If the standard Microsoft Surface demo applications doesn’t cut it for you anymore then check out this custom application built by an Aussie Readify consultant Tatham Oddie in just two days who hadn’t seen a Surface until a day ago (sponsored by Amnesia actually).

Since all TechEd badges are RFID-enabled A special sticker was placed on the back of the TechEd badge, he took advantage of this to build a TechEd sessions scheduler that works by placing the badge on the Surface. He also mentioned that if you had two badges on the Surface at once you could even share sessions by dragging it from one badge to the other.

Video credit Edward Hooper.

If you’ve switched to Ubuntu from Windows, there’s a very good chance that the security failings of Windows featured in your decision. By any measure, Microsoft’s record on security within its products is appalling. A new and serious security warning appears seemingly on an ongoing basis, and a new and devastating virus makes news headlines with similar frequency (usually described as “a PC virus” rather than what it actually is: a Windows virus).

One argument is that Windows is the target of so many viruses merely because it’s so popular. Although it’s true that some of the underground crackers who write viruses dislike Microsoft, there’s also little doubt that Windows has more than its fair share of security issues.

The situation is certainly getting better but, even so, Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows XP, provides many good examples of why it’s an easy target. Upon installation, the default user is given root powers. True, a handful of tasks can be performed only by the genuine administrator, but the default user can configure hardware, remove system software, and even wipe every file from the hard disk, if he pleases. Of course, you would never intentionally damage your own system,...

Microsoft’s TechEd Australia 2008 kicked off today in Sydney’s Darling Harbour Convention Centre. From morning to afternoon there were two Student Day keynotes for high school and university students respectively. In the evening, the delegates were officially welcomed in an opening party with free booze and finger food that dissolves before it reaches your mouth. Here’s a couple photos.

Amongst all the presentations, Joe Wilson - the academic evangelist for Microsoft had the most interesting one technically. Instead of Powerpoint, Joe used a custom-built WPF application that mashed together pre-rendered video and live-rendered animations. The photos doesn’t do it justice. Joe also officially announced DreamSpark for Australian students.

If you’re from down under and want a Palm Treo Pro but aren’t the biggest fan of the dollar-thirsty telephone operator known as Telstra, then you don’t have to wait too long now before getting your hands on a vanilla Treo Pro in the shops. Speaking to some Palm representatives at TechEd Australia, they’ve told me that the Treo Pro will officially be available via electronic retailers as a vanilla unlocked phone on Sunday, 16th of November for AU$900.

At the same time I also asked about why hasn’t Palm developed or customized the Windows Mobile shell much for the device - the “bread and butter” of HTC. The representative said that this decision was on purpose and believes that fancy shells usually consume too much memory resources slowing down the user experience, whereas the Treo Pro idles at only around 30-40% memory usage compared to as high as 70% on a HTC Touch Diamond. Whether or not this tradeoff between fanciness and resource usage will pay off for Palm remains to be seen.

So assuming you have already downloaded a DOS copy, make sure you also have the following:

1. Bootable Windows XP Installation Disk with authentic Serial Key
2. Hardware Device Drivers

As for the Windows Vista disc (normally the starter pack), set it aside and say goodbye to that irritating software that never really helped you.

And now the sweet part!

1. Using the BIOS of your computer, change the boot sequence making sure your CD drive becomes the first boot device and then the hard drive. This is to make sure that you boot up using the bootable burned DOS CD (the downloaded DOS ISO format and burned on a CDR). Once you have that configured, save your settings and continue to boot. Make sure you have the DOS CD in the hard drive.
2. Turn on your PC with the DOS CD and wait for the actual DOS system to appear in your screen.
a. Type FDISK and view the partitions. Delete all the partitions one by one until you see no partitions at all. This way you are sure no trace of Windows Vista is around.
b. Do not create partitions. You don’t have to. Once you run Windows XP, you will be asked to make

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Brandon Leblanc over at his Self-Proclaimed Windows Geek blog, talks about contemplating a move back to Windows Live Spaces, Microsoft's free online journal service which I have personally have been using since December 9th 2004. I left a comment on Brandon's blog, and I thought I should turn that into a post here.

Quote:

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve been really busy pumping awesome content into the Windows Experience Blog. Haven’t had much time to post here. I am thinking about moving my blog back to Windows Live Spaces. Why? Simple. It gives me one less thing to worry about. I am running this blog on its own dedicated Windows Server 2008 box which I maintain. If I were to move to Windows Live Spaces, I wouldn’t have to worry about maintaining my own server.

Read the rest here

Well, for me personally, Live Spaces is both a curse and a savior. Back in 2004, it was so complex trying to find somewhere on the Internet to share my thoughts and opinions. Blogger was there but hard to work with, lack a certain level of simplicity and just did not look inviting in addition being

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