World's first 3D office photocopier launches
Ortery has launched a new office machine called 'Photosimile' or what it claims to be the world's first 3D product photography machine.
Photosimile is effectively a photocopier that creates virtual 3D replicas of whatever small artifact you like. Or animal (providing they sit still while the machine spins them around 360 degrees, that is!).
3D magic box
Ortery's Photosimile 5000 system a PC-controlled desktop photography studio comprising a light box, a DSLR camera, an automated camera positioning device and dedicated workflow software.
Ortery's new desktop studio systems allow you to create professional-looking product photos for use online (as 3D animations, if you so wish) or in print.
The Photosimile 5000 software does all the work for you - controlling the studio, camera location, turntable movement, camera settings, picture taking, and post processing.
Pop your shoe (or whatever you like, really) into the light box and let the Photosimile software do the rest.
Save 3D animations in Silverlight
Ortery's system makes use of four daylight bulbs providing 6500K illumination, a Canon DSLR mounted on a mechanical track, an Ortery turntable and can shoot up to 72 pictures per 360-degree rotation, from zero through to 90 degrees.
Your pics can then be saved as GIF or Flash files or converted into 3D Microsoft Silverlight animations using Ortery's Real3D format.
Ortery's Photosimile 5000 is now shipping at a cost of around US$17000 (آ£10550)
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In Depth: 10 scripts to create your own Linux distribution
Those familiar with Linux will be able to tweak settings, add and remove apps and customise the menu, toolbars and other desktop elements.
Incredibly, those are about all the skills you need to create your very own Linux distro.
We're going to take a look at some scripts that'll help you customise different distros.
1. Remastersys
This tool has a newbie-proof GUI and works on both Ubuntu and Debian distros and any of their derivatives.
Remastersys works by transferring the distro you're running into an ISO image. You can choose to include your settings and personal data too, which makes it ideal for backups.
2. UCK
The Ubuntu Customisation Kit – which is tastefully shortened to UCK – works with the ISO of any of the four Ubuntu flavours (the GNOME based original Ubuntu, KDE-based Kubuntu, Xfce-based Xubuntu and education-targeted Edubuntu) and lets you add or remove any apps to the stock.
This tool is ideal for advanced users because during the customisation process it places you in a chrooted environment of the Live CD, enabling you to tweak any aspect of the distro.
3. Reconstructor
As the name suggests, this tool is a comprehensive suite for creating your own custom Ubuntu and Debian distros from an existing ISO image. It lets you tweak the wallpaper, themes, icons, applications, and more.
The browser-based tool requires no installation, but you'll need to pay a small fee before you can use all of its features.
4. Revisor
Unlike the three tools above, this app is for the RPM-based distro Fedora. Revisor has both a GUI and a command-line interface, and it can create USB Live media as well as install-only CDs and DVDs.
Instead of using ISO images, Revisor downloads packages from the internet, so it may take some time to compile depending on your connection speed and customised package selection.
5. SUSE Studio
Novell's SUSE Studio is taking the world by storm. It lets you select packages, set various configurations (including network detection, firewall settings and so on) and select a logo, background and more.
The most impressive part is that all this functionality is accessed from within a browser. You can even test-drive your new distro – again from within the browser – before downloading the ISO image to share with the world.
6. Pungi
This is the tool that the Fedora developers use to spin the official releases. It's a command-line tool written in Python.
Like Revisor, the tool gathers packages directly from the internet and then automatically splits them and creates CD-sized installable ISO images.
7. Builder
Builder is a series of bash scripts that are used by the gNewSense developers to create their distro. Along with the tool they've also written a handy nine-step guide to creating a customised distro from Ubuntu Hardy. The guide is available on their site.
8. Linux-Live
If you want a truly distro-agnostic way of customising your favourite Linux distribution, you need the Linux-Live set of scripts. The scripts work on any installed Linux distro and can create a Live system that you can boot from optical media or USB drives.
The popular Slackware -based Slax Live distro is built using these scripts, which work best on Slackware but can work on other distributions as well.
9. MySlax Creator
Here's a Slackware customisation script with a unique twist. The tool creates customised versions of the Slackware-based Slax distro we mentioned above, but unlike the other tools we talk about here, MySlax Creator installs and work from within Windows!
It works with Slax ISO images and lets you add data to your own custom spins.
10. Linux From Scratch
If you're a Linux purist then you'll probably find the idea of using scripts and automated systems to create a distro quite abhorrent. Well, fear not. If you're keen to get your hands dirty, you'll need the definitive tome Linux From Scratch, a book that explains how to make your own Linux distro the very hardest way.
Visit here for a copy of the text – and cancel all appointments with your friends for the foreseeable future.
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Alton Towers' new Sega-coaster launches on Friday 13th
Sega Europe has inked a three-year deal with UK theme park Alton Towers to own the exclusive videogame rights to the Sonic The Hedgehog brand for one of its rollercoasters.
