The DevSta {Challenge 2008} - coding comp for Australian developers

On October 8th, at 8.08am, the DEVSTA competition launches to find Australia’s brightest coder (you don’t have to be a professional – you just need to be able to work under pressure and get the project done).

That’s 8:08, 8/8/08… see the pattern? If you do, you’ll understand why the comp runs for 200 hours and 8 minutes.

Don’t mess around – at 8:08 the project brief is announced and you need to get started – so make sure you sign up now so you don’t let the others get a headstart.

You don’t have to be employed as a Developer to enter. As long as you can write code, you qualify.

To get started, you'll need a Windows LIVE ID and will need to create an online DevSta ID. The challenge begins when the brief is released at 0808 EST on Monday 29 September. You’ll have just 200 hours and 8 minutes to prove your skills using Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2008. All entries must be submitted as a Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 project and be submitted to this site before the challenge ends at 1716 EST on Tuesday 7 October 2008.

Your submission will be judged by a panel of experts and the winner will receive an awesome DevSta prize pack worth over $18,000* RRP – including a trip to Las Vegas to attend the MIX09 Developer Conference, a copy of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition with a one year MSDN Premium Subscription, and an Xbox 360® Elite console package! With a total prize pool valued at over $33,000 RRP there are also some fantastic runner-up prizes to be won.

If that's not enough, we're also be awarding a special prize for the best Windows Mobile application! You could WIN two Samsung Omina mobiles worth $849 RRP each and a Samsung 40” series 6LCD TV valued at $3,099 RRP!

When released, the brief will be available for download from this page and will contain full competition details - including all development specifications and requirements. However, you can get a head-start by downloading a complimentary 90-day trial of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 now.

head right over to http://devsta.microsoft.com.au/ for more info. And to sign up.

News source : MSDN blog

Use Search to Find E-Mail Messages - Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

In Microsoft Office Outlook, e-mail search helps you locate messages by keyword or phrase. You can also use search folders to find mail by type of message.




To locate specific keywords or phrases within e-mail messages:

Type a word or phrase in the Search box at the top of your Outlook Inbox. The search starts automatically as soon as you stop typing. Search results will appear in the main window of your Inbox. To return to your normal Inbox, click Clear Search (the green ×) to the right of the Search box.

You can enable search folders from the mail pane on the left of your Inbox. To expand the folders tree, click Search Folders. Outlook comes with three default search folders: For Follow Up, Large Mail, and Unread Mail.

To add new search folders, click File, point to New, and then click Search Folder.

To build a custom search folder:

1. Click Search Folder, and then either click a predefined folder name, or scroll down and click Create a custom Search Folder.

2. Click Choose, give the new folder a name, and then click Criteria to fill in the search terms.

Silverlight Version 2 RC0 Released!!

The first release candidate of Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 is now available for download. This package is an add-in for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and Visual Web Developer Express 2008 with SP1.

The Silverlight Tools installer includes the following:

• Silverlight Tools RC0 for Visual Studio 2008 SP1
• Silverlight Tools RC0 for Visual Web Developer Express with SP1
• Silverlight 2 RC0 Developer Runtime
• Silverlight 2 RC0 Software Development Kit

This release gives Silverlight developers an opportunity to upgrade their Silverlight applications from Silverlight 2 Beta 2 to the final version of Silverlight 2 (RTW - release to web) which is due out later this fall.

Visual Studio 2008 Tools RC0: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=129043

Expression Blend SP1 RC0: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3AE4DC3A-61AA-41F4-A9B8-4334A76FA447&displaylang=en

Windows Silverlight 2 Dev Runtime RC0: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=129011

Also, a document detailing the breaking changes between Beta2 and Release can be downloaded here.

For more info visit source : MSDN blog

Expression Blend 2 SP1 Preview Released

Today, preview of Expression Blend 2 Service Pack 1 has been released that allows you to create content for the release candidate of Silverlight 2. You can download the Service Pack from the following location:

---

Download Expression Blend 2 SP1 Preview

---

This Service Pack provides you with all of the functionality you had with our earlier Expression Blend 2.5 June 2008 Preview. Besides allowing you to create new projects for WPF, Silverlight 1, and Silverlight 2 RC, we are also exposing new platform functionality like Font Embedding / Subsetting for Silverlight 2 projects. More on this new functionality in future blog posts.

