If you have visited the MSN Soapbox site and are curious to know what's behind the signin button, wait no more!


I have 10 invitations for the MSN Soapbox beta program. If you want to join the fun, leave a comment here. Make sure to use a valid Live ID (Passport account) as your e-mail when posting the comment. No need to post the e-mail, just use it in the appropriate field in the comment section below.

Since I've installed Microsoft Windows Vista RC2 on my desktop, completely replacing Windows XP Pro, I have had good and bad moments.

I can say that the majority of bad moments came courtesy of developers, who are not working to have their software updated to run under the new Windows Vista model.


Before I continue, I will go straight to self-proclaimed "pundits" and "zealots": yes, there are changes in the way the software is supposed to work under Windows Vista. No, don't blame Microsoft. Remember, Apple does it all the time. Mac OS 9 versus Mac OS X. Even Mac OS 10.2 versus Mac OS 10.4. Or PowerPC versus Intel.

Now that we have this clear, let's go back to the topic. Windows Vista Beta has been around for a while now. It's almost being launched. Some say it will be announced in Canada no later than 23 November. Still some companies rather cry than fix their products.

One company I contact via e-mail replied with "We haven't installed Windows Vista to test our product yet". Another company told me when asked about their software conflicting with UAC "It should be something we can work out when Microsoft signs off on the OS and ships it to the public in a non-beta format".

As for Windows Vista faults, I have been doing my part as a beta tester, and reported whatever I find. And I do get feedback on my posts. And I've seen fixes and changes due to user input and requests.

The OS is almost here. Are you ready?

Do you remember my previous post about using my internal SD card reader with a high-speed SD card as a ReadyBoost for my Windows Vista desktop?

Today I plugged in my Nikon D50 digital SLR camera to my desktop running Windows Vista, and it showed the dialog to select what action to take. As usual the options to see images, open folder were there, but the last "General option" was a surprise:


Yes, Windows Vista recognised the (also high speed) SD card in use with this camera and offered to use it as a ReadyBoost device. Neat.

With Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP just released, and soon to be pushed to everyone running Windows Update automatically, I thought it would be good to write a quick tutorial on RSS feed management under this new software.

If you visit Geekzone a lot you probably read about our Geekzone RSS feeds before. If not, go on, read the article. I also recommend you read How to explain RSS the Oprah way, a very easy-to-read article explaining RSS feeds.

Back to Internet Explorer 7, then... One of the new features on this browser is the built-in RSS feed client. It's very easy to use, and you can start using RSS feeds without a specific program (the so called feed readers). Internet Explorer 7 will do everything for you. Here's is how...

Most websites these days have a feature called feed discovery. It means that a web browser will automatically identify what RSS feeds are associated with that specific website. On Internet Explorer this is done through an orange icon in the toolbar. When a RSS feed is identified you will see a start on the top right corner of the icon, like this one:


Click the arrow next to this icon and you will see a list of feeds on that website:

Simply click any of these titles and Internet Explorer will show the RSS feed content, formatted for you (click to see a larger image):

Things to mention here:

- enter a text in the box on the top right side and a filter will apply to that RSS feed, showing only the feeds with that word or text;
- change the order the feed entries are shown, by selecting Date or Title;
- filter the RSS feed entries by category, by clicking on any of the categories present on the list.

If you like the content of the feed, you can Subscribe to it by clicking Subscribe to this feed. This will give you a dialog to add this RSS feed to a list that will be quickly accessible through Internet Explorer 7:


Once you have added one or more feeds to your watching list, you can keep an eye on new and update stories by looking at the Favorites Center, in the Feeds list. You access the Favorites Center by clicking the big yellow star on the left of the tabs on Internet Explorer 7:


Because some feeds are not frequently updated you can right-click each one and change their properties, fine-tuning the system, saving your bandwidth and getting the right mix of information:


Easy? Now that you have a collection of RSS feeds, you just need to keep an eye on their content, and when you see something interesting just click on the headline and your browser will open the page corresponding to that content.

