Simon's Digital Lifestyle Blog

Like Hulu with no restrictions

Hulu is fantastic, unless of course you happen to not live in the US then it’s a chocolate teapot unless of course you use a VPN to make the service think you’re in the US. The name “geotarding” has been applied. TV Gorge have...

Published Fri, Feb 05 2010 9:59 AM by simonster

Whole home audio on through phone lines

Lifehacker have a very interesting how to all about how to run whole home audio over your homes internal phone wiring. It’s kind of a neat solution if you have this in your home already…interestingly I’ve recently stripped my home wiring out since...

Published Fri, Feb 05 2010 9:42 AM by simonster

Sky are hot out the box with 3D TV

Wow, I knew we were going to get a 3D offering from Sky but this is something else! So fast… Sky are broadcasting the first ever 3D sports match, a football (soccer for you US types) er on Sunday. Yep, a world first, and in the UK the first...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 8:31 AM by simonster

Filed under: tv

Interesting way to use Aero Snap

Long’s spotted a great series of advertising by Microsoft in the US that’s got a digital home bent to it so I thought I’d throw it out there. In Australia Microsoft are sponsoring part of the Open tennis coverage and (very cleverly) using the snap...

Published Fri, Jan 22 2010 12:07 PM by simonster

Filed under: Windows 7

Seesmic Look is very cool

Wow, talk about a cool way of looking at tweets. This, my friends, is Seesmic Look, the second output from Seesmic since they’ve started developing closely with Microsoft. I’ve just downloaded it and started to play, and it’s very sexy looking...

Published Thu, Jan 21 2010 3:22 PM by simonster

iTunes in the cloud?

Techcrunch has an interesting article about Apple moving iTunes into the cloud, it certainly represents and interesting idea. According to the article the plan is for a fully fledged cloud based iTunes, perhaps removing the need for a local install...

Published Thu, Jan 21 2010 9:26 AM by simonster

Filed under: music

On10 covers every TV option

Sarah’s written a great and very, very, comprehensive article for On10.net about all the different options for watching TV in Windows Media Center without a TV tuner, she covers: Hulu PlayOn Boxee SecondRunTV TunerFree TubeCore ZeeVee SkyPlayer Wow, it...

Published Wed, Jan 20 2010 12:07 PM by simonster

Filed under: media center

More tablets…

I seem to be getting hooked on the tablets. No not little pills but the new wave of gadgets we saw at CES and even more by some of the ones that missed CES. I’ve just spotted this at liliputing.com the HOTT M700 a small tablet (7”) that can...

Published Tue, Jan 19 2010 10:36 AM by simonster

NY Times on TV through Xbox360

The New York times has an interesting article on how Microsoft are positioning Xbox360 with major content providers, like Disney an ESPN to be a TV device in your living room. Nothing new there. Interesting that it’s popped up in the Business...

Published Mon, Jan 18 2010 9:51 PM by simonster

Filed under: xbox

HP’s Slate, the best PMP ever?

At the CES keynote yesterday Ballmer unveiled the “beautiful” HP slate and gave it a brief demo using the Amazon kindle application. Cool stuff. One thing worth noting is that it’s running Windows 7 and that naturally (depending on the...

Published Thu, Jan 07 2010 12:11 PM by simonster

Filed under: CES 2010

Stream Spotify to your Squeezebox or WMP

Now that Martin has released the beta of Spotify MCE I thought I’d explain quickly how you can stream Spotify all over your house. I use a Squeezebox for this, which is where the solution comes from, but equally anything that can play a HTTP MP3...

Published Tue, Jan 05 2010 1:00 PM by simonster

Filed under: media center, spotify

Media nirvana, buy once use in any format

According to the New York Times a group called DECE (Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem) is planning an announcement at CES about their plans to make content (Movies specifically) available in any format you choose once you’ve bought a single license...

Published Mon, Jan 04 2010 8:41 PM by simonster

Filed under: CES 2010

WTV watcher update

Last week I blogged about a new project I found on codeplex called WTVWatcher that delivers a fantastically simple process for decommercialising TV shows recorded in Windows Media Center with Windows 7. Well a weeks rolled on and thanks in tiny...