One thing to note, which is different from how we handled releases in the past, is that Expression Blend 2 SP1 Preview will install on top of Expression Blend 2. This will not be a side-by-side installation. This service pack is also an evolution of Expression Blend 2.5, so there will be no future Expression Blend 2.5 releases.

for more info visit source : MSDN blog

Microsoft Project Server 2007 IT Professionals TechNet webcast series

Starting October 1^st, 2008, Michael Jordan (Lead Architect – MCS EPM Global Practice | WW COE for EPM) will present a series of Project Server 2007 webcast on TechNet targeted at IT Professionals.

These 60 minutes webcasts will present in details key aspects to consider when you evaluate, plan, deploy, and operate Project Server 2007 specifically:

• Solution Overview and System Elements
• Solution Elements and Data Flow
• Workload Scenarios and Reference Architecture
• Network Communication
• Server Administration
• Maintenance and Monitoring
• Deployment into a SharePoint Server Intranet Farm
• Disaster Recovery
• Virtualization

You need to register for the free of charge webcast by clicking the link; then you get emailed a link to sign on and participate in the web cast on its date and time (please note only the first two webcast are available for registration at this stage).

Each TechNet webcast is recorded for later viewing which should be through the same registration URL.

For a listing of all EPM webcasts on TechNet check the following: http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/epm.aspx

View more info at Source : here

Share files between any two computers easily using Gbridge

Looking for a free and easy way to create a VPN connection to another computer, share files, remote control or share screens between computers? Previously, I’ve written about another freeware app called Hamachi that you can use to create your own personal VPN, but I find it still requires a little too much technical knowledge that a newbie may not have.

That’s where Gbridge comes in. Basically, Gbrdige is a free tool you can use to sync folders, share files, control another computer, share your desktop, or chat. It connects two computers directly and securely.

Other programs do something very similar like CrossLoop and LogMeIn: download a client software, create an account, and connect to another computer running the client software.

Gbridge does the same thing, but has a couple of interesting features. Firstly, you do not have to create an account with Gbridge, all you need is a Gmail account. You log into the program using your Gmail username and password.

So if you want to quickly connect to a friends computer, just ask them to install the Gbridge client software and you can now send large files, instantly play MP3’s off each other’s computer, share your desktops, and even create photo slideshows from your folders and let others watch.

Gbridge also has some cool tecnhonolgy to make sure two computers can be connected even through firewalls and routers. It will try multiple ways to connect based on what works and which method is giving the highest performance. As a last resort, it can use GTalk to create a connection on top of the service.

This is great because you can be behind a corporate firewall or a NAT device and not have to configure a single thing. For those who want to connect two computers in a house or across the world, Gbridge will be able to do it.

Overall, it’s a great program with a lot of features and no restrictions! You can share very large files without a problem, share your desktop, and stream music and video to your computer from another.

Review source: Here

Microsoft education links

The UK Higher Education Blog pinched this from my colleague Mark A'Bear, some of it's perhaps more focused on schools but it shows a sample of how some of the web work Microsoft is doing can be relevant to education. Mark has summarised some of our education links below with a very brief description of each technology. They might not all seem like obvious areas of technology and education but with some imagination we are already seeing some fabulous teaching resources being built around this. The one thing you will need in most cases is a Windows Live ID. If you haven’t got one already …. why not?

Telescope – this community resource is another example of applications in the cloud that could be made available as part of a curriculum. The guided tours and ability to explore planets and astrological features are well worth the investment of a few minutes if you haven't tried it yet, please do.

http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/

Auto Collage – as the name suggests this product takes a collection of images and blends them together into an attractive collage. The user can specify the number of images, save thye collection, email to a colleague, etc

http://research.microsoft.com/AutoCollage/

Films for Learning – think of this as U-Tube for Education, offering a range of ‘lessons’ prepared and submitted for teachers.

http://www.filmsforlearning.org

Homework Helper – this small tool uses drop-down boxes – key stage, subject, topic - to create a granular search for particular information. Try GCSE, Geography, Volcanoes and then search for Etna. The results are educationally relevant as opposed to random.

http://www.livehomeworkhelper.co.uk/

Live Mesh – this cool technology automatically synchronises information across different devices. PCs are currently supported with Mac and Mobile support imminent. Members can be invited to join a Mesh so this technology is perfect for collaboration and group learning scenarios.

http://www.mesh.com

Photosynth – this great tool stitches together a series of related pictures into a panoramic 3D view that users can zoom in and out of to see the detail. The site contains a wealth of examples to explore whilst the technology itself is perfect for presenting to a group, submitting as course work or just providing an innovative presentation of homework.

