As you probably know already, Microsoft has started a very expensive advertising campaign to push up Windows Vista. We talked about this a few months ago, when it was only in the project stage, but I skipped the first few ads released as part of this campaign, ads that included Bill Gates himself and Jerry Seinfeld in the cast. Why did I do that? The answer is simple - they were a big zero to me, and saying they were bad, meaningless, a waste of money, and so on, that's what everybody did. Now, I think I will follow my calling and finally do what (probably) most people will do, and talk about the shift of direction that is taking place...

Now, I don't know if this is the truth or just a quick way of covering a disaster, but Microsoft just announced that the "teaser ads" I mentioned earlier, released two weeks ago, will be pushed aside and make room for a new series, starting tonight. I only ask one thing - why go on with this???

If I would be in their place, I would simply admit the mistake that's Vista, and put as much money as possible into developing the next Windows version, maybe I'll get it right. Anyway, since I am not in the position to change anything in the <-336x280 Large Rectangle - right->way Microsoft is considering to go on, I will let it be and move to the next part - the "Life Without Walls" campaign.

So, like it or not, Microsoft's advertising crusade goes on, and - hopefully - this time, everything will have a meaning. According to the Redmond giant, the new ads will aim at "tearing down the walls," whatever that means. Even more, they say the new ads will "celebrate the diversity and passion of consumers around the world who use Windows to stay in touch with the people, information and ideas that they care about."

Well, at least the "Life Without Walls" image gallery at Microsoft.com looks interesting, but I have no idea about the ads to come, especially since a "Real PC" series is also scheduled, containing ads to fight directly Apple's "Get a Mac" campaign.

For now, this is it. If the new ads prove to be as meaningless as the previous ones, be sure we won't talk about them! :)

My friends, today I'll be short, because it's not about what I can do for you, it's about something you can do for me, yourself, and the rest of our friends reading this article. What's that? Well, I need a hand to figure something out. It's something about the best media player out there, if you really want something to get the job done without paying a single cent, from playing music to streaming video on a network!

Are you interested? Obviously, the title of the article ruined it all, but that's not a problem - after all, if you were one of those considering Windows Media Player the best player for Windows, you wouldn't be here, right? OK, so let's say a few words about VLC, or VideoLAN Player, if you want...

I used this program on the Linux platform, as well as on Windows and Mac OS X, and I must tell you VLC rocks, <-125x125 Button - right->especially if you're a Mac user, but I am not here to tell you about this program's features. If you really want that, you can check the Free DVD Player Downloads article, where I talked about VLC and a few others for a while.

Now...let's get to the very simple subject today - last version of VLC I had installed on my computer was 0.8.6i. Until now, each update worked fine, only that...this time, something went wrong. All my settings remained the same, but most movies are not playing anymore. This also happened to other people I know, so VLC 0.9.2, the last version, may have some issues. What kind of issues, that's not something for me to say, I only noticed their effect.

So...did you happen to update VLC to 0.9.2? If you did, everything works fine? If you're new to VLC, that's even better - get the program from the VLC official page and let us know how does it work for you. Currently, there are almost 840,000 downloads of this version complete and counting...someone must know more than we do, so please come and enlighten us!

The future, my friends, lies in the Web-based applications, there's no doubt about it. After all, Google Chrome didn't arrive just to give us "another Web browser," as some people may think. Considering how fast everyone is moving from local applications to Web-based services, I expect to see this - some OS, some browser(probably Chrome or something like it, because I think Google is headed in the right direction), and your entire world inside it - becoming reality in the next decade. When I saw NetVibes(still working on that page, but it's not the public page that made me go "WOW" at first sight, especially since this feature has been recently added) for the first time, I loved it, and now this happened again, the object of my adoration being Schmedley, a funny named "start page" that I like to consider more than just that...


...but since everyone seems to throw Schmedley into the same pot with the likes of NetVibes, Pageflakes, iGoogle or Protopage, I had to mention that. Now, why should I consider Schmedley more than just a start page? Good question, and some may laugh at my answer, but who wouldn't laugh now when looking back at Windows 1.0(and NO, I am not talking about the ad featuring Steve Ballmer)??

While I consider Mac OS X a bit too much for my eye candy taste, that's exactly what I like about Schmedley - it has a Mac-like dock, and I think even my mother could use it without getting a headache. In the end, that's where we should arrive one day - <-336x280 Large Rectangle - right->using a computer should be as easy like using a hammer, but without any painful outcomes, of course!

Why should you set Schmedley as your start page? The answer is very simple - take this, take Google Chrome, and that's it - you can forget about the rest of the computer! YouTube, Google, RSS feeds, sticky notes, Amazon search, and the chance to create new tabs to populate with...whatever you like, but if I have to choose between widgets on my desktop and on my virtual desktop, I always choose the later. Don't ask why, you'll find out one day for yourselves...

