Five Best Portable Apps Suites [Hive Five]

Five Best Portable Apps Suites [Hive Five]: "

Once upon a time, easy remote computing was a pipe dream, now people routinely carry gigs of data around on flash drives smaller than a modest pack of chewing gum. Manage your apps and data with these portable application suites.

Photo by basheertome.

Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite portable application suite with us. We've tallied the votes and now we're back with the top five nominations for your review. A note on the reviews: portable applications suites usually contain dozens and dozens of individual applications. We'll be unable to list every single one here and we urge you to visit the site of the suite to check out the full application list.

LiberKey (Windows, Free)

LiberKey doesn't have the polished menu found in the PortableApps suite, but its menu is functional and conveniently arranged by program type. LiberKey opts to put things in categories labeled according to what they do, so even if you've never seen an application that is included in the LiberKey suite you'll have a pretty good idea that it's a Color Picker or Security Tool based on the folder you find it in. It's a useful feature given that the Ultimate installation installs around 250 applications—you're bound to see quite a few you've never used before.

PortableApps Suite (Windows, Free)

PortableApps is the Grand Daddy of portable application sites. Between John Haller—the founder of the site—and the dozens of developers, packagers, translators, and the hundreds of people that participate in the forums, the sheer number of people working to polish the PortableApps suite has resulted in a very comprehensive package. The PortableApps suite includes basics like Firefox for browsing and Pidgin for instant messaging but also includes—in the full package—Open Office. You could download all the individual portable components separately of course, but what really ties everything together is the PortableApps menu system. Seen in the screenshot above, the menu system is clean, includes a backup utility, and makes organizing your portable apps and documents simple.

Portable Linux (Free)

Many of you took the stance that running portable apps in Windows was great but way too restrictive. Booting a computer into a distinct operating system gives power users the ability to run the machine as their own without any risk to the native operating system on the machine. You can find dozens and dozens of Linux distributions which can be modified or tweaked to run off a portable drive. If you're just getting started with using a LiveUSB version of Linux, however, we'd suggest taking a peak at one of our past features on portable Linux use: Battle of the Thumb Drive Linux Systems—one of the contestants, Puppy Linux, is pictured in the screenshot above. If you want to get a sense the number of Live Linux versions out there, check out The LiveCD List here.

Geek.Menu (Windows, Free)

Geek.Menu is a branch in the PortableApps development tree. Geek.Menu uses the same convenient installation files from PortableApps.com that the original PortableApps suite uses. The layout is similar but Geek.Menu has several key enhancements—you can check them out here—like support for TrueCrypt, creation of categories within the menu structure, and automatic application execution on menu startup. You'll note—from the screenshot above—that Geek.Menu doesn't come preloaded with software. To get Geek.Menu off to a quick start you can download the PortableApps suite and swap out the menu systems.

Lupo PenSuite (Windows, Free)

Lupo PenSuite mashes up a familiar looking menu with a huge offering of applications. Taking a note from the LiberKey school of portable suite production, Lupo PenSuite throws everything at you but the kitchen sink. Need to tinker in the Windows Registry? Lupo PenSuite has 8 applications just for registry editing. You can check out the full app log at this link. If you're looking for a suite that sports everything from a web browser to a DVD burner and everything in between including security tools and torrent clients, Lupo PenSuite has quite a list of offerings.

Before Upgrading to Windows 7, Grab This!

Before Upgrading to Windows 7, Grab This!: "Save time. Grab the must have Ninite!"

Review of the Powermat Wireless Charging System

Review of the Powermat Wireless Charging System

Earlier this week I went along to the UK press launch of the Powermat wireless charging system. Now I saw this at CES in Las Vegas back in January of this year, but now it is finally coming out.

Using wireless energy transfer, Powermat pairs an ultra-thin mat with a receiver that connects to your device. All you then have to do is place your device on the Powermat and it will begin charging. You can charge up to three devices at the same time on the Powermat and the same amount of power is used for three devices as is for one device. And even better is that the devices are charged at the same speed they would have been with their own charges, and in fact sometimes even faster! So for those of us with multiple devices that always seem to be needing a charge both quickly and at the same time this is a great feature.

As you can see from the third picture above, the iPhone receiver when attached to the iPhone really doesn’t make it much bigger, and it also acts as a protective case, and it only adds a little bit of extra weight. Although you don’t have to leave it on the iPhone all the time if you don’t want to!

You can add a fourth device for charging via a USB cable as well.

There are two different versions of the Powermat – the Powermat Home and Office and the Powermat Portable. The Powermat Portable folds up to be less than 10cm by 10cm by 3.5cm making it very small and easy to carry around with you – and it even comes with a cool carry case that is magnetically sealed! The case also contains three different plug ends for the power cable which means you can use it in other countries without the need of buying another adaptor – so well done Powermat!

As I mentioned earlier, you use a receiver for the device you want to charge. Currently there are receivers for the iPhone, iPods, Blackberry and Nintendo DS Lite and DSi devices. There is also something called the Powermat Powercube which comes with 8 different tips including mini USB connectors that connect to devices such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson mobile phones and even the PSP!

