Entries for PaoloM

Weird Windows 7 score [Weird Windows 7 score]

PaoloM — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:31:11 GMT

Why is graphics so low, compared to the gaming graphics score? What could be the cause?

Sound cards [Sound cards]

PaoloM — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:26:56 GMT

So I did the retarded thing and put my audio cable into the socket and the case slipped and the tip of the audio plug got broken and now it's stuck in the socket.

This means no sound. This also means a good opportunity to look around and see what happened to the sound card market in the last 15 years...

User scenario: Paolo has a 2 speaker setup (Logitech Z4) and listens to a lot of music on his system. He does not game and doesn't watch movies on this machine. He would like a high quality *stereo* card that is as inexpensive as possible.

Looking here, anyone sees anything that would fit my needs? :)

in reply to Sound cards

Must have [Must have]

PaoloM — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:41:08 GMT

in reply to Must have

Nook wins [Nook wins]

PaoloM — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:19:02 GMT

So today Barnes & Noble unveiled their eBook reader, the Nook.

Reasonable price, cool looks, color touchscreen, *right* formats (ePub and PDF), Android, micro SD slot, bunch of nice accessories (I like the Jack Spade designer cover), WiFi, 3G.

If it displays full page PDFs in a readable way, it's on the top of my Christmas list :)

in reply to Nook wins

Searching Twitter from Windows 7 [Searching Twitter from Windows 7]

PaoloM — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:37:04 GMT

Let's take a look at a possible "microapp" you can do with federated search in Windows 7...

How about having a way to very quickly search tweets for a keyword or a mention and then save these searches to allow one-click access to quick glances on Twitter activity?

Easy with Search Connectors :)

Open your favorite text editor and paste this bunch of XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<searchConnectorDescription xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2009/searchConnector" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
 <description>Twitter</description>
 <isSearchOnlyItem>true</isSearchOnlyItem>
 <domain>http://twitter.com</domain>
 <supportsAdvancedQuerySyntax>false</supportsAdvancedQuerySyntax>
 <templateInfo>
  <folderType>{8FAF9629-1980-46FF-8023-9DCEAB9C3EE3}</folderType>
 </templateInfo>
 <locationProvider clsid="{48E277F6-4E74-4cd6-BA6F-FA4F42898223}">
  <propertyBag>
  
   <property name="OpenSearchShortName"><![CDATA[Twitter]]></property>
   <property name="OpenSearchQueryTemplate"><![CDATA[http://search.twitter.com/search.rss?q={searchTerms}]]></property>
   <property name="MaximumResultCount" type="uint32"><![CDATA[100]]></property>
   
   <property name="System.PropList.ContentViewModeForSearch"><![CDATA[prop:~System.Contact.FullName;~System.DateModified;~System.ItemPathDisplay;~System.Search.AutoSummary;~System.Author]]></property>
   
   <property name="PropertyMap"><![CDATA[<PropertyMapList>
    <PropertyMap sourceNameSpaceURI="http://base.google.com/ns/1.0">
     <Source path="image_link">
      <Property schema="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2008/propertynamespace" name="System.ImageParsingName" />
     </Source>
    </PropertyMap>
    <PropertyMap sourceNameSpaceURI="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
     <Source path="author/name">
      <Property schema="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2008/propertynamespace" name="System.Contact.FullName" />
     </Source>
    </PropertyMap>
   </PropertyMapList>]]></property>
  </propertyBag>
 </locationProvider>
</searchConnectorDescription>

Save this in C:\<username>\Searches (or wherever your user profile is) as twitter.searchConnector-ms.

Then go there, double click it and enter something in the search box, say... "channel9".

Marvel at the fancy results, click on Save Search and name it "Channel 9 on Twitter". A shortcut is the created in your Favorites node in the navigation pane on the left.

Now, whenever you want to check the last 15 mentions on "Channel9" on Twitter, just click on that shortcut, glance at the results and go back to your task.

This was a presentation from the Find & Organize chaps :)

in reply to Searching Twitter from Windows 7

I can has Mariners [I can has Mariners]

PaoloM — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:35:44 GMT

http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/sea/ticketing/special_group.jsp?group=cheezburger

Anyone in Seattle in July? :)

in reply to I can has Mariners

PDF -> XPS [PDF -> XPS]

PaoloM — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:11:22 GMT

Anyone knows of a (free) tool or a .NET library to convert PDF documents (mostly scans) to XPS?

