Here's a quick roundup of digital media items from this week:

• Here's a new episode of The Media Center Show with an interview with Matt Goyer from the MCE team. Lots of interesting things here.
• mNewsCenter RSS for MCE is now available
• Everyone seems to be opening up their API's these days - Orb is the latest
• In-stat report says Digital Terrestrial and Free To Air Sat will give PC Tuner market a boost - $3.7B in 2009, 42.6% CAGR.  Credits MCE's traction.
• Barb Bowman writes about Windows Connect Now technology.
• Parks' report says 4M US HH's now engaging in digital video editing every month.

Three new PowerToys for MSN Spaces.  Get em over on the official MSN Spaces blog: http://spaces.msn.com/members/thespacecraft/  

Tweak UI
The Tweak UI Power Toy is designed to allow you to customize the look of your Space. Once you add the Tweak UI Power Toy to your Space you can use it to control colors, module borders and transparency, and the background image’s placement and presence. Granular control combined with existing Spaces layout and module configuration allows for almost endless customizability and personalization.

Custom HTML
The Custom HTML Power Toy is designed to allow you to add a sandbox module to your Space in which you can enter text, link to images, and use other HTML features. The Custom HTML Power Toy supports all of the same HTML that you can enter into a Blog entry and can be moved around your Space as a separate module, just like a list or any other Spaces module. Additionally you can control the Title of this module and whether the borders for this module are displayed or not.

Windows Media Player Powertoy
The Media Player Power Toy is designed to allow you to play audio and video files within your Space. While editing your Space specify the URL of a Media file located on the web in the Media Power Toy and hit Save. This will allow the people viewing your Space to watch or listen to the media file you have linked. You can customize the experience even more by altering the player settings (like auto start, times to play, and player mode) while editing your Space.

Usual disclaimers apply- beta blah blah US-only blah blah (hey- I'm just the messenger).

That stands for, "Yet another Steve Ballmer Video".  It's so 1990's, but the remix is kinda catchy...

Well, they’re still not forthcoming with an actual date, but the Creative Zen Sleek has made an official appearance on Creative’s US website, which means it probably won’t be long now. Here are the Sleek's stats:

Still no mention of podcasting or podcasting features. Someday they'll get it...

via Engadget

An interesting story regarding how easily iTunes Music Store's Podcast Directory ratings can be easily manipulated.

Ed Note: Fixed download URL below and updated to reflect HKey_Current_User as the appropriate regkey setting.

Okay, here's my first unofficial Windows Vista "Enhancement Pack" and early feedback is that it's a good one- add 32 search providers to Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 in 32 seconds ;)

New in Internet Explorer 7 is a simple searchbox with the ability to search many different providers (e.g. MSN, AOL, Ebay, WSJ, Fandango) all from one place- just select the search provider (aka Scope) of your search by clicking the Magnifier glass icon and you're ready to go. The only problem is that the ability to add search providers is not in IE7 in Windows Vista Beta 1 (which I'm sure will be remedied). With this kit, you get over thirty of the top search and service providers on the Internet, including:

-Amazon.com
-AOL
-AskJeeves
-C|Net (Product search)
-C|Net News.com
-Costco
-eBay
-Encarta
-Fandango
-FedEx
-Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/groups/mediacenter)
-Google
-IMDb
-LA Times
-Lycos
-The Mercury News
-Microsoft.com
-Microsoft Help & Support Knowledgebase
-Microsoft Office Clip Art Gallery Live (Note: May require MS Office license)
-Microsoft PressPass (for the Journalists and Newshounds)
-MSDN (Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!)
-MSN Images
-MSN Music
-MSN News
-The New York Times
-The Seattle Times
-Technorati (Blog it!)
-UPS (United Parcel Service)
-The Wall Street Journal
-The weather Channel
-Yahoo!

