>> Dan released the first 'technology preview' release of EncodeHD to replace the Encode360(info) tool. EncodeHD is a an application to re-encode all types of video files for use on your home media player or on-the-go device. It aims to provide a simple interface with no fuss.
From dcunningham.net:

[QUOTE]
So firstly, let's talk EncodeHD. Look at the current beta release (0.71) as a 'technology preview' of sorts. The idea here is to verify that we've got the primary encoding mechanisms up to scratch. So what I'm looking for here is to make sure that video converts for all devices as expected and that the quality is good (or great).

The key things to note for EncodeHD are:

• Outputted video is MPEG4 and H.264 with AAC (or AC3) audio, NOT WMV (this is not strictly for X-Box 360 anymore)
• This means that 5.1 audio for the X-Box 360 is not yet supported in these formats
• Subtitles are also not yet possible, although I'm looking into it

As of now, there's still a lot of unimplemented functionality that will be added later. If you want to see something in particular, please let me know. However, if it's going to cludge up the interface and start making things complex, I may not implement requests. We'll have to see.

One of the nice things about EncodeHD is that it has built-in bug reporting. If you hit a problem, it will ask you if you want to submit a bug report - including all the details I need to help solve the issue. If however, the problem is with video output, it may not detect any problems. In this case, could I ask you to email my bug-tracking system: cases@dcunningham.fogbugz.com, and attach the EncodeHD.Log file which you can find in your Temp folder (Click Start > Run and type %TEMP% to access it).
[/QUOTE]

Official Site: http://dcunningham.net
Download: here

[QUOTE]
Finally, the day has come. Viacom and SouthParkStudios delivered on the promise they gave last year, and gave us all South Park episodes ever created for free. You can find them all at www.southparkstudios.com. As NewTeeVee notes, it’s a pity you can’t embed the entire episodes (you can, however, embed the 3000 available clips), but I guess you can’t always have what you want.

The business side of things is quite simple: Comedy Central and Trey Parker and Matt Stone will split all ad revenue fifty-fifty. As for the rest of us, well, now we don’t have to go to obscure sites on foreign languages which get shut down after 2 weeks to get our South Park fix.
[/QUOTE]

Source: http://mashable.com/

Official: http://www.southparkstudios.com/news/3405

Here are the highlights:

• "The Xbox 360 community has unlocked over 1 billion achievements," says Schappert
• Over $250 million has been spent online in the Xbox Live Marketplace.
• How popular is Halo 3's saved films feature? Over 1,000 pieces are uploaded by the Halo 3 community every day -- that's 30% more than Youtube, claims Schappert.
• Over 800,000 downloads of the XNA toolset have occurred. It's been adopted by over 400 universities worldwide.
• DreamBuildPlay hoped to spur on creativity, and the results were "incredible." Over 200 games were submitted to the competition.
• Community games will be distributed through Xbox Live. "Xbox Live Community Games" will give creators a huge audience to share their creativity with. Game distribution will be democritized, allowing the community to control the content. Create, Submit, Peer Review, Play are the four key steps."
• Chris announced that Dishwasher, and 6 other community games will be available for you to try FREE on XBL marketplace later today.
• Also announced XNA games are coming to Zune.
• Tim Sweeney & Michael Capps from Epic are on stage showing off the next gen of Unreal Engine
• Over 1,000 games on Xbox 360 by the end of 2008, promises Schappert. And that excludes Xbox Live Community Games
• April 29th bring GTAIV to Xbox 360, "on day one." Starting Fall 2008, GTA DLC will hit Xbox Live Marketplace.
• A new guest on stage -- Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki! He's here to demonstrate Ninja Gaiden 2. June 2008 is the release date.
• Peter Molyneux to show us Fable 2
• Cliffy B just burst through the set w/ Lancer to announce Gears of War 2 coming this November, exclusively on Xbox 360.
• Press Release: Xbox 360 Becomes First Video Game Console Ever to Invite the World to Create Original Games and Share Online With Millions

>> Microsoft's GDC keynote has been live blogged by joystiq.com and major nelson.