Published Mon, Nov 09 2009 5:38 PM by simonster

Super-simple, no config commercial removal in Windows 7

I think I’ve found something too good to be true. I was just looking about on codeplex and came across this project WTVWatcher by Paul Bruce . It almost has me shaking in my seat for it’s simplicity and ease of use. What Paul’s done...

Published Mon, Nov 02 2009 12:30 PM by simonster

Filed under: media center, Windows 7

WindowsMediaCenterExperts Twitter list

In the last few hours Twitter has made a very cool feature available to all, lists. Yep, a list. Why is that cool? Well it makes it really simple to share tweets from people who know something cool about a subject, like er Windows Media...

Published Thu, Oct 29 2009 8:23 AM by simonster

You can watch the Live Windows 7 launch right here

To make it easy for everyone I thought that I’d throw up a post with the stream in it. Enjoy. Silverlight is required.

Published Thu, Oct 22 2009 11:29 AM by simonster

Wired UK on Home Automation

I was travelling back from a meeting yesterday on the train and decided to grab the UK edition of Wired to read to pass the time. In it there was a good, short and to the point article on home automation perfect for anyone looking to understand...

Published Thu, Oct 15 2009 8:17 PM by simonster

Xbox Beta with Facebook, Twitter and Zune, sign-up now!

The Xbox beta program is looking for more participation according to Major Nelson . Requirements etc. are located here , and as always there’s no guarantee that you’ll be accepted to the Beta (Gold Members have a better chance) but there’s some...

Published Thu, Oct 15 2009 2:53 PM by simonster

Channel4 Partner with YouTube

Two internet TV stories in one day, whodathunkit? Channel 4 in the UK have announced that they’re going to start putting all their content on YouTube. That’s got to be some kind of coup for YouTube as Channel 4 is actually a public service...

Published Thu, Oct 15 2009 2:31 PM by simonster

Sky TV coming to those with no dish

Sky have announced today that they’re partnering with FetchTV to launch their SmartBox set top box…their what? I’ve never seen this device before today, but there’s what looks like quite an interesting Freeview + (a DVB-TPVR) that can also connect...

Published Thu, Oct 15 2009 2:20 PM by simonster

Filed under: xbox

New player in the “cloud backup” space

How you backup your PC is becoming increasingly important, especially for those of us that keep EVERYTHING on there. Thousands of family pictures and memories, not to mention TV series and that massive movie collection are amongst the most important...

Published Tue, Oct 13 2009 7:20 PM by simonster

Another week, a new subscription based music model, but Spotify takes some beating!

Today BSkyB in the UK is launching their new subscription based music model carefully named Sky Songs, but I wonder how long the idea to call it SkyTunes was banded about in the office? The subscription model they are introducing looks quite similar to...

Published Mon, Oct 12 2009 10:24 AM by simonster

England v Ukraine, live online – only!

So folks I’d really like to know what you think about this. As everyone knows, in England, we’re passionate about this game called football (the real one, the one that girls play in the US, what you call “Soccer”) [p.s. I actually couldn’t give...

Published Tue, Oct 06 2009 10:05 PM by simonster

Connect Xbox 360 to Mac

This is an interesting one. I’ve just come across [thanks to @whatleydude on twitter ] a way connect to the media on a Mac from your Xbox 360, which brings it into the box of interesting things to do. The software is called Connect 360 and it’s...

Published Tue, Sep 29 2009 10:02 PM by simonster

How to get secure for free with Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft Security Essentials ( MSE ) has just been released so I thought I’d throw up a quite guide on how to get it and do the install (this is very basic folks, as the product is really simply put together, but some people like this stuff). Go...

Published Tue, Sep 29 2009 4:07 PM by simonster

Awesome PlayTo from web

The folks at TwonkyMedia have just released an IE plug in that lets you do something very similar to PlayTo in Windows 7 from a web page and unlike the other PlayTo features, Windows 7 isn’t needed. The eHomeUpgrade article covers everything I’d...

Published Tue, Sep 29 2009 12:50 PM by simonster

Internet Explorer could save you 45 minutes

Not quite Media Center related, but it could help if you’re mobile. This is one of the more interesting takes on browser selection criteria that I’ve seen, it’s something I’d not really thought about before…does the browser you use affect your battery...

