Nathan's Occasional Blog

Microsoft’s TBox auto computer road-ready?

Remember the old joke about what would happen if Microsoft made cars? Well, it looks like the joke may be on us. Word is that Microsoft’s in-car computer, the TBox, is good to go, with functionality that includes GPS, music control, electronic yellow pages, and access to vehicle diagnostics.

Anybody want a Fiat? I’m betting that’ll be the hot new car around these parts (I live and work near Redmond). I still want to make sure it’s not going to reboot at 75mph. On the other hand, if the MS technoloy really is cheaper than what’s out there these days ROCK ON!

10 Features Longhorn needs – A WinCustomize Article by Brad Wardell

Great list of stuff to see in Longhorn. Reading the comments looks like this is definitely a thorough top 10 that most can agree with. Personally, I think XP SP2 WiFi made great strides and I’m pretty happy with it. What I’d love to see in #6 (networking) is the abilitiy to make IP stack config changes from the command line.

I often find myself doing testing from my laptop between multiple VLANs on my network and the ability to turn on/off DHCP, specify static IP addresses, subnet, gateway, DNS, etc. from the command line would make my life a lot easier. It’s pretty darn slow to go to the Start Menu, Connect to…, Show all…, right-click on the interface in question, properties, make changes on multiple tabs, hit OK and wait 60 seconds while Windows figures out what the hell it’s doing. But I’m not bitter. 🙂

Google Feature Incorporates Satellite Maps (AP): “

AP – Online search engine leader Google has unveiled a new feature that will enable its users to zoom in on homes and businesses using satellite images, an advance that may raise privacy concerns as well as intensify the competitive pressures on its…

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This is pretty sweet! If you just want to cut to the chase, go to http://maps.google.com, search an address, and then click “Satellite” in the top-left corner.