I’ve been testing windows 7 tirelessly since exam freedom last week. Everything from stability tests and benchmarking to trying to make it blue-screen. It’s been fun, but in retrospect a social life may have been better. As some of you have asked for it, here is my own humble opinion: It’s good! Really good!
PC
VLC Remote for iPhone Does The Job Well
For years, I have told anyone who will listen that one of the first programs to install on a new PC is VLC Media Player. It is a light, user-friendly, open source, small video player that will play pretty much anything that resembles video. Now VLC has the perfect little companion. With VLC Remote (I am talking about the paid version, not VLC Remote Free), you can fully control your VLC player from your iPhone/iPod Touch, and the best thing about it is that it really works, and well!
How Microsoft Views our Future
This has got to be one of the coolest Microsoft ads I have ever seen.
The New Mac Ads
Which one do you like the most?
Microsoft Makes History
This is the first time that Microsoft has come out with two successful ads in a row. So, how do you explain this? Did they change marketing teams? Anyway, here is another good ad by Microsoft.
Wow, Who Knew Microsoft Could Make Great Ads?
I am pleasantly surprised by Microsoft’s marketing team. They actually did a good job with this ad.
Can Microsoft Predict the Future?
The answer – only time can tell.
How To Use Gas & Save the Planet
Well it’s true if you use this kind of Gas, you will help save the planet one click at at time. It’s called Green Any Site or GAS for short. This little bookmark “gives shoppers the ability to easily donate a portion of any online purchase they make, to the environmental charity of their choice. All it takes is clicking a special “green this!” bookmark whenever they shop online.”
It really is as simple as that. I had that chance to speak with the guy behind it, Tal Ater, who showed me how it works. He really didn’t need to show me much, because what I love about it, is how easy it is to use. The installation is just a drag and drop bookmark, and the process is really just a click and confirm action. 
I am all for saving the planet and everything like that, a treehugger at heart, but when it comes to the web, ease of use needs to be the first priority, or else users like myself won’t use it. Not that I don’t want to help out, but if it is hard and annoying to use, then it is just not going to happen.
GAS has really incorporated both the environmental aspect and the user experience factor, into a really amazing and easy to use tool. Kudos to people like Tal who are using his talent as a programmer and web designer to save the planet. The world needs more people like you.
Tal isn’t out there just to save the planet, and disregard his needs, he actually has a business plan. It’s rare to see such a venture with a business plan that makes sense and is attainable.
GAS’s business plan is focused around two areas:
- Extremely targeted, ethical advertising at the time of purchase… Knowing what a user is about to buy and where he is about to buy it, is an amazing opportunity to advertise other products to him, and to help him make greener choices. This is one of our plans on how to not only raise money for the environment, but also help our users make smarter, greener buying decisions.
- For example, when you’re about to buy a book online and click “green this”, you may see a small notice next to the GAS window suggesting you save an extra tree and buy the audio or e-book instead. This space may also be used for green tips such as suggesting places to recycle your old phone when you purchase a new one.
- It should be noted, that GAS uses the data about a user’s purchase only for the duration of the transaction. No personally identifiable information is kept on a user’s shopping habits, in order not to intrude on his privacy.
- Packaging and providing our technology for use by other non-profit and for-profit companies, so they can create their own version of GAS, completely branded to their charity, and benefiting different causes.
GAS is a really great way to make a change with a click, so check GAS out and start saving the plant one click at a time.
-Aryeh
Come on Microsoft – Who Made This?
Microsoft released a new product called Songsmith, an application that helps you write your own songs for PC only. In concept it’s a cute app but after you watch this ad I wouldn’t go near it, ever. Besides the fact that the ad is incredibly painful, they use a MacBook Pro as the computer they are demonstrating the program on. They try to cover it up with a few stickers, but this is really shocking. Who is responsible for this ad???
-Aryeh
Source- TechCrunch
Great David Pogue Lecture/Stand-up
David Pogue, who is an columnist at the at the NY Times, gave this lecture, which is more like a stand up comedy show. Check it out!
-Aryeh
Blue Screen of Death at Israeli Train Station
Yesterday, while waiting for a train to my next job interview, I noticed that the monitor that is supposed to list the train times, had a Blue Screen of Death. Somehow, even though it was not my PC that was displaying the screen, I had that “warm” feeling that only Microsoft knows how to give you when their product fails. You know what I mean, the one that causes your heart to skip a few beats and your mind to say “oh no, not again”. Yea, I get that feeling too often, and I am not even running vista.
I know I know, time to upgrade my phone
You think Hamas was responsible for this?
Update: I did not make up the term “Blue Screen of Death” just to have a good title, that is what it is called. Take a look.
-Hillel