http://labs.live.com/photosynth/

Popfly – try a mashup for yourself, or look at the examples at: http://dev.live.com/mashups/default.aspx. This is where users can merge multiple applications together such as images from Flickr and Virtual Earth to see the geographic location of those images. THis is just the tip of the iceberg though.

http://www.popfly.ms/

Silverlight – more and more application providers are developing in sliverlight. It is a great way of creating rich and engaging content as well as streaming video content. The site has some great examples and you can install Silverlight yourself. The Showcase has a number of great examples such as the Hard Rock Cafe: http://silverlight.net/showcase/

http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/

Surface – this we think is the ‘next generation’ whiteboard. Take a look at the videos and imagine how this technology could be used in education to support Special Education Needs, Group working, class teaching, parents’ evenings, etc, etc. We now have a device in the offices at TVP so we’ll try and make one available first hand at the next partner event.

http://www.microsoft.com/surface

Worldwide Telescope – this community resource is another example of applications in the cloud that could be made available as part of a curriculum. The guided tours and ability to explore planets and astrological features are well worth the investment of a few minutes.

http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/

Post Source

Say "I Love you" to USB Talking Mouse

As the song goes, everybody needs somebody to love and so do those who spent hours sitting in front of their monitors. So if you can't remember the last time someone whispered an 'I love you' to you; don't be sad, help is literally at hand. Here's a gadget that will bring a smile to your face -- Green House presents a talking USB mouse that claims 'I Love You' when you click its scroll wheel.

review source : here

Get a free 3 month license of Bitdefender

BitDefender Antivirus/Antivirus Plus/Internet Security v 10 3 Months Free

1. Download the Bitdefender
2. Fill the form at Bitdefender Promotional Page
3. After finishing the registration process you'll receive an e-mail with a new license number in order to use your BitDefender Version for three more months.

Prism V2 - Drop 1

Downloads & Files

Prism V2 Release 20080916 Source.zip

source code, 556K, uploaded Wed - 83 downloads

CompositeApplicationGuidanceProjectLinker.msi

application, 268K, uploaded Wed - 63 downloads

Release Notes

Development for Prism V2 (formally known as Composite Application Guidance for WPF and Silverlight) is underway. We have a number of items in our backlog, the top items are multi-targeting for WPF and Silverlight and UI composition on Silverlight. This first drop we are focusing in on multi-targeting.

Composite Application Guidance for WPF and Silverlight

Welcome to the first drop of the Composite Application Guidance for WPF and Silverlight. This file contains information that can be useful in using the guidance. See the full readme in the source.zip or Prism V2 Drop 1 Readme for more information.

What's included in this drop

• The Project Linker tool installer
• The Multi-Targeting QuickStart
• The Multi-Targeting Visual Studio templates

Requirements

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 SP1
• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 (the .NET Framework 3.5 includes WPF)
• Microsoft Silverlight 2 Beta 2
• Silverlight Unit Testing Framework (For download and installation instructions see http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/silverlightut)
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Software Development Kit (SDK) 1.0 for running or compiling Project Linker

Installation

To install the QuickStart unzip the Source.zip file into any folder of your choice.

More more info Visit : here

Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System (version 3.0 Runtime) Service Pack 1 (x86)

This update is required to develop or run solutions for the 2007 Microsoft Office system that are built using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1).

You must install this update on your development computer, and also on client computers, if you use Visual Studio 2008 SP1 to develop Microsoft Office solutions.

This update provides bug fixes and new features, including .NET Framework Client Profile compatibility and the ability to add host controls and smart tags to documents from application-level add-ins.

When you install the Visual Studio Tools for Office runtime on a non-English version of the operating system, you should also install the appropriate language pack service pack to see the text of the messages from the runtime in that language, rather than English.

Quick Details

File Name:	vstor30sp1-KB949258-x86.exe
Version:	VS2008
Knowledge Base (KB) Articles:	KB949258
Date Published:	9/17/2008
Language:	English
Download Size:	1.3 MB

Download here

Download Windows Live Wave 3 Beta (official link)

All your mail in one place

Manage your Hotmail, Gmail, and other e-mail accounts, plus your calendars and contacts, all in Windows Live Mail. And you can download it for free!

Chatting and e-mail

Messenger and Mail share a single contact list and work together. Plus, your calendar and multiple e-mail accounts are all in one place in Mail.

Messenger beta
Mail beta

Photos and movies

Use Photo Gallery and Movie Maker to edit and organize your digital images and movies, and then post them online or send them to friends.

