Get a Load of This!

That's right, Video Email.  Looks like Microsoft is complimenting their brand of Webcam's with Windows Live Video Messages.  Since it's hooked into Live all of your hotmail and Live Messenger contacts are available.   You can also enter an address that's not already in your contacts.  Even though this is designed for the Microsoft LifeCam, it works great with my built-in webcam on my new Dell Studio laptop.  The site is still in Beta, but the development team has been very quick to address my questions.  It would be nice if the other live development groups were as responsive.

As with most of the newer Microsoft offerings, this too requires the installation of Silverlight.  When you send a video message to someone that does not have Silverlight, it will direct them to install it. Here's a list of requirements needed;

• Web camera
• Broadband connection
• Internet Explorer version 6 or a later version
• Microsoft Silverlight 2
• Windows Live ID
• Windows XP operating system with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or a later version
• Windows Media Player 10 or a later version for Windows XP Windows Media Player 11 for Windows Vista

So if you have a webcam, check it out and send me a video message to ericmagsamen@hotmail.com.

Is anyone using this?  Since ALL instant messaging applications have been blocked by the corporate firewall, I have no more contacts that are using it.  Are you using Live Messenger? If so, leave me a comment.

My laptop died.  So along with that and fishing I've been unconnected.  So I have been looking around at the different offerings and decided to buy a Dell this time.  We've been buying Gateways which we've had pretty good success with.  BestBuy had the Dell Studio 15 on sale that was almost $200 cheaper than the Dell website!  Here's the basic specs.

320GB SATA hard drive (5400 rpm)
Provides plenty of storage space and fast read/write times.

So as you can see it's a great deal for $699 from BestBuy.  There were four things that made me choose this laptop.  The first was the 4GB of RAM, this is a must if you're going to be running any version of Windows Vista. The next option was the large amount of disk storage, with 320GB I won't have to worry about running out of space.  Every other laptop I have owned had the flimsy CDROM caddy that popped out.  On the most recent one, the eject button was positioned so every time I would move the laptop the CDROM would pop open.  That led me to the third option, the slot-loading CD/DVD drive.  And the fourth was the price.

Another great feature is the Built-In webcam.  It's located at the top of the monitor and the microphone pin holes are located on either side.  Microsoft has just opened a beta site for Video Messaging, Windows Live Video Messages.  It's to compliment their webcam offerings, the LifeCams but it works with the built-in cam on this laptop.

If you have any questions, leave a comment.

Is no longer mine.  I pulled it out of the water this past Wednesday to ready it for the sale that took place on Thursday evening.  I didn’t sell my Garmin Color GPSMAP with the boat but instead put the old black and white unit back on.  This was the original GPS that came with the boat when I purchased it four years ago.  I also had to unload all of my stuff.  That took awhile, I didn’t realize how much I had on there.  It reallywas a great boat, never left me stranded.  We’ve had loads of fun on it and I think my daughter is a little upset that it’s gone.  But I think she’ll really like the Mako (the new one) once we get it in the water. 

This is my current boat, 1995 19’ Wahoo Center Console.  But, I sold it last Thursday!

Hopefully if everything goes well It will be gone this weekend.  So now I’m going to be without a boat.  But hopefully not for long.  Sunday I looked at a 2000 Mako 293 walk around.  It’s loaded!  It’s 30’ long, 9.5’ beam, twin 225HP Optimax outboards, AC/Heat, Kohler 4KW Generator, hot water heater, stove, refrigerator, forward berth and a midship berth.  And my wife's favorite part the full head and shower.  Here’s a few pics.

Offshore that is, not here in the Chesapeake.  Check out the new Photo Album Offshore July.

Not really, but Microsoft will stop selling Windows XP on June 30, 2008.  Microsoft plans to support Windows XP until 2014!  6 more years?  That should tell you how many people are willing to adopt Windows Vista.  I've been using Vista for my production laptop since it hit release candidate.  If you have 2GB of ram or more, it's not a problem.

I have a few more posts to make, but I've been busy at work and at home.  The virtualization project that I'm on is heating up and at home I've been fixing things (as usual) and getting ready for Offshore Fishing!  That's where I'd rather be, 50 miles off the beach in the Atlantic.

Teched is over, and I'm back at the office.  There are more pictures of Teched in my photo albums and I'm going to get more to post from others that were in our group.  I attended many sessions dedicated to virtualization, but you can only take so much of that at one time.  On Thursday I attended a session not on that topic which was "The Case of the Unexplained..." presented by Mark Russinovich.  If you don't know who Mark is, you might recognize WinInternals or SysInternals.  This was one of the best sessions I attended.  If you work primarily with Microsoft Products at the IT Pro level I highly recommend this conference.  This was my first time attending and I hope to get the opportunity to go back next year!

But what a long week.  After TechEd we drove down to Naples to stay with friends for the weekend.  After hanging out at the beach on Saturday I'm ready to pack everything up and move down there!  I can't think of one reason that I need to ever see another snow flake again.  Sunday morning we left Naples at 8am and drove back to Orlando.  After a short stop we arrived at the airport around noon just in time to return the rental.  Our flight boarded at 2:45 and we landed in Baltimore at 5:30.  BWI has the slowest baggage claim in the country! I didn't pull into the driveway until 7:00pm.  Monday was tough coming back to work, but it turned out to be worth it.  One of the funniest things was said in my cube, Nate said to Jeff "By The Way, the Vaseline worked perfectly!"  Of course it was totally out of context and Nate should have said... "Before I went running I put the vaseline on my toes to prevent blisters, and it worked perfectly".

I’ve been at Microsoft’s Teched conference since Monday in Orlando Florida.  It’s basically one of the largest geek gathering you’ll ever see.  As demonstrated in this picture, taken at the Kenote on Monday morning.  We couldn’t believe this guy actually packed these clothes to come to a conference.  The only thing that would have made it better was white socks with the sandals which is another popular “style” at teched.  

Last night we had an invite to a private party at the Glo Lounge.  It was a great time!  Free top shelf drinks, gourmet food and a fun magician. 

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