Dear friends, my humble apologies for not keeping up with the blog! I am very busy with other business ventures as of late and haven’t had a chance to do any product reviews or any articles… I just wanted to let you all know that I’m not letting this blog project get away and I’m going to be picking it back up and keep better track of everything. Stay tuned!!!
Posted on 02 August 2008
I know that probably most of you are enjoying your iPhone 3G and you are very satisfied with it, but when you will see this concept you might want to reconsider your thoughts. The cellphone is called Plica which means folding of a body part.
Plica consists of two touchscreens and it looks exactly like a regular cellphone. When the phone is folded in two screens, you will use one as a keyboard and on the other you will be able to see whatever you want to. Also, you can view the images on both screens which means twice the resolution. Plica is very functional kind of like a mini-laptop and it features USB and headphone jacks.
This could really be the iPhone killer as the double touchscreen is really great, the only problem is that this is only a concept. Plica was developed by designer James Piatt and I can’t wait to see this on the market.
My thoughts:
That’s an interesting concept but one of the things that it will fail at with regards to the iphone is the fact that it sports moving parts. Yes, you can operate it with one hand and one screen, but can you imagine juggling your venti mocha, your laptop bag, your light rail pass, and a headphone cord while trying to open that thing? No, you might not NEED to open it but folks will try none-the-less.
It’s also not as much of a “fashion” item as the iPhone is. But if the functionality is up to par(i.e. running android, remaining open source with a closed source carrier specific package so that phone service always remains consistent) then this would be the iPhone killer for those of us who have been hacking them to get them to do what they want.
Folks who bought the iPhone and use them the way Lord Steve deemed appropriate for all his iChildren… will never buy this. -Joe
I’ve gotten word that The Pirate Bay’s servers have been taken offline. I’m still waiting for further word, but stay tuned for more information as it becomes availible.
You’re in IT, right? So chances are you’ve been laid off at least once from some crappy company and it’s going to happen again. Here is my one piece of advice to you. The single most important thing to do as soon as you make it back to your house with that box full of stuff:
Seriously. Do it now, before the initial shock wears off and that logical side of your brain starts coming up with lame excuses. You will never have a better chance to get out and see the world than right now. You have a pile of saving and a severance package. You’ve got 6 months to a year before your skills start getting rusty. There is absolutely no reason to start looking for work immediately, and every reason to take that round-the-world trip you’ve always dreamed about. Right. Now.
Trust me, your career will be just fine.
This is the easiest question to answer: Bangkok. Seriously, the mere fact that you had to ask the question indicates that you’re probably not a seasoned traveler and therefore should be going to Thailand first. I know you always wanted to do Europe, but it’s crazy expensive and frankly, it’s just not relaxed enough for you right now. You’re going to need some serious chilling to recover from a layoff. Southeast Asia has that in Spades.
Make your way to Ko San Road, find a room, grab a Beer Chiang and talk to a few other travelers. Your trip will plan itself from there.
Ok, one modification to the above. Thailand is thoroughly uninhabitable for a few months between May and July. In that case, you’re going to Africa. Book a flight to Cape Town instead. Follow this itinerary up through Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania. Everybody there speaks English and you can get a room for $0.75. You’ll do fine.
You’re going to want to stay gone for 6-9 months. Less than that and it you’ll be kicking yourself for not leaving enough time, and you’ll be rushing through entire countries just to keep up with your itinerary. I know that this seems silly now, but somewhere along the way somebody will ask how long you’ve been in Vietnam for and you’ll answer “Only one month.” Timescales work differently on the road.
In my experience (did I mention that I take about 9 months vacation a year and spend most of that traveling in the developing world?), I tend to start missing work after about 6 months away. By 9 months, I’m pretty much ready to commit to a real job in a real office just so that I can start using my brain again. Talking to other software guys on the road, it seems that this pretty common. You’re going to want to come back eventually, so be sure to keep a few good contacts back home.
Regardless of how long you plan to be gone, try to book your flight one-way. It will give you unlimited flexibility with your travel plans and let you pick your return date later when you know what you actually want to do. As a last resort, pick the return date furthest in the future, since it’s a lot easier to move it forward than to push it back.
I budget about $1,000 a month when I’m traveling in Southeast Asia, Central America, Africa or the Middle East. I seldom go through that much if I’m sticking to ground transport, but over the course of a year if you consider flights into the calculations, $1,000 a month is about right. Stay away from the developed world at all costs though, or you’ll quickly triple that figure!
The nice thing about a 6 month timeframe is that it gives all of your ex-coworkers time to entrench themselves in other hopeless software companies. Email them and notice how everything around them seems to be on fire. They need you to start tomorrow. Line up a good offer based on one of their recommendations and book a flight home.
You can’t possibly be serious. Are you saying that you’ve been working in IT for all these years and haven’t put away a lousy ten grand??? Shame on you. Get a book on life skills and open a bank account fer cryin’ out loud.
Not true. Nobody will hire you if you’re bad at what you do and have terrible interviewing skills. Those things won’t change over the course of six months, but you might possibly wind up more relaxed (and with some good stories to tell) and that’s actually a benefit when it comes to interviewing.
Regardless of what you may have heard, skilled developers are very hard to find. If you fit that category, there’s very little that you can do to poison your resume. Certainly, heading off on your once-in-a-lifetime trip won’t leave you unemployable.
Ok, you win. You’re screwed, but that’s the life you chose for yourself so you’re going to have to live it. It’s worth noting, however, that most Europeans wouldn’t consider that a reason not to travel. Right this second, there is a German couple pushing a stroller down a remote beach in Thailand, and they’re not going home for another month. What’s your excuse again?
When you get right down to it, you’ll probably find a way to talk yourself out of taking that dream trip. You’ll come up with some pretty believable excuses, but really it will come down to the fact that you’re scared.
That’s cool. Travel is pretty scary when you look at it from the outside. But here’s the thing. It stops being scary the moment your feet hit the pavement on Ko San Road in Bangkok. You’re going to get blasted by 100 degree heat, power-wafted by smells of the most amazing street food one minute and an open sewer the next, assaulted with music from a thousand bars, and crammed into a tiny room overlooking it all with a fan that doesn’t work. And you won’t be able to wipe the silly grin off your face.
Book the flight today, because every day you delay it is one more day wasted on the couch, and one more day to come up with lame excuses for why you shouldn’t go.
It is all good here. Get your ass on a plane.
Though I know the front page is stale as all hell, the forums have completely been redone(this includes losing all of the posts that were previously there. Not to worry there wasn’t much there anyway. I will eventually have a support forum for any of the articles that I post here so that we may better assist each other with issues and the like. My hopes is that through mutual contribution Dev-Hack will turn into a hub for information that is driving by the scenes themselves instead of my wish to aggregate information from all of the scenes. So head over to the Dev-Hack forums now and sign up. Be sure to hit the intro thread to introduce yourself and share your ideas for what you’d like to see on the site.
We have posted pics of some truly messy data center cabling in the past, but this time we figured it was time to do the opposite: Show how some people have managed to organize cables into something close to art.
Courtesy of Digital:Slurp.
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Courtesy of ChrisDag.
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Courtesy of mbm3290. Swedish colors! How could we NOT include it?
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Courtesy of mmayo.
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Courtesy of Jef Newsom.
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Courtesy of Precision Fiber Optics.
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Courtesy of tim d.
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Courtesy of Network1 Cabling. (We’re not sure this is practical or not, but it LOOKS impressive…)
—This post is dedicated to Daniel Norman, cable guy extraordinaire at Loopia.se.
Royal Pingdom » When data center cabling becomes art
So yes, it’s been a bit of a while since I last made a real entry here at Dev-Toast. The reason is really far beyond the scope of this website. For the longest time I’d been using Microsoft Word as my blogging editor and then posting directly from word. Then I was using Adobe Contribute CS3, which is great… if you only use Internet Explorer…
While stumbling around on the net with StumbleUpon, I found Windows Live writer. The big thing about it is that essentially what you see is really what you get. It downloads the CSS from your weblog so that you’re editing is done inside the constraints of the CSS style sheet. Very slick indeed. Keep checking back here for a full review on the HTC Kiaser also known as the AT&T Tilt among a plethora of other names.