I won't get much into this, since you can take advantage of the Schmedley private Beta invitations we got from Dustin(thank you very much!) just for you, and try this online gem for yourselves.

Anyway, I won't put an end to this here, because there are some things I'd like to see added, and here's what goes through my mind here - a bookmarks manager and a way of exchanging data with your browser, as well as opening files from your hard drive(for example, using Schmedley to open a text file and place it on your virtual desktop as a sticky note), and - I think this can be solved pretty easy, a widget for file uploads, just like the one leading to Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Hotmail.

For now, we're still talking about a Beta version, so various problems could appear, but that's the whole beauty of it (depends, I tested some early betas before, and each time it was a challenging experience, especially when I tried to reproduce crashes and other, less important issues, but some people may consider this a waste of time, of course). Just consider yourselves warned, and remember - by taking part in this private Beta, you're no lab rats, you're explorers!

Join me and the others in this amazing trip, and be sure we'll get back to Schmedley pretty soon, but now I would like to tell you a secret, and then ask you something. If you like Schmedley and you hate submitting bugs or asking for features, let's make this like a face-to-face development process - write what you want below, share with us your impressions, and if you have some questions, add them to your comment, too, and I'll be sure to pass them over to Dustin, so he can answer. Your questions and mine will go together as a nice interview to publish in the coming week, so don't be shy...be a Schmedller!

When it comes to blogging platforms, Google has Blogger, and I must confess I know quite a few guys and girls using it, most of them being completely satisfied by its features and ease of use. Well, it seems acquiring Blogger wasn't enough for Google, since it just became public they acquired another similar company, but from Asia, this time.

The acquisition was announced in a blog posting last Friday, by Tatter and Company's CEO, Chang-Won Kim, and promptly confirmed by Google. But...why a South Korean company? Just don't ask about the money, because none of the really interesting terms of the deal were disclosed, so let's hear what TNC's CEO has to say about this move...<-125x125 Button - right->

"Google isn't entitled with God-given right to become #1 in every region it operates in, just because it's Google. It's actually more about the Korean Web industry than about Google. I think the Korean web industry needs a player that can, as a balancing force, provide more options to the users and help create a more open Web."

Hmm...seems he's got a good point there. Just as it happens in other areas where Google doesn't have total domination, Korean users are locked into using Web portals, so they don't get to explore more sites that sell Google ads. Anyway, I guess best deal for Google would be to lead them all to its online services, especially since its Chrome browser starts to have (a very slim and sexy) shape.

Some of my friends become extremely paranoid when going online. The funny part is they are not shopping online, and they're not having any vital and very secret data to move all over the Internet. They are just occasional Internet surfers, using it at home for one or two hours per week, just to read and send some emails, visit a few Web pages(using Internet Explorer 6!!!), maybe burn one or two DVDs they recorded recently with the video camera in a trip or at a wedding.

Despite all these, they still ask me on a regular basis about how are they tracked by sites visited, about the security of their YM conversations, or about some harmless "Cookie threat" reported by their antivirus. I guess I should tell them about the Google anonymization news I just heard...but there's only one problem - they are probably sleeping now, or taking a walk, so I'll tell you!

Due to regulatory pressure, Google decided to change its data retention policy, now reducing the period before anonymizing IP addresses. <-336x280 Large Rectangle - right->According to them, IP adresses are now made anonymus after 9 months, instead of 18 months, as it was the deal so far. So...how is this affecting the end user sitting in front of the computer in his living room, after all?

Basically, we're talking about increased security of your personal data, but I wouldn't go that far in claiming that your search tasks will become anonymous, because they won't. "Google's search business is offered to the public for free, and is thus inherently superior from a privacy perspective to paid services because it does not require users' real names, billing addresses, credit card numbers or mandatory tax and accounting records. To support this free service, Google primarily relies on being able to serve relevant advertising to its users," wrote Google in a letter to the Article 29 working group.

At last, Google said they are still working on the anonymization algorithm to use, since this is more about making IP addresses "disappear," rather than having to erase additional details.

"We have focused on IP addresses, because we recognize that users cannot control IP addresses in logs. On the other hand, users can control their cookies. When a user clears cookies, s/he will effectively break any link between the cleared cookie and our raw IP logs once those logs hit the 9-month anonymization point. Moreover, we are continuing to focus on ways to help users exert better controls over their cookies."

As long as everything works fine for me as a Google user, I couldn't care less about who's messing with my searches. After all, I don't have anything to hide, and I am sure Google doesn't need to check what I am doing. The problems may appear if third parties get information from Google, but I didn't hear about such a thing, so far.