The new trailer for Gears of War 2 is now available on Xbox LIVE (only in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, UK and US for now). If it's not available in your country yet, you can watch it below in low res:

Also added to Xbox LIVE (everywhere except Australia, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan) is the 'XNA Creators Club Game Launcher':

The game will be using "Digital Molecular Matter" developed by Pixelux Entertainment for dynamically destructible objects, Havok for rigid body physics, and a graphics engine developed by LucasArts in conjunction with Industrial Light & Magic and Euphoria developed by NaturalMotion. Pre-visualization demonstrations were shown at the LucasArts booth at E3 2006.

The game takes place between Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and, according to Steve Sansweet, "has some incredible revelations." The player assumes the role of "Darth Vader's secret apprentice". The player is sent across the galaxy to destroy the remaining Jedi. The story is both a continuation of the prequel trilogy - exploring the aftermath of Emperor Palpatine's order to exterminate the Jedi and focusing on the continued evolution of Darth Vader - and a direct bridge between the original films.

Official Website: www.lucasarts.com/games/theforceunleashed

[QUOTE]
BERKELEY, California -- Two technologies demonstrated at the International Virtual Reality Photography Conference over the weekend come close to delivering the amazing imaging technologies used in Blade Runner to zoom deep into pictures and explore them from different angles.

Both developed by Microsoft, one application allows viewers to zoom deep into gigantic, gigapixel panoramic images. A sweeping view of downtown Seattle and the Puget Sound can be enlarged to show diners sitting in the Space Needle. Another application constructs 3-D objects from hundreds of ordinary 2-D photographs, allowing the object to be explored from any angle.

The most impressive demonstration at Sunday’s IVRPC seminar was Photosynth from Microsoft Live Labs -- a program that constructs large-scale, 3-D models of objects like buildings from hundreds of still photographs.

Using a mouse, viewers can walk in -- and around -- the 3-D model, looking at the object from almost any angle. Viewers can isolate individual shots, and quickly zoom into the tiniest details with a roll of the mouse scroll wheel. (Online demos available here require Windows XP SP2 or Vista).

One reconstructed scene showed the Trevi fountain in Rome, stitched together from 350 photographs scraped from Flickr. The immersive scene incorporated images shot with everything from cell-phone cameras to high-end SLRs.

Another 3-D panorama reconstructed the lavish Gyeongbokgung palace in Seoul, Korea, integrating both professional shots and photographs submitted by amateurs.

“You can actually jump into the images,” remarked Drew Steedly, a scientist with Microsoft Live Labs.

Photosynth uses a visual algorithm to scan through hundreds of images, hunting for distinctive features. After identifying features common to different pictures -- doors, windows and sculptures -- the program links the photos together and calculates the 3-D position of each picture.

The technique is similar to depth perception -- where the brain combines different views from each eye into one seamless 3-D view. In Photosynth, the system establishes a "point-cloud" for each photograph space, and then stitches the latticework of images to create a dazzlingly seamless three-dimensional interactive environment ready for exploration.

"We’re working on releasing something where you could make your own collection,” said Steedly, although when pressed, he admitted there's no timetable for the public rollout of Photosynth.

Matt Uyttendaele of Microsoft Research showed off HD View, a high-definition panoramic viewer that can handle monster panoramic shots, often several gigapixels big.

The browser-based viewer provides an immersive wide-angle view, up to 360 degrees, and is capable of displaying images composed of billions of pixels. (Again, the technology requires XP or Vista).

The sweeping panorama of Seattle was composed of 800 images taken with a zoom camera mounted on a motorized telescope tripod. The tripod stepped the camera across the panorama as it captured a mosaic of 20 megapixel images.