-Joe
The #1 Tip of all Tips: Don’t underestimate the power of the Help button!
Windows Vista Help: Help that really helps
Quote - (Byron Ricks)
Click Start and then click Help and Support. The Help and Support window will open. You’re in. You’ve already gone further than many, many others.
I bet that you’ll find your answer after reading just one or two topics, without hunting around the entire Help system. Here’s why:
• A new voice for Windows. No, it’s not Clippy II. Help is easier to understand than in previous versions of Windows. It uses the language you use. You’ll notice the difference.
• Help topics originate from your questions. We created topics based on common questions and problems. This is why Help topic titles often reflect the question you are likely asking or the problem you’re trying to solve. You’ll know it when you see it.
• Certain topics deliver certain types of content. Quick answers, procedures, troubleshooters, and FAQs give you answers quickly, while articles use a longer format to provide more information, best practices, and tips.
• Help has more than 750 illustrations and screen shots to show you the way.
Extra credit: Read all 2,000+ Help topics. Reward: You’ll know a lot about Windows.
Flaunt your skills as you help your family and friends with their computer problems.
Remove the arrow (Shortcut Overlay) without side effects (32 & 64-bit)
Most Tweak programs remove the arrows by renaming or removing the IsShortCut String Values from the registry. Windows uses this value to track links, if you remove or rename the IsShortCut value lots of programs and features that use links won’t work correctly -> in Vista the shortcuts in Favorite Links, Media Center and in the Games Explorer disappear or won’t work anymore.
The files in the zip file below remove the arrows the same way as TweakUI does in previous Windows versions; it refers the icon to another icon. If you refer it to a completely blank icon, the overlays turn black when you restart Explorer or Log Off and Log On again. Solution: I’ve created a blank icon with some transparent pixels and with the same sizes as the default arrow -> no more arrows & no black overlays. 
Install: If you used a program or a reg file that removed the IsShortCut values; merge RestoreArrow.reg to restore them. Copy Blank.ico to the Windows directory fromVista, so if you installed Vista on the D drive, copy it to D:\Windows\. Merge RemoveArrow.reg and Log Off or Restart your Computer.
Windows Vista 64-bit users: Merge RemoveArrow_[C].reg if you installed Vista on your C drive, Merge RemoveArrow_[D].reg if you installed Vista on your D drive. If you installed Vista on another drive, just edit one of the RemoveArrow_[X].reg files so that it points to the Windows directory of Vista.
Uninstall: Merge RestoreArrow.reg and remove Blank.ico from your Windows directory.
Log Off or Restart your computer.
> RemoveArrow.zip ( 2,87 KB )
Keyboard shortcuts
Ctrl+Shift+Esc -> Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del -> Tasks Screen)
Ctrl+Shift+Enter -> Run an executable with elevated privileges
Windows logo key+1-0 -> Launch the shortcuts on the Quick Launch toolbar
Windows logo key+T -> Cycle through programs on the taskbar
Windows logo key+Tab -> Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Flip 3-D
Ctrl+Windows logo key+Tab -> Use the arrow keys to cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Flip 3-D
Windows logo key+Spacebar -> Bring all gadgets to the front and select Windows Sidebar
Windows logo key+G -> Cycle through Sidebar gadgets
Windows logo key+X -> Open Windows Mobility Center
Open a folder and press & release Alt -> Show Menu Bar (also works in Internet Explorer)
• Full list of keyboard shortcuts in Vista
• Internet Explorer 7 Quick Reference Sheet
• Windows Mail keyboard shortcuts
Create an Elevated Command Prompt shortcut
Right click on your Command Prompt shortcut and select Properties.
Click on the Advanced button (at the Shortcut tab), check “Run As Administrator” and click on OK (twice).
UltiMouse Task Controller
This program turns the Mouse into a Task Controller without losing the default functionality of the Mouse Buttons.
Double Click Middle Mouse Button -> Window Switcher (Flip3D)
Back Button + Scroll Up/Down -> Cycle through programs on the Taskbar*
Middle Mouse Button + Scroll Up/Down -> Cycle through Sidebar Gadgets * NEW *
Back Button + Middle Mouse Button -> Up One Level (emulates the Up Button)
Forward Button + Scroll Up/Down -> Maximize/Restore selected program/window
Forward Button + Middle Mouse Button -> Close selected program/window
Middle Mouse Button + Back Button -> Minimize selected program/window
Middle Mouse Button + Forward Button -> Restore last Minimized program/window
Double Click Back Button -> Minimize All
Double Click Forward Button -> UnMinimize All
* When you release the Back Button, the selected program/window is activated.
Install: Copy UltiMouse.exe to anywhere you want and create a shortcut in the Startup folder.
It runs hidden in the background, you can close it with Task Manager.
> UltiMouse.zip ( 171 KB )
Vista Orb Clock for Windows Sidebar
This gadget contains 12 skins based on the icons and logo from Windows Vista: 5 Vista Orbs, Windows Media Center, Windows Live, Windows Media Player, a CD, 2 Globes & the blue compass from Guided Help.
Tip: You can drag the gadgets to you desktop and use them as Desktop Gadgets (like AveDesk & Samurize).
When you right click on the Sidebar and select close, the Sidebar minimizes to the system tray & the Desktop Gadgets are still on the desktop.
> VistaOrbClock.zip ( 698 KB )
Customize the appearance of Windows Sidebar
Windows Sidebar Styler is an application designed to allow users to tweak the Sidebar’s User Interface.
Custom styles allow users to customize the appearance of Windows Sidebar so that it fits the style of other UI elements, such as the Aero Glass colorization or third party themes.
You can save your visual styles and share them with other users.
Windows Sidebar Styler also adds support for WPF Gadgets; Gadgets now take full advantage of Windows Presentation Foundation - a powerful managed code-oriented framework for presenting rich visual compositions such as vector graphics, 3D drawing, animations and more.
Original: 
Minimalistic Style: 
The visual styles below remove the grey Panel background, the “Add Gadgets” button + the Close, Config & the Gripper buttons that appear when you hover over the Gadgets (see image above). You can still access these functions in the right click menu from the Sidebar & Gadgets. The MinimalistiClear Style also removes the backgrounds.
| Homepage | Forum | Binaries: 32-bit, 64-bit | Minimalistic.wsstyles | MinimalistiClear.wsstyles |
Convert web widgets into gadgets for Windows Sidebar
With Amnesty™ Generator you can convert millions of web widgets, games and videos – designed to live on home pages, blogs or MySpace – into gadgets for your Sidebar.
Key Features:
• Create gadgets without coding experience
• Autofill feature does the work for you
• Inline step-by-step instructions included
• Supports Flash widgets, games and video
| Homepage | Direct Download | F.A.Q. |
Deleting the Undeletable (source)
Quote - (Tim Sneath)
As many of us move forward from Windows XP or prior beta versions of Windows Vista to the final RTM version, I thought this little tip might be in order. You may be aware that Windows Vista includes a number of different ways to upgrade a computer, from a straight in-place upgrade (insert CD, run setup and choose upgrade) to Windows Easy Transfer, which allows you to copy settings, programs and data from an old setup a fresh shiny new OS environment. In doing this, it’s not unusual to find some folders that can’t be accessed, even by an administrator, because their ACLs were set for accounts with SIDs that applied to an old partition.
How do you take it back? -> The secret lies in two command-line utilities, one ancient, the other completely revised for this release. Respectively, these are takeown (which takes ownership of a file or directory) and icacls (which sets new ACLs on that directory). I created a small batch command on my system called itsmine.cmd, as follows:
takeown /f %1 /r /d y
icacls %1 /grant administrators:F /t
From an elevated command prompt, you can run a command such as itsmine D:\hard_to_delete and this will reset ownership and ACLs on the hard_to_delete directory such that a command like rd /s D:\hard_to_delete should work.