Download: IE7_Search_Providers.zip (4.31 KB)

How to Install:
-Select the entry you wish to add to IE and double-click it.  Accept when prompted.
-To add all 32 entries at once, choose "Add All.reg"

How to Use:
-Once installed, restart IE7 (any instance will do)
-Click the Magnifier Glass icon next to Search in upper-right corner of IE7
-Choose your Search Provider

How to Change your Default Provider:
-Click the Magnifier Glass icon next to Search in upper-right corner of IE7
-Choose last option, "Search Settings"
-Change Settings

How to Remove Search Providers:
-Click the Magnifier Glass icon next to Search in upper-right corner of IE7
-Choose last option, "Search Settings"
-Change Settings

How this works:
IE7 in Windows Vista Beta 1 stores search provider information in the registry under:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\

If you run RegEdit.exe and do a "Find" (F3) for SearchScopes, you'll find em.  Each entry has four pieces of information starting with the full Key name, for example:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\CNet]
"DisplayName"="C|Net News.com"
"URL"="http://cnet.search.com/search?chkpt=astg.cnet.fd.search.cnet&q=%s&tag=srch"
"SortIndex"=dword:00000005

It's pretty easy to figure out. "%s" is the wildcard for the search string the user enters.

If you like it, feel free to leave feedback at my blog at http://blog.seanalexander.com/PermaLink,guid,04a7843f-bbdd-460b-8d49-8c7848bad52f.aspx
Ugly URL isn't it? ;)

^ No Washington State Marmots were hurt in the creation of this kit. One Furrygoat (www.furrygoat.com) was sighted.

Here's an idea a long time in coming: sidewalk caricature artist replaces pen and paper with a Tablet PC in London's fashionable Leicester Square.

This could be the coolest multi-format media player on market.  Picture this: You're on a family summer road trip vacation and you've filled up that CF card with pictures- dump them to the Vision and you're ready to go. The kids can take their favorite TV programs to watch in the back seat. You stop at Aunt Ethel's house and she wants to see pictures from your kid's b/d party, you can connect it to her TV easily or show her over dinner.

What's more this little gem works with it all- WMV, DivX, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, XVid, and even TiVotoGo. No mention of Media Center support but I'm hazarding a guess it sync's just fine. 120 hours of video, 4.5 hour battery life.  Organizer syncs with Outlook, Photos, and hot donkey, it even works with PlaysforSure subscription stores like Napster and MSN. Holy cow it even supports subscription stores for music and movies too. 

Finally, finally a new device pops to the top of my "Most Wanted" list. More on Creative's site.

via eHomeUpgrade

I'm not at all a fan of the uninspired design of the Zen Neeon (mono LCDs with 7 backlight shades and side rocker controls are so 2002), buy hey, with a $199 price tag and 5GB of storage in a 1.8 x 3.1 x 0.6-inch package (that's smaller than a iPod Mini).  This could be an interesting competition.  It's skinnable as you can see here and has specs that should shame the competition:

• MP3, WMA, PlaysforSure support, and WAV
• USB 2.0 (includes charging support yea!)
• Voice Recording
• FM radio

I'm willing to bet it has a bookmarking feature as well to pick up your Podcasts where you left off- a feature I LOVE in my Zen Micro. If anyone has one, would love to hear your take on this little gem.

<Note to Creative>Someone over at Creative should really think about putting another item- a hand, an Apple (heh) next to this device to show its scale- it looked bulky to me! Also how about getting into bed with an accessories manufacturer like Belkin for some inspired accessories?</Note to Creative>

By the way, where's the Zen Micro Photo?  We're still hoping to get our hands on that one.

Charlie and I were in a meeting yesterday and he was mock-offended he wasn't on my blogroll anymore.  "I link to you..." well, given, you're the #1 Charlie Owen on the Internet, I'll link to you once again - a small oversight on my part Charlie.  And since I also know the #1 Matt Goyer on the Internet, I'll add him back into my blogroll as well.

Want to be on my blogroll?  Just ask and explain why you're addicted to digital media.

