Over at eHomeUpgrade, Thomas says, “one of the most exciting features is the "my pictures" area.” As digital photography continues to explode in popularity more and more people will turn to plasma/lcd displays as the primary way in which they view their and others' photographs.

Thomas goes on to outline 8 really well thought out areas we can improve MCE's Pictures experience and beyond. The way he does this is constructive, helpful, and easy for me to send on to the development teams for discussion and consideration.  Thanks Thomas.  I only wish more people took the time to provide well articulated and prioritized feature requests and suggestion.  I've tried multiple times in years past in the newsgroups to no avail.

If you have suggestions or feedback for the team, I'm always listening and forwarding what I can.  Feel free to drop me email or post comments here.  Others on the team read the blog here, even if they don't post themselves.  It's a bit like getting on stage, not everyone is comfortable blogging about what we do. :)

From Kevin, C|Net's Top 100 of 2004 gives the HP m1050y MCE PC the award for "Most Innovative PC" and also has a separate category for "Best Media Center PC" (the Shuttle XPC GS7500M)

It's amazing how few people around the office know about this little gem but it seems to sell out continually at the company store. Microsoft has a new line of Fingerprint Reader biometric login products including a stand-alone reader, a mouse, and a keyboard.  The I got the stand-alone USB version as a Christmas present (thanks Mom), and set it up in under 3 minutes.  It's designed for logging into PCs and web sites without passwords. The real test for me was my wife however.  I didn't tell her about it.  She was prompted to set it up when she first logged in, and she LOVES it.  It's so much easier for her to log into her account.  Now they don't recommend using it for protecting financial logins etc. however if you're looking for a fast, friendly way to log into your home PC and have multple family members logging in, this is great.  Same for general website logins too.

Phillip's latest Engadget podcast was enough to get me out of my Podcasting shell and I'm hooked, even if I have great disdain for the term.  What convinced me?  Well, I ran into Lenn Pryor, an old friend a few weeks ago and I've been listening to Adam Curry's podcasts in the background for a few weeks.  Doppler does a good job with Windows Media Player 10 sync and that helped (still need a browser in the app though for surfing vs. searching podcasts though)

But what really convinced me is that I finally got a 2.5mm to 3.5mm stereo adapter for my Audiovox SMT-5600 (less than $4 at Vetco in Bellevue for those in the Seattle area) and now I'm listening to the latest in my car on the drive to/from work (remember, ~$70 gets you an Aux in cable on most car stereos- installed! CarToys in Bellevue did mine, zero damage or mods to car).  Listening to podcasts in your car is the killer app for me.

If you have a Media Center PC and you're not playing with Orb Beta, you're missing out.  I've been playing with Orb for a few weeks now, watching live TV on my Smartphone, streamed from my Media Center PC at home.  It still has some kinks to iron out (eg. discovery of recorded TV stored on another drive etc.) but I enjoyed showing Christmas photos I forgot to sync.  I've tested it out on the local GPRS network and it works great.  More field tests to come from CES.

Speaking of CES, I'll be on stage again with Bill :).  I can't talk about what I'm going to be showing yet, but it will be very cool.  I'll also be in the MS booth between partner meetings to help answer questions about Media Center and what we're showing.

More to come.

Forgot to blog this- this is a must-have for anyone with a Media Center extender and demonstrates the commitment of the dev team to continue to invest in Extender.  Includes bug fixes and adds support for CGMS-A protected content (basically playing back HBO on a Media Center extender). I installed it today and it was seamless.

Update for the HP model.

Update for the Linksys model.

Enjoy

More photographic proof that the VW Bug and Apple's design teams seem joined at the hip.  Something tells me we wouldn't catch Bono in one of these:

Last week at mass, my priest noted he saw a license plate frame that said, “It's not a beetle, it's a really big purse“. Looks like VW has learned something like 91% of these cars are sold to women.

Courtesy of Autoblog

Courtesy of Apple's Website.

Still not interested in either. ;)

Hot on the heels of “Grumpy Santa“, Boing Boing turned me on to this retelling of, “It's a Wonderful Life” in 30 seconds...  with bunnies...

Absurd?  Yes.  Funny?  Kind of. Even better is The Exorcist or Alien. This  is one twisted and talented Flash animator.

I just caught wind that MSN has secured the exclusive webcast to the New Year's Eve ball drop in New York's Times Square this year.  You can see a promo spot for it here.  They'll have 3 different cameras to pick from and exclusive content. I'm curious how many people watch this?  For those of us on the Pacific coast, it makes more sense since you don't see a lot on (that I've noticed) until the local festivities. 