What's more interesting here though is that Internet Explorer 7 uses the same RSS repository used by new programs coming out soon, such as Microsoft Outlook 2007 and Windows Live Mail Desktop. This means that RSS feeds you subscribe through Internet Explorer 7 are automatically available through those other programs. Neat, right?

Now go on, subscribe to some RSS feeds and be more efficient when collecting your daily dosis of information. Just that you know, I currently have about 300 feeds in my collection.

If you are about to download the new Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, it's best to follow some good advice.
First and most important! Be aware of phishing scams. Microsoft is not sending an e-mail with links. The official Internet Explorer 7 download is hosted by Microsoft and you should download only from there. If you receive an e-mail with a link, delete it!

Next, visit the Spyware Sucks blog and read the post IE7 Gold has gone live. You will find a very good list of things to do before, during and after the install of this update.

Remember, you don't have to install it now, but it will be pushed to all Windows PCs through Windows Update sometime soon. Companies will be able to disable the automatic update, check with your IT departments.

Since installing Microsoft Windows Vista RC2 my desktop has been very smooth. Almost everything have been working beautifully here - exceptions are of course the couple of software that I couldn't get an update from the developers.

Anyway, talking to Craig Pringle today during my weekly geek coffee meeting at Astoria, he asked if I was interested on a 2GB SD card for use with ReadyBoost. I was surprised, because I thought this new Windows Vista feature only worked with USB memory key devices. But nope, from RC1 ReadyBoost is also available for some SD cards providing you have an internal memory card reader (sorry, no external card reader option).


Seeing that it just happens that my desktop does have an internal card reader I decided to go for it, and order a 2GB SD card.

Of course I had to try it as soon as possible, even before the new SD card arrived. So I just got home after the meetings and inserted a 1GB SD card (133x) into the drive - and it automatically detected the card and offered the option to turn on ReadyBoost. Nice!

I will be using this 1GB SD card until the other big one arrives.

You can read all about this feature in the ReadyBoost FAQ.

Now that I have Windows Vista RC2 installed on my desktop, I have to go around installing some basic software. And one of the must have is, of course Adober Reader and Adobe Flash Player.

When I visited the Adobe site to install Flash, I came across their ADOBE SOFTWARE END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT [sic]:

1. "Authorized Operating Systems" means the desktop and standard-laptop versions of the following operating systems:
               1. Microsoft Windows operating systems (including desktop and standard-laptop PC versions of Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, ME, XP Home, XP Professional, and XP Tablet PC Edition, but specifically excluding Windows XP Embedded, Windows XP Media Center Edition, and successors);
               2. Macintosh operating systems;
               3. Linux operating systems, but specifically excluding any embedded version of Linux; and
               4. Solaris operating systems.
         2. "Adobe" means Adobe Systems Incorporated and its licensors, if any.
         3. "Software" means only the Macromedia® Flash® Player, Macromedia® Shockwave® Player, or Macromedia® Authorware® Player and third party software programs, in each case, supplied by Adobe therewith, and corresponding documentation, associated media, printed materials, and online or electronic documentation, and all updates or upgrades of the above that are provided to you.

      For the avoidance of doubt, no embedded or device versions of the above operating systems, or any other operating systems, are included as Authorized Operating Systems.

How interesting. Windows XP Media Center is not allowed to run Flash? Is everyone breaking the EULA? Or is there another version for this specific OS?

What about Windows Vista? I am running Windows Vista Ultimate, which incorporates Windows XP Media Center Edition functionality. I am in breach of this EULA?

I decided to test some of the devices I have installed on my desktop with Windows Vista RC1 (RC2 is downloaded already, but not installed).

The only thing holding me back on going 100% Windows Vista on my desktop was the compatibility with some devices I have here. For example the Bluetake Bluetooth USB adapter, Microsoft Fingerprint Reader, the Microsoft VX-6000 Webcam, the Disc Stakka. All those either work with the current software or I am now able to download drivers and use on Windows Vista, so why not go for it?