Take Ownership Context Menu Item
TakeOwn.reg adds a Take Ownership Context Menu Item to all files and folders. It opens an Elevated Command Prompt which recovers full access to the selected file / directory, sub directories and their content.
You can access the Context Menu Item by holding down Shift + right-click on a file or folder.
If you want to access the Take Ownership Context Menu Item on an exe file, you must merge “RunAsAdmin_Exe-.reg”; this reg file removes the “Run as Administrator” Context Menu Item from all exe files (they both use the runas key). Merge “RunAsAdmin_Exe+.reg” if you want to restore the “Run as Administrator” Context Menu Item.
Install: Merge TakeOwn+.reg
Uninstall: Merge TakeOwn-.reg
> TakeOwn.zip ( 1,99 KB )
Enable Advanced Disk Performance
When enabled, the hard disk drive operates in write-back cache mode, in which all the data that gets written to the drive is first stored in the cache, and then later written to the disk. Both writes and reads are cached in this case. When disabled, the HDD operates in write-through cache mode, in which all data that gets written to the drive is immediately written to the disks and also stored in the cache. Writes are not cached, but reads are.
Note: This setting is recommended only for disks with a backup power supply, it further improves disk performance, but it also increases the risk of data loss if the disk loses power.
Open Device Manager, expand Disk drives, right-click on a Disk drive, click Properties, click the Policies tab, select the Enable advanced performance check box, and then click OK.
Resize the Details Pane
Right-click on an empty part of the Details Pane and select one of the sizes:
Customize / hide the Favorite Links list
The Navigation Pane is devided into two sections: Favorite Links & Folders.
The Favorite Links contains links to commonly used folders and saved searches.
You can add new links by dragging folders and/or saved searches into the list.
You can also drag folders from the Folders list to the Favorite Links section.
This is a convenient way to quickly access folders and searches you use often.
You can reposition a link by dragging it to the position where you want it to be.
To remove a link from the list, right-click on the link and select Remove Link.
Restore default links: right-click a blank area and select Restore Default Favorite Links.
Hide Favorite Links: drag the Folders list to the top of the Navigation Pane (see picture).
Shell Commands for Windows Vista (source)
The shell: command can be used to open a special folder directly from the Start, Search menu. For example, the command shell:SendTo opens the SendTo folder (%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo). To launch the Documents folder of your User Profile, you’d type shell:Personal. Below is a complete shell: commands listing for Windows Vista. The entire listing is stored in the following registry key in Windows Vista:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FolderDescriptions]
shell: commands for Windows Vista:
shell:AddNewProgramsFolder - shell:Administrative Tools - shell:AppData - shell:AppUpdatesFolder - shell:Cache - shell:CD Burning - shell:ChangeRemoveProgramsFolder - shell:Common Administrative Tools - shell:Common AppData - shell:Common Desktop - shell:Common Documents - shell:Common Programs - shell:Common Start Menu - shell:Common Startup - shell:Common Templates - shell:CommonDownloads - shell:CommonMusic - shell:CommonPictures - shell:CommonVideo - shell:ConflictFolder - shell:ConnectionsFolder - shell:Contacts - shell:ControlPanelFolder - shell:Cookies - shell:CredentialManager - shell:CryptoKeys - shell:CSCFolder - shell:Default Gadgets - shell:Desktop - shell:Downloads - shell:DpapiKeys - shell:Favorites - shell:Fonts - shell:Gadgets - shell:Games - shell:GameTasks - shell:History - shell:InternetFolder - shell:Links - shell:Local AppData - shell:LocalAppDataLow - shell:LocalizedResourcesDir - shell:MAPIFolder - shell:My Music - shell:My Pictures - shell:My Video - shell:MyComputerFolder - shell:NetHood - shell:NetworkPlacesFolder - shell:OEM Links - shell:Original Images - shell:Personal - shell:PhotoAlbums - shell:Playlists - shell:PrintersFolder - shell:PrintHood - shell:Profile - shell:ProgramFiles - shell:ProgramFilesCommon - shell:ProgramFilesCommonX86 - shell:ProgramFilesX86 - shell:Programs - shell:Public - shell:PublicGameTasks - shell:Quick Launch - shell:Recent - shell:RecycleBinFolder - shell:ResourceDir - shell:SampleMusic - shell:SamplePictures - shell:SamplePlaylists - shell:SampleVideos - shell:SavedGames - shell:Searches - shell:SearchHomeFolder - shell:SendTo - shell:Start Menu - shell:Startup - shell:SyncCenterFolder - shell:SyncResultsFolder - shell:SyncSetupFolder - shell:System - shell:SystemCertificates - shell:SystemX86 - shell:Templates - shell:TreePropertiesFolder - shell:UserProfiles - shell:UsersFilesFolder - shell:Windows
Repartition a hard disk by using the Shrink feature
Note: Backup Operator or Administrator is the minimum membership required to complete the actions below.
Caution: If the partition is a raw partition (that is, one without a file system) that contains data (such as a database file), shrinking the partition may destroy the data! For detailed information, open Disk Management, click Help on the menu bar, click Manage Basic Volumes, and then click Shrink a Basic Volume.
Shrink an existing partition to create new unallocated space, from which you can create a new partition:
Open the Start Menu, right-click on Computer, click Manage, expand Storage & select Disk Management.
Right-click a partition, select Shrink Volume, Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB & click Shrink.
Right-click the new unallocated space, click New simple volume, click Next, Enter the Simple volume size in MB, click Next, assign a drive letter, click Next, Enter the Volume label, click Next, and then click Finish.
Enable support for 4GB of RAM (or more) in Vista 32-bit
On a computer that has 4 GB of RAM, the System Properties dialog box and the System Information dialog box may report less memory than you expect. This problem occurs because the address space is limited to 4 GB in a 32-bit hardware environment. Memory may be relocated to make room for addresses that the basic input/output system (BIOS) reserves for hardware. However, because of this limitation, Windows Vista cannot access memory that is relocated above the 4 GB boundary.
Solution: Open an elevated Command Prompt, type BCDEdit /set pae ForceEnable and press Enter.
The pae parameter enables Physical Address Extension (PAE). On 32-bit versions of Windows, PAE is disabled by default. PAE is an addressing strategy that uses a page-translation hierarchy to enable systems with 32-bit addressing to address more than 4 GB of physical memory. PAE also supports several advanced system and processor features, such as Data Execution Prevention (DEP; “No execute”), Non-Uniform Memory Architecture (NUMA), and hot-add memory, so it is also used on computers with less than 4 GB of memory. PAE must be supported by the processor.
On a computer that supports hardware-enabled Data Execution Prevention (DEP), PAE is automatically enabled when DEP is enabled and automatically disabled when you disable DEP. To enable PAE when DEP is disabled, you must enable PAE explicitly: Open an elevated Command Prompt.
Type BCDEdit /set nx AlwaysOff & BCDEdit /set pae ForceEnable and press Enter.
Info & Sources:
• Memory Limits for Windows Releases
• Windows Vista may report less memory than you expect
• Boot Parameters to Configure DEP and PAE
• BCDEdit /set Parameters
Advanced Searches & Natural Language Search
Windows will usually search for whatever you enter in the Search box by looking in the file name, file contents, and file properties of all the files in the current view. Type “Summer,” for example, and it will find files named “sunset in summer.jpg,” files tagged with “summer,” and files written by anyone named Summer.
Vista’s Search engine uses the Windows Desktop Search query syntax. If you want to search more selectively, you can filter your search by specifying which file property to search. To filter by file property, separate the name of the property and the search term with a colon, as in these examples:
kind: music artist: Sting -> Find music files from the artist Sting.
Name: Sunset -> Find only files that have the word sunset in the file name.
Modified: 05/25/2006 -> Find only files that have been modified on that date.
