Ahh yes, Olympics frenzy is upon us.  The time when countries cheer on their athletes in games of sport and goodwill.  It's also a time when companies cheer on their contributions to the Olympic efforts and services available to keep tabs on the event which is lining up to be the largest streamed event in history.  Since we're Addicted to Digital Media around here, it wouldn't be the Olympics without a roundup of the ways you can keep tabs and this year it's much cooler - with thousands of hours of content available in HD streaming on the Web for Windows and Mac users, perhaps for just a few weeks we'll see some peace and harmony.  Unfortunately for my friends outside the US, these services are specific to the USA so apologies. 

So, here's the roundup:

1.  Olympics Tracker in the new MSN Toolbar

What: This isn't your old MSN Toolbar.  Generally I cringe at installing any toolbar app into my browser, but this new version is both functional and visually slick in part thanks to being built with Microsoft Silverlight.  You'll find an Olympics button that presents the latest medal count, photos, video and sport-specific news right from the comfort of your web browser. The button even glows when updates happen to notify you in a polite way.  Alternately, Live Search is optimizing search results to include latest stats, news, and medal counts.  Details available here.

How to get it: Visit www.newmsntoolbar.com and download the free toolbar.

2.  Live and HD On-demand Events on NBCOlympics.com

What: So you forgot to set your DVR to record that amazing football game, or want to watch live coverage but it's not being broadcast on the myriad of NBC/Universal TV stations?  Have no fear - NBC and Microsoft Silverlight are bringing over 1000 hours of live and on-demand Olympics coverage to your PC or Mac.  On-demand coverage will use a brand-new adaptive streaming technology capable of true HD-quality video over the Web - no stopping and buffering either, the technology automatically adjusts video quality to available bandwidth.  Live events are presented using the Emmy-award winning Windows Media technologies.  Be sure to check out the enhanced player - in the Control room you can stream up to four events - at the same time! 

How to get it: Visit www.nbcolympics.com/video and check out the new player.  Note: Silverlight is a required installation for the experience.

3.  Windows Media Center on Windows Vista Premium & Ultimate

What: If you have a Windows Vista Premium or Ultimate PC, you can watch NBC Olympics On the Go in Windows Media Center, an Internet-delivered catch-up TV service from NBC Universal powered by Wavexpress’ TVTonic platform, no TV-tuner required. This free download-and-play service differentiates Windows Media Center as the platform with the highest-quality Internet-delivered Olympics experience in the USA. No word yet on whether this works via Extender - I will have to try it later.

With NBC Olympics On the Go in Windows Media Center, you will get:

• NBC Sports’ complete on-air HDTV coverage of the Beijing Olympics on the NBC, USA and Universal networks – even when you don’t have a TV tuner for your Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate PC
• 225 hrs of long-form Olympics video over 17 days
• 24 sports, full opening ceremony, and a closing ceremony montage
• Up to HD quality, with the vast majority of the video delivered in 840x480 progressive scan resolution at 1.5 Mbps bit rate, plus several events per day delivered in 1080i resolution

How to get it: Click here for details or here for the TVTonic app  Note: for 64-bit Windows users, hang tight- there's an update going through certification that should provide support before the games actually begin. 

There are a host of other ways to get the Olympic experience as well. Google has a summer games page and mobile page and I'm sure to have missed some others.  Tell us what you think- how will you be watching the Olympics?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 :)

Ryan Stewart and Long Zheng summed it up nicely.  This kind of banter and candor is why I work at Microsoft.  A CEO who will go, "Monkey Boy" just to please his customers.  Guy had some really nice things to say about the new Microsoft culture which was great to hear.  I'll post the keynote here when available.

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.

The Expression Encoder team has just launched their blog here, with a video introduction hosted by Charles Finkelstein.  Charles is one of my favorite people at Microsoft - boundless energy, and a real passion for turning customer requests and insights into product and features.  This is just the beginning with I'm sure more to come next week.