So How Does it Work?

For those of you who might want to know exactly how the Powermat works carry on reading.

Inductive coupling transfers energy via a magnetic field from a charging circuit inside the mat to another charge circuit in the receiver which is embedded in, or attached to, the device. The uniqueness of the Powermat technology lies in its intelligent power management features.

When the mat and the device are in immediate proximity, an RFID “handshake process” evokes to identify:

1. if there is a valid connection between the mat and the device


2. the amount of power required, and its existing level of stored batter power


3. which component in the mat should be activated to transfer the required power.

Then and only then does the transfer of electricity begin.

The connection is monitored at all times and the power transmission will cease once the connection is broken.

Final Thoughts

I love the Powermat, it works very well, is small and is very easy to use.

I like the reassuring sound you get when you place a device on the mat, plus that slight pull as the magnets kick in!

A nice feature of the mat is the charging lights. When you place a device on the mat, a light comes on to show it is connected and charging, when the charging is complete the light goes off. Nothing revolutionary here but its a nice feature that shows you quickly and easily the charging status of any of the devices on the mat.

Price wise the charging receivers are on par with that of a charger for the device in question.

If you travel a lot, and carry a few devices around with you then this is certainly a must for you. Mine is going to go with me from now on.

Pricing an Availability

Here in the UK the range of Powermat products will be launched next week on the 30th October and will be available from The Carphone Warehouse, Amazon and John Lewis, with more retailers expected later on.

Pricing is as follows:

Home and Office Powermat	£69.99
Portable Powermat	£79.99
Powercube including 8 tips (micro USB, Nokia 2mm, SE, Samsung, LG, Nintendo DS Lite, Nintendo DSi, Sony PSP)	£29.99
Apple iPhone	£34.99
Apple iPod Touch	£34.99
Apple Dock	£34.99
Blackberry Bold	£29.99
Blackberry Curve 8900, 8300, 8310, 8320, 8330, 8350i	£29.99
Blackberry Pearl 8110, 8120, 8130	£29.99
Nintendo DS and DSi	£29.99

You can also buy this in the US – both the Home and Office Powermat and the Portable Powermat retail for $99.99 from Amazon.

Lifehacker's Complete Guide to Windows 7 [Windows 7]

Lifehacker's Complete Guide to Windows 7 [Windows 7]

Windows 7 officially launches today, but we've been testing, tweaking, customizing, fixing, and writing about this OS for a year now. We present here a guide to everything we've learned about the OS, from first install to final settings change.

Whether you've played around with Windows 7 during its beta or release candidate versions, launch day is finally here, and Windows 7 is finally ready for widespread, public consumption. This guide will take you straight through from system requirements and upgrading your PC to highlighting Windows 7's best new features to helping you hit the ground running with all of the awesome tweaks Windows 7 has in store for you.

System Requirements

According to Microsoft:

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Buying, installing, and upgrading

• Figure Out Which Windows 7 Edition Has the Features You Need: Not everybody needs Windows 7 Ultimate, but what if there's a certain feature you must have when you grab your upgrade this Thursday? CNET breaks down each Windows 7 edition feature by feature in a handy chart.
• Prep Your PC for Windows 7: When Windows 7 drops this Thursday, you can either spend many, many hours watching a progress bar, or you can boot into a clean, speedy system with that new-OS smell. Let's get your system set up for a proper Windows 7 upgrade.
• Get Windows 7 Home Premium for $30 With a College Email Address: If you're a U.S. college student, or at least having a working .edu email address, you don't have to pay $120 to upgrade Vista to Windows 7. You can get the Home Premium upgrade for just $30.
• Run Windows 7 for 120 Days Without Activation: The command line code (slmgr -rearm) that could be entered at the end of three different 30-day periods to give Vista 120 days without activation works just the same in Windows 7.

Our take on Windows 7

• Top 10 Things to Look Forward to in Windows 7: Windows 7 isn't a dramatic overhaul of its predecessor Windows Vista, but it does fix several sore spots and add a few welcome features.
• Windows 7's Best Underhyped Features: It's these less sexy, but very useful features, that make me think the more I use Windows 7, the less chance I'll ever use Vista or XP again.
• Windows 7 Versus Mac OS X Leopard: The Feature-by-Feature Showdown: Oh, I know: the Mac versus PC debate is so played out. Perhaps, but dumb commercials aside, if you're deciding between buying a Mac or a PC in the coming months, it helps to know what you're getting from one or the other.