You can filter by any property that appears in the file list headings. To see the complete list of properties that you can filter by, right-click the heading you want to see properties for, and then click More. Using Boolean filters is another way to perform a more precise search, you can combine them with other search filters:
tropical AND island -> Find files that contain both words “tropical” and “island”.
tropical NOT island -> Find files that contain the word “tropical”, but not “island”.
tropical OR island -> Find files that contain either of the words “tropical” or “island”.
“tropical island“ -> Find files that contain the exact phrase “tropical island”.
(tropical island) -> Find files that contain both words “tropical” and “island”, in any order.
date: > 01/05/06 -> Find files that are more than or later than a certain value, such as after 01/05/06.
size: < 4 MB -> Find files that are less than or earlier than a certain value, such as less than 4 MB.
Note: When you type Boolean filters like AND or OR, you need to use all capital letters!
If you turn on Natural Language Search, you can perform searches in a simpler way, without using colons and without the need to enter AND and OR in capital letters. For example, compare these searches:
Without natural language: kind: music artist: (Beethoven OR Mozart)
With natural language: music Beethoven or Mozart
To turn on Natural Language Search: Open the Control Panel, click Appearance and Personalization, click Folder Options, click the Search tab, select the Use natural language search check box, click Apply and then click OK.
Extend the Start Menu Search functionality with Start++
Brandon Paddock (Brandon Live), who works on Search technology for Windows at Microsoft, developed a very useful add-on to Vista’s Start Menu Search box: Start++, it extends the Start Menu Search box, the Run box and the command-line with customizable commands, you can set these commands to run with administrator privileges (sudo command). You can create an alias for anything you want and export it so you can share it with other users.
Type playartist Nightwish and it performs a search for music with the artist Nightwish, writes the results to a .M3U file and play it in Windows Media Player. Type g hullabaloo to search for hullabaloo on Google.
Picture Gadget ^^: Type pic into the Start Menu Search box followed by your query terms.
| Homepage | Download | Start++ thread @ Neowin | Start++ Commands | Shared Startlets |
Change services according to your computer config
• Windows Vista Service Configurations by Black Viper
• Disabling Services guide by Slimy
• SpeedyVista - Service Guide
Generate a System Diagnostics report (view details about system health and performance)
Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor uses performance counters, event trace data, and configuration information, which can be combined into Data Collector Sets. You can generate a report detailing the status of local hardware resources, system response times, and processes on the local computer along with system information and configuration data. This report includes suggestions for ways to maximize performance and streamline system operation.
Open the Control Panel, click Performance Information and Tools, click Advanced Tools (Tasks pane on the left), click Generate a System Health report. Or,.. press the Windows button, type perfmon /report and press Enter.
Enable or disable Secure Logon (Ctrl+Alt+Delete)
It’s important to keep your computer as secure as possible. One way to do so is to enable Secure Logon so that you are required to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to log on. Using secure logon provides an additional layer of security for your computer by ensuring that the authentic Windows logon screen appears. When secure logon is enabled, no other program (such as a virus or spyware) can intercept your user name and password as you enter it.
Open Advanced User Accounts -> Press the Windows button, type netplwiz and press Enter.
Click the Advanced tab, select the Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete check box, and then click OK.
Turn Windows Features on or off
Some programs and features that are included with Windows, such as Internet Information Services, must be turned on before you can use them. Certain other features are turned on by default, but you can turn them off if you don’t use them.
In earlier versions of Windows, to turn a feature off you had to uninstall it completely from your computer. In this version of Windows, the features remain stored on your hard disk, so you can turn them back on if you want to. Turning off a feature does not uninstall the feature, and it does not reduce the amount of hard disk space used by Windows features.
Open the Control Panel, click Programs, click Turn Windows features on or off in the Programs and Features section (see picture above). Or,.. press the Windows button, type OptionalFeatures and press Enter.
To turn a Windows feature on, select the check box next to the feature.
To turn a Windows feature off, clear the check box.
Switch, Change or Set 64-Bit WMP11 in Vista x64 as Default (source)
Quote - (My Digital Life)
In Windows Vista x64, the 32-bit edition of Windows Media Player 11 (WMP 11) is set as the default Windows Media Player. This is done to avoid and reduce any compatibility issues or problems that may arise with codecs or other DirectShow related plug-ins or add-ons that majority of them still built for 32-bit operating system. However, if you decide to use the 64-bit version of WMP11 with your 64bit version of Windows Vista, especially now that more and more codecs support 64-bit computing platform, and a x64 FFDShow codec which can decode virtually any audio or video media files has been released, you can use a few easy methods to launch 64 bit WMP11 or simply switch, change or swap the system default media player to x64 Windows Media Player, and revert back to x86 version when you need to.
By default, the 32-bit WMP 11 x86 is located at path of %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Windows Media Player, and 64-bit WMP11 x64 is located at folder of %ProgramFiles%\Windows Media Player. So the first method to use 64-bit Windows Media Player is by launching WMP from its x64 location.
Press the Start button, type %Programfiles%\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe and press Enter. Alternatively, you can create a shortcut with target and location set to the above, and place the shortcut on the Desktop or in Quick Launch for easy access.
Second method: You need to perform 2 steps each to swap to 64-bit version or to undo the change back to 32-bit version WMP. The unregmp2.exe command (first step) changes the operating system shortcuts to point to WMP 64bit, while the second registry step changes the file associations default program to WMP64-bit, which determines which program will be used when you double click on a media file.
Open an Elevated Command Prompt, type unregmp2 /SwapTo:64 and press Enter.
Then, open the Registry Editor (regedit), then navigate to the the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\wmplayer.exe. Set the registry subkey Path to be %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Windows Media Player, and the (Default) subkey to “%ProgramFiles%\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe” (include quotes).
To undo the x64 change, open an Elevated Command Prompt, type unregmp2 /SwapTo:32 and press Enter.
Then, open the Registry Editor, and reset the value for registry subkey of Path and (Default).
With either one of two methods, you will have complete full x64 Windows Media Player experience.
Make your Admin account act like in XP
Make your Vista’s admin account act like in XP guide by Tantawi
Replace Vista’s startup sound
How to replace Vista’s startup sound guide by rm20010
Change the Start Menu Power button to Shut Down instead of Sleep
Open the Control Panel and click on Power Options. Select the Power Plan that you want to use and click on “Change plan settings”. Click on Change advanced power settings, double click on “Power buttons and lid”. Double click on “Start menu power button”, change the Setting to Shut down.
Or,.. merge PowerButtonShutdown.reg and Log off or Restart to apply changes.
> PowerButton.zip ( 1,31 KB )
Windows 2000 Style Shut Down Dialog Box
Select the Taskbar or the Desktop and press Alt+F4.
I’ve created a little app that opens the same Dialog Box, just extract it to anywhere you want and create a shortcut in Quick Launch. 
> ShutDDB.zip ( 208 KB )
Extended Disc Cleanup
The command line parameters sageset & sagerun still work in Vista. You can set it to delete files from a previous Windows installation, error dump files, Temporary Windows installation files, Thumbnails, Files discarded by Windows upgrade, Error Reporting Files, ect. Note: It performs a Disc Cleanup on all disks.
You can use the shortcut in the attached zip file or create a new shortcut with this command line:
%SystemRoot%\System32\Cmd.exe /c Cleanmgr /sageset:65535 & Cleanmgr /sagerun:65535
Edit the shortcut (Right click and select Properties), set it to run Minimized and change the Icon to %SystemRoot%\System32\Cleanmgr.exe.
> ExtendedDiscCleanup.zip ( 660 bytes )
Add Search Providers to Internet Explorer 7
To add a provider to the Internet Explorer 7 Instant Search box, click on the down arrow (next to the search glass) at the Search box & click on “Find More Providers”. Select one of the Web Search or Topic Search provider’s to add them to the list, you can add custom Search provider’s in the Create Your Own section on the right.