In addition to the Sonic The Hedgehog rollercoaster – which launches on Friday the 13 of February 2010 (uh-oh!) there is also to be a Sonic The Hedgehog themed room at the Alton Towers Hotel.
It is, basically, any self-respecting Sega fanboy's secret dream weekend break!
Sega Hotel
The hotel room will let guests "live, sleep and even play the latest games from the Sonic franchise in a room dedicated to the famous Sonic videogame universe."
Alton Towers' "Sonic Spinball," coaster is basically an update of the park's "Spinball Whizzer."
"Partnering Sonic with one of the U.K.'s most popular destinations for a family day out is a fantastic opportunity for people to engage, and have fun, with the Sonic brand," said Sega UK marketing director Amanda Farr told MCV.
February 13th, though… Did the PR company not check the calendar?
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In Depth: 15 Media Center tweaks and tips for Windows 7
Windows Media Center has been given a complete new lease of life in Windows 7.
Here's 15 tips, tricks and hacks to get more from Media Center in the new OS.
1. Skip the start-up animation
When you're in a hurry, you don't want to be bothered by Media Center's start-up animation. You can skip this by adding a custom switch to the shortcut used to launch the app. Right-click the Media Center icon in the Start menu and choose 'Properties'.
On the Shortcut tab, you'll see the target listed as %windir%\ehome\ehshell.exe. After this target, enter /nostart upanimation and click Apply followed by OK. When you use this shortcut in future, the switch will turn off the animation.
2. Start in the library
You can use switches in the Target field of the Media Center shortcut to start the program directly in a particular part of your media library.
For example, to start in your music library, add this switch: /homepage :MusicBrowsePage.xml /Push StartPage:True.
Alternatively, to start in your pictures library, use /homepage:PhotosBrowsePage. xml /PushStartPage:True, or to go directly to Live TV use /homepage: VideoFullscreen.xml /PushStart Page:True – Live TV.
You can set up different shortcuts for each. If you do this, rename them to include the destination so that you use different shortcuts depending on how you want to use Media Center.
3. Combine switches
It's possible to combine switches if they don't directly contradict one another.
For example, to skip the startup animation and start in your pictures library, enter the following in the Target field: %windir%\ehome\eshell.exe /mediamode /nostartup animation /homepage:Photos BrowsePage.xml /PushStart Page:True.
For a full list of the many handy switches, see the fantastic Missing Remote site.
4. Custom Quick Skip
The Quick Skip button enables you to jump forward in a recording by 30 seconds. However, the average ad break is around three minutes long, so you can create some very basic ad-skipping technology by changing the Quick Skip interval to three minutes.
To do this you need to edit the Registry. (Before you do this, make sure you take suitable back-up precautions.)
Enter regedit into the Search box on the Start menu and press [Enter]. Browse to the following key:
HKEY_ CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoSettings.
Find the dword value 'SkipAheadInterval', right-click it and choose 'Modify'. Change the base to decimal and then enter the required interval in thousandths of a second – so for three minutes, change it to 180000.
5. Custom replay interval
As well as skipping ahead in a recording with one click, Media Center also enables you to skip back a few seconds at a single touch, giving it an instant replay function.
By default the replay goes back by seven seconds, but you can modify this with a Registry edit. Again, head to HKEY_CURRENT_ USER\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoSettings.
This time, look for the dword value InstantReplayInterval. This is also in thousandths of a second, so for a 12-second replay, you need to enter the decimal value 12000.
6. Use TV guide quicky
There's no need to scroll forwards or backwards slowly in the TV guide; just hold down the arrow buttons for a few seconds. Turbo Zoom will then kick in to speed up the rate of scrolling.
Instead of displaying complete guide information, you're simply shown the day in question and whether it's the morning, afternoon or evening as the various options scroll past. Release the button to jump to that time in the TV guide.
7. Tweet on TV
Tweet while you watch TV with the Twitter MCE extension. Available for download from here, the app is free for non-commercial use.
Unzip and run the installer to add it. Once installed, you'll find the Twitter extension in the Extras library. You need to log into Twitter with your normal username and password before you can tweet from Media Center.
8. Use an Xbox
You can add an Xbox to use as a media extender. Start Media Center on your Xbox and opt to add it as an extender. Make a note of the eight-digit code you're given at this point.
Now go into Windows 7 Media Center and choose 'Tasks | Settings | Extender | Add extender' and enter the eight-digit code.
Complete the wizard and you'll have access to Media Center via your Xbox. This saves you the need to directly hook a PC up to your TV.
9. HD Thumbnail Seek
It's not always easy to find the point in a recording you want if there isn't a suitable chapter point nearby. During high-definition video playback, you can get a little help if you want to skip forwards or backwards in the recording.
