June 2006 - Posts

Computerworld’s Top 20 Reasons Why Windows Vista Will Be Your Next OS
29 June 06 04:42 PM | KamVedBrat | 0 Comments   

Computerworld has a comprehensive write-up on Windows Vista that just went up a couple days ago. One highlight for me was reading Scot Finnie’s comments on some of the work we’ve done in the graphics stack with Windows Presentation Foundation and the Read More...

Filed under: Windows Vista

Traveling with your Windows PC? Try SpeedSwitchXP
16 June 06 06:19 AM | KamVedBrat | 2 Comments   

Chad Essley’s blog pointed me to SpeedSwitchXP . A great little utility for managing your CPU’s power-saving state while traveling. Read More...

Kam’s adventures with HDV
15 June 06 10:54 PM | KamVedBrat | 3 Comments   

I recently purchased a Sony HDR-HC3 high-definition camcorder, to capture some vacation footage with my family, and It’s been an adventure to work with. I got some good results in the end, but not without some bumps along the way. First – some background… Read More...

Filed under: HDV

Closing windows, learned behaviors, and the forward-slash key
08 June 06 11:46 PM | KamVedBrat | 3 Comments   

I just read Jensen’s post about the history of the close button and it made me chuckle. You see, when we went thorugh the redesign of the folder windows in Windows Explorer, the issue of whether or not to put an icon in the top left corner was hotly debated. Read More...

Off topic: inexpensive mini-rc airplanes!
08 June 06 08:56 PM | KamVedBrat | 1 Comments   

A friend just sent me a link to Raiden Tech Inc. , who make some neat little remote control airplanes! I used to really enjoy model airplanes as a kid… this looks like a great and inexpensive way to get into it… Read More...

Take Windows Vista and Office 2007 for a test drive!
08 June 06 06:11 PM | KamVedBrat | 0 Comments   

The Windows Vista site on Microsoft.com has all the details on getting signed up for the Windows Vista Customer Preview Program, and you can get the Office 2007 Beta from the 2007 Microsoft Office System preview site . Read More...

Filed under: Work, Windows Vista

The only thing cooler than the Halo 3 trailer at E3…
08 June 06 06:46 AM | KamVedBrat | 1 Comments   

…is this video the folks at Bungie produced about the making of the trailer. I can’t wait for this game. Read More...

Hack your router
08 June 06 06:15 AM | KamVedBrat | 1 Comments   

UPDATED: fixed the link -now it points to the same article LifeHacker was linking to (I can't find the LifeHacker post anymore). Sorry about the UPS package tracking thing. I’m generally not one to recommend doing anything that might void your warrantee… Read More...

Seema’s Blogging!
07 June 06 10:56 PM | KamVedBrat | 0 Comments   

Seema is a program manager on my team focusing on 2d & 3d graphics in Avalon. She’s started her blog with a post discussing how WPF’s hardware acceleration characteristics can change based on driver model (Windows Vista or Windows XP), and driver Read More...

How to get “glass” into your application using WPF or WinForms
04 June 06 10:39 PM | KamVedBrat | 2 Comments   

The great thing about working at a company the size of Microsoft is that sometimes people get things done that you wanted to do before you get around to it. In this case – some folks on our evangelism and SDK teams have written some really slick samples Read More...

Filed under: Work

iTunes and QuickTime updated to be compatible with Aero
03 June 06 11:29 PM | KamVedBrat | 0 Comments   

Back in February, I posted about some compatibility issues various applications may have with Aero, and in that post, I referenced iTunes and QuickTime as examples of applications that have these sorts of problems. Well, the very nice folks at Apple have Read More...

Filed under: Work

Plays For Sure hat-trick: WMP11+URGE+Clix
03 June 06 11:22 PM | KamVedBrat | 0 Comments   

Windows Media Devices have been getting a whole lot of really positive press lately. CNet stacked the Clix above the iPod on their must have list , and in a recent review of the new Toshiba Gigabeat device , Cnet said: any advantage that the iPod/iTunes Read More...

Filed under: Work

Responding to comments on podcasting
03 June 06 09:28 PM | KamVedBrat | 1 Comments   

No question that this whole process is way more difficult than what's available with iTunes (I'm actually an avid iTunes user for podcasting). The point of the post was just to demonstrate what's possible with the platform - you could easily build an Read More...

Filed under: Work

How To: Podcasting with Windows Vista
01 June 06 08:08 AM | KamVedBrat | 5 Comments   

One of the neat things about an operating system is how different parts of the system can come together to make a richer experience by virtue of being on the same platform. In this case, you can use the RSS enclosure functionality in IE7 along with WMP11’s Read More...

Filed under: Work

Posting using Word 2007
01 June 06 07:31 AM | KamVedBrat | 0 Comments   

If you’re not aware of the great new blogging support in Office 2007 , you really should give it a try. You can sign up for the beta of Office 2007 here . I’ve been really impressed with the work that the Office team has done on this. The whole setup Read More...