Well, all is not lost I suppose. I’ve got a blog post out of it! While sort of paying attention to the Oscars last night, my friend Alex screamed out, “What?! They have a 3D TV now?!” Yep, it’s true. According to Gizmodo, Best Buy will be rolling out a couple Samsung LED 3D HDTVs on March 21st.

What’s made even bigger headlines today is the iPad commercial. Announced not too long ago, it’s probably safe to say it’s one of the year’s most anticipated tech products. Unfortunately, since the Oscars weren’t all that interesting last night, we seemed to have missed the broadcast. I don’t remember seeing the iPad commercial at all. No fear, that’s what YouTube is for:

Do know that HP is coming out with a similar product (with a much better name) called the Slate. And hey, it runs on a Windows 7 OS and supports Flash — whereas, iPad does not.

The interface is stunning and the features are a brilliant combination of firsts and smart design. Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft, tells us, “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience.” It’s a phone that’s been designed for life in motion. “Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences,” Ballmer continues. The Windows Phone 7 also brings Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience to mobile phones for the first time.

Unable to attend the Mobile World Congress and review the product myself, I point you in the direction of TechCrunch, Gizmodo and Business Insider.

Windows Phone 7 phones will hit stores by the holiday season this year. For those who are antsy to play with the interface, head over to the Windows Phone 7 Series site for an interactive demo. Steve Ballmer’s press conference at Barcelona can also be replayed in full at Microsoft.

The blog reminds us that “batteries usually have a warranty of 12 months, which is about the length of time when statistically we expect to see noticeable degradation.” And goes on to explain how Windows 7 calculates the battery life… Basically, the threshold is set at a 40% performing capacity or 60% degradation. If a battery originally had 5 hours of charge, it would now deliver an average 2 hours of charge. If a battery fails to perform at 40% capacity, the warning message appears. When testing systems that displayed the warning message, Microsoft concluded, “we’re simply seeing batteries that are not performing above the designated threshold.”

The test report discovered “only a very small percentage of users are receiving the ‘Consider replacing your battery’ notification, and as expected, we are seeing systems older than ~1.5 years.” However, if you’re still having issues contrary to these findings, Microsoft encourages you to send it in. TechNet, Microsoft Answers forum or the Microsoft Support page are their suggested means for reporting problems.

Zazz, an online retailer, refurbishes a number of computers running Windows XP. And since “Customers started asking how these computers would run Windows 8,” Zazz media manager Scott Lewis had his team run a few tests. The results of his tests? Upgrade to Windows 7 already! Upgrading is especially recommended for computers running a dual-core processor and at least 2GB of RAM. However, those with less are also encouraged to upgrade. Surprisingly “Photoshop ran faster on Windows 7 even with 1GB or RAM,” says Lewis.

If you’re ready to upgrade, be sure to read Jeremy’s post on Windows 7 Upgrade Eligibility and Paths. Also, check out the Sydney Morning Herald article for more information on Lewis’ findings and a few useful links.

“We are investigating this issue in conjunction with our hardware partners, which appears to be related to system firmware,” said a Microsoft rep. Fairly useless at this point for solving the issue, but Microsoft reassures its users that information will be provided as it becomes available.

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Ina Fried, from CNET.com, says “GodMode” also works with Vista, but with possible problems. Find out more by reading her Beyond Binary blog.

A few settings that GodMode uncovers include:

• Manage Windows Credentials
• Folder Options (show hidden files/system files)
• Mouse Settings
• Network and Sharing Center Settings
• Parental Controls
• User Account Settings
• Advanced System Settings

Thanks to Jeremy for all the help!

10. Obama stimulates IT
An avid techie, Obama creates stimulus packages to adopt various IT practices. Embrace change.

9. Bing
Cashback shopping, flashy and colorful interface for search – Powerhouses Microsoft and Yahoo team together to bring a new search. Bing ups the ante and brings a better competition to Google search.

8.Tablet computers and netbooks
My mom has one. Apple seems to be in the works towards creating one. They are the must-have accessory for the modern, swanky professional on the go, I’d say. They are just going to get more popular.

7. Windows 7 blows Windows Vista out of the water
Windows XP users finally have a reason to upgrade their systems.

6. iPhones are given a bit more competition with the Droid
I once heard a rumor that Verizon was originally approached to offer the iPhone. Were they waiting for the Droid all along? They’ve certainly put on a fierce campaign with the new Motorola phone. For weeks, I had thought it was an upcoming blockbuster film. Here’s one of the many commercials.

5. Bill Gates retires
Okay, so technically he stepped away from the reigns in 2008, but I honestly had no idea until just a couple of weeks ago. So it’s news to me in 2009! Ha, I know. I know.

4. Social media explosion
Although Twitter started back in 2006, more celebrities and other users jumped on board causing social media to explode and almost become a necessity in the workplace. Was this blog a result? Hm…

3. Google announces it’s own operating system: Chromium OS
I’m telling you! Google is going to dominate the world. It’s just a matter of time.

