10 Cool Windows 7 MC Features

A few days ago, Wilson Rothman from Gizmodo showed us the new touch interface for Media Center PCs running Windows 7, and though he had to pull the video, he promised a walkthrough of proposed Windows 7 Media Center features. Like everything else about Windows 7, this is all alpha and subject to change, however these features are very cool, and really should be included. Shows appear dissolved behind menus - When you’re watching something and want to pull up a menu to add a new show or browse... 

Be A Media Center Beta Tester

The Windows Media Center team periodically posts a hardware survey to Microsoft Connect in order to update their records of potential beta testers. By completing the survey below, you will automatically been entered into a pool of potential testers to be selected from. If you are chosen as a Windows Media Center beta tester, Microsoft will follow up with an email when a beta will be available. If you’d like a chance to get a first look and Windows Media center developments, take a moment to... 

Windows 7: Wi-Fi & 3G

Windows 7 makes it easier to connect, plain and simple. When you click the network icon in the taskbar, you don’t get the unhelpful Vista message that there are wireless networks available. Instead, you get a list of networks and when you click on the one you want the Connect button appears in the list, too. But we all know that’s rarely enough to get you online. For a secured network you’ll get the usual dialog to type in the wireless key, but for hotspots and hotel connections... 

Microsoft Kills Off OneCare To Offer Freebie

Microsoft has abandoned its attempt to make money from selling anti-virus software to consumers, two years after entering the cut-throat market. The Windows Live OneCare consumer security service will be discontinued from the end of June next year in favour of a free consumer product, codenamed Morro, currently under development. The focus for Morro will be in defending against malware (viruses, Trojans, rootkits etc), omitting the backup and PC tuning features of OneCare, Microsoft explains. Morro... 

New MythTV Interface Preview

One of the biggest new features of the next version of MythTV (version .22) will be its new user interface. This new interface will offer many new features to MythTV, including animation, better interactivity, and faster and easier development for themers and developers alike. MythTV is an open-source DVR that was created by Isaac Richards back in 2002 because of his frustration with his low quality cable box. Since then MythTV has progressed into a full featured DVR/media player. It has users all... 

Boxee Raises $4 Million

These are clearly not the easiest times to secure financing for a startup, but Boxee, which makes an open-source media center application that works on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and the Apple TV, just announced a $4 million investment from Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures. Bijan Sabet from Spark and Fred Wilson from Union Square will join the Boxee board. Boxee, which is still in private beta testing, is a media center solution that allows you to play back content from third-party providers... 

Hack Opens up Windows 7

Features baked into the first public Windows 7 build but hidden from most users can now be unlocked using a simple download. So far, Microsoft’s efforts to keep a tight lid on early Windows 7 builds haven’t gone swimmingly. Not long after the M3 release was made available to developers at PDC, torrent copies started showing up online. Microsoft executives appeared resigned to having to put up with that state of affairs, sensibly reasoning that in this day and age material in digital format... 

PureVideo For Linux

Over the course of the past few months we have been saying that the NVIDIA 180 Linux driver to be released in the fourth quarter of 2008 would hold in store a few interesting features. Well, today that closed-source driver has been released in beta form. This driver adds a new VDPAU API, which provides PureVideo-like features on Linux, adds in CUDA 2.1 support, new workstation performance optimizations, X Render improvements, and other improvements. The two leading X video output extensions for Linux... 

Complete Guide to Windows 7 M3

Microsoft has never been so secretive about a new version of Windows for so long. Windows 7 is finally being unveiled at the Professional Developers Conference, but we got to try out the Milestone 3 pre-beta version that attendees will take home, as well as getting a sneak peak at the next internal version and the new user interface. The internals of Windows 7 don’t have the big architectural changes of Vista – or the compatibility problems, claims Steve Sinofsky, Senior Vice President for... 

Windows 7 Adds PC Safeguard

Even with the delivery of the first taste of Windows 7 with the bits for the pre-Beta Build 6801 Milestone 3, Microsoft has not brought all aspects of the operating system into the limelight. One illustrative example in this context is the PC Safeguard feature related to the management of User Accounts. Although this is a feature specific to Windows 7, similar functionality is already available for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3. However, the difference is that Windows... 

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