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted.  A lot going on as of late so here's a quick rundown on activities and topics I'm going to write about during flights:

• Mix Update. The teams have been working incredibly heard in preparation for the MIX conference next week.  I've seen a sneak preview of some of the demos and think attendees won't be disappointed. 
• Silverlight 2 coming. ScottGu (now a newly minted VP!) provides a glimpse into Silverlight 2 on his blog.  If you can't be at MIX this year, don't fret- the videos will be posted on the Web shortly after the events thanks to Jeff Sandquist and team.
• HD-DVD is dead.  You can start buying Blu-Ray discs now or just go the digital route- my preferred method of delivery
• Apple TV Take 2.  Will I cancel my NetFlix and Comcast subscriptions?  Thoughts over the weekend and I'll explain how you can score one for $99.
• uStream as NannyCam.  Take an old IR-shot Sony DV camcorder, firewire and UStream my wife is addicted to her new Nannycam as a baby monitor.  I also hacked together a Vista Sidebar gadget for her which I may post. Now if only it was available in Silverlight...
• Dell XPS m1330. - my new and best laptop ever, despite the crapware
• New Silverlight site launches - Congrats to the team!
• MyNetflix Plugin for Media Center - Another reason why I need to put a full PC in the living room?
• Playing with CubeDesktop and loving it.  A must for any power user (thanks Chris)

I don't often blog here about the enterprise side of Microsoft though for digital media delivery it's hard to beat Windows Server in terms of cost or scalability. Then comes news that Windows Server 2008 just got a Five-Star Rating from eWeek Labs, noting even "Faster" and "Slimmer":

The new Windows Server boasts a set of networking enhancements that dramatically boost file serving performance, and the product can be deployed in a new, stripped-down Server Core configuration, which significantly reduces the attack surface of systems hosting certain Windows Server roles.

Toss in a more modular and securable Web server in IIS (Internet Information Services) 7.0, Microsoft's new hypervisor-based virtualization functionality and a host of management enhancements, and Windows Server 2008 merits eWEEK Labs' Analyst's Choice designation.

Congratulations to the Windows Server team- this is a huge feat.  And for those in the digital media biz, be sure to check out Windows Media Services 2008 and the IIS7 Media Pack, both blogged about and available from Chris Knowlton's blog here. 

Why does this all matter?  Fact is most video-serving sites are pigs when it comes to responsible use of Internet bandwidth.  The average clip is about 5 mins in length, and only 20 seconds are watched, though most users receive the entire file.  With the IIS7 Media Pack, all forms of digital audio and video - even QT, MOV, and FLV/SWF can benefit from the Intelligent Bit Rate Throttling built in.  You'll be hearing more about these features at MIX in a few short weeks.

eWeek: Windows Server 2008 Is Microsoft`s Leanest, Meanest Yet

If you have an XM Radio Subscription, the XM Radio Windows Vista Sidebar gadget is for you.  Recently updated to version 1.5, features include a polished and easy to navigate channel list, favorites support, and advanced Amazon search so you can purchase the CD or the MP3 of the song you're listening to as well as browse lyrics, Wikipedia and YouTube entries for the artist.  From the folks at BuildaGadget.com (a work-for-hire outfit), this is one I'm going to pin permanently to my Sidebar.

Download: XM Radio Vista Gadget

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.

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
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CBS/Paramount's Entertainment Tonight just launched their Golden Globe Awards mini-site in Silverlight.  The new mini-site is being promoted on the www.etonline.com homepage as powered by Silverlight.  Check out clips from the nominees, news and more here.

First a successful Bill Gates CES Keynote simulcast on the web, now the Golden Globes- Silverlight is ringing in the new year in style.  Kudos to IdentityMine and Rezn8 for putting this together, showing what designer/developer collaboration can do.

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.

The new Microsoft at CES site is up, and it's powered by Silverlight. There are so many projects underway now it's hard to keep track of them all and this was a great one to see.   
What's more, you'll be able to watch the keynote live in-page with Silverlight or via WMP/default browser.  Take a look, spin the wheel in LV fashion and check out the latest news from Microsoft at CES.

Hope y'all enjoy the show - Sunday night @ 6:30pm

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