Feature: Review: Microsoft Hohm and a whole-house power monitor

Microsoft's Hohm energy efficiency and tracking service, still in beta, has a unique sense of style. Who expects a discussion about insulation R-values to involve pirate jokes?

"What do pirates look for in attic insulation?" Hohm asks. "The arrrr value! Insulation R-value measures how well a material stops heat flow, the higher the better."

This can be a bit jarring at first—are the sorts of people who write about "arrrr value!" really the ones you go to for home improvement questions?—but if you're going to use Hohm, you'd better get used to it.

"Read and follow the instructions that came with your new refrigerator. (This will not harm your street cred)," says a tip on buying more efficient iceboxes. You'll also want to keep the new fridge away "from anything hot like an oven, direct sunlight, or visiting supermodels." 

When it comes to lighting your room, consider task lighting; it can save money because, the site informs us, "you won't need to turn on the overhead light for your ironic cross-stitch." Advice from Bob Vila this is not.

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Microsoft puts final touches on Windows Phone 7, sends it to OEMs

Microsoft has announced that Windows Phone 7 has hit the release to manufacturing milestone. The OS has been finalized and has been sent off to Microsoft's partners around the world, who in turn will put it on their hardware and networks in time for this holiday season. All that's left before release is manufacturer additions and testing. Prepare yourself for a Windows Phone 7 launch event; devices will hit Europe in October and the US in November.

"Windows Phone 7 is the most thoroughly tested mobile platform Microsoft has ever released," Microsoft wrote in a blog post. "We had nearly ten thousand devices running automated tests daily, over a half million hours of active self-hosting use, over three and a half million hours of stress test passes, and eight and a half million hours of fully automated test passes. We’ve had thousands of independent software vendors and early adopters testing our software and giving us great feedback. We are ready."

Since the release of the Technical Preview, Microsoft has fixed bugs, fine-tuned performance, polished the interface, and added features. (Side note: prototype phones will not be getting an upgrade to the RTM build.) Redmond is being secretive about the new features, only disclosing a couple related to Facebook. Users will be able to filter Facebook friends to only those already in the phone's contact list, as well as "like" Facebook posts and write messages on Facebook walls directly from the People Hub. Microsoft also added a more visible search option to the contact list after it found that testers were not aware they could search their contacts by using the phone's physical search button.

There is still one more milestone to reach on the developer side of things: the final SDK is slated for release on September 16. In early October, the Marketplace will start accepting application submissions. This will include applications from the hardware companies and network operators; their software has to go through the Marketplace validation process just like applications will.

This doesn't leave much time for Microsoft to accept apps and populate the online store for the early adopters. Still, with the final RTM code now available, the company should be able to refocus on its partners and third-party developers over the next few weeks.

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Microsoft unveils shape-shifting Arc Touch Mouse

After a month of rumors and leaks, Microsoft has released the Arc Touch Mouse. The device is available for presale on Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, and Buy.com for $69.95. It will ship in early December, and will officially be available online and in stores in January 2011.

Redmond is touting Arc Touch as "the first mouse designed to flatten for portability and pop up for comfort." It's all about portability: less than 15 millimeters thick at its widest point, it collapses to turn off and pops up to turn on. The mouse requires two AAA batteries that Microsoft says give it more than six months of battery life (the two-color battery life indicators will keep you informed).

In addition to its compact form factor (see the Silverlight demo), the Arc Touch has a capacitive touch scroll strip: move a finger slowly on the strip for controlled scrolling, or flick a finger for fast scrolling that can be stopped with a simple tap. The mouse uses a capacitive sensing technique and sensor pads to detect each position and velocity change, and also includes haptic feedback to simulate the bumps of a traditional scroll wheel. The strip also has three tap buttons: page up, page down, and a reprogrammable (Microsoft's IntelliPoint software required) middle click area.

The Arc Touch includes Microsoft's usual mouse features such as a magnetic 2.4GHz wireless Nano transceiver that snaps into the bottom of the mouse and BlueTrack technology to let users use the device on virtually any surface. The only requirements are a USB port, and either Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7.

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Windows Live Hotmail gets Exchange ActiveSync

Microsoft today rolled out Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), which lets users get push notifications on phones and other mobile devices, as part of the Wave 4 release of Windows Live Hotmail. Some users reported EAS working for them two months ago, but only now has Microsoft made it official: e-mail, calendar, and contacts can be pushed automatically to your phone from Hotmail. To enable EAS, use the following settings:

Field	Setting
Server/URL	m.hotmail.com
Username	Full e-mail address (such as: p_emil@hotmail.com)
Domain	Leave this blank
SSL	Enable this
Certificate	Accept the SSL certificate when prompted
Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Tasks	All can be enabled

Many phones already support ActiveSync for connecting to an Exchange server, but the feature will be particularly useful on phones that support dual ActiveSync accounts, including devices running Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 OS. Users who don’t connect to an Exchange Server, but still have a device with ActiveSync support can also use the new Hotmail feature. Microsoft says over 300 million mobile devices currently support EAS; a full list is available on the Windows Live Solution Center.

Hotmail users have been begging for IMAP and other enhanced syncing capabilities for ages. Microsoft still won’t budge on IMAP, but the company did rollout POP3 last year, and now with EAS support this year, it’s clear the software giant is finally listening.

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