Click and drag the time marker on the seek bar and you'll see a thumbnail of the video at the point you drag it to. You can use this to help you skip quickly to a particular point in a recording.
10. Jump to a recent item
Thanks to Windows 7's Jump Lists you can go directly to an item you've played recently from the Start menu or taskbar.
Hover the mouse pointer over the Media Center icon in the Start menu to see a list of recent recordings, and click one to go directly to it. Alternatively, right-click the taskbar button to see the list.
11. Watch terrestrial TV
TunerFree MCE is an innovative extension that enables you to watch all standard terrestrial TV channels in streaming format via Media Center. It also provides access to cached versions of programmes offered by services like iPlayer and 40D. Download the Windows 7 version from here.
You need an active internet connection during installation as it retrieves the available online channels. Once you've installed TunerFree MCE, launch Media Center and choose 'Extras | Extras Library'. Select 'TunerFree MCE'. You'll see a list of available online channels.
Click the one you want to watch. This produces a screen showing all programmes that are available to view online, plus a link to watch live TV from that channel. Many programmes offer a download link that you can use to store the show on your hard drive to watch later.
12. Add plug-ins
To get more live streaming channels, you can add plug-ins to TunerFree MCE. These are supplied as zip files and you can find a list of them here.
To install a plug-in, download it and then unzip its contents to C:/Program Files/Millie Soft/TunerFreeMCE/plugins.
The TV Catchup plug-in provides access to the channels offered here.
13. Involve YouTube
If you're a fan of YouTube videos, you'll be happy to know that you can integrate the site into Media Center and watch the online videos from within the system. The key here is a cracking little plug-in called Yougle that you can download from here.
Install Yougle Vista and then start Media Center. Select the new Yougle option on the main menu. Choose 'Video' and click 'Get more sources'. Add YouTube. Now choose 'Settings' in Yougle. Click the 'Flash video' option so that it toggles to 'Embedded Flash'.
To play a YouTube video, select 'Yougle' from the Media Center main menu and choose 'Video | YouTube'. The current featured videos will show across the middle of the screen. Use the controls on the top left to browse the videos by category or perform a search.
Select the video from the list shown in the middle of the screen. It will open full-screen in a new window. Press [Esc] to return to Media Center when it finishes.
14. Extra internet streams
Not all video streams need to come from a TV tuner installed in your system. There are some internet streams that you can access directly from Media Center. Go to 'Extras | Explore' and select a category, followed by a service provider.
There are a number of free services bringing you video news and sport, plus additional download options and video-on-demand services that you can use for a fee. ITN news headlines and Sportal.com feeds are free. Sky customers will soon be able to access their Sky player accounts from Media Center by choosing 'TV | Sky Player'.
15. Audio-visuals
You can change the visual accompaniment to playing music. When you're playing a track, you'll see a number of options to the left of the track information and the album artwork. Choose 'Visualize' to play visualisations (as in Windows Media Player). If you select 'Play Pictures', you'll get a photo show based on the images in the Pictures folder.
You'll find some selected shots scattered around the screen, gently moving. These images will start off in black and white, but Media Center will then randomly zoom in on a main image, which will become full colour before returning to the background and being replaced by a different shot.
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Review: PC Nextday LogiQ 89-2411
UK-based PC Nextday makes a broad variety of machines, keeping costs down by using generic chassis designs for its laptops. The LogiQ 89-2411 is a feature-rich machine boasting impressive performance, although its slightly uninspiring style puts functionality firmly over form.
The 15.4-inch screen is excellent and the sharp 1440 x 900-pixel resolution means images are crystal clear. Colour reproduction is excellent, with rich and vibrant colours. A glossy Super-TFT screen coating is in place, but doesn't prove too distracting in bright conditions.
Generic chassis
The use of a generic chassis means that PC Nextday can pass on savings - made by not developing their own chassis - to the customer. The chassis itself is a pearl white plastic which is suitably durable, and this laptop features a matt-black lid which isn't plagued by fingerprints and smears.
The white keyboard provides a decent typing experience, although it gets dirty quite quickly. The keys are well spaced out, tapered and travel a comfortable distance. It is quite a noisy board, however, which may be important to those working regularly in a library, for example.
The Intel Core 2 Duo processor is combined with 4096MB of memory to produce a good benchmarking performance. You'll have no problem concurrently running multiple applications such as web browsers and email clients.
It's also possible to run more resource-intensive applications such as photo and video editing suites, which is ideal for multimedia fans. An entry-level dedicated nVidia graphics card enhances the laptop's multimedia capabilities, although the latest games will struggle to run.
The 133-minute battery life isn't great and this laptop is better suited to home use as a result. The 2.7kg weight is actually quite light, however, and shouldn't prove a problem if you need to carry it around.
