Darren Straight's Blog

ICT Enthusiast and photographer.

By - Darren Straight

The bugs, beauty and benefits of beta testing

Just found out about this article which has some advice for becoming a beta tester along with the bugs, beauty and benefits of beta testing, it’s quite an interesting read. here’s an extract of the last paragraph: Advice for beta testers Beta tests are not something to enter into lightly. You may need to put lower priority projects on hold or delay other

By - Darren Straight

Windows Live Messenger 8.0 Managed Beta Comes to an End!

The Windows Live Messenger 8.0 Managed Beta has now come to an end, and what a great beta it was, congratulations goes to the Windows Live Messenger Team, it was very well managed and it was great to talk to other beta participants. I don’t think it could have got any better, well not unless we were all invited to

By - Darren Straight

CGI Animated Meteorite Collision Simulation Video

Check out this impresive CGI-animated meteorite collision simulation video, it’s pretty cool but scary if you ask me. The diameter of the meteorite is slightly bigger than the breadth of Honshu Japan. The collision point is located at the 3,000km south from Japan in the ocean. The velocity of the meteorite is 70,000km/h Via: TecheBlog | A Welsh View

By - Darren Straight

My thoughts on the Farecast Private Beta so far!

Ok so I’ve been on the Farecast Private Beta, an airline fare prediction tool, for less than a week now thanks to Mark and I kind of like what I’ve seen so far, but to be honest there’s still quite a lot of limitations. Now I know this is a very early private beta (invite only) but I think they really need

By - Darren Straight

30 Boxes Webtop!

30 Boxes co-founder Narendra Rocherolle has now posted on the 30 Boxes Blog about their new Webtop Service called 30 Boxes Webtop! And so far it’s looking pretty good as you can even choose a different background image by giving the webtop an URL, it also ties in nicely with your calendar, but yeah anyway I won’t go into depths

By - Darren Straight

Windows Vista Beta 2: Biggest Download Event in History

For those of you that don’t know yet, the Windows Vista Beta 2 Download is set to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records for 2006 because it has set the record for the biggest download event in history with its 3.5GB Windows Vista ISO Image that contains the Windows Vista Installer. We are pumping out bits as

By - Darren Straight

Robert Scoble is leaving Microsoft for PodTech.net so what’s next?

Ok so you’ve probably already heard the news about how Robert Scoble, one of the worlds most noticed bloggers and technical evangelists for Microsoft, has announced (10th June 20060) that he is leaving Microsoft to join a new start up called PodTech.net where he will work as Vice President of Media Development. But have you heard the new news about

By - Darren Straight

My 21st Birthday and First Blog Anniversary!

Hey and welcome to my 21st Birthday party, that’s right today I’m 21 years old, and it’s not just my birthday that I’m celebrating as I’m also celebrating the creation of this website and blog, as it was exactly a year ago today on my 20th Birthday that I decided to start this website and blog. And wow what a

By - Darren Straight

Windows Vista Beta 2 Coming soon to TechNet Virtual Labs

Windows Vista Beta 2 is coming soon to Microsoft’s TechNet Virtual Labs. VIRTUAL LABS Test out product features in a fully configured environment. Experiment with the newest features of Windows Vista in a sandbox environment—without installing software or dedicating additional computers to the project. (Coming soon) TechNet Virtual Labs is basically as Microsoft Hosted Lab in which you can try

By - Darren Straight

Virtual Tech-Ed 2006

Are you not able to attend Tech•Ed this year? If so then you’re in luck because Virtual Tech•Ed puts you to as close as Tech•Ed as your nearest Internet connection. On Virtual Tech•Ed you can listen to TechNet Radio, watch  video blogs, sign up for MSN Alerts, subscribe to RSS feeds, and watch the Session of the Day Webcast along with commenting on