Hasta La Gadget!

Do we sense just a wee bit of jealousy here? Not to be outdone by Verizon’s Windows Phone darling, AT&T swiftly reacted to the Trophy’s official launch by whipping the long-expected HTC HD7S out on Facebook and stamping a seal of approval on it. With the go-ahead in place, we can expect to see the new device going on sale June 5 at a penny under $200. This may be a tad steep when comparing its WP7 brethren, but it’s not an unusual starting price for many of AT&T’s top-end smartphones. If you like to fill up your inbox with the latest “email alerts and special offers,” drag your cursor to the source link below.

HTC HD7S coming to AT&T on June 5 for $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 16:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on March 15, 2007 by CyberNet.

The day after Vista was released to consumers, we presented you with a workaround that would allow you to postpone Vista activation for up to 120 days. Now there’s a new workaround that I think you’ll enjoy. I just got done going through a webcast with Brian Livingston from WindowsSecrets.com who introduced a new way of bypassing Windows Vista activation that, when used in conjunction with slmgr -rearm, can get you by with one year of activation . This trick uses a registry key called SkipRearm which Microsoft’s own TechNet document says:

All licensing and registry data related to activation is either removed or reset. Any grace period timers are reset as well.

So what’s the trick? It’s actually unbelievably easy…

—Extend Vista Activation To 120 Days—

First off, Vista gives you a 30–day grace period to activate Vista if you don’t enter in a product key during the installation process (just press Enter when asked for a key to bypass it). Then at the end of each month right when your grace period is about to end you can get an additional 30 days by using this small trick that was discovered about a month ago:

1. First you need to start a Command Prompt as an administrator. You can do this by clicking the Start button, enter cmd in the Search box, then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. You may also do this by finding the Command Prompt option located in your Accessories folder:
   
   If asked to approve a User Account Control prompt, please do so and provide an administrator password if needed.
    
2. At the prompt type the following command and press Enter:

   slmgr -rearm

   Every time you run this command it will add 30 days to the amount of time you have to activate Windows Vista. However, it will only be effective up to 3 times. If you add this time onto your original grace period it will give you 120 days total.
    
    

3. Reboot the PC to make the Vista activation deadline get pushed back.
   
    

—Extend Vista Activation Another 240 Days—

So what do you do after the 120 days is up? You could either purchase a product key from Microsoft, or use another method to extend the activation grace period another 8 times making it a total of 12 months (the initial 1 month + 3 months from above + 8 months = 1 year). Just like before, this uses the slmgr -rearm command, but it also uses a registry setting to allow the command to run another 8 times:

1. Click the Start button, type regedit into the Search box, and press Enter.
   
    
2. Find the SkipRearm key in the Windows Registry that you just opened which is located in the following “folder”:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ SL
   
    

3. Right-click on the SkipRearm and select Modify. Change the “Value Data” to any positive integer, such as 1. Press OK and close the Registry Editor.
   
    
4. Now you need to start a Command Prompt as an administrator. You can do this by clicking the Start button, enter cmd in the Search box, then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. You may also do this by finding the Command Prompt option located in your Accessories folder:
   
   If asked to approve a User Account Control prompt, please do so and provide an administrator password if needed.
    
5. At the prompt type the following command and press Enter:

   slmgr -rearm

   Every time you run this command it will add 30 days to the amount of time you have to activate Windows Vista. Each time you run this command it will reset the registry key you modified in Step 3 back to the original value of 0.
   
    

6. Reboot the PC to make the Vista activation deadline get pushed back.
   
   You can always use the command slmgr -xpr at a Command Prompt to have it show when Vista will expire to ensure that the trick has worked.
    
7. Every time you do the steps above it will essentially reset all activation information on your computer. You’re really starting from a clean slate each time (in terms of activation) which means you will need to repeat these steps every 30 days.

Note: All of my PC’s are legally activated so I didn’t try this trick out for myself.

We are in no way condoning piracy, but we wrote about this because it was something that seemed just too easy and only utilized tools already found in Vista. After watching the webcast I was shown just how easy it was to extend the deadline. This is still quite a pain though, because at the end of each month you’ll have to make sure to reset the activation system. Your calendar would look something like this:

• Start of month 1: Install Vista without a product key (do this by pressing Enter during the installation setup).
• End of months 1 to 3: Use the first set of steps outlined above to extend the activation grace period.
• End of months 4 to 11: Use the second set of steps outlined above to extend the activation grace period.
• End of month 12: Reinstall Vista.

This could really spell disaster for Microsoft because hackers will probably come out with some little program that will automatically extend the period every 30 days, and then it will prompt you to reboot your computer. It sounds so simple and it really is…I could whip up a quick program in just a few minutes that would do everything that you needed to.

The real worry for Microsoft comes when someone figures out where the slmgr limitation is stored. There is obviously something in Vista preventing a user from abusing the command more than what has already been demonstrated above. Once someone finds out what’s the limiting factor, there is going to be a whole can of worms opened up.

