Kurt Shintaku's Blog

You gotta love Billg.  Here’s his interview with Dean Takahashi.
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2007/01/bill_gates_inte.html#more
(The money quote is at the end.)

Additionally, there’s some audio recordings he made of Billg at Delmonico’s Steakhouse at the Venetian Hotel & Casino.  (My favorite Vegas casino… shout out to my host, Dorrit!)http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/ces/2007/01/08/audio-from-the-bill-gates-qa-w-dean-takahashi/

WHEN?
Both Gamespot (http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/puzzle/guitarhero2/index.html) and  Team Xbox (http://games.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1567/Guitar-Hero-II/) have March 2007 has the ship date for the game. This is an update from last week when it was listed as TBA 2007.  1up (http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3154108) has a release date of 3/1/2007.

Songs?
Included on the 360 version of Guitar Hero II will be an additional 10 songs, and the initial list of tracks includes:  (from http://www.redoctanegames.com/0_press.asp)

Handheld camera video taken at the fountains in front of the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas:
http://assets.vanishingpointgame.com/time_0108_720.wmv

If you don’t know what this is, don’t worry.

If you’d like to change the search field on a Treo 7XXw to Windows Live, here’s the steps to do it:

First you’ll need to download a registry editor like PHM RegEdit. 

Here are the steps to add Live or any other search:

• In the editor you’ll need to navigate to HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftTodayItems”Web Search”
• In the Engine key you’ll need to increment the NumEngines
• Under the Engine key you’ll need to create another key “2” in my case
• In the “2” key you’ll need to add the following Name/Value pairs.  Do not put spaces in the EngineName or it will not work.
• EngineName : Live
• SearchURL: http://mobile.live.com/search/results.aspx?__redir=1&d=web&q=

Enjoy!  Here are some screen shots:

Tuesday, January 23^rd – 10:00am PST

This webcast is the fourth in the series of Windows Vista Tips & Tricks webcasts that will be running monthly through the end of the fiscal year. This month’s webcast will focus on the Top 10 Tips & Tricks for Windows Vista.  It a great introduction to Windows Vista for the non-technical end-user.

Webcast Abstract:
Join this session for an overview of 10 helpful new features in the Windows Vista operating system. We show you how to get the best use of each of these features in this informative and engaging webcast. Get a glimpse of the user-friendly user interface (UI), the new collaboration features, and the enhanced experience of using Windows Internet Explorer 7 with Windows Vista.

Register now at: www.windowsvistatnt.com

Microsoft released Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 and the beta for VS2005 SP1 Vista Update.

Service Pack 1 addresses issues that were found through a combination of customers and partner feedback, as well as internal testing.   The issues addressed range in severity from places where the syntax coloring was incorrect to customer reported crashes in various scenarios.  In some areas, more than 50% of the bugs addressed were reported by customers through the MSDN Product Feedback Center.  Overall, Service Pack 1 offers customers improvements in responsiveness, stability and performance for Visual Studio 2005.

Service Pack 1 not only addresses issues feedback through both community and internal testing but also adds over 70 improvements for common development scenarios including:

• New processor support (e.g. Core Duo) for code generation and profiling
• Performance and scale improvements in Team Foundation Server
• Team Foundation Server integration with Excel 2007 and Project 2007
• Tool support for occasionally connected devices and SQL Server Compact Edition
• Additional support for project file based web applications
• Windows Embedded 6.0 platform and tools support

You can also find further technical descriptions of some of the fixes included in this service pack on the Visual Studio Developer Center.

For developers using Visual Studio 2005 on Windows Vista, Microsoft is in currently in development on an update to Service Pack 1 called the ‘Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Vista Update Beta’. This update builds on the improvements made in SP1 and delivers a first class experience for developers wanting to take advantages of the new features in Windows Vista. The Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Update for Windows Vista is expected to ship after the consumer availability of Windows Vista in Q1 of 2007 and is now available in beta.

Both VS2005 SP1 and VS2005 SP1 Vista Update beta can be downloaded from http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/VS2005SP1

So for those of you into computer collectibles and the like (I myself have a copy of Windows 1.0, the original Netscape 1.0 when they used to sell them in packages, Microsoft Bob shrinkwrapped, special commemorative editions of Win95 & Windows 2000, and a few other doozies) we’ll be releasing a limited edition, ENUMERATED set of Windows Vista Upgrade "Signature Edition" copies available for pre-order at Amazon.com. 

Each features Bill Gates’ signature on the front.  They don’t cost anything more than the normal Upgrade copy and considering the pretty tremendous amount of new application functionality in Windows Vista  it’s kind of a piece of history. 

