Not everyone is excited about Windows 7 - there are plenty of XP users that are more than happy to stick with their trusty old OS. Just because you don't want to change the system doesn't mean you can't get Windows 7's update visuals on your desktop.

As is often the case, themers have been more than happy to create transformation packs that allow Windows XP users to skin their desktop to look like Windows 7. Brad wrote about one from DeviantArt users last year - when it was assumed that Windows 7 would look pretty much the same as Vista.

Now, however, we've got some options that more accurately reproduce the superbar and other features that distinguish Windows 7 from its big brother.

Xobni is an Outlook plugin that adds social networking and search features to the email and contact organizer. We first looked at Xobni when the service launched in public beta last year. Today Xobni is dropping the beta tab with the release of Xobni 1.7.

The new version doesn't come with any shiny new features, but it it does have a number of improvements under the hood that let Xobni and Outlook work better together. For instance, Xobni loads faster, loads messages better due to caching, and users can controlho woften and how much of their email is indexed by the plugin. You can also decide whether Xobni will open every time you launch Outlook or if you want it to appear only when you want it.

Xobni continues to be available as af ree download, but the company is working on a premium version that will be available this summer.

Windows 7 has a shiny new user interface that aims to make it easier to accomplish tasks on your computer without getting distracted by all the eye candy. But before settling on the new Windows taskbar, Aero Peek feature and other design elements, Microsoft considered a number of other possibilities. TechRadar has a look at some of them.

For instance, an early toolbar design had a taskbar with thumbnails of running programs instead of icons and pop up menus. But the icons were too small to be usable. Another version used a "Bat Signal" because when you scrolled your mouse over an icon the full window would open on the desktop, and a spotlight would shine up from the taskbar at it.

You can find more early ideas for Windows 7 at TechRadar.

Zinc is a full screen browser for internet video. But that description doesn't really do the application justice. Basically, it allows you to watch internet video on your television screen using a remote control almost as easily as a keyboard and mouse. You know, a lot like Boxee. But there's one major thing setting Zinc apart from Boxee: Zinc is based on Firefox. And that's going to make it awfully hard for content partners to detect whether you're using Zinc or Firefox, which means it'll be a lot harder for companies like Hulu to ask Zeevee (the makers of Zinc) to block access.

Zinc started out its life as the interface for a hardware set top box that ZeeVee wanted to charge $499 for. That business model didn't really pan out, so the company split is focus and started working on a $2500 enterrprise hardware solution that lets companies like hotels stream HD content throughout the building and the free Zinc media browser.

Version 3 which came out today has a smoother interface, more detailed information about videos and channels, and content from new sources including The CW, Revision3, and Netflix. You can either install Zinc as a standalone application or download and install a Firefox extension that will let you launch the Zinc interface from within Firefox 3.

Right now Zinc is Windows only, but a Mac version is due out next month.

[via NewTeeVee]

Lossless audio codecs (like FLAC and ALAC) have been around for a while, but Thomson's new mp3HD format might be the one that finally achieves mainstream adoption.

mp3HD has one key advantage over other lossless formats: it's fully backwards compatible, meaning you should be able to play encoded files back on any device that supports mp3.

Bitrates are similar to FLAC, ranging from 500 to 900kbps. The average bitrate for pop/top 40 music comes in at 876kbps which produces a 26mb file for a four-minute track.

One more thing mp3HD has going for it is that it utilizes something most users have grown accustomed to: the .mp3 file extension. Familiarity means a lot to the average user - try asking some of your non-techy friends what an .ogg file is. Using the extension that has become synonymous with digital audio files should improve mp3HD's chances of achieving mainstream adoption.

Thomson has also released a command line enocder and decoder for Windows and Linux, as well as a Winamp plugin for mp3HD.

I'm not really one for joining causes online (Facebook has rid me of any desire for that), but as far as geeky technical causes go, Bring Down IE6 by the folks at .NET Magazine is a good one. Internet Explorer 6 is the bane of pretty much every web designer or developer's existence. Things that work beautifully in all of the standards-compliant browsers (and even for the most part in modern versions of IE) require time-consuming and painful work-arounds just to get them sort of working.

The frustrating thing is that if Microsoft wanted to do something about the situation to ease the pain of the countless numbers of people building websites, they have it in their power to do so. The problem for web developers is that IE6 is still used by a frighteningly large percentage of people online. How can this be? Well, many unfortunate corporate workers are stuck using Windows 2000, and do not have permission to install or even use a portable version of a standards-compliant alternative browser like Firefox. These people are using IE6 because it is the only option available to them.

As much as Microsoft would like to force everyone to upgrade to XP / Vista / Windows 7, the truth is that for many companies, the Windows 2000 licenses that they already own work just fine for their needs.

What Microsoft should do is acknowledge that Windows 2000 is still being actively used, and make later versions of Internet Explorer available as an update for Windows 2000. Yes, I realize that Windows 2000 is no longer an officially supported platform by Microsoft, but that just points to the disconnect between what Microsoft wishes people would do, and what they are actually doing.

Also, if you're in IT at a company that is still clinging to Windows 2000, for the love of all that is good, please add a modern browser to your standard install image. They're free, and they're a hell of a lot more secure than IE6 is. Pick one; Firefox, Opera, Safari, or even Google's currently-in-beta Chrome browser. Any of these is a better choice than IE6.

