When it comes to online video websites, YouTube may lead the pack in terms of traffic with its user-generated content, but Hulu is definitely the place to go for high quality programming from studios and networks. Several software companies have tried to introduce Hulu programming into desktop applications; but Hulu has forced almost all of them to shut down. Now Hulu has launched their own desktop application, so you can watch programs outside of a web browser.

Click here to download Hulu desktop for Mac or PC.

Microsoft Unveils its "Wii-killer" Full Body Motion Control

Microsoft recently unveiled a completely new way to control video games entitled "Project Natal." A special camera hooks up to an Xbox 360 and allows you to control video games by simply moving your body. It recognizes 48 different joints, all your limbs, multiple people, voice recognition - pretty impressive! You can see some pictures & a video at this web site link.

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This month's newsletter features two tips on backup solutions. We can't stress enough, the importance of reliable & foolproof backup systems. Please visit our backup pages for more info.

ShadowProtect Backup Solution
This is one of the best pieces of backup software we've come across in quite some time. This software allows you to create "images" of your computer, so in case it crashes, you can completely restore your computer to a past, known-good state. You can also restore your computer to a different system with completely different hardware, a feature with which most imaging utilities have previously had trouble. It also has the capability of pulling out files from past backups individually; which comes in handy if you accidentally delete a file. Click here to read PC Magazine's write-up on the software. We are now recommending the server version for most of our clients in place of the previous "industry standard", Backup Exec..

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Windows Home Server
We've mentioned Windows Home Server and its benefits in the past, but we can't stress how well it works as a backup solution for your home or small office. If you have less than 10 PC's on your home or business network, Windows Home Server has the ability to backup ALL the PC's on your network. Recently we had a client whose laptop failed to start up. We were able to restore the laptop to the most recent backup and have it up and running in just over an hour. This would have easily taken three hours or more to recover the data from the failed Windows installation, reinstall the operating system, reinstall all of the programs on the computer, restore the data, perform updates and customizations. A complete Windows Home Server machines costs around $500.00 and is WELL worth the price! Please contact us for more information.

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Everything File Search Tool
The most important feature for a piece of software that searches for files on your computer is speed. "Everything" has the competition beat hands down. If you're a fan of Google Desktop and only use it to search for files, save yourself some time and switch to this little piece of software called "Everything." It takes under a minute to index your hard drive, after that all file searches are instantaneous. Unlike Google Desktop, it does NOT come with all the companion software and overhead that slows your computer down horribly to give you the indexing feature.
Click here to download Everything

Google Wave
Google has recently unveiled a new service entitled "Google Wave." It can be best described as a live communication and collaboration tool. The service is being dubbed "What e-mail might look like if it were invented today"; basically it has just about every feature you could imagine. "Waves" are displayed in real time, meaning people can see what you type character by character. Waves have the ability to be embedded in web-sites, support drag and drop file sharing, application development, "wiki" features (meaning you can put comments on anything anywhere), and much more. It's rather hard to visualize how the service works and what it looks like. This website contains one of the better descriptions of what Google Wave actually does. Whatisgooglewave.com has more documentation as well as an hour and twenty minute long video showcasing its features. Google Wave is expected to be made available to the public sometime later in the year.