"Its pretty amazing, details in the JPEG images that you don’t even realize are there," said Uyttendaele. "It’s just another dimension to exploring these really large images."

Currently available only for Windows, a new version of HD View will be released in a few weeks that adds tone mapping, which sharpens images by automatically removing atmospheric haze.

“We’re encouraging people to try this out if they want,” said Uyttendaele.
[/QUOTE]

Source: http://www.wired.com

You can now stream your favorite videos from your computer to your TV, via the Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii with a free Client called Orb. Orb enables you to play any videos from your PC or from the Internet on your TV, via your Xbox 360, PS3, Wii.

The software and service are FREE. And there’s no additional Hardware to buy or install, and no subscriptions to sign up for.

Get Orb here: http://www.orb.com

The Pocket UFO is a remake of the popular game of the last century X-COM Enemy Unknown (UFO Defense) for the Pocket PC devices. The game is a turn-based strategy with the RPG elements. The excellent graphics and exciting gameplay are attracting the gamers all over the world till present. This game is absolutely FREEWARE!

9 landscapes

11 enemy types

3 armour types

More than 40 ammunition objects

Amazing gameplay

Excellent graphics

Download: http://www.smksoftware.ru

Microsoft has revealed its packaging plans for Halo 3, the most-eagerly anticipated Xbox 360 game expected this year. Halo 3 will ship in three editions. These editions include:

• Halo 3 Standard Edition ($59). This version of the game includes the game disc only and will ship in standard Xbox 360 game title packaging.
  
• Halo 3 Limited Edition ($69). This version will ship in a sleek metal collector's case and include the standard game disc as well as a bonus disc that features exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage and videos, including an HD Making of Halo 3 documentary, numerous HD featurettes, and an audio-visual calibration tool, and a special Halo fiction and art book.

• Halo 3 Legendary Edition ($129). This total geek-out version of Halo 3 will be available in limited quantities only and will include the game disc, the bonus disc from the Limited Edition, and an additional bonus disc that will include completely remastered cinematic material from Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, supplemented with developer commentaries, and a featurette documenting a day in the life at Bungie. Other exclusive content will also be included on the second bonus disc, Microsoft says. But the big news with the Legendary Edition is its unique packaging. This version of Halo 3 will ship in a collectible Spartan helmet case that includes the three above-mentioned discs as well as an illuminating collection of original Halo 3 storyboard art.

The french website ecrans.fr describes a trick on how you can get a deeper zoom in Google-Maps.

Go to http://maps.google.de/ and:

1. search for your preferred location
2. zoom in (maximum)
3. click on the button "URL for this page" (right upper corner)
4. search in the URL for "UTF8&z=19" and replace the number 19 with 23 or even 24 (but it works mostly only with numbers < 21 and the resolution is not everywhere the same!!) 

This example (Tchad) shows an impressive zoom.

Source: http://www.ecrans.fr/spip.php?article907

[QUOTE]
There's a reason why gamers choose the Xbox 360 Wireless Controller over other gamepads; it delivers a mean combination of precision, speed and accuracy. Windows gamers can take advantage of the Xbox 360 Wireless Controller and other Xbox 360 wireless accessories with the Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows, which is now available on store shelves.

As a great gift for yourself or for fellow gamers, the Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows costs $19.99 (MSRP) and is available at retailers across North America including, GameStop, Wal-Mart and Circuit City. For gamers that need both a wireless controller and receiver, Microsoft is offering the Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows which includes both the receiver and controller in one package for $59.95 (MSRP).

The Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows opens up a whole new world of Windows gameplay by allowing the Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows, Xbox 360 Wireless Headset and Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel to work on any Windows Vista or Windows XP (SP1 or higher)-based PC.
[/QUOTE]

Source: TeamXbox.com, xbox-scene.com

Microsoft unleashed its Soapbox Web video platform (its YouTube competitor) to the unwashed masses yesterday, taking the service out of private beta. The service has a clean and simple layout, and manages to keep both the MSN moniker and the often-clunky Windows Live Login (formerly .NET Passport). What baffles me about this is that despite having access to all your personal information, Soapbox won't parse your Windows Live ID to fill in simple profile information like your name and location, unless you've recently gone through and updated it since opening a Hotmail account in the 90s. Nor will it go through your Windows Live e-mail to see if you want to share any videos that have been sent to you by friends. If Microsoft is aiming for no-nonsense integration with its Web services, it's sadly not there yet.

That being said, Microsoft did add the ability to post videos in your blog, which was one of the original Soapbox criticisms. The catch is that it has to be a Windows Live Spaces blog. Alternatively, there are the standard permalinks and embed codes for you to send to friends or put on your blog or Web site.

Below I've embedded one of my favorite videos. Note the fact you can access both share codes and description from the player itself. Neat.

Video: Amazingly Cool Ad

[QUOTE]
Microsoft hat die komplette Tool-Sammlung von Sysinternals in einer einzigen Datei zum Download bereitgestellt. Somit kann man sich das lästige Herunterladen der einzelnen Programme sparen – sofern man nicht ohnehin schon die wichtigsten Analysewerkzeuge auf der Platte hat.

Zu den Tools gehören etwa Autoruns, Diskmon, Filemon, Portmon, Regmon und der Prozessexplorer, mit denen sich die Aktivitäten eines Rechner und der darauf laufenden Anwendungen sehr gut beobachten lassen. Auch der RootkitRevealer zum Aufspüren von Rootkits gehört zu der Sammlung, nebst vielen anderen nützlichen Programmen. Allerdings fehlt neben den Nicht-Troubleshooting-Tools wie dem Bluescreen-Bildschirmschoner und dem Crash-Tool NotMyFault auch der Prozess Monitor.

Microsoft hatte das von Mark Russinovich und Bryce Cogswell gegründete Unternehmen Systinternals im Juli 2006 gekauft.

Siehe dazu auch:

• Sysinternals Suite, Meldung von Mark Russinovich

(dab/c't)
[/QUOTE]

Source: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/84255

[QUOTE]
Before the holiday break, we trekked to Microsoft Studios for a 1-day video shoot. Our goal was to show how to connect your Windows development PC to your Xbox 360 in order to deploy a game to your console using XNA Game Studio Express. This video demonstrates how to download the tools to your Windows PC, purchase a membership in the XNA Creators Club, obtain XNA Game Launcher for your Xbox 360, and connect your Windows PC to your Xbox 360 on your home network. We felt that this video would help to show the necessary steps in real, full-blooded action. It's only 11 minutes long, and you have several viewing options:

Download a copy from the Microsoft Download Center, available in standard or high definition. Watch the copy on MSN Soapbox below:

[/QUOTE]

Source: official XNA Team Blog:

SideLink, from Interlink Electronics, uses both Windows SideShow and Bluetooth® wireless technologies to put control of the Windows Vista Media Center in the palm of your hand from anywhere in the home.

Developed as a remote control interface for integration into Windows Vista Media Center products, Interlink's SideLink features a 2.5" color QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) display that enables menu navigation and viewing of Media Center content directly on the remote, independent of the main computer or TV screen. With SideLink, users can select songs, schedule recordings, navigate video clips and photographs, display TV program guides and even browse recorded TV shows--all right on the remote. SideLink uses Bluetooth RF wireless technology to ensure fl awless wireless communications at ranges up to 100'.

"SideLink from Interlink Electronics is the first Media Center remote control to enable Windows Vista SideShow technology," said Bill Mitchell, corporate vice president of the Mobile Platforms Division at Microsoft Corp. "SideLink is an excellent example of how Windows SideShow technology enables new benefits for users of Windows Vista. SideLink and the new Windows Vista Media Center gadgets enable features that users of previous Media Center Editions have requested, but were not possible with a single display."