This is the only laptop here to feature the older 802.11g Wi-Fi technology, and the 10/100 Ethernet isn't cutting-edge either. Three USB ports for peripherals is fairly standard and there's also an eSATA interface for transferring data at high speed to an external device. HDMI and VGA-out ports round out the specifications.
The LogiQ 89-2411 is a decent machine with impressive performance and a broad range of features. The generic chassis won't appeal to everyone, but the money saved in employing it means that more powerful components can be employed at a competitive price.
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Review: MSI CX600-064UK
MSI's C series is targeted at those after an everyday computing solution. The CX600-064UK is a part of that series and provides decent performance, an interesting design and mixed portability.
It doesn't stand out much, but is certainly worth a look. The 16-inch screen is bright and offers crisp colour reproduction. It can't compare with the PC Nextday for detail levels, however, as the latter offers a higher resolution in a smaller size screen.
The widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio is great for watching films on, and the shiny Super-TFT screen coating isn't too distracting.
This laptop is built from tough plastics and has been stylised somewhat, giving it a unique look. As with the Dell Inspiron 1750, the keyboard flexes under minor pressure, and the result is a spongy typing action.
MSI has found room for a dedicated numeric keypad which will be useful for work on spreadsheets, but it is the part of the keyboard that suffers the most in terms of sponginess, reducing usability by quite a margin.
The touchpad is large with stylish metal mouse buttons adding class. A row of lights at the front of the palmrest feeds you information on the status of the laptop's various components.
With an Intel Core 2 Duo T6600, we found everyday performance to fit in well among the other laptops. As such, you'll have no issues running office applications and also more resource-intensive multimedia programs.
The inclusion of an ATi Mobility Radeon HD 4330 graphics card also makes the laptop suited to photo or video editing. In fact, this GPU provided a quite high 3D score.
Generous storage
The 500GB hard drive is generous at this price and is capable of easily holding a whole family's data, including video, photo and music libraries. You're also well future proofed and won't have to keep upgrading the drive as your requirements grow.
However, portability is a mixed bag and, while the laptop is light for its size, the 124-minute battery life falls well short of the three hours we expect, making the CX600-064UK less suited to travel. The tough plastics mentioned above do help with durability when travelling, however.
802.11n Wi-Fi and 10/100 Ethernet provide capable networking capabilities and there's also three USB ports for attaching peripherals such as a mouse or smartphone, and a VGA-out for connecting the laptop to an external monitor.
Despite a few minor flaws – namely the battery life and keyboard – the MSI CX600- 064UK is a decent machine which should cater for most people's needs.
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In Depth: 48 best free apps from Microsoft
When it comes to free software, the open-source community certainly has a monopoly on high-minded posturing and puffy rhetoric. Just take a look at the Philosophy page of the GNU operating system's website:
"Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer. Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it means that the program's users have the four essential freedoms."
But when it comes to free software, those free-loving, free-wheeling open sourcers have an unlikely challenger: Microsoft. Yes, you heard us right, Microsoft: the ice to Fedora's fire; the night to Ubuntu's day.
But as unlikely as it may seem, Redmond actually has a thriving – though largely unsung – library of free applications available to download. And we're not just talking about freeware cobbled together in bedrooms by people who don't get out much.
We're talking well-engineered, high-quality programs written by the same people who created Windows and all the rest. It's stuff we're sure that Microsoft would love to charge for, but with uncharacteristic benevolence, it's chosen to give it away.
The only difficulty is finding the stuff : it's hidden here and there in and around Microsoft's sprawling website. We've played detective and tracked down the best free Microsoft apps.
Our travels through the world of Microsoft freebies started by looking for utilities. Could we find 15 worth including on our list? Half an hour later, with a shortlist of 40, we realised that finding enough wasn't going to be an issue – the real problem would be deciding what to leave out.
Sysinternals produces some of the best Windows tools around. With more than 70 utilities on offer, we could fill our pages with nothing else, but that would make for an unimaginative selection. We picked just two, then, but take a look at the site to see what else is available.
Microsoft's Research Labs, technical blogs and Download Centre also proved fertile, revealing everything from simple utilities to an app that used to sell for آ£360 but can now be yours for nothing. Sounds like a good deal to us.
1. RichCopy
This handy file transfer tool is multi-threaded, copying several files in parallel for improved performance. Versatile file filters let you customise exactly what is copied, while you can also pause and resume operations, which is useful if your network connection goes down.
2. Scalable Fabric
Install Scalable Fabric and any windows you minimise simply shrink to thumbnail size and slide to the side of the desktop. This helps program content to stay more visible, which means that it's easier to pick out the window you need. Restoring windows is as easy as dragging the thumbnail towards the screen centre.
3. Debugging Tools for Windows
What's causing your blue-screen crashes? If Windows won't tell you, just install the debugging tools and open the crash dump file. Within a minute or two you'll often get your answer. Browse the Ask the Performance Team blog for more advanced debugging tips.
