Scott Hanselman

Finally! The section of Media Center formerly known as the "Online Spotlight" has launched/been-made-available on Windows Vista Media Center. I've just setup my Xbox360 to talk to the Vista Media Center, rather than Media Center 2005, and it's lovely. Truly. There's piles of content, and hopefully there will be piles more to come.

I also installed Anthony Park's MCEBrowser under Vista and it works great. I also noticed last week that my Windows Media Center Remote Keyboard controls 90% of the Xbox360 without telling it to, so that's shiny. I'll take a look and see if it makes the browsing experience bearable on a 37" LCD in my living room. I'm sure the wife would love to do her Gmail from the couch.

Hm...seems like a lot of technology hoops just to get the equivalent of a WebTV. Why can't I just browse the web on my Xbox360?

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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It's official, Z has completely discovered, grasped, and is now fully exploiting the word "no." My wife Mo saw this coming, and had been warning me for weeks now. I've been in denial, saying "Nonsense, he's clearly saying 'neh.'" At this, my wife sadly shook her head at her husband.

This morning I tried to take a pen away from Z and was greeted with "No!" as clear as a bell, following by what I can only describe as a scampering away.

My one year old is getting into his Terrible Twos. He wants everything. He's also exploded with regard to sign language. Now he not only wants, but he knows what he wants and tells us constantly.

Given my extraordinarily vast parenting experience - goodness, nearly a year of it - I've planned on The Principle of Benign Deprivation. I figure I'll give Z everything he needs, and maybe 10% of what he wants. I know folks who can't go into a Target or Wallmart for milk without also coming out with the latest GIJoe action figure or My Little Pony. I figure that Quaker Oats containers and cardboard boxes were good enough for me, they'll be good enough for Z.

Folks are currently taking bets on how long this attitude of mine is going to last. I believe the latest Vegas odds are 4:1 against, within the next six months.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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My forty-sixth Podcast is up. In this one, we chat about WPF/E, the supposed Microsoft "Flash Killer" and speculate about its future. There's a Mac version already, does this mean cross-platform CLR and XAML for all? Listen and find out. I hope you enjoy it.

We're listed in the iTunes Podcast Directory, so I encourage you to subscribe with a single click (two in Firefox) with the button below. For those of you on slower connections there are lo-fi and torrent-based versions as well.

Subscribe:

Links from the show are also always on the show site. This particular show had a metric crapload of links, do check them out. Do also remember the archives are always up and they have PDF Transcripts, a little known feature that show up a few weeks after each show.

Our sponsors are CodeSmith Tools and the .NET Dev Journal.

As I've said before this show comes to you with the audio expertise and stewardship of Carl Franklin. The name comes from Travis Illig, but the goal of the show is simple. Avoid wasting the listener's time. (and make the commute less boring)

• The basic MP3 feed is here, and the iPod friendly one is here. There's a number of other ways you can get it (streaming, straight download, etc) that are all up on the site just below the fold. I use iTunes, myself, to listen to most podcasts, but I also use FeedDemon and it's built in support.
  • Some other clients are Doppler (also suppose Windows CE), FireAnt, Nimiq, and PrimeTime Podcast.
• Note that for now, because of bandwidth constraints, the feeds always have just the current show. If you want to get an old show (and because many Podcasting Clients aren't smart enough to not download the file more than once) you can always find them at http://www.hanselminutes.com.
• I have, and will, also include the enclosures to this feed you're reading, so if you're already subscribed to ComputerZen and you're not interested in cluttering your life with another feed, you have the choice to get the 'cast as well.
• If there's a topic you'd like to hear, perhaps one that is better spoken than presented on a blog, or a great tool you can't live without, contact me and I'll get it in the queue!

Enjoy. Who knows what'll happen in the next show?

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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Sure, I want an iPhone, and yes, it's wonderful.  However, the interesting news today, IMHO, is Cisco's response and lawsuit. You probably know that they trademarked "iPhone" 11 years ago and have an iPhone product.

Apparently Apple has been in negotiations on and off, most recently very "on" to use the iPhone name, but launched the new product without finalizing the deal.

Everyone'll have their opinion about this, but the real story is how Cisco responded in a very "Web 2.0" way on their blog. The response is clear, transparent, thoughtful and avoids legalese. They have left their comments open to the public. Certainly they are trying to garner public support and I suspect they've done just that.

Frankly, it makes Apple look like d*cks, which is hard to do. I recommend you read the response. It's a good example of how to skillfully use blogs to manage the perception of your company, even if you're a giant faceless company like Apple or Cisco.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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A friend asked me what they could by their geek for US$50. I emailed them this list, compiled from ThinkGeek.

These are pretty slick: http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/avcards/7e3e/

As are http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/warfare/8a0f/

This is fun from Office Space: http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/gear/61b7/

This personal area network fleece is nice, but $60: http://www.thinkgeek.com/apparel/hoodies/7c64/

I’d love to have this: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8928/

If you really liked me you’d get me this: http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/

These are VERY useful for traveling professionals: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/89d1/

I want two of these http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/6a4b/

This is excellent for the price, and unusual: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/706f/

This is topical, useful and CHEAP: http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/avcards/8837/

Hm...my birthday is coming up in 12 days...

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

About   Newsletter

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