Ah, live streams, whether we couldn’t snatch a ticket to an event or just couldn’t risk detrimentally affecting our title as mouse potatos, you’ve always been there for us. If you’re one of the unfortunate few many who are not attending this year’s MIX conference in Las Vegas; no worries, Microsoft’s got you covered.

MIX08 will be streamed live for you to enjoy from the comfort of your own home. If you’re interested, just keep an eye on The Official MIX08 website for updates. The live stream should be up just in time for the keynote which kicks off at 9:30AM PST, so set your alarm clock and grease up that F5 key!

For those who are a tad behind, Dean Hachamovitch (it took me a few times too, don’t worry), General Manager of the IE team, will be among the keynote speakers this year. And of course, he won’t be on stage empty-handed. Dean is expected to be providing us with a first second look at Internet Explorer 8!

Update: The streams are up and available in three different flavors as usual

• 750kbps: http://wm.istreamplanet.com/customers/ms/750_microsoft_mix_080305.asx
• 300kbps: http://wm.istreamplanet.com/customers/ms/300_microsoft_mix_080305.asx
• 100kbps: http://wm.istreamplanet.com/customers/ms/100_microsoft_mix_080305.asx

Nick White has provided us with an update on the latest tests for overall responsiveness between Windows Vista, Vista SP1 and Windows XP at the official Windows Vista Blog.

Microsoft has once again commissioned Principled Technologies to do some testing on its latest OS to see just how much of a real world performance gain it provides over it’s predecessors in both home and office environments. To be honest, there isn’t all that much to write home about.

Some of the key findings listed by the company note that the increase in overall responsiveness of Windows Vista SP1 over Vista RTM and Windows XP, if any, are nothing more than fractions of a second.

The tests conducted ranged from various typical home user tasks such as opening up a program or editing and saving a file, to various business oriented tasks such as running system searches, creating Excel, Word and other various office files, saving and sending emails as well as launching and using Adobe and Quicken applications.

Overall, I wouldn’t be bragging about any performance gains. Any increase in responsiveness greater than a second was a rare sight in the company’s findings. On most of the tests conducted, differences ranged from zip (or “natta” if you prefer) to roughly half a second.

The only situations in which there was any noticeable difference in results, were mostly with Adobe and Quicken applications while running on Windows Vista SP1, which at times were up to 6 seconds faster over Vista RTM and Windows XP.

So what does this all mean for you? Well, if you’re running Windows Vista SP1, the next time you launch Microsoft Outlook, cheer up and know that it is taking approximately 0.31ms less to load than on Windows Vista RTM.

Have a look at the full reports right over here.

Well, if you weren’t satisfied with all the rumors going around, you’ll be happy to hear this. Jeff DaVos, one of the many Windows Vista SP1 beta program leaders, has graciously confirmed for us via the Connect newsgroups (shhhh!) that Windows Vista SP1 build 18000, otherwise known as Release Candidate Refresh 2, and the build which was Released to Manufacturing on Monday are indeed one of the same.

“Windows Vista SP1 build 18000 is indeed the RTM build. We were hoping build 18000 we released to you (WU only) was the final build and as it happens we didn’t have to break the glass, the build didn’t change at all from the time we released it to you and our final sign-off on Monday morning this week.”, Jeff says. “What you got is what we’re all running our Vista machines here internally – we definitely RTM’d”

So if you’re lucky enough to already have Refresh 2 installed on your system or have it tucked away on your hard drive somewhere, there’s no need to go running around torrent sites looking for RTM, cause you’ve already got it.

Jeff also mentioned that they have heard our complaints regarding SP1’s availability, and are working to push SP1 onto Microsoft Connect for tester’s to enjoy.

Cheers for clearing that up for us, Jeff

Update: Aaaaand… I’ve been kicked from the program.

Looks like Google couldn’t hold their peace forever. It wasn’t long before the big cheese of search engines dropped their thoughts on Microsoft’s bid to take over Yahoo.

David Drummond, the VP of Google, posted on the official Google blog to express his thoughts on the situation. Let’s just say, he’s not a happy camper.

To make for a long story short, Drummond believes that if Microsoft were to acquire Yahoo!, it would create an unfair monopoly and disrupt the openness of the internet (whatever that is?) and believes that they *could* use unfair tactics to put the advantage in their hands like they have in the PC and software industry.

What tactics you ask? Google doesn’t know.

Suuure, we believe you, Google. So you’re not at all worried that you might finally be up against someone something your own size? After all, you have dominated the search market for, how long again?

Looks like this might turn out to be quite the entertaining display! Hey, what’s more exciting than watching companies go at each other’s throats? Now, where’s the EU…

Update: Geez, everybody seems to be on the ball today. Microsoft has already come back in full force with a press release (albeit, a short one) from one of their top dogs. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s Senior VP and head of the legal department, says that by merging with Yahoo, they will be able to establish a compelling competitor to Google (Thank you!). You can read the full press release over here.

Updated February 3rd, 2008 – 5:23PM EST

There have been many interesting concepts and prototypes to come out of the Research labs at Microsoft in the past few years. A more familiar project to recently poke it’s head out the doors would be TouchLite, PlayTogether and PlayAnywhere; or perhaps more commonly known in it’s complete form as Microsoft Surface. But there’s one fascinating prototype that never seemed to have made it into the spotlight.

In 2002, Andy Wilson, a researcher for the Adaptive Systems and Interaction division at Microsoft (the same division responsible for Surface) unveiled a new device dubbed “XWand”. XWand was a single handed device, in wand form (hence the name), that could be used to control everything in it’s surroundings, from your personal computer to the various lights in the room, by using simple gestures such as turning your wrist or waving your hand side to side.

Unfortunately, unlike the many other prototypes to come from Wilson, this one never seemed to have found it’s way into any products by Microsoft and nothing has been heard of it since 2004.

There are many home automation devices available on the market today, unfortunately none of them are quite as unique and intuitive as XWand. The most common type being the hand held remote, almost Pocket PC-like device, comprising of a touch screen and several menus (much like Logitech’s “Harmony” remotes). Now, I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather just point at something and with the flick of a wand, it does what I want it to do, rather than having to browse through endless menus first to find what I want to control and then browse through the various options for that item.

However, there’s one thing that worries me more than the apparent demise of XWand, and that is the future of several other prototypes that Microsoft has shown us over the years. More recently at CES08, Microsoft demoed a new smart environment-recognition device for one to quickly pull up relevant information for whatever it is the device happens to be pointed at (eg. Showtimes for a movie theater, the menu for a restaurant etc…) and at CES07, Microsoft demoed an instant-wallpaper like device that projected different styles and images onto the walls of the room depending on the user’s selection. Since these devices first captured our attention, nothing else has been heard of them. Are they doomed to follow the same path as XWand?

So here’s to hoping that maybe someday, XWand and the various other intuitive technologies Microsoft has been concocting in their labs over the years, may finally find their way into the vast market of electronics that most of us can’t afford.

If XWand has grabbed your interest like it did mine, you can feast your eyes on a demonstration video which Microsoft published in 2004.