2. Switch to digital television
It was pushed back a bit, but it eventually happened this summer. I can’t decide if I like it or hate it. As someone without cable TV, it’s been easier to pick up better signals with the transition. But, as someone without cable TV and DVR, I can’t really utilize my VCR to record missed shows anymore. I suppose that’s why there’s Hulu…

1. The Birth of SoftwareNewsDaily.com
This article would not exist otherwise. This has to be the most important tech news of the year! Muwahahaha.

Sophos, an acclaimed world leader in IT security and data protection, recently tested the effectiveness of the Windows 7 Users Account Control, a security feature Microsoft debuted in Vista. A feature that prompts users for consent before allowing various tasks to be executed, the UAC helps keep an eye on programs that may be running potentially infected files. The Windows 7 UAC was modified to create less interruptions in efforts to smother user complaints. Can Microsoft listen to its customers and still help them? “We wanted to know if UAC was going to be effective in Windows 7,” said Chester Wisniewski, a senior security advisory with Sophos. “So we grabbed the next 10 [malware] samples that came in and tried them out.”

The 10 samples were loaded onto a clean computer running Windows 7 without anti-virus software.  Wisniewski then launched the samples to resemble a user accidentally stumbling upon these files (as if a user launched a file attachment or surfed to a malicious site). You know, the typical situation where when it occurs too often, drives you into a state of paranoia in regards to anything you do on your computer? Is that just me?

Only two of the samples would not operate correctly in Windows 7. But Wisniewski continues, “User Account Control did block one sample; however, its failure to block anything else just reinforces my warning prior to the Windows 7 launch that UAC’s default configuration is not effective at protecting a PC from modern malware.” For those who have recently jumped to Windows 7, be forewarned that “you still need to run anti-virus on Windows 7.” Might I suggest a Sophos product? I mean, they are ahead of the curve by the looks of the security information they seem to always be releasing. And SophosLabs also responds “quicker to virus outbreaks than any of our major competitors.”

SoftwareMedia now carries Open Government and Open Value skus. There is also a Price Match Guarantee on all software licensing. Start enforcing Windows 7 here.

Upgrade Eligibility:

You are eligible to purchase an upgrade to any version of Windows 7 if you own any previous version of Windows starting with XP or later. Windows 98, 2000, and ME don’t qualify you to purchase an upgrade. If the PC you want to install Windows 7 on has a version of Windows older than XP, you will need to purchase a full retail or OEM version of Windows 7.

Upgrade Paths:

An Upgrade Path is a scenario where you can install Windows 7 without needing to back up your files. For example, if you are currently running Windows Vista Home Premium, and you want to go to Windows 7 Ultimate, you would be able to insert the Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade disk while running Vista, it would then “convert” your Vista operating system to Windows 7 Ultimate; However, if you are currently running Vista Home Premium and you want to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional, you would have to back up your files and perform what’s called a “clean install” by rebooting your system from the disk and re-installing the operating system from scratch. You can only perform an upgrade path from the following versions of Vista to the corresponding versions of Windows 7:

Supported Upgrade Paths

Note: If you are upgrading from any version of Windows XP you will have to perform a clean install. There are no supported Upgrade Paths from Windows XP.

A recent study conducted by CompTIA found that green IT is a mid to high level priority for 67 percent of organizations surveyed. In spite of the study also finding that a majority (80%) of organizations find quantifying the return on investment (ROI) of green initiatives to be a difficult task, Tim Herbert, vice president of research at CompTIA, says, “survey data suggests many organizations are willing to invest greener IT products even when the return isn’t realized immediately.” According to the study, over 75 percent of organizations expect to have a comprehensive green IT strategy within the next five years. Here are a couple of ideas to get that ball rolling…

Start with a more energy efficient server manager:
1e’s award nominated NightWatchman now comes in Server Edition, a product that puts “drowsy” computing to work. By analyzing active computing (the typical work done by computer users) and background computing (highly inefficient activity that server software performs such as antivirus updates or indexing checks), NightWatchman gauges servers to run at the lowest energy setting possible.  CEO of 1e, Sumir Karayi, mentions that “one of the largest causes of energy and IT operational waste in data centers are servers that are simply not being used.” “It’s still working,” he says, “it’s just working slower, like it’s drowsy.” Dell, for instance, saves over $1.8 billion annually by using NightWatchman across a board of 50,000 computers. Perhaps a solution where the ROI on this product could equal less than one year?

Then, update to a greener Windows:
From the greenest neck of the Windows woods comes Microsoft’s newest release, Windows 7. Rob Bernard, Microsoft’s chief environmental strategist, highlights a server and client interaction that “allows IT [departments] to run a power-efficiency diagnostics chart.” The chart is then used to adjust computers for the most efficient operation. By removing certain drivers that would prevent the processor from running optimally, Windows 7 “has become much more aware of the power management capabilities within the processor and chip set.”

Well, there’s a start. Just a few thoughts to flow the green thinking again.

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