See it New Year's Eve at http://msnvideo.com/newyears

Doing some last minute holiday shopping?  Here's a suggestion.  Earlier today I received an email from Jeremy at LiveDigitally.com about my blog and suggesting I take a look at the Slappa CD/DVD case review they just posted.  Remember those Samsonite commercials where the gorilla beat the crud out of a suitcase?  Well, these guys put this CD/DVD case to the test, including dousing the case in lighter fluid and torching it.  Given a few weeks back a house in our neighborhood community burned down, this seemed more plausable to me (than say, sitting on it on a couch).  You'll have to read the rest of the review to see the state of the CDs. 

Now, what I really want to see is them start torching the add-on cases you see for protecting portable music players (with the players in them) to see which ones survive. Or how about crash-testing a BMW to see if your iPod really skips? It's a slippery slope. ;) 

Ahh those JibJab guys- they're well on their way to becoming the Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks/South Park of the Internet.  They gained notoriety this fall with their, “This Land is Your Land“ satirical take on the election, and now they're back with their own spin on Santa Claus with, “Grump Santa”.  Looks like they've also inked a deal with Yahoo.  Congrats to the JibJab folks. 

Click here to view the new video at Yahoo or here to visit the original JibJab site. And Happy Holidays.

If you're like me, you probably have multiple PCs with Photos, Music, Video etc. on them.  For me, it's more of a backup strategy- if one HDD fails, I want to have all my media and storage is cheap.  Sure, I could get a Mirra device or similar but a cheap ~$30 solution that works great for me is Smart Sync Pro, a software package that enables me to automatically sync my important documents, photos, music, home videos, and yes, even Recorded TV programs from MCE's around my home network automatically.  It watches network folders for updates to metadata (such as # of times played in WM Player, a feature you can enable in Tools|Options) so when I use Auto Playlists on either of my PCs, I get the same listing of songs.

Setup isn't for the faint of heart but it works great. I have a co-worker who turned me on to it and uses it for complete system backups to an external drive he keeps off-site. Check it out- you get a 30-day evaluation period.

I've been playing with the new MSN Toolbar Suite (Beta) now for the last few days and color me impressed. Check out the video demo at Channel 9. Now, I'm not the kind of person who loses track of my files on my PC but I often need to find something quick such as a photo or email. MSN takes the hassle out of finding photos, email, and documents. Across your PC, in Outlook and Outlook Express. In particular the Desktop Search feature is essential for any mainstream user (my parents- read up now!).

Also, Scoble has a round up of comments on the toolbar from across the blogosphere here. Here are a few real-world scenarios where I think others I know will benefit:

• Dad - Dad is big into geneology and has traced our lineage back to Scotland in the 17th centrury (and still going). He has a ton of research in email documents and photos as well as word documents and excel spreadsheets. If he's looking for all details related to a particular member of our family, he can pull that quickly. If he wants details from the Web on the village our family came from, he can do that to, all in the same toolbar.
  
• Mom - Mom has a lot of medical information on her PC and it's often hard to sort through. MSN Desktop Search will help her find everything she's looking for in short order.

One feature I think would be neat is if the system over time tagged files you searched for with ratings based on level of interest (similar to Auto Ratings in Windows Media Player 10 which rate up based on the # of times a song is played). Then backup software could take advantage of those ratings and back up your most important documents based on # of times accessed as well as searched for. Bubba, you listening?

The Acrobat plug-in is a bit of a hassle, but hey, what is one more download.

Good job MSN Toolbar Team

I'm back from LA and getting over my cold so here are a few belated updates.

Creative Zen Micro Firmware Update
Creative has released a new firmware for the Zen Micro - now available for download.  Fixes include:

• Improves battery life when the player is charged with an AC adapter already plugged into a live power outlet
• Improves touchpad sensitivity
• Resolves the removable disk detection issue after the memory space is changed in Removable Disk mode
• Removes extraneous sound occuring during playback of .WAV files

You can download here from Creative's Nomadworld.

Courtesy of dapreview.net

Rio Carbon Static Noise Fix & new firmware (11/5)
For Rio Carbon owners, you may notice static noise when moving the Earphone jack with some headphones/adapters with a metal base.  Rio is aware of the issue and two solutions are now available:

• Cheap and immediate- cover the jack with a small piece of tape, avoiding the metal on metal connection
• Cheap and not-quite so immediate- Rio is making an adapter available for existing customers that fixes the problem.  Just call them up on the tech support line.

Courtesy of Engadget. 

