If you choose to purchase an upgrade version of Windows Vista to upgrade XP, you will no longer be able to use that version of XP. Either on another system, or as a dual-boot option. The key will be invalidated, preventing activation.

From Vista's EULA found here (PDF):

13. UPGRADES. To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligiblefor the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may no longer use the software you upgraded from.

Source: TomCoyote

Microsoft has made the first batch of updates for Vista available via the built-in Windows Update client. If you don't see the 22 updates, manually "Check for updates".

Here's the breakdown:

• 5 Updates for both 32bit and 64bit flavours of Vista (KB930857), (KB928089), (KB929427), (KB931573) & (KB929735)
• 15 Language Packs (Chinese Hong Kong, Chine Simplified, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish)
• 2 Ultimate Extras (BitLocker and EFS enhancements & Hold Em Poker Game)

Source: Neowin

The Melburnians will know what I’m talking about when I say that Connex needs to pick up their act. In the mX today (local Melbourne paper, now coming to Sydney), the following article was on the front page.

Please answer the poll, and also post a comment about what you think of Connex.

!++3++!
Furious commuters already frustrated by the cancellation of 37 daily rail services will soon face even greater chaos thanks to Connex’s plan to wipe a further 50 services. As passengers lashed out at worsening chaos, Connex chairman Bob Annells said he had no idea when they would get relief from the cancellations, which are costing the operator fines of $500,000 a day.
Read More »

Unlike with the Windows XP Upgrade CD, with Windows Vista users are forced to have a valid install of Windows XP Home or Professional on their machines before upgrading with a Vista Upgrade DVD. This typically isn't a big deal for the majority of users on the first install of Vista; but think about the necessary steps if you already have Vista installed or no operating system on the computer:

1. Install a genuine copy of Windows XP Home/Professional
2. Activate Windows XP through Microsoft
3. Upgrade to Windows Vista from within Windows XP

Either shell out the extra cash for the full version or be prepared for the extended process of installing XP, and then Vista. Of course there is always the OEM road, but remember that such a copy is limited to the computer it is first activated on.

Source: DailyTech via Neowin

Nero 7 Lite Micro is a special build of Nero 7 Lite, including just Nero Burning Rom with basic Audio/VideoCD support (English).

You can enter license data during Setup, or use the default key to evaluate Nero for 30 days.

If you need these software grab the official Nero installer here.

Nero 7 Lite is a full functional Burning Software Suite including:
- Nero Burning Rom
- Nero Express
- Nero CoverDesigner
- Nero WaveEditor
- Nero Toolkit

also included in Nero 7 Lite:
- MauSau Audio Plugins
- Complete Nero Help

Changes in v7.7.5.1:
- Upgraded Nero to Nero 7.7.5.1
- Removed NeroAPI, NeroNet due to Unicode changes
- Added new smaller Nero Help to Micro build

Download: Nero 7 Lite v7.7.5.1
View: Discussion Forum
View: Nero Lite Home Page

Here is Episode 37 of our weekly PodCast, Drop that mixtape!.

The topics covered in this episode are:
- Microsoft / Razer Habu gaming mouse reviewed
- World of Warcraft Expansion becomes the fastest-selling PC game ever
- Big Day out wants to ban australian flag
- RIAA Using SWAT Teams To Bust DJs
- EA Games come clean – battlefield 2142 booster is called northern strike
- Supreme commander has been confirmed going gold

You can subscribe to the PodCast by putting this link into your iTunes / PodCast program: http://feeds.feedburner.com/AustechNews.

Download: Episode 37: Drop that mixtape! (26:55, 12.3 mb)
View: AusTech News PodCast Forum

Midomi. Try to remember that name, chances are it will come in handy when you can’t figure out which song is stuck in your head. The technology allows searching for a song by typing the song title or artist as well as by singing, humming or whistling a bit of the tune. The beta site launches Friday and offers search results that include commercially recorded tracks or versions of the song recorded by others who have used the site. The technology also lets people listen to the exact section of each of the results that matched their voice sample.

Melodis, the company behind the site, has licensed 2 million digital tracks for purchasing and currently has a user base of about 12,000. Users can create profiles and rate one other’s performances on the ad-supported site. The underlying speech- and sound-recognition technology, dubbed Multimodal Adaptive Recognition System (MARS), differs from similar technologies in that it analyzes various factors including pitch, tempo variation, speech content and location of pauses, said Chief Executive Keyvan Mohajer, who has a Ph.D. in sound- and speech-recognition from Stanford University.
Read More »

Paint.NET is image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows. It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally intended as a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple tool for photo and image editing. The programming language used to create Paint.NET is C#, with a small amount of C++ for installation and shell-integration related functionality.

Paint.NET is freeware, but the team is accepting donations here.
Read More »

Microsoft has sent out an e-mail entitled “IE8 Feature Survey is Now Available!” to all Tech Beta participants. The company has emphasized that the e-mail has been sent out to many but that a smaller group will be doing the hands-on testing of the new release. The e-mail states that Microsoft is in the “planning phase” which could mean anything from being at the drawing board or at the point where the software giant is simply interested in adding on features.

Microsoft asks for “which customizations and performance scenarios need to be improved upon in IE8.” The 59-question survey hosted at Microsoft’s Connect website is curious in everyone’s favorites and RSS usage, going as far as requesting for exported versions. A screenshot of the user’s customized primary browser, not necessarily Internet Explorer, is also welcome.

View: Microsoft Connect
Source: Neowin

Feedreader is a free lightweight aggregator that supports RSS and ATOM formats. It works under Windows 98 and later versions.Feedreader’s functionality is focused on the main task – reading and organizing RSS feeds and offering seamless user experience. At the same time it offers functions that you do not find in other RSS readers.One of the main goals of Feedreader architecture is to keep its footprint small. Say goodbye to bloat: installation file is under 4MB.

Download: Feedreader v3.08
View: Changelog
View: Feedreader Home Page
Source: MSFN