You can switch the search provider by clicking on the down arrow at the Search box -> select the provider that you want to use. The search provider’s are saved in the registry, I’ve exported some of my favorites, just merge them + restart Internet Explorer and they are added to the list.
The zip file below contains the following SearchScopes:
• deviantART - All, Digital Art, Icons, Photography, Skins & Themes + Wallpapers (find that lost wallpaper 
)
• Event ID (Enter an Event ID number to get the description)
• Google & Google Image Search
• IMDb Search (Movie Database)
• Ixquick Metasearch & Ixquick Picturesearch
• MetaCrawler
• MSDN Enhanced Search
• Neowin Forums 
• SourceForge.net
• Wikipedia
• YouTube
> SearchScopes.zip ( 10,8 KB )
Add Internet Explorer to the Desktop (with Context Menu like in Windows XP)
Add: merge IE2Desktop.reg
Remove: merge IE2Desktop-.reg
> IE2Desktop.zip ( 624 bytes )
Enable Data Execution Prevention (DEP) in Internet Explorer 7 (source)
Because browsers can host plug-in extensibility, security settings within the browser can make plug-ins fail. This is why in Internet Explorer 7 Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is off by default. Two of the most well-known and commonly used browser plug-ins, the Adobe Acrobat/Reader browser helper object and the Adobe Flash Player, now run when DEP is enabled. You can enable DEP by navigating to the following dialog and checking the highlighted option shown below (note, you must elevated to admin first, otherwise the option is grayed out).
Windows Media Center: Command Line Parameters
These Command Line Switches launches Windows Media Center and cause it to navigate directly to one of the built-in experiences:
%SystemRoot%\ehome\ehshell.exe /directmedia:discplayback - Begins playback of the disc in the drive
%SystemRoot%\ehome\ehshell.exe /homepage:VideoFullscreen.xml /PushStartPage:True - Live TV
%SystemRoot%\ehome\ehshell.exe /homepage:VideoGuide.xml /PushStartPage:True - TV Guide
%SystemRoot%\ehome\ehshell.exe /homepage:RecordedTV.BrowsePage.xml /PushStartPage:True - Recorded TV
%SystemRoot%\ehome\ehshell.exe /homepage:VideoToBeRecorded.xml /PushStartPage:True - Scheduled Recordings
%SystemRoot%\ehome\ehshell.exe /homepage:Radio.BrowsePage.xml /PushStartPage:True - Radio
%SystemRoot%\ehome\ehshell.exe /homepage:Radio.xml - FM Radio
%SystemRoot%\ehome\ehshell.exe /homepage:MusicBrowsePage.xml /PushStartPage:True - Music Library
%SystemRoot%\ehome\ehshell.exe /homepage:VideosBrowsePage.xml /PushStartPage:True - Video Library
%SystemRoot%\ehome\ehshell.exe /homepage:PhotosBrowsePage.xml /PushStartPage:True - Picture Library
%SystemRoot%\ehome\ehshell.exe /homepage:Options.Home.xml /PushStartPage:True - Settings Menu
Edit the Boot Configuration Data (BCD)
EasyBCD is NeoSmart Technologies’ multiple award-winning answer to tweaking the new Windows Vista bootloader. With EasyBCD, almost anything is possible. Setting up and configuring Windows boot entries is simple, and there is no easier way to quickly boot right into Linux, Mac OS X, or BSD straight from the Windows Vista bootloader - on the fly, no expert knowledge needed!
Automated MBR and BCD backups, boot sector restore kits, support for a dozen+ operating systems, detailed configuration of all boot entries, and award-winning guaranteed technical support is what makes EasyBCD stand out - all for free!
Configuring User Account Control (UAC)
• What is User Account Control
• User Account Control Step by Step Guide
• Configuring User Account Control settings
If you want to reduce your mouse clicks by at least 25%, here’s how to turn it off: Open the Start Menu and click on your User Picture, click Turn User Account Control on or Off, clear the “Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer” check box, click OK and restart your computer.
Make User Account Control (UAC) Stop Blacking Out the Screen (source)
Windows Vista Business/Ultimate Users:
To get to the configuration screen for this, type in security to the start menu search box.
You should see the Local Security Policy as the top search item.
In the Local Security Policy window, browse down to Local Policies \ Security Options.
Over in the right hand part of the window, scroll down near the bottom and find the item titled “User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation”
Double-click on the item, and change it to disabled and then click OK.
Note: This does make your system slightly less secure, so be warned.
Windows Vista Home Users:
Press the Windows key, type regedit and press Enter. Browse down to this registry key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
You should see a key called PromptOnSecureDesktop. Double-click this and change the value to 0
Use BitLocker Drive Encryption without TPM chip (source)
Quote - (TweakVista)
Windows Vista includes a new hard drive encryption feature called BitLocker Drive Encryption. BitLocker can be a very useful security feature for businesses and home users that have sensitive and confidential information stored on their computer. Unfortunately, BitLocker Drive Encryption by default requires a Trusted Platform Module (TPM Chip) version 1.2 or later installed in your computer. A lot of the computers and laptops on the market do not come with TPM chips installed since they are typically only found in premium model business computers. If you have Windows Vista Business, Ultimate or Enterprise but do not have a TPM chip, you can still use BitLocker Drive Encryption.
Hidden away in local group policy is a setting that will allow you to turn on the ability to use a USB storage device instead of a TPM key to store the encryption key. This is a great feature for users that don’t have the latest high-end hardware because you can still use hard drive encryption. However, every time you turn on your computer, the USB storage device that has the encryption key located on it must be plugged in. Without it, your computer will not boot up. One BitLocker Drive Encryption is setup with a USB storage device, that USB storage device basically becomes the key to your computer.
Press the Windows button, type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
Navigate through: Computer Policy, Administrative Templates, Windows Components and BitLocker Drive Encryption. Right click on Control Panel Setup: Enable advanced startup options and select Properties.
Check Enabled and click OK.
Toggle Check Boxes Context Menu Item
You can set up Windows to add check boxes to file views (see picture) to make it easier to select several files at once.
This gives you the option to select files without having to press keys on your keyboard, and helps ensure that you won’t accidentally lose your file selection if you click the wrong location.
You can enable this feature in “Folder and Search Options”:
Open a Folder, click the Organize button, click “Folder and Search Options”, click the View tab, select the Use check boxes to select items check box, and click OK.
The files in the zip file below add a “Toggle Check Boxes” Context Menu Item to all folders.
You can access the Context Menu Item by holding down Shift + right-click on/in a folder.
Install: Copy TCB.exe to your Windows directory and merge “Add ToggleCheckBoxes.reg”.
Uninstall: Remove TCB.exe from your Windows directory and merge “Remove ToggleCheckBoxes.reg”.
> ToggleCheckBoxes.zip ( 170 KB )
Enable the Aurora boot screen (source)
If you are tired of the default boot screen in Windows Vista, there is a better looking one hidden away:
1) Press the Windows button, type msconfig and press Enter.
2) If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.
3) In the “System Configuration” window, click on the Boot tab.
4) Select your Windows Vista installation and under “Boot options”, check “No GUI boot”.
Press OK.
5) In the dialog that appears, check “Don’t show this message again”, and then click on Restart.
6) Your computer will now reboot, and you will see the Aurora boot screen with text that says “Starting Windows Vista”.
Disable Hibernation & delete the Hibernation file (source)
Windows places a file on your hard drive that it uses when your computer goes into hibernation mode. If you do not use hibernation mode, or your computer does not properly support it, you may want to disable hibernation and clear the file off your hard drive to free up some space (the file will use as much space as you have in physical memory, so if you have 1GB of RAM, it’s going to use 1GB of your hard drive space).
Disable Hibernation:
1. Click Start, All Programs, and then right click on “Command Prompt”.
2. From the context menu click on “Run as administrator”.
3. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.
4. In the command prompt window, type “powercfg –h off” (without the quotes).
4. Close the Command Prompt window.
Delete the Hibernation File:
1. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then click “Disk Cleanup”.