I was also talking my time to test some other software I deem "essential" for my work: LogMeIn, GoToMyPC, WebDrive, and Hamachi. I have now tested all these and they work flawlessly on Windows Vista RC1.

I also tested the Windows Mobile Device Center Beta 3 (screenshot below) and managed to connect my Pocket PCs, again without problems.


Since I still have another machine running Windows XP 2 Service Pack (I can't update that machine just yet), I am going to rebuild my desktop with Windows Vista RC2. If anything needs Windows XP explicitly I can always use the other machine as a backup for the odd application.

I am also doing this because now is the time that more and more peripherals are coming with Windows Vista drivers. I have already received some that will need testing and there is no sense in testing these on Windows XP. So this is the right time to do this migration.

This coming week I am taking a day off just to install the new OS and the essential applications.

It was just yesterday that I posted about a couple of things that were misbehaving on Windows Live Alerts, but already one of these is fixed.

The custom alerts (such as the one from Geekzone you subscribe to receive alerts on your MSN or mobile phone when a new article goes up on the main site) are now listed on Windows Live Alerts:

Thank you to the Windows Live team for acting fast on this!

I've decided to do a new blog post for this update because I wanted it to have the same exposure as my original post.

I really like MSN Alerts, recently renamed Windows Live Alerts. It's a handy feature, and you can configure it to send a SMS to your moble phone wen certain alerts arrive.

But it's incomplete. Windows Live team, please fix it!

Ok, now that I have your attention I will go ahead and explain the background and the problem.

For example, we provide Geekzone Alerts, based on Windows Live Alerts. It is a service you can subscribe with your Windows Live Id account and receive a notification on Windows Live Messenger, your Windows Live Mail, or any other e-mail account - even on your mobile phone (as a SMS) when a new item is posted on Geekzone.

This works great. If you log into Windows Live Alerts you can even add other alerts to your list.

But here starts the annoyance. The Geekzone Alers was introduced on an old service, later acquired by Microsoft. They never did an integration job. You can't see the Alert settings on Windows Live Alerts. You can see the latest messages received, but you can't turn it on or off. You can only do it through our admin page.

Why is this a big deal? Because these alerts come out on Windows Live Messenger, or your mobile phone, but down the track you probably forgot where to go to manage these alerts - and it's not on Windows Live Alerts.

Another weird thing: all of a sudden Windows Live Mail (Hotmail) is sending to my mobile phone a SMS notification of any urgent messages sent to my account. I don't want these! I never set it on. But there's nowhere to turn it off. It's not on Windows Live Alerts, and not on Windows Live Mail. I am stuck with this.

The Windows Live Alerts site does not list any of my alerts, except the ones I setup through that site. And that's what's broken.

More strange stuff? You want to setup your mobile to receive notifications via SMS? Try Mobile MSN. Oh, in New Zealand it redirects to XtraMSN, and it's nothing to do with Mobile MSN. If this happens, try the US Mobile MSN site instead. Thanks Telecom New Zealand for breaking the web.

Rigth. Once there you can setup your mobile phone for SMS notifications. But why is this not linked from Windows Live Alerts?

Microsoft, I see a lot of Windows Live services coming out. I am in the beta group for Windows Live Essentials, which brings a fancy Windows Live Dashboard with links to the Windows Live services you use. But it's not compatible (yet) with Internet Explorer 7, so I (and millions of other users) can't use it yet.

It doesn't matter. These services are so many, and so spread with no central control that I am afraid people won't use them simply because they can't find their way around.

For me, right now, please put all Windows Live Alerts configuration in the same place. This includes the damn Windows Live Mail notifications that are nowhere to be found, the custom Windows Live Alerts from websites such as Geekzone and many others, and the mobile configuration.

And Telecom New Zealand, stop hijacking those Mobile MSN pages, you are not adding any value.