Via Thomas Hawk:

Matt Goyer's Microsoft Windows Media Center Blog - MCE 2005 According to Microsoft's Matt Goyer, TweakMCE ver 2.0 is out. Download it here. It works with rollup 2.

For sports nuts in the US, 9:30 am (Pacific) Saturday morning is your first chance to check out the new Virtual Coach app from Fox Sports powered by MSN during its first live run. Virtual Coach is a simple predict-the-play game controlled by a live operator; you play in real time as you watch a live football game.

Entries in the Next-Gen Windows PC Design Competition have been unveiled at www.startsomethingpc.com. 

The distinguished panel of judges met in the Seattle Area, deliberated for two days, sealed their decision until CES and now it's YOUR TURN. You have an opportunity to browse a number of the designs in multiple categories and pick your one favorite. It's going to be hard- there are a number of good ones and a few that blew me away.

To vote: Visit www.startsomethingpc.com, click the image at the top and start browsing by category. Each box has a series of entries:

To vote, Passport login is required (blah blah blah).

About the Competition
Earlier this year, a small group of members of the hardware design, interface design, and engineering teams at Microsoft started a conversation with the ID field at large- the idea was the envision the future of the Windows-based PC.  Directors of design at Nike, Ziba Design, Bose, Dell, Nissan, HP and others joined us for the ride as would over double the # of expected entrants. As a refresher, check out the concept video used to spur ID creativity around the competition (WMV-HD version downloadable here).

Winners for the Judge's Award, Chairman's Award (Bill Gates), and Public's Choice Award (yours) will be announced at the International CES 2006 event the first week of January 2006 in Las Vegas, NV.

I know this was a blast to do for the teams that pulled it together- I hope you do to.

DNS changes and others are coming to the site shortly. This may result in temporary or periodic interruptions to the site.  Hang with us though- more to come. I hope.

A lot of hype has been made around the $1.99 offering of a limited set of TV programs via iTunes 6.
This isn't a new or original idea. SciFi channel offered a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica online, and now CBS if offering weekly streams of it's fledgling show, "Threshold". The show is good (ok, it's manageable) but it's got Brent Spiner so how bad can it really be?

It's an interesting marketing ploy- would be even more interesting if they Podcasted it and offered as a WMV download for Smartphone, Media Center, Pocket PC, and er... other devices :)

Sometimes, software just works well. Such is the case with MyTV ToGo, an add-on for Windows XP Media Center Edition (and Windows XP) that will convert your recorded TV programs into formats ready for Windows Mobile Smartphone, Pocket PC, iPod Video, and PlayStation Portable.  I've been trying a number of applications over the past week to convert and this is the one that does it for me.  I purchased a license for the Video iPod version and with it came support for PSP.

The concept isn't new and frankly you can do the same thing with free software.  FFMPEG, a popular geek utility for file conversion is actually at the heart of MyTV.  But what it does well is conversion into MPEG-4 (4:3 TV content) with good cropping and reasonable amount of time.  Expect a 1 hr TV program to take about 45 minutes to convert, possibly less depending on your CPU.

Conversion (and transfer) are seamless... for the PSP.  That's not to say it's not without a few issues.  iTunes required a little cajoling to get the content to transfer but once it started, the rest is history.  Programs will show up in your My Videos folder as well as on your device under Movies.

Then there's quality- both were "acceptable". I used the "Better" setting for video and ended up with a 391MB .MOV  file for The Amazing Race for iPod (MPEG-4, 320x240, 846kbps, AAC, Stereo 48khz), and for the PSP, a 217MB .mp4 (MPEG-4, 320x240, 630.45kbps, AAC, Stereo 24khz) file. The PSP file appears to have a second audio stream encoded, but unsure based on what Quicktime Pro is or isn't telling me. I have a 1GB MemoryStick Duo card ($99.00) and being able to carry around only 3-4 programs isn't of big interest to me. A big shortcoming of the PSP IMO is the lack of a built-in HD for user storage.

A few other items that I'd like to see:

• Scheduled recordings - right now recordings are manual.  How about supporting scheduled recordings or setting it to automatically convert all new (non-repeat) programs?
• Background conversion - conversion right now can throttle for background operation, but what about when I'm not using my PC?  WMP auto-converts in the background so transfer is seamless.
• More control over settings.  I like the simplicity of the model, but let the user get under the hood with more advanced profile settings.
• Support for AVC codec for PSP.  It's more efficient but requires a license from Sony, something I gander they're not likely to do.
• Make it clear that the iPod Video software (which costs $29.95 and doesn't offer a demo) also includes support for PSP.

