Easy HTPC

There was already little doubt that Google was aiming at Microsoft’s empire, but the announcement of a Chrome OS takes the competition to a new level.

For those who missed it, Google said late Tuesday that it plans to enter the operating system game in the second half of next year with a Linux-based OS that can run on both traditional PC chips and the ARM-based chips popular in cell phones. The idea behind Chrome OS is to create an extremely lightweight operating system that boots directly to the browser, in which all applications run.

In a blog, Google lists the advantages of such an approach.

“People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up,” Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management, and Linus Upson, engineering director, wrote in the blog. “They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don’t want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates.”

Via Cnet.com

Our Download of the Day today is XBMC Media Center 9.04.1.

XBMC is an award winning media center application for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows and XBox. The ultimate hub for all your media, XBMC is easy to use, looks slick, and has a large helpful community. Try it now!

Media Management
XBMC supports viewing and playing a vast library of audio, video and image formats. XBMC has a sophisticated library management system that allows you to organize all your media to give you quick and immediate access.

Fluid Interface
XBMC provides a user friendly interface that’s intuitive, very flexible, and easy to use. The interface is completely customizable through user-created or downloadable skins.

Plug-ins and Extensibility
XBMC has a built-in Python interpreter that allows users and developers to write their own scripts and plugins that run inside XBMC using it’s own widgets and controls. It also has a built-in web server that allows it to be controlled remotely.

Visualisations
XBMC’s audio player supports many visualisations including ProjectM and Goom. In addition, it allows easy development of visualisations using a simple API.

Download.

Via Tweaktown.com

Hulu has introduced Hulu Desktop as part of its new Hulu Labs. The client allows Mac and Windows users to browse their favorite TV shows and movies on the desktop using an Apple or Windows Media Center remote. So far, we like it.

Hulu dropped a surprise on TV fans Thursday by introducing public beta of Hulu Desktop—desktop software for the Mac and Windows that works with the popular TV streaming site. The software finally removes Hulu from the Web browser in an official, Hulu-approved way and puts it into a very media-center-like format for browsing and watching your favorite shows. Though Hulu Desktop still keeps Hulu’s offerings largely on the computer, it offers some flexibility in the watching experience.

Read.

Via Arstechnica.com

We’ve covered Windows 7 from rumor to release candidate, which you can currently download and install for free. Now, it’s enchilada time: Here’s everything of value that we learned about Win 7, packed in a complete, easy-to-read guide.

Note: This is one awesome guide. If you have been sitting on the fence, deciding to install Windows 7 or not, this guide should help your decision.

Read the Complete Guide here.

Via Gizmodo.com

Netflix’s streaming service will appear on Windows Media Center within the next couple of days.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft has struck a deal to bring Netflix’s streaming movie service to Windows Media Center, the companies said Tuesday.

Netflix’s more than 12,000 “Watch it now” movies and TV episodes are only available to users of Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate. XP users won’t be able to access the service.

Owners of Windows Media Center will also be able to search the entire Netflix library, manage their DVD queues, and “filter searches by titles that are available to watch instantly,” Microsoft said in a statement.

Microsoft continues to try to boost the amount of content available on Windows Media. In March, the company launched a new sports channel, including replays of the past NCAA basketball tournament.

“We’re building on our broader vision to alleviate the need to jump from Web site to Web site to find TV shows, movies, sports and news,” Microsoft said in a statement. ” “With Windows Media Center, (users) can now find it in one place.”

For Netflix, the partnership offers the Web’s No.1 video rental service the chance to reach scores of of Vista users. Netflix’s deal with Microsoft’s Xbox videogame console proved to be a boon for the company.

Netflix has steadily been crossing the once wide chasm between the PC and the television by striking partnership deals with a wide assortment of set-top box makers, including Roku, and LG.

To access Netflix’s service, Windows Media Center owners must first subscribe to the rental service. Then, to stream movies, they can start Windows Media Center on their computers by selecting the new Netflix tile under TV+Movies heading.

Via Cnet.com

The XBMC project, which develops a popular open source media center application, announced the release of a major new version last week. XBMC 9.04, which is codenamed Babylon, delivers improved codec compatibility, an enhanced theming system, better Linux support, and many other features.

The XBMC project has its roots in the Xbox Media Player, an MPlayer-based media application that was originally designed for the Xbox video game console. XBMC currently uses its own playback engine that leverages FFMpeg, libdvdcss, and a number of other well-known open source multimedia libraries. Coded primarily in C++, it uses SDL and OpenGL for rendering. XBMC is cross-platform compatible and will run on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.

The project is now on a six-month release cycle, which loosely mirrors that of the Ubuntu Linux distribution. The previous version, which was codenamed Atlantis, was released in November. XBMC can play an extremely broad assortment of common codecs and media formats. It also has extensive support for network streaming using a wide range of protocols. It provides a rich theming system—which got many improvements in the latest version—and a plugin framework that allows third-party developers to customize the application using Python scripts.

I’ve been running XBMC 9.04 since the beta release was made available last month. The new version is highly polished and stable. I have tested it on a Windows XP desktop system, a Mac Mini with OS X Leopard, and an Ubuntu-powered Neuros LINK. It performs well and was able to play high-definition video reasonably on all three computers. I streamed video content from my network storage device and tested several Web-based streaming video services.

XBMC’s plugin manager allows users to add new features to the program by downloading third-party scripts from the Internet. These scripts can augment the program’s behavior in any number of ways, such as adding support for additional streaming media sources. For example, one of the plugins allows users to stream fansubs of the popular Bleach anime series.