If you’re not convinced:

• Think back to the days of DOS where word processors had to include their own printer drivers & their own graphics libraries.  People had to buy their own memory management tools (Remember Wordstar and it’s infamous printer drivers?  QEMM?  DoubleDOS?)
• Think back to the days of Windows 3.1 where people had to buy their own TCP/IP stacks from companies like Wollongong & FTP Software.  (Yes Virginia, TCP/IP wasn’t always free & included in the OS and DirectX didn’t always exist)
• Think back to the days of Windows 95 where people couldn’t use more than a single processor & plug & play was called plug & "pray".  Remember how HTTP I/O & HTML rendering were components of an application?  (Nowadays no program includes an HTTP stack or a HTML engine – they assume it’s there in every copy of Windows)

Now, assume that Windows Vista is incorporating 4 new core technologies:

1. Windows Presentation Services – A massive graphical engine mitigating the need for 3rd party application developers to incorporate graphics rendering libraries into their products
2. Windows Communication Services – A sophisticated set of technologies enabling 3rd party developers to incorporate peer-to-peer communications & client-server communications without having to worry about security, latency, negotiation, etc.
3. .NET Framework 3.0 – An advanced environment for "managed" applications to run in, allowing developers to focus more on creation & "software engineering" & less on debugging & "programming",  while still running extremely quickly & securely.
4. 64-bit Computing – The ability to process twice the amount of data on today’s CPUs, the ability to address 32x the amount of RAM/memory, and the ability to compute more per-clock-cycle than any CPU before.  All exposed to new applications written for Windows Vista.

The value of Windows Vista will, simply put, be in the applications it makes possible. 

So I assert that Windows Vista will be a historical release, deserving of a "commemorative edition" of this nature.  Geeky?  Yeah.  Will all 20,000 copies be bought up faster than than you can shake a stick at it?  Damn right it will.

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Windows-Ultimate-UPGRADE- Signature/dp/B000M2WPIQ/ref=cm_lm_fullview_prod_9/002-0229293-0658478

This is an excerpt from Microsoft’s Press Release about our CES2007 keynote address by Bill Gates:

In addition, during the CES keynote address, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Entertainment and Devices Division President Robbie Bach demonstrated the ease and simplicity of connecting people who play games on a Windows Vista- based PC to friends who play on the Xbox 360(TM) video game and entertainment system for a cross-platform game challenge with "UNO(R)" (Mattel Inc.) – one of the many new upcoming casual games optimized for Windows Vista.

Connecting Windows Vista and Xbox 360

Delivering on a vision that Microsoft presented at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2006, Microsoft Game Studios’ "Shadowrun" and Mattel’s "UNO" are part of the first wave of Live titles that bring the benefits of Xbox Live(R) to gamers on Windows Vista, including an active community of nearly 5 million gamers, a single identity for each gamer across Windows and Xbox 360, as well as Achievements, which redefine what it means to conquer a game and share accomplishments with friends. The Live gaming and entertainment network will enable gamers to play and communicate online across both of Microsoft’s gaming platforms, bringing more players and their friends together to play and connect in new, exciting ways. In addition, "Halo(R) 2" for Windows Vista (Microsoft Game Studios/Bungie Studios) will also support Live, including enabling Windows gamers to communicate with Xbox Live gamers and earn Achievements in the famed "Halo 2" campaign – a first for any "Halo" title on any platform.

(More available here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/jan07/01-07CES2007PR.mspx)

This means that Windows Vista gamers will be able to buy Mattel’s UNO and play not just against other Windows Vista gamers over the Internet but also against folks playing on Xbox Live on Xbox 360’s as well.  With the exception of certain games like World of Warcraft, most online PC games have a relatively small community online to play against online.  What’s cool about this announcement is that anyone playing UNO on Windows Vista will be able to play against any of the 5 million+ Xbox Live online gamers out there, allowing them to immediately play with (and Voice communicate with) a very large contingent of other gamers online with varying skill levels and ages.

This has more than just good implications for UNO itself:  It provides an opportunity for families to better play with each other or kids to play with other kids across the Internet.

• FAMILY PLAY 
  Kids & adults can now play against each other at home… the parent on the home PC, and the kid on the Xbox 360
• PLAY WITH OR WITHOUT AN XBOX
  Kids can play with other friends & family members across the Internet regardless of whether they have Xbox 360’s or not.

Apparently this has gone public so it seems only fitting to start writing about it. 
(Thanks for the heads up, Blake)

For those of you interested in copying & archiving those videos that you see online at YouTube or Google Video, this tool’s for you.  It’s a free Internet Explorer plug-in that copy the video & automatically convert the content from Flash .FLV to Windows Media .WMV format to save on your desktop.  From then it’s ready for synchronization to your Zune device, Windows Mobile Smartphone, or just simply for archival posterity.

The Internet Explorer 7.0 Plug-in Dropdown Arrow reveals the "ZuneIt" tool

DOWNLOAD: 
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/zunemytube/ZuneIEPlugin.msi?modtime=1167204060&big_mirror=0
(It is a 6.83MB .MSI file.  If it takes too long – the download point is slow – then you can grab the latest build from my site at http://www.evilkoala.org/download/ZuneIEPlugin.msi)

Requirements:
You’ll need to have Internet Explorer 6.0x/7.0 and Windows XP installed.

