If you haven't seen all the video clips for Microsoft Surface yet you'll have to check them out. Surface should be really cool and should enable some giant steps forward with user interfaces. Your typical windowed application will be a thing of the past and that should also carry over into desktop computers. I'd expect some multi-touch flat panels for your PC too.

From what I've read, all the apps shown on Surface were written using WPF on the .Net Framework. Silverlight is another technology from Microsoft that brings WPF and .Net to the web browser (cross-platform even). Silverlight is the re-branded WPF/E code and is the next big thing from MS as far as the visual web goes. We used Silverlight (then WPF/E) for a SalesWorks demo back in February. Think of Silverlight as Microsoft's version of Flash.

To see something really neat, check out this demo of a Surface-style app using Silverlight in your web browser. You'll need to install the Silverlight Alpha to see it (just click thru the steps to install it). Yeah, that's a video file running in there. It's really amazing. You just want to put your fingers to the screen and start dragging the pictures around. 

I don't use MS PowerShell very often, but sometimes it does come in handy for testing .NET components. It seems like every time I want to use it I am Googling for basic commands to use with it. I've run across this handy little cheat sheet that you can print out. PowerShell Cheat Sheet Redux

Microsoft has revamped their Live Folders with some additional functionality and a new look. It's now called SkyDive (in beta). You can embed the folders on your own web pages. It supports an active-x control to easily drag files into your live folders. You can create private or public folders and even create folders that can be shared with only people you specify. It's very simple and easy to use. It's also free (ad supported).

The PhotoshopRoadmap.com website has put together a collection of techniques that can be applied to text in Photoshop. Some nice ones and then some that will make you gag, but it's a good display of effects that can be accomplished in the program.

Link to article

Take advantage of those big monitors you have sitting on your desk. Check out this website for some cool looking digital 3D scenes. I don't now how people make these, they have to be really creative and have a lot of time on their hands.

I ran across a blog post this morning that has a list of some useful websites. From sites that help you manage your calendar and tasks to sites that help you be a more organized parent to sites that help you organize your company. Maybe just check them out because they represent a nice cross-section of the web apps that are being built today. One of my favorites for web design was http://hitask.com.