2. If prompted to choose a drive, select the drive in which Windows Vista is installed on to and press OK.
3. Disk Cleanup will scan the hard drive and present you with a list of options.
4. Check “Hibernation File Cleaner”, and then click OK.
5. When asked “Are you sure you want to permanently delete these files?” click on the Delete Files button.
Hidden Open Command Window Here Context Menu item
Open a folder, press Shift + Right Click -> Open Command Window Here
Nameless Recycle Bin
Everybody can see, by looking at the icon, that it’s the Recycle Bin right?.., so why name it?!
Merge RecycleBin_NoName.reg and refresh your Desktop and the name is gone.
Merge RecycleBin_Default.reg and refresh your Desktop to restore the name.
> NamelessRecycleBin.zip ( 881 bytes )
Enhanced Recycle Bin Menu
ERBM+.reg replaces the Delete command from the Recycle Bin with a Clear Temp command.
This prevents users from accidentally deleting the Recycle Bin Icon from the Desktop. 
It also adds a Disk Cleanup command which performs an Extended Disc Cleanup on all disks.
The Clear Temp command clears both Temp dirs: %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Temp and %SystemRoot%\Temp.
Install: merge ERBM+.reg
Uninstall: merge ERBM-.reg
> ERBM.zip ( 1,41 KB )
Add Window Switcher to the context menu from all folders
The reg file in the zip file below adds the Window Switcher (Flip 3D) command to the Right click menu from all folders (including the Desktop).
> Flip3D.zip ( 893 bytes )
Huuuuuuuge Icons on your Desktop
Click on your Desktop, press Ctrl + Scroll Up (this works in any folder).
You can make them larger then when you select Large Icons from the menu (Right Click -> View -> Large Icons).
Windows Defender: Command Line Parameters
Example: “%ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe” -Hide -CheckForUpdates
-Hide -> hide Windows Defender window
-UpdateAndQuickScan -> Check for Updates + launch Quick Scan
-CheckForUpdates -> Check for Updates
-FullScan -> Full System Scan
-QuickScan -> Quick Scan
-ScanResults -> Scan Results window
-Settings -> Options panel
-ShowSWE -> Software Explorer
-ShowSWE:Startup -> Software Explorer @ Startup programs
-ShowSWE:Running -> Software Explorer @ Currently running programs
-ShowSWE:Network -> Software Explorer @ Network-connected programs
Delete Browsing History commands (IE7)
• Delete Temporary Internet Files: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 8
• Delete Cookies: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 2
• Delete History: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 1
• Delete Form Data: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 16
• Delete Passwords: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 32
• Delete All: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 255
• Delete All + files and settings stored by Add-ons: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 4351
Copy To Folder & Move To Folder Context Menu Items
The files in the zip file below add “Copy To Folder” & “Move To Folder” to the Context Menu from all files & folders.
Note: It won’t break the function of the “Play all” buttons. 
Install: Merge Copy_Move_To+.reg.
Uninstall: Merge Copy_Move_To-.reg.
> CopyMoveTo.zip ( 978 bytes )
Show/Hide System Files Context Menu Item
The files in the zip file below add a “Show/Hide System Files” Context Menu Item to all folders.
You can access the Context Menu Item by holding down Shift + right-click on/in a folder.
When you select it, it will Unhide or Hide the System Files and refresh the directory.
Install: Copy SuperHidden*.exe to your Windows directory and merge “Add SuperHidden*.reg”.
Uninstall: Remove SuperHidden*.exe from your Windows directory and merge “Remove SuperHidden.reg”.
* Differences between SuperHidden² & SuperHidden:
SuperHidden² -> Show/Hide System & Hidden files.
SuperHidden -> Show/Hide System files only.
> SuperHidden_Vista.zip ( 344 KB )
Show/Hide File Extensions Context Menu Item
The files in the zip file below add a “Show/Hide File Extensions” Context Menu Item to all folders.
You can access the Context Menu Item by holding down Shift + right-click on/in a folder.
It Hides or Unhides the File Extensions + refreshes the directory.
Install: Copy SHFileExt.exe to your System32 directory and merge “Add SHFileExt.reg”.
Uninstall: Remove SHFileExt.exe from your System32 directory and merge “Remove SHFileExt.reg”.
> SHFileExt_Vista.zip ( 206 KB )
MinUnMinAll - Toggle MinimizeAll/UndoMinimizeAll (alternative for Show Desktop)
The Show Desktop command minimizes all applications + it sets the Z-Order of the Desktop to topmost.
It also hides applications that you don’t want to hide: the Sidebar, docks, calendars, widgets, etc.
MinUnMinAll simply minimizes all applications that support the minimize operation (also works in XP).
Install: Copy MinUnMinAll.exe to anywhere you want and create a shortcut in Quick Launch.
> MinUnMinAll.zip ( 213 KB )
Replace the Win+D hotkey with Win+M - Win+Shift+M
Win+D.exe replaces the Win+D hotkey (Show Desktop) with Win+M - Win+Shift+M (Toggle MinimizeAll / UndoMinimizeAll). It runs hidden in the background, you can close it with Task Manager.
Install: Copy Win+D.exe to anywhere you want and create a shortcut in the Startup folder.
> Win+D.zip ( 203 KB )
Add the Run command to the Start Menu
Right-click on the Start Button and select Properties, click Customize, scroll down and check the Run command check box, click OK, click Apply and OK.
Start Menu Search box -> Run dialog box
You can use the Start Menu Search box to launch programs like the Run dialog box.
Quoted from http://blog.scifi.com/tech/archives/2007/08/28/top_10_tech_toy.html:
Related Entries: Features
Just as cell phones are becoming ever more powerful übergadgets, and flat TV screens get larger even as their prices drop, so, too, do the gadgets of the upper crust further distance themselves from the trinkets of the masses. For better or worse, most of the guts of even the priciest pieces of tech are pretty much the same as those of the glitterati — even if the oil sheiks and Level III Scientologists of the world can afford to house those guts in 24-karat gold inlaid with Babe Ruth’s bone fragments.
Still, sometimes the superrich get what they pay for, or at least far more bang for their Black AmEx swipe than the Wal-Mart shoppers can get on layaway. Here are the 10 most extravagant electronics for the techy bajillionaires on your gift list, and be sure to come back tomorrow for our companion piece, the 10 Gadgets You Can Actually Afford.
10. Ultimate Ears UE-11 EarphonesBespoke suits, custom-made shirts, fitted ball caps — nothing bought off the rack can match the like-a-glove fit and comfort of customized men’s wear. The same perfection holds for customized in-ear monitors: earphones that require a visit to (or from) an audiologist to make a wax impression of the canals to shape precise molds, resulting in intrusive, yet perfectly comfortable ‘buds.
UE’s $1,150 phones are the company’s most sophisticated pro models yet, housing not a double but a quad armature speaker configuration with a three-way crossover. The results — delivered via dual subwoofers, a midrange driver, and a tweeter directly into your eardrum — is the most precise sound capable short of a miniaturized Christina Aguilera living in your brain. Ultimate Ears UE-11
9. Krell KID iPod DockWhen it comes to iPod docks, there are a lot of them: No audio-equipment manufacturer wants to be without one. So high-end component maker Krell introduced its own $1,200 entry this past January, attracting attention as the most expensive iPod accessory — an erroneous qualification, seeing as how there’s BMW that docks a ‘pod. No matter. Krell left out its supersensitive tubes when developing the Krell iPod Dock (disparagingly nicknamed by the acronym KID), instead optimizing the output of the iPod’s digital-to-analog converter. Otherwise, the KID serves its simple purpose of passing along iPod (or auxiliary Zune or other input) signals with panache, offering balanced outputs, bass and treble adjustments, and video out for the discerning entertainment rack. Krell KID
8. Audio-Technica ATH-W5000 HeadphonesWhen buying audio equipment, the rules of diminishing returns inevitably require we budget-minded folks avail ourselves of the cost-value proposition. Yes, $100 headphones sound better than $20 headphones, but do they sound 5 times better? And does that mean that $1,500 headphones sound 15 times better than $100 headphones? Of course the answer is not frickin’ likely. But when cost is no option, plugging in a pair of bass-heavy Bose phones into a $7,000 receiver is tantamount to casting Charlize Theron as the She-Thing in FF3.
