Microsoft late Tuesday made changes to its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Notifications anti-piracy service in Windows XP, a change that should begin appearing on users’ desktops over the next few months. The company’s Genuine Windows director Alex Kochis said yesterday that Redmond will release the latest version of its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) notifications program for XP through Windows Update starting this week. The company says it made the changes in order to align the WGA Notifications experience in XP with that of Windows Vista, but the new XP version actually adds an additional twist that’s not present in Vista.

Customers whose machines are found to be running dodgy copies of XP will see their desktop backgrounds change to a “plain black background”. A user can change their screen settings as desired, but the nagware will, er, paint it black every 60 minutes. A static message will also hang around on the desktop, pestering the user that their copy of XP appears to be a knock-off version of the operating system. If you just can’t wait to find out if your operating system passes the test, you can also visit the direct download page.

The biggest change with this revision, perhaps, concerns the way WGA Notifications is installed. Microsoft is changing the XP end user license agreement (EULA) to state that WGA Notifications will be automatically-updated via Windows Update going forward. So many users will not necessarily be aware when future updates to the technology are applied. On the other hand, this change also means that legitimate customers will have fewer interactions with the anti-piracy technology, which is probably a good thing. This year, Microsoft has made two major changes to the core XP OS, first with Service Pack 3 (which changed the Setup process, among other things) and now with WGA Notifications. Microsoft has never made such sweeping changes to an OS so late in its lifecycle.

After several months of development, founders Cory Huff and Jeremy Biser have officially launched a new blog and resource site for men who want to live well and take care of their families. You’ll find HusbandsandDads.com to be a little bit different than the standard “Daddy Blog.” The focus of HusbandsandDads is on providing well researched, thorough articles with little editorializing. You’ll find articles on things like paternity leave, what wives want in a vacation, and getting your kids a head start on college savings. In this list, you’ll find the most helpful articles, according to visitors who have rated them positively. Otherwise, If you find an article interesting, you can give it a positive rating in order for it to be ranked between the most popular articles. In order to give visitors a chance to interact with each other while reading an article, Huff said they added the new Firefly ‘on-page chat’ functionality to the blog. “Readers can literally flip a switch and start typing their thoughts on the page.” Other people viewing the page have the option to chat with you, so when a few people start talking on the screen it becomes a very dynamic environment. Good resource to digg for wise men, husband and Dad.

AOL’s MapQuest remains the top brand in online mapping and is still the most visited mapping site, despite recent gains by Google Maps. Donnelley began making maps with computers in the mid-1980s to generate maps for customers. Much of that code was adapted for use on the Internet to create the MapQuest web service in 1996. MapQuest launched a completely revamped site into beta that has a new look and is easier to use, and that includes additional functionality. The site also features a map front and center that can display location-relevant content, such as gas prices, local traffic and current weather. You no longer have to enter your data and click to a secondary screen  because in the new MapQuest beta, the company has finally added a map to the front page. The map will automatically show information based on your preferences or your physical location. AOL sees MapQuest as the most visible and highly trafficked “front door” to many types of local content on its network, e.g., City’s Best (formerly AOL Cityguide). The five modules or boxes at the bottom of the new home page, which will rotate, offer entry points or visibility for that content: Go Mobile; Top Travel Deals; Save your Dollars; City Best Burger; and Whouses Map Quest. Favorite features that were somewhat buried in the “classic” MapQuest were gas prices and traffic, which are now available on the homepage.

You can do all the things you’d expect with the map, like search for addresses or business, zoom in and out, or view arial images. You can also click on a weather link to overlay weather information, or click a gas link to pull up gas price information for various locations. There’s also a traffic button that shows live traffic conditions for more than 85 cities. Some of these features have been available for months. For example, MapQuest introduced live traffic information back in March. MapQuest Beta is more dynamic, more visually interesting and content rich.

A new model  of search engine has appeared. Navigaya is a search engine, but you can watch videos on it. Navigaya.com combines all elements of web surfing experience; video, audio and text. It claims that it can ‘find  everything you wish for sharper, deeper and faster’. Also one big benefit of navigaya is that its actually uses as a social network - you will find this option on the “login” icon where you can send your navigaya (the navigaya that you modified - including your favorite sites, playlists and all of your profile settings to your friends. Users can view and listen to their play list while simultaneously searching the web. The search field is displayed right over the video (which is displayed in the background, taking up the whole browser screen.) To make you more convenience,  you should access it via a fast internet connection for the dynamic of the searching and video watching. Navigaya has a lot more than what is discribed here, play with it some more and watch the naviguide(icon) tour, it will allow you with a better understanding of the total concept behind.

Awesome collections of free downloadable grunge fonts to help you get on your graphics craved is offered by Outlawdesignblog. These grunge fonts gives characters look as though they were drawn with a magic marker by someone having a bad hair day or typed with a typewriter that’s been through a centrifuge. These fonts are for people who want to break rules, and that while the fonts may be hard to read, they do make you read more slowly, thus forcing you to retain more of the message. It could inspire you to your design project to make it unique and attractive with Grunge fonts. Grunge become the fashion statement for school kids, it might not be the edge you’re looking for in your design project. Check it yourself for your better choice.