New features

• Windows 7 Tells You Why You Can't Touch That File: Windows 7 doesn't just give you a wagging finger (and pretend-useful 'Try Again' button) when you want to move or delete a file that's in use. It actually tells you which application is using the file.
• Windows 7 Lets You Customize Your Logon Background: Expert Windows hacker Rafael Rivera finds a change in the latest build of Windows 7—you can finally customize the log-on screen natively.
• Windows 7 Transfers Your Wireless Settings Easily: To transfer the settings for yourself, head into the Network and Sharing Center, click on Manage Wireless Networks, and then in the properties for your wireless network you'll find the link to open the wizard that will copy all your settings onto a flash drive.
• How to Burn ISOs in Windows 7: Burning that ISO to a disc is as simple as: 1. Double-click the ISO file (or right-click and select Burn disc image); 2. Click Burn.
• Play Your iPod Through Your Windows 7 PC's Speakers: You can play an external audio device through your computer's speakers without any extra software using a simple configuration setting.
• Windows 7 Makes UAC Less Annoying Than Vista: The biggest change in Windows 7 is the new User Account Control "slider" setting, where you can choose your own balance between annoyance and security—but behind the scenes, Microsoft reduced the amount of actions that will prompt you.
• Netflix Update Comes to Windows 7 Media Center, Looks Excellent: Starting this week, Microsoft is rolling out an upgraded Watch Instantly interface to Windows 7 Media Center for users looking to get their streaming TV and movie fix on their upgraded PCs.
• Setup File and Printer Sharing From XP to Windows 7: This guide walks you through the process of enabling network discovery, sharing your folders and printers, and accessing your shared resources from either Windows 7 or XP.
• IE8 Can Proactively Close Crashing Tabs in Windows 7: The copy of IE8 found only in (Windows 7) has a 'timer' that monitors new tabs as they open. If they aren't responsive within a relatively short amount of time, the browser will pop up and tell you this, possibly with a reason why, and ask whether you want to wait or kill the tab before it causes further problems.
• Windows 7 Lets You Finally Uninstall Internet Explorer (Kinda): ... It won't completely uninstall—only the executable is actually removed. Still, being able to finally banish IE proper from your system is a pretty good start for folks who really don't like IE.
• Windows 7 Will Let You Uninstall Most Built-In Apps: You can turn almost every built-in application on or off, including Windows Search, Gadgets, and even Media Player.

The Taskbar

• Aero Peek: Peek supercharges Windows' taskbar thumbnail previews, and lets you view, close, and switch between multiple windows by just hovering over the taskbar thumbnail, as well as pin programs to the taskbar permanently.
• Pin Individual Folders to the Windows 7 Taskbar: Windows 7's taskbar lets you pin any running program to the taskbar for easy future access, but it treats folders like second-class sub-items of the Explorer icon. Create a fake 'program' to pin individual folder shortcuts to your taskbar.
• Middle-Click to Close Applications from Windows 7's Taskbar: In Windows 7, middle-clicking a taskbar button opens a new program instance. The easy solution for closing an app? Middle-click its preview window.
• Hold Shift While Dragging to Windows 7 Taskbar to Open Files: All you have to do is hold down the Shift key while dragging a file to an icon on the taskbar, and the tooltip will change to say 'Open with' instead of pinning to the taskbar.
• Pin Any Item to the Windows 7 Taskbar: We already showed you how to pin specific folders, and this is just a slightly tweaked application of that method.
• Put a Recycle Bin Shortcut on the Windows 7 Taskbar: Once you are finished, you'll have a separate recycle icon on the taskbar—useful for quick access to deleted files without having to hunt down an icon on your desktop.
• Get a Functional Recycle Bin on Windows 7's Taskbar: TechSpot's solution—creating a Quick Launch taskbar, removing its text and title, then bringing the desktop Recycle Bin icon into it—covers all the bases, and lets you place your Recycle Bin pretty much wherever you'd like on the taskbar.

Jump lists

• 
• Master Windows 7 Jump Lists to Boost Your Win7 Productivity: For those of you that haven't yet tried out Windows 7, when you right-click on a taskbar button in Windows 7, a menu slides out with recent documents and application tasks. Here's a rundown of our favorite Jump List boosters.
• Winfox Adds Jump Lists to Firefox on Windows 7: Jump Lists are one of the best new features in Windows 7, and since Firefox still doesn't take advantage of them, a small utility called Winfox adds the feature for you.
• Win7shell Adds Windows 7 Jump List Support to Winamp: Once you've downloaded, installed the plugin, and pinned Winamp to the taskbar, the Jump List should immediately start tracking your recently played media files.

Built-in Applications

• Set Up and Use XP Mode in Windows 7: Windows 7's new XP Mode lets you seamlessly run virtualized applications alongside your regular Windows 7 applications—so your outdated software will continue to work.
• Calculator: While mathletes, scientists, coders, and statisticians will appreciate Windows 7's built-in calculator's programmer, statistics, and scientific modes, everyday people will love figuring out things like hourly wages and mortgage payments without a spreadsheet.
• PowerShell: (A) souped-up command line and scripting GUI that frees you, finally, from the limits of DOS batch scripts.
• Windows 7 Media Center's Music Player Is Hot Hot Hot: Good news for music lovers excited for Windows 7: The new and improved music interface in Windows 7 Media Center is overflowing with eye candy and usability.
• Windows 7's WordPad Opens Word 2007 DOCX Files: ... The ribbon-style WordPad in Windows 2007 opens Word 2007 files, the .docx kind, pretty handily, albeit with some formatting loss.
• Backup and Restore Center: For the average user with both media and crucial file needs, Windows 7's default backup features look promising.
• Windows 7 Guest Mode Creates Bomb-Proof Accounts: In the simplest terms, Guest Mode takes a snapshot of how a PC was working before the kid, friend, coffeeshop customer, or whoever else is using the Guest Mode account logs on. That user can't do much to alter the system, and whatever they can do, like dropping files on the desktop, is discarded when they log off.
• Windows 7 Calibration and ClearType Tools Fine-Tune Your Displays: Windows 7's color calibration and ClearType tools might be good enough for non-graphic-designers to stick with.

