Google Notebook launched this week as the latest Google Labs project. Labs is basically what Google describes as a "playground" for "ideas that are not quite ready for prime time." I've been playing with Notebook for a couple of days, and while it's already a handy little tool in its current form, I can see why it's been launched as a Labs project - I'm sure they're still busy cooking up stuff to take it one step ahead of other similar services out there.

Notebook, as the name suggest, gives you a centralized scrapbook where you can aggregate bits and pieces of information from various different sources. Let's say you had to write a paper on a particular topic. You could create a notebook to save clippings as you do your research on the web, for example. If you were collaborating with a group of people, you could even share your notebook with them. It works by installing an add-on for Firefox or IE, so browser integration is great, and saving clips is simple. Since your notebooks are tied to your Google account, you can also access them anywhere you go.

So what could the Googlers have in store for us that made them release this initial version as a Labs project? Garrett Rogers discovered some tidbits in the code, and Marc Orchant briefly describes what could be coming in the future. As a Blogger user, the second possibility is most interesting to me. Here's why - as I skim through my RSS feeds in NewsGator Online daily, I save pieces of news and articles to my "Clippings" folder if I think I might want to blog about them. Now imagine if I could save interesting clips of info from various different sources (not just my RSS feeds) in a notebook that seamlessly integrated with Blogger. I bet that would make things a whole lot simpler!

If you've been using the Windows Vista beta builds, especially on a dual-boot system, you've probably had to deal with bcdedit.exe, the replacement for the simple boot.ini file that exists in XP. According to Microsoft's FAQ on the subject, the following is the reason for the change:

BCD was created to provide an improved mechanism for describing boot configuration data. With the development of new firmware models (for example, the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)), an extensible and interoperable interface was required to abstract the underlying firmware. This new design provides the foundation for a variety of new features in Windows Vista (for example, the Startup Repair tool and Multi-User Install shortcuts).

That's all well and good, but it doesn't explain why it's such a dog to use. If you skim through the FAQ page, you'll see what I mean. It's a mess.

Well, some folks over at PROnetworks have created VistaBootPRO, a nice graphical frontend for bcdedit that's much more user-friendly and easy to use. A great tool to add to your Vista beta-testing arsenal. :)

The sixth week of the quarter has just come to an end, and that leaves five more weeks until summer. Even though the coursework load has been pretty intense, I've really been enjoying it.

There's just something really satisfying about successfully completing operating systems projects, because they're just so freaking cool. For the first project, I had to write a shell similar to bash. This is pretty much one of those standard projects that you'll see being assigned in any decent OS course anywhere. As one of my challenge problems (think of it as sort of like extra credit), I read through the documentation for the GNU Readline library and implemented tab-completion and a command history for the shell as well. That actually made it a lot more usable, as you can imagine. ;)

The second project involved jumping right into the Linux kernel and writing a driver for a lockable RAMdisk. Lots of crazy synchronization issues, and potential deadlock situations to watch out for in this one. The worst part is if you didn't detect and handle a deadlock, the whole machine would lock up and you'd have to power it down and back up each time. :D Made debugging an absolute nightmare, but it's lots of fun to be programming at such a low level and seeing how everything comes together. Even better, for the next project, I'll be working on writing a filesystem. Good times! :D

In my post a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I would write about some of my favorite third-party applications for PocketPC phones. Well, as promised, here's the first.

The reason I chose to write about Microsoft Voice Command first is because I feel it's one of those must-have apps that you simply should get. As you might have noticed, most compact PocketPC phones, including the T-Mobile MDA are scarce on buttons. For most purposes, you're going to end up using the stylus, or just your fingers to select items on the touch-screen. This is primarily the reason why people refer to smartphones as "phones that are also PDAs" and PocketPCs as "PDAs that are also phones." There's no doubt that if you put a vanilla smartphone and a PocketPC side-by-side, the smartphone is going to be easier to use as a phone. But that's where Voice Command comes in.

Once you install this on your PocketPC, you'll almost never end up scrolling through your contact list or tapping on the on-screen keypad to call people. How is this different from voice dialing that's included on virtually every modern cellphone today, you ask? The difference is Voice Command does true voice recognition, and allows you to call anyone in your contact list without having to manually set up voice tags for every single person first (which, as you might imagine, is far too tedious). You can also dial new phone numbers by just saying "Dial [number]"

But that's not all. Voice Command is like your very own butler, Alfred (Batman reference, in case you didn't get that). You can just push a button and say "What is my next appointment?" and your phone will look into your calendar and read out the details of your next appointment. Or if you're driving, and you want to listen to some tunes, just say "Play" followed by the name of the song, and the phone will search through your media library and play the song for you. You can launch applications, ask for a list of missed calls, check your battery status, and do a bunch of other fancy things.

So go check it out. I liken it to desktop search; once you start using it, you'll wonder how you ever did without it. :)

The Halo 3 trailer was not the only highlight of today's E3 event. BillG dropped a bombshell announcement as well. "Live Anywhere" is a new initiative to extend Xbox Live to the PC and supported cellphones.

Since Live Anywhere will be built into Windows Vista (along with DirectX 10), you'll basically be able to have cross-platform multiplayer sessions on Live. You could be sitting in front of your Xbox 360 with a bunch of friends, while someone else could be using a PC running Vista on the other side of the continent, and you could set up a multiplayer game.

This is huge. It's a totally unprecedented move, and if executed properly, it could really bridge the gaps in multiplayer gaming. Seeing how successful Xbox Live has become, I'm hoping Microsoft will be able to pull this one off too.

Edit: For more details, check out Engadget's coverage. Scroll down to 3:45PM.