the announcement was made last November. Two other companies, Powercast and eCoupled are doing similar things. If it proves out, this is a very cool development but the real question I haven't seen asked is: how efficient is it?  Does it take 90W of power to support a 60W bulb? Can it scale to support multiple devices like a wireless power strip?

Wireless charging of your cell phone may be just the break the iPhone and other multi-function devices will need to avoid the Russian Roulette game of managing your power consumption between music, video, email, and voice calls so you're not caught with a dead phone.  Will it replace all your cables in your home?  I'm highly skeptical.

(The first of a three part series)

I'll admit it.  I tried to break my Drobo on Day 1.  No, I didn't drop it or mangle it.  I just did everything backwards.

1. I plugged it in before installing the dashboard app.  It showed up as a "Protected USB device". Oookay...

2.  I downloaded installed the software and installed it... via Remote Desktop.

3.  I put four of the five drives in- starting with a piddly 42GB drive, a 160GB, a  320GB and a 500GB'er. Did I forget to mention I put the last two drives in backwards?

4.  Did I forget to mention that I put all the drives in before powering it up, and then proceeded to format the two drives?

5.  Then I put the bottom 320GB and 500GB drives in correctly. Drobo Dashboard found and automatically formatted the drives.

6.  Next I started a big copy - 23GB.  Started off great, though a  little slow.

7.  Then I got impatient about 10GB in and pulled the 42GB main drive OUT and dropped a 400GB in.

8.  Transfer went fine.  Then I took 300GB and let it run overnight.  Logging back in in the morning- all my data was there.

So what happened? Not a hiccup. The Drobo protested with blinking yellow lights that I wouldn't be protected against a single HDD failure.  But I didn't have to re-format, everything just worked as expected.  You have to get over the confusing fact that the drives will always report 2TB to Windows (or greater) but the actual storage is much smaller.  A large portion of the available space is also taken up for buffer so even after formatting I had on the order of 100GB unavailable. I suspect this is buffer space. The Drobo Dashboard gives you a true view of space on the drive (psst- where's the Drobo Dashboard Gadget?)

As with most USB transfers however, it felt a bit slow.  Here's to hoping for an eSATA version in the future or if someone can figure out how to "channel bond" two USB ports for faster throughput (send my patent check in the mail please). :)

(Next up: Serving HD video off the Drobo- Media Center Style)

The site says, "On June 5th, Data Robotics will change the way you think about storage forever".  RAID-style expandable storage at any point?  It sounds too good to be true!  As one who just filled my 500GB RAID1 setup (largely with recorded MCE TV programs) this product sounds like an ideal solution- automatic backup, mix and match HDD sizes, makes and models, and it will work with my Mac or PC. If this works as advertised, I may be sitting in a pool of storage soon. 

I want to be more social.  I really do.  The problem is my trusty little Zune rarely has its WiFi radio turned on in order to save the battery when traveling.  There's nothing I like less than when my video ends abruptly for lack of juice.  So it's a personal sacrifice I make.

Here's a simple idea that would turn the social aspects of my little Zune. It's time for ZuneFinder.  ZuneFinder would be a small Sidebar gadget or systray app that notifies me when a Zune is found in general vicinity I'm in. This would be great in airports, where I often camp out between flights near an AC plug. The big question is whether a Zune can be uniquely identified via your WiFi adapter.  I have to imagine this is possible.

Then taking it a bit further, I could see ZuneFinder mashups- with a GPS, you could drive around and geomap all the Zunes you find in your area, automatically.  Of course, the snarky will retort, "You won't find any."  But being social should be passive, then active in nature.  This is the appeal of Facebook. 

Sadly, ZuneFinder doesn't exist (that I know of). Has anyone been able to uniquely identify Zune devices from an app?  Developers inquire within. :)

Charlie Owen has a great writeup on how to optimize your pictures for viewing on the Zune. 

My favorite home audio receiver Sonos is reportedly about to release version 2.2 with Pandora support.  I'm looking forward to this in a big way.  Now if only XM  would do a deal with Sonos, I would be a very, very happy camper.  Until then, I continue my Media Center->Xbox->Sonos workaround for listening to Flight 26 from my home theater.

