Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on August 25, 2008 by CyberNet.

Microsoft offers a lot of free apps, but the problem is that finding the programs isn’t always easy to do. We’re always on the hunt for free programs put out by Microsoft, and when we stumbled across Microsoft Pro Photo we definitely had to look into it.

After you download Microsoft Pro Photo you’ll quickly realize that the sole purpose of the program is to manage the metadata attached to the photos you take. You can do things like adjust the date/time a photo was taken, assign categories, view information about the shot (aperture, focial length, etc…), and more. The really handy part of the program is the geotag capabilities.

Once you have Microsoft Pro Photo up and running you’ll want to open some images located on your computer, which can be done through the File menu. After that select one or more images from the thumbnail section, and then click the Location option in the left sidebar. This is where you can adjust the geotag information that is associated with a single or group of photos. The best part is that you don’t need to fiddle around with latitude/longitude… just enter in the address of the location and click on the Get GPS Info button. That’s it, you’re done.

With Microsoft Pro Photo you can also geotag photos by simply browsing a map. It will give you a pin on the map that you can drag around, and it will automatically determine the coordinates based upon where you drop the pin. This is a nice option for anyone wanting to more precisely geotag their photos.

While the program is really nice there are a few things that I’d like to see in a future release:

1. You should be able to browse the photos in your pictures folder instead of having to open each image.
2. Instead of being able to geotag by address the user should also be able to geotag according to points of interest. That way you don’t have to lookup the address of, for example, the Eiffel Tower. You can kind of do this when using the “Map Browse” feature, but it should be as simple as it is when entering in an address.

Microsoft Pro Photo Homepage
Microsoft Pro Photo Direct Download (No WGA Check)

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This article was written on December 04, 2007 by CyberNet.

When it comes to Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) Microsoft is doing two things that almost counteract each other. First off Microsoft is easing up on the “Reduced Functionality Mode” for those users who don’t pass the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) test. As of right now if you don’t pass WGA Vista will disable premium features such as Aero Glass, ReadyBoost, games, and BitLocker. More annoyingly, however, is that it will log you out of Windows after just one hour of use.

From the standpoint of cracking down on piracy this might have been a good thing, especially since Microsoft is reporting the the Vista piracy rate is half of what it was with XP. The Reduced Functionality Mode, however, came at a cost for Microsoft. Some genuine Windows users have found themselves sitting at a computer that suddenly becomes pirated in Microsoft’s eyes, and when that happens they only have an hour at a time to work before they get logged out. In Vista SP1 when users are classified as non-genuine they will just see a notification in the System Tray as well as an image on the desktop background. It’s obviously still annoying, but at least if you’re on your way to give a presentation you don’t have to worry about your computer logging off every hour!

On the other hand Microsoft is cracking down on the Vista hacks available around the Internet. One method in particular, using purely software, is able to emulate an OEM BIOS. That is significant because users hacking Vista in this way will appear to be genuine to Microsoft. When emulating an OEM BIOS Microsoft can’t simply blacklist a serial number, and trying to flag non-genuine users would probably result in many genuine users falsely getting flagged as well.

Microsoft said that cracks like these will no longer work in Vista SP1, but that should be clarified a bit. In their current state Vista OEM BIOS cracks won’t work in SP1, but hackers will have developed a new method probably by the time SP1 is even released. You can’t blame Microsoft for trying though.

[via Ed Bott]

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