Read.

Via Ars Technica

from Microsoft’s Website…

Welcome to Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) testing. We’re on our way to Windows 7, and if you like trying out pre-release software, now’s your chance. You get to see what’s coming, and we get to see if our changes and fixes from the Beta testing are working correctly.

How do you test the software? You put it on your PC, and then do what you’d normally do. Your PC will automatically and anonymously send our engineers the information they need to verify the fixes and changes they made based on the Windows 7 Beta tests.

Here’s what you need to know:

This is pre-release software, so please read the following to get an idea of the risks and key things you need to know before you try the RC.

• You don’t need to rush to get the RC. The RC will be available at least through July 2009 and we’re not limiting the number of product keys, so you have plenty of time.
• Watch the calendar. The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You’ll also need to install the programs and data that you want to use. (Learn more about installing Windows.)
• Protect your PC and data. Be sure to back up your data and please don’t test the RC on your primary home or business PC.
• Tech details/updates: Before installing the RC, please read the Release Notes and Things to Know for important information about the release.
• Keep up with the news. You can keep up with general technical information and news by following the team blog. And, you can get non-technical news, tips, and offers by subscribing to the monthly Exploring Windows newsletter.
• Keep your PC updated: Be sure to turn on automatic updates in Windows Update in case we publish updates for the RC.

  Read the rest- with download links!

  Via Microsoft

Microsoft has officially pushed out its Release Candidate for Windows 7, although the software is still just available to professional developers.

Specifically, the software is now available via Microsoft’s MSDN or TechNet sites. The anticipated general release of the RC to the public will be on May 5. PCMag.com has a hands-on review of the Release Candidate, which reviewer Jeremy Kaplan called an opportunity for Microsoft to put some spit and polish on the OS.

“Quicker to install, more polished and customizable, and easier to use than earlier builds, the Windows 7 Release Candidate (build 7100) is a nice step towards finalization of the operating system,” Kaplan wrote.

One of the more intersting new disclosures around Windows 7 has been the addition of Windows XP Compatibility Mode, which creates a virtualized Windows XP Professional environment to run what is essentially legacy code. However, enabling this mode also requires a separate download. Also of interest is the ”Play To” feature, with improved media streaming around the network.

Microsoft has also disabled the AutoRun feature from Windows 7, a response to worms like Conficker, which apply deceiving Autorun messages in an attempt to provoke users to click ad launch the malware.

“Windows 7 introduces key changes to AutoPlay that keep you from being exposed inadvertently to malware like Conficker when doing your common scenarios with devices (e.g., get to the files on your USB flash drive, download pictures from an SD card, etc.), Arik Cohen wrote on theEngineering Windows 7 blog on Monday.

Read.

Via Pcmag.com

Talk about a sexy iPhone app! Zigzix’s new Zemote ($3.99) is definitely going to be a must-have for any HTPC enthusiast running Windows XP or Vista (OS X version coming soon). The Zemote for iPhone and iPod touch provides users with a variety remote interface options that controls a user’s PC over Wi-Fi (requires an additional PC app to be installed called Zemote Receiver). As far as I can tell, Zemote provides four distinct interface mode options for people to choose from: touch pad with scroll and right/left-click buttons, keyboard (seen here), multi-function key remote, and a touch pad with basic media controls buttons. Zigzix even claims that you can control your PC’s mouse pointer via motion control. How do you like that?

Via Ehomeupgrade.com

A preview of Windows 7 gaming

Introduction 

Though officially in beta, Windows 7 is probably the most talked about subject in the world of PC technology today.  Released to the public on January 7th, 2009, Windows 7 has quickly found its way onto many computers including netbooks, laptops, virtual machines and even gaming and enthusiast PCs.  Users that were once distrusting of Vista and even Mac-lovers have spent the last few months complementing Microsoft of their latest operating system and for good reason: it slick, fast, visually appealing and runs on all ranges of hardware quite nicely.  Here in my office I have installed it on an Eee PC, a separate hard drive in my main system, my MacBook Pro (gasp!), the NVIDIA ION platform and a couple of benchmarking and testing rigs as well. 

This article will be the first in a series of performance and feature reviews on Windows 7 that will be updated and added to up through the final retail release of the Windows 7 operating system; whenever that might be.  As the title obviously suggests, today we are going to be looking at GPU and gaming performance on Windows 7 in comparison to Windows Vista.  There are two primary goals with this article: first we would like to see how, in general, performance on this beta version of Windows 7 compares to the performance of gaming on a more mature Vista operating system with Service Pack 1.  Secondly, we would like to compare how both NVIDIA and AMD are doing in terms of driver optimizations and performance for Windows 7 compared to each company’s support on Windows Vista. 

 
Windows 7 desktop feature – image from WinSuperSite.com 

Now, to assuage some obvious emails we will get from readers and trolls, let me add in a few points.  Yes, I realize that Windows 7 is in beta and as such performance results we get today may not be what we see when the OS is finally released.  It could be faster, it could be slower; that is the exact reason why this will be a SERIES of articles that is update continuously throughout the Windows 7 development cycle.  Once the Release Candidate 1 version of Windows 7 is divulged we will definitely come back to these results to see what changes.  Also, I realize that NVIDIA and AMD drivers might also be considered to be in a “beta” state as well – though not that both parties have WHQL approved drivers available that shouldn’t really be too much of an issue. 

Read the rest of the story here.

Via PC Perspective