Audio-Technica’s $1,670 striped ebony-cased cans (that’s wood — better material for producing richer sound) enhance acoustics, output precise audio fidelity, and reduce noise. Leather ear fittings provide a comfortable hold, but not even the unique wood-y look of the things can communicate “rich audiophile” anywhere outside a specialty show, nor can they diminish the dork factor of DJ-style headphones. Audio-Technica ATH-W5000 headphones
7. modPod Egg ChairFans of Men in Black (the movie — not the comic book, and definitely not the kid’s cartoon show) may recognize the iconic Egg Chair. Everyone else will recognize it from breakfast. And while the unique retro design isn’t conducive to test-taking, it’s rather ideal for sound immersion — hence, the iPod integration with surround sound speakers. Each chair is custom upholstered in a choice of fabric, adding to the appeal/cost; a model with shaken-not-stirred rumble action goes for $1,800. modPod Egg Chair
6. Bentley HumidorNothing says, “I have money to burn” like a smoldering cigar. True tobacco aficionados keep their imported-at-great-human-and-fiscal-cost Cubabos in unnecessarily expensive humidors. This $6,400 jobby is cased in solid walnut, spiced up with Burr Walnut veneer and details of ebony and silver; a premium Credo humidity regulator (humidifier and hydrometer) — ostensibly the mechanism that justifies its gadget designation — is the best of its kind. A winged Bentley logo adorns the front to remind guest tokers that his other car is a lot more impressive than whatever you rolled up in. Bentley Humidor
5. Vertu Ascent Ferrari 1947
Cell PhoneIf the iPhone is the Mercedes sedan of cellies — superperforming, aspirational, slobber worthy — than this $7,500 phone is the… Ferrari GT — a showy, overstated midlife crisis wrapped up in metal and leather. “Exclusive handset crafters” Vertu (a subsidiary of flashy-forward cell maker Nokia) has tweaked the styles of its Ascent line to feature various automotive masterpieces; the individually numbered Ascent Ferrari 1947 phone gets its cues from the GT models of that obsessive Italian carmaker’s lineup, pairing hand-polished titanium with red and black leather, tarted up with black lacquer racing stripes and a to-scale aluminum brake pedal adorning the back.
Beyond sleek, racy good looks (we’ll grudgingly give it that), the Ascent, like all Vertus, connects directly to 24-hour concierge service, providing tech support and “creative and relevant solutions” to customers via a dedicated button — ostensibly saving the pampered class the trouble of texting GOOGLE for Web-accessible information. Vertu Ascent Ferrari 1947 Cell Phone
4. Xexoo Gold-Plated iPod ShuffleThe ubiquitous iPod provides a blank palette ripe for ostentatious individualized prettying up — graphic stickers, laser engraving, plastic molding and the like. How, then, to best enhance the appearance of the stylish gadget in a truly over-the-top fashion? Perhaps German company Xexoo looked to C-3PO for inspiration, as their solution involved covering up the base, pedestrian materials (plastic, aluminum) of Apple’s music players with gold — gold plating, to be precise.
A $19,000 Shuffle makes the most of little, adding diamond bling to its otherwise-$10,000, red carpet-worthy, 18-karat-covered accessory. 24-hour tech support — including damage repair and replacement worldwide — sweetens the deal, though for the price of 240-song storage on one Xexoo Shuffle, his majesty could also purchase Shuffles for each of his 240 servants/mistresses. Xexoo Gold-Plated iPod shuffle
3. Steinway Lyngdorf Model-D
Handmade Music SystemSteinway & Sons built its reputation on building flawless pianos like its concert grand Model-D. Peter Lyngdorf has built his reputation on building high-end hi-fi equipment. Put them together and the result is a $150,000 sound system, a completely digital, ultra-high-end beaut capable of reproducing a full symphony without any sound loss — thereby scaring the bejesus out of beyond-their-prime oboists who’ve been phoning it in for decades.
Each speaker tower weighs 500 pounds, has four 12-inch drivers, two 5-inch midranges and a single ribbon tweeter. The hefty cost includes a visit from a sound technician to do the installation and configuration to ensure that Mr. Moneybags can hear every last piccolo inhalation from any point in his listening room. The Model-D all but requires a shrine to audiophile addiction. Further ratcheting up the exclusivity, Steinway is hand-making just 100 systems, keeping the pristine pieces out of the hands of latecomers as well as us commoners. Steinway Lyngdorf Model-D Handmade Music System
2. Tulip Ego Diamond Notebook PCDutch company Ego has seen the future in laptop design, and it looks like a purse. As with high fashion, utility and practicality are boring when it comes to luxury gadgets — hence the wholly underwhelming tech specifications of these Tulip Egos: single-core AMD Turion processor, 12.1-inch screen, blah blah blah. But they are so gorgeous, darling!
Women and fancy boys can customize their pocketbooks, er, notebooks with their choice of skin (leather or other fabric) and by integrating designs like embroidered initials or symbols into the case — all tailor-made. And while prices start at $5,000, the gem of the appropriately branded Ego is a $350,000 diamond-encrusted Tulip. It’s named for the flower-shaped icon consisting of 470 diamonds Krazy-glued to the lid, certain to attract jealous looks from socialites and diamond thieves alike. Tulip Ego Diamond notebook PC
1. Fujitsu Super Frontech
Vision LD DisplaySure, there are 100-plus-inch flat screens out there, but Samsung, Sharp and LG aren’t likely to sell you one no matter how much scratch you bring to the electronics show. But anyone with a half-million holiday bonus (or 63 million Japanese Yen) still burning their extraordinarily large pockets can get their hands on (if not their arms around) this whoppingly huge-ormous 231-inch display consisting of huge LEDs. And as opposed to a Jumbotron, the 16-million-color monitor accepts a myriad of inputs, including DVI. Just don’t expect to see larger-than-life Katherine Heigl standing in your living room in full HD: the resolution’s a paltry 512 x 288 pixels, requiring a viewing distance of at least 15 feet. Fujitsu Super Frontech Vision LD display
Quoted from http://talentshowdown.com/?p=188:
Feel Like a Hacker 3: Hack Netflix and Download Movies! · Common Sense
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*UPDATE*: From what some folks have been saying, it looks like Netflix updated the version of IBX (Individualized Blackbox component) used for their WM-DRM wrapping of the movies. This is no big deal. If you get the error “”IBX Version 11.0.6000.6324 isn’t supported yet”, there is only one extra step one would have to do. The only thing that has changed is that one can now use the mirakagi add-on (see http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=127943) for FU4WM to sniff out the keys, and then launch FU4WM to clean the files. In other words, here are the revised steps 12 and 14 (all the other steps remain the same):
12. Immediately after you click Yes and are presented with a ‘media usage rights acquisition’ dialogue, launch mirakagi and click ‘Start’ as soon as you see the ‘Play’ button become active in the rights acquisition dialogue in WMP. Mirakagi should then tell you that it has found a couple keys and that it’s done processing.
14. Now open up FU4WM and hit Next to get to the file selection dialogue, and click on ‘Add File’ to select the data.wmv file so that it appears in the list of files in the FU4WM window. Highlight the data.wmv file and click Next.
HOW TO RIP NETFLIX ‘WATCH NOW’ MOVIES
BY: DIzzIE [antikopyright 2007]
Disclaimer
The following is presented for informational purposes only. I do not take any responsibility for the actions you may take after reading the contents of this document. Circumventing DRM restrictions may (or may not) be in violation of various laws. Check to make sure the process is legal in your jurisdiction and does not go against Netflix’s own TOS. I most certainly do not advocate the breaking of any laws (save for public urination, which I hold to be an inalienable, worldwide right. In other words: it’s not my fault if your Netflix account gets terminated, you get a fine, go to jail, do not pass Go, do no collect $200, or your son gets run over by an unmarked black sedan (though he swears he saw a Netflix/M$ logo flicker in the windshield…).