Themes, wallpapers, and login screens

• Windows 7 Beta's Many Free and Legit Themes: Microsoft is offering 20 fresh themes (in Windows 7). Here's a closer look.
• Grab Every Region's Windows 7 Wallpapers in One Download: Microsoft allowed Windows Vista Magazine to bundle up every wallpaper from Windows 7's regional releases and, boy, we're glad they did. One file brings a lot of new looks to any desktop, Windows 7 or otherwise.
• Secret Registry Hack Customizes Windows 7 Logon 'Button Set': Rafael Rivera, the same expert Windows hacker that figured out how to customize your Windows 7 logon background, finds another hack that changes the UI to look better with darker background images.
• Microsoft Releases More Free Windows 7 Theme Downloads: The full-fledged themes are specific downloads for Windows 7 users, but anyone can grab the wallpapers from Windows 7's Personalization Gallery for their system.

Mouse and Keyboard Shortcuts

• The Best New Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts: Windows 7 has more cool new shortcuts than you can shake a stick at.
• Aero Shake: When you want to focus on the task at hand on a desktop cluttered with windows, just grab the window bar of the app you want to work in and shake it back and forth to clear away the rest. Another shake will restore the background apps to their former state. You can also drag and drop a window to the edge of the screen to maximize it, and click on its top bar again to restore its previous size.
• Snap windows to half screen size: ... Dragging a window to the top of the screen maximizes it. Following that, if you drag a window all the way to the left or the right of the screen, Windows 7 will display a glass overlay on the desktop. Let go of the mouse button and it will snap the window onto that overlay, which is half the screen's size—a handy helper for widescreen monitor owners.
• Maximize Windows Vertically with a Double-Click in Windows 7: Reader John points out that you can simply move your mouse to the top of a window until the pointer switches to the resize icon, and then double-click your mouse to instantly maximize the window to fill all the available vertical space.
• Shift and Right-Click to Expand Windows 7's Send To Menu: Just as with Vista, holding down the Shift key while right-clicking in Windows 7 gives you a fuller range of options.
• Activate Windows 7 Jumplists with the Left Mouse Button: You don't have to right-click on the taskbar buttons to activate Windows 7's Jumplists—you can hold the left mouse button and drag upwards.
• Windows 7 Creates New Folders With a Hotkey: To create a new folder, simply press Ctrl+Shift+N with an explorer window open and the folder will instantly show up, ready to be renamed to something more useful.

Tweaks, fixes, and customizations

• The Best Windows Tweaks that Still Work in Windows 7: The final version of Windows 7 is being released this week to the general public, and after you get your hands on it the first thing you'll need to know is: Do all my tweaks still work?
• Customize or Disable Windows 7's Action Center: Windows 7's Action Center does a great job of compressing all of Windows' update/alert/whatever notifications into one icon, but it takes some tweaking to make it show what you want, or disable it entirely.
• Add text to the Windows 7 taskbar buttons: Just right-click the taskbar, select Properties, then change the Taskbar buttons drop-down from 'Always combine, hide labels' to 'Never combine.'
• Set Default Printers Based on Network in Windows 7: Windows 7 sports a great new feature that allows you to set default printers based on what network your computer is connected to, perfect for folks who carry laptops from network to network.
• Get Quick Access to Windows 7's Jump Lists From the Keyboard: When we showed you how to master Windows 7's new Jump Lists feature, there was one extremely useful tip that we left out: you can also access them from your keyboard.
• Create and Share Custom Themes in Windows 7: Microsoft's Engineering Windows 7 weblog details how to create, save, and share your own custom Windows 7 themes, complete with wallpaper, window color, and sounds.
• Get the Old "Show Desktop" Back in Windows 7—Kinda: The short version: Create a folder, place a 'Show Desktop.scf' file in there (either your standard Google-found kind or the script available at the bottom link), then right-click your taskbar to create a 'New Toolbar' that points to that folder. Turn off the text and titles on that new toolbar, change the icons to large size, and then put your new one-button toolbar where you'd like.
• Hidden Windows 7 Tool Troubleshoots Sleep Mode Problems: The report lists all of the devices that are causing problems with sleep mode, explains the different power saving modes your computer supports, and even gives you detailed information on your battery—invaluable information when your system takes forever to go in and out of sleep mode.
• Disable the New Libraries Feature on Windows 7: Simply download, extract, and double-click on the provided registry hack file, then restart your computer and you'll see that the Libraries are completely gone. There's also an uninstall registry script provided just in case.

