I've had lots of questions recently and no time to really get answers and post them up here. If I haven't answered you question it's because I don't know the answer and haven't had enough time to get to the bottom of it yet. First of all I had a couple of questions on MSAS which I don't know that...

How are HTML apps and add-ins associated with each other? (Can HTML apps trigger add-ins to be launched?) HTML and add-ins can both be part of the same application, that is each is a different entrypoint of the application. The association takes place at registration time, when both would be registered...

Betanews reports that Gateway/ eMachines will be offering a new Media Center PC for $599! The specs are pretty impressive for such a cheap computer: AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 1GB DDR SDRAM 200GB hard drive ATI Radeon Xpress 200 8 in 1 media reader Rewritable dual-layer DVD drive CD...

I've decided to take all the questions I get by email and answer them on Fridays in one post, so do please continue to email me any questions you have. That said, here's this weeks questions: How can I keep the Media Center window on top so I can work on other things? In Media Center go to Settings...

Jason over at Digital Media Thoughts sent me an email about his new article on The Powers and Perils of a Platform . Jason talks about the trouble he had when a Media Center "plugin" went bad and couldn't be uninstalled. It's not clear if it was an HTML application or a managed code add-in, but based...

I've had a couple of questions by email that I should answer (note I've paraphrased some of these): What fonts should I use for my HTML Media Center application and can I use Flash? The SDK is where to go for design guidelines for HTML applications (the short answer is to use a sans serif font). Yes...

All the keyboard shortcuts for Media Center for those times when you just don't want to use a remote control are documented here . Update: If the page doesn't display, try again later, it's propagating around servers or something like that I'm told

MSN Remote Record is live and out of beta. In simplest terms it's a way of browsing the same TV guide as your Media Center PC uses and then remotely instructing your Media Center PC to record something. Pretty clever stuff. There's a small download for your Media Center PC and then it looks pretty easy...

I get a lot of emails asking for help with people's Media Center and I can't answer them all. Feel free to email me with things you'd like me to write about, but please understand I can't answer all the emails or provide tech support for you. If you have a problem I encourage you to use the newsgroups...

This is pretty cool if you're looking to build your own Media Center PC. Intel have started producing barebones systems in a case that wouldn't look out of place with other A/V equipment. All you need to add is a CPU (an Intel P4 of course), hard drive and RAM. The motherboard is based on the Intel 915P...

There's an update for MCX for Xbox available on Xbox Live now that will allow you to play back CGMS-A content (HBO etc...). You should get prompted about the update next time you log into Live. If you don't have Xbox Live you can request the update here .

In response to an emailed question from Mike Kaltschnee about how to install applications on Media Center I thought I'd provide my thoughts on the subject. First, do you really need to install something? Let's tackle what do if you just want to create some links to your web based application. Creating...

If you've got a Sony Media Center PC and want an upgrade to Media Center 2005, you'll want to click here .

eHomeUpgrade talks about how to improve the My Pictures experience in Media Center . There's some good ideas there. Some that I've thought of before and would like to see and some that I haven't. They noticed that a slideshow always starts with the same photo which annoys me as well, but I've learnt...

Now you can watch copy protected TV on your Extender. Update for the HP model. Update for the Linksys model. Just in time for the holidays. Enjoy everyone.

A reminder about tonight's geek dinner ... Charlie says he will have some prizes...

Right now the method for debugging Media Center applications is pretty much to use Visual Studio both for jscript debugging in HTML apps and managed code for add-ins. I know some people have had some problems getting this working and I'll try and post something on that later. There's been some talk about...

Charlie and I have talked about this for a while and we've finally got around to doing something about it. If you're interested in Media Center come join us for dinner at Crossroads in Bellevue next Thursday (the 9th) at 6pm. We'll try and look conspicuous, so I'll be wearing a Media Center jacket. I...

The Winter Fun Pack 2004 is now available to download . There's a bunch of things included for Windows Media Player 10 such as skins and new power toys. There's a cool looking addin to add your currently playing music to your email signature when you send email which I'm going to have to play with. There...

Tranquil PC (via mini-itx.com ) have this cool looking Media Center PC available in the UK. It's very small and so has some limitations but the design of it is great. It's using a VIA mini-itx platform so it's not capable of playing HD WMV and only supports one tuner, but for a basic Media Center PC...

If you've been trying to use MediaCenter.IsApplicationActive and wondering why it doesn't work then wonder no more. It can't be made to work as it doesn't actually exist, it's documented in error. To get the same functionality you can use MediaCenter.IsForegroundApplication instead like this: window...

Coming November 7th .;-)

To try and make things easier for anyone looking to experiment with building add-ins for Media Center 2005 I've packaged up the add-in from my previous post on how to build an add-in (there was an error in the registration file I provided in the post - I've fixed that). You can download it here . I've...

HP have announced a new Media Center PC that would look right at home next to other home entertainment devices. The z500 series (link goes to PDF data sheet) supports dual tuners and most interestingly to me is compatible with the iPod (they say the Apple iPod from HP, but I bet a regular Apple one would...

I posted an introduction to add-ins earlier this week using C#. I know there are lots of VB developers out there. If you'd like a sample using VB.NET post a comment here and I'll work something out over the weekend.