Paper: http://interlinkelectronics.com/library/media/papers/pdf/20070108a.pdf

Video Preview: http://reviews.cnet.com/SideLink_Remote/4660-12760_7-6683680.html

Google Earth 4 is officially released! The beta program began 6 months ago, and now almost exactly 1 year after GE 3 was released, GE 4 is no longer in beta (latest version is 4.0.2722). See the Google Earth home page for details, or just go download GE 4 now. GE 4 has many new features not available in the earlier version. 

New Google Earth 4 features:

• 3D Models - GE 4 supports a new format which allows for models which have textures. It also supports the new 3D buildings layer. The official release of GE includes lots of optimizations to improve 3D viewing.
• Time Animation - the new time slider appears when KML content has been stamped with time. Read about the new time feature. And, here is a list of the top ten time animations done in 2006 for GE 4.
• New Look - GE 4 has a much cleaner look than GE 3. It devotes more attention to the main 3D view, and has a new navigation gadget which appears in the upper right corner. There are too many enhancements to list them all. Some notable ones are: Support for radio buttons in KML, network link icons animate when loading, new organized menus, and more GE Options.
• Controllers - Support for joystick controllers and flight simulator yokes. And, best of all, the new SpaceNavigator (Windows only at the moment, but a Mac driver soon).
• Regions - GE 4 supports very large image overlays which can be "tiled" or "regionated" so you can view the full detail as you zoom in. See the "Rumsey Historical Maps" in the "Featured Content" layer for an excellent example of this powerful feature.

Google Earth related surf tips: www.gearthblog.com, www.googleearthhacks.com, bbs.keyhole.com, www.worlswindcentral.com

Always intriguing, often useful, and sometimes surprising, these 20 products showcase some of the best in tech of the year 2006:

1. Microsoft Office 2007
 
The Redmond giant's latest upgrade of the world's most popular productivity suite introduces several new features that revolutionize how people work with documents. The most striking change is a "ribbon" at the top of the interface that replaces the traditional cascading menus and taskbars, and can expose functions you never knew were there. Through the suite's handy new Live Preview feature, you can see how formatting changes, for example, will affect your document prior to your making them. You get greater XML-format support, too.

2. Intel Core 2 Duo
 
The Core 2 Duo series might have the greatest impact of any product on this list. Most of Core 2 Duo's technological advances are obscured under titles like Advanced Smart Caching, Smart Memory Access, and Wide Dynamic Execution.

3. Parallels Desktop for Mac

The idea of running Windows on a Mac made plenty of headlines this year. We chose the slick virtualization software Parallels ($80), because it's arguably the most useful way to run key Windows apps on your Mac.

4. Nintendo Wii

The $250 Wii video game console boasts powerful new motion-sensing controllers that make game play both more entertaining and more active.

5. Samsung 32GB SSD

Bringing a flash drive of usable size to notebooks and sets the stage for upcoming hybrid drives.

6. Sony Reader

The device boasts a glare-free screen and innovative E Ink technology, which gives you the same resolution as newsprint and looks better than typical LCDs do in bright light, easy to use and weighs only 9 ounces.

7. YouOS

A whole Ajax-based applications-in-a-browser. Link: YouOS

8. Dell XPS M2010
 
A cutting-edge design, not quite a desktop and definitely less portable than a standard notebook, this hybrid system neatly balances elements of both.

9. Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB
 
A perpendicular magnetic recording technology, which allows vendors to pack more data onto one platter than in the traditional approach, which outperforms standard drives especially in write tests and on tasks that involve sustained throughput with sizable files.

