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Google today released a piece of software that may just be the holy grail of calendar synchronization. Well, if you use Windows and Outlook, anyway. Google Calendar Sync is a utility that automatically synchronizes your Outlook and Google Calendar appointments.
You can configure Google Calendar Sync for 2 way sync, meaning that any time you update either calendar, the changes will be copied to the other. Or you can choose a 1-way sync which will only copy changes made from one calendar to the other and not vice versa.
What's really exciting about Google Calendar Sync is it gives you a way to synchronize your calendar across multiple devices easily. Just install Google Calendar Sync on multiple computers and now when you update your laptop calendar it will automatically sync with Google Calendar, which will automatically sync with your desktop PC, which will sync with your Windows Mobile PDA. Pretty cool, huh?
Google Calendar Sync is hardly the first tool for synchronizing Outlook and Google Calendar, but it's free and it performs automatic synchronization at regularly scheduled interviews while most other programs cost money and/or require you to activate them manually.
Now if Google would just release a version that works with Thunderbird (with the Lightning extension) and iCal.
[via Official Google Blog]

You look at it every day and probably never use it. No, not your treadmill. I'm referring to that Windows button on your computer keyboard that sits in between the ALT and CTRL buttons on the left-hand side of the spacebar.

What's it for, you ask? OK, you know if you press it it'll open your programs (as if you clicked the Start button on your screen) but there are many other uses for it. Here are some shortcuts you can try:

<Windows Key> + D (displays the Windows desktop)

<Windows Key> + E (opens Explorer)

<Windows Key> + F (opens a search window)

<Windows Key> + R (opens the Run window)

<Windows Key> + T (cycles through the tabs of the applications on the taskbar) 

And some Windows Vista exclusives:

<Windows Key> + G (cycles through the Gadgets)

<Windows Key> + L (locks the computer)

<Windows Key> + U (activates the Ease of Access Center)

<Windows Key> + X (cycles through the Windows Mobility Center)

<Windows Key> + CTRL + Tab (opens Flip 3D interface)

sync: 10 awesome Windows key shortcuts

One of the great things about Windows Home server is the potential for easily sharing photos and files with your family and friends. In this simple example I’ll show how by using Whiist you can create a new photo album on your Windows Home Server in just a few minutes.

Over Thanksgiving Liz and I took a lot of pictures we wanted to send to my family back in the. Previously I would have used a service such as Flickr, but this time I’m going to use Windows Home Server and Whiist.

Here are the steps I took, with some helpful screenshots

1) Assuming you haven’t done so, download and install the latest version of the Whiist Add-In for your Windows Home Server.

2) Select “Manage Websites” from your Windows Home Server console. Click “Add” to start the Wizard and choose “Create a simple photo album to share pictures”.

3) Choose a location for your new album. I recommend that you keep your websites in one location, on my server I have a separate “Websites” share for this purpose.

4) Enter a new alias for your website. This will be used as part of the address for your album so can only contain letters and numbers.

Select ‘Finish’ in the Wizard.

5) After you select ‘Finish’ Whiist will open the folder you created in step 3. Copy your photos into this folder.

7) Send the link to family an friends

How to create a Windows Home Server photo album in minutes :: Shiny Things

StreamMyGame has been available for the PC for a little while now, I played with a version a few months back and was quite impressed. In a nutshell it allows you to stream the video output of a game from 1 pc to another, why would I want to do this you might ask ? Well imagine you have a monster quad PC with all the trimmings in the office, but only an old single core PC or lappy in the lounge or bedroom. Well now you can Install and run the game on the quad PC in the office, but pipe the output to your lappy and play it via your LAN on the lappy in the bedroom. So yes that's right you can use your old lappy for gaming now as it simply becomes an input device for the more powerful PC you have elsewhere. Its surprisingly  fast and responsive and well worth some further investigation. Now they have launched a Linux and PS3 version.

If you haven't heard of StreamMyGame.com, let me enlighten you: they're a community website that uses a new online technology called Game Streaming. They create "innovative, industry-changing products" for the PC and video game industry. And now, they have announced the release of its free Linux Player, which will let you play any PC game on the PlayStation 3!

This is a free server from StreamMyGame, and it allows PC games to be played remotely by first converting the game's video and audio into a Game Stream. After that's done, they send the data over a home network to a second computer where you can view and play the game with the free StreamMyGame Player. This second computer can be a PC, laptop, PS3 or Linux device, and it doesn't need to have the game installed on it, either. The StreamMyGame Server is available to just about anybody, as it's compatible with Windows XP, Vista and all PC titles based on Microsoft's DirectX8, DirectX9 and DirectX10. Yep, this does include last year's PC big-time award-getter, Crysis. The StreamMyGame Player is compatible with Windows XP, Vista and Linux with resolutions that go all the way up to crazy high Super HDTV (3200 x 2400).

"Playing the latest PC game on the PS3 is now a reality at HD resolution and fast frame-rates," said Richard Faria CEO. "I have a PS3 in my living room and PC in my office and my two kids both have old PCs in their bedrooms. Now we can play games anywhere around the home. StreamMyGame's technology networks the power of a main PC so it can be used to play high end games on other PCs, PS3s and Linux devices."

Come March, StreamMyGame will broaden its horizons a bit by enabling games to be played remotely over broadband networks that have "sufficient capacity" (like Verizon's FiOS or British Telecom's FTTP). It's certainly an ambitious idea, so if you want to make your PS3 more capable than ever, check it out.

PS3 News: StreamMyGame: Play PC Games On Your PS3