As Thomas Hawk likes to say, "Hot Donkey!". There's a new Microsoft Sync Powertoy now available from Microsoft for Windows XP customers and it's free!*  This should work great for backing up your files and folders across multiple PCs or syncing recorded TV between multiple MCE PCs. From the download page: 

Increasingly, computer users are using different folders, drives, and even different computers (such as a laptop and a desktop) to store and retrieve files. There are new sources of files coming from every direction: digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops. Yet managing hundreds or thousands of files is still largely a manual operation. In some cases it is necessary to move files from one place to another; in other cases there is a need to keep two storage locations exactly in sync. Some users manage files manually, dragging and dropping from one place to another and keeping a mental card catalog in their heads. Others use one or more applications of one sort or another to provide this functionality for them.

Now there is an easier way. SyncToy is a free PowerToy for Microsoft Windows XP that provides an easy to use, highly customizable program that helps users to do the heavy lifting involved with the copying, moving, and synchronization of different directories. Most common operations can be performed with just a few clicks of the mouse, and additional customization is available without adding complexity. SyncToy can manage multiple sets of directories at the same time; it can combine files from two folders in one case, and mimic renames and deletes in another. Unlike other applications, SyncToy keeps track of renames to files and will make sure those changes get carried over to the synchronized folder.

HowTo Whitepaper: "Synchronizing Images and Files in Windows XP using Microsoft SyncToy"

This is what I call value-add!  Rest assured however that resources were not taken off of Windows Vista to do this.

*Windows validation required blah blah

What's made in China and looks like an iPod Shuffle? Well, other than the iPod Shuttle (Designed in Cupertino, Made in China), the Morestar  MP270 is the latest rip-off to reportedly improve on the shuffle experience with the addition of a 7 color LCD screen, MP3 and WMA support, FM radio and recorder, voice recorder and still maintains a 12-hour battery life. USB 2.0 transfer is also supported.

This brings to mind the Luxpro EZ Tangent (aka SuperShuffle). I had an opportunity to play with one of these a little while ago and it was ok. The addition of an LCD and WMA support were very welcome additions, however I'm generally not a big fan of solid-state devices unless I'm at the gym. And you can forget devices with out a display for listening to Podcasts- I'm not memorizing the show # of  Adam Curry's The Daily Source Code (which he announces at the beginning of each). Hey Adam- how about giving us the date of the Podcast so we can scan through? Same goes for all of you Podcast providers out there.

via Engadget.

Apple and Ivory have partnered to deliver a breakthrough cleaning technology! Wait, it's a two button mouse!  Wait, there are no buttons, just "capacitive sensors"! Wait... oh forget it.

From Engadget

In case you've been living under a rock (or actually have a life away from a computer during the summer), Microsoft launched "Virtual Earth Beta" a number of weeks ago, offering an interesting view of our world.  By merging geomapping data with aerial and satellite photography in a super-neat way. For people like me who like landmarks when driving, this could increase the chances of me getting to my destination.

Now some folks are starting to "hack" VE - check out these neat hacks to overlay GPX (GPS data), an RSS-based Photo feed, and  even San Francisco Crime report data on VE.

An even cooler Photo hack with VE is here. And of course Google has some neat hacks as well for Google Earth. 

Now we just need more Digital Cameras with GPS built-in and we can all start geotagging our photos effortlessly. ;)

Space shuttle astronauts to make unprecedented fix to shuttle in-space.

Matt Goyer writes that the TweakMCE Powertoy is going to be updated for this fall. This is great news!

Here are a few things I'd like to see exposed:

• Volume Leveling for Music (via WMPlayer)
• Crossfading for Music (via WMPlayer)

Post yours over at Matt's blog.

Looks like Mark Cuban's HDNet and Cinemanow have partnered to start offering more movies and programming in downloadable HD including over 100 episodes/selections from the HDNet library. Some of this is good, semi-educational stuff for family viewing (I recommend The Living Sea also available on DVD) but I'm still waiting for the seminal moment when a major theatrical release is available for download in HD. Motion Picture Industry = Music industry redux. <sigh> The movies are available in WMV HD.