—Why can users postpone activation in the first place?—

Microsoft implemented a new Volume Licensing system in Windows Vista to hopefully stop widespread piracy that occurred with previous versions of Windows. In Windows XP Microsoft provided a single product key for corporations that wouldn’t require that Windows be activated at all. This caused a huge dilemma so Microsoft sought out another solution…and the result was Volume Licensing 2.0.

This new licensing system requires all computers be activated which can be an unweilding burden for administrators with 1000’s of computers to activate. Microsoft offers several different ways for these computers to be activated, but all of them are still time consuming. Therefore Microsoft implemented the command slmgr -rearm that would push back the activation period 30 days at a time for up to 120 days. That way administrators would be given more time to get all of their systems activated.

There is one small catch though, this was originally intended for business use but also worked on home versions of Vista. Since then Microsoft appears to have patched all retail versions of Vista Home, but it should still work for Vista Business, Vista Enterprise, and Vista Ultimate since those were the intended operating systems. Of course, pirates would probably be downloading Vista illegally from torrents and they would undoubtedly go for the Ultimate edition since it packs the most value.

While this can easily be done, it is surely no fun having to watch what patches are being downloaded in your Windows Update…and using cracks created by anyone else but yourself is just asking for trouble. Who knows what information those cracks could be sending to some unknown source! Now I’m left wondering what kind of update Microsoft will push through to try and correct this issue.

Thanks to Brian Livingston for inviting us to be part of his demo!

Note: Our last post about Vista activation resulted in a lot of cracks being posted in the comments. Do not post any cracks, patches, or key generators in the comments as they will be removed.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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For all its processing might, Intel is a non-player in the booming tablet space. Consumers, no longer trapped in the WinTel PC juggernaut, are increasingly opting for devices running software experiences optimized for more power efficient ARM processors. Intel hopes to break back into the market it once dominated with the release of “more than ten new tablets” at Computex later this month. Navin Shenoy, Intel general manager for Asia Pacific, elaborated saying “more than 35” tablets equipped with Intel chipsets are on track to ship this year. Of course, Intel chief Paul Otellini already told us that he’d have MeeGo, Windows, and Android tablets on display at the big Taiwan event. Just imagine it: Honeycomb on an Oak Trail tablet. We’ll be bringing it to you live when Computex kicks off on May 31st.

Intel promises more than 10 new tablets at Computex, including Android and MeeGo versions originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 04:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When Microsoft takes the stage May 24th to preview the next release of Windows Phone, will there be any surprises left for the peanut gallery? In the last week we’ve seen numerous features announced or leaked, an awfully big coincidence given the timing of next week’s event. More cats were let out of their bags today at Microsoft’s annual TechEd conference keynote, as several enterprise-related capabilities were shown off that both companies and consumers have sorely missed on their phones.

First up are pinnable email folders, giving users the opportunity to pin a specific folder of higher priority — such as emails from your boss or wife — to your start screen. Toss in email threads complete with conversation view, and now Mango is looking even more drool-worthy. But there’s more, folks: Exchange users frustrated by online having access to recent correspondence can look forward to server search — a new function that’ll enable you to sift through your entire email collection if need be. Rounding out the grocery list of new updates is Lync support, complex alpha-numeric passcodes for higher security, Information Rights Management support, and — hallelujah — the ability to connect to hidden WiFi networks natively. About time, right? Take a peek at the full breakdown of the new features at the source link.

Update: Now with video, after the break!

Continue reading Microsoft outlines new enterprise features coming to Windows Phone ‘Mango’

Microsoft outlines new enterprise features coming to Windows Phone ‘Mango’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 14:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on August 28, 2009 by CyberNet.

Windows only
A little while ago one of my co-workers convinced me to give the Miranda instant messenger a try, and at first I was reluctant because I had heard how much customization was typically needed to get it just the way you wanted it. Over the years I had downloaded it to play around, but it has a rather overwhelming number of options that you can mess with. Then when you throw the addons into the mix the complexity continues to rise.

I took his recommendation (and dedication) to heart, and decided to give Miranda a real shot. I spent a few hours downloading addons, trying out themes, adjusting fonts, and tweaked the messenger until I got everything pixel perfect in my eyes. The end result is what you see to the right.

I have over a hundred contacts that I manage (most are cropped out of the screenshot), and so I wanted something that was compact to maximize the number of visible contacts. Miranda is perfect in this respect because of how customizable the interface is regardless of what theme you choose.

The best part? Even though memory is plentiful these days I’m always happy to find applications that can efficiently do their job. On average I’d say my Miranda instance runs around at around 9MB of memory (fluctuating between 6MB and 13MB depending on how many conversations I have open). It doesn’t get much more efficient than that.

If you decide that you want to give Miranda a try hopefully this article will serve as a good starting point for getting things customized the way you want them.

–Installing Addons or Themes–

For installing addons or themes what you’ll need to do is download them from the Miranda site, extract the files, and place them in the correct directories. These directories are located inside the folder where you installed Miranda, and in most cases that should be here:

• Addons: C:\Program Files\Miranda IM\Plugins
• Themes: C:\Program Files\Miranda IM\Skins

Place the files in those locations, and you may need to restart Miranda before you see the changes.