Download Debugging Tools for Windows
4. Insomnia
It's annoying when your Windows 7 PC goes to sleep while you're downloading a big file, running a backup or doing something else important, but there's an easy solution – just run Insomnia. It'll disable sleep mode for the moment, allowing your tasks to go ahead without interruption. To get back to normal, all you have to do is close the program. Easy.
5. Process Monitor
Process Monitor logs all your PC's file and Registry activity, making it easy to identify over-active processes that might be hogging your system's resources. It's also good at diagnosing odd application behaviour in general, and can be handy when you're on a malware-hunting expedition.
6. Virtual PC
Virtual PC makes it easy to run different versions of Windows on your own desktop. It's the central technology behind Windows 7's XP Mode, which allows the new OS to launch old software that would otherwise be unable to run on your updated system.
7. Learning Content Development System
LCDS is a powerful tool for creating what Microsoft call 'e-learning content': Silverlight-based online courses that feature quizzes, games, assessments, animations and other interactive features.
You work with pre-defined forms, so no programming skills are required in order to create good looking, impressive content.
8. Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer
Let MBSA scan your PC for a couple of minutes and you'll get a detailed report on all of its security holes, including missing system patches, user account or password issues, problematic Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office security settings and a whole lot more.
9. Process Explorer
A Task Manager on steroids, Process Explorer displays in-depth information on every process your PC is running right now. You can use it to spot big resource hogs, diagnose memory leaks or find out which process has opened a particular file.
It's also handy for pausing badly behaved programs that grab all your CPU time, closing them down safely when all else fails and generally troubleshooting all kinds of other odd Windows behaviour.
10. Truespace
This fully featured 3D authoring package contains everything that you need to build 3D models, add textures and lighting effects, render the models and even create cinema quality animations.
It used to cost around آ£360, but then Microsoft bought the technology for Virtual Earth and now it's available for free. Pretty impressive, huh?
11. Expression Encoder 3.0
Expression Encoder is targeted at web developers who want to "publish rich media experiences with Microsoft Silverlight", but in reality this is an excellent tool for anyone who wants to play around with video.
Essentially, it's a grown-up version of Media Encoder: you can import clips, carry out basic cut editing, crop or deinterlace them, add visual or audio overlays and then encode the finished results to WMV files with complete control over all the video settings (bit rate, size, aspect ratio, encoding method and more).
Extras include a powerful screen capture tool that will record whatever's going on in the window or region you specify. There are a few limitations with this free version (no H.264 output, and it's WMV-only), but it's still a capable program in its own right, and one that will never time out. It's well worth a look.
12. Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7
The Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) is an advanced tool that can create a custom Windows 7 set-up disc with your own settings, device drivers and other tweaks.
If you're looking after several Windows 7 PCs then this can save a great deal of time, as every time you reinstall Windows 7 it'll have the default settings and files you need ready and waiting.
Download Windows Automated Installation Kit
13. Windows SteadyState
Are your kids always breaking the PC? Then you may need Windows SteadyState. With this clever tool you first take a snapshot of a PC the way you'd like it. Then, no matter what any users happen to do – delete something important, install malware, or just poke around in the Control Panel – any changes will be reversed on rebooting, and everything will be back to the way it should be. This app works with XP and Vista.
With only five spots to fill in the Makeover section, competition was tough. There are plenty of Windows Media Player skins around and Microsoft offers plenty of free wallpaper images, too – the images of Singapore are particularly attractive – but picking a single winner seemed futile, as everyone has their own opinion on what's best.
And while the Live Messenger 10-year anniversary gift pack really is "crammed with emoticons, backgrounds, scenes and winks", that still wasn't quite enough to make the top five. So what did? Keep reading to find out.
14. Microsoft Office 2007 Templates
The standard Microsoft Office 2007 templates are rather basic, but fortunately Microsoft does offer more templates to help you expand your documents' horizons. The examples featured here are still fairly business-like, but they do cover a wide range, with templates for presentations, invoices, spreadsheets, letterheads, business cards, email blasts and newsletters available.
Download Office 2007 Templates
15. Microsoft Egypt Nile Theme
If you're tired of the standard Windows XP look then Microsoft's Egypt Nile Theme certainly makes a refreshing change, with attractive wallpaper, custom-designed icons and an animated screensaver all included.
Alternatively, Microsoft's Ontario or Nunavut themes both offer attractive nature photos as wallpaper.
16. Yule Log Visualisation
'Tis the season to be jolly, so why leave your PC out of the festivities? This Yule Log Visualisation for Windows Media Player was originally released back in 2001 as part of the Windows Media Bonus Pack, but Microsoft manager Sean Alexander has unofficially released a revamped version that works on 32- and 64-bit Windows Vista.