From Engadget:

Not sure how this one slipped by us, but Nokia’s coming out with a new pair of Bluetooth stereo headphones called the HS-12W Wireless Stereo Headset that are designed specifically for use with their new 8801 fashionphone. The headphones’ll actually work fine with other Bluetooth-enabled gadgets, too, but you can only rock out in stereo if you use a phone or an MP3 player or whatever that supports a stereo Bluetooth profile like A2DP (our suggestion: learn what that is now, since you’ll be hearing it a lot around these parts). They’re positioning this thing to ride the crest of musicphones that are coming around the bend, and besides being able to automatically interrupt what you’re listening to when you get a call, the HS-12W also comes with a small one-line LCD that can display track and caller ID info (or also let you know when you’ve received a text message) and a built-in FM tuner. Should be out in Q3 of this year.

My prediction: Apple has an "iPod Blue" is just around the corner, complete with bluetooth headphone support. I have nothing to substantiate this except for analyzing trends. From the folks I've talked to on the mobile side, battery life can actually be improved on a cell phone or music player when using BT headsets because:

1. You can split the power load between the device and the headphones in a user-friendly way.
2. The phone/music player actually sips less power via BT than using a DA-AD converter and amplifier for wired headphones.

There are already accessories that add Bluetooth Stereo support to the iPod.  I wonder if Creative or iRiver are paying attention?

Ed Bott has a great tip today which I use daily.  Did you know you can customize the the Common File Dialog (used for Opening and Saving files in most Windows apps) to show file folders and shares you access most often in the order you want? Simple and powerful- thanks Ed!  It even works with Sharepoint!

Kam also provides an excellent HowTo for getting "Aero" - the new Desktop Compositor with glass and transparency effects running on Windows Vista Beta 1. It turns out ATI and nVidia have both put up pages detailing which of their cards can do Aero and links to the drivers.

Kam VedBrat just emailed me with congrats on the new job.  Kam is one of the PM's responsible for the way users will interact with the desktop in Windows Vista.  Robert Scoble links to Kam's roundup on coverage, including some surprising (and favorable) comments, in particular:

David Coursey at eWeek wrote:

Windows Vista is the best-looking OS Microsoft has ever produced and is competitive with, and in some ways better, than Apple's recently-introduced Mac OS X 10.4, aka Tiger.

John Clyman of PC Magazine did a write up on the UI changes alone. He wrote:

Our first impressions of the Aero interface are positive. We were particularly pleased to find that the visuals were engaging but not gratuitous. In fact, they often add information that makes using the PC faster, easier, and less error-prone, as well as more aesthetically satisfying.

Wow.  Even I'm a little stunned. PC sales are up, and the press are starting to actually sound optimistic. Maybe the post-DotCom hangover is starting to subside?

Just wait. There's more to come. :)

Ok Ed, this one is for you.  Here comes the ridicule as my wife and my son's music shows up first time out of the gate.

10 Songs Picked by WM Player 10 at Random
Library count: 5145 items

1. In the Flesh - Pink Floyd
2. Bleed the Freak - Alice in Chains
3. Beyond the Sea - Fred and The Blue Sea Mollin
4. Before I Fall in Love - Coco Lee (Runaway Bride Soundtrack)
5. That's Not Her Style - Billy Joel
6. Obvious - Christina Aguilera
7. All I Really Want - Alanis Morissette
8. Gotta Serve Somebody - Bob Dylan
9. Heaven Beside You - Alice in Chains
10. A Love Before Time - Coco Lee (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Soundtrack)

I'm going to kick it up a notch however- time to see how much is available on MSN Music vs. iTunes Music Store ;)

• MSN Music Hit Score: 7 out of 10 songs
• iTMS Hit Score: 9 out of 10 (missed Before I Fall in Love)

Winner: iTMS