If you have Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate and are a US Resident, you can watch the 2008 Olympics in a really slick way through streaming/downloaded video.  This is particularly useful if you can’t follow Olympics coverage live, or if you’re like me and don’t have cable at home.

The best part is that this scenario enabled for FREE.  When I first heard about this integration and support for Windows Media Center, I was skeptical that it would be better than just watching it streaming through the silverlight player on the NBC Olympics site.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  After trying it out last night, I can say that this is freakin’ amazing.

The easiest way to get going, is just just go through the Windows Media Center menu to the new NBC Olympics option in Online Media:

Once you select it, you’ll be given a prompt to install components to get going where you’re given 2 choices – easy or advanced installation.

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Many First-gen iPhone owners are discovering that after they upgrade to an iPhone 3G that their existing accessories will not  work.  This includes accessories car chargers , alarm clocks, and in-car chargers like in my friend’s new infinity G37.

Apple decided to change the way the iPhone 3G charges and disabled the 12V Firewire (pins 19 and 20 on the connector) in favor of USB (ping 16 ground and pin 23 5V).  This has royally hosed the entire accessory market with an endless supply of forum messages of people wondering (and outraged) at why their iPhones aren’t charging properly.

I figure it’s only a matter of time before someone create an adapter to “fix” first-gen iPhone accessories.  Until then, here is a list of accessories I know for certain work with the iPhone 3G:

Car chargers and connectors:

• Belkin TuneCast Auto (added 8/7/2008)
• Griffin AutoPilot (added 8/7/2008)
• Griffin Powerjolt car charger
• Griffin TuneFlex Aux (added 8/18/2008)
• Kensington LiquidAux (added 8/18/2008)
• Kensington 4-in-1 auto charger (despite what Kensington says)

Docks and Hubs:

• Apple iPhone 3G Dock
• Apple Universal Dock (you’ll also need a iPhone 3G dock adapter)
• Belkin Tunesync 7 port USB hub

Speaker systems:

• Altec Lansing T612 Speaker system
• Bose SoundDock (older versions don’t work, but all newer ones do)

Battery Packs:

• Kensington Mini Battery Pack

These do not work:

• Alpine 9856
• Alpine KCE-422i Connection Cable
• Apple iPod HiFi
• Belkin Auto Kit for iPod with Dock Connector.
• BlueTouch
• BOSE SoundDock
• Dension ICE
• DLO auto charger
• Homedics SoundSpa
• Kenwood KCA-IP 500 iPod Interface
• Monster car charger
• Monster FM tuner
• Infinity G37 iPod interface
• Pioneer D3
• Pioneer Elite AV receiver VSX-84TXSi
• Scion TC iPod connection
• SIRIUS Soloist Universal Sound System
• Sony XA-110IP iPod Interface Adapter
• Subaru Forester ‘09 iPod connection kit
• USB Fever iPod Direct Cigarette Plug FM Transmitter and charger
• VW OEM iPod adapter

If you have any accessories you know for sure do or do not work, let me know and I’ll add it to the list.

Instead of giving Apple money for ringtones on your iPhone for music you already own, here’s a simple set of steps for getting free iPhone ringtones from your MP3s:

1. Select your favorite MP3 from your music collection.
2. Open it in Audacity and trim it down to at most 30 seconds.
3. Import the edited song into iTunes and choose to convert it to M4A format. The file will then be something like yourRingtone.M4A in file explorer.
4. Copy the file and rename the extension to M4R in file explorer (e.g. yourRingtone.M4R).
5. Drag and drop the newly renamed file back into iTunes.
6. Delete the old M4A song to avoid the duplicate.

It’s surely not as simple as a one-click purchase through iTunes, but hey, save yourself a few bucks

The Windows Home Server (WHS)  team just announced that Power Pack 1 has gone RTM (Release To Manufacturing).  Power Pack 1 is not just a package of bug fixes, but instead, it’s a combination of bug fixes along with new features.  In addition to fixing the nasty data corruption bug, it adds the following new features:

• 64-bit Vista support
• Shared folder backup
• Improvements to remote access
• More efficient power consumption
• Improved performance

If you have been a participant in the PP1 beta and have a previous build installed, make sure you uninstall it first and reboot your machine before installing the RTM version.  You can download PP1 from the Microsoft Download Center.

If you have an HP MediaSmart machine, HP also released their version of PP1 which has all the above mentioned features as well as:

• DLNA compliant media streaming
• McAfee server side anti-virus (7 months free)
• Improvements to HP Photo Webshare
• iTunes Media aggregator

To install the update from HP, make sure you don’t have any of the beta releases of PP1 installed first, then go to the Windows Home Server console and select “check for updates”.

I’ve been a frequent user of OpenTable the past year or so, but the missing scenario has always been making reservations on the go.  They have finally launches their mobile site:

Avoid the hassle of calling around for a restaurant reservation or the panic of securing a last-minute table. With OpenTable Mobile, you can find a restaurant, choose an available table, and book your reservation - right on your mobile phone.

Check it out on your mobile phone at http://mobile.opentable.com/.