So go on – get yourself some mulled wine and relax as the flames festively flicker in time with your music.
Download the Yule Log Virtualisation
17. Microsoft Office Clip Art
Microsoft Word can easily handle the text-based mechanics of, say, writing a Christmas newsletter, but to create something really special you often need to add a little clipart. This free library is packed with images – searching for 'penguin' returned more than 90 images, and even 'hedge' returned 24, along with some animations and sounds.
18. Windows 7 theme packs
Windows 7 has some gorgeous themes, but if you haven't found the one for you yet, look no further than Microsoft's site. It has a good selection of 'product placement' themes (Coca Cola, Ferrari, Ducati and so on), but even better are the 20 international themes, which feature spectacular landscape shots from around the world.
Download Windows 7 theme packs
Microsoft offers all kinds of interesting productivity related freebies across its various websites, but its Research and Office labs often provide the most intriguing examples.
The Excel 2007 Chart Advisor, for instance, intelligently selects the most appropriate graph for your data. StickySorter is a useful brainstorming tool that captures data in the form of virtual sticky notes, then lets you collaborate with others to organise them into affinity diagrams.
And the Email Prioritizer is an Outlook 2007 plug-in to help you cope with email overload. A 'Do not disturb' button pauses email delivery, while a 0 to 3-star rating system helps you set priorities for messages.
Impressive though these were, they still didn't make the final cut: a trawl of Microsoft sites revealed 15 even better ways to save you time, hassle and money.
19. Microsoft Research Image Composite Editor
Stitching multiple photos together to produce a panorama can take hours to do manually, as well as requiring guru-level Photoshop skills. Microsoft's Image Composite Editor (ICE) takes your digital photos, figures out how they should be placed, tweaks the lighting to cope with different exposures and then exports the results in a wide variety of image formats.
Download Microsoft Research Image Composite Editor
20. Search Commands
If you often find yourself poking around the Office 2007 ribbon trying to find an elusive command, this simple add-on should appeal. Click on the new Search Commands tab in Word, Excel or PowerPoint 2007, type a word or phrase that's a part of the command you're looking for and all the related commands will appear immediately.
21. Microsoft Office Outlook Connector 12.1
It has an odd name, but the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector 12.1 actually does something very useful: it lets you access Windows Live Hotmail and Live Calendar from within Outlook 2003 and 2007, providing a simple way to synchronise your schedule and Live Hotmail contacts with your work email.
22. Microsoft AutoCollage
Point AutoCollage at a folder of photos and it'll analyse them, use face detection and 'saliency filters' to pick out all the interesting bits and then blend them into a collage. If it delivers for you, this app could save hours of work. Unfortunately this particular freebie is restricted to teachers only, though the rest of us can download a trial version from here.
23. PowerShell Pack
PowerShell is a versatile Microsoft scripting technology that's now included with Windows 7. The PowerShell Pack contains 10 modules that show off just how much you can do, allowing you to create rich user interfaces, monitor files and folders, check for duplicate files and even convert, rotate, scale and crop images.
24. Microsoft Producer for PowerPoint 2003
This handy tool can help you to create online presentations in three straightforward steps. First, you import the images, audio or video files and PowerPoint slides you'd like to use. Then you arrange your media so that the sounds, video and images are all synchronised correctly. Finally the Publishing Wizard exports your work to web pages of your choice, either locally or an a remote web server.
25. Forgotten Attachment Detector
It's easy to fire off an email and forget to add an important attachment, but this Outlook 2007 add-in could help. The program looks for keywords in an Outlook 2007 email to indicate that you intend to add an attachment. If there isn't one when you click 'Send', it displays a pop-up warning and provides a chance to correct the mistake.
Download Forgotten Attachment Detector
26. pptPlex
Why restrict your PowerPoint presentations to the usual dull linear format? With pptPlex you're able to move around within slide sections, or easily jump back or forward to a slide that you might need. You're also able to zoom in on part of a slide to show more details.
27. Desktops
If you find one desktop too restricting then this utility could help – it lets you organise your apps on up to four virtual desktops. Switching between these is easy: you can use a system tray icon or hotkeys to swap the current desktop.
28. Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack
If you're still using Office XP, or even 2003, then you can't read the new document formats introduced in Office 2007. The Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack lets you open, edit and save files in both the old standards and the new formats.
Download Office Compatibility Pack
29. Windows Live Sync
If you work on more than one computer, you'll know all about the problems of file synchronisation. Install Windows Live Sync on each client (Mac OS X or Windows) and you're able to synchronise up to 20 folders with 20,000 files each – so everything is always available and up to date.
30. Microsoft Math
This Office accessory adds geeky computational fun to Word 2007. Once it's installed, you can use the add-in to solve equations, simplify algebraic expressions, calculate numerical results and plot functions, equations or inequalities in 2D or 3D.