Instructions:

1. Double-click the .MSI to begin the install.  After finishing the installation, you’ll need to close all Internet Explorer sessions to get the plug-in to register and show up as in the above picture. 
2. To use ZuneIt, simply go to a YouTube/Google video page and start watching the video.  Click on "ZuneIt" as shown in the photo above and in a moment the video will be saved in .FLV format to your machine and autoconverted to .WMV.  (The video will need to redownload even if you’ve cached all the content locally from a previous playback because it needs to be ‘intercepted’ by ZuneIt.)
3. The videos will be located under: C:Documents and Settings<username>My DocumentsMy Videos<Video Site>, where "Video Site" will be either the folder "YouTube" or "GoogleVideo".  You may see the video’s Flash .FLV file in there momentarily however, ZuneIt will convert this file into a Windows Media playable .WMV file and delete the old .FLV file.

Q&A:

• Why is this tied to YouTube & Google Video only?  Why not other sites like iFilm and Broadcaster?
  Because each video web site delivers the "English" title of each video differently and assigning that video title to the saved file name requires customized logic that is particular to each web site.
  For example, the video at:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWf7yVt5NA0&mode=related&search=
  …has an actual file name of "aWf7yVt5NA0" when it’s sent from YouTube.  Without any title mapping logic, the file would be saved as "aWf7yVt5NA0.flv".  Imagine downloading 20 videos and having each of them titled with spaghetti:  Not very easy to catalog.
  The real "understandable" title should be "AndrewtalksabouttherecentturmoilatRocketboom.flv" which would be converted to "AndrewtalksabouttherecentturmoilatRocketboom.wmv".  This is what ZuneMyTube does for Google Video & YouTube.
• Do I have to stay on the original flash video web page until the video has played back in it’s entirety?
  No.  Once you’ve gone to a YouTube page, started the video playback and clicked ZuneIt, you can leave the web page and visit another site.  ZuneMyTube will continue to download the the video in the background.  You can even start the recording of yet another YouTube video and ZuneMyTube will do it.
• How does my Zune know to sync the newly created .WMV video file?
  If your Zune desktop software is configured to sync your "My Videos" folder and all it’s subdirectories to your Zune device when it’s connected, it will automatically find the file and sync it to your device.  This was something that you would have configured when you first installed the Zune software on your Windows desktop computer.
  If you don’t know, open the Zune desktop software and click "Options –> Add Folder to Library" and view the existing folders being monitored.
• What if I can’t get ZuneMyTube to work?
  For people that can’t see the icon – most users can skip to step 4: 
  1) Start regedit. Look at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftInternet ExplorerExtensions{00951C02-5731-44e9-B2F5-544EC2279417}. This says that an IE extension with this guid has been installed. When you look at the right half of the screen, you should see some entries. Make sure that "Default Visible" is set to Yes. If these keys don’t exist, the setup has failed. 
  2) In regedit, make sure that HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{00951C02-5731-44E9-B2F5-544EC2279417}ProgId exists and the "Default" is set to ZuneIEPlugin.ZuneExtension 
  3) Now start a command prompt. Make sure that c:windowsMicrosoft.Netframeworkv2.0.50727 directory exists. 
  4) Run and extract files in http://www.dependencywalker.com/depends22_x86.zip into c:depends. Then start command prompt. Go to c:depends. Run depends "c:program filesmytubezuneieplugin.dll". If any files are missing, they will be shown in red. PLEASE go to http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=647080 and add an entry for all these files. 
  5) If this doesn’t work, PLEASE go to http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=647080 and add an entry about this bug. 
• Who do I contact if I have specific questions?
  Send mail to keertiss at gmaildotcom.

Microsoft invites you to an exclusive training opportunity:

Collaborating with Microsoft Office
Hands-On Lab
Los Angeles, February 27, 2007

Make better decisions, faster. Get access to information and people. Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007, Windows SharePoint® Services 3.0, and Office SharePoint Server 2007 bring all the benefits of collaboration to your organization. Join us for this one-day hands-on lab with labs on:

• Unified Messaging: Improve productivity with access to e-mail, voice mail, and fax no matter where your users are or what device they’re using.
• Collaborative Workspaces: Improve the speed and accuracy of collecting and assimilating information with structured workflow and data collection tools.
• Portals: Reduce information risk by allowing users to create personal and public views of information, documents, and applications.
• Business Driven Processes: Improve connections between partners and customers by simplifying data exchange between organizations.

Course Modules

• Unified Messaging
• Collaborative Workspaces
• Portals
• Business Driven Processes

Who Should Attend:
This course is for IT Professionals and Technical Decision Makers who are experienced working with messaging systems and want information about the new collaboration features in Microsoft Office System.

Prerequisites:
To get the most from this course, you will need:

• Experience administering a Microsoft Windows-based network environment.
• Experience working with Exchange, Windows SharePoint Services, and SharePoint Portal Server.

Location:
Microsoft Los Angeles
333 South Grand Ave.
Suite 3300
Los Angeles, CA 90071

Phone: 213.806.7300

February 27, 2007
8:30am – 4:30pm

RSVP:
This special, no charge training event will fill quickly and space is limited, so be sure to register as soon as possible to reserve your seat.
Click here to register or call 877.673.8368 with event code 1032305105.
(http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?culture=en-US&eventid=1032305105)