Mucha gracias.

in reply to PDF -> XPS

Flip MinoHD [Flip MinoHD]

PaoloM — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:32:54 GMT

I got one of those last weekend. It's awesome :)

A pity that decoding HD MP4s is so CPU intensive...

in reply to Flip MinoHD

The incredibly shrinking laptop [The incredibly shrinking laptop]

PaoloM — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:32:53 GMT

Dell XPS 1330 -> Acer Aspire One -> Sony Vaio P :)

All running (or, in the case of the XPS, in the process of running) Windows 7.

in reply to The incredibly shrinking laptop

Windows 7 Federated search implementer's guide [Windows 7 Federated search implementer's guide]

PaoloM — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:12:16 GMT

Is online.

Feel free to go crazy with your search connectors :)

in reply to Windows 7 Federated search implementer's guide

Toothing one's horn. [Toothing one's horn.]

PaoloM — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:52:00 GMT

(I have no idea if I got the spelling right in the title :))

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Dan/Windows-7-Find-and-Organize-Part-1-The-User-Experience/

High five to David and Paul for presenting the user experience of the new explorer!

in reply to Toothing one's horn.

Those Interns [Those Interns]

PaoloM — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:53:04 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyUTVwlwYR0

This is totally awesome. It was shot all around my office and I think you can see Brandon's car at the end :)

Life lesson: don't steal badges. Nothing good comes out of that.

in reply to Those Interns

The new American Idol [The new American Idol]

PaoloM — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:20:31 GMT

Finally, my couch has his own show :)

in reply to The new American Idol

Suspicious packages [Suspicious packages]

PaoloM — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:24:20 GMT

What do you do when you get to the office and find a suspicious package on your desk?

Well, you rip it open of course!

I don't know how Domenico knew that my first car was a 500, but this is just awesome :)

Thanks, Domenico!!!!!! (exclamation points added for emphasis only)

in reply to Suspicious packages

Windows 7 screenshots [Windows 7 screenshots]

PaoloM — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:57:16 GMT

http://wepokers.blogspot.com/2008/05/microsoft-confirms-windows-7-for-2010.html

One wonders what people drink on a long weekend... :|

in reply to Windows 7 screenshots

Windows videos [Windows videos]

PaoloM — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:28:26 GMT

Looking at this page, do you guys think it is a good way to showcase features and howtos for other products? Would you like to see more? Is it a waste of time?

in reply to Windows videos

Photosynth on CSI:NY [Photosynth on CSI:NY]

PaoloM — Fri, 02 May 2008 00:05:27 GMT

So, apparently tonight there's an episode of CSI:NY that revolves pretty much entirely around Photosynth and forensic crime scene reconstruction.

The things is, as opposed to the usual "Movie OS" we all know and love, this time the software is actually there and the actors are running it live.

Pretty cool, if you ask me... or even if you don't :)

in reply to Photosynth on CSI:NY

Search Together [Search Together]

PaoloM — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:24:22 GMT

http://research.microsoft.com/searchtogether/

Fancy search tricks from those brainiacs in research :)

in reply to Search Together

Windows Search 4 Preview [Windows Search 4 Preview]

PaoloM — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:55:12 GMT

Surprisingly enough, WDS didn't stop at v3.01 :)

Now named Windows Search 4, a preview version has been released today for your enjoyment.

Read the blog post, check the KB and just download and love it :)

in reply to Windows Search 4 Preview

Re: Silverlight on the iPhone [Silverlight on the iPhone]

PaoloM — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 06:45:29 GMT

CompGuy101 wrote:
My iPhone has never crashed when using the official Apps. When I run apps that I've put on there from Installer.app, it freezes sometimes.

Mine is an 1.1.4, not jaibroken. Considering other people I know that have similar problems, I don't think it's a rare problem.

in reply to Silverlight on the iPhone

"Them" ["Them"]

PaoloM — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:37:06 GMT

Apparently, we're "them" now...

:D

in reply to "Them"

33 [33]

PaoloM — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:11:48 GMT

Any niner in 33?

in reply to 33

Re: Another Linux vendor strikes a deal with Microsoft [Another Linux vendor strikes a deal with Microsoft]

PaoloM — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:02:36 GMT

Yeah, it's always funny how when a distro does something that the GPL-thumping zealots don't like, it's always "who are these guys?"

TurboLinux is the most popular Linux distro in Japan and has been like that for several years now...

:|

in reply to Another Linux vendor strikes a deal with Microsoft

Amazing ePaper technology from Microsoft [Amazing ePaper technology from Microsoft]

PaoloM — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 21:37:32 GMT

On a wall of the rec room in building 86, we have a super secret, extremely thin monitor for our (non-existent) Xbox:

(I guess that's where the monitor will go :))

in reply to Amazing ePaper technology from Microsoft

Halo....? [Halo....?]

PaoloM — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 04:09:18 GMT

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24179.html

I don't know what this is, but I'm ready to curse Peter Jackson now :)

in reply to Halo....?