A leaked set of Microsoft slides meant for PC-making partners details Microsoft’s plans, goals, and dreams for Windows 8, the next version of Redmond’s ubiquitous operating system that, at this point, has no set release date. The Microsoft Kitchen blog has uploaded most of the slides, which were stamped with the watermark “Microsoft Confidential — released to Derek.Goode@hp.com.” Business Insider has created a slide show , but to be honest there’s not much surprising in the pages and pages of plans. Microsoft wants Windows 8 computers to use facial recognition technology to log in users. Everything else — fast booting! — reads like reused Windows 7 slides.
Windows 7 only: 7LogonChanger browses and sets selected Flickr and Picasa photos as your wallpaper or Windows 7 login screen easily. More » Windows 7 – Microsoft Windows – Operating system – Flickr – Utilities
It’s frustrating that Media Center only displays seven television channels in the program guide at a time, especially if it’s part of a home theater setup. This hack adds more channels to the program guide for easier living-room browsing. More » Windows Media Center – Media Center – Television – Microsoft – Arts
Thanks to the efficiency of Windows 7 and its smooth operability there’s a mighty charge of licenses of the operating system, world over. Till date, there have been over 150 million Windows 7 licenses that have already been sold, so says the Windows blog. The blogs also speaks about the amazing integrations and operability with Windows Live. And speaking about Windows Live, there’s also word that there are Betas available
Google Voice is great, but it isn’t an entirely free voice-over-internet service if you have to pay a phone bill to use it. With a few tweaks, though, you can make completely free internet phone calls with Google Voice. Here’s how. More »
WIndows/Mac/Linux: VLC, our favorite plays-it-all download, has rolled out its official 1.1 release, cementing the hardware video acceleration for smoother HD playing, bundling support for the open WebM video standard , and implementing lots of fixes and speed-ups in the code. More » Linux – Operating Systems – Variable-length code – Video game – Projects
We love what Microsoft’s done with Windows 7, but when we boot into Windows after spending a good amount of time on a Mac, here are 10 applications we sorely miss. More » Microsoft Windows – Operating system – Microsoft – Window 7 – FAQs Help and Tutorials
Macs are their own little universe of hardware, design, and software. It’s an incomplete universe, like any other, but a nerd can dream. These are 10 applications we wish made the jump from Windows to Mac to make it a better place. More » Lifehacker – Microsoft Windows – Macintosh – Apple – Operating Systems
Windows/Mac/Linux: Portable, cross-platform note-taking application KeepNote stores your notes, thoughts, outlines, and more in a simple hierarchical format, complete with rich-text formatting, images, attachments, and even plugins. More » Open source – Text – Document – Data Formats – Freeware
Firefox: Inspired by Google’s offering of an encrypted, HTTPS-connected search , the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the TOR anonymous router network have teamed up to create an add-on that encrypts your connection to Facebook, Wikipedia, other Google Services, news sites, and more. More » Google – HTTP Secure – Firefox – search engine – search
Switchers A friend asked how to get her music, photos, and documents from her PC to her new Mac. There was actually a “Get a Mac” ad about this called Off The Air . In the commercial, the services was described as being free. I called Apple and was told that yes this is still available and free — but I think the person I spoke to was wrong.
Lifehacker’s tech-savvy readers are the first people on speed-dial when it’s time to heal an infected PC, but how much do you really know about viruses, spyware, scareware, trojans, and worms? Here’s a helpful guide to understanding all the different types of malware. More » Security – Malicious Software – Malware – Spyware and Adware – Anti-Virus
Windows: Ever end up with a really weird disc image (MDF? PDI? B6I?) and no clue how to get at it? ISOBuddy is there for you.
Just a heads up for all of you who have been anxiously waiting in your fallout shelters for Adobe to patch that nasty zero-day exploit . Adobe has announced that tomorrow it will be dishing out an update that should resolve the matter where Flash is concerned. As for Acrobat and Reader, the two other Adobe products that are vulnerable, both will have their quarterly security date bumped up by two weeks meaning that this whole mess should be resolved by the 29th of June. [Via Engadget ] Read
Blu-Ray discs may be more protected and harder to play in certain programs, like XBMC, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play your HD video on your media center. Here’s how to rip and compress Blu-Ray discs for high quality, space-saving results. More » Blu-ray Disc – Movies – Arts – Home Video – Blu-ray and HD