Photo Gallery beta
Movie Maker beta

Blogging

With Windows Live Writer, blogging is a breeze. You can add photos and videos, format everything just so, and publish to most blogging services.

Writer beta

Browsing the web

With Toolbar, you can customize your browser and find anything, fast. And Family Safety helps you keep your kids safer online.

Toolbar beta
Family Safety beta

Download now and Be Live…!!!

Convert Text to Tables : Office Excel 2007

Sometimes you may find different types of information within the same piece of text, where the only thing separating the information is a space. Microsoft Office Excel makes it easy to redistribute this data by using different columns, and to display the data in a more digestible format.

1. Choose delimiters and column separators.

a. Select the cells containing the data that you want to separate.

b. On the Data ribbon, in the Data Tools section, click the Text to Columns button.

c. Select your preferred data type (that is, Delimited or Fixed width) from the options in the first step presented by the wizard.

d. In the second step of the wizard, select your preferred delimiters from the DelimitersFixed width options.


2. Define the data format of your new columns.

a. In the dialog box of the wizard’s third step, select one column at a time and define its data format by clicking your preferred option under Column data format.

b. Click the Finish button. The text chains will now be distributed into columns according to your chosen data format.

Step into the Office 2007 Virtual Labs for Free

TechNet Virtual Labs: 2007 Microsoft Office System

Get hands-on with the key features and components of the 2007 Microsoft Office system and learn the benefits of deploying it within your organization. Walk through installation, configuration and the new components around enterprise features administration, collaboration, business intelligence, and experience common deployment and integration scenarios that can help you make better choices when planning your roll-out.

Step into the Office Virtual Labs for Free

It's simple: no complex setup or installation is required to try out 2007 Microsoft Office system running in the full-featured TechNet Virtual Lab. You get a downloadable manual and a 90-minute block of time for each module. You can sign up for additional 90-minute blocks any time.

Silverlight Gadget Award : Do A Gadget With Silverlight And The Award could be yours

This time just a short announcement and no broad epic technical essay as usual. The announcement is about the Silverlight Gadget Award for all those who are developing cool and innovative Vista Sidebar Gadgets and want to introduce this to a even broader audience than just the people visiting the Microsoft Gadget Gallery. Now is the time to sign-up for the Silverlight Gadget Award. The winners will be officially announced and awarded at our large web conference Xtopia 08 taking place in Berlin in November.

There's exactly one major prerequisite for your Gadget that it qualifies for your nomination and this is that it must have at least some parts of it's presentation implemented with Microsoft Silverlight technology. If you used to create your RIAs with Flash, don't be disappointed there still is a small change that you can manage to participate. Just use the resources on Project Rosetta and become a Silverlight pro in just a few days by transferring all your Flash knowledge into Silverlight knowledge.

This Site is really cool stuff - Check it out

So start building a Silverlight gadget today, sign-up for the award and have the chance to win a banner campaign and free entrance to the conference with a giveaway pack you don't want to miss. Sign-up periods ends October 31st, so don't hesitate. And as a final remark: The Award is for German applicants and German audiences only

(News source: Blogs.MSDN)

Microsoft Day: event for business and technology leaders in India

Everyone in business knows the importance of investing in technology. But what separates a good company from a truly great one is its ability to empower its people with technology they can really USE to deliver business success.

Presenting Microsoft Day: an exclusive event for business and technology
leaders to come together and discover the POWER of PEOPLE.

To register, SMS 'MSDAY' to 5676751 or click the appropriate link below.

View more details here and Register for event


If you’re a business leader, click here.

If you’re a technology leader, click here.

Win a free copy of Professional Visual Studio 2008

Professional Visual Studio have 10 copies of our book, Professional Visual Studio 2008, to give away. Rather than hand them all out at once, they have decided to spread things out a little, and give away 2 books per month for the next 5 months.

For more details Visit here

PlayFLV : Play FLV in Windows media player

PlayFLV is an installation package that enables Windows Media Player to play FLV (Flash Video) files.


Key features

• Plugin that enables Windows Media Player to playback FLV files
• Features all default functions, such as zooming, skipping and full screen view
• Creates file association: Double-click FLV files to play them in Windows Media Player
• Very lightweight plugin
• Free and open source

Get it Here (Download) 300KB

Creating a Bootable USB Windows Vista Drive

Creating a Bootable USB Windows Vista Drive : To install Vista on to DVDLess Laptops

Format the USB stick as NTFS

Make USB Volume Active

Run diskpart.exe and then set your drive and partition to point to the stick. Make sure you set the partition as Active.