Update: Version 2.2 has now been released.  Unfortunately with it comes the cryptic news:  Pandora (a free, ad-supported service on PC) comes with a subscription requirement after 30 days for Sonos.  This is a little disappointing as the only value you seem to get for your $36/year.  That's not much, but the only value offered is 100% free of advertising?  How about being able to play a specific song when I create a station based on it?  I'll probably still drop my Rhapsody subscription in favor of this cheaper alternative.  Sonos- if you want to talk to XM, give me a call ;)

Ok the blog is back up with some load-balancing features so I can talk about Popfly!  This is for the YouTube & MySpace generation- interested in mashups that bend to your will, combining mapping, Flickr, and bLaugh with unintended consequences.  Given all the new API's starting to show up, this has tremendous potential for the developer challenged.  Just connect the dots (literally) and create your own. It will even roll the code into a Windows Sidebar Gadget or enable you to embed easily into your own site. This is just an Alpha and LOT more is planned.  But I have to hand it to John, Dan and team this is an awesome use of Silverlight.  Watch the video and let the mashing begin.

S itting in Newark Liberty Airport and catching up before my flight.  As announced in Bill Gates' keynote at WinHEC this week, 81 entries into the NextGen Windows PC competition were entered, and the three winners were announced, complete with a few physical prototypes showcased by CNET. It's great to see this program live on from when we first launched it two years ago.  The entries are definitely evolving into some very cool designs.

This is what happens when my worlds collide.  Feel free to listen in on my chat with Ian Dixon of The Media Center Show about Silverlight.

I  love my TiVo Series 3.  It has a great Spousal Acceptance Factor (SAF) and though the price was crazy high, it has run flawlessly in our family room for months on end and I can't seem to fill it up with content.  

If you're interested in a Series 3, TiVo has a great deal at $499.99 + free TiVo Wireless adapter here.

Now if they can just get that whole TiVo to TiVo sharing feature running again...

I've received so many inquiries and kudos about the Silverlight name, logo, and brand video internally and externally that I thought I'd post the real story of how it came together.

• Naming research was completed in Q3 2006.  We decided to hold it for a special event at a later date.  "WPF/E"- the codename of Silverlight was intentionally unappealing to keep mainstream consumers from installing it until we had good feedback from the developers/designers during the alpha (CTP) preview.
• Brand work was done by my team working with an outstanding design firm I'll mention here once I have clearance to do so (by them).  We kicked this off in October, and went through many iterations before landing on the animated logo and final frame lockup.  If you don't like the frame, you can blame me Long :)  The orb is a plasmic energy being held into shape by an unseen force, where it spins and flows, almost organically.
• The brand video was done by Phoenix Edit, a group of ex-Industrial Light & Magic wonks out of San Francisco.    The goal was to show many different Silverlight-enabled scenarios woven together – designer/developer collaboration, personalized e-commerce, devices, user-generated video, viral sharing, and the network effect on sales. We intentionally avoided excessive use of text or voiceover so the video will translate globally as we kick off events around the world. For the line, "Light up the Web" - you have me to blame.  It's more about illumination and blazing a trail vs. blazing anything else ;)
• The music in the brand video is by my friend and prominent UK DJ Andy Hunter. The song is “Go” off his album, “Exodus”.  Andy consulted on the project and the remix, and has considerable street cred touring with DJ Tiesto. His songs have been used in The Matrix games, and multiple movie/television show. Andy is now on Nettwerk records working on his next release.
• Customer and partner engagement was tightly synchronized.  During initial briefs, partners were shown a slide announcing the final name as "X-Plat Player Plug-in for Browsers" in Microsoft logotype, a self-deprecating way of noting that we knew the name had to be cool and were on the ball (ironically or sadly some thought that was the actual name!).  We'd show the logo without the name, and always used the name "WPF/E" in our discussions and external communications.
• For the press announce, named companies didn't even know the final name until a matter of hours before the release hit. We intentionally didn't publish any brand elements internally and had about a dozen people total that had access.  The product management team got really tired of hearing me talk about secrecy and except for a few small nits that went unnoticed, they really did us proud.

Some day I'll post the evolution timeline of the logo if others are interested.