31. Microsoft SharedView
When you need to collaborate with friends or colleagues on any kind of project, Microsoft SharedView can help. It reaches out through firewalls to create a virtual meeting for up to 15 people and then allows you to share screens and even give control of your desktop to others.
32. WMI Code Creator
This app makes it easy to create scripts that query your PC for all kinds of useful information: which programs you've installed, which ones are running at the minute, your services' configuration, how your RAM is used and much more.
33. Windows Command Reference
As a knowledgeable PC user you'll probably build a batch file from time to time and you won't be afraid of the occasional session at the command line. Microsoft has added many new command line tools over the years, and enhanced others with new switches, so it's a good idea to make sure that you're up to date. An easy way to do this is to use Windows Command Reference.
It's nothing complicated – just a single CHM help file – but Windows Command Reference contains in-depth details on just about every Windows command line tool there is. We learned a great deal just by scrolling down the list and clicking on commands that we didn't recognise or hadn't used for a little while.
If you ever use Windows command line tools then you must grab a copy of Command Reference – it's sure to boost your command prompt productivity and improve your use of the command line.
Microsoft has always provided interesting free programming tools. Today there are powerful and complete development environments with everything you need to build attractive, feature-packed, data-driven websites.
OK, they don't quite have everything – there have to be reasons why you'll pay for the full product, after all – but the Express Edition tools can produce good work and are perfect for discovering exactly what the technology can do. But there's more to Microsoft web freebies than development tools.
Years ago, Microsoft used to provide fun browser extras in its PowerToys, handy utilities that extended IE's capabilities in many different directions. These petered out somewhere between IE4 and IE5, but now Eric Lawrence, a manager on the IE team, has filled the gap with his own IEToys, tiny tools that add simple but essential features to IE6, 7 and 8.
34. Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition
You could just use this to build web pages – but add an ASP.NET Starter Kit and you'll have an attractive template for business, blogging or personal sites.
It excels with more in-depth projects, too, from creating Facebook apps to building SQL Server-powered websites.
35. IEToys
This collection of tools works with IE6, 7 and 8, adding features like the one-click removal of web page images, easy text highlighting, the ability to copy an image even if the right-click option is disabled and quick dictionary, Wikipedia and Google lookup. What's more, it's all contained in a 123kB download.
36. Web Platform Installer
Web Platform Installer cuts out all the hassle of configuring a web server by detecting the components you've installed already, displaying everything else that's on offer and deploying it in a couple of clicks. So you can ask it to download and install new IIS modules, web apps, development tools and more.
Download Web Platform Installer
37. UAPick
Some sites demand you use certain tools; a site might prevent anything other than QuickTime downloading their videos, for instance. UAPick helps fix this by letting you change your identifying User-Agent string to anything you like.
38. Coding4Fun Dev Kit
This tool provides code for all kinds of apps. Examples include communicating with Bluetooth devices, interacting with Vista calendar, creating handlers for Windows Explorer and more.
There's more to Microsoft than Word and Excel: when the work is done, Windows likes to handle all your entertainment needs, too. If you're running Windows Vista or 7 then the increasing focus on entertainment is already obvious, from the inclusion of Media Center as a standard Windows component to improved media streaming and some great new games.
These integrated efforts won't hold your attention for very long, though, and you might soon be tempted to part with big money for new games, music and other goodies to brighten up your spare time.
But wait! Don't open your wallet just yet. We've been scouring the web for Microsoft entertainment-related freebies and have made some very interesting discoveries. There are weeks of fun to be had here for no more investment than a little download time. Honest!
39. Games for Windows – LIVE 3.0 Client
If you're a fan of Microsoft games then installing this simple utility will keep you up to date with all the latest releases, demos, videos, add-ons and new levels. You can quickly access most content in a couple of clicks, so it's a time-saver too.
40. Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
The Age of Empires games are always a good mix of compelling gameplay and real-time strategy.
Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties heads east for a whole new set of challenges and stories. The trial version adds a new random map and a new game to the mix.
41. MechCommander 2
If your old PC isn't up to playing the latest games, you'll be happy to know that Microsoft still hosts the trial versions of old classics like MechCommander 2. The graphics are basic, but then they only require a "SVGA 2D video card with 8MB of video RAM" – so you can be sure they'll run on just about anything.
42. Bing Maps 3D
What was Virtual Earth has become Bing Maps 3D. The maps service is good, but you can make it better still by enabling the 3D mode, which enables you to rotate, zoom and fly around many famous landmarks.
43. WorldWide Telescope
This Microsoft Research project stitches together gorgeous images from the Hubble Space Telescope and other sources, creating a virtual telescope that lets you pan around outer space and zoom straight to planets, moons, constellations and more.