Do this by:-

1. Run CMD

2. type diskpart

3. list volume

DISKPART> list volume

4> select USB drive

if the removable media volume no. is 4 , type :

DISKPART> Select volume 4

Create Boot Sector

There's a tool in Vista DVD called bootsect.exe. Its on the Vista DVD itself in the Boot directory.

Run bootsect /nt60 "USB Drive letter"

E:\boot>bootsect /nt60 g:

Copy DVD files and Boot files

• Boot directory
• Sources directory and
• the files in the root directory

Finish.

LINQ in .NET Framework 3.5

LINQ (Language integrated Query) is a new feature introduced in .NET Framework 3.5. LINQ makes the job of .Net developers easy for accessing the data in SQL, XML, ADO.Net data sets or any other objects. By using LINQ, a developer gets the ability to write queries within .NET language (e.g. C# or VB.NET) for querying any type of data in efficient and unified manner. The benefits are significant: complie time checking of queries, ability to debug, intellisense etc.

LINQ is divided into following 3 areas:

• LINQ to SQL:

LINQ to SQL is a component of .NET Framework version 3.5 that provides a run-time infrastructure for managing relational data as objects.

• LINQ to XML:

LINQ to XML provides an in-memory XML programming interface that leverages the .NET Language-Integrated Query (LINQ) Framework. LINQ to XML uses the latest .NET Framework language capabilities and is comparable to an updated, redesigned Document Object Model (DOM) XML programming interface.

• LINQ to Objects:

The term "LINQ to Objects" refers to the use of LINQ queries with any IEnumerable or IEnumerable<(Of <(T>)>) collection directly, without the use of an intermediate LINQ provider or API such as LINQ to SQL or LINQ to XML. You can use LINQ to query any enumerable collections such as List<(Of <(T>)>), Array, or Dictionary<(Of <(TKey, TValue>)>). The collection may be user-defined or may be returned by a .NET Framework API.

Here is the list of reqources available for more information:

Additional samples and/or documentation may be available from the following sources:

• The LINQ Project site on MSDN for general news and information about LINQ.

• The Visual Basic Developer Center for the latest news on using LINQ with Visual Basic.

• The C# Developer Center for the latest version of the C# 3.0 specification and other information.

• The LINQ forum on MSDN is the best place to post questions related to LINQ.

• Whitepapers provides a link to whitepapers that provide additional information about LINQ.

(Source : Blogs.MSDN)

Silverlight 3 to Support Streaming HD Flash Video

An upcoming version of Silverlight, named Silverlight 3, will be able to play high-definition Flash video and music in iTunes' AAC format. The version add to the variety of streamed HD video and high-fidelity music that broadcasters are expected to bring online.

Silverlight 3 won't be able to play .flv or .swf content. An early preview of Silverlight 3 will be shown at the International Broadcasting Conference (IBC) 2008 in Amsterdam this week.

Scott Guthrie, Vice President, Microsoft .NET Developer Division, said, "At IBC 2008 we will be demonstrating a technology preview of H.264 video and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) audio playback support in Silverlight, and H.264 authoring using Microsoft Expression Encoder and Windows Server 2008 for delivery. Until now, Silverlight has supported the SMPTE VC-1 and Windows Media formats, as well as MP3 for audio, enabling customers to take advantage of broad support across the Windows Media ecosystem, including third-party tools, service providers and content delivery networks."

According to published press reports, Silverlight 3 is expected to ship early next calendar year. A beta of Silverlight 3 is expected soon after Silverlight 2 ships this fall.

Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.

By using Expression Studio and Visual Studio, designers and developers can collaborate more effectively using the skills they have today to light up the Web of tomorrow.

(News source : bogs.MSDN)

SQL Server 2008 Webchat on Sept 23, 2008

The SQL Server Product Group is holding a Webchat on Sept 23 from 10 am to 12 noon PST to get feedback from the community, customers, partners about their experience on SQL Server 2008 after over a month of RTM. You can find the details and participate through

Microsoft.com Community Calendar :

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx

TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/cc719754.aspx

MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats/default.aspx

(Source : MSDN blogs)

XPS MadCap Blaze

MadCap Software has announced MadCap Blaze, a new tool long document authoring, with support for XPS:

“Microsoft is thrilled by the launch of MadCap Blaze, which extends the power of XPS into the world of long document print publishing,” said Jack Mayo, group program manager for Windows Documents & Printing. “With the addition of Blaze to the already well-established content authoring product Flare, MadCap Software demonstrates once again the innovation in content delivery that is enabled by the latest technology offered through Microsoft XPS, Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5” .