I missed this update on the Rio Carbon firmware as well:

• Fixed issue where unit would restart in Voice Record mode and freeze.
• Added Alert to Carbon display that's triggered whenever Carbon is plugged into a front USB port that's having problems communicating with the Carbon. This could be due to insufficient power on that USB port.
  
  "Alert: Rio Carbon is having problems with this USB port. Please try another."

You can download it here.

Courtesy of Riovolution.com

Michael and Charlie are putting together a Media Center Geek dinner at 6pm December 9th at Crossroads Mall in Bellevue.  They'll be wearing Media Center jackets. I think this is a great idea.  Hopefully we can get a few new Media Center PC form-factors there so people can take a look at them.  Chances are slim though with all the work around prepping demo systems for CES right now :).

By the way, Charlie is asking for more suggestions on what to write about re: MCE app development over on his blog. If you have questions, Charlie has answers and a number of good tips on stuff.  Personally, I want someone to write a WSDOT Traffic Cam app so my wife can see how late I'm going to be at a glance. :)

That reminds me...we've been thinking about doing a Media Center App Challenge - identify 2-3 big ideas/categories for app dev't for MCE and offer prizes (cash or products) to those that are voted the best.  I wonder, what should be the challenges?

Just in time for the holidays- a few surprises from the Windows XP Client team. A new Winter Fun Pack has just been released with add-ons for Media Center and more. Of particular interest to Media Center and Media Player 10 users:

Tweak MCE 2005 - A new Media Center 2005 Powertoy and add-on app that enables power users to control settings such as Skip Interval for “Trickplay”, Reaction timings, enable Universal Remote controls, UI timeouts & notifications, and even enable 16:9 support on Windows Media Center Extenders. There's just too much to list!

Whitecap (Holiday Edition) Visualization - From Andy O'Meara, creator of the popular G-Force Viz for MCE, this new viz is very cool and includes a number of holiday shapes and visualizations.

Yule Log Visualization - The classic visualization of a warm fireplace, the fire crackling and flaring to the music.

Winter Ice Storm Visualization - A wintry scene comes alive with snow and ice in this popular viz from years past.

Holiday Auto Playlists - I personally think this is the most under- rated feature in MP10.  These Holiday autoplaylists scour your media library to create music playlists based on a wide set of keywords for popular holidays including Hannukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. Great for taking holiday music on your portable music players or Portable Media Centers too.

Download the new items as a part of the Winter Fun Pack 2004 available today. If there's something you'd like to see in future packs, please let me know and I'll pass it along to the team.

MSN is currently in beta testing with their new blogging service, MSN Spaces.  If you've ever been afraid to blog, not sure where to start or looking to try something new, check it out.

Features include:

- Rich Web-based editing
- Send pictures directly from your Cameraphone (Moblogging)
- Music Playlists - post personal music lists and playlists you can import from WM Player 10 and let people rate your playlists.
- Book Lists - Recent books you're reading or have read and recommend
- Sample for free and download (not for free) music tracks/playlists from MSN Music
- Catgories
- Comments
- Stats
- Trackbacks
- RSS Syndication - noticably absent is an RSS tag but I suspect this will get fixed

I see a number of unique features here.  The servers appear to be a little slow (no doubt due to the number of Slashdotters banging on it right now.  I'm thinking about making my personal blog available on this site. You can check my test site out and a somewhat dated picture at http://spaces.msn.com/members/seanalex

Learn more and download here.

My Movies is a free MCE (Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition) add-on application to function as remote operated DVD index for both your online and offline DVDs. Browse your DVD collection by titles, actors, directors or genres - all with covers and images. Screenshots

Not bad-I've played with prior versions but this looks pretty good for cataloging your DVD collection.

For the Halo 2 fan who REALLY needs to prove what a bad-ass he/she is not just on the Web, in IM, or on Xbox Live but also needs to do it with an Excel spreadsheet, Sam brings us this, the “Halo 2 RSS Excel Workbook”.  A data-driven spreadsheet that uses the Bungie.net website's RSS feeds to offer the ability to:

-Easily view your previous games stats
-Slice and dice your Halo stats by many categories including map and game type
-Chart your stats to visually see how you kick ass
-Calculate overall averages: kills per game, deaths per game, etc... 

Thank you Sam for once again showing me why I suck more at Halo 2. Or maybe I can find a certain Pivot Table combo that proves I really kick ass at something in Halo 2 other than dying. My prediction- we start seeing data-driven Powerpoint slide decks entitled,  “Why I kick your ass in Halo 2”. 