Third-party helpers

• Logon Changer Customizes the Windows 7 Login Screen: Tiny system customizing utility Logon Changer for Windows 7 swaps out the logon screen wallpaper easily. Using the utility is simple—just select a new wallpaper, test it, and you are done.
• Xdn Tweaker Updates to Tweak Windows 7: If you want your system to remember or not remember how you sort certain folders, edit what's accessible through the right-click menu, or de-hook Windows Media Player from all the files it tries to glom onto, Xdn does those things for Windows 7.
• Glass CMD Enables Aero Transparency for the Command Prompt: Glass CMD for Vista forces command prompt windows to use Aero's glass transparency effect.
• Gmail Notifier Plus Adds Email Alerts to the Windows 7 Taskbar: Gmail Notifier Plus displays your unread email count right in the Windows 7 taskbar, including popup message previews and Jump Lists integration.
• Switch Power Management Plans With a Hotkey: Once you've created the shortcut, you can assign a hotkey in the properties dialog—even better, put the shortcut in a location to be indexed by Launchy or the Vista start menu search, or even add it to your AutoHotkey automation script.
• CSMenu Brings the Classic Start Menu Back to Windows 7: Application launcher CSMenu makes up for the lack of a classic start menu option in Windows 7 by creating a menu that looks and works just like the ancient Windows 2000 menu did.
• Ultimate Windows Tweaker Updates, Improves Windows 7 Support: Ultimate Windows Tweaker adds new features to an already excellent tool for tweaking all of the hidden Windows settings you normally can't access.
• VistaSwitcher is an Absolutely Awesome Alt-Tab Replacement: It's a little difficult to showcase how well this thing works with just a screenshot, but you can see the partially transparent Alt-Tab switcher window, complete with a massive preview window and the window titles easily readable.
• Windows 7 Recovery Discs Gets Your System Out of Tight Spots: Boot your system from NeoSmart's CD, and you'll get a stripped-down Windows system with a window offering startup file repair, Restore Point returns, recovery from a whole-cloth image, memory testing, and a command prompt for those dire moments when only frantically Google-d terminal instructions can save you.
• Hulu Desktop Integration Brings Hulu to Windows 7 Media Center: Free application Hulu Desktop Integration brings Hulu's remote-friendly desktop app to your Windows Media Center.

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We hope you found at least one link in that rather large list that helps you get settled into your new OS. Did we miss anything? Got a favorite tip or link you feel Windows 7 newcomers should consider? Share it in the comments.

Canon PowerShot G11 Review

Canon PowerShot G11 Review

The PowerShot G11 is the latest version of Canon's compact camera range for prosumers and professionals, offering a DSLR experience in a pocketable body. Interestingly Canon have reduced the number of megapixels on the G11 in a bid to improve image quality at higher ISO speeds, and they've responded to customer feedback by re-introducing the vari-angle LCD that was missing on the previous G10 model. With a price-tag of £569.00 / €659.00 / $499.99, the Canon PowerShot G11 is one of the most expensive digital compact cameras that money can buy - Gavin Stoker finds out if it's also one of the best...

Google Chrome Portable 3.0.195.27 Released

Google Chrome Portable 3.0.195.27 Released

Google Chrome Portable 3.0.195.27 has been released.
Google Chrome Portable is a web browser that runs web pages and applications with lightning speed. It's designed to be simple and stylish. It's packaged as a portable app, so you can take your browsing experience with you and it's in PortableApps.com Format so it can easily integrate with the PortableApps.com Suite. It's released as freeware for personal and business use.

Read on for more details...

Sky Player for Windows Media Center Announcement

Sky Player for Windows Media Center Announcement

At the UK launch of Windows 7, Microsoft today announced a major partnership with Sky to add Sky Player, Sky’s online TV service, to Windows Media Center in Windows 7, creating a new and exciting way to watch live and on-demand TV from Sky on a PC.

TV on a PC is part of Microsoft’s multi-screen entertainment strategy which, in addition to Sky Player in Windows 7, sees Microsoft and Sky working together to bring Sky Player to the TV screen via Xbox LIVE. Sky Player in Windows 7 will bring a wide range of live and on-demand entertainment programmes to the Windows platform.

The service will give Windows 7 users access to a wide range of high-quality live and on-demand pay TV currently on Sky Player, which includes the latest blockbuster movies, live action sports, must see entertainment, programming dedicated to kids, music, the arts and thought provoking documentaries.

For existing Sky TV customers, Sky Player in Windows 7 offers another way to view their Sky TV, in addition to their set top box. For new customers, Sky Player in Windows 7 will offer a wide range of live channels and on-demand content via a number of different packages through a monthly subscription.

Windows 7 enables audiences with a broadband Internet connection to watch TV from Sky on a PC. In addition to offering digital music, photos and personal videos all in one place, Windows 7 makes it easier to discover great TV, sports and movies from Sky straight from the PC desktop, via a new desktop gadget. Users can also browse programme galleries or search for shows using keywords.

Ashley Highfield, Managing Director and Vice President Consumer & Online, Microsoft UK, comments: “The way UK consumers interact with TV is changing. Audiences now want to consume great quality TV anywhere and at any time and are demanding a lot more from their TV experience. With the launch of Windows 7 and through partners such as Sky, we are making new things possible and delivering TV to British viewers the way they want it.”