Every year, the publishers of Videography, DV, Digital Cinematography, and Television Broadcast magazines get together at NAB and announce the "Best of Show" award winners in multiple categories.

The Best of Show Awards are given in recognition of outstanding achievement in the advancement of the art and science of video technology, include the Videography Vidy Awards, the longest running NAB awards program, the Television Broadcast Top Innovation Awards, the DV Black Diamond Awards, and the Digital Cinematography Premiere Awards.

"To receive an award, a technology is evaluated by our panel of editors and industry experts," says NewBay Media Video Group Vice President/Group Publishing Director Doug Krainman. "The winning technologies reflect innovation and engineering excellence.

I'm elated to note that Microsoft Silverlight was the recipient of a coveted DV Black Diamond Award, in such esteemed company as Apple Final Cut Studio 2.  Congrats to the entire team!

Dan is one of the top movers/shakers in the online media space.  A veteran of Web 1.0, EVP of StreamingMedia.com and and Chairman of the Streaming Media conferences,  he recently started a blog and people are taking notice.  I first met Dan back at Streaming Media West 2001, in-between Steve Ballmer heckling me on-stage for using my wedding video in an end to end demo :). 

Dan gets our strategy with Silverlight for the media space.  Customers want a solution with the quality/reliability of Windows Media, standards-support of VC-1, and the interactivity only available from another provider today:

While the higher cost of creating and delivering in Flash over Windows Media has not stopped too many in the past, it has stopped some content creators from wanting to spend two to three times more just to use the Flash streaming format... If Silverlight truly does allow content owners to create, encode and deliver content faster and cheaper while providing the same if not better user experience than Flash streaming, then Microsoft is going to have the advantage in the long run.

Almost every broadcaster I speak to is looking with whetted appetite to the moment they can deliver HD video on the Web in a reliable and effective manner.  While everyone talks about the rapidly dropping price of bandwidth on the Web, we seem to neglect the actual cost of retraining designers to be developers (or vice versa), the production costs associated with creation of more complex, experience-centric websites, and the plain fact that more bits flowing through the "tubes" of the internet = more congestion, particularly at HD rates.  This is why we're investing so heavily in Silverlight for media, and adding new features such as SSL (https://), the same technology used to protect your credit card information, will now be used for over-the wire encryption of progressive streams from Windows Server code name "Longhorn" to Silverlight.  A certain broadcaster said they needed it and were concerned about proprietary protocols of other solutions that were recently reverse engineered.

Dan Rayburn - Subscribed.

Hot on the heels of our annoucements at NAB and the overwhelming response, I'm happy to announce the Silverlight team is growing again.  If you want to be a part of the next wave of media experiences and help to build the business to create, deliver, and experience RIAs, new job opportunities exist for the following job roles:

• Sr. Product Management - Enterprise & Solutions Engagement
• Sr. Product Management - Server & Services Engagement
• Silverlight Business Development & Deployment

All jobs are located in Redmond, WA.  Qualified candidates should have minimum of 5 years in the industry, MBA preferable with experience in the enterprise streaming and/or content delivery space.  Excellent customer/partner references are a must.  Skiing and/or 'boarding experience is a plus.

If you're interested, feel free to contact me at LinkedIn or send me email at sean@seanalexander.com with "INQUIRY:" in the title and your resume/VC. Or come find me on LinkedIn if you prefer.

The positions are located in Redmond, WA and will require some travel, about 4 days a month. It's important to note these are senior positions, with large impact on the business working directly with partners, customers, and product team to  ensure we're meeting the needs of our customers in the years to come.  Mac+Windows enthusiasts appreciated. ;)

Hot on the heels of last night's Top 10 for Silverlight, the other product making major waves at NAB is Microsoft Expression Media Encoder - a template-based video publishing tool for Silverlight and more. Expression Media Encoder supports live and on-demand video encoding and is a feature of Expression Media (our upcoming Digital Asset Management tool based on the lauded iView Media Pro).  Tim Sneath has a great writeup on the encoder here. 

