Microsoft has released a free online magazine (in PDF format) named Safety and Security Online that’s all about protecting home computers and your family. It’s a pretty good read and has good step-by-step guidance for people who are not IT pros, but who want to improve security and family safety in their homes. You will need to validate your computer using Windows Genuine Advantage (in either IE or Firefox) in order to download, but it takes only a few seconds.
I’ve been on the lookout for a good FTP client for Windows for a long time. I favor a simple interface that lets me easily move files between my computer and FTP site. I used LeechFTP for some time, then moved to Smart FTP. I found both reliable, but a little hard to get around in. I’m now a delighted user of the FireFTP extension for Firefox (for versions 1.5 – 2.0). It opens as a tab within Firefox and sports a simple, intuitive interface for moving files around. It also has all the features I could want from an FTP client.
Microsoft has released Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP. Sporting a new look, more intuitive collection browsing, quicker access to features, and new sharing capabilities, the new offering from Microsoft is looking good. Watch this space for a fuller review when I’ve had the time to play with the release version (and hammer at it from my Xbox360, of course).
Of all the new technologies the folks at Microsoft Live Labs have been putting out, Photosynth is one that really puts a smile on my face when I play with it. And it’s now available for you to play with in the form of a technology preview. Photosynth analyzes collections of digital photos for similarities, builds them into a three dimensional space, and lets you browse through them. From the site:
Each photo is processed by computer vision algorithms to extract hundreds of distinctive features, like the corner of a window frame or a door handle. Photos that share features are then linked together in a web. When the same feature is found in multiple images, its 3D position can be calculated. It’s similar to depth perception – what your brain does to perceive the 3D positions of things in your field of view based on their images in both of your eyes. Photosynth’s 3D model is just the cloud of points showing where those features are in space.
Though not ready for primetime (the product is still in pre-beta) and you can’t yet upload your own photos, you can take the technology preview for a spin with some existing photos on the site. Check it out!
A couple of notes:
- You must use Internet Explorer 6 or 7
- You must allow a small (~5MB) Active X control to install
- You must have a fairly modern graphics card
- You must enable Direct3D, DirectDraw, and Hardware Acceleration on your computer. The Photosynth FAQ page has instructions on doing this.
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