Engadget brings us public word about Alienware's new DHS 2 Living Room PC going toe to toe with the HP Digital Entertainment Center. Looks like a Gyration Keyboard and Mouse round the system out.  I have yet to play with one but I'm sure I will soon. :)

Chris Pirillo notes among other things this holiday season he's thankful to Microsoft and calls out a number of us by name.  For whatever it's worth, we're thankful for Chris for the feedback, both good and what can be better.  Keep it up and I'll see you soon. More thoughts on what I'm thankful for shortly.

Chris Lanier details updates coming to the NVidia NVDVD decoder. Media Center and Portable Media Center users will note a # of improvements including support for ATSC (HDTV) transcode to PMC it looks like.  Get all the details here.

Wow, Popular Science's “Best of What's New“ Grand Award for Gadgets goes to PlaysforSure! Okay, they call it WM DRM 10 but the fact is that PlaysforSure is the consumer logo for the end to end consumer experiences enabled in large part by WM DRM10.

This is also the same technology that enables you to download tracks from MSN Music, transfer them to up to 5 PCs of your choice, burn it up to 7 times, and download as many times as you like to your portable music player.  I'm suprised this doesn't get more air-play.  I think a certain i-music player only supports 3 computers.

Let's see, PlaysforSure devices are showing up in Esquire's Gift Guide, PopSci, and even MCE is showing up in the December issue of Good Housekeeping. You're going to be hearing a lot more about PlaysForSure and cool devices in the coming weeks and months.  Not all ball and chains come in black- some come in white- or others :).

A new update is now available for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 that resolves an issue where the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) may not display indicators that show which programs are scheduled to record.  (KB888316) You can download it from Microsoft.com here. I do not believe a Windows Update version is available at this time.

Much to my wife's glee, I just finished Halo 2.  This game seemed much more epic and cinematic than the original.  Whatever you do, keep watching AFTER the credits.  Without spoilers, what surprised me the most were some of the names in the credits, particularly Ron Perlman, and Orlando Jones.  You didn't see any airtime on the fact that both lended their voices.  I wonder, were they just Halo fans who wanted to be a part of the new installment? 

A friend of mine, let's call him “CP” works on the Bungie team.  Back when he first started, I was able to beat him in the original.  After an evening of H2 the other night, it's clear that he has bested me many times over.  Time to practice I guess. :)

Here's the scenario- a co-worker tells you that ABC's new TV show “Lost“ is great and you need to watch it (which you should, particularly in HD).  But you always forget to set it to record when you get home.  Solution: Set your MCE to record the series directly from your office with the MSN Remote Record Service.  From Mark Salloway's MCE blog (ok, I'm on vacation!):

Some guy called Dark Helmet broke the physics engine in Halo 2 and figured out how to fly. In his new movie appropriately titled, Learning to Fly, he shows us how to do it complete with captions. The video is long but fun especially at the surprise ending. Created with a Dazzle Analog DV Capture Kit and Windows Movie Maker 2.x :)

A new plug-in for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 enables you to control your HomeSeer Home Automation System so you can control your heating/cooling, lighting and more.  Again, I cannot vouch for their system as I don't have this in my own home but this is the third such home automation system I've seen in the past two months for Media Center.  I'm curious what you think- it there a mass-market for home automation?  If technology continues to go wireless for these types of solutions, it just might become easy enough and affordable. For me, a whole-home music/video distribution system would be ideal. What would you like to control with a home automation system?

Last Saturday, I got an email forwarded from Robert Scoble from a Design Producer at ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  They had contacted Microsoft as a “local” company to help a family in Kingston, WA.  After a short 9:30am conf call on Monday, we learned about the family and the team's request for assistance w/ a 24 hour deadline for delivery.

While I'm contractually bound to not discuss details until after the airing (early January and I will write more then), I can say that I'm just so impressed by how in a 24 hour period, a large v-team across multiple groups and companies was able to secure a wide range of donations for the family. One of my favorite memories was of how our team of 10 volunteers did everything from pitching in to assemble and move in furniture, to technology installations.  

I have no idea if you'll actually see any of what we did.  That wasn't the point- it was just a great way to kick off the holiday season and help a neighbor. No one complained, even when we missed the ferries and got home at 3:30am the day of the reveal only to turn around again at 6am. No celeb pictures or autographs.  Everyone was singularly focused on getting the job done in time. The Production team was top-notch, and most importantly, it was for a great cause. The is a “real“ Reality Show and yes, Ty, Preston, Michael, and company are as nice as they seem on TV.

Oh and starting this week and by circumstance, ABC's Extreme Makeover is available in Enhanced TV for Media Center.  Check it out in Online Spotlight- live chats, polls, and facts as you're watching the show. I would like to say this was all connected but it wasn't.  The volunteer work came about directly as a result of accessibility via Robert Scoble's blog.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this holiday a better one for one family.  No more comments until after the show airs :).