(written @ blogs.msdn)

La Jolla, CA, USA – September 8, 2008– MadCap Software, the leader in multi-channel content authoring and a showcase company for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft XPS, today announced the debut of MadCap Blaze, a native XML solution for long print documents. Blaze introduces a new paradigm for enterprise print publishing through highly flexible topic-based authoring that fosters content flexibility and reusability to eliminate the restrictions, redundancies and errors common in more traditional “book” authoring structures. Because all MadCap products are built on the same XML-based architecture, Blaze is the only print publishing solution that can be used both independently and as part of a complete, seamlessly integrated documentation workflow—from authoring to collaboration, analysis, translation and publishing.


(continue....@ press center)

Silverlight MSDN to help Visual Studio

The Silverlight SDK comes with a large collection of help documents to help you get started writing Silverlight applications. These help documents are available online at MSDN.

However, for those times you are doing development offline - maybe on a plane, maybe in a location without wifi - if you have the SDK installed, you can register this help collection with Visual Studio for offline access.

1. Open Visual Studio (you will have to open VS as an administrator in Vista).

2. In the Help menu, choose Index.

This will open Microsoft Document Explorer. (click to zoooooom++)

3. On the left, in the "Filtered by:" drop-down, choose "(unfiltered)" and in the "Look for field", type "Collection Manager." In the results area, below the Collection Manager heading, double click Help.

4. Below the Collections available for inclusion, check Microsoft Silverlight 2 SDK Documentation and click the "Update VSCC" button.

5. Close all instances of Visual Studio to begin the help files merge. It will take few minutes to update the collection and merge in the Silverlight help files.

6. Re-open Visual Studio. If the merge is still inprocess, a dialog will appear.

7. Reopen the Document Explorer by selecting Index from the Help menu.

8. Click the Contents Tab and look for Microsoft Silverlight 2 SDK on the left.

(View source : blogs.msdn)

"Chromifox" Google Chrome theme for Firefox

A coat of Chrome for Firefox. Say hello to Chromifox, a bright and soft blue theme for Firefox 3 on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X, inspired by the appearance of the Google Chrome web browser.

Get it Now (Sign in to Download)

Chromifox, from the developer of Camifox, is another blatant rip-off of another default theme from another great open source web browser! This time, the target is Google Chrome, or more specifically Chromium, the open source project behind it. The clean lines, slick layout, and compact style of Chromium were the points of inspiration for this theme. Chromifox offers a coat of Chrome for Firefox.

How to get a Zune 3G for $0

Just like last year's free update for first-gen Zune owners, Microsoft has confirmed that all existing Zune owners will get a free third-generation firmware upgrade once the product sees its official launch on September 16. Not "Apple free"--but "free" as in zero-cost.

View more details at source

Microsoft Delivers First Service Update to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 8, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today released the first service update for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online,September 2008 Service Update is available to customers at no charge.

Our September 2008 Update of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online includes many great enhancements highlighted by our new Internet Marketing capability. Internet Marketing can help your marketing team seamlessly create, manage, and optimize internet-based marketing campaigns and search engine marketing efforts while effortlessly capturing and tracking all leads from your website. This capability is built within Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and helps organizations make the most of their online advertising efforts and maximize revenue opportunities.

In addition, this new release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online:

• Provides an increase in the number of users per organization in support of an increasing demand for use in larger deployments
• Gives you a direct link through Microsoft Pinpoint to thousands of partners and solutions that can help enhance the value and functionality of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

Get some detailed info at : Microsoft Press Release.

Free Windows Embedded Standard Webinar

Wan't to get a quick and easy update on Windows Embedded Standard (WES), the successor to our popular Windows-compatible embedded OS Windows XP Embedded? Here's an opportunity: on Sep 25th, we're hosting a live interactive webcast seminar (webinar) where Cuong Pham, Technical Product Manager for WES, will give you all the details you need in order to properly use our new product in your next project.

Please find event details and registration here.

(News source : here)

FREE! SQL Server 2008 {JumpStart} Training

Looking to get a head-start on ramping-up for SQL Server 2008?

Well, here is a great jump-start site with lot's of great content (ppts, demos, HOLs, VPC's, etc.)


Here's the complete laundry list: Blogs.msdn   (approx >70 PPT slides)