Griff Parry, Director of On Demand, BSkyB adds: “We are committed to giving our customers more choice and flexibility in how they access Sky content. Sky Player in Windows 7 offers yet another innovative and attractive way through which to access a wide range of live and on-demand TV. Whether it’s an existing customer looking to get even more from their Sky subscription, or someone connecting with Sky for the first time through their PC, everyone can enjoy a high-quality online TV experience through Windows 7.”

Sky Player currently has 24 live streaming TV channels and provides a comprehensive on-demand library which includes 500 movies to download at anytime from Sky Movies and thousands of programmes spanning entertainment, sport documentaries, kids, culture and news.

Windows Media Center in Windows 7 gives user’s access to broadband and broadcast TV in one place. With the simple addition of an inexpensive TV tuner*, Windows 7 can function like a Digital Video Recorder (DVR), so audiences can also watch and record broadcast TV on their PC. A new integrated programme guide makes it easy to view available broadcast and internet TV channels in one place and with keyword search and Turbo Scroll it is quick and easy to look for and discover shows up to two weeks in advance.

Windows Media Center is included in Windows 7 Home Premium, Ultimate, Professional and Enterprise.

To watch Sky Player with Windows 7 you need an effective broadband connection of 2Mbit/s or more.

*UK TV License may be required for certain functionality.

About Sky Player

Sky Player TV was launched in December 2008 as a dedicated online subscription TV service, providing an alternative way to subscribe to Sky TV, without the need to subscribe to an existing TV-based service. It built upon the success of Sky Player, which launched in 2006 as a bonus service for Sky’s Direct-to-Home (DTH) customer base, allowing Sky customers to access live channels and on-demand content via their computers. It currently provides access to channel brands such as Sky Sports, Sky Movies, Sky News, The History Channel, National Geographic, the BBC, G.O.L.D, Eden, MTV ONE, ESPN, Sky1, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, among others.

Non– Sky TV customers will require a monthly subscription which starts at £15 per month to Sky Player’s Base Entertainment Pack, customers who want watch Sky Sports 1, 2, 3, ESPN and Sky Movie channels will be able to add these channels to their Base Entertainment Pack for an additional cost. In addition to the live channels, customers will also have access to on-demand programmes from channels they subscribe to.

Customers with Sky Multiroom or Sky Broadband Unlimited subscriptions are additionally able to access live channels for no extra charge. Customers who do not have subscriptions to Sky Broadband Unlimited or Sky Multiroom are still able to access the live channels by taking an online Sky Player multiroom subscription for £5 per month.

ENTERTAINMENT PACK CHANNELS:

G.O.L.D., Sky Real Lives, Sky Arts 1, MTV ONE, Sky Sports News, British Eurosport

ESPN Classic, Sky News, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, History, Eden, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, Nick Jr

SPORT PACK CHANNELS:

Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 3, Sky Sports XTRA + All sports video on demand programmes

MOVIES PACK CHANNELS:

Sky Movies Screen 1 and Screen 2 + Hundreds of movies from these channels to watch on demand.

ESPN can be added to any pack for additional cost.

Internet only subscription:

Pack	Channels	Cost per month	Total cost with ESPN
Entertainment Pack	G.O.L.D., Sky Real Lives, Sky Arts 1, MTV ONE, Sky Sports News, British Eurosport ESPN Classic, Sky News, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, History, Eden, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, Nick Jr	£15	£27
Sport
Entertainment Pack + Single Sports Channel	Entertainment pack + Sky Sports Xtra and the choice of either Sky Sports 1 or Sky Sports	£25	£34
Entertainment Pack + Dual Sports Channels	Entertainment pack + Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 3, Sky Sports Xtra	£34	£43
Movies
Entertainment Pack + Single Movies Channel	Entertainment pack + Sky Movies Screen 1 or Sky Movies Screen 2	£24	£36
Entertainment Pack + Dual Movies Channels	Entertainment pack + Sky Movies Screen 1 and Sky Movies Screen 2	£32	£44
Sport & Movies
Entertainment Pack + Single Movies Channel + Single Sports channel	Entertainment pack + Sky Movies Screen 1 or Sky Movies Screen 2 and the choice of either Sky Sports 1 or Sky Sports 2, with Sky Sports Extra	£33	£42
Entertainment Pack + Dual Sports Channels + Single Movies Channel	Entertainment pack + Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 3, Sky Sports Xtra and Sky Movies Screen 1 or Sky Movies Screen 2	£38	£47
Entertainment Pack + Dual Movies Channels + Single Sports Channel	Entertainment pack + Sky Movies Screen 1 and Sky Movies Screen 2 and Sky Movies Screen 1 or Sky Movies Screen 2	£38	£47
Full channel pack – including all sports and movie channels	Entertainment pack + Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 3, Sky Sports Xtra and Sky Movies Screen 1 & Sky Movies Screen 2	£41	£50

Prep Your PC for Windows 7 [How To]

Prep Your PC for Windows 7 [How To]

When Windows 7 drops this Thursday, you can either spend many, many hours watching a progress bar, or you can boot into a clean, speedy system with that new-OS smell. Let's get your system set up for a proper Windows 7 upgrade.

