Yesterday, Apple released iTunes 7.2 and iTunes Plus. iTunes Plus is the DRM-free music feature that was announced in April that will allow users to purchase DRM-free music for $1.29. You will also have the option to upgrade your current iTunes purchased music to DRM-free versions as well.

It also appears that iTunes is now officially Vista supported.

iTunes 7.2

Tags: apple, itunes, itunes plus, mac

Well for those hoping the iPhone will be available with other carriers sooner or later, it looks like later it will be. USA Today is reporting AT&T has an exclusive five year contract with Apple, and that Apple is restricted from creating a CDMA version during that time.

The CEO of wireless at AT&T had this to say:

“I’m glad we have (the iPhone) in our bag,” he says. “Others will try to match it, but for a period of time, they’re going to be playing catch-up.”

This is disappointing news for me as I was expecting the iPhone to be widely available in about two years. I look forward to the iPhone release, but I’m still going to wait to see the final product before even thinking about switching carriers.

Tags: apple, iphone, at&t, cingular

TweakVista is a new application that has many features designed to maximize performance and productivity in Windows Vista.
A few of its features include:

• Ability to control Microsoft’s UAC handling
• Integrated control of not just what programs and services are running on start-up but a community-driven system for describing what those processes are.
• Pre-installed profiles for getting the most performance out of Windows Vista — i.e. tell if what you want and TweakVista knows which services can be turned off (by default, there are a ton of things being run on start-up that most users will never use).

I have been using the beta for a a bit this week, and have to say I’m very impressed with it’s progress. It’s shaping up to be a “must-have” application for Windows Vista.

A “feature peek” article was written today that gives a little more detail about one of the features - process and service profiles.

• Link

Tags: tweakvista, vista, windows, stardock

A few weeks ago I obtained a new phone from Sprint since my contract was expiring. They gave me a great deal on a Motorola Q, which happens to be my first “smart phone”. I have spent the last couple of weeks trying out many different applications for Windows Mobile, and one of them I wanted to share.

I find myself always needing to know the latest headlines, whether it’s tech news, or just local news, and after checking out a few applications this one made it to the top of the list very easily.

NewsBreak 2.0

With NewsBreak you can read RSS feeds, listen to your favorite podcasts, watch vidcasts, and more. NewsBreak has a decent list of feeds included, but it also uses Microsoft Live Search to find new feeds, or you can enter them manually if you choose to do so. During my evaluation I searched for a wide range of RSS feeds and had very little difficulty finding them through the search.

One of my favorite features is the ability to setup notifications of stories that interest you through matching keywords. NewsBreak is available for Windows Mobile Pocket PC’s and Smartphones. Check out their website for more detailed information.

If you need a feature packed RSS reader for your mobile phone, NewsBreak is highly recommended.

Tags: newsbreak, windows mobile, smartphone, motorola q, sprint, rss reader, software

The Windows Vista Blog announced that Microsoft and Apple worked together to correct an issue that caused some iPods to become corrupted when ejecting them using Windows Explorer or the “Safely Remove Hardware” function.

From the Windows Vista Blog:

The long and short of it is this: Apple and Windows have partnered together to ensure a great experience in using Windows Vista with iTunes and the iPod, and both companies recommend you download this update.

The update will be available on Windows Update on May 22nd, but you can download the update now.

Tags: ipod, apple, microsoft, vista, itunes

Every month I like to feature some of the animated wallpapers (Dreams) that are submitted to WinCustomize.com. People create some very interesting and unique Dreams using a wide variety of techniques.

Some people record video with HD cameras, and some use high-end 3D applications to render some really great animated wallpapers.

Check out the video….

This Month in Dreams - April ‘07

You can find links to all the animated wallpapers here. To use these animated wallpapers you will need to have DeskScapes installed, along with Vista Ultimate and DreamScene.

Tags: animated wallpaper, dreamscene, deskscapes, vista

Yesterday, Microsoft released patches for 19 security “flaws” including patches for Internet Explorer 7 and Office 2007. Seven security bulletins were posted for this month which addressed issues such as exploits for IE7, and exploits for certain file types of Office files.

So if you haven’t done so already, it’s time to fire up Windows Update and get your fixes. More information about this months “patch Tuesday” can be read here.

Tags: microsoft, patch tuesday, windows update, vista, xp

For the past couple of months I have been running Windows Vista on a dual-boot setup. Recently, I have had much more Vista related work so I found myself booting into Vista more and more every day. I originally removed Vista from my main PC because the printer would not work, Photoshop just wouldn’t cooperate, and a few other problems that I just could not work with.

Now after a few months the problems I originally had are pretty much gone. Dell updated their printer drivers, so now I have a working printer. For whatever strange reason Photoshop CS2 is working fine, and all my other applications installed and worked without much trouble.

So now it’s been about two weeks running Vista full-time on my main PC. I still have another computer running XP on my desktop, and I use Multiplicity to control both PC’s with just one keyboard/mouse. I have completed all my projects with any issues, and the performance of my applications on Vista seem much better than on XP. I added another 1gb of RAM (bringing it up to 2gb), and that made a big difference in terms of performance.

So overall I am quite happy that I made the switch over to Vista full-time. The first two weeks have been productive and error-free, so let’s see what the rest of the month brings.

Tags: vista, xp, microsoft, stardock

As someone who works from home, finding applications that make my job easier and more productive is key. With that being said I wanted to share my picks of software that I personally use and help me in my day to day productivity. i think they might be of good use in your office as well.

• KeepSafe - Gives you real-time backup of your files. If you ever lost a long document due to a corrupt file or accidental delete, then this software is essential.
• Xplorer2 - This is a dual-pane file manager which is great if Explorer isn’t cutting it for you.
• IZArc - A fast and free archive utility that handles a wide variety of archive types.
• FastStone Capture - I need to take many screenshots and hitting prtscn just doesn’t do it, so this small utility is a perfect replacement.
• Multiplicity - Do you have multiple computers and monitors on your desk? If you do then you know managing them all can be a hassle. Multiplicity allows you to control multiple computers with just one keyboard and mouse.
• KeepPass Password Safe - This is a password manager that keeps your passwords and information locked up in a database file that is protected by password or key disk.

Visit the developers websites for more information. If you have some “essential” software you would like to share, I would like to hear about it.

Tags: software, windows, vista, xp, home office