Darren Straight's Blog

ICT Enthusiast and photographer.

By - Darren Straight

Microsoft Visual Studio Island Challenge

Back on Thursday Microsoft along with the help of Millionsofus, launched the Microsoft Visual Studio Island (go there now) and with the opening party came a challenge, the Microsoft Visual Studio Challenge: Welcome to the Microsoft Challenge —————————————- 10 eggs containing puzzles have been hidden throughout Second Life. As you solve them, your game piece will record the results. Solve

By - Darren Straight

Windows Live Hotmail Tour – Why update?

Windows Live Hotmail is the next generation of MSN Hotmail and now that its official launched there’s even more reasons for you to update. But are you still deciding whether or not to upgrade at this current point in time? Well if you haven’t decided whether or not to update your MSN Hotmail to Windows Live Hotmail yet, or if

By - Darren Straight

Microsoft Launches Windows Live Hotmail Worldwide

Microsoft Corp. today announced that Windows Live Hotmail, the successor to MSN Hotmail, is launching globally in 36 languages. The most significant upgrade for Hotmail since it pioneered the webmail industry in 1996, the new service has been built to be a vast improvement over the previous Hotmail offering, having incorporated input from more than 20 million beta testers. Windows

By - Darren Straight

Windows Live Hotmail Launches in US on Monday

I’ve mentioned before of a possible launch date of Windows Live Hotmail in the US sometime in the second week of May and well it looks like I could be right, as according to sources familiar with the company’s plans Windows Live Hotmail will be launching this Monday the 7th of May 2007. And though as of yet Microsoft have

By - Darren Straight

My HP iPAQ rx3715 Mobile Media Companion

I’ve owned a HP iPAQ rx3715 Mobile Media Companion Pocket PC (PDA) since March 2005 and I have to say that I absolutely love it, because not only was it one of the best Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition Pocket PC’s available on the market at that time, but it was suited to all my entertainment needs, from taking photos

By - Darren Straight

Microsoft Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live

Microsoft has today announced a new collaboration service between Silverlight (previously named WPF/E) and Windows Live called “Microsoft Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live”. Microsoft® Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live is a companion service for Silverlight that makes it easier for developers and designers to deliver and scale rich media as part of their Silverlight applications. The service offers web designers and developers

By - Darren Straight

SES NY Keynote Video: Windows Live Chief Steve Berkowitz

The following video is an excerpt from the 2007 Search Engine Strategies Keynote discussion between Danny Sullivan and Windows Live Chief, Steve Berkowitz. In this excerpt Steve Berkowitz explains that “it is not ever satisfactory not to be number one” in the search engine industry. He further explains that Microsoft’s first goal is to reach critical mass from an advertising

By - Darren Straight

Disabling Ease of Access on the Windows Vista login screen

It looks like quite a few people out there (here, here and here) would like to know how to go about removing or disabling the Ease of Access Icon which is located in the lower left hand corner of the Windows Vista login screen as you first boot up to Windows Vista or when you lock the screen. Well it looks like a

By - Darren Straight

Windows Home Server CTP Broadly Released

Great news! Today the Microsoft Windows Home Server Team are broadly rolling out a new test build of Windows Home Server – a Community Technology Preview (CTP). The Windows Home Server CTP (build 06.00.1371) provides a wide range of code fixes, user interface improvements and feature enhancements, such as: A more complete and simplified “out of box” experience, including an easy, 7-step

By - Darren Straight

Microsoft Community Betas Services Released

In recent years, Microsoft has made major strides in building up its community outreach. The company has invited bloggers to special events and conferences, established a “Featured Communities” program, and even actively sought feedback from enthusiasts for Windows Vista. Now, The Microsoft.com Community Technologies Team  is taking that effort one step further by launching a series of beta Web sites