As for final thoughts, simple and does what it purports to do, which a lot of touted iPod Video and PSP Video software today- does not IMO.  As for Pocket PC and Smartphone,  I'll stick with MCE 2005 and Windows Media Player 10 which I believe do a better job overall.  Next up: Attempting to encode HD content which they claim to do.

Matt has a post here regarding the CRC64/DVDID that Windows Media Center uses to populate DVD cover art in the My DVD feature, as well as a link to a utility to grab this detail manually.  Interesting stuff.

Note: Fixed the link.  Something about Firefox on OSX causing problems (yes, I use everything :)).

The Hotmail Plus Reader for Media Center lets you quickly check your Hotmail Plus or MSN Premium e-mail on your Media Center PC. This program is designed for use with a remote control and display on a television monitor. This is an email reader only - use the Web version for composing or replying to email. Get it here.

It's just starting, more to talk about later. In the meantime, check out www.live.com (beta) and sign up for additional beta programs here.

And what do you see in the #3 position on the left?  "Gadgets". That's right- Web-based Gadgets.  As we've discussed on www.microsoftgadgets.com, the Microsoft Gadget platform is much more than just desktop items- it will connect Windows and the Web. Start.com was just the beginning.

More details tomorrow however you can see things are being wired up. Enjoy the new site design at www.microsoftgadgets.com.  Soon you'll be able to start posting your Web Gadgets for Start.com and share with the world. Windows Sidebar gadgets will be coming around Windows Vista Beta 2.  Until then, enjoy and send feedback.

Update: The gallery has gone live. New Web Gadgets including Flickr and Virtual Earth are now available. Visit http://www.microsoftgadgets.com and customize your Start.com homepage.

One of Microsoft's very own wrote a little diddy based on the Windows XP startup sound (and a few more) and guess what, it beat out the competition on SongFight.org. Listen to it here.  Nice job Jim!

Speaking of startup sounds. A few weeks ago I came across this funny video of a Mac users' startup sound. I think we all know a guy like this. 

As for mine, it's My father for years has had, "It's alllllive... ALLLIVE!!" from Frankenstein as his startup sound (appropriate for Halloween). What's your startup sound/music?

A quick jaunt over to SonyStyle.com and you'll find the flagship Sony Vaio VGX-XL1 Digital Living System. Sporting a 200 disc DVD changer and Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/ Rollup 2, this sleek looking system is a flagship of home entertainment integration, showcasing exactly why the My DVDs feature was added in Rollup 2.

That's the good part- here somes the less stellar: The system ships with only 512MB RAM and 64MB of on-board video memory in a GeForce 6200.  Fine for 80% of customers, if you're buying a $2300 home entertainment addition, you should at least get 1GB and 128MB of memory, respectively. A 50% off offer on a paired receiver with WMA Pro 7.1 audio support would be another nice addition or even cross-marketing with a Digital Walkman.  But alas, these are separate organizations under the Sony flag so I guess that's a non-starter. 

Back on the plus-side, the thing supports just about every DVD burning format including dual-layer (no HD DVD or Blu-Ray support... expect Blu-ray only in an update in the future is my guess).  If you're rich and have the moxy, this is a good system for you.  Given the specs, it should serve you  into the Windows Vista timeframe as well.

Back during the dotcom bubble, there were a number of sites popping up that offered a simple way for folks to share their playlists (not music). Some services like Napster do a so-so job of this, and even iTunes Music Store has the concept of Celebrity Playlists (I still have no idea what Jackie Chan is listening to, and that's okay).  Let's face it, celebrities (ahem their publicists) aren't any better at building playlists than most of us are.  But a useful way of finding music that works well is elusive- unless you use iMix on iTunes, and then you're locked into their service.