Time for some holiday cheer from Dell.  They're doing a blow-out on Media Center 2005 PCs, dropping the price of Media Center OS 50% on a wide range of Dimension PCs including the 3000, 4700, 4700C, 8400, and XPS series. The actual cost of turning a new PC into a Media Center PC is only $19 from Dell ending Monday.  At the low-end, that's a $488 PC + SH.  Admittedly I'd want to put a little more horsepower in my system (which you can configure) but if you're on a budget and looking to get a good deal, you have until Monday. That's a new low price point for Media Centers as far as I know.

Click here for details and be sure to choose, “Start Shopping Desktops” and configure your own - don't pick the “Featured Desktops” as the option doesn't show up there for MCE05.

One of my favorite “widgets” for Mac (yes you heard that right) is now available for Windows.  Konfabulator.  Go get it and be sure to run your Werewolf Monitor.

No work talk tonight. Three years ago, I went to the Xbox Launch Midnight Madness at EBX in Redmond Town Center and bought an Xbox for a game called “Halo” that was supposed to be kick-ass. I couldn't believe people would stand in a line two blocks long for a game (note: it wasn't just the free pizza). I've been ass-kicking and getting my ass-kicked for 3 years since then. I've melee attacked with the best of them and came away humbled. For me, it's about the trash talkin when you have 16 people in 2 rooms playing Halo and they all call you the chump for picking the crappy 18in TV in the corner (yet you keep kicking their ass anyway because they aren't cheating/distracted by looking at your screen- you know who you are G***s).  Anyway I digress.  Tonight, I had in my hands a shiny, shrink-wrapped copy of Halo 2 at about 5pm.  I gave it up to a less fortunate co-worker.  Why?  Because I'm going to Midnight Madness at the EBX store in Redmond Town Center- it's not just about picking up the game, it about the event.  I'll be there, needing a haircut and wearing my black Dickies jacket with the Player icon on the sleeve (ever notice how it looks like a target?).

As for my buddy who got the game and has now played through the first level, he says this: the way they close the chapter of Halo 1 was great. That's all I'm going to say for now besides Red vs.Blue still rocks. Send me your Gamertag in email and we'll tangle.

It's finally here.  The new Halo 2 Skin for Windows Media Player 10 is ready for your downloading enjoyment at wmplugins.com. Professionally designed, Terry on our team worked with Bungie Studios' Joe Staten and company to bring this together with The Skins Factory.

And don't forget about the new RSS feeds for WMPlugins.com - now you can automatically get notified when new plug-ins are available for Windows Media Player 10 or browse lists such as top downloaded or top rated.

I received a mail today from Keith who just got his HP Digital Entertainment Center z545 and blogs about it.  In his own words, “Heck, Apple products are cool, but the DEC is easily the best looking consumer electronic (CE) device I've ever purchased.” 

What's even cooler is that he's posted a Photo Story (.zip file) unveil of his new acquisition. Keith has inspired me to create a Photo Story of my home setup- MCE, MCX, Roku Digital Audio Receiver with WM Connect (which I need to blog on later), Portable Media Center, Tablet and how it all comes together for entertaining this holiday season.

If you're looking for an HP Digital Entertainment Center to check out, you might try your local Best Buy.  Ryan (my son) and I spent some time down at the local BB in Bellevue where they're retooling the store and have an HP DEC Z540 (single tuner) in a living room setup in the TV/Home Theater Department. A rep from Intel was bringing people over from the PC area to check it out.  I can't guarantee they'll all have cable feeds and Internet connections to do a full test drive but call your local Best Buy and ask if they have it if you're interested in seeing it in person.

Oh, and DigitalJoy.com is now live with special Internet offers from HP on new Media Center PCs. The nationwide ad should be hitting tonight on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and ESPN's Sunday Night Football. My favorite part is when the cartoon blue bird lands on the finger of the Alien (yes, from Aliens).  If you don't know what I'm talking about, you soon will ;).  This is not your regular Microsoft ad or your regular Intel ad.

Speaking of which, I just upgraded my home desktop system with an Intel P4 3.2Ghz processor with HT technology.  Fry's was having a $209 fire sale that included motherboard.  My system is SCREAMING now compared to before (my old system was nearing 2.5 years old).  Why didn't I upgrade earlier you might ask?  I try to keep at least one real-world test system at home with mediocre hardware so I can keep tabs on what our experiences are like for mainstream as well as enthuasiasts.

Keep the emails coming :)