Keyhole has a cool line of software that allows you to interact with earth imagery data in a slick "3D" environment - think of those video shots on CNN where they start in space and then "zoom" down to a specific location in the world.  They have a new "LT" version which is targeted at consumers.  You can download a 7-day trial version of the software to check it out.

I don't think I've changed my mind about Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.  As a geek, though, I can appreciate the new features and functionality.  And, after I play around with the new version, I might change my mind.  Who knows...  I better "Drink the Koolaid" quickly, though - I'm presenting at two of the OEM and System Builder roadshows that AMD & Intel are hosting.

There's been a lot of buzz with the release of the new version.  This time, too, there seems to be a lot more industry support of the initiative, which is always good news.  Instead of reinventing the wheel and doing my own review, I thought I would point to some others that have done some great work looking it over for us:

• http://www.htpcnews.com/main.php?id=mce2k5_1 - Joshua Shipmann has done an 18 page (very thorough!) review of MCE 2005.  With every screenshot imaginable and tons of great insight.  [Thanks to Bink.nu for the link.]

• http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/windowsxp_mce2005.asp - Paul Thurrott has also done his own review of MCE 2005.  He says, "Well, I'm blown away too. You can call this release a minor revision, a point release, or whatever. I can't hear you. From where I stand, this is a lifestyle revolution. And from here on out, life will never be the same."  [Thanks again to Bink.nu for the link.]

• http://www.majornelson.com/blog/2004/10/media-center-2005-launch-event.html - Major Nelson points to the complete video from the Media Center 2005 Launch event.

• http://www.furrygoat.com/PermaLink.aspx?guid=ccc57a9d-352f-4627-87a4-1a99dd6a1c48 - Steve Makofsky points to a couple of cool add-ins to MCE 2005 - mceWeather (shows your weather forecast among other things) and mceContacts (you can have all of your contacts, addresses, and telephone numbers available at a click of the remote).

• MCE 2005 Readiness Center (if you're a registered OEM System Builder) - https://oem.microsoft.com/script/contentpage.aspx?pageid=551794

• Jeff Fansler has "Fallen In Love" with MCE 2005.

• Microsoft has released the "Windows XP Media Center Edition Test Kit v2.0" which includes a collection of utilities to give OEMs and device driver developers the capability to evaluate their readiness for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. [Click Here to Visit the Microsoft download site.]

• thegreenbutton is an enthusiast-supported online community for Windows XP Media Center Edition.  There is a ton of resources here for the MCE enthusiast, including a download center which lists third party utilities and add-ons for MCE.  Ever want to play solitaire on your home TV?  I bet that looks cool on a 50" plasma.  ;-)

• Some additional 3rd party add-ons and points of interest - PPC Remote over IP (www.rudeo.com/mce), Home Control (www.homeauto.com), Email (www.classmce.com/go/ContentServlet.aspx, MAME Frontend (www.classmce.com/go/ContentServlet.aspx and TVTonic (www.tvtonic.com/mce).

Just saw this post on forevergeek.com.  An interesting way around the limitation that you can only search from your own machine. 

http://forevergeek.com/geek_resources/google_desktop_proxy.php

The Google Desktop Proxy from Kent Fitch allows access to the Google Desktop from remote machines.

The basics:

This program is a very simple proxy. A browser or other program on another computer can open a connection to this program which passes the request through to the Google Desktop web server on the same machine as the proxy. Because it is on the same machine, the Google Desktop web server processes the request and passes the result back to the proxy which in turn sends it back to the originating requestor.

The Java program uses a simple configuration file to specifiy the listening port, a log file, and IP addresses allowed access.

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I posted about Konfabulator for Windows almost a year ago when they announced they were taking signups for a beta release.  It looks like they are just about ready to get the thing out the door.  Thanks to jk for the pointer.

http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2004/10/konfabulator_fo.html

Konfabulator for Mac OS X has always been one of those cool utilities that Windows users could only drool over. What it does is provide "widgets" for the Mac OS that enhance the interface in a totally user-configurable way. There are tons of widgets that have appeared for Konfabulator...

I just saw this post from Greg Reinacker detailing how to use NewsGator Online to add a rating system for your site's content.  When I'm finished with my site's redesign, I'm planning to incorporate this functionality.  It's pretty neat.  The .NET Guy has already added it to his blog and it seems to work well.  The only drawback, IMO, is that for a user to rate your content they need to sign up for a NewsGator Online account.

http://www.rassoc.com/gregr/weblog/archive.aspx?post=741  |  Comments

One of the cool free features of the new NewsGator Online is the built-in rating system for content.  For every post you read within NewsGator Online, you can give it a rating from 1 to 5 stars, and see the community rating as well:

In the example above, the red stars are my own rating (I liked this post that I wrote, so I gave it a 5!), and the community average rating is shown by the orange (4 in this example).  [View the rest of Greg's post here.]

This cool little utility will create a "badge" with your e-mail address if you're using services like GMail, Hotmail, MSN, Yahoo! or AOL.  All you do is type in your e-mail username, select your e-mail service and click "Generate".  The site does ask that you provide a link back to the tool (http://www.nhacks.com/email/) whenever you use one of their automatically generated icons.  It's a small price to pay, IMO.  Thanks to forevergeek.com for the link.