10. T-Mobile Dash

Combining a stylish, superthin design with sculpted keys that correct the deficiencies we found on the Q, and offering both cellular service and integrated wireless capabilities, the Dash makes a great impression.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128176-page,1-c,electronics/article.html

Fiercedeveloper.com posted the 10 steps to start developing homebrew games for the Xbox360 with Microsoft's ('free') XNA Game Studio Express released earlier this week:

[QUOTE]
1. GET C# Express!
2. GET XNA Game Studio Express!
3. Download the XNA Framework
4. Learn C#! (here or here)
5. Check out the sample programs!
6. Learn XNA!
7. Learn more XNA!
8. Make Pong!
9. Look at sample code! (from xnaspot.com, xbox360homebrew.com or xnaresources.com)
10. Join the Creator Club to get your game onto the xBOX!
[/QUOTE]

Full Story: fiercedeveloper.com
Source: http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEyypZukkuFsMvjYXd.php

(klick on the pic to zoom in!)

Found on: www.schrankmonster.de
Source: www.xkcd.com

James B. worked on Runtime's Transcode 360 (info) to port it to .NET v2.0 and make it work correctly under Windows Vista's Media Center (32 and 64bit):

[QUOTE]
Transcode 360 version 4.6 has been released today, this version is purely for Windows Vista users and is the foundation for the next few months of T360 development.

Carrying on from the magnificent work that Runtime 360 started, I have picked up the torch and bought T360 up to date and forward in to the Vista generation. At present there are no new features in this version it is the foundation release which allows it to run natively and error free on Windows Vista RTM and resolves several critical issues on the new operating system.

Please ensure you uninstall any older versions of Transcode 360 prior to installing this version. This is version 4.6 and is purely for Windows Vista (please don't try to install on MCE 2005).

The configuration at present is to use port 1401 (please don't change this).

UPDATE: I have removed the helper for opening the ports on your firewall until I can get it working with 64 bit windows and it stops crashing the installer, for now if you are running Vista for 32 bit you will need to click the link in your start menu to open the ports required for T360, for 64 bit Vista you will need to do this manually. The port required for T360 is 1401 and ensure Transcode306.exe and Transcode360Tray.exe to the allowed applications.

Fixed Issues
* This is a native .net application for Windows Vista and has been compiled on a Windows Vista PC, it does not require any .net downloads to be performed before installation.
* Stuttering - This appears to now be fixed on my 2 test PCs (1 dev and 1 live), the issue appears to have been a Mencoder issue and upgrading to RC1 repaired the problems.
* Weird errors - As many faults that I could find on the board relating to Vista have been fixed, errors such as invalid application, null object reference and transcode error have been fixed.
* You can now run the application in the recommended tray icon mode instead of being forced to use the service account under Windows Vista as you did on the previous version.
* Firewall utillities - The installer will run a helper application called openfirewall and closefirewall depending on if you are installing or uninstalling the application. If you have any problems please go to Program Files\Transcode360\Registration and run the application manually, once done check your firewall configuration to check they have taken effect.

Known Issues (features):
* The Transcode button no longer has the icon to show that you are transcoding, your video still transcodes if you leave it for about 5 seconds after clicking the button you will get the spinning wait symbol and your video will play.
* If UAC is switched on you might have to go to program files\transcode360 and right click transcode360.exe and transcode360tray.exe and go to the compatibility tab and tick run as administrator, I intend to fix this in the next release by ensuring T360 doesn't use the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry keys which should resolve the issue.
* On startup of the tray icon please ensure you say yes to unblocking the application.
* The configuration at present is to use port 1401 (please don't change) and to install to c:\program files\transcode360. If you change the location you will need to edit the configuration file from the start menu and ensure the locations are correct.

Any problems please post, remember this is a beta and my first release of T360!
[/QUOTE]

Official Site: n/a, by James B. (Transcode360 originally by Runtime)
Download: here
Source: http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEyVAlAuuymnoFRaUP.php

Yesterday Microsoft released the XNA Game Studio Express 1.0, but only supported on Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2 (all editions) at this time. Windows Vista will be available only in a future beta release of XNA Game Studio Express.