Top 10 Questions about Expression Media Encoder

1. What video formats can I import with MEME?
   A: QuickTime, AVI, WMV, and any other format with a well-formed DShow filter.  Yep, we did the extra work to support the QT API's and are showing it working on the show floor.  If you have QT installed, it will work.
2. What can MEME do with Silverlight?
   A: MEME can quickly add chapter points with thumbnails and publish out your video into WMV/SMPTE VC-1 - no coding required.  Then just add the Javascript and video to your site and away you go.  You can also do basic enhancements - add a transparent .PNG or .GIF as an overlay, add leader/trailers, crop and even do A|B compare.
3. Can I encode for devices?  Web sites?  Streaming servers?
   A: Yes!  We'll include device profiles for outputting just the video for now ;)  Silverlight works with any web server as well as the more efficient Windows Media streaming platform. Profiles are just .prx same as Windows Media Encoder. 
4. What about live support?
   A: Another big hit at the show is EME's ability to handle multi-angle, multi-source video.  You'll be able to do pre-roll from local disk, then output, even archive to disk.  Yes, I think some vloggers will find this handy for both live broadcasting and on-demand.
5. Tell me more about these templates?
   A: The beauty of Silverlight apps is that they can be written with Javascript + XML (XAML).  As a result, the chrome/skin/templates can be created in Expression Blend (or other tools, even notepad) and then swapped- much like blog site, website, or powerpoint templates. This feature is a huge hit at NAB.  We're showing how Blend can be used to create  template easily from scratch, then use the template in EME. 
6. Expression Media is available for Mac and Windows.  What about EME?
   A: EME is a Windows-only product and was actually built with Expression Studio- it's a WPF-based application. 
7. How fast is encoding with Expression Media Encoder?
   A: Very fast- about the same as WM Encoder but we know time is money in encoding, so we're working with Intel spin-off and Red Herring darling Tarari to add hardware acceleration!  Tarari's boards are used by major broadcasters and post houses to encode today.  With EME, Tarari is seeing up to 15x faster encoding times when compared to software only solutions. Just drop the board into a PCI slot and away you go
8. Can EME run on the server?
   A: Yes! EME is scriptable, automatable, and templatized (is that even a word?) so you can integrate it into your server workflow.  We think some user-generated content sites may find this interesting for example where long encoding times mean customers leave your site.
9. Will EME support output to other formats?
   A: We're considering it based on feedback. We know there's a demand for better, simpler transcoding tools, and EME is really optimized for Silverlight which uses VC-1 (as well as older.  Silverlight could add more formats, but when you consider the entire package is 1MB in size, just adding another video codec could increase that by 50%. Keep the code tight! 
10. What is the coolest feature of EME?
    A: For me, it's the A/B Encode Compare feature. Today most tools require you encode the entire file, then review the quality. Then tweak - a huge time sink.  EME will improve the quality of videos in general because you can encode a segment or snippet you define (such as a high action sequence) and then review.  You can even wipe back and forth in the frame, reviewing side by side the original and compressed, or even multiple encoder settings side by side to get the best quality possible. The metadata features are pretty cool too.
11. Does Expression Media Encoder replace Windows Media Encoder?
    No.  EME is a new product, optimized for fast and simple publishing of video on your website with Silverlight. WME continues to be made freely available at www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia EME will cost about $299.

Last week, IP delivered television got a little closer to reality or a lot closer to irrational Web 2.0 exuberance when Amazon and TiVo flipped the switch enabling Amazon customers to send movies ordered from Amazon.com directly to your TiVo Series 2 or Series 3 boxes.  My wife and I took this for a spin last week, renting a few movies, including one with the $15 credit you get as a TiVo customer.  There's a few things I like about the service, and a lot I don't. 

What I like

• Convenience of ordering a movie from home or work
• Integration with Amazon.com is easy enough
• Ability to send to any TiVo in my home, or supported devices
• Selection is respectable
• TiVo Integration is simple- 'Amazon Unbox" shows up as a new Folder in Now Playing

What I don't like

• Lack of a subscription program. 
• No "Season Pass" purchase for TV programs
• No easy way to search/filter movies by MPAA rating
• On TiVo, no progress meter or estimated time until your movie is ready to start playing
• No HD downloads
• No 10' movie browser on Tivo.  All movies must be browsed & ordered with a PC
• Encoding is fuzzy
• No option to get the movie sent on DVD/HD-DVD as well

While this is definitely a step in the direction of convenience, if Amazon is serious about this business model, I hope they're working on a subscription program and/or considering a deal with NetFlix or Blockbuster directly (NetFlix acqusition anyone?).  I'm not likely to buy a $14.99 movie when $3.00 more a month gets me a subscription pass and HD movies on Blockbuster.

