New Microsoft Labs "Thumbtack" service

Thumbtack is a new service from Microsoft Labs. It allows you to keep all the information you find on the web in a central place. It's kind of like your favorites, but this allows you to keep just the actual information from the site that you need.

I for example am always looking at technical information and other blog entries, documentation about a specific topic, say SQL or Exchange. I constantly keep bookmarks of the pages that I need to go back to and look at the info, but with thumbtack I can keep just the actual snippet of information from that page. So instead of filling my favorites with a ton of links that I need to go back and hunt down the exact piece of information that I need, I can now just keep it in my thumbtack collection. You can also share that collection with your friends or coworkers, it is a really neat service that I hope Microsoft Labs keeps around. A true hidden gem.

http://thumbtack.livelabs.com

Tablet PC software

So I received my new tablet pc this week. Nothing fancy, but I always wanted a tablet, and this one was pennies on the dollar, so it was a no brainer. It came with Vista Business and office 2007 pro with One Note. I have been hunting around for software that will make me more productive and I stumbled upon the following apps for Vista:

Microsoft Ink Desktop for Windows Vista - allows you to use your desktop as a kind of dry erase board. As your background you can use a template like a sticky note or a gridline. You can also just use the desktop as your own quick notetaking option. It's defenitly a cool addition

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e1a51f4a-9e58-45f7-985b-3c37b8eedb71&DisplayLang=en

Microsoft Experience Pack for Windows Vista - This has 4 different applications for fun and work like a crossword puzzle, equation writer, flash cards, etc..

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4861AAD3-1D67-4B02-BFD5-4ADD1879D3DC&displaylang=en

In Office 2007 you can also use the stylus to write in the different applications like Word and Excel.Go to the Review tab of the ribbon on each of the programs, and click on the Start Inking button. You should now be able to start writing in these applications like they were a piece of paper. You can choose between a Felt Tip Pen, Ballpoint Pen, and highliter with different colors.

Microsoft is really pushing the envelope with Windows 7 when it comes to touch surfaces which hopefully will make the experience for those of us with a tablet much better. Take a look at the Windows 7 blog entry for what they are doing with touch.
http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/03/25/touching-windows-7.aspx