The topic struck me a few weeks ago when I was looking at the latest version of MoodLogic. We were throwing a dinner party and let's face it, listening to Aerosmith and Kanye West doesn't really set the mood for a sit-down dinner.  What I wanted was a site for playlists where I could search on tags like, "November", "Fall", "Dinner" and get a list of good songs.  Then I could sort based on popularity (and here's an idea- opt-in popularity based on age group. Sorry, I don't listen to the same music a 16 yo does downloading heavily off of MSN Music).  I asked Chris Pirillo if such a service existed, we couldn't find one anymore.  MoodLogic comes close, and Yahoo Music has a great personalization engine, but they're based on your own music library.  Search engines do an abysmal job of cataloging mixes too. I tried again the other day when building my ultimate Gym Mix (6 miles of pain!)

With the advent/re-emergence of Tagging, RSS, media player plug-ins, and a number of legitimate music stores now available, I think there's an interesting opportunity for personalizing music based on playlist sharing and moods.  And I don't think it should be locked to any one group or service.

Radio networks spend hundreds of thousands to millions programming their stations, but they're so formulaic.  Isn't it time that we start aggregating our own playlists via an online service?  We do it for collections of photos on Flickr, so where's our Mixr?

And with that, I offer my latest:

Sean's Gym Playlist - Soundtracks
Tags: October; Mix; Gym; Soundtrack; Power; Pump Up;

1.  Jesus Walks - Kanye West (from Jarhead trailer)
2.  Precious - Depeche Mode (from Smallville Vol II: Metropolis Mix)
3.  Anvil of Crom - Basil Pouledouris (from Conan the Barbarian)
4.  Dragula (Hot Rod Herman remix) - Rob Zombie (from the Matrix)
5.  Learn to Crawl -Black Lab (Spider-Man)
6.  Everybody out of the Water - The Wallflowers (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)
7.  Would? - Alice in Chains (Singles Soundtrack)
8.  Lose Yourself - Eminem (8 Mile Soundtrack)
9.  Blow Me Away - Breaking Benjamin (Halo 2 Soundtrack)
10. Gladiator - Hans Zimmer (Gladiator Soundtrack)

Got some others?  Send them my way.

HDBeat asks why there are no HD trailers up on the Xbox360 web site. I agree this would be great to see, but the trailers are out there and have been covered considerably.  Check out the complete list of HD trailers available for download from Microsoft here. I'm sure a new wave of trailers is somewhere, waiting in the wings. I'll check into it.

Brandon over at www.longhornblogs.com asks,

What would be your most desired Gadget you could throw onto your desktop and "pin" to your Sidebar? Let me know by simply commenting to this blog entry! I really would love to hear what you all would like to see in terms of Gadgets!

Feel free to post your comments over there or here.

Quick note that www.xbox.com has relaunched with a new look and goodies for the Xbox 360 launch. Only 28 days away!

A few weeks ago, David Streams, myself, and Sanaz Ahari (of Start.com fame) did an interview on Gadgets: Windows Sidebar and Start.com with Robert Scoble on Channel 9. The video has been posted here. Enjoy.

Visit Microsoft.com and download now by clicking here. Coming soon as an optional update via Windows Update.

The obvious question is, "What is Windows Media Connect and why do I care?".  Windows Media Connect 2.0 is a feature of Windows that enables other digital media receivers such as the Roku Soundbridge, D-Link MediaLounge or Xbox 360 to play streamed music, photos, and video* on plain old Windows XP.  Xbox 360 you said?  Yes. 

And it works with services like Napster, MSN Music, FYE, and Yahoo Music in your Windows Media Player library. Whatever you say about DRM, the team is working hard to make sure this stuff will go around your house or on your devices as easily as possible given requirements.

Personally, I have a Roku Soundbridge connected to an older set of bookshelf speakers in our living room and I love it.  During Halloween, I create a playlist and point a speaker out the window to scare the kids. Thanksgiving, it fills the dining room with mood music, and Christmas we use it to play our "opening presents" music. The rest of the year, I use it to listen to internet radio from Virgin UK while cleaning the front side the house that the MCE doesn't cover. 

The best news is that Windows Media Connect 2.0 is over 5x faster than version 1.0 and all with a smaller memory footprint.  This really appeals to me- when you have over 10,000 songs indexed, this becomes pretty important.  The teams are finally prioritizing this as key customers have large media libraries and digital media around the home needs to better support.  Congrats and thanks to the Windows Media Connect 2.0 team- my son can hear "Freight Train" before he starts crying out of frustration and that's worth more than you know to this father.

*Note: Not all devices support all media types.