Let Live Search Do Your Algebra

Great idea from Lifehacker.com : Let Live Search do your algebra. I guess most of you are familiar with the fact that google search (even the search bar in Firefox) can do simple calculations and unit conversions. Microsoft’s latest effort goes to eleven though. It is capable of solving simple algebra problems. With symbols. So it’s one point for microsoft. Firefox and Google had thousands of points from before, but this means they are catching up 🙂

How not to make frinds via software

Trying to make a software friendly may be a good idea. Making it too friendly is a bad idea. Making software that annoys you might be the worst of ideas, still that’s the experience I most often feel around Vista. I rarely get the sensation that “wow – this is good”, but rather “is this wrong too?”.
My latest annoyance is the problem report. For no apparant reason Vista decides to suddenly and at random times run a problem report check to see if it can solve any of the heaps of crashes and problems Vista has encountered. Today this happened, and Vista searched for a couple of hundred errors (!). It found the solution to three (see picture).
The two first errors are anonymous, while the third is Firefox related. Clicking on the first took me to a screen where it said I should get Nokia drivers for my telephone. Well, I couldn’t think of why I needed that since everything has been working with my Nokia connection to the PC. So when I clicked “Information is confusing” I was asked “what where you trying to do”. And who can remember that, months after the problem may have occured?
Second problem took me to a Bluetooth screen. I am quite happy with my bluetooth antenna, it works perfectly and I can easily send files to my computer from around the house and using phones or laptops. So when I was recommended to go to this site to download a driver I was skeptical. Not to mention that when I arrived at the web site, I found that this was actually gonna cost me heaps of money. Just to upgrade something that works. No good help there.
The third one was Firefox related. The technical information in the corner said I needed to install latest version. Which I always do via the excellent filehippo.com update checker. So that was wrong info too. I tried to figure out what must have been the error, but the help I got was “this is community based”, and a link to Mozilla Inc. was provided (it did not work, but may hopes weren’t high anyway).

So out of hundreds of errors, Microsoft decided to fix three, making them all worse if I had follow through with their help. Thanks, Vista, but no thanks! I’d rather run my computer to a halt without your help…

Microsoft Live Labs: Photosynth

Microsoft Live Labs: Photosynth.

Wow – doesn’t this look completel amazing! A tip from national broadcasting in Norway, this Microsoft software allows you to navigate your pictures in 3D! More cool than useful or anything else, but still!

Windows Live FolderShare beta

Windows Live FolderShare beta

This is one of those things that I really have gotten addicted to and dependant on. It allows you to set aside a folder on each of your computer and all the time make sure that the content in those folders are exactly the same. Edit a file at home, on your work pc you find the new version ready when you get there. Download stuff on your laptop and it will be available on the rest of your computer within seonds/minutes.This is a free offer from Microsoft and I have been using it mostly to put my currently editing documents in. I am sure there are other equally good uses, like keeping Firefox extension available on all computers, or having your set of reading articles available no matter which of your computers you are in front of.You can also share folders with friends and family with this nifty software, and you can access your shared computers online, as long as they are powered on. I have tried a few other syncing solution, but this one is my favorite so far along with Syncplicity. The latter also keeps back up of your sync’ed folders online.Feel free to offer more clever uses in the comments!