By popular demand, Bill Gates’ last day at the office video, courtesy of Channel 10.
Bonus points if you can name all the cameos and the song he’s playing on Guitar Hero. 
Archives For Podcasting
Back when I first met with the Zune community team, I was a little skeptical of the plans for Zune Social. Now I’m a believer – I’m having too good of a time discovering music through the tastes of my friends on Xbox Live. Yes, you too can regale yourself in the suckiness of my musical tastes. That’s okay, I have a thick flak jacket. The only wish I have is for the ability to share my playlists directly.
I’m in the process of building our road trip mix for next week’s trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s for Thanksgiving. I’m searching for family friendly podcasts, music and more. If you have suggestions, feel free to suggest your Top 5 or Top 10 list here, browse and make fun of my music here.
And in case you’re wondering, yes Virginia, the team is playing a lot with Silverlight right now
Update: I’m starting to get suggestions via Zune which is pretty darn cool. Thanks everyone for the friend invites and suggestions. Here are some additional ones that came in through email:
Learn to Fly–Foo Fighters
Things Have Changed–Dylan
This Is How a Heart Breaks–Rob Thomas
Runnin’ Down a Dream–Petty
Someday Baby–Dylan
LA Woman–Doors
Locomotive Breath–Jethro Tull
Won’t Get Fooled Again–The Who
You Can’t Catch Me–Stones
Freebird–Skynard
China Grove–Doobie Bros.
Don’t Fear the Reaper–Blue Oyster Cult
We’re an American Band–Grand Funk Railroad
One of my favorite people in eHome, Charlie Owen notes, "I’m going to head up an effort here at Microsoft between the Media Center, XBox and Zune teams to give you a set of resources which help you put our products together and begin to realize the ‘Connected Home’ dream."
An admirable start. As I’ve noted here, I would like to see the merging of Windows Home Server and Media Center, and perhaps a wireless home automation component, though I have yet to use it beyond my Logitech Harmony remote.
I’d also like to see a, "Buy anywhere, Watch anywhere" merging of the Marketplaces in Xbox 360, Zune, and Media Center.
Give Charlie your feedback in comments on his blog here.
via eHomeUpgrade
I want to be more social. I really do. The problem is my trusty little Zune rarely has its WiFi radio turned on in order to save the battery when traveling. There’s nothing I like less than when my video ends abruptly for lack of juice. So it’s a personal sacrifice I make.
Here’s a simple idea that would turn the social aspects of my little Zune. It’s time for ZuneFinder. ZuneFinder would be a small Sidebar gadget or systray app that notifies me when a Zune is found in general vicinity I’m in. This would be great in airports, where I often camp out between flights near an AC plug. The big question is whether a Zune can be uniquely identified via your WiFi adapter. I have to imagine this is possible.
Then taking it a bit further, I could see ZuneFinder mashups- with a GPS, you could drive around and geomap all the Zunes you find in your area, automatically. Of course, the snarky will retort, “You won’t find any.” But being social should be passive, then active in nature. This is the appeal of Facebook.
Sadly, ZuneFinder doesn’t exist (that I know of). Has anyone been able to uniquely identify Zune devices from an app? Developers inquire within. 
They’ve done this dance for a while, and with both seeing slowing subscriber rates, it’s really no surprise. I wonder what all the XM fanboys are going to say now? I’m just happy I don’t have to pay double for my wife’s “gift” of XM in her Honda, and my Sirius subscription in my car. Pending shareholder approval, both companies expect the merger to be completed by end of this year. Glad to see it- this is a situation where the consumer clearly wins. More details at Orbitcast.
