Hi All,

One of the most useful things you can do with Live Mesh, beyond just syncing files and folders, is syncing your bookmarks. This is as simple as right-clicking on your Favorites folder and adding it to the Mesh. (Doug has more detailed instructions on this here). When you do this on all your machines, you’ll end up with a merged directory of all your Favorites so you can manage your bookmarks from in one location, no matter how many machines you have.  You can even access them from any other computer that has internet access just by logging into your Live Desktop. Live Mesh lets you invite others to share a folder, so, if you wanted to share your bookmarks.

Nick.

Last week John O’Hara gained a judgement against Telecom from the Disputes Tribunal for the amount of $1,000. The amount was in compensation for the 18.5 hours of his time wasted trying to re-establish my Xtra email account. He logged the time he spent on the calls and also made a note of the advice he received. During his hearing Telecom staff commented they were concerned about a precedent being set, to which he commented they were quite right to be worried!

Full story here.

It’ll be interesting to see if others jump on the bandwagon…

Hi All,

Vanessa under went some laparoscopic surgery on Wednesday to clean up some scar tissue that was creating her some issues internally. The challenge she faces is that she has had numerous bowel operations in the past, that in itself is major enough, however she also suffers from keyloid scarring.  A keloid is a type of scar which results in an overgrowth of tissue at the site of ahealed skin injury. This happens externally, but also happens internally. So every time they go in to treat (cut away) scar tissue that is strangulating her body organs, they of course create more scar tissue, so it becomes a catch 22/chicken & egg situation.

Here’s some cool photos that they took during the procedure: The top four are of the bowel with scar tissue being removed, and the bottom two are of the overies.

Nick.

Hi All,

So I thought I’d give some praise where it’s due :-) My wife is having an operation tomorrow at St Georges here in Christchurch and naturally I will be spending a fair amount of time up at the hospital with her over the next few days. We’re currently investigating our options around what mobile broadband provider and device we will purchase, so I’ll be at a bit of a loss tomorrow – well maybe not!

I wandered downstairs to the lads at Snap, and they give me a device to try, unfortunately the sim card was no longer active so it wasn’t going to fly. They did however give me the details of a gentleman to contact at St Georges, who was more than happy to assist. They are currently trialling broadband in rooms (and investigating wifi options for guests) and therefore, all you need is an Ethernet cable and to connect to any website and authenticate and away you go.

Great job Snap, and Great job St Georges!

Nick.

Hi All, 

This is the first community prototype from Office Labs. Community prototypes are projects Microsoft employees work on in their spare time. Speed Launch's goal is to let you get to the stuff you use faster and with less frustration.

Speed Launch - Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Why do I need Speed Launch?
Work faster and with less frustration. Speed Launch gives you lightning quick access to all the documents, files, and websites you use often. In the past when you used something a lot you might have created a desktop shortcut, added it to your IE favorites, or placed it on your quick launch bar. Speed Launch allows you to create centralized shortcuts to all the stuff you need and allows you to access them effortlessly.

What is Speed Launch?
Speed Launch is an application launcher that extends the functionality and usability of Microsoft Windows. With Speed Launch, users can select their own words to open frequently used websites, documents, and applications. The most compelling feature of Speed launch is the use of a drag and drop interaction model to make this advanced functionality more intuitive to novice computer users.

How is it used? How does it work with Windows?
Speed Launch is a downloadable program available at www.officelabs.com.   After you've download Speed Launch, simply drag the file, document, or website url onto the Speed Launch bull's-eye to create a Speed Launch shortcut. From then on, any time you need to access that file, document, or website, just hit "Windows+C", type the shortcut name, and what you need will immediately appear.

Is there a shortcut key to open the launcher?
Yes.  Use "Windows+C". 

How do I use Speed Launch to open multiple things?
Drag the first item on to the bull's-eye and give it a name.  Next, drag the second item on to the bull's-eye and give it the same name.  When you do this, Speed Launch will give you the option to replace or merge the two items, choose merge. Now, hit "Windows+C" and type the name.  Speed Launch will open both items.

Is there a limit to how many items a single Speed Launch shortcut can open?
Not that we know of

I notice that Speed Launch comes with some shortcuts that allow me to search websites.  How do I use them?
Speed Launch comes preloaded with a few useful fucntions.  For example, to search Wikipedia just type “Wikipedia Search” and hit enter.  Next, type what you want to search for in the new window and hit enter.  Speed Launch will open the related Wikipedia page.

Nick.

Hi All,

Well today started off earlier than other typical weekends. We’ve had alot of snow in the Canterbury Region, and we haven’t really had a good chance to go and have a play in it – So we headed south to Lake Coleridge in search of some snow. We stopped at Darfield and enjoyed a hot breakfast with some decent carb loading :-). It’s easy to get stuck in the routine of life, so we decided to enjoy our surroundings, and headed an hour south – the boys had a blast!

For more photos go here - http://www.thenet.gen.nz/Home/Photos.aspx?AlbumID=133

For videos of Liam and Lachie playing in the snow go here - http://www.thenet.gen.nz/Home/Movies.aspx

We had lunch out at Lincoln with Vanessa’s brother, wife and kids, then Liam and I headed off to the Canterbury vs Auckland Rugby game at AMI Stadium.

Great result with Canterbury taking it to Auckland 34 - 3 – It was our first ‘take a kid to footy’ night. (Take a kid to footy costs $25 for an Adult and Child, and they receive a ‘loot bag’ with a drink, chips, some bangers and some face paint) – Cheap night out! It was pretty cold, however Liam was keen to stay until the end.

A few more photos here - http://www.thenet.gen.nz/Home/Photos.aspx?AlbumID=134

Nick.

Thanks to a partnership between Lenovo, Intel, and Zumobi, Windows Mobile users now have access to an app called the “Olympic Zoom Space,” which is available via a free download at http://lenovo.zumobi.com. This four-tile zoom space, like other Zumobi downloads, lets you quickly and easily view news and photos from the web without need of your web browser. The app features news, blogs, photos, and other updates from Lenovo’s “Olympic Podium” website, a site which focuses on providing you with a comprehensive guide to the Summer Games in Beijing.

A giant inflatable dog turd by American artist Paul McCarthy has blown away from an exhibition in the garden of a Swiss museum, bringing down a power line before landing again.

The art work, titled Complex Sh*t, is the size of a house.

The wind carried it 200 metres from the Paul Klee Centre in Berne before it fell back to Earth in the grounds of a children's home.

It also broke the window at the children's home.

The museum is still deciding if it will put Complex Sh*t back on display.

Source

the_nack..wav (1.30 mb)