Vista Service Pack 2 Lacks Media Center TV Pack 2008 (Updated)
As it stands right now, Windows Vista Service Pack 2 still won’t include TV Pack 2008. I haven’t heard official word from Microsoft, but I can confirm that TV Pack 2008 is absent from SP2. It’s not clear why the Media Center team didn’t add this. Microsoft has confirmed to me that TV Pack 2008 will [...]
Microsoft Won’t Let Mac Get its Bluetooth 2.1 On
That’s right. Even if you use Boot Camp, you’re stuck at Bluetooth 2.0 on your Windows-powered MacBook. I didn’t realize this until I considered getting one of those nifty MacBook Air units now that they have reasonably good graphics. Not that this would really tip my decision either way… but Microsoft added support for Bluetooth [...]
Vista Keeps Thinking I’m A Guest
I’m on my third complete reinstall of Windows on my Inspiron 530n. Completely erased the hard drive, reinstalled Windows from scratch… and the same problem keeps happening. Worse, my Inspiron 530n is plugged into my HDTV… making troubleshooting a royal pain. Here’s the problem. With Vista SP1, this computer keeps corrupting my user account. This [...]
What About Tiger? What About Apple TV?
Tiger and Apple TV will put Apple in an interesting situation, once Snow Leopard comes out. See, Apple has a house rule on product lifespan. Only the prior, major, release of Mac OS X is to be supported. That means that if a device can’t be upgraded to the last version of Mac OS X, [...]
Mac Office Update Bug: Lather, Rinse, Repeat
It appears that the latest Microsoft Office 2008 update (12.1.13), has the same bug the last version did. Namely, if you strip the unnecessary foreign language translations (using a tool like Youpi Optimizer, Monolingual, or even Finder)… the updater will complain that there aren’t any viable installations available. And yes, this is a bug. Apple [...]
Microsoft Resumes Media Center Expert Zone Chats
Just when the first article, criticising Microsoft over this was about to fall off the front page… Microsoft did an about face. If you look at the very-ancient Expert Zone homepage, you’ll now see that Media Center Expert Zone chats have resumed. I’m sure myself, like many others, will enjoy re-re-re-asking key questions… and getting [...]
MSN Direct Smart Watch Users Lose Messaging with Update
Microsoft just sent a note to MSN Direct Smart Watch owners. If you update to Windows Live Messenger 9.0 (just hitting beta, but won’t go final until February), you will lose the ability to send messages to your Smart Watch. In case you didn’t know, Microsoft’s abandoned-but-still-supported Smart Watch platform had has a feature, which, [...]
Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR: It Just Works
I had my concerns about the Hauppauge 1212 HD PVR. First, it lost Media Center support (thanks to Microsoft gutting H.264 from TV Pack 2008 at the last minute). Then, it got delayed… a lot. But, when it comes to capturing HD video, there aren’t a lot of choices out there. A few FireWire boxes touted component [...]
Microsoft Pulls Plug on Media Center Expert Zone Chats
I went to attend a Media Center Expert Zone chat, at its regularly schedueled time (once monthly, on the third Thursday of the month)… only to find that the Expert Zone web site had removed the Media Center chats from their schedule completely. I can’t blame them, really. The chats weren’t aimed at true Media [...]
Deal: USB TV Tuner with ATSC & QAM for Media Center $14.99
Newegg is offering the KWorld 340U TV Tuner for only $14.99 after a $20 mail-in rebate. This USB stick-style tuner is compatible with Windows Media Center, and can do both cable and over-the-air programming. There aren’t QAM drivers available for Media Center (something that will hopefully be fixed by TV Pack 2008… Microsoft still hasn’t [...]
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