If you're jumping into Windows 7 for the first time this Thursday, or soon after, you won't find yourself facing an entirely new-looking, strange-acting Windows. Most of Windows 7's features are refinements, tweaks, and speed-ups from Vista. Your Lifehacker editors have been using 7 ever since the Windows 7 Beta dropped in January, and we've found a few things worth noting and, in some cases, crowing about, like these 10 things to look forward to in Windows 7, or Windows 7's underhyped features.

Considering that we know that 86% of you are upgrading to Windows 7, we thought it might be worth a little guidance for getting ready to do just that.

Before You Upgrade, Part 1: What You Can Upgrade To

Are you running Windows XP? You can upgrade, but you'll have to do a whole-cloth 'custom' installation, which will either wipe out your current system or, if you're planning on dual-booting, require some hard drive partitioning.

Running Windows Vista? You can do an in-place upgrade from a Vista edition (Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate) to an equivalent or lower-scale edition of Windows 7 (Starter, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate), assuming you're not moving up from 32-bit to 64-bit. Yeah, it's that simple. Ed Bott at ZDNet took a woefully confusing upgrade chart Microsoft prepared and made an easier-to-grasp, plain-English upgrade chart that's definitely worth checking out.

Before you buy an upgrade disc, though, you'll want to ensure your system meets the minimum specs for 7. Here they are in table form, stylishly cribbed from Wikipedia's Windows 7 page:

Need to double-check one of your system's stats against what Microsoft calls the bare minimum? They offer a free Upgrade Advisor download for Windows systems that will tell you whether your hardware and peripherals can live in the Windows 7 world.

Finally, if you're planning on upgrading from the Release Candidate you've been testing out and running happily since what seems like forever, know that it takes a bit more than just popping in a disc. Microsoft doesn't really want you to pay only an 'upgrade' price to move up from a free system, but it can be done. Our own How-To Geek posted a detailed walkthrough of a Windows 7 RC to RTM upgrade at his home away from Lifehacker. Basically, you'll need to edit a single file on the Windows 7 installation disc, which requires a disc-to-hard-drive copy and a free extraction tool. If that's not your cup of tea, or you'd rather fulfill your licensing obligations, you've got until March 2010 before the Release Candidate starts nagging and auto-rebooting on you.

Before You Upgrade, Part 2: Back Up Your Data

Even if things go swimmingly with your upgrade, you'll want to have a fall-back copy of your music, pictures, documents, application data, and other important files. If you're doing a 'custom installation' from Windows XP or any system without a Windows license, it's an absolute must. Our readers voted up tools like Cobian Backup, SyncBack, and Acronis True Image in our Hive Five for Windows backup tools, but also suggested online, auto-monitoring tools like Mozy Home and Carbonite—which aren't free for more than token amounts of data, and probably can't get you backed up in time if you must jump into 7 this Thursday.

For absolute security in knowing that you could completely revive your current Windows system if 7 turned into a disaster, do what Gina did by hot-imaging your PC's hard drive with DriveImage XML.

Upgrade Option 1: In-Place Upgrade from Vista

This one is the easiest option, since all your data files stay in place, your just-as-you-like-them computer settings stay in place, and you don't need to touch anything with the word 'partition' involved.

The downside? Depending on how "clean" a user you are—in terms of removing unnecessary applications and keeping your media library trim and in one place—and the speed of your hardware, an upgrade to Windows 7 can take a seriously long time. Chris Hernandez charts his extensive testing and finds that a 'super user' on mid-range hardware could wait more than 6 hours for a 32-bit upgrade to finish. That's a worst-case scenario, but if you feel like you've got a lot of applications and data that might hold things up, there is a way to get tidy in a jiff.

First off, install Revo Uninstaller and kill off any applications, helpers, monitoring programs, and anything else that you're not really using in Vista. (Won't it feel nice to have a cleaner system when you start up Windows 7?) Next, read our step-by-step guide to separating your data from Windows on a stand-alone partition. You'll benefit from doing this with any version of Windows, and especially if you're planning to dual-boot any time soon.

Separating your music, pictures, movies, Office documents, and other non-application files from the stuff Windows needs to run means that Windows 7 only looks at your core C: drive for an upgrade. From a peace of mind perspective, that also means that if things don't go well with your upgrade and you decide to run a clean install, you're in a better position to do so. Best of all, Windows 7's 'Libraries' features makes it easy to access music, pictures, documents, and videos anywhere on your system, right from the Start menu.

Upgrade Option 2: Upgrading from XP or a Clean Hard Drive

Windows XP users can still get the Upgrade price discount, but there's no actual "upgrade"—you're doing a whole new install of Windows 7 on a blank hard drive, or at least a blank partition. If there's space enough on your drive, do as we suggest above and create a new partition for just your data, but you'll also want to back up your application data in this case.

