Darren Straight’s Blog

Microsoft’s Windows Live OneCare service has now been upgraded to version 1.5, which now now supports Windows Vista. So you can either download it of the Live OneCare Site or if you are already using the version prior to 1.5 you should automatically be prompted to upgrade.

Windows Live OneCare Features:

• Protection Plus

Virus & Spyware
Firewall
Phishing Filter

• Performance Plus

Remove Unnecessary Files
Auto Defrag Hard Drive
Monitor Scans, Updates & Backups

• Backup & Restore

Download Now, Enjoy!

Great News has arrived for Kylie Minogue fans who missed out on tickets to her sell-out ‘Kylie Showgirl’ comeback tour as from January 24th you will be able to catch every minute of the Pop Princess’s sell-out concert online through MSN Video.

The Aussie superstar’s home gig took place on January 11th and will be streamed in full to 24 countries via http://music.msn.com/kylieminogue as part of MSN’s continuing relationship with Control Room.

The Melbourne concert came mid-way through Kylie’s much anticipated comeback tour, which has been acclaimed as the finest of her career. The ‘Kylie Showgirl’ performance includes no less than seven set changes with all the greatest hits from Kylie’s entire career plus a new collaboration with the Scissor Sisters. 

Kylie adds to the impressive Control Room line up since the deal was initially announced with MSN Video last September. To date, major artists such as John Mayer, John Legend, Rod Stewart, Snoop Dogg and Beyonce have all featured on Control Room with other big names set to be announced over the next year.

So keep your eye out over here!

So hey I hope everyone who attended or watched online the UK Developer Launch of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system enjoyed it, me and 4 friends sure did enjoy being down there, shame my other friend who also really wanted to come couldn’t though. He was really looking forward to it, but the day before, he had to go into hospital for treatment and well he emailed me that night to say that he had to go back the next day for more treatment, so as you can imagine he was pretty pissed off!

Wish we could have brought him some freebies back, but the problem is that because he didn’t attend or hand in the feedback sheet we couldn’t!

Oh well, there will always be something else similar he can go to.

Anyhow yeah like I said I really enjoyed it, though I have to admit there were a couple of times that I felt sleepy, but hey I blame it for the early start I had.

I woke up at 4:30am, left my house at about 5:00am, met up with my friends at about 5:35, and I believe we arrived at Microsoft coming onto 7am, from there we drove into Reading town Centre  for some breakfast at McDonalds at the Oracle Shopping Centre, check out the pics you’ll see how the river was quite high, anyhow once we finished our breakfast we headed back to the Microsoft Building for registration at 8:30, shame about the heavy traffic in Reading Town Centre though, it must have took us 30 minutes or so to get through it, argh!

Anyhow enough rambling of why I had to get up early, it was worth it! :p

And so was the UK Vista Office Launch Geek Dinner organised by Zi Makki.

And hey if you haven’t done already you should head over to:

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/launch2007/dev/default.mspx

More specifically, if you’re a UK Developer:

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/launch2007/dev/competition.mspx

Or if you love photos, check out my Flickr Set of the first day.

Update: Check out these peoples blog posts/pics of the event:

Philip Stears
Mark Johnston
Simon Middlemiss
Benn Hall
Ben Noble

Wow it’s nearly the end of the day and in less than 5 hours time I’ll be getting ready to meet up with my friends and head down to the UK Developer Launch of Windows Vista and Office 2007 at the Microsoft UK Headquarters in Reading. Hopefuly as we are leaving so early we shall be able to get some breakfast on the way, unless we get stuck in some very heavy traffic. I hope not though!

Anyhow it’s going to be Great, especially as It’s going to be full of people from all around the UK (and possible elsewhere). And according to Ian Moulster there will be a truck with a huge satellite dish parked at the venue so that they can upstream the keynote live to a satellite, then spew it down the internet so that thousands of people can watch it live.

So tomorrow (today by the time you read this) you may just want to check out:

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/launch2007/dev/

Trust me you won’t regret watching the Keynote Live, not to mention the sessions afterwards, though these have been already prerecorded for the site, so you’ll get the prerecorded ones available when the real live ones start!

Good luck in getting yourself a copy of Windows Vista or Office 2007 if you are a UK Developer and do attend the Online Event, as there’s going to be around 1000 copies going!

And hey don’t forget theres the Geek Dinner afterwards, check it out at:

http://www.thehughpage.com/VistaOfficeLaunchGeekDinner

The @media 2007 web site has just been launched, and you can now register to attend:

http://www.vivabit.com/atmedia2007/

As in previous years, the popular, well renowned conference will focus on best practices in web design and development, providing an unparalleled educational, inspirational, and all-round enjoyable experience for design beginners to the experienced web design firm.

AMERICA: San Francisco, May 24th - 25th
ASIA: Hong Kong, May 31st - June 1st
EUROPE: London, June 7th - 8th

Well it looks Jeff Alexander a Microsoft IT Pro Evangelist, has created yet another Screencast on Windows Vista, this time it’s a Windows Vista Screencast on the Aero Interface!

In this Screencast I’m going to give you a bit of introduction on the new Windows Vista Aero interface that is available for Windows Vista Premium PC’s.  I’m going to take you through how Vista looks in it’s basic themes and then look at how it will scale to the hardware its running on.  I’m also going to show you how it compares to Windows XP.  Now can I cover all of it in 10-15 minutes?  Well probably not but at least this gives you a taste of what it looks like.

Check it out here.

And hey don’t forget to check out Jeffs other Windows Vista Screencast on Search.

What is the Panel?

With the advent of the Windows Vista Presentation Foundation and the new Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) stunning 3D visualizations of your applications and animations will be easy to implement. The new Windows Live™ services and Vista Sidebar Gadgets lead to a new generation of customized mini-applications meeting your customers’ needs. The Panel is the place to collect showcases of the new user experiences and provide insights on how they were implemented.

Each featured project provides the applications as well as the source code and explanation in order to help you leverage the new technologies and build better user experiences. The MSDN Flash newsletter will update you on the project status, once you have registered to the Panel as a participant.

Check it out here!

Hey have you ever heard of the Microsoft Designertopia Conference?

My bet is probably not as it is its first year. But from what they say it sure does sound like a pretty cool conference. Which is for that reason that I’ll hopefuly be going as a Microsoft Student Partner. Fingers Crossed!

Create rich user experiences, beyond the browser. Stand out among the crowd.

Join us in a discussion - we start building the next Web today.

Meet creative thinkers and business trend spotters. Listen to Ray Hammond’s breathtaking projection of the future. Discuss how trends and technologies affect design with Cordell Ratzlaff. Discover new design movements with Marcus Fairs.

The designertopia conference will take place on 1st and 2nd February at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square.

Check out the Microsoft Designertopia Conference site for more info!

Hey check out the new Windows Vista Ultimate Extra Website over at http://windowsultimate.com/.

It has a nice design, in line with Ultimate colours, i.e. black.

Ultimate Extras won’t be available until January 30th, but you can get a sneak preview right now on the Extras page. Find out about the exciting programs and enhancements that will be available exclusively to those of you with Windows Vista Ultimate.The fine print: Ultimate Extras will not be available in all languages on January 30th. Extras will appear automatically in Windows Update as they do become available, and our team will be sure to write blog entries about the schedule when we have dates to share.

Via: James Senior

Do you work for a UK Microsoft partner and want the chance to win some great prizes?

Then check out Christians EVO Supremo game and test your knowledge.

Via: John Westworth