When reading RSS feeds in Outlook 2010, I was always bothered when images were automatically downloaded. When reading feeds in my RSS reader, I prefer to focus on the content rather than an image. In particular, I've noticed that a number of RSS feeds are now including very large images in their RSS feeds which caused me to have to scroll a full page-length before I was able to read the content.

Outlook has an option to disable image downloads in RSS feeds, but it was a bit tucked away. Here's how to enable the feature:

After installing Windows 8 on one of my test computers (a Panasonic ToughBook  CF-19), I noticed that I had lost my option to dual boot Windows XP and Windows 8. The new bootscreen for Windows 8 is really nice - it has the metro look, it's touch friendly, and it's mouse friendly - but it didn't automatically add a boot option for my Windows XP installation which was pre-existing on the computer.

Here's how you can dual boot Windows 8 with a Windows XP option.

1. Boot into Windows 8
2. Navigate to the traditional Windows Desktop
3. Open a file explorer window
   I find the easiest way to do this is just to click the folder icon from the start menu
   
4. Navigate to the "Computer" option
   The easiest way to do this is to click the Computer option in the left side of the file explorer
5. Click the "System Properties" button in the ribbon at the top
   
6. Click "Advanced system settings" in the left pane
   
7. In the Startup and Recovery section of the window that pops up, click the "Settings" button (on the Advanced tab of System Properties)
8. Change the "Default operating system" option from "Windows Developer Preview" to "Earlier Version of Windows"
   
9. Click Ok to close the settings popup, then click Ok again to close the system properties menu
10. Reboot and you should be presented with an option to boot into Windows XP (Earlier Version of Windows) or into Windows 8 (Windows Developer Preview).

My company recently started the process of switching to Exchange and as part of the process I am beta testing Windows Phone 7 devices for them. At the time of writing this article, I'm using the Samsung Focus. The started me off with the LG Quantum which was a pretty abysmal device. It was heavy and the screen quality just wasn't up to par with even the old BlackBerry Bold 9000 I was using previously. I had heard a lot about the Windows Phone 7 platform through a number of tech websites, but I was really surprised at how great the platform really was once I got my hands on it.

The OS is extremely snappy and the phone is incredibly responsive. At first I thought it was just me, but everytime I showed the phone to my friends and colleagues they would also comment on how quick it was. After browsing through the list of available apps on the Windows Phone marketplace, I started thinking about what apps I wished were available... I realized that there's already a really great start to some of the more mainstream apps (Netflix, Maps, Facebook, ESPN, Twitter, etc), but there's definitely some opportunity for improvement.

I decided to look into what it would take to develop and app for Windows phone and realized that it looked pretty easy and the barriers to entry were fairly low. The Windows Phone developer tools are completely free and include everything you need to get up and running. I downloaded the tools  from the App Hub and got started with my first app (Visual Studio, etc). One thing to note is the developer tools allow to fully run and test your application in the Emulator that runs on the computer. If you want to run the application on your phone or deploy it to the App Market (to make money), you'll have to pony up $100 for a App Hub license. A nice thing about the license is it enables you to unlock up to three devices so you can test on more than just your primary phone.

There are a number of different ways to restart your Apple TV. Depending on your setup, each one has it's own benefits. I've listed a few of the different methods below.

MENU + DOWN
If you press and hold the MENU and DOWN button on the Apple TV remote for 6 seconds, the Apple TV will perform a complete reboot. Some people have mentioned that a downside to this is if you are running a tethered jailbreak you will have boot the device back up tethered. If you are running an untethered jailbreak - like GreenPois0n RC6 or newer - then this is probably the simplest method to reboot your device as it only requires the remote control.

SSH: killall AppleTV
This method requires you to SSH into your Apple TV using a client like Putty (or a Terminal) and issue the "killall AppleTV" command. Please note that the command is case sensitive. The benefit to this method is if you are running a tethered jailbreak, you will not have to get out your computer to do a tethered jailbreak. A downside of this method is it only works if you have a network connection to your device and you have to have a PC or other device to issue the command.

Pull the Power Plug
This is probably the most drastic method of all the ones I'll list, but it works in a pinch. As you may expect, some people claim that using this method may be bad for your device. I personally try not to pull the plug on any of my devices, but I've occasionally had to use this method. If you are running a tethered jailbreak, this method will also require you to get out a computer to boot tethered.