Microsoft has posted an official XP-to-Windows-7 migration video guide, and offers a User State Migration Tool that claims to capture desktop and system settings, user accounts, and the files you want and brings them over to your new Windows 7 system. The How-To Geek's partner in blogging, mysticgeek, also details how to use Windows 7's Easy Transfer tool with a USB drive to migrate files and settings. Obvious, but fair, warning: Be sure to run these transfer utilities in XP first, back up their file loads, and then run them in Windows 7, unless you're planning on dual-booting (detailed just a bit down this page).

Concerned about your favorite programs' compatibility in Windows 7? We've run down how to set up and use Virtual XP Mode in Windows 7. An official, final, and free download of XP Mode should arrive this week for Windows 7, possibly at this page.

Upgrade Option 3: Dual-Boot Windows XP or Vista with 7

Technically, you could use our guide to dual-booting Windows 7 with XP or Vista to set up a crazy schizo-system with all three Windows versions available, but we're assuming that unless you're a developer, you probably want to at least move on from Vista, given 7's compatibility with, and improvements over, the much-maligned OS.

If you set up dual-booting, you can still use the User State Migration Tool or Windows 7's Easy Transfer tool to save time setting up your accounts over again in Windows 7—you just don't have to worry about putting the horse before the cart this way.

'Upgrade' Option 4: Boot Camp on a Mac

There's nothing too new about installing Windows 7 on a Mac with Boot Camp that hasn't already been done with XP and Vista. Stroll over to our Boot Camp how-to guide to read up on how to set up a Windows system right next to OS X, with extra pointers on getting devices like Mac keyboards working properly in Windows.

Upgrade Option 5: Load Windows 7 on a Netbook

It's entirely possible to load Windows 7 onto netbooks that shipped with XP, Linux, or some other system—it's just not quite easy. If you're up for a little ISO imaging, USB installing, and file compression, our sibling blog Gizmodo can walk you through installing Windows 7 on almost any netbook. You'll need a minimum of 1GB of RAM and 8GB of hard drive space on your netbook, along with a 4GB thumb drive and a valid copy of Windows 7. PC World just posted a guide to getting Windows 7 on your netbook in a half-hour, but we've yet to try out their technique.

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If you've already gone through an upgrade to Windows 7, be it beta, release candidate, or (*cough*) retail, tell us what made the move easier for you, or what lessons you learned the hard way, in the comments.

Microsoft's Free Windows 7 Ebook Details Deployment Nitty Gritty [Upgrades]

Microsoft's Free Windows 7 Ebook Details Deployment Nitty Gritty [Upgrades]

Earlier today we showed you the practical steps you should take to prep your PC for Windows 7, but if you want to get all kinds of detailed, Microsoft's free, 332-page ebook might be worth a download.

Called Deploying Windows 7: Essential Guidance from the Windows 7 Resource Kit and TechNet Magazine, the two-part book draws from the Windows 7 Resource Kit and TechNet Magazine covering topics from planning your deployment and testing application compatibility to lists of common issues you may run into with Windows 7 and other things you should know.

The book is clearly written with IT folks in mind, but whether you're looking to up your Windows 7 IQ or you actually are going to be the person helping everyone deploy Windows 7 to their machines, it's at least worth a download.

Deploying Windows 7 Essential Guidance from the Windows 7 Resource Kit and TechNet Magazine [Microsoft via Web Worker Daily]

Manage your tasks with Google

Manage your tasks with Google: "People use all kinds of tools to help them get stuff done — paper to-do lists, messages with a certain label or stars in Gmail, notes in Google Calendar, a couple different iGoogle gadgets and so on. Late last year, we added a lightweight way to help you keep track of what you need to do in Gmail Labs — tasks.

Since then, it's graduated from Labs, and you can manage your tasks not only in Gmail, but also in Google Calendar, iGoogle and from your mobile phone (by going to gmail.com/tasks from your phone's browser). Your task list stays up to date no matter how you access it — so for example, if you create a task with a due date on your mobile device, the next time you consult your Google Calendar you'll see that task on your calendar for that day.



Starting today, there's a full-screen version of the Tasks gadget for iGoogle. Click on the icon in the top-right corner and you'll be able to see and organize all your tasks at once.

For those of you who are already familiar with tasks, here are some power tips to help make you more productive:

• When you have completed a task and no longer want it to appear on your list, click 'Clear completed' in the actions menu. You can review your completed tasks later by clicking 'View completed tasks.' Clearing completed tasks is different from deleting them — if you delete a task, it's gone for good and you'll no longer see it anywhere in tasks.
• In the default 'My order' view, press tab to indent a task you're editing, making it a sub-task of the one above. Press shift + tab to reverse this operation.
• Try ctrl + up/down (⌘ + up/down on a Mac) to move the task you're editing up and down the list. Move a task that has sub-tasks, and they'll come along with it.
• Ctrl + up/down also works in sort by date view, where it will alter the task's due date by one day. You can use this to quickly plan out your week's activities or postpone a task for another day.
• Press shift + enter to edit the details of a task, including its notes and due date. You can also use this view to move your task to another list.

We have more features in the pipeline, so if you're interested in hearing the latest on tasks, follow us on Twitter.

Posted by David Barrett-Kahn, Software Engineer, Tasks team