Published Mon, Sep 14 2009 1:00 PM by simonster

EEE PC in your kitchen cupboard

File this one under impressive installations. This little video, featured on Make magazine shows a superb kitchen installation of a touch screen EEE PC that’s been modded and had a touch screen added. Looks like a good bit of installation...

Published Mon, Sep 14 2009 12:44 PM by simonster

Windows 7 ads start – More happy is coming

Looks like the ad machine is starting up with this very cute ad that also shows off some of the great things that have been said about the new OS.

Published Thu, Sep 10 2009 11:58 PM by simonster

Xbox 360 price drop

Love it or hate it Microsoft have lots of hope pinned on the Xbox360 as a device for entertainment in your living room. Right now it's also the best extender available as it remains to be seen if new ones will be announced at CEDIA. It is then quite nice...

Published Thu, Aug 27 2009 12:20 PM by simonster

Nokia announces their first netbook…with Windows 7

It was bound to happen and Nokia have jumped feet first into the netbook market today with this prime specimen, which appears to be the first to market netbook with Windows 7 starter on it. They’ve released a nice video on YouTube, embedded in this...

Published Mon, Aug 24 2009 5:10 PM by simonster

Order the full version of Windows 7 in UK for upgrade prices

In addition to announcing the availability of upgrades in the UK and the Family pack, Microsoft also announced that Windows 7 pricing will kick over to upgrade or full from September 1….so… If you want the full version of Windows 7 for the price of an...

Published Mon, Aug 24 2009 4:55 PM by simonster

Filed under: Windows 7

Family pack and upgrades GO! at launch for Windows 7 in UK

Well this is some excellent news for anyone in the UK. Thanks to the ballot screen approach to browser choice in Europe, Microsoft is now able to offer both the Upgrade version of Windows 7 and the Family Pack (which is 3 Windows 7 licenses for...

Published Mon, Aug 24 2009 2:40 PM by simonster

Windows Live Moviemaker updated

One of the gems of Windows Live Essentials (which are explored quite thoroughly in my book) is Movie Maker which provides dead simple movie editing. The best analogy is one I heard today “Movie Maker is the notepad of video editing tools” (not sure...

Published Thu, Aug 20 2009 5:43 PM by simonster

Filed under: Live

ZuneHD available for UK pre-order

This is hot news for anyone UK based that wants a ZuneHD, you can have one. ZuneThings have opened their online ordering for the UK and ok it’s not an official channel, but you probably don’t care about that. You might though if you’re worried...

Published Thu, Aug 20 2009 5:31 PM by simonster

Filed under: zune

Wow! Zune HD looks super sexy on a big screen

It looks like Ian’s wishes for the Zune HD being an offline extender might be only slightly short of the mark. Here’s a lovely video of the device in action on a big screen, and boy does it look nice! [I think this might have been posted by engaged...

Published Thu, Aug 20 2009 5:21 PM by simonster

Filed under: zune

The ZuneHD looks awesome!

Microsoft's new music player looks awesome, no seriously it does. It’s got some great technical specs, like an NVidia chip that gives it fantastic graphics, an OLED screen that looks super crisp and HD radio. Some of the leaks around the device...

Published Tue, Aug 11 2009 7:00 PM by simonster

DLNA gaining ground with TV makers FAST!

I think it’s fair to say that all Windows Media Center enthusiasts are pinning their hopes on DLNA standards giving us a superb media experience all around the home given the current lack of support between vendors for Microsoft's own Media Center Extenders...

Published Sat, Aug 08 2009 11:16 AM by simonster

How to tell if your new hardware is Windows 7 compatible

The Windows Blog has some interesting information about the Windows 7 logo scheme. For those who don’t know about it, which is probably most people, the logo scheme helps to clearly identify devices that give the best experience with Windows...

Published Thu, Aug 06 2009 6:06 PM by simonster

How to Save $200 and get your whole family on Windows 7

Microsoft have announced that they are going to be producing a “Family Pack” of Windows 7 Home Premium (which is the version most people are going to want, and has all the media features you’ll need) and the pricing has been confirmed at $149 US. ...

Published Sun, Aug 02 2009 6:21 PM by simonster

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