[QUOTE]
It's a bit early in the morning for all of us, but we wanted to be one of the first to tell you that XNA Game Studio Express has been released!

To download the released product for Windows, head over to: http://msdn.com/xna/gse/. You can now also purchase a subscription to the XNA Creators Club from the Xbox Live Marketplace on your Xbox 360 console if you have an active silver or gold Xbox Live subscription.

Before you purchase a subscription to the XNA Creators Club please take the time to go over the PC and Xbox 360 console requirements in the readme. Once you've done that here's how to get it:
1. On the Xbox Live blade, go to "Xbox Live Marketplace"
2. Select "Games" and then "All Game Downloads"
3. Scroll down the list to find the "XNA Creators Club"
4. Here you'll be able to go under Memberships to purchase a 4-Mo membership for $49.00 or an Annual (12-mo) membership $99.00. The prices used here reflect the subscription rates for the United States and pricing may differ for your local region or country if outside the USA.
5. You'll also need to download the XNA Game Launcher from the same area. Having done so, you will find a new XNA Game Launcher program on your Games blade under Demos and More.

Once you're up and running, please refer to the XNA Documentation to get connected to your Xbox 360 and start creating games. If you run into trouble or can't get connected, please head over to the XNA Game Studio Express forum and ask your questions.

We'd also like to thank all of you for taking the time to download our betas and give us some great feedback. Many decisions that took place on the final product were based on the feedback that we got from you all. Thank you and we hope that you continue to enjoy using XNA Game Studio Express.
[/QUOTE]

You can find the press release here. More Info's on the XNA Team Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/xna/archive/2006/12/11/xna-game-studio-express-has-been-released.aspx

Simon Ferquel has released a new version of My Exposé, the application that provides a similar feature to Mac's Exposé, giving you an overview of all open windows on your screen. Display your windows using the keyboard, the mouse or even your voice! This is still a pre-release (he calls it CTP) version, it's pretty stable and bug-free but still BETA.

Many improvements in this CTP version:

• More natural thumbnails placement (no more grid)
• Tray icon with configuration dialog
• No more configuration file in ProgramFiles folder
• New object model for triggers (better resource freeing, new trigger methods, informations about the state of "MyExpose"...)
• Support for non-96 dpi screen settings
• Support of Windows Speech Recognition (open the configuration dialog, add a trigger, choose VoiceTrigger and configure it)
• Beautyful icons from Mauricio Diaz (thanks a lot Mauricio ^^)
• ...
  

First install the following package: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=32BC1BEE-A3F9-4C13-9C99-220B62A191EE&displaylang=en%20
Then install the MyExposé CTP September: http://blogs.labo-dotnet.com/simon/developments/MyExposeNovember2006CTP.msi

[QUOTE]
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 gaming console is one of the most popular ever. It’s great for sitting around and playing games with friends and you can even play DVD’s and music CD’s on the console. While this isn’t terribly exciting, if you have a system that is running Windows Media Center (MCE) or Vista Ultimate Edition, you can stream Windows Media Video (WMV) movies to your 360 console over the network.

The down side is that you are forced to use one of these operating systems and the WMV codec isn’t all that good – compression is not that great and although it’s becoming more popular these days, DivX and Xvid are preferred “DVD backup” choice codec’s, shall we say? These lesser mainstream codec’s offer better compression and many folks on the darker side of the Web mostly use this format to distribute movies around the Internet since they are the most 1337 choice among enthusiasts.
[/QUOTE]

The guys from www.tweaktown.com have posted a tutorial in which they provide a simple step by step guide on playing DivX and Xvid movies and a bunch of other video and audio formats on your Xbox 360 console. Read the whole guide on tweaktown.com (8 pages).

[QUOTE]
Encode360 is an application designed to take your DivX/XVID etc video files and convert them to high quality WMV's which can be played by the X-Box 360

Dan has just released beta 2 of his very good application encode360.
Dan fixed as many of the reported bugs as possible. This release has highly detailed debugging information in case of a problem or bug. If you encounter something, be sure to copy the debug log into the post so I have something to work with.