–The Contact List–

The contact list is one of the most important areas for me because I have so much data that I’m trying to cram into a small space. Before I dive into some of the more detailed customizations I made lets take a look at the addons that you’ll need:

• Modern Contact List: This is an addon that will make the contact list even more customizable. Many themes use this, and therefore won’t work properly if you don’t have it installed. If you’re running this addon on Vista or Windows 7 it also adds support for the Aero glass effect to Miranda.
  Note: After installing Modern Contact List you may find that it’s not enabled immediately after restarting Miranda. You’ll need to go into the Options -> Plugins, and disable clist_classic.dll so that you can enable clist_modern.dll. It’s not possible to have both enabled at the same time.
• Tipper: This provides you with some information about the contact that you’re hovering over in the contact list. You can see things like the last message they sent, their status message, IP address, and much more. The screenshot above is of Tipper.
• Szandor Vista: This is the theme I’m using for my contact list. It took me a little while to find one that looked good with the customizations I wanted, but this one seemed to suit me the best. If you don’t like dark themes you’ll probably want to check out some of the others, but I tried about two dozen different ones before coming across this gem.

Alright, now that you’ve got those installed here are some of the more detailed customizations I made:

• Color-code names to match contact’s availability status. I don’t like relying solely on an icon to tell me the status of one of my contacts, and with Miranda I can customize the color of the name for contacts who are available, away, do not disturb (DND), offline, and more. This makes it more clear as to who’s actually available and who’s not. To do this go to Options -> Customize -> Fonts & Colors -> Contact List -> Contact names:
  
• Compact the view. I don’t need things like avatars shown for my friends, and so I hide them. Go through the settings available at Options -> Contact List -> Row Items to pick and choose what information is shown for each contact in your list. Status messages are kind of important to me so I’ve enabled those, but you’ll find that you can customize everything down to borders and margins around each row.
  • If you click on the parent section (Options -> Contact List) there are also more settings that you can customize for the overall contact list. One setting in particular that I like is under the List tab that lets you hide the vertical scrollbar. How do you scroll through your contacts then? With your mouse wheel! I’ve never missed not having the scrollbar in my contact list.
• Customize the tooltips. You installed Tipper so that you can see information about your contacts when you hover over them in your list, but now you need to make it look the way you want. There are a lot of options available for you in Options -> Customize -> Tooltips that give you full control over the layout.
  

There are quite a few other changes that I’ve made, but the rest are really just minor details. The things I outlined will make your contact list look pretty close to mine.

–The Chat Window–

You’ll probably get a kick out of this. For years now things have been moving to tabbed interfaces to conserve space, and messengers have been following a similar route. Miranda, however, doesn’t have tabs out-of-the-box. Instead you need an addon such as TabSRMM to add that kind of functionality. That’s not the funny part though. For the first few days with Miranda I decided to go without tabs though, and I don’t know if I could go back to a tabbed interface now. There’s something nice about having each contact isolated in their own windows. Here I thought tabs were great for everything, but I was wrong. Funny, huh? You do have options available if you decide to go the tabbed route.

There are a few customizations that I’ve made though:

• Color-code incoming/outgoing messages. Frankly I don’t really need to see the messages I write most of the time… after all, I wrote them. Sometimes it’s nice to go back and reference what I’ve written, but I want to quickly identify messages that the person I’m chatting with has sent. That’s why, as you can see in the screenshot of the chat window above, I’ve grayed out my messages. I also made the font bold for the person I’m talking with. These things can be customized by going to Options -> Fonts & Colors -> Message Log, and look for the settings labeled incoming messages and outgoing messages.
• Display last [XX] messages when opening a chat window. Sometimes you close a chat window before ending a conversation, and then you can’t remember what you were just talking about. In Miranda you can pick how many messages you want displayed when a chat window is opened. You can specify whether you want the last [XX] messages, or whether you want to show messages from the last [XX] minutes. That way you’ll always be able to pick up on your last conversation without any troubles. To adjust these settings go to Options -> Message Sessions, and click the Messaging Log tab.

My chat windows accomplish the goal that I set out to achieve, and that’s to focus on the messages being sent back and forth. I didn’t want toolbars upon toolbars of buttons, formatting options, and animations that I could send. I wanted a box I could type in, and a box I could see the messages I receive. In fact I removed all available toolbars from both the contact list and chat windows for this very reason. Messengers these days have too many distractions, and I had used the Google Talk client for such a long time because it brought simplicity back to the messenger world.

–Overview–

I know Miranda isn’t going to be for everyone, but I wanted to make sure people know what alternatives there are out there. This seemed especially important with the recent Digsby events, and the excellent Miranda community will surely try to help answer any questions you may have.

Interested in integration with other services like Twitter and Facebook? There are developers working on it, and you can jump in to test if you’d like. The Twitter project can be found here , and the Facebook project is here. See, Miranda has a very powerful community backing them, but it’s just that all this functionality doesn’t come bundled with the app. You have to go looking for some things, and in the end it can prove to be worthwhile.

If you use Miranda, or find some cool addons please let me know in the comments! I would still love to try out anything else you guys may find on your quest for a better messenger.

Miranda Homepage

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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