Prelude
At the start of 2007 Netflix started offering a ‘Watch Now’ (netflix.com/watchnow) service that lets subscribers watch flicks and tv shows online at no extra cost. The limit is one hour per dollar, so if you pay $18 for your subscription, you get 18 hours of credits to watch shit online. All well and good, but the trouble is that Netflix doesn’t easily allow you to save the flicks and watch them at your leisure because the films are entrapped in some shittastic Windows Media DRM wrapper. Let’s see if we can fix that. This guide will thus show you how to save and decrypt the movies from Netflix so that you can convert them to other mediums and watch them at your leisure.
Tools of the Trade
In order to run the Watch Now service you’ll need a subscription to Netflix (duh), as well as be running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or higher (though there is a way to use the IEtab add-on in Firefox: hackingnetflix.com/2007/01/firefox_instant.html), and Windows Media Player 11. To decrypt the media files, you’ll also need a handy little program called FairUse4WM. (Oh, and we’ll use Notepad a little bit as well 
). The output media files will be unprotected WMV files, suitable for conversion to XviD or whatever format you prefer, using one of the hundreds of converter programs out there, such as the free Super ©, available at erightsoft.com/SUPER.html.
The Step-by-Step
1. Log in to your Netflix account and browse on over to netflix.com/watchnow to pick a flick to watch (you can usually watch the trailer within Netflix prior to picking a movie as well).
2. Click the blue Play button next to the movie of your choice. If this is your first time trying out the Watch Now feature, the Netflix Movie Installer (Netflix_Movie_Viewer_Installer.msi) dialogue will pop-up. Click yes to go through the installation process.
3. You should now see a Windows Media Player (WMP) dialogue pop up, saying ‘you do not have the rights to view this file…would you like to connect to the website…’. Hit NO.
4. In your browser window you should now see an error message from WMP bitching about not having the license to play the file. Ignore that shit, and open the source code of the website (right-click in the browser window and select View Source, or go to Tools and then View Source).
5. Hit Ctrl-F in Notepad (assuming that’s what the website source code opened in) and put in ‘WNPlaylistMovies’ (type that without the quotation marks and hit enter). The bit of code you’re looking for will look something like this:
Code:
ar WNPlaylistMovies = {”movies”:[{”id”:”4937292″,”title”:”Scat Girls From Space”,”streams”:[{”url”:”http://index.ehub.netflix.com/item/?x=sdjkdsjHDEFJKHE38DFAWKDJdjieEWIUiDWJIDWI.”,”bitrate”:500,”dlid”:473289292,”requiredBandwidth”:700},…
You’ll see a few more URLs listed, each with a different bitrate. You can pick the last URL which should have the highest bitrate and will also have the highest filesize (upwards of a gigabyte for full-length movies). Despite the bitrate listed in the source code, GSpot always seems to show that the bitrate is 6154 kb/s for the flicks downloaded for the highest listed bitrate.
6. Copy the ehub URL that you picked (including the quotation marks), and open up a new Notepad window.
7. Here’s the template you can paste into Notepad to make a link to the file:
Code:
<html><a href=”http://index.ehub.netflix.com/item/?x=sdjkdsjHDEFJKHE38DFAWKDJdjieEWIUiDWJIDWI.”>scat girls</a> </html>
8. Still in Notepad, go to File and Save As. Type in something along the lines of netflixrip.htm and under ‘Save as type’ select All Files. Save the htm file you just made wherever you want.
9. Open the netflixrip.htm file and right-click on the link you made. Select ‘Save Target As…’. You should now see the usual save dialogue pop-up in Internet Explorer, asking you to pick a location where you want to save a file called data.wmv.
10. The file will be around a gig or two, so pass the time as it downloads by going to the park and masturbating to some dead pigeons (or what have you…).
11. Back already? Well OK, assuming the file has finished downloading, time to exorcise the Micro$oft DRM demon. This part is a wee bit tricky and might take you a couple tries to get it down pat. Open the data.wmv file in Windows Media Player, and you should see the same alert you saw back in step 3. This time click YES to connect to the Netflix site and acquire the license. (In Internet Explorer 7, you might get a security warning about an ActiveX control, click on the security bar and select ‘allow ActiveX controls…’).
12. Immediately after you click Yes and are presented with a ‘media usage rights acquisition’ dialogue, launch FairUse4WM and click ‘Recover Keys’ and then ‘Start’ as soon as you see the ‘Play’ button become active in the rights acquisition dialogue. FU4WM should then tell you that a couple keys were found, and after you hit OK, it will then ask you something about a DLL file (to which you click Yes as well).
*UPDATE*:12. Immediately after you click Yes and are presented with a ‘media usage rights acquisition’ dialogue, launch mirakagi and click ‘Start’ as soon as you see the ‘Play’ button become active in the rights acquisition dialogue in WMP. Mirakagi should then tell you that it has found a couple keys and that it’s done processing.
13. At this point, swap back to the WMP player, which should now be playing the movie, and go ahead and close down WMP.
14. Now going back to the FU4WM window launch FU4WM, click Next and click on ‘Add File’ to select the data.wmv file so that it appears in the list of files in the FU4WM window. Highlight the data.wmv file and click Next.
15. If you screwed up, you’ll now see an error in FU4M telling you that the file “does not appear to be licensed to you”. Go back and click Recover Keys in FU4WM right after the license window pops up in WMP. When the ‘play’ button becomes active in the license acquisition window in WMP, click on Recover Keys in FU4M and try again. The timing can be a bit iffy, so keep trying and you’ll get it. If, on the other hand, everything went smoothly, you should now see a conversion status bar in FU4WM, telling you to “please wait while your files are converted” 
.
16. The conversion doesn’t take nearly as long as the download did, so I’m afraid there’ll be no time for pigeon masturbation at this stage 
(well, unless you’re quick…), though don’t do anything else for the few minutes that FU4WM is doing its thing, or you might get a rather glitchy video file.
17. Once the conversion is done, you should have a duplicate copy of the data.wmv file (sans the encryption, that is ), in the default save folder of FU4WM (…\My Documents\My Videos\, or wherever you specified). Feel free to open the file in Media Player Classic, VLC, or whatever, or convert the file to another format. Close down FU4M, and delete the yucky encrypted data.wmv file.
18. Rinse and repeat.
What about the Time Limit Thingy?
You might remember that in the first version of this textfile I boasted that there was a way to get around the time limit and get unlimited movies. No such luck. For, while the flicks you download don’t immediately show up in your Watch Now Viewing History (netflix.com/WatchNowViewingActivity), they do show up after 24 hours, no matter how much of the movie you view (that is, even if you watch only ten seconds of a flick, its full length will be recorded in your account after 24 hours). Other alleged ways of beating the time limit, like unplugging your modem, and flushing your cache/temporary files after downloading the flick also don’t appear to work as the time still gets deducted after 24 hours. As such, if you do manage to find a way to beat the time limit, do let us all know .
Now Don’t Get Cocky…
And lest you’re all too ready to start making torrents of the flicks, keep in mind that there have been some rumours about Netflix putting in uniquely identifying watermarks into the video files. Though I haven’t spotted any (while viewing my films legally within Netflix’s Watch Now viewer ), keep your eyes open.
And remember that it may be possible to track uploaders of files to torrent trackers (or other mediums) based on their viewing history (much like these dudes Arvind Narayanan and Vitaly Shmatikov recently demonstrated that users could be identified based on their ‘anonymous’ film ratings. See “How To Break Anonymity of the Netflix Prize Dataset” arxiv.org/PS_cache/cs/pdf/0610/0610105v1.pdf).
***
And there you have it, an easy way to rip and decrypt Netflix’s Watch Now media, enjoy!
