Posted: 11 May 2010 02:21 PM PDT

Western Digital’s TV Live HD was on sale since last year and now this has become more powerful thanks to a update which allows compatibility with Windows 7 making it the first networked media player to play nice.t works with the Play To feature in Windows 7, so media content can be streamed from a PC to TV. It costs around $120, though the firmware upgrade is of course free. It lets you grab media files straight from your computer, rather than the device itself, so you don’t have to mess about with transferring files before sitting back to watch the latest Lost episode.

wd tv livehd 300x142 Western Digitals TV Live HD now supports Windows 7

Here is excerpt from Western digital site

WD the world’s leader in external storage solutions, today announced that the WD TV Live HD media player, featuring network capability and Full-HD 1080p resolution, is the first network media player compatible with Windows 7. The WD TV Live HD media player makes it easy for anyone to play media stored on USB and network drives, any PC on the home network, as well as content from popular websites, on the biggest screen in their home — their big screen television.

Using the Windows 7 Play To feature, users can initiate and control the streaming of video, music or photos to the WD TV Live HD media player and home entertainment systems from any Windows 7-based PC on their network. Any compatible media file accessible from the PC – located either on the PC or the network – can be played to the WD TV Live by right clicking on the file name in the folder or directly from within Windows Media Player 12 and choosing the WD TV Live HD media player as the playback device.

Current users of the WD TV Live will need to update their WD TV Live HD media player to the latest firmware in order to use the Windows 7 Play To feature. Instructions for updating the WD TV Live HD media player can be found here:

Mark Relph, senior director, Windows Ecosystem Product Management at Microsoft Corp quotes

Microsoft is pleased that Western Digital has earned the Compatible with Windows 7 logo and is supporting the Play To feature with WD TV Live HD media player.Now more than 100 million Windows 7 customers will have an affordable and easy way to play files to their HD TVs and other devices from their PC.

Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD’s branded products group said

With the new Windows 7 Play To feature, users can select music or movies from their laptop and play it on an HD TV connected to a WD TV Live HD media player, whether the HD TV is across the living room or in a different room altogether. WD worked closely with Microsoft on this exciting new feature to ensure the seamless compatibility of the WD TV Live HD media player with Windows 7 PCs and deliver WD TV Live users what they want.

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By Blogsdna

Microsoft confirms Natal launch to be in October 2010

Posted: 11 May 2010 03:44 AM PDT

Previously there were reports that Microsoft would be releasing Project Natal motion-sensing camera for the Xbox 360 some where in December 2010 and then later was rumored that it would be in October 2010.Now Microsoft’s Syed Bilal Tariq is repeating the October launch date for Natal. Speaking to GamerTagRadio, Microsoft’s marketing manager for Saudi Arabia says that the Natal launch,

is going to be somewhere in October and we will be in a position to confirm the date at E3, which is in June, but definitely it is going to be October 2010.

natal 300x85 Microsoft confirms Natal launch to be in October 2010

I am also curious as to what shape a redesign would take, as the thickness can’t be any smaller than the hard drive attachment and can’t technically be slimmer.what they might do is would get rid of the memory card slots since all you need is a USB thumb drive. So, my guess would be attaching the hard drive to the top or bottom of the console.Check out the video below.

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By Blogsdna

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Microsoft Cancels Courier Tablet Project

Posted: 11 May 2010 03:11 AM PDT

According to the sources with Gizmodo, Microsoft seems to have cancelled the folding, two-screen prototype tablet project aka Courier.Microsoft execs informed the internal team that had been working on the tablet device that the project would no longer be supported. Courier had never been publicly announced or acknowledged as a Microsoft product.

It appeared from the leaked information last year that a Courier prototype was probably near to completion. The combination of both touch- and pen-based computing was compelling.Perhaps the strong launch of Apple’s iPad with it selling a million units from the launch, caused Ballmer to reassess the commitment of Microsoft in a soon-to-be-crowded market.

microsoft courier tablet 1 300x225 Microsoft Cancels Courier Tablet Project

When contacted by Gizmodo Microsoft Corporate VP of Communications Frank Shaw quoted:

At any given time, we’re looking at new ideas, investigating, testing, incubating them. It’s in our DNA to develop new form factors and natural user interfaces to foster productivity and creativity. The Courier project is an example of this type of effort. It will be evaluated for use in future offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.

I am like sad as Courier seemed one of the most innovative concepts out of Redmond in quite some time. But what was special about Courier was the interface and the thinking behind it—not necessarily its custom operating system.In fact, it makes sense for Microsoft to continue to trim away splinter versions of its core operating systems and focus on Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7 unity across all its devices. Hopefully some of the smart thinking we have seen in Courier will find its way into Microsoft’s tablets, whether they’re powered by Windows 7 or Windows Phone 7.

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