I am probably not the norm, but if you are like me you manage your email using an Exchange server. I like Exchange cause it allows me to manage more than emails. I have an archive of emails, events and public folders full of notes dating back to 1999 (I wish there was an easy way to log my chat transcripts -- anyone know of any?).

Exchange also allows me to get at that information from almost anywhere: when I'm at work I use Outlook, when I'm at a friends house I can use OWA through a browser (which is almost as good as Outlook) and when I'm on the road I can sign into OWA with my cell phone. If I was on the road more often, it would make sense for me to invest in a SmartPhone or PocketPC to access Exchange.

Just recently I ran across a video from Channel9 showing an interview with Eric Horvitz of Microsoft Research. Eric showed off a research project that has turned into the Outlook Mobile Manager (OMM). OMM sits on your desktop and monitors your incoming email for urgency. When an email comes in that OMM classifies as urgent it will forward the message to your cell phone via SMS. OMM can be taught how to classify your emails as urgent.

I do not get a lot of urgent emails from people. At least what I would call urgent. But if an email comes from someone I know and it has a date/time in it, I do like to know about that immediately. They get sent to my cell. Also, I do have a few servers that I monitor on a regular basis through emails. I have OMM notify me when a failure occurs on any of my servers. That's pretty cool.

Another feature of OMM is the ability to forward you a summary of your days events. I have OMM set to forward me a list of tasks and appointments for the day to my cell phone every morning at 7am. I really like that feature. 

I have tried several projects from Microsoft Research. They are fun to toy around with, but I usually remove them after playing with them for a short period. This one I have had on my computer for a couple weeks now and is very useful. Check out the video and try out the software.

I spent some time at a Barnes & Noble bookstore today (mostly passing some time with my daughter in the great children's section). I made a quick pass through the computer books section and realized that I haven't bought a computer book in almost 4 years. Back in my ChiliSoft days (1997-2001) I probably bought a computer book every month. With the amount of information available on the internet plus the fact that it takes very little time to publish it, I see no need lately to buy a book on the topics I'm interested in. The same goes for magazines. What is the future of computer-related books at bookstores? Oh -- does anyone want to buy some outdated computer books?

I ran across an MSDN blog the other day by Mike Swanson. Besides having some interesting posts on WinFX, he has a nice collection of nature backgrounds for your desktop. Check them out.

Here is a cool video about Windows Media Center and XBox 360 integration (The Hive). The 360 is a much better extender than previous Media Center Extenders. Steve, if you thought you wanted one yesterday, watch this video! Also shows a new My DVDs feature when an MC is connected to a DVD changer. Too bad they are a little pricey.

MezerTools - Now here is a very cool utility for screen designers. This free program from Bayden Systems allows you to do screen measurements, screenshots, hex conversions and has a color dropper. All tools function from customizable hotkeys. Thanks to ComputerZen.com for pointing this one out.

IconoMaker - a free utility for creating various-sized icons that support transparency. Thanks to The Daily Grind for this pointer.