XP SP3 WAS released, but got pulled; and then got released again.

I’ve been following this on and off, and it seems to me to be one of the MOST comical configuration and release management related issues I’ve bumped into in a long time. I should know, too. As a Software QA Director, I’ve been responsible not only for Test, but CM and RM as well.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see situations like the XP SP3 and Vista SP1 release issues we have (BTW, Vista SP1 is also on hold…AGAIN!) in small companies, but to see them in a retail giant like Microsoft is really bothersome…especially when the entire world runs their businesses on Microsoft software.

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Did you catch James raving about Xobni over on jkOnTheRun a few weeks ago?

The beauty of Xobni is the type of information it presents to you when you click on any email in your folders. The Xobni sidebar shows everything related to email about the person who sent you that email and makes accessing that information, including any threaded email conversation, just one click away. There is a degree of social networking (a phrase I have come to hate) to this information as you also see everyone who has participated in any of that contact’s email conversations. I can’t overstate how powerful this is for those times when you are looking for that nugget of information that was sent to you oh so long ago.

He surprised me with an invite around that time, but because I am no longer using Outlook I couldn’t really dig in; now you can.

If you wanted the chance to try Xobni, here it is; the details arrived in my inbox this morning…

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Web site MacHeist is introducing a retail bundle of 12 shareware Mac applications now available for $49 via download. Included in the bundle: Awaken, Cha-Ching, CoverSutra, DEVONthink Personal, iClip, Overflow, Wallet, WriteRoom, XSlimmer, Enigmo, Budgom 2, Nanosaur 2. The bundle will be offered online for about a month before being moved to retail stores. Offering bundles through retail is a new strategy for MacHeist as explained here on their site:

The plan is to have the bundle sell for a 1-year term. We wanted to make 100% sure that we didn’t cannibalize the sales of the developers on their own sites, so we’re doing a 30-day trial period with them. If at the end of the trial any dev feels that things aren’t going as they’ve hoped for, they have the right to opt-out and we’ll replace their app with another one. The good thing is that according to all the devs I’ve talked to so far, their sales have actually gone up significantly so far (my iClip sales included). So far, so good.

Link: MacHeist Retail Bundle - $49

Slickdeal.net spotlights a giveaway of WinRAR version 3.62. Granted, it’s not the latest release (version 3.71 is the latest - adding Vista compatibility - details) - but it’s a legal licensed copy. There are a few simple steps to request your license key.

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Last week I bought into the $64.95 MacUpdate promo that was offered until April 29. If you missed the deal and wanted a cheap copy of Parallels Desktop, don’t despair. I have a copy from my purchased bundle which I don’t need. If you’d like it - leave a message in the comments. I’ll give it away to one random commenter chosen on May 1 at 8pm EST. This includes the unused license key which I will email to you for your exclusive use. The software itself can be downloaded from the Parallels site.

Run Windows, Linux, and more side-by-side with Mac OS X on any Intel-powered Mac, without rebooting. With Parallels’ award-winning virtualization technology, you can run Mac OS X and Windows at the same time. You can even drag-and-drop files between desktops!

Leading the way with our trademark innovation, Parallels Desktop 3.0 comes packed with 50+ new features and enhancements, including Snapshots, 3D graphics, and the new Parallels-only SmartSelect.

Link: Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac

Microsoft has stopped the SP1 Prereq Merry-Go-Round…

Vista SP1 has been available for a little bit, but hasn’t hit many computers in the wild due to a problem with one of the prereq KB installs.  Two months ago, when the prereq was released, it sent some computers into an endless series of reboots.  Many users stuck in that loop were without any recourse as they watched the scenery blur as they went in circles on that merry-go-round from hell.

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I like handheld games. I spend a good bit of time playing games on my Windows Mobile handheld and on my Nintendo DS. There have never been, for me, enough good games written for the Windows mobile platform. For all the potential there, the selections have too frequently been knockoffs of each other.

A while back, I bought and played the original Bejeweled, and although I enjoyed it, it didn’t exactly “wow” me. It’s gameplay was basically that of match 3-or-more to remove objects. The variation, however, is that more pieces fall into place, and there are special objects that perform more effective removals. The gameplay was a little choppy, but still playable. So, while Bejeweled was a fun, and certainly popular game, I wasn’t overly impressed.

Now now some time goes by and I’m presented with the opportunity to try out the new Bejeweled 2. I started it up expecting a small variation on the original. What I got was a much improved display, smoother gameplay, and more play options.

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I have recently started using Mozilla’s Thunderbird e-mail program for my e-mail coming into Gear Diary.  It supports many protocols my favorite being IMAP.   Not to mention that it is multi platform running on Windows, Max OS X and of course Linux.

One annoying behavior that I’ve discovered about Thunderbird is it defaults to sending all e-mail forwards as attachments.  In theory, nothing is wrong with this behavior, but it creates an attachment that ends in “.eml”.  Some mail providers like Gear Diary’s provider will block this with their spam or virus detection software. Continue Reading

Wayne: I’m not sure if this will work for everyone or if it’s just allowing me in because I’m already into the Evernote beta (I think it’s an open URL because one of my friends was able to download directly). UPDATE: Some users are not able to get into the beta via the link shown at the end of this post - if you have trouble - leave a note in the comments and I’ll forward you an invite from my account.

Instead of applying for the Evernote Beta (which is just a marketing gimmick imho) — keep reading and I have a link that I found which seems to get you into the beta without having to wait for an invite.

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So let’s say that you have a Windows Mobile phone and you have a desktop computer. Dashwire allows you to “automatically mirror the content on your phone to the web, helping you access and share your mobile experiences - no cables required.”

Now…in plain English please?

Dashwire is a free service which synchronizes your contacts, text messages, photos, videos, calls and voicemail with a private web account. Once your phone is synchronizing with Dashwire, it is an easy thing to control it via your desktop. One of the key features is the ability to create, read, forward, reply to and save SMS messages on your computer, while using your phone’s plan. Texts sent will actually appear to have been sent from your mobile number, and you can also, “view messages on you computer as they arrive on your phone.”

Let’s take a deeper look and see if this might be something you would want to try…

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