Video Podcasts with Apple iPod

I recently downloaded the newest version of iTunes 7.0 and started exploring it. One of the most coolest feature I found is the ability to sync with video podcasts. So far I had some problems playing video on my iPod in general. Sometimes I just couldn't convert a movie to the iPod format, or sometimes the iPod just didn't play them at all. However, couple of days ago using this new feature about video podcasts, I managed to play video! So here is how you can access this new feature from iTunes. Just follow the steps shown on the following screenshot:

As a result, you will have to see this (or at lest this is what I get from iTunes):

From this point, just pick those you like and then sync up your iPod. From your iPod, just go to Videos -> Video Podcasts and enjoy the ride! :)

Just a quick note about iTunes 7.0. The current version is not very stable. It constantly crashes, while attempting to update my Outlook contacts and tasks if the connection to the mail server is not present. I am using Microsoft Exchange email account with cached mode enabled. Although Microsoft Outlook is working soundly in this case, every single time I start iTunes without having established connection to the Microsoft Exchange, this software just crashes with "Unhandled exception occurred". This drives me crazy and that's why I disabled contacts and tasks synchronization.

Windows Live Services - full list

Windows Live - the Microsoft rival of Google, has taken a very fast pace forward. Currently it includes a total of 56 different services available on the Web (check out this link to see this list). Google on the other way are trying to compete with Microsoft Office by providing a free-of-charge word processor and spreadsheet, but in my honest opinion they are decades behind Microsoft. On the other way, Microsoft is pulling away the Office Live initiative (link), which gives you at your ease email, collaboration, Web publishing, etc.

I personally use Microsoft Live Writer (link) for RSS content management. Although still in beta, this program is really great. As you can see, I am using the Blogger service for RSS, but its Web interface is very simple and by no means is user friendly. Besides, it is Web based. It has happened several times that when I am done with the blog entry and I try to publish it, if my Internet connection experience some problems by this time, the whole post is gone - so long 30 minutes or so writing. Would be far away better if there has been something like autosave on every N seconds, correct? Because Windows Live Writer is Desktop based, I don't have this problem. Nevertheless, it provides very useful tools to format the blog entry with whatever styles you want. And here comes the great news - you can insert pictures to your blog although the blogging service (Blogger in my case) does not support publishing pictures. What it does with them - you are just prompted to setup a folder on the FTP where this program will upload the pictures. That's really sweet!

Traffic condition on Virtual Earth

While checking something on VE, I suddenly saw a new tab on the screen - "Traffic".

For Americans, this service is the life saver and they are so used to it. On my last trip to Seattle, we were on the road with a friend of mine and he wanted to know which streets are blocked so that he can better plan his route. Well, couple of clicks on his Pocket PC and voila - you see full fledged map showing you which streets have heavy traffic, or incidents, etc. I really wish we have this service down here in Bulgaria - it is really very useful.