Added:
* x64 Support (untested, i don't have x64 :()
* Microsoft Zune screen resolution support (untested, i don't have a Zune :()
* Support for encoding VOB files (very very experimental!)
* Enable / Disable Explorer(info) Context Menu "Process with Encode360" (experimental)
* Default Settings can now be saved
* Debugging Information Window (With oooodles of debugging information)
* Minimize to System Tray
* Added PayPal link to the About Box. Please make a donation if you feel like it!

Changed:
* Major internal code restructuring and refactoring. Let's hope I fixed more than I broke eh? :)
* Dramatically improved encoding times
* Reduction in CPU overhead (more responsive system)
* Title no longer contains path where the file was originally encoded

Fixed:
* MKV file format wasn't recognised
* Changing the Audio / Video Bitrate quality did nothing. Was always 98%. Doh
* Not using auto-scale caused encoded videos to resize anyway, and badly
* Move processed files option failed
* Sometimes, clicking Stop on a batch encode wouldn't work
* Numerous other minor bugfixes
[/QUOTE]

Download: here
Read More/Install Notes/Donate: happybeggar.com

Since the fall 2006 dashboard upgrade it's finally also possible to stream video to your Xbox 360 from a normal Windows 2000/XP machine. Previously it required Windows Media Center Edition.

However Microsoft only allows to stream WMV videos and there's no on-the-fly transcoding (addon) for Windows Media Connect/Windows Media Player11 yet like available for Windows Media Center Edition.

But the guys behind the TVersity Media Server released a (beta) patch for on-the-fly transcoding to WMV which will allow to use TVersity to stream videos in other formats (like xvid/divx) to your Xbox360. The videos will be automatically transcoded on-the-fly by your PC to WMV before it's streamed to your Xbox360:

[QUOTE]
The TVersity Media Server 0.9.9 (beta) is out, featuring on the fly transcoding to WMV. Finally Xbox 360 users need not do any manual conversion! (MCE is NOT required)

* On the fly transcoding to WMV for the Xbox 360
+ Xbox 360 users can now play their entire media library with no need for MCE.
+ Users of other devices that can play WMV can use this target format as an alternative to MPEG. While this will require faster machines to achieve the same quality, it allow for a higher quality per bitrate meaning that a slower home network can be used. This is important mainly for HD content streamed over wireless connections.
+ Upconversion of videos to WMV HD can be done (on a fast machine) by tweaking the minVideoInfo in config.xml.
+ It is highly recommended to upgrade to Windows Media Player 11 as it includes more recent and more stable encoders, this is especially important if you experience crashes in qasf.dll.
[...]
[/QUOTE]

Official Site: http://www.tversity.com/
Source: http://www.xbox-scene.com/

Yes that's it, my favorite beer "Kreusen" from Höpfner ... look how beautiful it is ... so golden:

Here is also a beer-search-engine: www.biersuche.com

Team Xtender released the first picture of their XCM XFPS 360 adapter that will allow you to play games on your Xbox 360 with Keyboard and Mouse or a dual-shock PS2 controller!

Its amazing features:

1. Auto Fire function
2. Compatible with PS 2 Dual shock 2 (you can use PS 2 Dual shock 2 controller on Xbox 360 console)
3. Compatible with PC mouse and keyboard (You can use it on the new Halo 3 comming out)

Official Site: http://www.teamxtender.com/

The latest version of Virtual Earth shipped today and features a 3 dimensional interactive virtual world right in Internet Explorer. For developers, it has a javascript interface for manipulating the world directly.

It's still BETA and it will install only on US-OS! www.virtualearth.com

Source:http://virtualearth.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!2BBC66E99FDCDB98!7573.entry 

You thought Aero is cool? Check this out...