44. BlueScreen Screen Saver
Could this be the most evil PC-based practical joke of all time? Copy it to the System32 folder on a PC, set it up as the default screen saver and when the time comes it'll pop up a simulated blue-screen error message guaranteed to strike fear and panic into the heart of your luckless victim. We just hope they see the funny side.
Download BlueScreen Screen Saver
45. ReverbNation
A Microsoft-sponsored project at ReverbNation means you can download 1,000 interesting tracks from new artists (and a few old ones) for free. You won't have heard of most of them, but there are some quality tracks here in many different genres – they could be just what your MP3 player needs.
46. Silverlight
Silverlight allows web developers to add powerful interfaces and advanced graphics capabilities to their websites. At least, that's the idea, but right now most of them seem to be using Silverlight to create some attractive and highly playable free games. Download the free Silverlight plug-in, then sample what's on offer at sites like Silverlight Club and Mashooo.
47. Tetris / Backgammon / Connect4 / Sudoku
These four entertaining games aren't an official Microsoft release, but they still make a colourful and fun addition to any Windows Mobile smartphone or PDA. You don't have either? Pay a visit to the site anyway for the many other interesting coding projects.
Download Tetris / Backgammon / Connect4 / Sudoku
48. Zune 4.0
Zune 4.0 is the management tool for Microsoft's Zune media player, but you don't need a Zune to take advantage of it – there's plenty to recommend the program as a standalone media player in its own right.
A new Smart DJ function, for instance, creates related playlists based on the artists you give it, making it easy to keep things upbeat or downbeat, depending on your mood.
It only takes a moment to find your favourite music, as newly added and recently played tunes are displayed upfront, and others can be added to a 'Quick play' list in just a couple of clicks. And the program looks great throughout, appearing streamlined and stylish, with excellent use of album art.
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Cloud gaming pioneer defends 'laggy' OnLive
Cloud gaming pioneer and OnLive founder Steve Perlman has leapt to the defence of his company, combatting criticisms that the beta service of the server-based gaming offering is already crippled by gameplay-ruining time lags.
Perlman has outlined what he sees to be the current technical issues that are causing some beta testers of OnLive to suffer these latency issues.
One location, one ISP, one PC
Perlman said the server-based system is affected by anyone who doesn't sign up in one location, using one ISP on one PC.
He claims: "If you change any of these factors, OnLive Beta may not even run, or if it does, the lag and/or graphics performance may render games unplayable.
"OnLive will try to detect these conditions and warn you, but when you are using OnLive in a different location, you are not providing us with usable test data."
Speed of light to blame
"The reason location is so critical is because of the speed of light. If you are more than 1000 miles from an OnLive data center, then the round trip communications delay ("ping" time) between your home and OnLive will be too long for fast-action video games," the OnLive man explained.
"OnLive has 3 data centers for its US Beta test, with a... 1000-mile range. Your Beta account will only connect to the data center it was originally assigned to. So, if you are assigned to our West Coast data center and then try your Beta account from the Midwest or East Coast, you'll find the lag impaired to the point where most games are unplayable."
Tim Ponting, from rival fast-downloads service Awomo, explained to TechRadar earlier last year how he felt that lag was going to be the final hurdle for cloud gaming services such as OnLive to overcome.
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US says Chinese web is like the Berlin Wall
US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton warned Beijing that its alleged attack on Google would have "consequences" and compared China's current censorship of the internet to the days of eastern European communism and the Berlin Wall.
In turn Chinese government officials criticised Mrs Clinton this week, accusing America of "information imperialism" in its critique of the country's online restrictions to information.
State-sponsored news
The Chinese state-sponsored English-language newspaper the Global Times, said in a recent report that information from the West comes "loaded with aggressive rhetoric against those countries that do not follow their lead."
"Unlike advanced Western countries, Chinese society is still vulnerable to the effect of multifarious information flowing in, especially when it is for creating disorder," the report added.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said: "The U.S. has criticised China's policies to administer the Internet and insinuated that China restricts Internet freedom. This runs contrary to the facts and is harmful to China-US relations.
"We urge the United States to respect the facts and cease using so-called Internet freedom to make groundless accusations against China."
Violations of basic online rights
"Countries that restrict free access to information, or violate the basic rights of internet users, risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century," Mrs Clinton said.
"Countries or individuals that engage in cyber-attacks should face consequences and international condemnation. In an internet-connected world, an attack on one nation's networks can be an attack on all.
"We stand for a single internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas," Clinton told an audience in Washington, also namechecking Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, Uzbekistan and Vietnam as nationsthat were guilty of online censorship and harrassment of bloggers.
"I hope that refusal to support politically motivated censorship will become a trademark characteristic of American technology companies. And when their business dealings threaten to undermine this freedom, they need to consider what's right, not simply the prospect of quick profits," Mrs Clinton said, referring to the recent cyber-attacks on Google.
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1 comment:
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