And if you're a web developer, consider using a simple script to provide a gentle reminder to IE6 users that they need to upgrade.

Let's all let IE6 die the death it so richly deserves.

Microsoft has put together a series of videos to promote the launch of Internet Explorer 8. The strategy? Poking a bit of fun at the things we spend our time doing on the internet, like looking at videos of hamsters dancing, ordering completely useless things on eBay, and replacing language with acronyms.

Toward the end of the video above, several of the comedians tapped by Microsoft for the campaign also imply what everyone knows: the new private browsing mode in Internet Explorer 8 (and Firefox 3.5 and Google Chrome) isn't just for privacy advocates. There might be another reason people would like to surf the web without saving any cookies or other items that would indicate which web sites they've been visiting. It's not exactly rocket science, but it's interesting to see it (almost) acknowledged in an officially sanctioned video from Microsoft.

You can check out more videos in the series at the IE8 YouTube page or on Microsoft's web site for the campaign. But you'll need to have Silverlight installed to see the videos on the latter site.

[via Mashable]

Icons are to me like clothes are to my wife - meant to be changed. I love sprucing up my desktop with customized icons and a funky background, only to change it all up a week later.

If you're like me, then you're going to enjoy this list of 50 of the most beautiful icon sets created in 2008 at NOUPE. The icon sets listed are intended for everything from customizing your Mac or Windows desktop, to iPhone replacement icons, to web development. There's a little something for everyone, so have a peek if you're at all curious.

Do you have a favorite resource for free icons? Link it up in the comments.

SMPlayer is a frontend for the open source MPlayer media player. Like MPlayer, that means SMPlayer can handle a wide array of video formats. And the latest build brings SMPlayer one step closer to being a complete replacement for Windows Media Center with experimental support for DVD menus.

SMPlayer 0.6.7 also makes it esier to load external subtitle files, doest a better job of sorting new files added to playlists, and and allows users to configure audio and subtitle delays if necessary.

The media player is available for Windows or Linux. There's also a portable version for Windows that can be run from a USB flash drive.

[via gHacks]

Windows Vista and Windows 7 have a ton of features that differentiate them from Windows XP - an operating system that is, after all, nearly a decade old. But some folks are going to be slow to upgrade because XP still meets their needs, runs software they need it to run, and because you don't need to pay a new fee to keep using the operating system that came with your computer.

But that doesn't mean you can't still have some of the advantages of a new operating system. Microsoft puts millions of dollars and plenty of manpower into optimizing its operating system and making it easier to use. Sometimes it even works. And it usually only takes a short time for hackers and graphic artists to start figuring out ways to make older operating systems such as Windows XP look like newer software like Windows 7.

If you're not looking for a complete transformation pack, there are ways to just change the look and feel of certain Windows components. For example, the volume mixer. fediaFedia has put together a tool for making the Windows XP sound mixer look like the Windows 7 version. Installation is a bit tricky. You need to:

• Go to your Windows\System32 director, back up your sndvol.exe file to a safe space
  
• Press Win+R and type "dllcache" in the box to open a new window
• Copy the sndvol.exe file you downloaded to the dllcache directory and click OK when it asks if you want to overwrite the existing file
• Now copy the downloaded sndvol.exe file to your Windows\System32 directory and click OK to overwrite existing files

When you're done you should see shiny new volume mixers. If you don't like them, fire up the Windows task manager and kill the sndvol.exe process and then copy your backup version of sndvol.exe back to the dllcache and system32 directories.

[via Technobuzz]

More than a year after releasing the first public beta of Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft plans to give the browser a good and proper launching today at noon EDT. You'll be able to download the browser from the IE8 page at that time. Right now clicking the download link will get you Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1.

Here are a few of the new features that Internet Explorer 8 offers:

• Accelerators that make web-based services available through a right-click context menu. For instance, you can click on a word or phrase and map it or email it.
• Web slices provide information from web sites like Wikipedia or Digg available in little pop up windows that you can check out without navigating away from the page you're on.
• Improved search box features including visual previews and "quick pick" search engine selection.

You can find some of our favorite tips and tricks for making Internet Explorer 8 even more useful in our Pimp Internet Explorer series.

The boys in Redmond are excited about the beta release of Silverlight 3, and it was the hot topic at MIX09 in Las Vegas today.

Scores of new features have been packed into Silverlight 3, including native support for h.264 and 720p HD (including full-screen) video, improved streaming performance, new 3D and animation effects, hardware acceleration support, pixel shaders, improved font rendering, and multi-touch support. Silverlight applications can also now be run outside of the browser like normal desktop applications.

Silverlight 3 has also been designed to facilitate rapid development, with dozens of new controls being added (with source code available), SEO enhancements, deep linking support, and better data support. Microsoft's Tim Heuer has broken things down for developers, and the there's a detailed "Get Started" guide from Microsoft that has been added to the official Silverlight site.

Microsoft scored some major streaming video wins with Silverlight this year, so it will be interesting to see what kind of gains on Adobe they can make with version 3. It certainly looks promising and, at the very least, it should help drive innovation on the Flash/Silverlight front.

Beta runtime downloads are available for both Windows and Mac.