Ouch and double ouch.

They've done this dance for a while, and with both seeing slowing subscriber rates, it's really no surprise.  I wonder what all the XM fanboys are going to say now?  I'm just happy I don't have to pay double for  my wife's "gift" of XM in her Honda,  and my Sirius subscription  in my car.   Pending shareholder approval, both companies expect the merger to be completed by end of this year.   Glad to see it- this is a situation where the consumer clearly wins.  More details at Orbitcast.

Still catching up on blogworthy items. As is customary with the release of any new OS, a lot of attention is being given to the new, native features of Windows Vista, the compatibility of devices as well as existing applications.  But what about new applications?  Vista doesn't rest on the laurels of traditional, flat, 2D applications. Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is a feature of Windows Vista that enables rich, textured, 3D applications to be built that take interactivity to a whole new level. 

One such application was developed by famed design firm, Metaliq. Their Snowboarding application incorporates two of my loves - snow sports and GPS.  Marrying 3D rotatable maps of Aspen Ski Resort with GPS data, it seamlessly integrates  live data, video clips and a playback reel give you the perspective of your runs as you head down. 

I'm a sucker for this kind of app I always take my GPS with me when I go skiing- just "Set it and forget it" while I'm riding.  When I get home, Pictures I take on the mountain are geotagged (I like RoboGeo), and I like to review representations of my runs on satellite maps with ExpertGPS or Google Earth.  This is admittedly geeky today, but imagine being able to sit down after a vacation with the family, and review your photos, ultimate runs, and home videos and navigate it visually.  It's clear we're just getting started.

It's the weekend, and a perfect time to go through Tim Sneath's blog list of amazing WPF applications.  C9 has a great list here as well.

Here's a list of some of my favorite english-language applications (German, French and others on  Tim's site as well):

1. NY Times Newsreader
2. Nostalgia Flickr Browser
3. British Library's Turning the Pages
4. Electric Rain's Standout 
5. Notescraps
6. Denounce (RSS/Podcast browser)
7. Cine.view (NetFlix browser)
8. Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista
9. Calendar Printing for Office 2007
10. Wikipedia Explorer
11. iBloks 3D Movie Creator

Let me know if you find more ;)

I'm having an issue that is driving me crazy.  For some reason, my Samsung Blackjack is unable to sync w/ Windows Mobile Device Center for Vista.  I have five machines that are all recognizing the phone as:

SAMSUNG USB Composite Device
SAMSUNG CDMA Modem
SAMSUNG CDMA Modem Diagnostic Serial
Port (WDM) (COM#)

They should be recognizing it as an RNDIS Network Adapter which will enable WMDC to connect.

I've checked the Settings|USB Settings and even the underlying registry, hard-wiped the phone (hold up arrow and power up) and nothing is working.  After spending two hours on the phone with Cingular and Samsung Level 2 technicians, they told me (nicely) that they'll have to get me to Level 3 which is open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm when I'm working.  Has anyone else run into this issue?  Bueller?  Anyone?

My favorite digital audio receiver just added support for Zune Marketplace, Napster, Urge, Wal-Mart, etc. and enhancements for iTunes though they still won't play Apple's own DRM'd music (something Jobs left out he won't license).  Finally, my little white Sonos boxes aren't sitting in a Zuneless island.  Every time I think I'm done with DRM'd music services, they bring me back in.  I have to say though, I'm increasingly impressed by Rhapsody's integration with the Sonos.  It makes me wonder, why shouldn't all music services offer a network connected version, similar to what Napster is doing today?

Also note to music services - not everyone listening to your service is a twentysomething head-banging, ultramegalophile monster mashup music culture listener.  Take some cues from  XM's "Flight 26".   I like my hard-core, but not when the kiddies are around.  Families want to listen too.  That's a note to Sirius as well.

Recently, I've been playing with a free Gadget for Vista Sidebar called,