The final 2.0 release of MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search is now available for free download. I'm not sure I've ever said this about a product before, but Windows Desktop Search may actually change your life!

Disclaimer: I've never used any other desktop search tool for Windows, including Google Desktop. I use Google all the time for Web search and consider it superior to MSN for that purpose, but I've never been able to get their desktop search tool to install on my PC. I used and really liked the Lookout plug-in for Outlook for several months before I transitioned to the MSN tool.

I've been using the beta of MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search since a day or so after its public release, and it's completely changed how I organize email and files on my work computer... basically I don't organize any more! I only move email on a handful of specific topics to personal folders, and files either go on my desktop or the root level of My Documents.

I've long struggled to find the optimal hierarchy for saving email and files, but now I don't have to worry about it because Windows Desktop Search is always available and works very well. And it's great to be able to quickly transition from a desktop search to a Web search with one click - very helpful when I'm searching for images or specs of the latest smartphone.

Now, the product is not perfect. First, it's not as tightly integrated in the OS or applications as the Spotlight feature of Mac OS X Tiger. I'm sure something very similar will appear (next year!) in the Longhorn release of Windows, but it's debatable whether Microsoft will do as well as Apple at getting all the small things that really matter right. Second, you can't save searches for quick re-use later. Third, only in limited instances does it auto-filter search restults as you type (I believe Apple's iTunes was the first widely-used app to offer this).

That said, for what it does offer, MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search is an incredible product. I highly recommend it to anyone that uses a Windows PC.

Interesting article in The Seattle times about the design process for Xbox 360. I was especially intrigued by the four-quadrant chart the team used to frame its thinking on the appropriate design aesthetic: mild to wild and architectural to organic. Whereas the original Xbox was wild and architectural (like a Hummer!), the Xbox 360 is apparently mild and organic (like a Porsche 911!). I'm definitely excited to get my hands on it!

I'm fired up about a post I just read on Russ Beattie's blog about why Yahoo! adopting Windows Media DRM for their new music service is a bad thing.

I agree with him on the ultimate outcome (Microsoft wins, Apple loses), but totally disagree that this is bad for Yahoo! or for consumers. Yahoo! and consumers, as well as PC and consumer electronics manufacturers, all benefit (read that "revenue") from the ubiquity of Windows Media technology far more than Microsoft. The reason that Microsoft will beat Apple is not because they are evil but because Microsoft has a better media strategy and they execute it well.

Is there an official home for those cute little RSS images you see on many blogs that link to the feed URL? I'd like to add one to this site - and I realize I can just steal one - but a few quick Google searches didn't turn up anything so I'm curious.

On the subject of Amazon.com RSS feeds, I also found two other sites that let you create feeds for specific searches, like this one for top-selling CDs.

If you're interested check out the Amazon RSS Feed-Builder at onfocus.com and the Amazon RSS Feed Generator at oxus.net.

It's also worth mentioning Moreover's RSS News Feeds creator, although it doesn't allow you to create Amazon.com RSS feeds.

Want to integrate your Amazon.com Wish List into your Web site or just want to make it easier for friends and family to know what you want? xanadb.com shows you how to create an RSS feed of your Amazon.com Wish List.

Here's what I want and what my wife wants.

Cool... Amazon.com Dashboard widget for Mac OS X Tiger. Allows you to search 15 product categories on US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, and Japan sites. Of course has "Click to Buy" link, but missing "Click to Add to Wish List" link.

I can get an Xbox 360 over there? Today? Cool!

Happened to be on Flickr a few minutes after reading up about the new Xbox 360 and noticed this photo under Everyone's photos on the home page.

It's finally here - well most of the specs are official at least - after months and months and months of hype... Xbox 360: always connected, always personalized, always in high def. Sweet!!

Someone needs to create a Mac OS X application that makes it easy to create nice-looking blog posts related to Flickr photos. The default formatting of posts created using the Flickr Web site are no good for me and I assume many others. I tried - and failed - to use MarsEdit for this, but MarsEdit still would have required lots of manual HTML editing. I want point > click > publish simplicity. I should really post this on the FlickrIdeas forum and/or create the app myself.

Update:I just realized you can accomplish this on the Flickr site by going to your blogs page and customizing the layout settings. Five built-in layouts to choose from, and if you have HTML and CSS skills can set up the layout exactly like you want it. I'd still like to see this incorporated into a rich client app for Mac OS X that doesn't require any code editing.